Author's note: Sorry for the week long wait. Real life rears its ugly head again. But I hope this makes up for it. And yes, it looks as if the songs are back…I hope you like. Please read and review! I am amazed at the response I've gotten so far on this one and I've only posted two chapters! Blows my mind! Thanks again for everyone who took the time to read it and tell me what you thought and especially to those who don't usually read AU stories, but who are giving that genre and me a chance! So, without further ado…
Chapter Three
Sitting on the Dock of the Bay
"Sittin' here resting my bones
And this loneliness won't leave me alone
It's two thousand miles I roamed
Just to make this dock my home
Now, I'm just gonna sit at the dock of the bay
Watching the tide roll away"
(Otis Redding, "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay")
"I'm only going to ask you this one more time," Hermione said slowly, her wand trained on the green-eyed man before her. His bemused expression was making her madder by the second. "Who are you?"
"And WHO are you?" Harry asked folding his arms as the girl used her free hand to hold on tightly to the towel wrapped around her body.
"I asked you first," she replied crossly.
He held out a hand to calm her, but she pointed her wand menacingly at him and he stepped back.
"Easy, easy," he said an amused tone to his voice.
"What?" Hermione asked when he started to laugh.
He shook his head. "Why don't you put that away before you take someone's eye out?"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "I can assure you that I know how to use it very well and if you keep on acting like that, I won't think twice about using it on you to hex you into the next century. I can do things with this wand…"
"Alright," Harry interjected. He pulled a serious face. "See? I'm not laughing anymore. Now…can you please put your wand down?"
"Not until you tell me who you are and why you're here," Hermione said firmly.
Harry shook his head again. He'd humor this girl, but he was quickly losing his patience. Here he was trying to be a good host, albeit on Sirius' orders, and he was being threatened by some crazy, wet woman in a towel. She actually had a nice figure, he thought to himself, but no sooner had he thought it, he wondered where in the world that thought had come from. He focused his attention back on the girl.
"You're on my island," he explained. "And I must say this isn't the best way to treat your host-well, one of them anyway."
With her wand still aimed at him, Hermione's mouth fell open. "You know Remus Lupin?" she asked.
"Yes," he answered. "Satisfied? Want to put that wand down?"
Still not looking convinced, Hermione studied Harry. "H-how do I know you're not some sicko Peeping Tom?"
Harry laughed. "I guess you'll have to just take my word on it. And if you look at it logically, there are only three people on this island. You, me and my godfather. Do you really think Remus Lupin would have sent you to an island where he thought someone would peep at you?"
Hermione hesitated for a moment before dropping her wand to her side.
"Thank you," Harry said, bending down and starting to pick up the towels and blankets that were littering the floor.
"I'm sorry," Hermione apologized. She watched him for a moment before bending down to help him gather up the linens. "You just startled me is all."
"It's no problem," he said absently. "You're early. We weren't expecting you until much later."
Hermione folded a towel and placed it neatly back into the basket. "There was some confusion about my portkey.
Guess they forgot to take into account the difference in time zones."
As he reached over to put another towel in the basket, he was treated to a rather nice view of her cleavage. Luckily for Harry, she was busily folding another towel and didn't catch him staring. Harry quickly looked away.
"There you are," he said clearing his throat. He got to his feet as he placed the last towel into the basket. He held out a hand to help the girl to her feet. She looked thoughtfully at him before gripping her towel tightly around her. Then she took his proffered hand and he pulled her to her feet.
"Thanks," she said softly. She gave him a slight smile as they stared at each other, sizing one another up. It was Harry who broke the silence.
"So…do you have a name?" he asked. The way he was looking at her made Hermione suddenly aware of the fact that she was nearly naked talking to a complete stranger.
She blushed. "My name?"
"Yes," he said, nodding. "Unless you prefer to be known as the random, daft, wand-waving girl."
Her cheeks reddened even more. "My name's Hermione. Hermione Granger."
He nodded.
"Gosh, that sounded like I was James Bond or something. I'm sorry about that. But yes, that's my name, Hermione. Some people have the worst trouble pronouncing it. I went out with this one bloke who kept calling me 'Herm-own-ninny. '"
He was looking at her with an unreadable expression on his face. This only made her feel more nervous.
