Chapter Six: Interruption
"Maya, why are you calling me?" Hermione asked, tripping as she rushed to put on her heels. "I'm going out with Harry and some of the old gang from school. I'm going to be late-and you know how I feel about tardiness."
"I know, I know. You told me not to call you again unless I have an emergency, and I do."
"Okay-so what is it?
"Joann's husband is very carefully threatening us. He came by today talking about how life is good, and you never know exactly how long you have. Then he said we should consider helping him with his custody case and that he wouldn't want anything bad to happen to our business if we lost."
Hermione frowned into the phone. "That sneaky S.O.B. Does he really think he can get away with that?"
"Hermione, I'm scared. If you could have seen his face-I-I just, I would feel better if you were here."
Sighing Hermione adjusted her black bra strap and stood in front of the mirror. "Well, here's to trying to look good for nothing," Hermione mumbled.
"I'm so sorry," Maya whispered. "The look in his eyes-"
"Maya, it's okay. I'm going to take a flight out tonight. I already have a plan forming."
"File an assault complaint?"
"If that's all that was needed I probably wouldn't bother coming back. The police would brush the complaint off. There's no proof he even came in to the office and the groundwork we'd have to do to find a witness is precious time we don't have. So, I'm going to meet with him, with a tape recorder of course. Extortion is a grand thing Maya."
"Hermione, you're a genius."
"If I were a genius, I'd find a way to keep you safe and let you do it, so that I could stay here. See you tomorrow night," Hermione sighed, flipping her phone off. "Reality really does bite."
Why did this have to happen when she and Harry just starting to move somewhere?
"Hermione? Are you almost ready?" Harry's voice came through her door.
She bent down and grabbed the blue towel; the boys had decorated her bathroom with, wrapped it around her, and opened the door with a defeated look on her face.
"Wow, you going to the party like that? Well, hell, we don't even really have to go. I'll go get into my towel-" he said backing up, a boyishly charming smile on his lips.
"Harry!" Hermione scolded.
He grinned, sweeping his hair out of his eyes. "Kidding, kidding. What's wrong?"
"I have to go back to New York."
Harry instantly frowned, his face turning cold. "Why?"
"An old client of mine is making threats. I'm representing his wife in a case of custody…"
"I thought you were a Criminal Lawyer," Harry interrupted.
"I am, but when kidnapping is involved it's in my area. Anyhow, I need to cunningly get him behind bars for extortion."
"What?"
"Extortion-okay, think of the mob, if they really do exist, going into a law firm and saying 'it would be a shame if anything would happen to this place it's so nice, a shame if anything happened to you,' it's a cryptic threat."
"Anyone smart enough can tell that that isn't cryptic."
"True, but you can't have them thrown into jail for only saying that."
"Sure you can," Harry argued.
"Not unless you have some type of proof. If you don't the only thing that can be done is to file a restraining order. This is where I'll make a reference to the song 'Goodbye Earl'. 'He walked right through that restraining order and put her in intensive care,' a.k.a a piece of paper isn't going to stop a murderer or a thief, metal bars on the other hand do a pretty good job."
"I get it. Are you coming back though?"
Hermione paused. "We have to finish your mum's diary, don't we? I want to know what happens. I mean we haven't really had time to read much of it, so please don't read any while I'm gone. I'll be back as soon as I can."
"Okay. I guess that means you're leaving now huh?"
"It does. The faster I take care of this the more time I'll be able to spend here."
"Fine-I'll tell you how the party was."
"Good, tell everyone I miss them. Oh, and Harry?" Hermione called before he could walk fully out of her view.
"Yeah?"
"I never did mention that Ylang Ylang is considered an aphrodisiac. Did you know that?"
Harry's face flushed. "I-I thought you said you only knew botanical names?"
"Yes," Hermione eased carefully onto the cold, wood tiled floor of the hallway, walking towards him. "But you told me the botanical name. You weren't, by any chance, trying to seduce me that night Harry Potter?" she whispered the last bit close to his face, searching his widened eyes as they flickered with want and a confusion.
"A-and if I was?"
She smiled gently at him and slid her hand down his arm. "It's a shame you only want to court me now. Or perhaps your intentions with the Ylang, Ylang was stating you lied in your letters?"
Harry ran a hand nervously through his already messy hair. "I wasn't lying in the letter. I was just being hopeful that, after all the time we knew each other something would spark and-"
"Harry, that 'something' has been sparking the moment I saw you again."
The right side of Harry's mouth lifted into a smirk and he wrapped a hand around the back of Hermione's neck. "Is that so?"
Hermione sucked in a deep, startled breath, finally realizing the close proximity of the two of them. "Harry, will you kiss me before I go?"
Harry tucked a piece of hair behind her ears and bent forward, darting his tongue out, licking her bottom lip. "It seems that's the only thing I've been wanting to do since our first one."
Hermione raised an eyebrow. "The only thing?"
Harry snorted. "The only thing 'courting' allows."
"Ever think that maybe we should skip the courting and go straight to the good stuff."
Harry brushed his cheek against hers. "Every time I see you in jeans."
Hermione chuckled and pulled back slightly. "Jeans?"
Shrugging, he explained. "You have the most gorgeous arse I have ever seen."
Hermione's mouth dropped open, her eyes blinked rapidly. "Harry!"
"What? With all this out in the open talking I thought it would be okay."
Hermione nibbled her bottom lip for a second before responding. "I-I just never expected to hear you say something like to me."
"When you come back expect it a lot more. I definitely won't be able to just 'court' you for long."
"Well as that goes, you could just say we've been doing it since fourth year," Hermione supplied.
"Really if you want to go in that direction," Harry said shrugging his shoulders and wrapping his arm loosely around her terrycloth covered hip. "We should be in bed right now then."
Hermione smiled shyly, bowing her head and eyeing his shoulder. "Maybe you should hold that thought for when I come back."
"I won't need to hold it, it'll be there every minute until you come back."
Hermione snorted. "That was so-"
"Maybe, but it's the truth," Harry said, cutting her off.
Hermione kissed him swiftly on the lips, and quickly pulled away. She fiddled with the hem of her towel, her nerves making her stomach turn, and by the look on Harry's face, and she knew he'd be waiting. "I'm going to go pack now."
Harry nodded, watching her as she backed away into her room.
To Be Continued…
I know it's short and it took forever to update-very sorry, but it's something.