A/N: Thank you for all the kind and supportive words! Here's the beginning of the continuation to the events of the first chapter. If you have any comments or suggestions of where you'd like to see this story go, feel free to leave a review! Hope y'all are safe and healthy :)

One

Cedric hadn't been in the second year boys' suite since he'd gone with Hannah to choose a favorite book of Justin's she could read to him (since she'd wanted to use one of his muggle books). He certainly wasn't expecting to be back so soon, but once he had escorted Justin and Hannah back from the hospital wing, all of Justin's year mates had swarmed around the two boys and dragged them into their suite. He'd glanced back at Hannah as they were led away, but relaxed once he saw she was giggling and surrounded by her own friends.

"Congratulations, mates!" One of them called out once the door closed behind them, causing the rest to break out in cheers for Cedric and Justin. Cedric was used to the attention after the past weeks, but Justin's face turned bright red and he began to stammer. While he initially grinned at the younger boy's reaction, Cedric realized that this might have been why he was included in this little meeting.

The boys quieted down as they settled in a circle on the carpet in the moon-shaped space formed at the end of their beds. It was clear that this was a common practice with the ease they arranged themselves in. Cedric sat down in the open spot that was left for him.

They were silent until Justin spoke up. "Is it true?" He first asked, but was met with confused stares. "I heard everything while I was… petrified," he explained, rubbing his fingers over the cuffs of his Hufflepuff striped sweater out of nervousness. "Hannah showed up soon after I heard Cedric reading to Hermione regularly. No one ever came for Colin Creevey, so until Cedric and Yvonne were brought to the hospital wing, I'd never heard of soulmates."

There was a collective murmur from Justin's roommates.

"I'm sorry, Justin," Zacharias Smith surprisingly was the first to answer. He was already infamous in the house for his attitude, but it seemed like the severity of the situation had mellowed him out. "We never thought to tell you."

"When you never asked, we just assumed you knew," Ernie MacMillan added, with Oliver Rivers nodding in agreement. "And with all the problems this year…"

Cedric sighed. He understood where they were coming from. Hufflepuff didn't have any current public soulmate pairs before Hermione had been petrified, and consequently it wasn't a subject brought up often within the Den. The soulmate craze had died down towards the end of his first year, once people had grown used to seeing Alicia Spinnet and Adrian Pucey together. The two weren't from Hufflepuff, though, so the majority of the remaining attention came from within their own houses.

"Soulmates are real," he assured Justin. "In the magical world, if your soulmate is sick, you can feel their symptoms." He shrugged. "It only really helps when we're all at school in one place and have a chance of finding our soulmate, but some people's might be in different countries or continents. That's why most people don't like to mention it, except for when another pair is found."

Justin's eyes widened. "So… in a way, being petrified made me lucky in the magical world?"

That threw Cedric for a loop. "I mean, I guess? But you could've died! I wouldn't suggest it as a method of finding a soulmate in the long run."

"It's a bit ironic, if you think about it," Kevin Entwhistle jumped in with a grin. "Muggleborn students targeted and attacked because they weren't magically raised, and yet all four survived. Three even found their soulmates, something that's rare in our world!"

That brought a slight smile to Justin's face. "In the end, I'm just glad it's Hannah," he said. "She's just so..." He trailed off as his face flushed red and he looked cautiously up at Cedric. "How did it feel for you? When you found out about Hermione?"

Cedric thoughts first went to the horror, emptiness, the cold that he felt before he even first saw her laying petrified, but he knew that wasn't what Justin was referring to.

"It was like feeling the sun come out after a long winter," he said, his voice soft. "Just listening to her talk, seeing her eyes light up when she talked about her favorite books… it was feeling content and complete for the first time without ever knowing before that I was missing a piece of me."

Justin let out a breathy laugh that caused Cedric to snap out of his thoughts and smile sheepishly at the assembled second years. They all had varying reactions to his explanation– Zacharias looked wistful while Kevin and Oliver were busy good-naturedly teasing Justin for finding Hannah. Ernie seemed to be in his own world of quiet contemplation.

