A/N: Sorry it took me so long to update. I went on vacation for awhile so I didn't have anytime to write and
then my computer crashed and it took a while for it to get fixed. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. It is shorter
than I planned but I promise my next chapter will be longer. Please review and let me know what you think.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or ABC.
Chapter 9
Harry woke up bright and early the next morning. He had a great night's sleep. He had a great time with all the girls. Callie had been such a great player as he thought she would be. Hermione however, had surprised him. She had playing an incredible game. Her ability to excel at everything always amazed him. He knew that he shouldn't be surprised but he still was. He did however still believe that she had cheated at the end of the game. He had felt mesmerised by her voice and touch. As much as he didn't want to think about it but he was very attracted to her. But who wouldn't be? It did not mean that he had any feelings for her though. He turned his mind over to a different problem that he should be worried about. What exactly will Hermione get him to do? Normally Hermione would never get him to do anything really horrible but that mischievous twinkle in her eye that he saw had made him very nervous.
*~*~*~*~
Hermione woke up feeling sore from paintball. But she smiled at the memory. It had been really fun and she was pretty happy with the outcome. She absolutely loved the look on his face when he realized that she was playing him. He looked so absolutely adorable and cute. She wondered about how easily she was able to distract him. It made her wonder if maybe he could possibly be attracted to her as well. But she quickly dismissed that thought. She just knew him too well and that was all there was to it. She couldn't wait until she received her reward. Getting Harry to say whatever she wanted him too should be very fun and interesting. Knowing Harry as she did she knew that he would be extremely worried right about now since he had no idea what she was going to get him to do.
She then proceeded down the stairs quickly and with a huge smile on her face. She got herself a glass of orange juice and made herself a breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast. She got herself an apple as well. A huge smile crossed her face as she thought about how embarrassed Harry was going to be when she was through with him. In fact she could use this to her advantage and learn more about the other woman as well. This would also let Harry see what she knew about them with his own two eyes. The more she thought about her idea, the more she liked it.
Hermione laid back in her chair while enjoying her breakfast. The phone rang and she picked it up.
"Hello?" Hermione said.
"Is my beautiful best friend around?" Harry asked with a grin.
"Hey, what are you doing calling here?" Hermione asked curiously.
"I wanted to talk to you," He replied.
"How did you know it would be me? What happened if it was somebody else? Besides you really aren't supposed to call me," Hermione scolded him.
"Only you'd be crazy enough to be up so early in the morning," Harry answered with a grin.
"If I'm crazy to be up at this hour than so are you since you are talking to me," Hermione replied back.
"Touché. I really just had some thinking that I needed to do that's all," He said.
"Ah… the bet I won. You'll thinking about what I'm going to make you do huh?" She asked brightly.
"Excuse me, since you cheated I don't think that means that you won. I'm just being the better person and letting you believe that you won," Harry added.
"I won fair and square, you'll just trying to shield you wounded ego," Hermione answered in that knowing tone of hers.
"Believe whatever you want. I'm not going to argue with you," Harry answered.
"Because you know that I am right. Do you want to know what I came up with?" Hermione asked rolling her eyes.
"Yes I believe that I need to know," Harry retorted back.
"Well I could just explain it to you but it easier to understand if I show it to you so what time can I come over?" Hermione asked.
"Well I have to meet with the producers really soon, so how about you come over here in 3 hours?" He asked.
"Great, that'll give me some more time to prepare," Hermione answered really cheerfully.
"Prepare for what?" He inquired.
"Who are you talking to?" a female voice asked.
Hermione turned her head and saw Allie.
"Who are you talking to?" Allie repeated.
"Um… I'll have to call you back," Hermione told Harry.
"What happened?" Harry asked.
"You'll find out later," She replied and hung up.
"Hermione?" Harry said before realizing that she had hung up.
Harry just sighed and looked at his watch as he pondered what Hermione had planned for him.
"Allie, you're up quite early," Hermione commented with a forced smile.
