The Day After
Hermione pushed her long brown curls out of her eyes and looked at the broken quills, the smeared and rumpled rolls of discarded parchment and the countless books littering her desk. She sighed in frustration as she looked at the still unfinished report she had been working on all morning. She had to have the report complete by end of day otherwise she was certain to have to endure the `Time is Precious' speech Percy reserved for such occasions. If it weren't for his flaming red hair, a trait that only a true Weasley possessed, Hermione would swear that Percy was adopted. Hermione sighed again and looked up meaning to check the time on the clock above her desk instead her eyes fell on a picture of Ron, Harry and herself; it had been taken last year when Harry's Appleby Arrows played against Ron's beloved Chudley Canons, the Arrows had won the match after Harry had gone into a Wronski Feint before pulling up and employing the Plumpton Pass to grab the snitch. The three of them were standing on the edge of the pitch; Ron was on the right grinning goofily into the camera; his bright orange robes clashing atrociously with his brilliant crimson hair, his broom was thrown over his right shoulder and his left arm hung loosely around Hermione's shoulder. Harry stood on the left, his pale blue Arrow's robes seemed to emphasize his startling green eyes, and he had his right arm wrapped snugly about Hermione's waist pulling her flush against his side. He too was grinning goofily into the camera. She was standing in between the two of them each of her arms around one of them; she was leaning on Harry more so because he was holding her so tightly. Her head was partially lying on his shoulder and she was smiling brightly. As she gazed up at the picture Harry's image turned to hers and pulled her into a steamy kiss. Hermione reached up and banged the photograph down on her desk. She buried her face in her hands and half muttered half groaned something unintelligibly as the door swung open and Ginny walked in.
"Feeling a bit squiffy then eh"
Hermione raised her head and looked up to see Ginny grinning from the doorway. She shook her head and smiled.
"No that would be Ron"
Ginny rolled her eyes.
"What did he do"
"I suppose for Ron it was not that bad…I am almost certain he will not remember his bit of shirtless table top dancing"
Ginny and Hermione both burst into a fit of giggles as Hermione described Ron's drunken behavior.
"Of course Harry and I took him home…I mixed up a batch of potion so he would be able to make it through practice today…provided that he found it of course…Harry hid it in the back of the cooler"
Ginny smiled.
"Well then I was worried for nothing you didn't need me at all"
Hermione pulled a face.
"I would have loved it if you would have stayed but I understand as a Malfoy, Draco is accustomed to thinking only of himself"
Ginny looked at Hermione with a stricken expression.
"Hermione I thought you were okay with Draco and I as a couple"
Hermione chuckled.
"You silly goose I'm only joking"
Ginny released a sigh.
"Please don't frighten me like that again"
Hermione stood up walked over to where Ginny was standing and hugged her friend. For the past three months Ginny had been surreptitiously going out with Draco Malfoy. Draco had been in the same year as Harry, Ron and Hermione during their Hogwarts days. At the time he had been an abominable prat whose sole pleasure in life it seemed was to torment the three of them. Draco was the son of Lucius Malfoy, one of Voldemort's staunchest supporters. Lucius Malfoy's allegiance to Voldemort cost his family dearly; after Harry defeated the Dark Lord, Malfoy Sr. had been among those wizards found in his service and had, quite justly been sent to the now Goblin controlled Azkaban for his crimes, the Malfoy's lost all of their influence and credibility in the wizarding word as well as a good deal of their fortune due to Lucius' error in judgment. Draco took over as the head of the family in his father's absence and set about rebuilding what had been lost. Many of the pureblood wizards he had prized so highly as a child wanted nothing to do with him following his father's disgrace so Draco had had to humble himself and seek help from those he had once counted as less than himself. Somewhere along the way he and Ginny had entered into a casual sort of friendship. Hermione supposed that Ginny's job at the Daily Prophet had been the impetus behind Draco seeking her out as his family business needed all the positive publicity they could get. From the unlikely friendship sprung an even more unlikely romance that Ginny had been hiding from the entire Weasley clan. Hermione had only found out after she was sworn to witch's secrecy, which by wizard law meant she could not reveal what she knew to anyone under any circumstances unless Ginny gave her express permission to do so. Hermione stepped back from her friend and spoke cautiously. She had tried once before to get Ginny to tell her family about her relationship with Draco but to no avail, the two had ended up in a screaming match, it was not the finest moment of their friendship and one that Hermione was not necessarily in the mood to repeat.
"Gin have you given any more thought to telling your family about you and Draco"
Ginny's head snapped up her mouth flew open and her eyes bugged out making her look rather like a surprised toad.
