A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I'm sorry I can't do single thanks right now, but I'm so swamped-it's a wonder I even got this finished! I've been at a long family vacation in Disney World for a while, hence why I haven't updated, but while I was there I got inspired for three other stories-they're in the process right now of being completed (or started, lol). Look out for them! I'm trying to finish or at least majorly continue my current fics before I get them out, but I dunno...also, excuse the poor grammar. I haven't the time to go over this, and my non-updatedness is gnawing in guilt away at me!who cares what I'm saying, go out and read! Read!!!
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Girl Boy
Chapter Five: Preparation
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(Hermione)
I moved happily into my new office. Before I knew it time had unfurled and I suddenly found myself almost ready to have that meeting with Harry Potter.
As I walked to his office that brief moment when our lips almost kissed began to haunt me. I had felt his warm breath on my lips...oooh how I'd wanted him to lean in just a few more centimeters...
I took a deep breath before raising my hand to knock on his door. Yet before my knuckles even touched the dark wood it opened and I immediately saw two emerald eyes peering amusingly at me.
"You're early," was his simple statement. Harry opened the door further and I walked in, holding my portfolio close to my chest.
"I try to make a habit of being early," I finally replied. He smiled.
"You'll go far with that habit."
I smiled nervously.
"I was always late to my classes when I was younger...sometimes I wished that I had someone there to scold me, you know? But..."
"Where'd you go to school?" I saw him frown and immediately regretted what I'd said. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"
"It's not that," he interrupted, that smile back on his face. "It's just...I don't have the best of memories there, that's all."
"Oh," was all I could muster.
"I went to Hogwarts," he said as he rested his hands on his desk. "It's a...a private school on the outskirts of England. But enough about me..." Harry went to his desk and opened a purple folder, jagged notes covering post-its.
"Oh, r-right," I stuttered, opening my own portfolio.
"I don't know anything about girls," Harry said, grinning. "That was always Ron's expertise. And everyone else I'm working with are hogs...so..." He turned to me, running a hand through his hair. "I'll be desperately needing your wonderful, feminine insights."
"That I can do."
"Good. To be honest, I wanted to talk to you alone for a few minutes before we had a board meeting...at 3:30 I'm going to call everyone into meeting room 3A and brainstorm on possible products that would parallel what we already have. But um...Hermione..."
Oh, bloody hell. He had that look again.
"I just wanted to tell you that-"
Harry was interrupted by a knock, and looking slightly disappointed he called out, "Come in." And who else could it possibly be walking in on us.
I really, really despised God right about now. In fact, I was beginning to question his existence. But then again, someone had to ruin my life for me...
"Mr. Potter, I have the reports you...Hermione?"
"Hello, Justin..."
Ah bloody fucking hell...
"What're you...doing?" Justin's eyes darted from Harry to me and I sighed, looking away.
"Thanks, Justin," Harry said, stepping forward and taking the stack of papers from Justin. "We were just having a small meeting before the board assembles. I needed her opinion on a possible product."
"A meeting? But...aren't the two of you having a dinner meeting? Why would..." Justin was looking suspicious now, his jaw set.
Oh, no.
"A dinner meeting?" Harry blinked, before I could see a grin forming on his face. "Of course. I almost forgot, what with all this commotion...I would've asked her then, but I wanted to have everything ready before the board meeting commenced...you understand, don't you?"
"O-of course," Justin said, blinking as he looked at Harry. Trust Harry to talk out of everything... "I didn't mean to...well...there you are, then. Do you need anything else?"
"No, this is great, thanks." Harry smiled at Justin and Justin nodded, his eyes glancing to me before he turned around to walk out. I exhaled; had I really been holding my breath that entire time? A slight click was heard through the room before Harry turned to me, an amused grin flirting with his lips. "So...a dinner meeting?"
"W-well...I..." I blushed, chewing on my bottom lip as I tried to coherently think. When had thinking been this hard for me?
"Was I ever going to know about this dinner meeting?" Harry asked, his grin growing wider as I grew redder. I could just feel the air simmer from the surface of my face.
"I...um...Justin, he's...well..."
"I guess that means I'm picking you up at eight, then?"
"Wh-what?" I looked up and saw Harry smiling at me, his eyes blazing happily.
"For our dinner meeting. You can pick the restaurant."
"B-but..."
"I really like Italian, just so you know."
