My Best Friend's Wedding

My Best Friend’s Wedding
By: pottersweetie

Author’s Note: I know you’ve seen the title before, but I tried to make it as cliché free as I could. Enjoy, Read, Review!

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Chapter One
War of the Worlds

I hurry into the restaurant and stop at the small podium the maitre d’ is standing behind.

“Good evening Miss, how may I help you?” he asks, his rat-like face morphing into a smile.

I answer unsurely, “I’m supposed to be meeting Robert Bradley.”

The maitre d’ smiles instantly, “Oh yes, Mr. Bradley is already waiting for you, I’ll show you to his table,” he says.

“Oh, thank you,” I reply, as he guides me to a small, well trimmed table off to the side of the room where Robbie’s sitting.

“Here you are Miss,” he says, stopping at the table and pulling my chair out for me.

“Thank you,” I say, sitting down.

“Enjoy, your meal,” he calls, walking away.

“Thanks,” I mutter and turn to Robbie with a smile.

“Nice of you to join me,” he teases, his dark hair falling slightly in his face.

My face contorts into a guilty, sheepish pout, “I know, I’m sorry I’m late, It’s just you now London traffic and-”

“It took you longer than you thought to get ready,” he finishes for me.

I tilt my head with a bright smile, “How did you know?” I ask.

He laughs, “It’s one of the perks of being gay,” he gives an overly-dramatic hand flourish and I can’t help but laugh. “So how’s your love-life?” he asks.

I laugh instantly and reply, “You only saw me, what, two hours ago?”

“Something might’ve changed.”

“Like what?”

“I dunno - You might’ve ran into some hottie on the way here and had a quick snog,” he jokes.

I stare at him, a smile still upon my face, “It’s funny how that’s the first thing you ask me.”

“What can I say? It’s an obsession,” he gestures to himself.

We’re interrupted by someone, a tall, blonde, blue-eyed waiter, “Would you two like to start off with some drinks and appetizers?”

“Uh, yeah that sounds good,” Robbie answers, looking at me. “Bread?”

I nod.

“All right,” the waiter scribbles it down on a note pad. “And to drink?”

I’m about to order a diet soda but Robbie cuts me off, “Wine, we’ll have wine.”

“Any specific type, Sir?” he asks.

Robbie looks at the waiter as if he’s daft, “The purplish-red kind?” he says as if it’s obvious.

“Right, I’ll be back with your orders,” and he leaves.

I snort once he’s out of ear shot.

“What?” demands Robbie.

“The purplish-red kind?” I raise an eye brow.

“I got my point across didn’t I?” he smirks.

“I suppose,” I smile cheekily.

After a few minutes of silence, “He was really cute.”

“I know,” I agree, laughing with Robbie.

Then we begin talking about stupid, non-important stuff, and not longer after the waiter comes back with a basket of bread and two glasses of dark wine.

He places it all on the table and I smile, saying ‘thank you.’

He turns to leave and Robbie says, “Nice toosh,” quite loud on purpose.

The waiter turns around and questions, “Excuse me?”

“Hermione!” Robbie scolds me. “Why would you say that?” he turns to the waiter. “You’ll have to excuse her, she hasn’t taken her medication today, she’ll be fine though.”

“I’m very sorry, I just can’t control myself sometimes,” I reluctantly play along.

He gives us a funny nod and walks away.

When he’s gone I slap Robbie’s arm playfully, “That’s sexual harassment, you could’ve gotten me in trouble!”

“That was NOT sexual harassment. . . . It’s homosexual harassment, very different.”

I laugh and take a sip of wine, “Right.”

Suddenly I hear this teeny, beeping sound and my ears perk up.

“What is that?” asks Robbie, looking around.

“That’s my voice mail,” I tell him, reaching into my bag and pulling out my mobile phone. “Sorry,” I say, punching in my password on the keypad and pressing the phone to my ear I listen to the message I’ve just received.

Soon a familiar, long lost voice is gushing into my ear and flooding my brain.

“Uh, hey Hermione, it’s Harry. . . . I know we haven’t spoken in almost ten years but I’m back in London and I was wondering if we could meet up, maybe go out for lunch, catch up a bit. I’m at my flat in London, just give me a call anytime, bye-” and it clicks off.

I close my phone, not blinking, my mouth agape.

“What’s wrong?” Robbie asks, chewing on some bread.

“Oh my God.”

“What?” he asks again.

“OH MY GOD!”

“Oh my God?”

“Harry’s in London!”

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“Ok so let me get this straight,” Robbie says. “Your best friend, who you haven’t seen in almost ten years is back from fighting evil bitches as an Auror and you’re not sure if you want to see him, and he’s hot.”

“Right,” I answer.

“Are you daft?!” he yells.

All through dinner I was explaining my situation to Robbie and now as we walk through Muggle London I’m starting to think he didn’t quite comprehend my story.

“No you don’t understand,” I sigh. “I pretty much cut myself off from the magical world eight years ago, I just ran away-”

“Why though?” he cuts me off.

“Let me finish! I ran away from everything there, magic, Harry and the evil he had demolished . . . . He went straight into Auror training and I knew I would hardly see him, what with traveling around the world-”

“So you ran because you would never see him?” he questions.

“No! No,” I twist my hands in a knot. “I ran - Because I heard before Harry started moving around that he was going to ask me to come with him, and I was scared, I freaked out and ran, cut all ties to the magical world.”

“You freaked out?” he looks at me worriedly.

“Yes,” I say feebly.

“God woman, you are daft!” he shouts.

I shake my head, biting my lip.

“You love him,” he says and I look up startled.

“Excuse me?”

“You are in love with Harry!” he points at me accusingly.

My mouth drops open, “I am not!” or at least I don’t think I am. “I haven’t seen him in years, how could I be in love with him?”

“You ran away because you were scared of your feelings for him! Oh I am good, I called that one!”

“Robbie stop being ridiculous! I don’t love him, besides he’s probably got some great, gorgeous, g-girlfriend traveling w-with him,” my voice falters as I feel a sharp pang in my heart.

Robbie stares at me expectantly.

“Oh my God I’m in love with Harry,” I look at him horrified.

“Uh-huh,” he smiles and nods curtly.

“Well I can’t see him anyway,” I fold my arms over my chest.

“Why?!” demands Robbie.

“Because, the longer I don’t see him the shorter it’ll take to get over him, that’s why I cut myself off from the magical world. If I see him now it’ll be like a collision of what I’ve overcome and what I used to know, battle of the universes, war of the worlds,” I look at him expectantly.

“You know, that was a very good movie, terribly underrated, Tom Cruise is annoying and hot, still don’t like him though,” he says to no one in particular.

“Robbie! Are you even listening to me?!” I shriek.

“Yes, I think you should at least give him a ring, I doubt anything can happen just by talking to the guy,” he tells me.

I groan and just keep walking.

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Here I am, pacing in my room, contemplating what to say when I call him. Robbie’s probably right, just calling him can’t hurt, right?

I glance at my reflection in the mirror and my face contorts, my thick, curly hair is a mess, sticking up every which way, my brown eyes are slightly red from fatigue and anxiety, and my pajama pants are two sizes, too big.

I sigh and look at the crumpled up, piece of paper in my hand. I take a deep breath, this is the paper that contains Harry’s number, I had already crumpled it up, thrown it in the wastebasket, took it out, uncrumpled it, stared at it, crumpled it again, threw it into the fire, took it out, repaired it (magically) and am now staring at it again.

“Ok,” I say aloud as Crookshanks slinks into the room and perches himself on the end of my bed, staring at me curiously. “This can’t be that difficult.”

I begin pacing again.

“He’s still Harry, nothing’s really changed, ‘Hey mate, anything new happen in the last ten years?’ No, that sounds moronic. ‘Hello Harry, lovely weather lately?’ Well yeah, that could work if it hadn’t been raining the whole bloody week!” I start drumming my fingers against my leg in anticipation, it really shouldn’t be this hard to talk to Harry.

But the thing is, it is really hard. I don’t know what he’s been doing the past nine years, is he still famous? Is Rite Skeeter still on his tail? Are he and Ron still best mates? Is Ron still the same Ron I knew from Hogwarts-

My thoughts are interrupted by a low, impatient, rumble of a meow from Crookshanks and I take that as my que to call.

“Fine,” I snap at the orange cat and grab the cordless phone from my night table and take a deep breath, I glance at the number again and punch it in, press the phone to my ear and listen intently.

Ring.

Oh shit.

Ring.

Crap.

Ring.

Okay, deep breaths it’ll be fine.

Ring.

Maybe he won’t pick up, yeah he’s probably out or something.

Ri-

“Hello?”

Or not.

“Er.... Hey Harry, it’s Hermione I got your message-”

“Hermione! It’s so great to hear from you! What have you been doing for the past ten years?” he asks excitedly.

At the sound of his calm, relaxed voice, I’m already at ease.

“Oh, the same things, work, friends, what about you?” I ask, walking around my room, still holding the paper in my hand, delicately this time.

“They gave me a bunch of Auror work to do, had me traveling all over Europe, the midwest, you know, and then the paparazzi of the magical world is still bothering me,” he laughs.

I smile, “So your still famous then?”

He laughs again, “You don’t know the half of it.”

“Fill me in,” I say.

He pauses, “All right, in Witch Weekly they give out one poster of me in at least every issue, I have people following me with cameras when I go to buy bloody toilet paper, and the rumors are still coming in herds.”

I try to contain my laughter but snort instead.

“It’s not funny!” he scolds me but laughs all the same.

“Right, sorry.”

”It’s not always fun to be The-Boy-Who-Lived-Again,” he tells me.

“I can imagine,” I reply.

After a few seconds of silence he begins talking again, “Listen Hermione, could we go get a drink? I have to tell you something important,” he sounds kind of apprehensive.

