TWO
A year and a half passed since the day Hermione left London. On that Saturday, December 10th, the beautiful city of Athens was rapidly waking up. People could be seen on the streets going about with their daily routine.
One person, however, was not ready to start the day just yet. Twenty year-old Hermione Granger had stayed up late the night before, studying of course, and was not willing to leave her bed for at least one more hour.
Hermione enjoyed a lot living in this fascinating ancient city. There was, however, one thing she didn't like. Being away from her family and friends was not an easy thing. She missed them terribly.
The previous Christmas, Hermione had gone home and spent two wonderful weeks enjoying herself among the people she loved the most, but she hadn't seen them since. She stayed at Athens during the previous summer. She had been able to get a summer job at the Academy's hospital and decided it was better to stay and start getting involved in the field she'd soon be joining.
This Christmas, she wasn't going home either. She had signed up to be part of a research team that was doing some investigating work on magical plants to come up with new remedies for people suffering of heart condition.
They had to observe the plants they were working on twenty-four-seven at one of the Academy's lab and Hermione was forced to stay. She even had to put her part time job at the library on hold for a few weeks.
Being Hermione's parents muggles, they had gotten a mobile phone for her so they could ring her whenever they wanted. Since Harry knew perfectly well how to use a phone, she had given him the number.
To avoid hearing complains about her not going home, Hermione decided that instead of calling to tell them the news, she'd send a letter to her parents and another to Harry. She waited to the last minute to let them know she wouldn't be going home for the holidays. She knew they'd be disappointed.
"Herms! Wake up." The voice of Damara Teves, Hermione's housemate, startled her forcing Hermione to open her eyes.
Damara was a Greek girl that also attended the Academy. When she was just a baby, her parents had moved to America where she was raised. Unfortunately, when Damara was seventeen, her father died unexpectedly. Damara's mother decided then to go back to Greece. She now lived with her relatives in a small town an hour north of Athens.
"What is it?" Hermione was ready to ask Damara to go away, when she saw her friend was standing next to her bed, carrying Hedwig in her forearm.
"Look who's here!"
"So quickly?" Hermione was surprised to see Hedwig so soon. She had just sent the letters the previous week. She knew Harry would reply, but wasn't expecting it to be so soon. Hermione's parents had already phoned her to complain about the news.
"You look tired girl," said Hermione while checking Hedwig to make sure she was fine after such a long trip. She untied the letter attached to her leg. Then, she offered Hedwig water from a goblet that was placed on top of her night table. Hermione scratched softly the owl's head. Then, she sat at her bed.
"Is it from Harry?" asked Damara. Hermione nodded. She had told Damara all about her friends back home, and especially about Harry.
Even when they were miles apart, Harry and Hermione kept regular contact through letters and phone calls. They knew everything about each other lives. Harry had told her about a girl he was going out with whereas Hermione told him about a guy she had dated.
Hermione knew that for the last three months, Harry had been dating a young witch called Laura Lynch and that things were going alright between them. Hermione, in the other hand, had gone out with a peer from the Academy during her first year at Athens.
Not being able to take Harry out of her head, they had split up a couple of weeks later. She, of course, never explained to Harry the real reasons for the break up. Hermione had been alone since.
Taking the letter in her hands, she ripped it open and read it out loud.
Hermione,
What do you mean you're not coming home? You think we're not dying to see you? Think we don't miss you?
Well we do, I do, and I'm not going to keep waiting for you to come see me. I'm going to Athens. I'll be arriving Saturday the 10th at noon at the international airport.
If you don't come pick me up, I'll go find you wherever you may be.
See you soon,
Harry
"The 10th? Today?" asked Hermione already knowing that answer to that question.
"Well, I guess you'd better go take a shower, Herms. You don't want to be late, right?"
Thinking that perhaps she had read wrong, Hermione read the note one more time to then toss it to the side and run into the bathroom to take a shower.
--- * --- * --- * --- * ---
At a quarter to noon, Hermione arrived at the airport. She was anxious to see Harry, as always. She had spent half an hour trying to decide what to wear. Finally she had chosen to go with a pair of slacks, a striped light blue jumper, and a waistcoat jacket to protect her from the wind.