"I don't like sleeping in late, it feels like I'm wasting time," Allie answered nonchalantly.
"I agree. Do you want something to drink?" Hermione asked quickly in order to distract her.
"No, I'll get something later, so who were you talking to?" Allie asked again.
"I was just talking to a friend of mind," Hermione replied honestly.
"You aren't supposed to have much contact with those outside of the house," Allie replied.
"It's not like I telling that person what's happening on the show if that's what you're worried about," Hermione answered quickly.
"I just wouldn't want you to get kicked off or anything like that," Allie replied.
"You really don't have to worry about me, I have everything under control," Hermione added sweetly.
"I'm really glad to hear that. I wouldn't want a friend of mine to be kicked out over something as stupid as not following the rules," Allie added.
"You consider us friends?" Hermione asked surprised.
"Of course I do, I mean you're one of the only women here that I can actually respect," Allie explained.
"That's so sweet for you to say," Hermione replied with a slight smile.
"No problem," Allie said as she left the kitchen.
`That was weird. She tries to get some reason to kick me out and then turns around and says that she respects me? There is definitely something up with her and I'll going to find out what it is,' Hermione thought to herself.
Hermione finished her juice before heading off to her room to get the things she would need to explain her plan to Harry.
Hermione looked around quickly to make sure that nobody was around. Then she went into the back of her closet to get one of the few spell books that she had brought in case of emergencies. She wanted to make sure that she knew the spell she needed to use in order for Harry to do what she wanted him to do.
Once she found out what she wanted, she carefully placed the book back in its hiding place. She had placed a concealment charm on it in case anyone else came in contact with it.
She then headed back downstairs where she saw that the rest of the ladies of the house were now awake and having breakfast.
"Good morning Hermione," Sue said as she sat down.
"Good morning Sue, did you have a good night's rest?" Hermione asked.
"Great, I'm feeling really relaxed. How are you doing? I heard that you guys had a very tiring date last night," Sue added with a smile.
"I'm good. I had a good night's rest but I am still a little bit sore though," Hermione commented.
"I feel sore too but it was fun wasn't it?" Callie asked.
"It was fun but it was too short for me," Lisa added.
"Well it is a competition," Stephanie added matter-of-factly.
"I know that. I just meant that I would have liked to have been in the game a lot longer," Lisa replied.
"I know what you mean, it was fun and a great way to lose some energy but I would have liked to have spent more time with Harry," Jennifer added.
"Yeah paintball really isn't a romantic date," Hermione added.
"She shouldn't complain because she still managed to spend a lot of time with Harry," Stephanie replied.
"I didn't spend that much time with him if anyone did it would be Stephanie since they were on the same team," Hermione answered back.
"We may have been on the same team but we separated for most of the game. But you were the last person left," Stephanie replied back.
"Congratulations Hermione," Chloe replied.
"She played a great game," Callie remarked.
"Well I had a lot of good luck," Hermione answered modestly.
"You need more than good luck to do well in paintball. She's just being modest," Callie told the other girls.
"No, really I just happen to be at the right place at the right time and the shot was easy," Hermione explained.
"Yeah she must have cheated in order to win if you never played before," Stephanie told Hermione.
"Are you accusing me of something? Have you ever heard of beginner's luck?" Hermione demanded.
"I'm just pointing out what I see," Stephanie shot back.
"What exactly do you see?" Hermione asked.
"I see someone who says they can't play paintball and ends up winning it all. I'd say she was either lying or she somehow cheated," Stephanie replied with a voice dripping with sarcasm.
"I can't believe that you would say that. Wait actually I do because of what you said to me last night but where is the proof for your allegations," Hermione replied angrily.
"Just the fact that you won is proof enough. I mean even Harry mentioned something about cheating," Stephanie added with a grin.
"Don't you even dare pretend that you know what Harry meant to say. Don't start putting words into his mouth. You don't know him like…" Hermione angrily said and stopped herself from letting out too much information.