“But Harry it’s almost-”

“Nine o’clock,” I can tell he’s raising his eyebrow.

I smile, “All right.”

“I’ll pick you up at your flat in a half an hour, okay? What’s your address again?”

I give it to him, then we hang up.

I take a deep breath.

I doubt anything can happen by just talking to the guy.... Robbie’s voice rings in my head.

“So much for your advice, Rob,” I shake my head and start getting ready.

Author’s Note: Hope you liked it, thanks for reading! Please review!

Chapter Two
Bad News

Author’s Note: Thanks for the reviews! I love ‘em. Here’s chapter two, hope you like it!

I brush through my hair one more time and check the mirror. Okay so maybe I was trying to look especially pretty with my tight, dark blue jeans, white cashmere turtleneck, and particularly tamed ringlets, but I mean come on, I don’t wanna look like total crap after not seeing the guy for nine years.

The doorbell rings and at first I freeze, Crookshanks rubs against my leg and I realize I have to go and answer the door.

So I get up, taking another deep breath, and I leave my room, walking through the living room and I answer the door, my breath gets caught instantly in my throat.

He’s wearing light blue jeans, a striped button up shirt, and a tan jacket, I’ve never seen his hair messier than now, he’s wearing the same glasses he’s worn forever, and he’s leaning in the door frame, grinning stupidly at me. And suddenly it’s like we were never apart.

“Miss Granger,” he says casually, lazily standing up straight. “Looking quite pretty, time has not done you in yet.”

I smile, “Like wise.”

“Thank you very much,” he bows his head jokingly. “Ready to go?” he asks.

“Of course,” I respond, grabbing a jacket, locking the door, and closing it behind me.

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Now we’re walking through a random park in London where there’s a small performance going on on a small stage. As we walk passed I watch idly and smile at the beautiful music reverberating from the stage.

As the performance disappears behind us we find ourselves walking along a pathway lined with old, fading lamps.

In the silence a question pops into my mind and I bring up the courage to say it out loud.

“Harry,” I pause. “Why did you come back?”

Before he answers he has an expression on his face of confusion or fear, I can’t tell.

“I have something to tell you,” he says and stops walking to look at me.

My heart starts beating rapidly and my breath is issuing from my mouth in little puffs of steam.

“What is it?” I ask.

He stares at me for a few minutes, his hands digging into his pockets, a smile spreads over his lips and he says three words that cause my heart to skip a beat.

“I’m getting married.”

As the words claw at my ears I feel myself going numb, my hearts beating faster than ever, I can almost feel it going through my ribcage, and at the same time the blood’s throbbing in my ear. I have to remind myself to breath as I stare at his gorgeous face.

Finally I speak, a smile plastered to my lips, “I’m sorry, what?”

He laughs, “I’m engaged!”

Before I can stop myself I say, “Since when?”

He laughs again, finding my current state some form of amusement, “Since last week.”

I shake my head, my legs are growing weak and I know my buckled knees are about to give way. Suddenly I can’t feel the ground below me, to prevent myself from falling farther, “I need to sit down,” I say suddenly and amble over to a cold metal bench, plopping down on it.

“Are you all right?” he asks.

I nod numbly and look around, the lamp lights are growing blurry as I try to focus on them, there’s a cold, foreboding feeling that’s creeping up my back, and I feel like there’s some itch growing under my skin that I can’t shake.

“Hermione?” Harry questions, looking worriedly at me.

I shake myself into autopilot and flash him a bright smile, “Sorry, you just gave me a shock,” I laugh. “So who is it?” I ask and he sits down beside me.

He smiles again, “Oh Herms, she’s great, you’ll love her!”

I feign a smile again, “Right.”

“Her name’s Natalie and she’s a witch, works as a secretary under the Minister of Magic,” he boasts and I feel myself resisting the urge to gag.

“Oh, wow, that’s . . . .” I restrain from saying ‘not that great’ and replace it with, “Amazing, really remarkable,” I nod.

“I thought you’d say that,” he laughs.

I nod again, laughing miserably.

After a few minutes of this insane, pointless gaffing, Harry asks, “Don’t you want to know when you can meet her?” he asks.

“What?” I falter. “Oh! Er, right! When can I meet her?” I say brightly.

He answers quickly, “You can meet us for lunch tomorrow if you want?”

“Uh - Okay, sure!”

“Twelve o’clock at Bel Giardino?” he offers.

“Great!” I say falsely.

He nods with a smile, “It’s a date.”

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I pound on the door again and finally it swings open, revealing a very disgruntled looking Robbie.

“He’s getting married!” I shout.

His eyelids are half-opened and his mouth is hanging open, “The koo-koo clocks say ‘No!’”

I stare at him and start snapping my fingers in his face, “WAKE UP! WE HAVE A SITUATION!” and I plow passed him and into his flat.

He closes the door and shakes his head, “Okay I’m awake, I’m good, what’s the deal?”

“Harry called me and he convinced me to go out and catch up and I did. And when we were walking in the park there was the Phantom, and the -” and I begin singing. “With the street lamps and the ‘Why’d you come back?’ and he’s like ‘I have something to tell you’ and I like freak out and I’m like ‘What is it?!’ and he’s all ‘I’m getting married!’ and I’m all ‘Oh my freaking Lord!’ except I didn’t say that, just thought it. Then the dizziness, and itching, and the secretary of Minister. . . . Please help me, Robbie.”

He blinks a couple of times.

“Robbie?” I say as he stares at me unsurely.

“The scariest part of that whole episode just now was I understood every word,” he tells me and I sigh.

“Thank God.”

I slump onto his couch, a sick, panicky feeling creeping over my again.

“What am I supposed to do Rob?” I ask, looking up at him hopelessly.

He squats in from of my, placing two comforting hands on my knees, “What do you want to do, cookie?” he questions.

I look at him, feeling totally spineless and pathetic, I slouch even more and answer defeatedly, “I don’t know.”

“Well what do you want?” he asks again, giving my knee a soft, encouraging squeeze.

“I just want to be with Harry,” I reply, now realizing how lame and impossible that sounds.

He smiles an understanding grin, “Then go get him.”

“How?!” I cry out in frustration.

“That’s your problem,” he slaps my knee.

I look at him in despair, “Robbie!”

“Okay, fine!” he puts his hands up in defense before placing them on my knees again. “We’ll do this the logical way. Why do you think he shouldn’t be with this woman? Besides the fact that you want to be with the man in question.”

I sigh, shaking my head, “He told me he met her like two weeks ago, I think he’s rushing into it, I’d be okay with it if he knew her a little more, if he had thought about it-”

“Would you?”

“What?” I ask confusedly.

“Would you be okay with it if he knew her more?”

I pause, thinking about this, “No, I guess not.”

He stares at me in silence, waiting for me to figure this out myself, but still being here for me if I need him.

I sigh again, “I don’t know, I guess I’ll just go to lunch with them tomorrow and see how it all works out.”

He nods, “Sounds like a plan.”

Chapter Three
Scheming Already

Author’s Note: I love those reviews! Here’s chapter three, and four as well!

I wake up the next morning far too early. It’s not even six yet, normally I would sleep late when I had no work but there’s a thought that’s nagging at my mind that forces me to awaken. I don’t know what it is, but it’s a cold sickly feeling that I feel smothering my entire body as I lay in the gray morning light. Comprehension hasn’t sunken in yet, I feel thoughtless and blank. I’m so tired, I barely have enough energy to remember the day before, or think about what I’m going to even wear today.

I roll onto my side and adjust my pillow, I’m going to go to sleep. The sun’s barely up, I have no reason to be awake this early. Yet there’s still this constant bother that’s sparking and flickering in the back of my brain.

After a few minutes of laying in silence I grow tired again and my eyes become heavy, crashing against each other.

Then out of nowhere a thought attacks me and ferociously rips at my brain, clawing at my heart as well.

Harry.

Getting.

Married.

Lunch.

Today.

Shit.

I groan unwillingly, this sucks.

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It’s 12:04 and I’m running down the sidewalk, racing toward Bel Giardino. I stop outside the restaurant, glancing at the outside dining area. That’s when my eyes fall on Harry, he’s sitting alone, looking toward the sidewalk and street, playing with his spoon.

I make my way over to the thin, black, iron gate surrounding the area and make my way through an opening under a beautiful, floral archway. Harry looks up and sees me, a smile spreading over his lips. He stands up as I arrive at the table, pulling my chair out for me. I sit down with a ‘thank you’ and look at him. He’s still smiling, looking a whole lot like the eleven year old Harry I knew from Hogwarts. I can feel my cheeks tinge pink.

“So,” I begin hurriedly. “Where’s, er, Natalie?” I look around, hoping she couldn’t make it.

Harry looks at his watch, frowning slightly, “She should be here any minute.”

I nod.

We sit in silence for a few minutes. For me it’s an antagonizing silence, for him it’s a petty thing, for he’s smiling without effort. I’m trying my hardest to keep an easy, placid look upon my face but it’s very difficult. There’s so much spinning through my head right now, he’s getting married, off limits, off the market forever, what if she’s a bitch and controls everything he does. Or what if she’s like a demon on that episode of Charmed when the girl was trying to - actually I forget what she was trying to do, but she was a demon bride framing the groom for some reason -

“Harry, luv, I’m so sorry I’m late, I was caught up at work and then I had some difficulties getting here,” I hear an unfamiliar, voice, and I reluctantly look up.

This CAN’T be her.

“That’s all right sweetie,” he stands up and pulls out her chair for her, just like he did for me, except when she sits down she leans over and kisses him. My heart pangs and I feel a slight feeling of nausea come over me.

Once they’re both seated and I realize I’m staring at them stupidly I close my mouth and smile.

