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Pub Night By Tawny Spitfyre Part Seven: Dirty Old Wizards Harry found it hard to believe that this month marked nine years since he first met Ron and Hermione. He could still see them clearly, just as they were on that first train ride to Hogwarts; Ron, the friendly, skinny, read-haired boy; Hermione, the big-haired, buck-toothed know-it-all. Ron hadn't changed much. Of course he was much taller now, towering over the lot of them, and he had almost grown into those large features of his, but he was essentially the same guy; still fun, and a good friend with a typical red-head's temper. Hermione, on the other hand, had changed significantly. She still knew it all, but she wasn't as keen to make sure everyone else knew that fact. Harry had long ago figured out that her smart act was a cover-up for her insecurities about her looks. He didn't know why though. Sure, she might not be a cover model for Wizarding-Sports Illustrated, but she was pretty. She had finally mastered a combination of Sleekeasy's and time management that allowed her to control her hair and not waste hours doing it. Her smile was radiant, thanks in part to dentist-parents and in part to Malfoy's hex during fourth year, and she had maintained her girlish figure. But mostly it was her eyes. Now that he thought about it, Victoria was right. Hermione's eyes had a maturity and depth like no one else Harry knew, yet they still sparkled with mischief when she was in a playful mood. He could spend hours looking at her eyes. Harry chuckled in spite of himself. "Some guy is going to be really lucky to get her someday," he thought. "I just hope I can find a girl who can measure up to her. She'd be awfully bored hanging out with one of those Quidditch girls, if that's who I landed up with." He was still watching as Ginny and Hermione passed a table full of older wizards, several of whom turned and stared as they walked by. He saw one of them distinctively point at Hermione, then lean over and make a comment to his friend. The friend made a face that only a man could, and only a man would recognize, and Harry felt a tinge of anger well-up inside him. He quickly excused his way through the crowd to catch up to Ginny and Hermione, and reached them just as they got to the table. Glancing fiercely at the table of wizards, Harry pulled out chairs for both girls before seating himself. Ron saw Harry's expression and followed his eyes to the men across the room, who were laughing and patting each other on the back. "If looks could kill, Harry…" Ron said and whistled. "What happened?" "Nothing," he said, taking a swig of his drink. "Just a bunch of dirty old wizards." "Oh, really?" Ginny asked, looking back over her shoulder. "Think I should try out one of my lines on them?" "No!" shouted Ron and Harry at the same time. Ginny laughed. "Alright, fine!" "Who was that girl at the bar?" Seamus asked Harry with a wicked twinkle in his eye. Harry groaned. "A girl at the bar?" Hermione asked teasingly while poking Harry in the ribs. "Did you use one of your pick-up lines, then?" "No. She just happened to come up next to me to order her drink, and she was being friendly." "She looked quite friendly from here," Seamus added. "And quite pretty, too." Harry glared at Seamus while Hermione and Ginny sat up a little taller in their chairs, peeking over the heads near them to see if they could spot her. "Where is she, Harry?" Ginny asked playfully. "You didn't invite her to sit with us?" "No." "So if you didn't use a line on her, she must have used one on you," Ron said, beaming at the thought. "What did she say?" Harry rolled his eyes, not wanting to talk about Victoria anymore. "She said 'Hi.'" Ginny and Ron's faces dropped. "'Hi?' That's it?" Ron said with disappointment. Harry nodded. "Well, she had to have said something else." Harry groaned again, took a deep breath and blurted, "She said 'Hi,' and then she commented on how crowded it was in here, introduced herself, asked who I was here with and then she asked if I had a girlfriend, because she and her friends had seen me from across the room and thought maybe Hermione was my girlfriend, and when I said that she wasn't, she said that she had won their bet and that her friends were going to be buying her drinks the rest of the night, and then just before she left she said she might need me to go tell her friends to prove it, so I told her she knew where to find me if they didn't believe her." He gasped; he had said all of that in one breath. Once again the table fell silent. The astonished looks on his friends faces was almost enough payment for having to tell them everything he had just said. He actually hadn't really wanted to, but he knew they would have harassed him all night if he didn't. Slowly, one by one, the grins came…and then the laughter. Uproarious laughter. By the time Harry had caught his breath, he actually felt better about getting that off his chest, and saw the humour in the whole situation. He started laughing with them. "I'm going to have to remember that one," Ginny managed to say between breaths. "My friends and I made a bet…. That's fantastic!" Hermione had put a hand on Harry's shoulder, and was laughing so hard that she gave herself the hiccups. This, of course, made everyone laugh even harder. "The poor -hic!- girl," she laughed, wiping tears from her eyes. "You com-hic!-pletely blew her -hic!- off." Ginny snorted. Ron and Seamus were trying to stop laughing, but it took a minute for everyone to get it all out. Finally their laughter calmed. "Ok, so can we talk about something aside from pick-up lines now?" Harry asked. They all nodded and he grinned. The sat quietly for a few moments, catching their breath and taking sips of their drinks. Harry glanced at Hermione, and smiled when he saw that mischievous sparkle in her eyes. She looked up and locked eyes with him for a moment, then looked back down at her glass as a shy smile crept across her face and she bit her bottom lip. He wasn't sure, but he thought that for a moment her cheeks flushed slightly. Ron, who was not a big fan of sitting quietly in a pub, finally broke the silence once again. "So," he asked with a smile, "what took you two so bloody long in the loo?" Thanks: Thanks to the following links I used as references. All of my pick-up lines were completely original, or altered versions of lines found online. Some that appear in both my story and on the sites were actually in my head first, I just discovered that I wasn't the only one who thought of them. J http://www.mrcranky.com/movies/harrypotterchamberofsecrets/82.html http://www.rictusempra.8m.com/pick.html http://geocities.com/dracomione4ever/list3.htm |
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