"It feels just like that," Justin agreed. "Like perfection."

Two

Hermione was grateful that Ron had gone ahead to Gryffindor tower to let everyone know she was coming back. She had noticed him and Harry swapping looks when they came to escort her from the hospital wing, and quickly assumed something serious had happened that she needed to be told before her return.

Her assumption was proved right as Harry pulled her into an abandoned classroom once Ron disappeared around the corner. She made sure to lock it once he shut the door– and wow was she elated to do magic once again! It was a good thing she had done so, because Harry took a deep breath once her attention was back on him before a tidal wave of words spilled out of him.

"When I was bitten by the basilisk apparently it caused my soulmate to collapse because they could feel something was wrong with me and they were brought to the hospital wing and it's a Slytherin and Ron and Cedric are okay with it but I don't know how the rest of Gryffindor will react!" Harry gasped wildly at the end, his shoulders slumping in relief as he automatically raised his hand to run his fingers through his hair.

Hermione stared at him blankly for a moment as her mind caught up with what he said. "Harry, you found your soulmate? That's wonderful!" She wrapped him in a tight hug as she bounced on her toes in excitement. "I'm so happy for you! Who are they?"

Harry drew back and blinked owlishly at her. "...You said 'they.'"

"Well, yes. You didn't mention their name, so I didn't want to draw any conclusions…"

Hermione was startled as her best friend grinned widely and hugged her again, holding so tightly that he picked her up and spun her around in a circle as she shrieked in surprise. "You're a great person, Hermione Granger."

"Alright alright, put me down, Harry Potter!" Even though he laughed as he followed her demand, Hermione couldn't find it in herself to truly be annoyed. "Can I ask who it is?" She peered at him curiously, still wondering who the other half of her friend could be.

Harry shrugged sheepishly. "It's… his name's Theodore Nott. He's the quiet, brown haired one who's always reading in class. Kind of like you," he said, poking her teasingly in the side.

"That's enough out of you, Mister Potter," Hermione swatted his hand away as she squirmed out of the way with a laugh. "We should be getting back to Ron, too– don't want him to have gone too terribly far ahead of us." She unlocked the door with a wave of her wand and they both made for the hallway.

"I'll tell you the rest later tonight, yeah?" Harry asked her as she looped her arm through his so they could walk together.

"I'd like that," Hermione nodded in assent.

They walked comfortably in silence up the grand staircase to the seventh floor before Harry spoke up once again. "Y'know, Mione, only you would manage to have a future Quidditch captain as a soulmate while you hate to fly."

Hermione stopped dead in her tracks as she looked at Harry in horror. "Oh my god," she said, so surprised she reverted to using the muggle phrase of exclamation. "I'll never be able to escape Quidditch now!"

Harry's laughter rang throughout the empty halls as they approached the portrait of the Fat Lady. Hermione rolled her eyes in amusement as Harry was too distracted to give the password, and she wasn't sure what it had changed to during her time in the hospital wing.

"Not to worry, dearie," the Fat Lady kindly told her as she swung open to the welcoming shouts of Gryffindor house. "Lovely to have you back."

Three

After being welcomed back by nearly all the Gryffindors in every year, even students she had never spoken to before, Hermione was quite thankful to finally escape to her dormitory with her roommates. She was so full of questions about everything she'd missed, and there were no better people than by Lavender and Parvati to spill on all of Hogwarts' happenings.

She was surprised when she noticed a pair of fourth year girls hovering by the entrance to the second year suite. Only when she paused to see who it was did her confusion morph into excited curiosity.

"You wanted us to join, Lavender?" Angelina Johnson asked after the girls all greeted each other.

"Yeah! We figured, since you're both Cedric's classmates and Quidditch rivals, and with Alicia also being in a soulmate pair, that you could help us with Hermione's questions."