"You can't be serious!" I finally said.
"Why not?" Harry asked, his eyebrows raising slightly. "What's the point of having a dinner meeting without the dinner?"
"But this isn't..." I opened my mouth to argue but found that nothing was coming out.
Damnit, I was stuck.
"This isn't what?" he finally asked.
"This isn't...professional," I answered weakly, my eyes falling to the floor. Harry walked closer-I could see his shiny shoes moving closer, anyway-and before I knew it his finger was underneath my chin and my face was being pulled up to meet his.
"I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable," he said, his green eyes serious. God damnit his eyes were beautiful...
"N-no," I stuttered, smiling up at him. "You didn't."
"Okay," he said, his eyes glancing at my lips before coming up to rest on my eyes.
Do I go on a dinner meeting with Harry Potter? Part of me said that we were merely working into the night...taking our jobs home with us, so to speak. But I think I knew that if I went into this...we might not reemerge business partners. I didn't want to betray Justin.
"So what do you say?" he finally asked.
And I made the mistake of looking up at his eyes.
"Yes," I muttered breathlessly.
"Eight it is," he replied, grinning.
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"Diet-pills?"
"Abortion pills."
"Chocolate."
Oh, my bloody God.
"My wife enjoys knitting."
"Thongs?"
No wonder these men were either single or helplessly stuck in marriage.
I shook my head and sighed, rubbing my temples. At the beginning of the meeting Harry had asked what came into our minds when we thought of products women would be most interested in buying. And this is what they were coming up with?
"Cheap clothes."
"Shoes?"
"Porn, maybe?"
How the bloody hell was this professional?
"Gentlemen," Harry interrupted, looking highly amused. "Please...be serious."
"I am!" the man to my right said. "Women are all about diet and keeping their figure. Its on the top of their priority list."
"Oh, is it?" I asked him harshly. He recoiled slightly at the tone of my voice, his eyes narrowing at the disgust evidence on my face.
"Yes," he replied icily.
Well, you're a bloody embecile.
"Ms. Granger...you haven't uttered a word throughout the entire meeting. Would you like to contribute some thoughts?" I looked up and saw Harry's pleading eyes.
"Well...considering that our top market sells currently are our sports drinks and sports bars...there are women athletes as well. Surely they would want drinks and nutrition bars directed towards them?"
"Women don't want drinks and bars," the man sitting across from me chortled.
"Then what do they want? I highly doubt you would know," I spat. He glared at me.
"Women want men. Comfortable lifestyles at home. Maybe if we advertise that our products provide security--"
"We don't want security!" I nearly shouted.
It always annoyed me when men believed they knew what we wanted. It was all that bloody publicity and tabloids and all those bleeding celebrities. Women were made out to be sluts, shopaholics, and only that. Men?! Security?! Please.
"We want independence, equality. Women are still degraded in sports, thought inferior to men...I think that's the angle we should go with. The fact that women will become and remain equal to the opposite sex."
Half the guys in the room looked at me as if I had grown two heads...granted, at the company picnics, the men dominated at the volleyball and kickball games. Their gaze just told me, "But women are inferior."
Just because Penelope and I were horrible at sports didn't mean all women were!
"Well, let's all go have a breather, hm?" Harry said, shuffling his papers around and stacking them neatly on top of each other. "We'll regroup tomorrow morning at 8:00. Any questions?"
Everyone shook their heads and slowly all of us rose from our seats. Half the men gave me glares on their way out...the other half saved fleeting smiles as they turned away.
"Hermione?" I turned around to notice Dean at my right. I had never talked to Dean...it wasn't because I disliked him, however. We just never crossed paths. I saw him frequently at company picnics and in the coffee room...
"Yes?"
"I just wanted to say that I think what you said today? It was awesome."
"Oh, well, it wasn't anything really-"
"Usually the newbies keep their mouth shuts and just nod along with the rest of the cows, you know? But you were open, direct...completely disagreed with Lee and Harvey. That's big...I mean, almost nobody contradicts them."
"Yes, well...they didn't know much about women, did they?"
"No," Dean replied, smiling at me. It caught me then how attractive he was. "I was wondering...would you want to grab some coffee? Anything better than what's here?"
"I would love to, but..." I saw Harry from the corner of my eye watching me, an unreadable expression on his face. "...but I've already made plans for tonight."
