The Black Sky: OC x Hermione

Chapter 31.2

Hermione couldn't react to Edmund's confession, she was both stunned and speechless. They were just dancing and it just hit her all of the sudden that he truly did have feelings for her. That it wasn't a harmless crush that he had.

She had known that he liked her but she didn't think it was serious. They were only in their third year back then. He never spoke about it ever again after and she thought it had passed, maybe it even was a little joke.

That kind of joke was made countless times before where she lived. The boys at her school used to run up to her to tell her that they liked him and to meet her at the swing. Instead, they would all show up and laugh at her.

Hermione solved the riddle and the eagle let her through into the common room. Viktor had left after she had insisted that she'll be fine going up the spiral staircase on her own. There was no room for conversation on such a staircase.

She was one of the last people to arrive in the Ravenclaw common room. "Oh." She breathed out as she was faced with two of her closest friends in Ravenclaw. "Padma, Cho, you two are still up."

Padma and Hermione were going through a rough patch. Especially after Hermione had taken Edmund outside to the tea shop in Hogsmeade. She hadn't been thinking clearly, she was so green with jealousy she didn't see that Edmund still liked her.

It was such a sensitive time to even think about acting like that too, after his first task in the tournament. Her Ravenclaw classmate was so unwilling to partner up with her but did because Edmund, Neville and Susan were all in one group already.

"We're just talking about the Yule Ball." Padma said quietly, trying to not wake anyone up. She had already woken everyone up thrice this month because she was squealing about something. "Cedric asked Cho to the ball in the most romantic way."

"Padma forced Carmichael to go with her." Cho giggled. "He looked like he had a fun time though."

Padma smiled proudly, "What can I say, I'm the life of the party." She shrugged and looked over at Hermione in her dress. "How was Krum?" She asked.

"He was," Hermione failed to come up with an attractive quality and instead told Padma and Cho what she really knew. "He was a good listener." She sat down and sighed. Her mind was occupied with the confession that Edmund made.

Cho just nodded knowingly. "Cedric and I were one of the last people at the ball." She said to Padma, "Ron started a fight with Hermione because she was Krum's date, Edmund had to step in." Padma cringed slightly.

"He confessed that he might even love me." Hermione said from the couch and the two girls gasped. Padma hadn't expected it and neither did Cho. "He didn't tell you anything about loving me, Padma? He didn't tell anything to Cedric, Cho?" She wondered.

"Cedric is a good friend." Cho said with a soft blush on her cheeks. "He doesn't tell me anything about Edmund except for his good actions. He did tell me about when Lockhart was a professor here, about the dwarves."

"I only got one back then." Hermione had a small smile on her face.

"From Edmund." Cho said, "Cedric told me, last week. We were talking about Valentines and he told me about his flowers that he had sent, along with a dwarf."

"Edmund sent me a dwarf?" Hermione blinked a few times and Padma looked confused, she hadn't heard about it either.

"He did."

It was the first time someone had ever sent her something for Valentines. "Why don't you understand that Edmund likes you?" Padma asked quietly. "There used to be a time where I was just happy with being his friend, just because I used to like him."