Title: Cause and Effect

Summary: Hermione Granger firmly believes that there is a reason for everything. For every cause, there is usually something affected by it. She finds Barty Crouch Jr. being the cause of her headaches, and the effects are quite… unpredictable.

Author's Note: Hello you lovely people! First off, thanks for stopping by to read this. I really appreciate it. Second, this is really kind of plotless. It's just a bit of fluff and romance with a tiny little twist to it. Third, I hope you'll enjoy reading this first chapter. Let me know what you think afterwards, please. R&R!

-McDiggin'It

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Harry Potter. It belongs to J.K Rowlings. I'm not making jack-shit from this story, so don't sue me, please!

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Chapter One:

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There are rare moments in the life of Hermione Granger, in which she'll find herself confused about something. Today, at 6a.m is one of those rare moments. She blinks rapidly at the unconscious man lying haphazardly in her bed, bleeding, bruised, and smelling of strong liquor. Normally, she would've immediately begun to tend to his wounds because her conscience is quite sensitive to injured people, but this was different. The man in her bed (she's still trying to figure out why, how, and when he got into her bed, let alone her flat) is none other than the once notorious, believed to be dead, mass-murderer, Bartemius Crouch Jr.

She is beyond confused. Not only does she not know how he got into her bed and her home, she doesn't know what to do with him. Hex him? Tie him up? Call the Ministry Aurors? Call Harry and Ron? Wake him up? Tend to his wounds? Slap him for nearly scaring the life out of her when she walked into her bedroom? Honestly, she's leaning towards her last thought.

However badly she wants to let someone else deal with a man who should've been rotting away in cell in Azkaban, her conscious has already had enough time (20 minutes) to eat away at her, and she begins to summon bandages and potions from her emergency cabinet in her bathroom. It takes her 5 minutes to locate where the worst damage has been done to his body, and another 25 minutes trying to clean it up with magic alone. Now comes the hard part. Getting him out of his blood-stained clothe and into some clean clothes. The only things she has that'll fit him are an old pair of Harry's sweatpants, and one of Ron's shirts she had borrowed from him when they were younger.

She stares at Barty, not sure of how to get him out of his clothes. He was much bigger and much heavier than she is, and he's unconscious, so she definitely can't rely on him to help her get him into the clean clothes she found. Taking a deep breath, she kneels beside his hip on her bed, her fingers shaking as they curl around the fabric of the dirty, tattered shirt he's wearing. She pauses, looking up at his face. Now that his face is clean and void of blood and cuts, he looked almost… handsome. If he were a complete stranger to her and she was seeing him for the first time, she would've thought he was extremely attractive and she probably would've developed a few inappropriate thoughts about him… but he's Bartemius Crouch Jr. A Death Eater, and an insane murderer. A thought hits her as her eyes drift towards his right forearm. Biting her lip, she slowly pulls back the sleeve of his shirt, and she's not sure whether to be relieved that he doesn't have the Dark mark on his arm anymore, or repulsed that she actually hoped that he wouldn't still have the Dark mark. Like, what was she going to get from him if he isn't a Death Eater? A lollipop? Shaking her head as if it would rid it of her thoughts, she begins to undress him. His shirt is a bit easier to take off than she thought, but that's the easiest part. Now comes his pants. He's wearing muggle jeans that are about two sizes too big for him, only held together by a leather belt. She first undoes his belt, before she stares at the button of his jeans. She can't believe she's actually about to undress Bartemius Crouch Jr. of all people.

"Just get it over with, Hermione." She whispers encouragingly to herself. She takes a deep breath again, willing her hands to stop shaking. It takes a couple of tries, but she finally manages to pop the button out of the hole on the jeans. She's careful not to let her other fingers touch the fabric of his jeans as she carefully zips down his jeans, her mouth suddenly going dry as she stares at the dark fabric of his underwear. "Stop staring!" she whispers furiously to herself as she forces her eyes closed.

"I don't mind."

Hermione's heart leaps into the air, does a back flip in her throat and plummets straight through her stomach as her eyes snap open to meet a pair of light brown eyes staring back at her in amusement. She all but screams, stumbling backwards and landing ungracefully on her buttocks.

Barty groans, trying to sit up but quickly giving up as pain shoots up his side. He thinks he might have broken a rib or something. "Please don't scream again." He mutters pleadingly as he holds his head in his hands. "My head feels like it'll split in two any moment now."

Hermione quickly hops to her feet, whirling around and snatching her wand off the nightstand where she had left it to strip Barty out of his clothes. "Whh—what are—how did you get into my home?" she asks as she points her wand at him.

Barty raises his eyebrows at her. "Is the wand necessary? I doubt I'll be able to do much in my state." He tells her and points to his own bruised body.

Hermione keeps her wand pointed at him but doesn't say anything.

He shrugs, "I don't know how I got here. I just remember running from…" he trails off, realizing that he has no idea what he was running from. "Something." He finalizes. "And then everything went dark and I woke up to some strange girl trying to undress me."

"I was trying to help you!" Hermione says defensively.

"Is that what they're calling it these days?" he asks teasingly, earning him a glare from her.

"For your information, Bartemius," she notes how he winces at the name, "you're the one who is in my bed, in my home! I didn't know what to do with you when I found you half-dead, bleeding into my sheets and pillows, so I did what any sane person with a conscience would do and tried to save your life, so you should be thanking me."

Barty blinks at her for a moment before smiling at her. "Sorry. Thank you." He nods, looking around at her red painted bedroom walls. " How do you know my name?... Nice room, by the way."

Hermione wanted to hex him, but refrained. "What should I do with you?" she doesn't know why she's even asking him. What she should do, is notify all the Aurors in the Ministry of Magic about the murderer who's supposed to be rotting away in Azkaban, lying in her bed. But she doesn't.

He shrugs at her. "You could continue what you were doing." He says cheekily, nodding at the crotch of his jeans.

Hermione could've hexed him, or put him to sleep with a simple spell. She could've told him to go to hell and hit him on the head with something hard. She could've punched him, and kicked him out of her house. Instead, she just throws the change of clothes at him, calls him a pervert, and storms out of the bedroom.

He changes quickly after she leaves, chuckling to himself. Afterwards, he takes the time to inspect his wounds. He's sore all over, but otherwise, he feels fine. He knows he's supposed to be in a lot more pain if the blood all over the bed is any indication, but apparently, the girl who just stormed out of the room did a pretty damn good job at healing him. He knows he has to thank her… but first, he's starving and he needs food in his stomach before he can thank her properly. With that in mind, he leaves the bedroom in search of food.

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Author's Note: I know it's kind of short and kind of pointless, but I really enjoy writing half-assed plots of Hermione and Barty. I basically love writing fluff and romance and all that lovey-dovey crap. And if you haven't noticed from my other stories, I really love this pairing. I hope you all love them too. Anyhow, let me know what you all think! Good? Bad? Weird? Should I stop and delete this story? Or should I continue? Let me know! Thanks for reading and please review!

-McDiggin'It