"And we know she'll have lots of them," Fay said in a friendly stage-whisper, causing them all to laugh.

Hermione was touched by the amount of thought her friends had put into her return. "Thank you, all of you," she said with a smile, trying to hold back tears. A few finally spilled free as Lily and Parvati gave her side-hugs from where they stood on the landing next to her.

"It's no problem at all," Alicia replied. "But let's first get inside before we continue. You never know if the twins have finally figured out another way up the stairs yet!"

It took a few minutes for the girls to all get settled, but after a bit of rearranging, all seven were soon seated on Fay and Lily's pushed together beds with steaming mugs of hot chocolate. Lily had draped a knitted blanket over herself and Hermione's laps.

"Alright, Hermione: where do you want to start?" Lavender asked, leaning forward slightly in anticipation.

Hermione didn't even hesitate before she asked her first question; she already had a list formed. "What else happened while I was… petrified?"

"Everyone knows about Cedric and you, but there are four other soulmate pairs that were discovered, too!" Parvati bounced excitedly as she counted off on her fingers. "Yvonne Bampton and Penelope Clearwater from Ravenclaw–"

"For the record, they were together before Penelope was attacked; they just kept it secret," Alicia interrupted with a shrug.

"-and Hannah Abbott and Justin Finch-Fletchley from Hufflepuff were all found because of the attacks." Parvati continued once Alicia was finished. "But then, a first year in Ravenclaw named Luna Lovegood fainted around the time Ginny Weasley went missing! And there was a second year Slytherin, Theodore Nott, who collapsed when Harry and Cedric were fighting the basilisk."

Hermione's eyes widened as she thought back to the other day in the hospital wing when she was still petrified. She remembered hearing two students being brought in before Harry and the rest had returned from the Chamber of Secrets, but she hadn't realized who they were until now.

"Wow," she breathed. "Is it normal for so many soulmates to be found at one time?"

The magical-raised girls glanced at each other as they thought over their answers. "Not usually," Fay replied. "There's been a few years when an illness has gone through the school that multiple pairs were found, like what happened with my parents."

Lavender nodded in agreement. "It's really rare."

Hermione shifted towards Alicia. "But you found your soulmate?"

"I missed my magical innoculations before I could come to Hogwarts," Alicia said, blushing slightly in embarrassment. "I live far away from London; we didn't have time to make it to St. Mungo's before September 1st. It's not as normal for magical raised students who get the same innoculations for common magical bugs."

"Will they… I mean, is everyone alright with me and Cedric being in different houses?"

She wasn't expecting the rest of the girls to break out in grins. "Of course!" Lily nodded. "I've learned a lot about it lately, and from what I understand, soulmates are revered in the magical world! It's why even the Gryffindor-Slytherin rivalry doesn't target Alicia and Adrian."

"Besides, who doesn't like Cedric Diggory?" Parvati added. "He's like the epitome of Hufflepuff house: hard working and loyal!"

"And he's ridiculously good on the Quidditch pitch," Angelina huffed, causing the other girls to laugh. "We didn't get to play Hufflepuff this year, but next year's game should be fun."

"I'll make sure to wear both a Hufflepuff and Gryffindor scarf, then," Hermione assured her as Angelina put a hand to her heart as she jokingly gave profuse thanks.

Lavender gasped suddenly, reaching over Parvati to grab Hermione's knee. Hermione flinched at the unexpected movement, knocking her into Lily, who leaned towards Fay to balance herself out. In the end, the five year mates were tangled together and laughing wildly, while the older girls looked on in amusement.

"No, Hermione!" Lavender said once her giggles died off. "Don't wear a Hufflepuff scarf to the game. You have to wear one of Cedric's jerseys!"

There was a chorus of ooo's as the rest of the girls absorbed what she was saying. "Yellow would look good with your skin tone, too," Lily mused as she tilted her head to look more closely at Hermione.