"Of course I've thought about it, I think about it all the time. Gotten pretty close to doing it too then I see my parents' confused faces and my brothers, especially Ron and Harry's outraged ones and I stop thinking about it"
Hermione sighed.
"You're going to have to tell them something sooner or later; I was on the verge of out and out lying to Ron and Harry last night. They asked where you were going off to and I had to tell them you had to meet one of the paper's biggest advertisers"
Ginny smiled half-heartedly at Hermione.
"Well…you only stretched the truth a bit; he is one of the Prophet's biggest advertisers"
Hermione tried another tact.
"What is Draco telling his mother"
Hermione did not know Narcissa Malfoy personally but from what she had heard she was certain she would not like her. Narcissa was as pureblood obsessed as her husband had been. Though she was not known to have been an active Death Eater some believed her to have been as vital a member of Voldemort's inner circle as her husband.
Ginny averted her gaze from Hermione as she spoke.
"All he's told her is that he's seeing a pureblood"
Hermione regarded her friend with concern.
"Ginny are you sure about all of this I would…"
Hermione was stopped by Ginny's reassuring squeeze of her hand.
"Everything is fine, no need for you to worry. Now enough about me did you hear from Viktor"
Hermione slid her hands from Ginny's and made her way back to her desk and sat down heavily. Ginny looked up at her replied.
"I take that as a no"
"And they say I am the cleverest witch of our age"
"Ha Ha Ha…."
Ginny gave a fake laugh and with a wave of her wand summoned a chair and plopped down across from Hermione, who was now scribbling on one of the pieces of parchment on her desk.
"You mean to tell me after he asked to see you for your birthday and you agree he doesn't even show up…stupid prat"
Ginny looked up and saw the slight tinting of rouge that colored Hermione's cheeks.
"You did answer him didn't you"
Hermione focused more intently on the work in front of her.
"Not exactly"
"Exactly what does not exactly mean"
Hermione sighed and sat up straight devoting her full attention to Ginny.
"I did answer Viktor's owl…"
Ginny nodded mutely as Hermione continued.
"But I declined his invitation to meet"
"You did what"
Ginny asked disbelievingly.
Hermione replied.
"Gin I just do not see the point in crying over spilled potion and what Viktor and I have, no had, is assuredly spilt potion"
Ginny poked out her bottom lip and expelled a breath of air that caused her bangs to flutter.
"I suppose you're right, still I think you could've done with a birthday snog and as you aren't the type to kiss a complete stranger I thought maybe…"
Hermione lost track of what Ginny was saying as she was transported back to the previous night and her doorstep interlude with Harry. In her mind she clearly saw herself and Harry locked in a passionate embrace kissing and caressing each other as if their very lives depended on it. Hermione forcefully shook her head to clear her thoughts, looking up she found Ginny staring after her expectantly. Hermione quickly ground out.
"I should really get back to work otherwise Percy will be breathing down my neck for this report"
Hermione prayed her face hadn't revealed the nature of her sudden mental lapse. Ginny seemed not to have noticed as she stood up
"All right then, I'll see you later"
Hermione and Ginny stood up and embraced. They made plans to get together over the weekend and said their goodbyes. As Hermione closed the door to her office she caught sight of another picture of she and Harry their picture selves seemed to be staring longingly at one another. Hermione stamped her foot in exasperation and grabbed her wand off the desk. She waved all the pictures on the desk and the walls surrounding her desk into the bottom drawer of the file cabinet behind her chair. She then proceeded to mutter the strongest locking charm she knew securing the contents of the drawer within. Hermione resumed her seat behind her desk and hastily returned her full attention to the report she had yet to finish.
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"POTTER…WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU…GET YOUR ARSE DOWN HERE NOW"
Harry groaned and angled his broom towards the pitch and the irate form of his coach, Quinton Quimby. Harry had just been beaten to the snitch by the Arrows backup seeker Goodwin Mumpsberry; Goodwin was a nice enough bloke and a quite talented seeker but he had never been able to get past Harry to retrieve the snitch, actually no one in the league could get past Harry to grab the snitch, the Vrasta Vultures Viktor Krum was the only one who'd ever come close to denying Harry the snitch. The only match where the two famous seekers had squared off against each other was the one match in the history of the sport that resulted in a tie as both Harry and Krum had grabbed the snitch at precisely the same moment. No one knew how they'd managed to grasp the snitch at the same time the coaches and referees had spent two weeks trying to determine who got there first before it was finally determined that they'd both caught it simultaneously. The match was then ruled a tie in lue of the fact that the last goal by Arrows chaser Roger Blair had been waved off as a result of the snitch having been caught prior to the goal actually being made. Harry hopped from his broom and swung it over his shoulder and trudged glumly over to Coach Quimby mentally preparing himself for the dressing down he was about to receive.