“Hermione this is my fiancée Natalie, Natalie this is my best friend from Hogwarts, Hermione,” Harry introduces us and I swallow the feeling of disgust with another bright smile.

Her hair is blonde, down to her shoulders, absolutely pin straight. I shake her perfectly manicured hand, noticing her icy blue eyes are giving me this cold creepy feeling. She’s wearing white pinstriped pants and a black jumper, and then my eyes fall on the ring. My throat constricts, it’s this HUGE (and I’m using this term loosely) bright, pink, gawty, round ring. The nausea continues.

“Hermione! It’s so great to finally meet you, Harry never did quite shut up about the amazing, genius, best friend from Hogwarts,” she smiles.

I laugh in spite of myself, “Yeah, that’s me amazing and genius,” I fail to say best friend.

By now our hands are no longer linked, but the cold feeling is still crawling up my arm.

“So Hermione what do you do for a living?” Natalie questions, resting her chin on her palm.

I pick up the cold glass of water in front of me and answer, “I’m a social worker.... In the muggle world,” I add as an afterthought, sipping the water anxiously.

At first her expression doesn’t change from that of when she stopped talking, then she gives this smile and chimes, “That’s great!” I can tell she’s really thinking ‘Whata loser, why can’t you find something better to do with your life?’ which I resent very much. I’m almost tempted to scream ‘Your job sucks more!’ and gauge out of her eyes or something. But that wouldn’t be very mature or ethical so I smile and nod.

Thankfully the waiter comes and takes our orders, he leaves almost as quickly as he had came and I resist the urge to grab him around the ankles and plead him to stay. But I don’t, of course. So instead another disgusting silence falls between us. Except this time Harry doesn’t look so comfortable about it.

“So,” I hear myself croaking. “You work for the minister?” I ask, remembering to keep my voice down while talking about magic.

She looks delighted to have all attention directed towards her, “Oh yes! It’s so great, very hectic of course but I love it! McDougall’s an old softy!” she trills.

McDougall must be the new Minister of Magic, I make a mental note.

I laugh unconsciously.

We fall into another awkward silence, I’m already going over what I could say but nothing comes to mind. Thankfully a tinny rendition of ‘You’re the One That I Want’ emits from somewhere across the table and instantly Natalie looks at her bag.

“Excuse me for a minute,” she says reaching into her bag.

I nod and Harry waves his hand as if to brush it away.

She presses the phone to her ear and says, “Hello?”

She presses her free index finger to her other ear, closing out all sound.

“Daddy?” she says louder, pausing for a few seconds. “I’m fine, how are you and Mummy?”

I grit my teeth together, taking another sip of water, this is painful, utterly painful. The way she talks, the way she smiles, the way her hair is just the right shade of gold, not even blonde, gold. Her teeth are perfectly straight and penetrating blue eyes are glittering like the waves out on the coast. I feel sick, so sick, how the hell am I going to eat my food when it gets here?

“Hold on Daddy,” she speaks into the receiver, turning her head towards us. “I’ll just be a moment,” and she gets up, leaving the dining area to go talk on the sidewalk, away from the commotion.

Another silence falls upon us and I watch Harry intently. He’s staring at Natalie with a look of something I just can’t place, but it’s making my stomach constrict violently. My mouth feels dry and my eyes are burning. I clench the cold, wet glass in my hand and shakily gulp it’s contents. This is really too much.

I’m about to start mentioning how the weather’s a lot nicer today but he says something before, something I don’t want to hear.

“Isn’t she amazing?” he looks at me, his eyes bright and his smile lopsided.

My smile falters but I hide it by saying, “Peachy,” and I giggle.

Peachy? PEACHY?! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH ME?!!!!!!!!!! And what was that? was that a giggle?! HERMIONE GRANGER DOESN’T GIGGLE!!!!!!!!! He laughs
in this ‘Aw you’re so cute’ way but I believe that’s just wishful thinking.

Our food arrives not long after and Natalie is still chirping away on her mobile but she sees we have our food so she waves her manicured hand as if to say ‘start without me’ and she turns her back to continue talking to her precious poppy. Isn’t that nice of her, rude little twit.

So we begin eating but as I spear the pasta in my bowl with my spoon I’m not any more hungry then when Ron made brownies when we were eighteen and the egg yoke was still oozing out of the middle, I feel like gagging. But despite my current lack of hunger I chew the food and swallow so Harry won’t ask what’s wrong.

Natalie comes back and sits down smiling at Harry.

“Everything okay?” he asks, wiping some tomato sauce from his face.

“Uh-huh,” she replies, smiling at him. “It was just Daddy, he was asking about having the wedding up at the Manor.”

I take another sip of water, trying to wash down the chalky taste in my mouth.

“The Manor?” he questions, looking at her, slightly shocked. “But I thought-”

She cuts him off, “Don’t worry about it now, we’ll figure everything out later,” she pats his hand briskly and begins to eat her salad daintily.

He smiles in a rather forced way and looks at me, “Which reminds me, Nat and I have been talking.” WHY DOES HE CALL HER NAT? Does he mean like a gnat? those annoying little bugs. “We want you to be in the bridal party-”

“Oh yes! I completely forgot!” she trills, typical. “And since my Maid of Honor is on holiday for a few months Harry- I mean we were hoping you could help plan the wedding.”

Her voice is sugary and false, her smile never wavers.

I swallow another gulp of water and I can feel it crash in my stomach which has just turned to lead. My mind is racing wildly, I can’t help them plan their wedding! But how could I refuse, what could I say? ‘I can’t help you plan your wedding because I’m in love with you, sorry’ No, see that wouldn’t work.

“Er, sure,” I reply.

“Great!” Harry looks so pleased.

I smile, Natalie’s ignoring us by stabbing a tomato and chewing it neatly. I hate tomatoes.

“Would you excuse me?” I say, they nod and I stand up, walking into the restaurant.

I find our waiter, he’s a young boy, sort of gawky but I like him, for some odd reason he makes me feel sturdy in this sea of awkwardness I’m experiencing.

“Excuse me,” I say. “Could you tell me where ladies’ room is?”

“Oh, uh, at the back over there, through that door,” he points.

I smile, “Thank you.”

And I walk away, as we go different way the familiar feeling of sickly nervousness comes over me and I really feel as if I’m going to throw up. I hurry through the door and into another door marked ‘Ladies’. Thankfully it’s empty and I pull out my mobile phone, punch in Robbie’s number and it’s not long before his comforting voice is gushing into my ear.

“I can’t do it Robbie,” I say immediately. “I can’t do it. I love him so much. I can’t see him with her, it hurts too much,” as I hear myself saying these words I feel even more vulnerable and the tears spill rapidly.

“Aw, Hermione,” he coos. “You can get through this, be happy for him.”

I sob, pain is pulsing through me, replacing my blood, I can’t help regretting the fact that I didn’t go with Harry all those years ago, maybe we would’ve been married by now.

“I can’t Rob, I can’t do it. I’ll leave the country, go to Zimbabwe or something, get as far away from him as possible.”

“Herm-”

“She’s all wrong for him!” I screech. “Completely wretched, bloody twit!”

“This is the hatred talking-”

“What are you psycho analyst Robbie?! This is all your fault! You’re the one who told me to call him!” I shake my head.

He pauses, “Apparently this is the accusation stage-”

“Robbie!”

“What can I do to make you feel better?”

“I need to break them up!” I say, delighted.

“Hermione you can’t-”

“Why not?! He rushed into this, and she’s not right for him at all! I’m going to help him see through to what’s right - Be his X-Ray goggles.”

“I don’t think-”

“Yes, that’s it! Thanks for your help Robbie, you’re a lifesaver, I’ll call you later.”

And I hang up. I wash my face and quickly touch up my make-up. I feel like a new person, totally refreshed with this new resolution. Everything’ll be fine, I’ll get my happily ever after.

We finish eating quickly and then after paying stand outside the restaurant together, waiting for a car to pick up us up to drop me off at my flat and take them to the Manor, her family’s huge mansion on the coast, to talk with ‘Daddy and Mummy’ about some ‘teeny-tiny’ wedding details. Like it matters.

So as we’re standing there, Natalie whips out a cigarette and a lighter, lighting it up casually. God I hate the smell of smoke.

She takes a drag and Harry scolds her, “Nat I really wish you would stop smoking.”

“Oh pet, it’s just an old habit, I’ll quit soon. I’m just stressed right now with work and everything.”

PET?! SHE CALLS HIM PET?!

I cringe again.

He sighs, “All right but you are quitting soon.”

My God she has him wrapped around her French-manicured finger. Bloody bitch.

She smiles at him and kisses his cheek. I hope kissing her is like kissing an ashtray.

Finally a sleek, black car comes round the corner and stops in front of us. She flicks her cigarette onto the sidewalk and gets into the car, Harry crushed it under his heel.

Before he slides in he turns to me, “I almost forgot Ron and everyone wanted to meet up with you so they could catch up, I said we’d have a small get together at my flat, is that all right?”

I smile brightly, “Yes, that’s fine.”

“Great,” he smiles.

I like when he smiles at me, it’s good to know I was the one who made him happy.

We get in the car and as we drive down the road I’m already scheming away.

Chapter Four
Finding Allies

If I had known I would get so totally smashed at this ‘get together’ I don’t think I would’ve come.

Well, I came at around eight and everyone was already here, Ron, Luna (Ron’s wife!), Ginny, Fred, George, and so many others. When I came in everyone was all ‘HERMIONE! OMIGOD!’ and of course there was screaming and laughing and hugging, but that’s inevitable. It was so great to see everyone again, I didn’t even know how much I missed them. I had become completely numb to the magical world and all my friends that were still there.