"Like what? You think you know him better than I do?" Stephanie asked her eyes flaring.
"Obviously I do because you seem to really think that you still have a chance to be with him," Hermione answered with a smile.
Jennifer and Chloe tried to hide their laughter.
`Once Harry finds out what you're really like, he'd kick you out in a few seconds," Hermione thought to herself.
"Well how do you know? You're not Harry," Stephanie replied knocking Hermione out of her thought as she felt Allie's eyes on her.
"Well we're definitely not Harry but we're pretty sure that Hermione wouldn't cheat and I'm pretty sure he was just joking about Hermione cheating," Callie added.
"He was probably just sore to lose to a girl," Lisa added with a smile trying to lighten the mood of the kitchen.
The rest of the girls laughed.
"Well if she didn't cheat how did she win?" Stephanie asked.
"Maybe she's just good and you're being really paranoid Stephanie," Lisa replied.
Stephanie opened her mouth but decided at last minute just to leave, so she turned around and headed back upstairs looking extremely angry.
"Don't worry about what Stephanie said, we believe that you didn't cheat," Chloe told Hermione with a smile.
"Thanks you guys. It means a lot to me that you guys believe me," Hermione spoke returning a smile.
"You're welcome. The most important thing though is what Harry believes," Christine added.
"Well, Harry knows that I didn't cheat," Hermione told them reassuringly.
Allie then came in with another letter and a bouquet of flowers. The note read:
Dear Sue, Allie, Chloe and Christine,
I bid all of you lovely ladies a wonderful morning. I hope that you guys enjoy the flowers. I hope to see you all tonight for a fun evening on the town. I'll pick all of you up later tonight. Dress semi-formally (because some of you need a little direction)
Harry.
"Cool, I'm looking forward to a fun night out," Sue said.
"Wasn't it nice that he told us how to dress?" Chloe asked.
"Maybe some people just complained too much," Jennifer replied with a laugh.
The other girls agreed thinking back to a certain past contestant that lived in the mansion named Isabelle.
Hermione looked around as she laughed and her eyes fell on Stephanie. She still couldn't believe how viscous she was but she wasn't really worried about her because from what she could tell Harry wasn't too attached to her.
Then her eyes fell onto Allie and she remembered her plan. The way that Allie looked at her gave her the creeps. She then proceeded upstairs to change.
Just as she was about to leave she decided to check her computer to see if she received any responses to any of her e-mails.
She checked her e-mail and found that she had received a response back from her friend on the police force. The e-mail was as follows:
Hermione,
It was great to hear from you. We should get together sometime and talk. I have looked at the information that you have requested. Allie Renshaw has no criminal record. The interesting thing that I found was that I couldn't find any record of her before 8 years ago. Usually you can find some paper trail for them. It's almost as if she never existed before then. Sorry I couldn't get you any more specific information. I'll let you know if I find anything else.
Michael
`Now this is interesting,' Hermione thought to herself and then was interrupted by a knock on the door. Hermione looked up and saw Christine.
"Hey Christine," Hermione said with a smile.
"You busy?" Christine asked with a small smile.
"No, I'm just reading some e-mail," Hermione said while quickly logging out of her e-mail account.
"Anything interesting?" Christine asked.
"Nothing more than usual," Hermione replied and then stood up and asked, "What's up?"
"Chloe, Sue and I were going to go shopping for a little while. Do you want to come?" Christine asked.
"I would love to but there are quite a few things that I need to do," Hermione replied.
"We could wait," Chloe answered.
"I wouldn't want to keep you guys waiting, it could take a while," Hermione added.
"I really don't mind and I don't think that they will either," Chloe answered.
`I can't meet Harry now with them watching me. I'll go there later,' Hermione thought to herself.
"You know what? I can do that thing later. I just need to make a phone call. I'll be down in a few minutes," Hermione added.
"Okay, I'll see you in a bit," Christine replied with a smile.