"POTTER WHAT THE HELL WHERE YOU DOING UP THERE…YOU CALL THAT SEEKING…YOU NEVER EVEN BLOODY MOVED…MUMPSBERRY GOT THE BLEEDING SNITCH CAUSE YOU WERE BLOODY DAYDREAMING"
Coach Quimby's voice bellowed across the pitch. Harry was certain all of Appleton had heard the beginnings of his tirade. Harry couldn't believe that he'd allowed himself to be humiliated like that he shook his head morosely as his mind drifted back to the cause of his distraction; he'd been thinking about Hermione and that damn kiss. He remembered how good she'd felt in his arms and how sweet she tasted. Harry was jolted back to the present by the sound of his coach's roaring shouts.
"WELL THEN GO ON EXPLAIN WHAT HAPPENED UP THERE"
Harry blinked and looked about sheepishly before muttering the first thing that came to his mind.
"I lost my contact"
Harry immediately began to squint and motioned rather frantically towards his right eye.
Quimby raised an eyebrow and queried.
"WHAT"
Seeing that he may have found a way to avoid any further humiliation Harry quickly replied.
"My contact…you know the muggle lenses I use to play in…"
Quimby nodded slowly as Harry continued.
"It popped out somehow…I can't really see too well without it…vision's a touch blurry"
Harry's voice trailed off as he searched Quimby's face for a sign that his ruse had worked.
Quimby retorted.
"Do you have another of those…what did you call em again"
"Contacts, no I have to get them from the optometrist"
"The opto who"
"Optometrist…it's a muggle doc…I mean healer for the eyes"
Quimby nodded though his face bore an obviously harassed expression. He stared after Harry for a moment before he grumbled a reply.
"Take the rest of the day off and get your vision problems squared away…"
He stopped mid-sentence and regarded Harry intently for a moment before continuing.
"As a matter of fact take the rest of the week off, you look a bit worn out, the recruiter for the All England team is coming next week and I want you in tip top shape, get some rest understand"
Harry nodded.
"Yes sir, thank you"
Quimby nodded nonchalantly and turned his attention back to the rest of the team as Harry headed to the locker rooms to change.
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Harry apparated into the kitchen of Number 12 Grimmauld Place. Reaching into the cooler he grabbed a tankard of ale and a tray of sandwiches and headed into the living room. He propped his feet up on the coffee table turned on the wireless and began to eat. Having satisfied his hunger Harry leaned his head back on the couch and closed his eyes hoping that the three tankards of ale he'd consumed would erase any memory of the events of the past thirty-six hours. He was dosing peacefully when a familiar voice caused his eyes to open.
"Bit early yet for drinking that much ale wouldn't you say"
Harry smiled and replied.
"Considering that I was trying to get pissed and I'm not I suppose it wasn't enough"
Remus raised an eyebrow as he took a seat in the nearest chair.
"Everything all right"
Harry sat up.
"Just had a rough day at practice, coach gave me some time off…thinks I'm working to hard"
Remus nodded and asked.
"What's her name"
Harry looked at Remus disbelievingly. Remus continued speaking.
"James used to get that same look whenever some girl, usually Lily, had his pants in a twist"
Harry smiled.
Remus smiled as well.
"So am I going to get a name or not"
"No names"
"All right then just tell me what happened"
Harry sighed.
"I kissed someone I shouldn't have kissed"
"You kissed someone you shouldn't have kissed"
Harry nodded.
"And is there a reason that you shouldn't have kissed this person"
"We're friends"
"I see…you think you overstepped your bounds"
Harry sighed again.
"I know I overstepped my bounds and I don't think I can trust myself not to overstep them again"
Remus stroked his chin thoughtfully as he spoke.
"And how does your friend feel about what happened"
"Don't know"
"Don't you think you should find out"
Harry leaned back in his seat, closed his eyes and groaned.
Remus stood up and walked around the back of the couch; he paused and patted Harry's shoulder reassuringly before he headed towards the stairs.
"Should I inform Winky and Dobby that you'll be staying for dinner"
Harry shook his head no as he stood to his feet.
"Don't bother it seems I have other plans"
Remus nodded and began walking up the stairs as Harry headed to the fireplace. Remus called out to him as he grabbed a handful of floo powder and tossed it into the fireplace.
"Harry…"
Harry turned and looked at Remus.
"Do give my regards to Hermione"
Remus turned and continued walking up the stairs. Shaking his head Harry said Marigold Court flat 321 and disappeared amid the emerald flames.
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