I had walked into the flat and was greeted first by Luna and Ginny, they were squealing and hugging me like mad. Luna’s the same odd, out-of-it character with a little more togetherness. Her wavy blonde hair is still very long and her eyes are still swimming and dreamy. Ginny’s still the same as well, excited and kind to pretty much everyone. Her hair is a gorgeous shade of red, which I envy very much, and she still has freckles across her nose and cheeks.

Just as they were asking me if I had a boyfriend, Ron walked in from, what I guessed, was the living room, holding a bowl of pretzels.

“Do we have anymore-” he stopped once he caught site of me.

“Ron,” was all I could.

He grinned and gave me a huge, rib-crushing hug, not letting me go for several long seconds.

“I need to talk to you later,” he whispered into my hair then let go of me. His voice had been serious when he said it, as if he was angry, but then as he looked at me he was grinning, as if trying to cover it up.

I smiled unsurely.

“Now the party can start!” he shouted.

They had guided me into the living room and I said hello to everyone, catching up on what we had missed over the past nine years. I couldn’t help but notice Harry wasn’t present. I swallowed, had Natalie kept him at ‘The Manor’ away from me? Had she decided that she didn’t want him near me anymore and made up some petty excuse that would keep him with her because she has him totally under lock and key. Had he then told Ron to go ahead with the party and to be sure it didn’t get too crazy. My heart panged, he had forgotten to tell Ron to say sorry from him.

My thoughts skittered away from me, leaving my mind altogether, at the sound of a familiar voice.

“Guys! Does anyone give a shit that there’s beer on the hardwood floor?!” I heard Harry shout.

I looked up, he was standing there holding a grocery store bag in his hands and car keys in the other. He hadn’t missed my party. I smiled.

Ron feigned a look of surprise, turning to the first innocent bystander he came across, “Neville! Why would you do something like that?”

Neville looked at Ron, his eyes wide.

“Ron, clean it up,” Harry ordered.

“Fine,” he said, getting up and leaving the room to return with a roll of paper towels.

Harry set the grocery bag on a coffee table and sat down next to me on the couch, “Hey there Guest of Honor! How are you liking your party?” he asked.

My whole body grew warm and I was afraid I seemed flustered, he was sitting rather close. I could smell his cologne.

I looked around, “I didn’t know it was going to be so wild,” I laughed.

He looked around, smiling at me, “If you don’t like it I’ll kick them all out.”

I laughed again, although his offer sounded truly tempting.

“No, no it’s fine.”

“Are you sure?” he asked, his emerald eyes boring into my muddy brown ones.

I loved the way he looked at me.

“I’m sure.”

“All right,” he nodded.

Then we sat and looked around, observing our hectic atmosphere.

“Why isn’t Natalie here?” I asked, attempting to be polite.

He looked at me, having to talk louder over the noise, “Oh she couldn’t make it, she’s spending the night at her parent’s house with her brother and sister.”

“Oh,” I replied, nodding. “It’s too bad she missed it.”

“Yeah,” he replied and I have to admit, he didn’t sound like he was so sorry about it. “Lee! Can you not climb on the bookcase?!” he shouted at Lee Jordan who had been indeed hanging from a bookcase shelf. When Lee didn’t cease to climb Harry turned to me, “Sorry, damage control,” he gave me a lopsided grin, my stomach flipped, and I smiled at him.

It was then I realized how utterly in love with him I actually was. Everything about him. The way he walked, the way he talked to me, the way his eyes were just the right shade of green and his hair the right shade of black. I loved the way he ate, the way he responded to things, the way his eyes drilled holes into my mind and made me feel like he could read my thoughts. I even loved the way he loved Natalie. The way he smelled, and how I wanted to just throw my arms around his neck and bury my face into his shirt everytime I was around him.

This was the man I wanted to marry, and I was certainly not ready to lose him to little Miss Bitch Natalie, no sir.

“Hermione,” a voice had broken my thoughts.

Ron.

I looked up, “Hey.”

“Can we talk now?” he asked.

I nodded, “Sure.”

And he led me right out of Harry’s flat, and out of the very building, so we were walking along the sidewalk.

We walked in an awkward silence, he had his hands deep in his pockets and I had my arms folded in an attempt to keep warm against the cold air. I watched him, wondering if he was going to say anything. He seemed to know what he was going to say, but wanted to figure out the right way to go about delivering the words to me.

Soon enough he spoke, “Hermione,” he said. “I’m going to be flat out honest with you.”

This sentence alone scared me. Honesty? Did I want him to be brutally honest with me? I couldn’t be honest with myself half the time, and I just knew whatever he was going to say would have to do with my running away, something I didn’t want to think about. I hadn’t stopped regretting what I did.

“All right,” I replied all the same, my voice shaking.

He stopped walking and looked at me, “You broke Harry’s heart when you left.”

I opened my mouth to say something but no words issued out, how could I possibly respond to that?

“You really did. The guy was head over heals, madly and deeply in love with you,” he shook his head.

I felt as if I was going to throw up, I swallowed, “Ron, I-”

“You knew he was going to ask you to come with him and you left anyway,” his voice was growing louder. “Did you ever think of him? About how much he loved you?! No. You did the selfish thing and ran away!” by then he was shouting.

I stayed silent then, afraid of him in a way. His words were sinking in, cutting at my heart. He was right, I had been selfish. Tears were burning in the back of my throat. And, to put it simply enough, I hated myself.

Anger boiled up inside me, tossing my stomach around, making my fingertips itch. But I wasn’t angry at Ron, I knew that, I was angry at myself. I truly hated myself and everything I was at that moment. And that just made me want to break down crying.

“You didn’t even care to write, you were too busy making a new life for yourself,” his eyes are slightly narrowed on mine as his words come out in puffs of steam.

I’d never seen Ron look at me the way he did, as if he hated me.

The tears were threatening to fall, taunting me.

I opened my mouth to speak, I wasn’t actually sure what I was going to say, but I tried to say something, and he cut me off.

“And where were you when Harry was moping around?” he shot the words at me and I took a deep breath, steadying myself. “Where were you when he was locked in his room, in bed for hours, in the dark, wasting away....”

I flinched, I didn’t want to hear anymore, but I couldn’t tell Ron to shut up either.

“Hermione, we were afraid to leave him alone,” he tells me. “We were too afraid he’d hurt himself-”

I sucked in a deep breath, wishing he would stop torturing me this way. I blinked, a single tear dropped from my eye lid, I brushed it away quickly, I wasn’t worthy enough to cry.

He didn’t say anything, only stared at me, slightly enraged.

I decided it was time I spoke up, “I know it was selfish of me, and I know it wasn’t fair to leave like that. But Ron you have to listen to me, I was scared-!”

“Oh for God sakes Hermione!” he threw his hands up in exasperation, I flinched. “Scared of what?!”

Looking back on it I can’t remember why I ran. I was scared, but of what? of a relationship with Harry? something I wanted so desperately now.

“I don’t know,” I choked on the words as I said them.

I felt miserable, completely miserable.

We stood there like that, staring at each other, both of us thinking of what to say. Then, I realized, I needed to tell Ron the truth, even if he hated me even more for it.

“Ron,” I whispered. “I love him.”

He nodded, “I know.” His voice made me feel like it was hopeless.

“What am I going to do?” I questioned.

He thought for a minute, then, “He doesn’t love Natalie.”

I stared at him for a second, taking in everything he had just said, “What?”

“He doesn’t love Natalie, he’s being stupid and rushing into this, he’s using her as a band-aid, trying to cover up the pain he still feels from you leaving him.”

I just stared at him open mouthed.

“So we have to show him he’s making a huge mistake.... Are you willing?”

“Yes! Of course!”

“Good,” he looked around. “I think we should head back.”

I nodded and he started walking away before me, without thinking, I grabbed his arm and pulled him into a hug.

“Thank you Ron,” I whispered.

“It’s good to have you back Hermione,” he replied, squeezing my shoulder. “Now let’s go back.”

------------------------------------------------------------------

So after that interesting talk with Ron we went back to Harry’s flat. That’s when they pretty much ganged up on me and somehow convinced me to start downing the alcohol. And that’s where I am now. I don’t remember how many drinks I’ve had, but who cares?

Harry wasn’t around during this time but I hardly noticed. The room was growing fuzzy and I felt stupid and giddy. It’s not long before I feel sick and dizzy though, that’s when Harry comes in and I can barely sit up.

“Guys, what have you been doing?” he asks and now I notice my head hurts like mad.

“Just having a few drinks,” Dean Thomas says and I lean against the arm of the couch.

Harry sees this and says, “Okay guys I think this party’s over.”

There are many arguments and I find myself drowning it all out and closing my eyes.

“Hermione,” he nudges me. “Hermione wake up.”

I open my eyes, “Huh?”

He laughs, “You okay?”

I shake my head but say, “Yes.”

Do I always have to have this wretched feeling that I’m going to puke?!

He laughs again, “Let’s get you home,” he makes an attempt to get me up but his attempt falls flat.

Everyone’s gone, I can tell, it’s only Harry, me, and a extremely messy house. Although the flat is quiet and calm and the atmosphere outside is pretty much dead, my head is spinning and it’s busy. I hold my head in my hands and swallow hard to keep myself from barfing.

“Hermione?” I groan in response. “Come on, I’m gonna take you home.”

HAS HE GONE MAD?! I can’t possibly go anywhere, or move for that matter, it’ll only add to the intense dizziness and I’d pass out for sure. Hey, now that I think about it passing out doesn’t sound so bad.

I can only shake my head, I’m going to sleep, right here, on Harry’s couch, good night everybody.

I close my eyes and don’t open them anytime soon.

------------------------------------------------------------------

I wake up but don’t open my eyes. I remember bits of what happened last night, Ron yelling at me then siding with me, coming back and getting drunk, then Harry telling me to wake up, but I didn’t want to.