Angelina sent an innocent grin Alicia's way. "Jerseys also make nice pajamas," she slyly pointed out. "Just ask Alicia."

Alicia blushed as all the girls clamorred at once to hear about how she got one of Adrian's jerseys. "He gave it to me to wear for the other Slytherin games."

"Well…" Hermione thought over their words as she fought to keep her own blush off her face. "Cedric has been wearing my scarf for the past few weeks… I suppose it's fair to ask to wear something of his in return."

"Oh yes, Harry asked us for it so he could lend it to Cedric once we found out he was your soulmate from Ron," Fay responded.

"Don't forget about her book! We gave that to him as well," Lavender reminded her.

"Thank you for that," Hermione smiled warmly at both of the girls. "Cedric read it aloud to me while I was petrified."

"He did?! Alright, Hermione, tell us everything!" Parvati pleaded as she threaded her fingers through her hair, as if in effort to keep herself grounded.

Hermione blushed as her friends all leaned in and clamored to hear her talk about Cedric, and she smiled as the night went on and she found herself home in Gryffindor once again.

Four

Hermione waited until her friends' breathing had all evened out before she quietly peaked through her curtains. She didn't see any movement after several moments, so she slipped out of bed and tip-toed out of the room, making sure to stay quiet on her way down the stairs. She expected to have to wait for Harry to make an appearance, but was surprised to find him already seated on one of the chairs by the fireplace, reading a book.

"Harry," she called softly as she walked over to him, knowing he didn't like to be caught off guard by sudden appearances.

The firelight flickered on his glasses when he looked up as she sat down and leaned against him. She knew he enjoyed physical touch (he hadn't told her much, but she gathered that his life at Privet Drive wasn't the most nurturing), and after being frozen stiff for so long, Hermione was desperate to touch people. She sighed in content as he shifted so one arm could drape over her shoulder while the other still held his book open. He finished reading the page he was on before slipping a piece of scrap paper into the book as a bookmark and shutting it.

"It's the book Cedric was reading to you," he explained as he showed her the cover. "I mentioned not being able to sleep well, so he lent it to me."

"The girls mentioned that you fought the basilisk together," Hermione said carefully after a moment of silence. "But I think there's a bit more to the story." She tilted her head back so she could look up at his expression.

Harry's eyes were closed as he sighed tiredly. "It was Voldemort. Or rather," he let out a mixture of a dark chuckle and another sigh, "it was Voldemort through Ginny Weasley."

Hermione nodded. After hearing about Ginny being taken into the Chamber of Secrets, she had realized who the orange hair of her attacker belonged to. She wouldn't ever forget the sight of that orange hair and those yellow eyes. "He possessed her?"

"His younger self did," Harry confirmed. "You know, his real name is Tom Riddle. He framed Hagrid for Moaning Myrtle's death."

She'd heard about Hagrid getting sent to Azkaban and hadn't believed for a second that it was his fault. The man couldn't hurt a living thing. "How did you find out about this?"

"He told me." She could feel Harry shrug as he spoke. "He's very talkative. Even last year, with the Mirror of Erised, he tried to convince me to join him. This time at least he only wanted to know how I defeated him as a baby."

"What did you say?"

Harry shrugged again. "I just bluffed my way through it. Said I didn't believe him so he just had to give away more information. Didn't understand much of it, to be honest. But Cedric said some stuff Riddle mentioned was really important, so we're both going to show our memories to Madam Bones and the other aurors when they come back tomorrow to speak with us."

Hermione's eyes widened. "The head of the DMLE came here?"

"Yeah. When Ron and I came across Cedric, he was with Yvonne Bampton and Hannah Abbott. Well, Hannah's best friend is Susan, so when she told Susan what was happening, Susan contacted her Aunt Amelia through an emergency alert enchantment on her necklace."

