Okay folks, as many of you know I am gradually making changes to the chapters of this story due do now having a beta and I assure you that they are much better, longer and more embellished. I have combined the original 1st and 2nd chapters of DID because it flat out makes sense to do so. ENJOY!!

"Cho, stop!" Cedric whispered in a frustrated voice while pushing the girl's hand off his thigh for the third time. He was starting to get annoyed; he was here to study, not devote all of his attention to Cho. It wasn't that he was adverse to her advances, quite the opposite in fact, but overt displays of affection were not his scene – let alone frantic groping beneath a library table. No, he quite enjoyed his privacy when engaged in such ventures.

Fact be known, sex was not high on his list of priorities at the moment; there was quite a bit going on in his life. He was extremely anxious to have been chosen as Hogwarts champion, thrilled, but anxious. Hufflepuff, he knew, wasn't exactly a house that most students, or teachers for that matter, would have thought to have produced the Tri-Wizard Champion.

Cedric had taken a certain amount of satisfaction in the fact that the other Houses had been staggered when the piece of parchment that had floated into Headmaster Dumbledore's hand had had his name inscribed upon it. Truthfully, when he allowed himself to be talked into entering, he was sure that someone from another House would have been chosen. But all the same, he had walked proudly to where Dumbledore stood reaching out to shake Cedric's hand while wishing Cedric a sincere congratulation.

As astonished as everyone had been at his selection, though, it was nothing compared to the uproar of Potter's name issuing from the Goblet at the last minute. Cedric hadn't been there, of course. The champions by that point had been sequestered in a room after the third name had been identified. However, Cho had told him later of the unearthly silence that followed. She'd looked on the verge of tears as she continued to describe the scene that had unfolded. Then the hushed whispering had begun. A whispering that grew louder as Harry neared the Headmaster. The students had made their displeasure all too clear, a few had even called Harry a cheat. According to Cho, the ranting and grumbling had not died down even when Harry was ushered into the room where the rest of the champions were waiting.

Cedric knew what had happened after that. All three occupants of the room had turned toward the entrance as Potter walked in, looking bemused, uncertain and abso-fucking-lutly terrified.

Fleur assumed that Potter was bringing some sort of message for them, but when Dumbledore, following closely behind, rushed into the room, his robes flying behind him, they were all disabused of that idea. He roughly grabbed Potter by the shoulder, shook him, and demanded if he had put his name into the Goblet. The harsh manner in which Dumbledore grilled Potter raised a few eyebrows. Cedric, in all of his six years of attending Hogwarts, had never seen the Headmaster so worked up; the wizard was seriously upset.

Then all hell broke loose as Madame Maxime along with that weird Karloff character came barreling in accusing Potter of tricking the Goblet, of having another student enter his name, and finally making allegations that Hogwarts made certain that two champions were chosen so as to have a better chance of winning "eternal glory" for their school.

Fleur, finally catching a clue, began spouting French faster than a blast-ended skrewt could move sideways. Krum just grunted and left it at that. It didn't appear as if anything less than a nuclear explosion had the ability to faze the bloke. Besides, Krum's mentor was going plenty mental enough for the both of them. Cripes, McGonagall was twittering away her voice getting more strident with each twitter while Crouch went on and on about the rules being "absolute!" It was chaos, utter chaos. When Potter tried to defend himself the poor kid could not manage a word in edge wise.

Later in private, Cedric admitted to Cho that although he'd said nothing, just crossed his arms, leaned back against the wall, and stared at the five hundred year old Persian rug as if nothing momentous was happening all around him, he had been peeved, too. However, what Cedric had felt after his first good look into Potters haunted eyes far outweighed anything he might have originally felt. At that moment, Cedric had felt a deep and profound pity.

Cho's perpetually wandering hand brought his mind back from the Tranfiguration essay that Cho had claimed she had come here to help him with. He grabbed her questing fingers in a death grip while his light colored eyes furtively searched the library, checking to see if anyone had witnessed yet another groping incident. He hoped not, how embarrassing would that have been? It was a sad state of affairs when the library, of all places, was being turned into a den of decadence.

Two tables over he met the laughing eyes of his mate Scott who waggled his eyebrows suggestively while inclining his head toward a dark, rarely used corner of the library. Cedric grinned. If Scott had been in Cedric's shoes, he would not have wasted a second in ushering his girl into the deepest, darkest, most remote place this library had to offer to get his rocks off. Cedric did not doubt for one second that good ole Scott knew his way around a few of Hogwarts long lost classrooms and corridors.

