Their first date

Why was she so nervous? She shouldn't be nervous! It was just a date, after all. And, to top it off, a date with a guy she wasn't even all that into. As soon as that thought had entered her mind, she knew that she was lying to herself. Of course she was into him, else she wouldn't have accepted to go on a date with him. It was that simple. And that was probably the reason why she was nervous.

Glancing at her watch for the 20th time she felt the knot of nervousness tighten. Only three more minutes to go before she had to meet him in front of the castle. Perhaps she should get going. Grabbing a light shawl she hurried out of the Gryffindor Common Room. The time had finally come for her first date with Cedric Diggory.

Her knees were shaking a bit when she stepped out of the castle. And it wasn't from the cold. Because outside was Cedric, looking deviously handsome in his tight, dark jeans and his crispy white shirt, which he wore with a casual air. Somehow he managed to look quite formal but still completely at ease. He sure was a mystery.

Once he laid his eyes on her he broke into a great, heart-warming smile. She returned it sheepishly, feeling silly and yet strangely desired. Nobody else had ever stirred those feelings within her. To think, just a week ago she would have hated that smile. She would have been certain that he was taunting her. But this time it pleased her to no end.

"Hermione," he said, his soft voice caressing her name in the most intimate way. He held out his hand towards her, and she felt a little blush creep into her cheeks as she took it.

She was too preoccupied by the feeling of her hand in his that she didn't even notice where he was taking her. She walked silently besides him, stealing little glances at him once in a while. It really was strange, how differently she suddenly felt about him. All of a sudden she couldn't even speak when he was near her. It was very unlike her.

Without warning Cedric stopped walking. It was as if she awoke from a dream to enter an even lovelier one. Cedric had led her to the Black Lake. Floating all around were small flames, illuminating the surface of the lake. A violin was playing somewhere out of sight, accompanied by the lovely voices of the inhabitants of the lake. Near the edge of the lake was a small table with two chairs. The table was nicely set with flowers, candles and various foods.

"Oh my hippogriff," Hermione whispered completely in awe.

"I think I went a little overboard," Cedric laughed nervously.

"A little?" Hermione laughed. "Try a lot."

Cedric started laughing as well, and suddenly the tension evaporated. He pulled out a chair for her, and sat down opposite of her.

"So here we are," he said a little awkwardly.

"Yeah, here we are," Hermione seconded and started poking at the food in front of her, not really looking at what it was.

"I never would have thought that I would be on a date with you. Willingly!" Cedric laughed and Hermione smiled.

"Me neither," she said.

Cedric sighed and then said, "Perhaps we weren't ready for a date. Perhaps we should just have done what you wanted and had sex."

"WHAT?" Hermione yelled and almost choked on her drink. "Excuse me? What's that supposed to mean?"

But her anger vanished as soon as she saw the glimmer of a laugh in his eyes.

"Got you there," he laughed heartedly. "Wow, you really are on edge tonight, aren't you?"

"It's just because you got me wearing a dress," she protested. "I'm not used to wearing dresses. I feel so self-conscious in them."

"Well, you look good."

Hermione blushed as she answered, "Thanks, you look good too."

The rest of the dinner was filled with laughter, taunting and an air of romance that none of them had expected. When the sun had settled completely behind the mountains they were still talking. When the cold started to kick in Cedric decided that it was time for them to return to the castle. With a quick flick of his wand the romantic dinner was packed away, the flames were put out and the music was silenced. Cedric wrapped his arm around Hermione's shoulders, stating that he wanted nothing more than to keep her warm, but they both knew that it was more than that.

Once they were inside the castle again, standing in front of the grand staircase, Hermione innocently asked, "What now?"

Cedric thought for a second or two before answering, "I suppose that the proper thing to do would be to kiss goodnight and part."

"I suppose," Hermione said slowly. "But… I don't really feel like doing that."

"Really?" Cedric asked with a false surprise. "Then please tell me what you'd rather do."

"I'd really like for you to invite me up to your study for some… tea."

"Tea," Cedric laughed. "Sure, tea sounds nice." He bowed gallantly and offered her his arm. "Would you like to accompany me for a nice cup of tea?"

"Obviously," Hermione said and settled her hand in the crook of his arm with a little wink.