"Sorry," she said shaking her head. "I tend to talk a lot when I'm nervous."
"Why are you nervous?" he asked confused.
"Well, I'm not…really," she said quickly.
He nodded. "Hermione, that's a nice name actually. Your parents must have been fans of Shakespeare then?"
Hermione pulled a surprised face. She certainly hadn't expected him to know about the origin of her name. She felt bad for passing judgment on someone she didn't know.
"Yes," she said with a grin. "The Winter's Tale is my mum's favorite. She toyed with naming me Paulina or Emilia, too, but thought Hermione was rather unique."
"That's a good play," Harry said, nodding. "And your mum made a good choice. Hermione's a nice name."
He chastised himself for actually having a pleasant conversation with this girl. He wasn't supposed to like her, was he?
"You're surprised that I knew that, weren't you?" he asked her. "That I know Shakespeare?"
"Yes," she admitted sheepishly. "Pleasantly surprised."
"Where would you like these?" he asked, picking up the basket.
"You can just leave them here," she answered. "I can put them away later. I really appreciate you and your godfather doing this for me."
"No problem," Harry said. "I guess I'll leave you to it then."
He started to walk away, but Hermione called out to him.
"Wait," she said. "You didn't tell me your name."
"I didn't?" Harry asked, freezing in place. This girl was obviously a witch and from what he could tell, a rather smart one at that. What he didn't need was her knowing who he really was and going back home to London and selling her story to the Daily Prophet.
"No," she said, holding on to her towel. "You didn't. Unless of course you prefer to be called 'Sicko Peeping Tom' or 'perv'."
He laughed. She obviously didn't recognize him, which was a good sign.
"Please don't call me that. If it's all the same to you, I'd prefer you call me Jack," he said,
turning around to face her. "Jack Evans."
He extended his hand and Hermione stepped forward to shake his hand. "Curious," she commented as they shook hands.
"What? What's curious?"
"You don't look much like a 'Jack'," she answered simply. Something about him seemed somewhat familiar, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what. He was quite handsome, despite his hair being a little disheveled. Something in his eyes seemed…
"What does a 'Jack' look like exactly?" he asked, hoping this girl didn't recognize him. She was obviously quite clever and he made a mental note to be careful around her.
"I don't know," she said with a laugh.
"Okay then," Harry said, scratching the nape of his neck. It would probably be a good idea to get out of here. "I'll leave you to get settled then. If you need anything just let us know."
"Thanks," Hermione said walking him toward the door. "Thanks for letting me stay here and for the linens."
"You're welcome," Harry said. "See you later."
Hermione nodded and closed the door behind her.
I don't think his name is really Jack Evans. He's hiding something. But what?
She leaned against the door.
Whatever it is, it's of no concern to me. I'm here to relax and not get mixed up in someone else's life.
She sighed and walked slowly back to the bathroom, wondering what she would do first on this first day of her holiday.
*****
Sirius was sitting in the breakfast nook of their house, drinking a cup of coffee and reading the newspaper when Harry walked back inside. He tried not to hide the smile on his face as his godson helped himself to a cup of coffee and a bagel.
"I see you over there trying not to laugh you wanker," Harry said. "You knew she was already here, didn't you?"
"I can neither confirm nor deny," Sirius said, turning the page of his newspaper.
"What are you playing at Sirius?" Harry asked, sitting down at the table.
"Nothing," Sirius said pretending to be taken aback. "You are so suspicious, Harry. Always thinking the worst."
"I wonder why," Harry grumbled as he spread some cream cheese on his bagel.
"So…"
"So…," Harry mocked.
"You gonna tell me how you liked her?" Sirius asked impatiently.
"No," Harry answered.
"Which means you did like her," Sirius said smugly. "She seems like a lovely girl."
"How would you know that?" Harry asked.
"I don't," Sirius replied. "But Remus thinks quite highly of her. He wouldn't send someone here unless he thought well of them, would he? And..."
"And you and Remus thought you'd do some matchmaking?" Harry asked sarcastically. He shook his head. He wondered again why hi s dad chose such infuriating people like this to be his best mates. He wondered how his mum would allow one of them to be his godfather. Meddling Marauders.