Cedric's grin slipped from his face when his eyes crashed into those of a girl with incredibly crazy hair. Great, just great, he groaned silently. He wondered just how much she had seen. Her eyes were intense as they stared steadily into his.

Cedric shifted in his chair, partly because the Gryffindor was making him uncomfortable and partly because Cho was making him uncomfortable. Granted, the two were of a very different type of discomfort. The Gryffindor girl with the bushy hair was making him squirm in embarrassment. Cho… well, she was making him squirm, but that had more to do with a certain part of his anatomy than with anything else.

Cedric lifted his chin and met the girl's gaze head on. If he were going down, he would at least maintain some sort of dignity. He felt a flush crawl up his neck and settle on his perfect cheekbones. As if being caught with your girlfriends' hand on your crotch was even remotely dignified. Nevertheless, he would be damned if he'd look away first.

Her frizzy, curl-clustered head tilted slightly to the left, leaving Cedric with the impression that she considered him a particularly difficult Arithmacy assignment that she was determined to decipher. Cedric did not care for the feeling. As if sensing this, the younger girl finally lowered her gaze.

Cedric sighed in relief now that he was no longer being pinned to the chair like an insect on a display board. What was wrong with him? Why was he the one blushing like some third year caught sneaking a peek in the girls' Quidditch locker room?

So his girlfriend had been getting a bit frisky. It wasn't as if they'd been caught going at it behind a bookshelf or anything equally inappropriate. Plenty of blokes sneaked a touch here or a squeeze there and no one seemed to notice, or at least they had the common decency to pretend that they didn't notice.

"Is there a particular reason why you're staring at Hermione Granger?"

Startled, Cedric whipped his head around. "Huh?"

"Why are you staring at Hermione Granger?" Cho, reiterated slowly, as if speaking to a particularly slow child.

"Oh, is that her name?" Cedric really wasn't interested; but it would give Cho something else to do other than feel him up.

Leaning in until they were nose-to-nose, she whispered, "She's a friend of Harry's."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," he whispered back, feeling like a co-conspirator by doing so.

She sat back, pushing her long black hair off her shoulders. She grabbed her quill and parchments and began shoving them into her bag,

"Well," she sighed, "I just don't get it."

Cedric looked at her, completely confused. "Don't get what?"

"Nothing," she murmured. After a slight hesitation, she continued, "She's not very pretty, is she?"

Now Cedric was beyond confused. Was this some kind of weird girl-thing that only other girls could understand? Because he sure couldn't figure out what Granger being pretty or not had anything to do with her being Potter's friend.

Giving up on his Transfiguration essay, he took her bag and flung it over his shoulder along with his own while reaching for her with his free hand, threading their fingers together.

"She probably should have been sorted into Ravenclaw; she's quite clever really."

Cedric wasn't sure where all this was headed. The only thing he knew about her was he remembered hearing that she'd once walloped Malfoy a good one. Anyone who could get the drop on a Malfoy was all right in his book, even if she appeared a bit of a nosy parker if today was anything to go by.

He pulled Cho through the library doors with her still chattering away about the silly Gryffindor.

"They're always together, you know, the three of them. Do you know what people call them?"

Cedric didn't, and he really didn't want to know but Cho seemed intent on telling him so he let her ramble on. She sighed again and when she spoke, she sounded almost wistful.

"The Golden Trio." Cho snorted before saying, "As if there's anything remotely golden about her." Cedric assumed she was talking about Granger. "Isn't that the most ridiculous thing?"

Cedric was more concerned as to why it apparently seemed to irritate Cho so much. It wasn't as if Cho wasn't popular or beautiful.

There was real scorn in her voice when she added, "She's short and squat with no shape to speak of, and that hair! Gods, I'd hex it off before I'd walk around looking like that!"

Cedric came to a stand still at that. Cho, not expecting him to stop, stumbled slightly before righting herself. To say that he was shocked by her outburst would have been putting it mildly. In all the time that he had known her, he could not recall her ever speaking of someone with such malice.

"Cho," he admonished her quietly, "that was really ugly of you, and I can't bring myself to believe that you said it."

Her large, dark eyes suddenly filled up with tears, and he immediately felt like a total git. He pulled her into his arms, hugging her close and rubbing his hands soothingly up and down her back.

"Let's go out to the lake," he murmured into her sweet-smelling hair. "It's a lovely day, and I want to spend some quality time with my girl, all right?"

She smiled into his neck and nodded. "Yeah, that sounds good."

Still nestled under his chin, she wrapped her arm around his waist and they made their way to the kitchen to grab a picnic lunch, Granger completely forgotten.