A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews and kind comments. I hope you enjoy this chapter as well. Please continue to REVIEW and let me know what you think. Later on you will have a chance to decide the fate of some of the women.
Chapter 3: First meeting pt 2
"As you can see, there are a lot of us that still haven't had our chance to speak to Harry yet. I don't think its fair that you get a lot of one-on-one time with him." Katie answered.
"I see your point." Harry answered with a nod and noticed that Katie had short black hair with vibrant brown eyes and looked stunning in her halter style cream gown.
" Hi, my name is Katie Tagle. Harry I'd like to know what are you looking for in a potential partner?" Katie asked.
" Hi Katie. Well I'm looking for someone, who is true to him/herself, independent, has a good sense of humor, is honest and someone I can trust. They should also be somewhat smart, have a caring heart and is able to stand by their friends no matter what." Harry answered after careful thought.
"Those are some things that I look for too. I mean the person I spend my life with has to be trustworthy because I would want to be able to talk to them about anything." Katie answered.
"What about you?" Harry asked Tracy who had shoulder length red hair up in a bun highlighting her blue eyes and high cheekbones and bright smile.
"First of all my name is Tracy Lindo and for me I would want someone that I could confide in, have self confidence and a good sense of humor." Tracy answered.
"Tracy, I also find that a good sense of humor is essential in a relationship." Harry responded with a smile.
Tracy smiled back and said, "Yes I couldn't really be with someone who can't take any jokes because I think we all need something to lighten the mood when things get complicated."
"That I definitely agree with." He replied with a nod and turned to Christine expectedly. She had an angelic look to her with her brown soft curls and slim figure in a peach strapless gown.
"My name is Christine Lawford. What do I look for? Well I definitely look for someone who's intelligent, thoughtful, kind, and trustworthy with a humble sense of confidence. I'm also looking for someone who has a love of music because that is such a major part of my life but that isn't essential." She replied after some thought.
"So Christine, how is music part of your life?" Harry asked curiously.
"My dad plays in an orchestra and my mom is an opera singer. I've been singing opera for most of my life and I really just love being on the stage and singing some of my favorite operas in front of an audience. The music is just so moving." Christine answered with a wide grin.
"Maybe I could hear you sing sometime?" He asked with a grin noticing that her eyes lit up when she talked about her music.
"I would love to." She answered happily.
"I would love to hear you sing too." Isabelle added.
"Sure, I wouldn't mind performing for those who want to hear it." Christine replied with a tight smile.
"Christine is awesome." Tracy and Katie added.
"The two of you have heard her sing before?" He asked surprised.
"I have but I didn't actually know it was her until we met her here today. My dad loves listening to opera and my whole family went one year." Katie answered.
"I actually did know it was her because the time my best friend and I went together, I heard her sing and I loved it so I tried to find out more about her. I was so surprised and excited to meet her here." Tracy answered.
"Thanks for the compliments but I'll just let Harry make up his own mind." Christine responded.
"So Harry what kind of music do you like?" Katie asked quickly trying to turn his attention back to her.
*~*~*~*~
Hermione was enjoying talking to Chloe and Elizabeth and found that they had some of the same views on things. She then looked around to see if she could spot Harry anywhere. He seemed to have been outside for quite some time.
Just then another woman approached them with auburn hair up in a french twist and said, "Mind if I join you?"
"Of course not. The more the merrier." Chloe answered quickly.
"My name is Melanie. I think you guys are one of the only groups out there that seem to be having fun. What were you guys talking about?" She asked.
"Hi. I'm Jennifer, this is Hermione and the one over there is Chloe. It's nice to meet you. We were just talking about our lives and why we ended up here." Jennifer answered.
"It's good to meet all of you. Well, some of my coworkers signed me up here because they thought that I needed a change after my last boyfriend." Melanie responded.
"Don't we all?" Chloe asked.
"Yeah." The four girls chorused and laughed.
Hermione smiled but turned around and finally saw Harry and smiled to herself as she saw these girls hanging all over him. He looked liked he was trapped and wanted to leave but couldn't.
'Should I help him?' Hermione thought to herself.
She shook her head and said, "Would you guys excuse me?"
"Sure." Melanie said as Chloe and Jennifer nodded. Hermione started to make her way over to Harry.