That’s when I realize just how much my head is aching and how dry my mouth is. I lick the roof of my mouth and swallow hard, my throat is very scratchy and dry. I need water. . . . And a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich.

I lay there, beginning to wonder where the hell I am. Still on Harry’s couch? No I couldn’t possibly be, where I am laying is much too comfortable. In my own bed? My bed isn’t this soft or warm and it doesn’t. . . . Smell this good?

Oh. My. God.

I’m in Harry’s bed. I open my eyes and look around, scolding myself for thinking for a split second Harry would be laying beside me, looking completely content. But there’s no one there and I brace myself for the disappointment. But instead of sighing in sadness I listen for any sound of activity in the flat. And there it is, a shuffle of feet, a tap running somewhere in the kitchen, plates clinking, the mumble of voices. Someone else is in the flat? Ron maybe? I listen more closely, straining my ears which causes my head to ache even more. No the voice couldn’t belog to Ron it’s much too high. Maybe it’s Ron and Luna.

I reluctantly get out of the bed and look around the room. It’s white, with wood floors, his bedspread is white along with the sheets and pillow cases. There’s a bookcase near a window with an iron fire escape outside of it and a desk that’s hardly cluttered. I look at the desk and there are photos on it; One picture of Natalie (surprise, surprise!), one of him and Ron looking slightly drunk, another one of his mum and dad, and another frame that I can see under a stack of papers. I can’t help it, I amble over to the desk and move the papers, lifting the picture and looking at it. I gasp, it’s of me, just me, taken a few days before I ‘ran away’.

I try to swallow past the lump in my throat.

I hear something drop with a ‘clunk’ in the other room and jump, hiding the picture under the papers as I had found it. I stumble to the door and open it unsurely, looking out, I only see a wall so I step outside and walk down the hall, the voices growing louder. I get to the living room, right in front of the kitchen, and stop. No that’s not Luna’s dreamy voice, or Ron either, it’s much too -

Natalie. Shit.

They aren’t talking anymore, do they know I’m standing there? I crept down the hall halfway and call feebly, “Harry?”

“I-In here,” he calls back so I go into the kitchen.

Natalie’s sitting there at his kitchen table with a mug in her hand and Harry’s looking at her with his arms folded. He looks up as I walk in and smiles, “Hey.”

“Hi,” I croak. “I’m so sorry about last night, I didn’t mean to get so-”

He shakes his head, “It’s fine.”

“It was so irresponsible-”

“No, Hermione really, it’s fine.”

I smile weakly.

Natalie turns and smiles at me, I can see through that smile, she’s mad, “How’re you feeling?” she asks, I watch as her lips form the words, her perfect lips moving against her perfect white teeth, her voice is sugary sweet again.

I laugh, “Like a million bucks.”

She giggles.

“You want something to eat?” Harry asks.

I shake my head, “No thanks.”

As silence falls around us I look at Natalie, then to Harry, there’s a tension growing in the never-ending silence. This isn’t good, she’s probably mad at him for letting me spend the night, I need to say something, anything.

“H-Harry you should’ve just let me sleep on the couch - Or sent me home,” I laugh.

“No, I couldn’t do that,” he shakes his head again.

“Yes you could’ve. Natalie if I were you I would’ve been furious with him,” I look at her and gesture towards Harry.

She laughs again, “No, I think it’s fine.”

“So you’re not mad?” I ask, trying to sound like I don’t care, but in reality I hope she’s fuming.

She shakes her head, and as she does I look at her eyes. Liar. She’s seething.

“Isn’t she great?” Harry asks, walking over to her, and kissing her softly.

I plaster a smile to my lips, this is painful. I advert my eyes to the clock on the wall and swear.

“What’s wrong?” he questions, looking at me.

“I totally forgot I had work today! I have to go or I’ll be late, thanks for everything,” I say, not bothering to give him a hug or anything. “Bye Natalie.”

“Bye bye,” she waves and I bolt out of the flat.

------------------------------------------------------------------

It’s not long before I’m racing into my office building, immediately greeted by Robbie’s way-too-cheerful face. Luckily before I came I ran a cold shower, pulled up my hair, and dabbed on some make-up, praying I look presentable.

“Hello, Cinderella.”

I groan inwardly, “Good morning Robert.”

He laughs and sits on the edge of my desk, “I know there’s a reason you didn’t answer your phone last night at all and that you’re late for work now, and I know you are just dying to tell me.”

I laugh despite the pain pulsating through my head, “Oh darn I was hoping I wouldn’t have to tell you.”

“Oh my gosh!” he puts a hand to his chest. “That party was last night! You stayed at his place last night didn’t you?!”

“Yes but-”

“Damn girl! I didn’t know you’d get him to dump her that quickly.”

“No Robbie, you don’t understand-”

“Yeah I do!”

“No you don’t. I drank a little too much last night and passed out at his flat, I stayed there last night and woke up an hour ago, and hurried home to get ready.”

“Oh,” his face fell. “How boring,” he walked.

And I was left alone with my thoughts.

Chapter Five
Wedding Helper

I’m sitting at home, reading some books I had stuffed in a cardboard box in the back of my crawl space. Books from Hogwarts, textbooks from Flourish and Blotts, and fun books from Hogsmeade. I decided that if I wanted to win Harry back I’d have to rejoin the magical world, so I went into my mini-attic and pulled out this box and sifted through it. There were enchanted photos from a million years ago, trinkets I collected from Hogsmeade trips and birthdays. An extreme wave of nostalgia washed over me. I want more than anything than to go back to Hogwarts and walk down the halls and up the many staircases that make up the beautiful castle.

My thoughts are interrupted by the sound of the phone ringing, I jump a little at the loud, shrill sound. I get up and pad over the kitchen tiles in my thick socks, picking up the phone and answer, “Hello?”

“Hermione!” I pull the phone away from ear as the high-pitched, tinny voice squeals my name. “How are you?”

“Fine?” I reply, who the hell is - OOOOOOH. Oh God. It’s Natalie. Why is she calling me?! “How are you, Natalie?”

“I’m good, I’m great,” she laughs. “Actually Harry and I were just talking, could you still help plan the wedding?”

I swallow, oh shit.

“Are you sure you guys want my help? I mean, I think a professional wedding planner would be much better-”

“Of course we’re sure! Harry is always going on about how organized you are and how you do everything so well, so we figured you’d be the best choice. Unless you have too much social working to do or something-”

“No! Don’t be ridiculous, of course I’ll help! No problem.”

“Great!” she chimes. “Could you come to Harry’s flat tomorrow so we can start planning?” she asks.

“I-”

“Say around seven-ish?” she cuts me off.

I resist a sigh, “Sure.”

“Great!” she says again. “See you then!” and the phone clicks off.

What a cow.

------------------------------------------------------------------

I cautiously ring the door bell and it’s not long before Harry answers. He smiles and says, “Hey, Natalie just got here.” Then he leads me into the flat, taking my coat and hanging it in a hall closet. We make our way to the kitchen where Natalie’s standing at the counter, her back to us, taking items out of a paper bag. She’s clad in a black trousers, a dark and light green argyle jumper and a white-collared shirt under it. She turns around as we come in and smiles with those bloody perfect teeth. I now notice she’s wearing small pearl earrings and her hair’s swept into a PERFECT ponytail, not one hair is astray.

“I brought some brain food,” she giggles, I resist the urge to gag.

Harry gestures for me to sit at the kitchen table and I do, he does the same. I notice there’s paper, pencils, books, and magazines on the table. All for the wedding plans.

My heart drops, I should have expected all of this but it still surprises me.

“I have frozen burritos, onion dip, chocolate syrup, sardines, and these really cute mini-peppers,” she announces, taking it all out of a shopping bag and onto the counter.

Good God the woman’s deranged.

“Nat, luv, why would you buy onion dip, chocolate syrup or sardines?”

She looks at him and then her eyes move upward as if she’s thinking, “I don’t know.”

“Right,” he replies.

“I did get champagne though!” she grabs the bottle and presents it to everyone.

Thank God.

She turns and opens the cabinet and takes out three champagne glasses and fills them, taking them over to the table. She sits down next to Harry, across from me, and takes Harry’s hand, smiling at him. My throat tightens.

“So let’s do some planning,” she laughs and Harry smiles, they look at me expectantly.

I force a smile onto my face and take a gulp of champagne.

“Hermione what do you suggest we plan first?” she asks.

“Well,” I begin. “I had no clue how to plan a wedding so I did a little research and I think we should first find out where you want to get married,” I look at them.

“Well that’s easy,” Natalie replies, looking at Harry. “At The Manor-” she stops, because at the exact same time Harry said ‘At Hogwarts.’

Haha, trouble in paradise?

She turns and looks at him, “What? I thought we planned on having it at The Manor?”

Harry laughs nervously, glancing at me, “When did we plan that?”

“I thought it was automatically so, sweetie,” she answers.

I hide my happiness at the prospect of them fighting. I am terribly immature.... Oh well.

“Maybe I should leave you-”

“No!” Harry barks. “You stay here,” he turns back to Natalie and I take a sip of champagne.

“Harry-Bear we were all so excited about having it at The Manor - Mummy, Daddy, Lindsay, Alex, Nana, me - everyone!” she pouts.

Is she seriously pulling the ‘Pity Me So I Can Get My Way’ face? Oh dear lord, I think she is.

Harry looks at her, his frustrated frown turning into a loving smile, “All right, we’ll have it at The Manor.”

She smiles and kisses him, I stare at them avidly. They look back at me. Did he- Was she- Oh my God! I can’t believe he just gave in and agreed to that! What the hell, that’s ridiculous!

“Hermione?” Harry snaps me out of my thoughts.