Hermione nodded as she absorbed his words. She'd had a lot of time to think to herself while petrified in the hospital wing, and she'd often wondered why students being attacked didn't merit a newsworthy story. Hell, it hadn't even caused any parents to withdraw their children! Even with only muggleborn students being attacked, she couldn't believe no one outside the castle didn't care. Hearing that aurors would be coming to hear the truth from at least Cedric and Harry made her feel a bit better.

"Harry…" She pulled her head off of where it was resting against his shoulder so she could look him in the eyes. "For Theodore Nott to have soulmate sickness symptoms… what else happened in the Chamber of Secrets?"

His emerald eyes slid off of hers to stare guiltily into the flickering flames of the fireplace. "When I stabbed the Sword of Gryffindor into the basilisk's mouth to kill it, my arm was pierced by one of its fangs…"

Hermione blinked once, then twice, as she made sure she'd heard him correctly. "Harry, basilisk venom is fatal!" She whispered-shrieked, knowing she had to keep her voice down. "How are you alive?!"

Harry looked back at her with a small smile. "Dumbledore's phoenix Fawkes was there– he'd blinded the basilisk early on. Did you know phoenix tears have healing properties?" His smile spread into a proud grin. "Riddle wasn't happy about that."

Hermione giggled at his words, both from amusement but also the stress this new information had doused her with. Their first year together had shown life at Hogwarts– and particularly life with Harry Potter– was never going to be the safest, but she certainly hadn't been expecting this when she boarded the Express for their second year.

"Life is never dull with you, Harry," she sighed, reaching out to ruffle his hair affectionately. She let out a true laugh as he scrunched his nose up in weak protest at her action. "I'm so happy you've found your soulmate though. If anyone deserves the happiness of finding their other half, it's you."

She could see a blush spread across Harry's face, even in the low light. "I haven't really spoken to him yet," he admitted. "Well, we talked briefly in the hospital wing, but only to confirm that we were soulmates." He let out a shaky sigh.

Hermione bit her lip as she thought through his options. "It seems like most of the school knows already, but I don't think anyone will get between the two of you, Harry. Soulmates are revered here. The Gryffindor girls definitely don't mind– and besides, Hogwarts is accepting of Alicia and Adrian Pucey's soulbond. I'm sure they can handle another Gryffindor-Slytherin pair!"

Harry drew her into his side for a hug. "You're the brightest witch I know, Hermione," he mumbled in thanks.

Hermione snorted. "The Boy Who Lived and the Brightest Witch. What'll we call Ron?"

"Oh, that's easy: haven't you seen him eat? Biggest Mouth!" Harry and Hermione dissolved into uncontrolled laughter at his joke, only stopping once Hermione began to hiccup. "Nah, but 'Best Tactician' definitely fits him. We'll let him know in the morning. Hey, maybe I'll beat him once before we graduate!"

Five

He was waiting for her outside the portrait as promised. His presence was alerted to her by the time she had reached the common room with her suitemates, as several clusters of students waiting for friends were talking about how they wished they could find their own perfect soulmate. Hermione slightly blushed as her friends all shooed her out the portrait hole first, but she grinned widely when she stepped out to find Cedric.

"Ho, fair lady," he bowed slightly with a mischievous grin. "Would you allow me the honor of escorting you to the grand feast that awaits?"

Hermione glanced over to see Parvati nodding at her in encouragement. "The honor is mine, my knight of Hufflepuff," she replied, dropping into a respectable curtsy despite her muggle jeans. Cedric held out his arm to allow her to link theirs together before they made their way to the Great Hall.

"Are those your yearmates?" Cedric asked, his eyes flickering in the direction where the quartet of girls were gathered as they walked off ahead of them, leaving the pair some privacy as they followed.

Hermione smiled softly. "Yes: Parvati, Lavender, Fay and Lily. I'll introduce you to them later."

"You can do it when we get to breakfast," he assured her. "Since you've missed the past few weeks with your house, I was thinking we could sit together at the Gryffindor table…" Cedric trailed off as he noticed Hermione had stopped walking. He turned to ask if something was the matter, only to find her with tears welled up in her eyes. "I'm sorry, did I say something? Are you alright?"