*~*~*~*
Harry had finally gotten away from Katie and Tracy who were pestering him with questions. But before he could even take a breath, he felt a hand touch his shoulder. He turned and found himself facing a woman with a long brown hair, hazel brown eyes and an amazing figure.
"Hi, I don't think I've had a chance to formally introduce myself. My name is Wendy Lockart." Wendy spoke.
"Hi Wendy. It's nice to meet you. What kinds of things do you like to do?" Harry asked.
"Well I enjoy many athletic sports, reading and listening to music." She asked while batting her eyelashes.
"What kind of sports do you enjoy?" Harry asked politely trying to ignore her eyelash bashing.
"I enjoy playing lacrosse, tennis, basketball and volleyball. Volleyball is one of my favorite sports to play and it takes a lot of concentration. I was on a team in college and we made nationals." She responded continually batting her eyelashes.
Harry smiled but was really just annoyed by her eyelash bashing.
"I love volleyball too. What do you like to play Harry?" a new voice piped up.
"Well I like playing basketball. What is your name?" Harry answered nervously trying to think of muggle sports since he mainly played Quidditch but couldn't actually mention that. He then turned to face this new girl and saw her to be quite short but had long curly auburn hair. She was also wearing a low cut pink and white gown that showed her curves in all the right places.
"My name is Shannon Rydell." She responded with a smile.
"Basketball is my favorite sport." Another girl beside Shannon piped up.
"It is a very fun game but very competitive." Harry answered this new girl with a smile.
"Yes I know what you mean. My name is Sandra Elliot and I play professionally." She answered pushing back her ringlets and stood tall with a build of a model but broader shoulders.
"Who do you play for?" Harry asked intrigued and admiring how she still looked incredibly feminine in her green gown.
"I play for New York." She responded with a smile.
"The practices must be really tiring." Shannon commented.
"Yes they work us really hard but I find that all the working out has kept me in great shape." Sandra answered.
"I totally agree that exercise is very important in keeping our blood pumping around the body and keeping us healthy." Wendy added while still batting her eyelashes.
Harry smiled but was trying to keep from laughing.
Wendy grabbed a hold of Harry's arm and commented, "You must work out a lot."
"I like to exercise from time to time." He answered modestly.
"I say from your build that you must have to do a few hours everyday to keep that fit." Shannon added grabbing a hold of his other arm.
"Let go outside. I feel some hot air around here." Wendy said trying to lead him outside.
Shannon took a firm hold on his other arm so he couldn't really move and she smiled sweetly and responded, "I think its coming from over there" while pointing in Wendy's direction.
Hermione looked at Harry and tried to keep from laughing. She took a deep breath and tapped him on the shoulder and said, "Mind if I take a turn?"
Harry turned around causing both Shannon and Wendy to lose their grip. His eyes widened at the sight of Hermione but couldn't keep back a grin and responded, "Certainly."
"So you want a turn huh?" He asked raising his eyebrows and pretended to lean closer to her.
Hermione slapped him playfully and innocently responded "If that is the thanks I get then maybe I won't help you the next time you're trapped."
He whispered, " Okay, okay. I thought you could take a joke."
"I can but it just wasn't funny." She answered with a slight smile.
"Thank you for getting me out of there. That girl was driving me crazy with her eye lash thing." He answered while shaking his head.
"You mean like this?" Hermione asked batting her eyelashes.
"Stop that." Harry responded with a laugh.
Hermione looked around then said, "Maybe we should act so friendly. People might begin to suspect something."
"Okay, you're right. I wouldn't want you to get exposed too early." He answered and nodded.
"No we wouldn't want that." She replied with a smile.
"So I saw you talking over there. You seemed to be having fun." Harry commented.
"I did have some nice conversations with these two girls. They seem really nice." Hermione answered.
"So do you think they could be my match?" He asked.
"I don't actually know them that well yet but I do think they are possible candidates but you can decide for yourself." She added after a thought.
"I trust your judgement better than my own. If you say one of them could be it then I definitely think I'll like them." He answered with a firm smile.
"You really trust my judgement?" Hermione asked.
"If I couldn't trust your judgement then I can't trust anybody's." Harry reassured her.
"Well then how about you meet them?" She asked brightly.
"Lead the way milady." He answered with a bow.
Hermione just laughed and walked towards Chloe and Jennifer and noticed a few new faces.
"Look who I found?" Hermione asked the group.