“Oh right, so you’ll have the reception there too?” I ask.

Natalie says ‘yes’ before Harry can even open his mouth. I wait to see if he’ll step up and argue at all. He doesn’t. So we move on.

“Next-” I begin, but I’m cut off by the bitch.

“Can we pick the dresses and everything first?” she asks, smiling eagerly.

I return the smile bitterly and say, “If you want to, but I was thinking we should-”

“I want to,” she tilts her head and her eyes flicker violently.

I raise both eyebrows before I can stop it. Lay off the attitude, perhaps?

“All right,” I nod. “It’s your wedding.”

“Can we go tomorrow?!” she straightens up even more.

NO BITCH, WE CAN’T!

“Well actually I have work tomorrow-”

She rolls her eyes, thinking I don’t see it and says, “You don’t have to-” she’s cut off and jumps slightly letting out a little squeak. “When do you get off work?” she asks.

“Four-thirty,” I reply, raising one eyebrow this time.

“Great,” she smiles and her eyes are large with excitement. “We’ll go then and my driver will pick you up at your - flat - is it?” she asks, her smile doesn’t waver.

”Yes bit-” I stop myself because I can say bitch. “Yes, b-by George it’s a flat,” I smile brightly.

“Right,” she says unsurely.

“I’ll give you directions tomorrow,” Harry cuts in and she looks at him.

“Great! Well I’m gonna go and call Lindsay so we can come up with some dress ideas!” she stands up and so does Harry. Screw that, I’m not standing for her, the hell with manners! “So I’ll see you tomorrow?” she asks.

“See you tomorrow,” I call and Harry guides her out of the room.

They don’t know it, but I can hear every word they’re saying from here.

“Harry,” she hisses. “Why did you pinch my leg?”

“Listen Nat - Natalie, I agreed to have the wedding at The Manor, Hermione’s really important to me and I want her involved in this wedding-”

She cuts him off, something I notice she doesn’t far too much. Impatient twit.

“But Harry you won’t even be there! Can’t she help you pick out a suit or something?”

“Natalie.”

“Harry.”

“We talked about this,” he says. “You said you would be okay with her helping out.”

“Yeah well,” she pauses. “That was before. . . .”

There’s silence, then, “Before what?”

“Nothing, forget it. I’ll see you tomorrow,” she kisses him. “Love you.”

“Good night,” he replies and the door closes.

Between the time Harry walks back in the room and the time she left the flat altogether a million thoughts are whizzing through my head. He didn’t say ‘I love you’ back, he pinched her? that’s why she squeaked? Before what? She was okay with it BEFORE WHAT?! ARRRRRRRRRRRRRGH, FILTHY LITTLE-

“Hermione?” I hear him say and plaster a smile to my face.

“Yes?”

At first he doesn’t say anything, but then, “I have a surprise for you.”

My ears perk up at his words and I smile stupidly, “Really?”

“Yeah, I’ll be right back,” he leaves the room and comes back with his jacket on, carrying my coat. “You ready?” he asks.

I have no choice but to smile, shrug, and say, “Sure.” I get up and he helps me into my coat, then takes my arm.

Before long I’m experiencing that odd, pressure of Apparation and I keep my eyes shut tight. When the feel ceases I open my eyes and at first I knot my eyebrows.

We’re in a grimy, brick alleyway.

Is this some kind of joke? Did Natalie command him to kill me in some back alley in a small, crappy, town outside of Dublin?

Don’t ask me why I chose Ireland, my imagination has a mind of its own sometimes.

I look around, and for the first time realize it’s snowing, “Harry, where are we?”

He smiles and guides me out of the space and into a bustling village. And that’s when my mouth drops open, we’re in Diagon Alley.

“Harry,” I breathe. I feel the tears burn in the back of my eyes, it really has been too long since I’ve been here.

“I just thought that with your nine year absence you’d want to come back and see it all,” he smiles sheepishly.

Before I know it I’m throwing myself at him, my arms are around his neck and I’m taking in the amazing smell of Harry. He hugs me back, a little unsure, as if I shocked him by this gesture.

“Thank you so much,” I whisper.

“Any time,” he replies and I let go of him, realizing for the first time that there’s a tear running down the corner of my eye. I quickly brush it away, “It is good to be back.”

He smiles at me, “Should we have a look around then?” he asks.

I nod and we walk down the slushy road, side by side, talking and joking like old times. The first shop we go into is a new, bright-colored candy shop.

We step inside and the atmosphere is busy and warm, although it’s a nice escape from the cold night air I can’t ignore the claustrophobia that I’ve adapted over the past few years. But the big crowd isn’t what’s bothering me, it’s the fact that they’re all staring at the famous Harry Potter. So we grab a bag each of an assortment of Bernie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans, a Hot Chocolate Sweet Drop and then we leave.

There we sit on a cold iron bench outside of the shop, and for the first time I notice the music emitting from the store. It sounds like an old Muggle swing song but I can’t tell. The soft melody drifts over the chatter of the store, it’s upbeat and the singer’s deep voice sounds happy, it makes me feel content; I totally forget about Natalie, I just sit here, sifting through the sweets, enjoying Harry’s presence.

It’s not long before we’re joking and teasing each other like we used to, throwing the jelly beans at each other, guessing each flavor, choking on most of them, cracking jokes about things that will never cease to be funny, and most of all recalling all the good memories we shared together. Every once in awhile I’ll remember he’s engaged but it’s not long before it slips from my mind and we’re flirting again.

After a few minutes we fall silent and I’m thinking of something else to say. My eyes fall on an elderly woman in front of us who’s looking at an assortment of dried flowers; She’s hunched over, her white hair is slightly covered with a old scarf and she’s bundled up in woolen coats. She’s mumbling to herself, her wrinkled chin quivering as she talks. She picks up a crinkled, old rose that’s head is hanging limp, she looks at it and throws it onto the snowy ground. The man who owns the stand starts yelling at her.

“She’s wonderful, isn’t she?” Harry’s voice breaks through and I look at him as if he has twenty heads. Was he talking about the old woman?

“Who?” I have to ask and I look at him.

He’s sitting up, his hands behind his head, and he’s looking straight across the road with a hazy, distant look in his eyes, “Natalie,” he breathes with a smile.

And I feel a stab at my heart. I knew all this was too good to be true. I don’t say anything. I mean what am I supposed to say? No, she’s a rich bitch with an attitude to boot, I hate her, and the fact that she’s your fiancée tends to fan the flames of hatred?!

No, that’s okay.

He sighs happily, “She’s amazing, beautiful, smart-”

I hold back my laughter but it emits from my lips as a chuckle of sarcasm. He looks at me, resting his elbows on his knees like I am, the smile is still on his face.

”What?” he asks humorously.

“Smart?” I can’t help but say. “Harry, she bought onion dip, chocolate syrup and sardines for no apparent reason.”

He laughs and I can tell he’s recalling the events of tonight, his smile doesn’t falter and I can tell he thinks it was adorable or some bullocks like that.

“Oh that,” he says. “You can’t blame her for the effort right?” he asks.

“No, of course not,” I reply, pushing the cold sarcasm from my voice.

He sighs yet again and shakes his head, “I can’t believe I’m going to be marrying her, I feel so lucky.”

Every single word that issues from his mouth is chipping at my heart. How can he sit here and talk like this? Doesn’t he have a clue? Can’t he be a little sensitive? Doesn’t he care, doesn’t he know? No. He doesn’t, and he can’t, because he’s happy with her.

“It’s such an equal relationship you know? I can’t remember the last time I’ve felt like this.”

On second thought, it can’t hurt to TRY to get him to hate her.

“Harry,” I begin, my heart beating faster. “Don’t you think you maybe rushed into this a little?”

“What do you mean?” he asks, his voice edgy.

“I mean, you said you haven’t known her that long-”

“I know Hermione, but does it matter with love like this?” he questions, staring into my eyes.

I blink away the tears, “No, I guess it doesn’t.”

I guess I can’t hide my sadness because Harry asks, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I answer quickly.

He looks at me and for the first time I realize how close we actually are, “Are you sure?” he asks and I can feel his breath against my lips.

I nod.

He smiles. Our noses are inches apart, this can’t be good - I need a distraction. Something to break this trance, somebody trip, anybody break a window, throw something at his face, anything! And there it is, just as I had asked for it, a blinding white flash in my eyes and a scamper of feet. I blink several times and look around, there’s little sparks dancing in front of my eyes. I continue blinking.

“Must have been a reporter,” Harry says and I notice he’s moved away. “Sorry about that.”

I feel slightly disappointed yet kind of relieved. My heart feels heavy and I just want to get away. As if reading my mind he asks, “Ready to go home?”

I nod again and we leave.

On my way home from his flat I can’t help but feel depressed and weary, the tears are inevitable as I drive home and I let them fall. No one’s here to see me or ask questions so I let them fall in big fat droplets.

I realize my vision’s getting blurry and I need to stop driving. I don’t want to pull over on the side of the road this late and for some reason I don’t want to go home. At a red light I wipe my eyes with the sleeve of my shirt and sort through my options. Mum and Dad’s? No, they’ll think I’m in money trouble or being chased by a crazed boyfriend or something. Robbie! Shit, no Robbie, he’s on a date with that flirty, blonde guy from Soho.

Ron.

I hurry to his house and pull up in front, calling him before I ring the doorbell because I can’t forget he’s married to Luna and I don’t want to intrude. He answers quickly and monotonously.

“Hello?”

“Ron,” I sob.

“Hermione?” he sounds startled and shaken. “What’s wrong?”

I shake my head and breathe through my teeth, “I can’t-”

“Where are you?” he asks.

I sniff, “In front of your house.”

“Come inside, Luna’s on an assignment and won’t be back until tomorrow so you can cry all you want,” he jokes.