She waited impatiently until she heard a voice announcing Harry's flight had arrived and that the passengers would be coming out through Gate 12. Hermione walked quickly to that gate.
People started coming out of the gate before she reached it. Hermione searched their faces looking for the object of her affection. To Hermione, it seemed like an eternity from the moment people started coming out to the moment she finally saw Harry.
He was among the last people to leave the plane. As soon as he saw her, his handsome face was illuminated with a big smile. Quickly Hermione pushed her way through the people gathered around the gate until she was able to reach him.
"Harry! It's great to see you," she said at the same time that she encircled him with her arms.
"It's so good to see you, too!" said Harry returning the hug. Then pulling her gently away, he added trying to sound serious, "Hey I'm mad at you, remember?"
"C'mon Harry! It's not like I didn't want to see you guys." Hermione put on her puppy face hoping he'd feel sorry for her and forget he was supposed to be upset.
"Well, if you really wanted to see us you would've come home, wouldn't you?" Harry had in fact been upset about her not going home for the holidays, but now that she was smiling at him, he had totally forgotten about it. "Don't tell me you're so busy you don't even have a couple of days to be with your friends."
"Actually, I am."
Leading Harry out of the airport, they got to the street and grabbed a taxi to take them to the apartment Hermione shared with Damara. In the way to the apartment, Hermione told Harry all about the research she was a part of. Her team was made up of five people. Out of those, three of them were in charge of keeping an eye on the plants.
The day was broken into three shifts that they rotated so that one person wouldn't have to stay overnight at the lab all the time. Hermione was supposed to stay overnight that day.
"Can't you get someone to cover for you?" asked Harry. He was supposed to go back to London the following night and wanted to spend as much time with her as possible.
"I'm sorry Harry, but there's nobody. That's why I can't go anywhere. I'm also supposed to be there tomorrow all afternoon." She would've liked to have the weekend off to take Harry see some of the wonderful places the city had to offer, but she had a commitment she couldn't get out of. "What time does you flight leave tomorrow?"
"At nine."
"Oh! I have to stay there until 10 p.m."
"It's okay, don't worry." He placed an arm around her shoulders while pulling her towards him. "I should've called before coming. I don't want to keep you from your work."
Just then, the taxi arrived at Hermione's apartment building. The two of them took the lift to the third floor, where the apartment was located. Damara was waiting to welcome them.
"So, you're Harry! I've heard so much about you," said Damara while shaking Harry's hand with a strong grip.
"I hope you've only heard good things," said Harry looking at the strong hand shaking his.
"Oh, sorry." Damara let go of his hand and beckoned him to sit down in the couch.
"Honestly Damara! You always leave people with a sore hand." Hermione sat next to Harry taking his hand in hers, checking for bruises. "You sure don't honor your name."
Harry looked at Hermione trying to understand what she had meant by that. Damara, reading Harry's expression, explained to him that her name means "gentle."
"Well… I hate to leave you guys, but this girl has to go to work, you know," said Damara standing up. "How long will you be staying Harry?"
"I'm leaving tomorrow night."
"So soon? Oh well, at least you get to spend some time with Herms." Then leaning down to kiss Hermione good-bye, she added, "Why don't you take him to our favourite restaurant for lunch? I'm sure he'll love it."
--- * --- * --- * ---
Following Damara's idea, Hermione took Harry to the Cafe Divani from where you could see the Acropolis Hill in the distance. Harry was glad to be there. Even knowing that he wasn't going to spend all the weekend with Hermione, as he had planned, he was happy to see her at least for some hours. He had missed her so much.
Then, an idea came to Harry's mind.
"Hermione? How exactly works this staying-at-the-lab-overnight thing?" asked Harry looking inquisitively at her.
"Why do you ask?"
"Well…" said Harry pushing aside his empty plate. "I was wondering if I could go with you."
"You mean, stay with me at the lab?" asked Hermione surprised.
Harry nodded.
Hermione thought about it for a while. It sure sounded appealing, but spending the night at the lab was not a comfortable experience. She voiced this concern to Harry.
"I don't care about that. I just want to spend as much time with you as possible."
Hermione smiled. She appreciated his sacrifice, and couldn't feel happier about his suggestion.