"Hey Harry. My name is Chloe Desour" Chloe said with a smile.
Harry couldn't help but smile back. Chloe was really an exotic beauty with thick brown hair, brown eyes, bronze colored skin and had on an amazing dress that looked like it was made just for her. "Hi Chloe. It's great to meet you. So tell me something about yourself."
"Enchanted. Well I play the violin and I love helping out children so I work at daycare and visit the children's hospital as much as I can. " Chloe answered back with a grin.
"Its wonderful to meet someone who enjoys helping out others." Harry responded with a grin.
"Jennifer here enjoys helping out others too." Chloe said pointing to friend.
"So what do you do Jennifer?" Harry asked warmly eyeing the petit blond woman with a really straight hair and big brown eyes.
"Like Chloe said, I love interacting with people. I work in human resources and try to help people find jobs and things like that." Jennifer answered as she straightened out her dress.
"That must be a rewarding experience." He answered looking at her slim figure that fit the halter styled red gown she was wearing.
"That is why I love my job. But if you think my job is rewarding you should ask Hermione." Jennifer repsonded nodding over to Hermione.
Harry then turned his attention to Hermione and with a twinkle in his eyes asked her, "So what would you like to tell us about yourself?"
"My name is Hermione Granger and I work in research at the hospital." Hermione spoke nervously but shooting Harry a silent smile.
"What kind of research do you do?" Harry asked amused at her nervousness.
"I look into remedies for certain diseases and test out the products that are already out and improve them." She answered biting back a grin as she noticed Harry's amused expression.
"Why did you decide that you wanted to do this?" Harry asked.
"Because I want to help people and make a difference in people's lives." Hermione answered.
This caused Harry to smile. He knew how hard Hermione worked to help others and how much of her own heart she put into it. "That's very amazing of you to do that. I'm sure that all the people you have helped are very grateful for you help."
"It's nice that they are but that's not the reason I do it. I'm sure Chloe and Jennifer would say the same thing." Hermione responded looking in their direction.
"Hermione's right. I don't do it for their gratitude, I do it because I want to and seeing them happy and results in all the thanks I need." Chloe answered with a smile and Jennifer nodded.
Harry smiled happy for the friendship forming between his best friend and Chloe and Jennifer. He then turned to a girl with auburn hair placed in a french twist and asked, "What are your interests?"
"Well I'm Melanie Hartford and I work at a think tank. Economics." Melanie answered with a head toss and a smile.
"I've heard of those. What do you actually do?" Harry asked noticing her long legs and bright smile.
"I know that most people don't really know what we do so I don't mind explaining it. We do research of stock markets, security of the Internet and international trade. What my group is funded to do is to look test out the security at supposedly secure sites on the web." Melanie explained.
"Sounds very interesting." He commented.
"Maybe you could explain it more later?" Hermione asked eager to learn more about it.
"Sure." Melanie answered with a smile.
Harry smiled to himself knowing how eager Hermione is to read up and learn new things and turned to the girl next to Melanie with the strawberry blonde hair in loose waves and was wearing a black gown that suited her nicely.
"Hi. Tell me a little about yourself." He asked.
"Well first of all my name is Hope Black and I'm a school teacher." Hope answered shyly.
"What do you teach?" Harry asked.
"I teach at a private school with younger students." Hope answered.
"I always loved my old private school. Do you have a specific subject you teach?" He asked.
"I usually teach world history but sometimes I also teach Math." Hope replied with a slight grin.
"That's nice. What about you?" He asked a smiling blonde woman with a pleasant smile and wearing a light blue gown that highlighted her in the appropriate areas.
"My name is Sue Crane and I work in the business of shoes." Sue answered warmly.
"That's cool. So are you part of the design team?" Harry asked curiously.
"I sometimes come with the designs but usually mainly the ideas behind the design." Sue answered quickly.
"What company do you work at?" Jennifer asked.
" A company that works on Steve Madden's designs." Sue answered with a grin.
"Oh my god. That is so cool because I love his shoes. Do you know him?" Melanie exclaimed.
"I talk to him sometimes but only on a business level." Sue replied amused.
"She's just being modest. Steve calls her from time to time for lunch." The dark skinned woman next to her said.
"How do you know? " Harry asked curiously noticing Lucy's straight black hair and how well that complimented her yellow spaghetti strapped dress.