“Thanks,” I say.

“See you in a few,” he says and I hang up.

He’s waiting at the door by the time I reach the walkway. His arms are folded over his chest and he’s standing behind the screen door, a happy-looking black-lab is waiting next to him. The whole scene makes me feel even more depressed and I sob.

The second I enter the house I throw me arms around him and cry uncontrollably. I feel like I’m falling apart, what else can I do? I swear I’m about to collapse, or faint, or pass out, or something! I need my best friend right now.

“Ron, I don’t know what to do anymore,” I choke. “He talks about her like - And- I don’t know, I love him so much.”

He listens to me whine and cry for about an hour or so before I go back to my flat.

I think I’m growing more and more pathetic as they days drag on.

Chapter Six
Dating A Gay Thespian?

Author’s Note: Thank you all sooooo much for the reviews! They make my day!
All your questions about what is going to happen will be answered soon, don’t worry! Here’s chapter six!

The next day work seems to end way too soon. I had explained everything that had happened to Robbie and he was extremely sympathetic and apologized for his absence. I told him how I thought I was better off going to Ron because I had felt we had lost that bond of friendship over the past few years, and having him just listen to me babble for an hour made me realize he was still my best friend.

After work I drop my stuff off at home and drive to Harry’s flat. I park in the ‘Vistors’ spot and wait on a cold, metal bench in front of the building. I hug my coat closer to me and my teeth chatter. So typical of her to be late, and she has a bloody driver! I fish through my pocket and grab a sweet that’s wrapped up in crinkly paper, it’s the Hot Chocolate Sweet Drop I bought yesterday with Harry. I swallow as my throat constricts, thinking back to last night. I blink away any remaining tears and unwrap the chocolate, popping it in my mouth. I instantly feel as if I’m drinking a mug of hot chocolate and I sit back on the bench, watching the park across the street.

The minutes tick away and Natalie still isn’t here. I feel stupid and lame sitting in the cold like this. I wouldn’t be surprised if she just didn’t come, leaving me alone like this and then Harry finds out and she makes up some ridiculous excuse and he’s all ‘Oh of course Nat, it’s okay, we have an equal relationship. Who cares if you left poor, innocent Hermione out in the bitter cold? BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!’ Equal relationship my-

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!

-foot.

“Hermione, pet!” she trills. “Come, come, we have so much to do!”

I look up and she’s sticking her head out of the window, big smile on her face. Bitch. I get up and walk across the sidewalk, her driver’s about to get out and open the door for me but she says, “No, don’t bother.”

I roll my eyes and slide in next to her. The whole car is filled with this cheap, strong flowery scent that I can only guess is Natalie’s perfume. I feel like I’m going to gag, choke, suffocate, or cry. I resist all four.

We’re driving along the road now and there’s an irritating silence reverberating between us. I get the feeling we’re both thinking the same thing but can’t verbalize anything. So I look out the window and try to calm down. I can’t believe I’m helping the woman who’s taking MY HARRY away from me to pick a wedding dress to get married to MY HARRY. Maybe I could turn it around and convince her to buy some really crappy tye-dye dress or something.

My thoughts slip back to yesterday and the conversation between Harry and Natalie. The words are playing back in my head, over and over and I analyze every bit of it.

“Listen Nat - Natalie, I agreed to having the wedding at The Manor, Hermione’s really important to me and I want her involved in this wedding-”

“But Harry you won’t even be there! Can’t she help you pick out a suit or something?”

“Natalie.”

“Harry.”

“We talked about this.You said you would be okay with her helping out.”

“Yeah well. . . . That was before. . . .”

“Before what?”

“Nothing, forget it. I’ll see you tomorrow. Love you.”

“Good night.”

Before what?! That question won’t go away. I even had a nightmare about it that night.

Natalie was a part of some secret underground Harry Potter cult and they all had a plan to kill ‘The Hated Hermione Granger’. And she was okay with me helping out before the cult had made those plans. Scary shit. But seriously, before what? Before she realized she shouldn’t be marrying him! And WHY didn’t he say ‘love you’ back? Huh? What was that?!

“Everyone’s meeting us at Lamarque’s,” she says out of no where and I look at her.

Everyone? There’s more?!

“Oh, okay,” I reply.

“Lamarque’s a friend of Mummy’s so he’ll get me the perfect dress!” she squeals.

I smile, “How lucky.”

“Isn’t it?” she tilts her head and smiles.

I wince and look ahead. Next she’s taking out a cigarette from her bag and lighting it up, I try to not cough my lungs out but I can’t help it. Of course, she’s indifferent to it all. I notice we’ve arrived in some swanky part of London and it’s not long before the car pulls up in front of a large, posh building. The driver opens the door of us and we get out, looking up. I follow Natalie into the building and across a marble, and purple carpeted lobby. The lady at the desk looks at us, expecting for us to come over and sign in or something but Natalie doesn’t even acknowledge her, I shrug apologetically at the woman and she nods with a grateful smile.

We cross the lobby and she presses the ‘Up’ button for the lift, I shudder.

“Um, Natalie, do we have to take the lift?” I ask.

She looks at me as if I’m the plague, “Did you want to take the 50 floors?” she asks, raising an eyebrow.

I bite my lip, and don’t answer.

She laughs, “That’s what I thought.”

The doors slide open and a few important looking people come out, Natalie ignores them and flounces into the lift, I follow timidly. She presses another button and it’s not long we lurch upward. I feel sick already. I hate lifts, I feel so trapped inside them.

“So, you went to Hogwarts with Harry?” she asks, making conversation.

“Yeah,” I answer. “Did you go to a magical school?”

“No,” she answers, looking at her nails. “I was tutored.”

Of course you were.

“Oh that’s- er - Cool.”

She just looks at me and nods.

After a few more seconds she says, “You’re very good friends with Harry? Ever since you were thirteen right?”

I smile, “Uh eleven actually, yeah.”

“Oh,” she says bitterly. “I remember reading an article in Witch Weekly about you two, did you two ever-”

“Oh no,” I say quickly. “We were never together or anything.”

She folds her arms but keeps her plastic smile, “Really?” I nod. “Harry did tell me about some thing he had for you before you. . . . Ran away.”

Okay, FIRST of all, I don’t think ‘head over heals, madly and deeply in love’ is a THING. Second of all, it’s bad enough when people talk about me ‘running away’ but when it comes out of her mouth it’s like acid.

“Oh that, yeah, it’s over now. He’s marrying you after all-”

“So you don’t have any feelings for him now, right?”

OH. MY. GOD.

I can’t breathe, there’s sweat beading on my scalp. I know the walls are moving closer together, why is it so hot in here? How does she know?

I laugh, “Of course I don’t have any feelings for him,” I say. “Why would I? He’s getting married to you!” I laugh again.

She shrugs and thankfully, before she can say anything else, the doors slide open.

We walk across a sparkling marble floor, past another receptionist and through some glass doors. I don’t question anything, just follow Natalie’s quick, echoey footsteps. We come to another door and she opens it, walking inside, I trot behind. . . . The sight before me is inevitable.

There’s three woman in the room, a woman with short blonde hair and a pink, skirt and suit, she’s holding a small, shaking terrier under her arm that begins yapping at me. Another woman has long blonde hair like Natalie, except her’s is waved to perfection. The last woman is much older, with short blonde hair and a face that looks pulled-back and pinched. Geez. Isn’t this a sight for sore eyes? Three Natalie clones, all at different ages.

“Mummy! Nana! Lindsay!” she squeals, hugging each of them. “Where’s Lamarque?” she asks, looking around.

“Oh he’s in the back getting some dresses he thought would look fabulous on you!” Lindsay (I’m assuming) says.

The room has huge windows that look over the city, but they have large screens over them so no one can see in. There’s a few, overstuffed couches and armchairs. I notice a small platform in the end of the room, in front of a display of mirrors. There are two large doors on the opposite side of the room, and a large screen for changing near the mirrors.

“Mummy, Lindsay, Nana, this is Hermione, Harry’s friend. The one I told you about,” she says.

They all share looks of something unbeknownst to me and they all shake my hand reluctantly. Once the introduction’s over with, the doors on the other side of the room are pushed open and there’s a large man standing there. He has dark hair that connects to a trim beard and mustache. His eyebrows are high as if he’s raising them on purpose, on second thought, maybe he is. This must be ‘Lamarque.’

He stomps into the room in a very pompous way, he looks around and I can see Natalie hold her breath. Apparently they think he’s important for some reason?

He walks up to us and stops at Natalie’s mother, “Good to see you Grace,” he says with a distinct accent of some place I don’t recall. They join hands and he kisses both of her cheeks and does the same with everyone else.

Then he comes to me.

“And who are you?” he asks, looking down his large nose at me.

“Hermione Granger,” I say defiantly.

“’ave ve met before?”

“No.”

“Oh,” he straightens up. “You must know who I am anyvay.”

I look at him, taking in every feature, “Lamarque?”

“Yeez, Gustave Lamarque, famous clothing designer,” he moves his hand in a flourish and I blink.

“Oh, of course,” I reply.

“I came all the vay from France to help with the Price vedding and I’m sure Natalie’s drezz vill be zee best I ‘ave ever created!”

The women sigh and I ask, “You’re from France?”

He looks at me as if I’m a bug, “No, I am from Latvia. I live in France,” he shakes his head and moves toward Natalie. “My little chicken, you vill ‘ave the most amazing drezzes for you vedding! Dont choo vorry,” he claps his large hands together. “Let uz begin!”

And so the day drags on, measuring and pinning and trying on and so on. I watch the whole thing in fatigue, recalling my day dismally.