"We're not matchmaking," Sirius answered. "I just think it'll be good for you to have someone your own age around here for awhile that you can talk to and show around…"
Harry put his coffee cup down and looked across the table at his godfather. "I'm not showing her around, Sirius. And I'm certainly not going to chat her up every day for two months. I have better things to do with my time than play nursemaid to some daft girl…"
"Like what?" Sirius asked, pushing back from his chair and getting to his feet.
"Important things," Harry said flustered.
"Daft girl, eh?" Sirius asked amused. "For a daft girl, you certainly spent a long time over there."
Harry laughed. "She'd just come out of the shower when I walked in."
Sirius raised an eyebrow.
"Sod off, Snuffles," Harry said. "She had a towel wrapped around her, for Merlin's sake! We surprised each other and I dropped the basket and she helped me pick everything up. That's all. Very innocent."
"Innocent, my arse," Sirius commented under his breath.
"It was," Harry said defensively.
"Did you introduce yourself as 'Jack'? Or did you go the honest route?" Sirius asked.
"Jack," Harry answered before taking a bite of his bagel. "Lupin didn't tell her who we really were, did he?"
"No," Sirius said. "He just told her we were mates of his. That's all. You know Moony wouldn't
tell her unless you asked him too. Why do you ask? Think she sussed you out?"
Harry considered this question. He felt safe to say that she hadn't.
"No," he replied. "But she's quite smart and clever from what I can tell. We'll both have to be on our toes around her."
"Especially you," Sirius teased. "Being as you fancy her…"
"I DO NOT FANCY HER!" Harry protested loudly. "I don't even know the girl for one thing. And for another, she's a complete nightmare! She nearly cursed me this morning. Does that sound like the beginning of a romance to you?"
Sirius just shrugged and watched his godson finish off his breakfast. No, Sirius thought to himself. That didn't sound like the beginning of a romance to him. But, it was a start.
****
Later that day, Hermione had already unpacked her belongings and had decided to get some writing done, but she could hear the sounds of the waves crashing to the shore and the sounds of the seagulls outside. To say it was a beautiful day would have been a gross understatement. She quickly threw on her bathing suit and a pair of shorts.
She found a few fishing poles down by the docks and decided that she'd try her hand at fishing. She'd never done it before, of course, but how hard could it be? She smiled happily to herself as she walked down the dock carrying her fishing pole and a bucket of bait and hooks and a printout from the computer on fishing.
She sat down on the edge of the docks and read over the information she'd printed out. She was so busy reading she hadn't noticed or heard the boat approaching the dock. That was, she hadn't noticed until it pulled up alongside her.
"What are you doing?" Harry asked as he looked at her holding the fishing rod in one hand and a piece of paper in the other.
"Fishing," she said absently.
He stared at her in amusement. "Don't take this the wrong way, but paper isn't really the best bait to use."
She rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to use the paper as bait. I'm reading up on how to fish. I printed out some things from my laptop computer, if you must know."
"You've got to be kidding me," he said with a laugh. "You can't learn about fishing from a computer or a book."
"You can learn everything from books," Hermione said indignantly.
"Not fishing," he said, hopping out of the boat and onto the docks.
"Is there a purpose for you bothering me?" she asked.
"No," he said with a laugh. "But you are rather amusing."
"Leave me alone, please," she said, picking out a worm from the bucket and looking at the fishing rod wondering how she was supposed to do this. She didn't want this Jack to know that she had no real idea of what she was doing.
"Need some help?" he asked.
"No," she said.
"Are you sure?" he asked her. "Because you're doing that all wrong."
"Oh for Merlin's sake!" Hermione said exasperatedly. "Fine. I don't have any idea what I'm doing. Could you please help me? Satisfied?"
He grinned and sat down beside her on the docks. "Immensely."
Deftly, he baited her line and showed her how to cast the line into the water. She listened intently and couldn't help but be impressed. He obviously knew what he was doing.
"What sorts of fish do you have out here?" she asked.
"Marlin, sailfish, tuna, mahi-mahi," he answered. "They have a lot of fishing tournaments here actually. Those are mostly on the main island though."
"Ever enter any of those?" she asked.
