When Fate Comes Knocking

When Fate Comes Knocking

Chapter One

This time, it wasn't a book

She didn't think much of it at first, but it was the fourth time in the last two weeks that he had been in there. She wondered if he read the books he bought at all.

There was something about him that she couldn't put her finger on. He had the most amazing green eyes, ones that shone and twinkled but were almost hidden behind wire-rimmed glassed. His jet black hair that had this unique never-been-brushed look.

One might have thought he was just scoping the bookstore she owned, looking for possible security hazards, but she had charmed the place so that no one with the intent to harm or steel could enter.

You see, if you haven't guessed already, the owner of this bookstore was none other then Hermione Granger, and she was a witch. She attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry when she was eleven and graduated with high honors, top of her class. Going to Hogwarts had been a drastic change in her life.

The bookshop lived up to its name; it was called `Musty Pages.' Of course she couldn't take the credit for that one, which went to her best friend Ron Weasley. When she announced to her housemates that she decided to open a bookshop the first thing that came out of his mouth was `And here I thought you would actually keep your nose out of those musty pages for a while.'

Ron, you would never have know they would become best friends when they first met. He thought of Hermione as a bossy know-it-all and she thought he was a trouble maker. Things changed after their second year when Hermione and Ginny, Ron's little sister, became fast friends. After a while Hermione and Ron came around and became friends as well.

Their third year was the most eventful as Sirius Black escaped prison and brought Peter Pettigrew to justice. And because Hermione's cat helped the situation, Hermione found friendship with Sirius Black and his best friend, and werewolf, Remus Lupin.

The five of them lived at number 12 Grimmauld Place, since every one of them was currently single. It was also better then living alone, especially at this time. Since attending Hogwarts she knew there was a Dark Wizard still out there. Some still think he's dead, but others like her old headmaster think he will find away to return.

So the bookshop was empty except for the green eyed man skimming the names of the book on one of the shelves. And Hermione, twenty-four and single, was trying to look as if she was reading her book, while she really couldn't take her eyes off the costumer. He'd often glance in her direction and she would quickly look back at her book. She didn't know his name, but boy did she want to. It was eerily quiet, nothing but the click from the clock on the wall could be heard. Hermione carefully put her book down and got up, and started to walk over to him.

~*~

She's actually walking up to me, he thought as he was skimming through a book. He didn't know why he kept coming back; heck he didn't know why he actually came into this shop in the first place. But he was glad he did. There was something about the bookshop owner that he couldn't put his finger on.

His name was Harry Paxton. And he was on a journey to find his roots. Though his adoptive parents couldn't understand why he wanted to find out where he came from, they supported him. He knew his original name; the one he was born with was Potter. He hadn't been to England in a very long time, probably since he was five. He and his parents moved around a lot. But know he knew England was calling him home for some reason. He had been having weird dreams lately and they all pointed to this part of the world. Somehow he had to find out who he was and why he wound up in an orphanage.

He defiantly did not expect to find an interest in a girl, but sometimes you just can't help it. And here she was walking up to him, with her bushy brown hair tied back and her deep chocolate brown eyes full of curiosity.

“Is there something I can help you with?” she asked politely. What to say? What to say? Think Harry, don't mess up.

“Just looking actually,” he managed to say.

“So you finished with the book you bought a couple days ago?” Harry could feel himself turn red. So I'm not just another face buying a book.

“Actually no, I haven't” Harry said rubbing the back of his neck.

“You didn't come here for a book, did you?”

~*~

Stupid! Why did I have to say that? He probably thinks I'm an idiot.

“Guess you caught me red handed.” He said this time making her blush.

“I was just going to close up for lunch,” Hermione started.

“Oh, I guess you want me to leave,” Stupidity strikes again.

“No, I didn't mean it that way,” Hermione said trying to fix things, she bit her bottom lip, “There's this place down the street that I usually have lunch at…”

“I'd love to,” Wow, that worked better then I thought.

“So do you have a name?” Hermione asked as they started for the door.

“Harry,” he replied, “And yours?”

“Hermione,” she said in return.

“Ah, `A Winter's Tale',”

“So you do read.” Hermione said acting surprised.

“Actually, it was a school assignment once.” Harry replied.

~*~

A huge smile was plastered on her face as Hermione arrived home later that day. She entered the kitchen to find Ginny, Sirius and Remus in there. Ginny however saw the expression on her face before she could hide it.

“Ok, so you finally got his name and you had lunch with him. Am I right or not?” Ginny asked her. Hermione stood there speechless. “First off, you hardly ever close up shop for lunch, and when I went to look for you, I saw you sitting outside and you weren't alone.”

Hermione once again felt her face redden.

“About time, is all I got to say.” Remus said while flipping the pages of his newspaper.

“Ron's going to flip,” Sirius said nursing a butterbeer, “You know he thinks of you as a sister.”

“Yeah, to him, no man's good enough,” Ginny said, “So what's his name and when can we meet him?”

“His name is Harry Paxton and not for a while.” Sirius and Remus glanced at each other at the mention of the name `Harry'. The rest of their housemates knew of their connection with the infamous Harry Potter. But no one believed he was even alive anymore. Sirius and Remus felt extremely guilty of how and why he was lost to the Wizarding World.

“Did you get his number? Or do we have to listen out for the phone to ring.” Sirius said.

“Actually we just agreed to have lunch again tomorrow. We'll see what happens then now won't we.”