The thought I have a boyfriend, sorry didn't even cross my mind until the guilt washed over me.
"Allright then," Dean said, nodding at me as he began to walk backwards. "I'll see you tomorrow, then?"
I gave him a little wave and he threw me another grin before walking out of the meeting room.
Is it possible to cheat on a boyfriend with two men?
"Hermione?" Harry was standing next to me suddenly, a hand extended. "May I have the honor of walking you out?"
"My apartment's not far from here, Mr. Potter," I said as professionally as I could, gathering my papers to my chest. "I'll be fine."
"I need to know where to pick you up anyways," he said, his hand still outstretched.
I hesitated, but gently lay my hand in the palm of his. I couldn't help but feel a slight tingling from that sensation...
Suddenly, that ten minute walk to my apartment seemed much too short.
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"Here it is. The bible." I raised an eyebrow and waited for April to pull whatever the bloody hell it was from the plastic bag she was holding. She wiggled her eyebrows, waiting for a dramatic pause, and then pulled out a small black book.
"'The worst-case scenario survival handbook: Dating and Sex'?" I read, disbelief evident in my voice. "What the bloody hell?"
"I saw it today in the bookstore and bought it. Isn't it great?"
"I ordered you to go to the bookstore and get me another copy of 'A Catcher in the Rye,' because you lost my last one, and you buy me this?!"
"You're welcome," she said, patting my arm gently and smiling. "It's about time you read real literature, Hermione," she joked, mocking me. "There's a reason I lost that book, you know..."
"It's a marvelous book," I countered, frowning at this "survival handbook."
"I just can't believe I missed Harry," April moaned, looking out the window. "How could you let him into the flat and not let me see him?"
"I didn't let him in...and besides, you'll see him tonight."
"Yeah, but when he's ready for a date! You have to judge the guy when he's in his usual attire..."
"It's not a date, Pri! How many times do I have to tell you this?"
"Well, it's certainly not a dinner meeting..." She sighed, glancing at me from over her shoulder and muttering, "Poor Justin."
I sighed, leaning on the counter as I contemplated what I was going to do.
"I never should've accepted," I finally said.
"No, actually...I think I'm beginning to agree with Melissa and Sam on this one. If you really are miserable, maybe this is the best thing that can happen to you...besides, this Harry Potter bloke must be amazing. To make the great Hermione Granger speechless is a talent I wish I had."
I snorted, curiously picking up the "survival handbook" and browsing through it.
"How to fend off a pickup artist? How to determine if your date is an axe murderer? How to have sex in a small place?!"
"All very important things to know," April said, feigning seriousness. "Oh c'mon Hermione, you have to admit that it's just bloody hilarious. Better than 'Catcher in the Key.'"
"'Catcher in the Rye,'" I corrected, smiling. "Well, thanks April...I'll be sure to survive my dinner meeting with Harry tonight."
"Mr. Potter, you mean?" April teased, a glint in her dark eyes. "Don't be too informal, Hermione, otherwise he might think that he'll be doing more than a little eating."
I gave her a raised eyebrow before I turned around, the book in my hand, headed for my bedroom.
It was time to get ready for my date with Harry.
Er...my dinner meeting with Harry.
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reviewing's good for the soul...
A/N: I know that might be a little shorter than usual, but I was in a desperate hurry to get this out today.
The book April gave Hermione is indeed a volume in the famous "the worst-case scenario survival handbook" series; I bought it while shopping with a friend. Obviously I don't take it seriously, but it was a nice, hilarious read. The great thing about those books is that the authors write it with as much seriousness as they possibly can! Did you know that having sex in an airplane bathroom is illegal? Never knew...
The pigs: Lee, Harvey, and other unnamed speakers, are inspired by boys that go to my school (they just prove that boys are slime. Well, most of them, anyway.). I'm sure that professional business men are nothing of the sort, but I can always imagine Hermione having the same fire she has for S.P.E.W. saved for feminism in the muggle world, and I just thought it was a perfect way to show that. Also, another side note: that scene was meant to be slightly humourous, not at all serious. I mean really, would I willingly insult my own race? Er, gender...lol. J/k j/k.
Also, don't hate Dean! I've always thought that Dean was a rather awesome character, and although I'm a hardcore H/Hr, Hermione DOES deserve a guy LIKE Dean...don't worry, though, we all know who she's PERFECT for *wink*