When they entered the study none of them kept up the pretence of tea. They both knew that that wasn't what they were in the mood for. No, they wanted something much more primal than tea. As soon as the portrait had swung close behind them, Cedric scooped Hermione up into his arms and started carrying her towards the sofa. Hermione felt herself getting lost in Cedric's adoring eyes, and when she hit the sofa all she could think of was pulling him in for a deep, emotional kiss. With a little clever manoeuvring Hermione found herself lying flat on the sofa with Cedric pressed intimately against her. Their breaths mingled as their hearts synchronized to beat as one.

After a few moments Cedric couldn't restrain himself any longer. He drew away from the kiss, took a hold of the hem of Hermione's dress and pulled it over her head. Once it was discarded he was more than pleased to see that she had worn no bra underneath it. He wasted no time and pulled off his own shirt and pants. Hermione watched him with obvious desire and want, but there was something more, Cedric felt. Something that his own heart responded to in a deeply personal way. He lowered himself slowly onto the sofa again and onto Hermione, his eyes never leaving hers. Their still clothed nether regions touched and they both gasped a little at the contact.

"Was I right, then?" Cedric asked cryptically.

"Right about what?"

"Do you want me?"

It would have been easy for her to laugh it off and say something about wanting his body all for herself. But that was clearly not the answer that Cedric was looking for, and curiously enough it wasn't the answer that Hermione wanted to give.

"I want you," she whispered. "So much that it scares me."

"It scares me too," Cedric admitted. "But then I look at you and all my fears just vanish into thin air. And all I can see is you. And all I want is you. To hold you. To kiss you. To look into your eyes and know that you want the exact same things."

As Cedric spoke those words Hermione felt her eyes water up. In that moment she felt more loved than she'd ever hoped for. And she suddenly realised that this was the excitement that she had missed from Will. This sensation rushing through her had been the reason why she couldn't make herself love him. Because they hadn't been there. But with Cedric everything was different. Sure, the bickered constantly, but it was a lot more fun to bicker than to have your other half just roll over and play dead because you asked him to.

Cedric leaned down and gently kissed the tears from Hermione's cheeks.

"I take that as a sign that you feel the same way," he smiled shyly.

"I do," she whispered, and pulled him down for a long, deep kiss.

Cedric reached down between them and managed to get rid of the last scraps of underwear that they were wearing without breaking the kiss. Taking a hold of his strained erection he positioned it in front of Hermione's waiting opening. Slowly he began pushing into her, earning him a deep sigh. Once he was completely buried within her, he found her bundle of nerves with his thumb and gently started stroking it as he unhurriedly pulled out and emerged himself again. He maintained his slow pace as he left her mouth to trail his lips down over her cheek, jawbone and down to her neck. He licked off some drops of sweat revelling in the taste of his girl. She moaned into his ear, a long, breathy moan that pushed him closer to the edge. Suddenly she dug her nails into his shoulders and he felt her walls start to clamp down around his erection. Still, he didn't speed up, but held the same slow pace, timing each thrust with a flick of his thumb against her clit. Finally she came undone with a little scream of his name. Her contraction started his own orgasm, and he fell into bliss with her right beside him.

When they came back down from their high, they were both sweaty and breathing raggedly. They were closely intertwined, legs and arms mingling.

"Hermione," Cedric finally plucked up the courage to say. "I want you to be mine."

She shifted a little in his arms to lie face to face with him. Gently she reached out to cup his cheek with her small, comforting hand.

"You have me, Cedric," she whispered. "Body, mind and soul. I am all yours."

And this concludes the story of how Hermione and Cedric overcame their differences and started something beautiful and uniquely theirs.

As I started this series off by saying, this was a challenge issued by waterflower20. The 'terms' of the challenge were the following:

1)Pairing: Hermione/Cedric.
2)Rate: M
3)During Hermione's fifth Cedric's alive and Head Boy.
4)One shot or preferably a multi chapter but whatever works for you!
5)Cedric must be on good terms with Harry but not so goods with fact they constantly thinks he's an airhead,he thinks she's a bossy know it all.
6)Hermione have a VERY close relationship with one of Ced best mates!They are almost a couple.
7)Ginny is Hermione's best girlfriend and use the term "sexual tension" at least once to describe Cedric and Hermione's relationship.
8)Their fIrst passion encounter happens in Cedric Head Boy's office while they are fighting. Choose a reason!
9)She tries to forget but he's pursuing her.
10)Happy ending for Hermione/Cedric!

I leave it up to you all to judge if I did okay.

I really enjoyed writing this. It was a different kind of request (usually I just get requests concerning the pairing) and it was fun to have some guidelines to stick to.

As always I would be happy to get some reviews and more requests. Or challenges like this one, if you're up for it!