"My name is Lucy Dunsford and I know because I am Steve's personal assistant." Lucy answered grinning at Sue.
"She's exaggerating. They really are just business lunches." Sue answered waving Lucy off.
"What else do you like to do Lucy?" He asked as she smiled at Sue and Lucy's interaction.
"I enjoy drawing sketches and painting." Lucy answered with a grin.
"I would love to see one of your sketches some day." Harry answered with a grin.
"I would like that." Lucy answered with a large grin.
Harry then looked around and noticed a few women he hadn't had a chance to talk to so he excused himself and walked over to the group of 6 woman talking silently near the couch.
"Care if I join you guys?" He asked softly.
"No problem. We were just talking about you." The girl with curly black hair responded while crossing her legs.
"Only good things I hope?" Harry asked with a grin.
"Of course but honestly we don't know much about you yet." She responded back quickly.
"First of all what's your name?" He asked with a lopsided grin.
" My name is Allie Renshaw" She answered and flashed him a dazzling grin.
"Well Allie, What do you want to know?" He asked smiling back at her noticing how memorizing her eyes were.
"I would like to know what dreams you have?" Allie answered after a second.
"My dreams? That's kind of a tough question. But my dream is to be able to make the world safe for every one in it and be able to find the person I'm supposed to spend the rest of my life with. My soulmate as it were and live a nice quiet life with her and our kids." Harry answered after a few moments.
"That sounds really sweet." Allie answered smiling and he could see sort of tiny tears in her eyes.
Harry smiled and turned to the shorthaired brunette next to her and asked, "What are your dreams?"
"My name is Tara Jackson and my dream is to be the best computer programmer and be able to design the most secure firewall in the world. I also want to be able to find my soulmate and spend the rest of my life with him." Tara answered in a bubbly voice.
"How far have you come with the firewall?" He asked grinning.
"I've come up with a few models but with all the new devices and technology coming up I might have to make a few adjustments." She responded with excitement.
Harry nodded and turned to face the auburn haired girl and asked her, "What about you?"
"Me? My name is Grace Desmone and I'm a chef. My dream is to be able to open my own restaurant." Grace answered quickly then added, "As well as the whole marriage with a soulmate thing."
"That's great. Did you go to a culinary arts school?" He asked quickly noticing how white her teeth were.
"I did and I took a lot of classes. I work at a good restaurant right now though." Grace said with a grin.
"If you ever need help or advice, just ask." a reddish browned hair woman added.
"Sure thanks. But what experience do you have?" Grace asked curiously.
"Well I own a inn so I thought I could give you some advice because it took me a long time to achieve it and I don't want you to make the same mistakes I did." She replied.
"How long have you owned your inn?" Harry asked.
"Four years. By the way I'm Karen Dawkins." Karen responded offering her hand.
Harry took it and shook it while responding, "Its nice to meet you. How long did it take you to get your own inn?"
"It took me about 5 years to finally own it and I worked a few year at another inn." Karen answered quickly.
"Really? You look pretty young." He asked intrigued.
"I've been saving up for the Inn since I was 14 and I had been working all sorts of odd jobs since I was 14 to earn the money. My parents helped me out a little because it is sort of part of their dream too." Karen explained.
"That's pretty impressive." Harry commented with admiration.
"Thank you." Karen replied happily.
He then turned to the last woman with the short curly dirty blond hair and asked, "What are your dreams?"
" My name is Debbie Monroe and my dream is to be able to become a world famous clothes designer." Debbie answered with a dreamy look in her eyes.
"Did you go to design school?" Harry asked quickly.
"I did but I haven't got my big break yet but I'm going to move to Los Angeles or New York to see if I can get someone famous to wear my clothes." Debbie answered with confidence.
"I'm sure you will." Harry replied with a smile liking her confidence.
"Could I take a look at your designs one day? I might know some people who could help you." Allie asked.
"Sure, that would be great." Debbie replied with a smile.
Matthew came out and asked Harry, "You ready to give your first impression rose?"
"Almost, I just need a little more time." Harry answered with a nervous grin.
'Should I give this to Hermione? She definitely was one of the women that gave me a good first impression but I already know her and she's just a friend. Is that right? There is one other person that gave me a good impression. Should I give it to her?' Harry thought to himself.
He took a deep breath and walked over to the woman of his choice…
Who does he decide to give the rose to? Stay tuned to find out. .