oh, cedric

muffins

Hermione tiptoed down the stairs to the kitchen. As she crept along, she shot furtive glances around her. She normally wouldn't sneak out, but she had just finished a particularly long potions essay and found herself feeling a tad peckish.

As Hermione reached out for the pear, she heard a footstep. She whirled around, her hand on her wand. Slowly, a tall figure stepped out of the shadows.

“Cedric?” Hermione tilted her head to get a better look. “What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same question,” he responded with a cheeky grin.

Hermione flushed. “I was feeling a bit peckish after I finished the essay Professor Snape assigned on the properties of moonstone. You?” she admitted.

He shrugged nonchalantly. “Just hungry.”

Reaching up to tickle the pear, Hermione grabbed the handle and went inside. A house elf rushed to attend her.

“Please, miss, what would you like to eat?” she asked.

“Just a muffin would be nice. Chocolate, please.” she responded.

“And you, sir?” asked the timid elf.

“Same as the lady,” he said, throwing a wink at her. She, in turn, rolled her eyes. He smirked back at her.

The elf led them to a table. As they sat, Hermione tried to make small talk.

“Do you really like chocolate muffins?” she inquired.

A slow smile spread across his face as he leaned closer to her. “What do you think?”

His breath brushed across her cheeks, and he drew back slowly, his eyes trained at her face. Said face, though, was red with barely contained laughter.

“What's so funny?” he asked, bemused.

“You trying to charm me! I'm not every other girl in this school, you know. I'm not going to fall for it or throw myself at you!” she said in between fits of laughter.

He tried to keep a hurt look on his face, but he just couldn't help but start laughing as well. Her laughter was positively contagious.

When the house elf came, she brought with her two decadent-looking chocolate muffins and a mug of hot chocolate.

“Your muffins, and a hot chocolate for miss, just the way you like it,” she said, then excused herself.

Hermione smiled warmly in thanks. Cedric was captivated by her alluring smile, and watched her as she sipped her hot cocoa.

Picking up her muffin, she sniffed it, her brows furrowed.

“Hmmm....does this smell weird to you?” she held the muffin up to his nose. As he leaned in to smell it, he noticed her looking at him with a sparkle in her eyes.

Suspiciously, he quirked an eyebrow, but still leant forward to smell it.

Smash!

She smashed the muffin into his face. Shocked, Cedric gaped at her as she snorted, doubled over in laughter.

“Even Ron didn't fall for that!”

He couldn't help the grin that settled onto his face. “Oh, it's on!”

He then proceeded to chase her around the room with his own muffin, forgetting about the troubling event that brought him here. The sleep he slept that night was the best he'd slept in days.