"A couple," he admitted shyly.
"Won a couple, too, didn't you?"
"Aye," he said with a grin. "That I have."
She smiled and couldn't help but admit how much she liked being here. This was really a small piece of heaven right here on earth. She could get used to something like this. It also helped to have someone nice to talk to. Or at least he was being nice when he wasn't being insufferable.
"You should try and go snorkeling while you're down here," he was saying.
She grinned. "I'd love that. I've always wanted to do that actually."
"You should," Harry said as he handed her back the fishing rod. "Now hold on tightly to that and if you feel something tug let me know. I'll show you how to reel it in."
"Okay," she said. "But you don't have to sit down here with me. I'm sure you have loads of stuff you'd rather be doing. You don't have to baby-sit me."
He laughed. "No, I don't. But, I certainly couldn't leave you down here reading to the fish, could I? I'd never catch another one the rest of my life."
They sat in the hot sun, neither speaking for quite some time.
"Hermione?" Harry asked. "So, you work with Lupin?"
"He's my boss," she answered.
"And he sent you on a two-month holiday?" Harry asked. "Pretty good boss, isn't he?"
"He is," Hermione said with a laugh. "But to tell you the truth, I really didn't want to go on holiday. Mind you, I like being here so far, but I'm a bit of a work-aholic."
"No," Harry said pretending to be surprised.
"I am," she said nodding her head. "I've been that way most of my life. Well, all of my life actually. It sort of caught up to me recently and Lupin thought I needed a break to regroup as it were."
"Sabbatical," Harry said.
"Yeah," she said, nodding her head. She explained to him about her panic attack and how she worried that
she'd blown any chances of advancing at the Ministry by having a weak moment like that.
"I'm sure you're making more out of this than anyone else is," Harry said. "And you probably were working yourself too hard. There's nothing wrong with taking a break every now and then. You're too young to just be all work all the time."
"That's what Lupin said, too," she said. "And I know he's right, but it doesn't make it any less easy."
Harry nodded.
"So what brought you down here?" she asked conversationally.
"Right after I graduated from school, I took a year off to just travel and I sort of ended up here," he explained, trying to be deliberately vague. "I fell in love with the place and haven't had any inclination to go back home. This is my home now."
"I could see why you'd love this place," Hermione said looking around the island. "It's really something."
"Aye, but you've not seen it all yet," Harry said. "You should see the main islands. They'd take your breath away."
"I'll have to go exploring soon then," she said. "But I don't reckon I can apparate."
"No," Harry said. "But if you want to go into the main islands, I could take you in the boat."
"You'd do that?" she asked, surprised.
"Yeah," Harry said, shrugging his shoulders. "Whenever you want to go, just let me or my godfather know and we can run you over there."
"Thanks," Hermione said. She was about to say something else when she felt something tug on the line. "Jack! I've got something!"
Harry got behind her and held onto the line and told her to begin reeling it in. She did as she was told and found that this was quite hard work.
"I think you may have something quite large," Harry said, as he helped her.
Hermione grinned excitedly.
"Okay, pull," Harry directed her.
Hermione finally pulled up on the line and one of the biggest fish she'd ever seen was at the end of the line.
"Well done," Harry said impressed. "Not bad for a rookie."
Hermione grinned. "What did I get?"
"You Miss Granger caught your first Marlin," he said patting her on the back. "Not bad. Not bad at all."
"Fantastic," Hermione commented as she watched Harry take it from the hook. "That was really fun."
"We just need to clean this little guy up and you should have a nice dinner," he said. "Unless you'd like to find out about cleaning the fish from the computer, of course?"
She laughed and was about to say something when she saw a strange expression come over Jack's face. She turned around to see what he was looking at and saw an older man staring at them from the deck of the main house.
"Who's that?" Hermione asked turning back around to face Jack.
"My godfather," Harry said, picking up the fish. "I need to get going, but I'll clean this up for you and drop it by later."
"Oh," Hermione said disappointed that he didn't want to show her how to do it. They were doing fine just a few minutes ago and now he looked as if he couldn't wait to get away from her. She wondered if she was missing something. She didn't have a chance to ask because the next thing she knew, Jack was retreating down the docks toward the house.