Hermione returned the smile and then shrugged in frustration as she quickly dialed Harry's number.
"Hello," Harry said into the phone.
"Hey, it's me," She replied.
"Hey what's up?" Harry inquired.
"Plans have changed so I'm going to have to reschedule," Hermione answered with a sigh.
"The girls?" He asked with a smile.
"Yeah, it's like they can't go without me," She answered back.
"Right? With your fashion sense?" Harry replied in a teasing tone.
"I have a great fashion sense," Hermione retorted back.
"Really? How about that party a month ago that we went to?" He asked.
Hermione thought back to the ugly green jumper she had worn to her aunts party and responded, " My aunt had brought it for me and it would have been rude not to wear it."
"Yeah but it did look really similar to that sweater you had brought a week earlier," Harry added with a grin.
"It didn't look like that in the catalogue and it really did look great before and besides I just have a sense of fashion that's ahead of our time," Hermione retorted back.
"Yep just keep telling yourself that," He added in a teasing tone.
" I recall that you loved the gown that I had brought earlier and that really ugly brown suit that you wore…" She retorted.
"You promised never mention that again," Harry protested.
"Nope, I promised I wouldn't tell anyone else about it," Hermione corrected with a smile.
"Fine, So when will you be coming around," He asked trying to change the subject.
"I don't know, it depends on how long they'll keep me there," She answered.
"Don't worry about it, I'll be around," Harry answered back.
"I'll drop by later," Hermione said.
"So do you think I could get a hint now?" He responded.
Hermione was going to respond when she heard a voice call out her name.
"Nope, I've got to go now," She said quickly before hanging up and then walked out of the door.
As she walked outside she met Chloe and greeted her with a smile.
"So are you ready?" Chloe asked.
"Yeah," Hermione replied with a smile.
"I'm glad that you're coming with us," Chloe added.
"Me too, it'll give us more of a chance to get to know each other," Hermione responded with a smile.
"Yeah that's one of the reasons why I want to do this because I hate the fact that most of us don't really know each other," Chloe replied.
"Is Allie coming?" Hermione tentatively asked.
"She is. Is that a problem?" Chloe asked.
"No, not at all. I was just curious," Hermione answered with a smile.
"We're meeting the rest of the girls outside," Chloe added.
"So who else is going?" Hermione asked.
"Christine, Sue, Jennifer, Allie and me," Chloe replied.
"Great, I'm sure that this will be fun," Hermione answered with a smile.
They met the rest of the girls in the foyer and then proceeded the head to the car. They had a nice drive with light conversation.
"You know it'll be nice to go out to shop because I haven't had much time lately," Sue commented.
"Tell me about it, I've had such a full schedule that I never had any chance to actually go into a store and look around," Christine said.
They went to the first store and looked around. They saw many beautiful tops and gowns. Hermione tried on a light blue spaghetti strapped top with a tan coloured skirt with a trim.
"You look great Hermione," Chloe commented wearing a pleated red tube top.
"Thanks, that top looks great on you too," Hermione replied.
"Really? Thanks but do you think that Harry would like it?" Chloe asked.
"I wouldn't really know since I'm not Harry but as long as you like it I'm sure that he will too," Hermione answered cautiously.
`I know his taste but as to what he actually likes, I don't really know,' Hermione thought to herself a little bit curious as to why Chloe was asking her what Harry liked.
"Yeah, you're right," Chloe returned with a slight smile.
"That looks great Hermione," Christine commented on her outfit.
"Thanks Christine," Hermione responded with a smile and noticed that Allie was watching her closely but when their eyes met she quickly looked away.
They continued to shop for about an hour before they decided to take a break and get something to drink. They were chatting happily about the clothes they just bought.
"So you guys are sure that I bought the right skirt?" Allie asked for the third time.
"Yes, we're sure," Christine told her reassuringly while the rest of us rolled our eyes.
"Why don't we play one of those games where we can get to know one another?" Allie suggested.
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