Hermione's answering smile was nearly blinding. She pulled him closer to her and hugged him tightly. "More than alright," she assured him.

They made their way down the main staircase, pausing every so often as passing students called out greetings. Cedric received quite a few as a known Quidditch player, but Hermione was also surprised to have some aimed her way. Older students she had never spoken to stopped to say they were glad she was alright. A pair of Slytherins had even nodded at her, and the fact that they were purebloods doing so mystified her even more.

"Our soulmate status is public knowledge throughout the school," Cedric explained to her after he saw her questioning look. "Because finding your soulmate is so rare normally, even the more… 'traditional' families in Britain will now respect you." He cringed a little at his own words, clear that he didn't agree with the prejudice behind them. "Some believe soulbonds are blessings by Magic itself."

"That's interesting," Hermione mused. "Do you happen to know of any books about it? I'd like to research more about soulmates and soulbonds."

Cedric grinned at her as they reached the Entrance Hall. "I'm sure there's some books in the library. We can check later if you'd like."

Hermione smiled, but it quickly faded with the silence that descended as they entered the Great Hall. The room was around half full at this time of the morning, but with all eyes turned towards her and Cedric, it felt as if it was bursting at the seams. She pulled her shoulders back and stood tall and proud next to her Hufflepuff, daring anyone to speak against them.

Neither of them had been expecting students at all four of the tables to begin applauding. It started at the Hufflepuff table with some of the younger years as they all saw their housemate with his soulmate for the first time, and the cheering quickly spread to the other houses until almost everyone was on their feet for Cedric and Hermione.

Everyone quieted down as Professor McGonagall's amplified voice called from their attention from where she sat at the head table. "Yes, I know we are all glad that Miss Granger has rejoined us alongside Mr. Diggory, but perhaps we ought to let them eat now without any disruptions?" Although it had been presented as a request, her order was promptly followed as the students laughed and retook their seats.

"Gryffindor table, you said?" Hermione asked with a relieved sigh, grateful most of the attention was off of them for now.

Cedric nudged her side with his elbow. "Lead the way."

Lily waved them over to where she had saved them seats on the far side of the table, next to the Weasley twins of all people. Lavender, Parvti and Fay sat across from them and leaned forward eagerly as Hermione and Cedric sat down.

Hermione sighed fondly at their antics. "Cedric, these are my suitemates: Lily Moon, Fay Dunbar, Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil," she said as she pointed at them in turn, each of them waving as she did.

"It's nice to meet you all," Cedric said with a smile as he nodded at them all before he and Hermione began filling their plates.

"Is it really true you helped Harry kill the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets?" Lavender asked hurriedly, her eyes wide with wonder. Hermione resisted the urge to sigh at her friend's need to hear gossip from the source if necessary.

Fay gasped, lightly slapping their friend in the arm. "Lav! Let them eat!"

"Sorry, I was just curious!"

"It's alright," Cedric graciously said, taking a few quick bites of a peach before setting it down on his plate. "I know everyone has been wondering what happened. I wasn't as helpful as I wished I could've been," he admitted, glancing at Hermione as he did so. "I only made a marble pillar fall on the basilisk, Harry did the rest."

A hush fell over the table as those who had been listening in stopped and stared at Cedric, who flushed at the attention.

It was one of the Weasley twins who broke the quiet. "Mate, we knew you were a seeker–"

"– but it seems that you're a keeper as well!" The other finished, ushering in a wave of laughter that broke the tension.

"Thanks, Fred and George," Cedric laughed, though he did have a slight blush on his face. Hermione found it endearing.

She gathered up her courage and leaned to whisper in her soulmate's ear. "Don't worry, I already knew that." She innocently smiled at his greater blush before redirecting the conversation to the safer waters of the daily gossip mill, to which her friends jumped into with great gusto.

It was lovely for things to feel normal once again, if only for a little while.