I had to deal with a screaming ten year old and an old woman who thought it was World War I and kept lunging at Robbie as if he were a Austrian spy. That part was actually funny for a minute because Robbie played along, and told the woman he had the Von Trapp family on his side and got down on one knee singing ‘The Hills Are Alive With the Sound of Music.’ Needless to say, the woman began running around the hallways, screaming, as fast as her orthopedic shoes would take her. And of course during the glorious hours of work Robbie was constantly nagging me to get a picture of Harry and Ron so he could ‘See how fit these blokes really were’. Which helped my attention span VERY little for I was already having trouble staying off the topic of Harry.

No matter what I was doing, who I was talking to; No matter how distracted or busy I was his face would spring to my mind and my heart would ache. My sweet Harry, I could be the one trying on silky dresses for him and sighing his name, only if I hadn’t been such a coward. I couldn’t help feeling like I wanted to cry in front of him at the end of almost everyday, just because I felt like everything was such a mess.

And what the hell was that in the lift?! So you don’t have any feelings for him now, right? OH MY GOD! She couldn’t possibly know. That’s not physically possible. No, I’m just being paranoid. She was joking in a sick, twisted way. ARRRRRRRRRGH I feel like spitting in her face or screaming in her ear or something, ANYTHING!

Natalie and Lindsay are looking at Bride’s Maid Dresses and seeing which one would look ‘fabulous’ with any of the fifty dresses Natalie’s narrowed it down to. I really think I was intoxicated when I said I’d help pick out dresses today, seriously how stupid am I? Maybe I could get out of this somehow, leave, and go hang out with Robbie or something. Karma seems to be on my side this week because my mobile phone starts to ring, I smile sheepishly at them as they look.

“Hello?”

They begin to ignore me as Robbie’s reassuring voice fills my head, “Hey Miss-I-Like-To-Steal-Boyfriends!”

“How’s it going Mr. I-Wish-I-Had-And-Was-A-Boyfriend?” I say quietly so no one can hear me.

He laughs, “Good. Are you still helping Cruella pick out her dress?”

I smile for the first time today, “Hardly.” I lower my voice, “I’m just sitting here.”

“Say you need to help your friend get his cat out of a tree,” he says.

“Robbie!” I whisper. “I’m not going to say that.”

“Fine, say you’re friend Miranda Ferrara is having a crisis and you need to leave and help her.”

“What?”

“Hey! It’ll get you out of there! I want you to say it word for word, we’ll milk it,” he says.

“Um-”

“Tell them now!”

“Robbie!”

Then he begins wailing into the phone and I have to hold it away from my ear.

“It’s okay, Miranda, it’ll be fine,” I say loudly into the receiver.

“Me boyfriendo es crazio!” he says in a high pitched voice.

I contain my laughter as everyone in the room looks at me.

“Is everything all right, Hermione?” Natalie asks sourly.

I smile, “No I’m afraid my good friend Miranda Ferrara is having a bit of a crisis, I should go help her. Besides it seems you have enough help to get you through five weddings.”

Preferably not Harry’s.

“Si, mucho problemo!” Robbie shrieks.

What the hell? I almost laugh.

“All right if you say so,” Natalie says.

”It was nice meeting all of you, good luck!” and I run from the room and into the lift (reluctantly) with the mobile phone clutched in my hand. “Robbie that was the worst Spanish accent I’ve ever heard.”

“I’m a gay Brit, what do you want?” he questions.

I laugh, “Good point.”

“Hey I’m in a greasy food-mood!” he declares.

I laugh again.

“We’re going to a diner and getting some greasy food whether you like it or not!” he says.

“Okay, if you say so,” I reply. “I need to get my car at Harry’s flat though-”

“No I’ll pick you up there we’ll get your car later,” he tells me.

I agree, tell him the address, and he’s there in a barely any time.

After stopping at the diner, picking up some ‘greasy’ french fries and sodas and we stop at Robbie’s house, drop off his car, and walk around London like we usually do. We eat the fries out of the bag and sip the colas as we go, talking about random things. I try to keep my thoughts off Harry as best I can but it’s nearly impossible since Robbie’s practically obsessed with my love-life.

“So, Harry-”

“Robbie! Do we have to talk about him?” I plead.

“Yes,” he replies. “How’s everything going?” he asks.

I groan, buying time by sipping the soda, “I don’t know. He’s infatuated with her! It’s disgusting.”

He laughs, swallows a french fry and stays silent for a second, then, “Why don’t you try and make him jealous?”

I think about this, “No, I couldn’t do that. If he’s really happy with Natalie he won’t care what I’m doing.”

“You said you two almost snogged-”

“Robbie, I would hardly call it that! Our faces were close that’s all,” I argue.

“Shush!” he commands. “From a male’s perspective I’m telling you, make him jealous and he’ll come crawling back on all fours, pleading for your love on his knees.”

I almost cry because that sounds so nice.

“Trust me, it’s from a male’s perspective.”

“Robbie, you’re gay.”

His face falls, “Oh yeah. Shut up! It doesn’t matter!”

I shake my head.

“Get him jealous!”

“No, I refuse.”

He continues to argue, “But Hermione-”

“No, I will NOT attempt to make him jealous!”

------------------------------------------------------------------

Robbie and I took a cab to Harry’s flat to get my car, from there I’m supposed to drop him off at his flat. So as we walk across the parking lot, laughing and talking we hardly notice Harry and Natalie walking out from the building.

We get to my car and I fumble for my keys.

“Hermione!” I’m so shocked I drop the keys onto the pavement and quickly scramble to retrieve them. I look up, and there they are, hurrying over to us, all smiles. “Nat told me you had to rush out because of a crisis?’

“Oh yes,” I smile brightly, sensing Robbie examine both of them. “My friend Miranda, having some boyfriend problems and I didn’t want to leave her to deal with it alone,” I lie.

Natalie looks at Robbie, “And this is your friend, Miranda?” she asks, pointing to him.

I laugh automatically, “Him? No, you see Miranda fled from the country before I could get to her house and I couldn’t very well follow her on a plane and everything!” I look around anxiously. “She’s staying with her sister.”

“Where’d she ‘flee’ to?” Natalie asks and I want to bash her head in.

“You know what? I didn’t get a chance to ask her,” I laugh again.

“Right,” Natalie replies.

I look at Harry and he raises an eyebrow at me, nobody else notices though. He knows the truth but I know he won’t blow my cover.

“I hope everything goes well,” he says and I almost melt, he’s playing along!

I smile gratefully, “Thanks.”

We share a knowing glance and he says, “No problem.”

“And who are you?” Natalie interrupts, looking at Robbie.

”Oh right, sorry. This is Robbie my-”

“Boyfriend.”

Holy shit who just said that?! OH MY GOD I’VE GONE COMPLETELY MAD!

“Boyfriend?” Harry echoes and I’m almost compelled to ask him if he heard it too but then I realize he and Robbie are shaking hands and- OH MY LORD.

“Yes Robert Bradley, Hermione’s boyfriend,” and for a second he sounds straight.

“How come you never told us you had a boyfriend?” Natalie asks in a chipper way as Harry stares, wide-eyed at Robbie, his mouth agape.

“That’s ‘cause I just found out,” I say through clenched teeth.

“What?” she questions.

I laugh, “I didn’t want to bother you guys while you’re preparing for you wedding,” I say almost acidly.

“Oh how sweet,” Natalie cooes and looks at Harry who hasn’t blinked. “Harry?”

He shakes his head, “R-Right, sweet.”

“Yeah that’s me, sweet, anyway we should go, it was nice seeing you too.”

“Nice meeting you!” Robbie says and we get in the car.

They walk away and we drive out of the parking lot.

I’m instantly furious, “ROBBIE!”

“Yes?”

“How could you do that?! I told you I wasn’t going to make him jealous!”

“Yeah, you never said anything about me making you make him jealous,” he says examining his nails.

“ROBERT BRADLEY!”

“What? Didn’t you see his face? That was disbelief!” he says with a smile, clearly proud of himself.

“That’s because he knows I’m dating a gay thespian!”

“Daaaaayum girl, he’s fine! Do they make them all like that in the magical world?” he asks.

I groan, “Robbie you aren’t making this easy.”

“Look if worst comes to worst we’ll break up,” he says nonchalantly.

“Is this some sort of sick game to you?” I question.

He smiles, “I’ve always wanted to play the role of straight boyfriend,” he sighs.

I shake my head, this is truly hopeless.

Author’s Note: I know there was a whoooooole lot of Robbie in this chapter but I’ve been neglecting him and I felt bad, haha. Anyway, hope you liked it, next chapter, EVERYTHING’S gonna go crazy like woah! Strap on those seat belts folks! and of course, please review!

Chapter Seven
Mission Accomplished

Author’s Note: Thank you all for the reviews, you don’t know how much they mean to me! Here’s chapter seven, hope you like it!

I’m sitting at work when the phone rings.

I’m hesitant to answer it.

“Hello?”

“Hey Hermione, it’s Harry.”

I’m pretty sure I stop breathing for a minute.

Then I reply, “Oh, hey Harry, what’s up?” I try to keep my voice even, try to keep my heart rate normal and I can only hope I’m succeeding.

Robbie looks up from his computer, where he’s playing solitaire, to where I sit on the phone. He raises both eyebrows and wiggles them at me. I give him a hopeless look and he blows me a kiss. And Harry thinks this is my boyfriend?

“Actually, Natalie wanted to invite you and Robert- er- Robbie out to dinner,” he says uncomfortably.

My eyes widen and Robbie gets up, shuffles over and presses his ear against the phone to catch some of what Harry is saying.

I clear my throat, “Dinner? You mean all four of us?”

Robbie’s dark brown eyes light up and he smiles brightly, revealing perfectly straight, gleaming teeth, he’s nodding wildly, trying to persuade me to say yes.

“Yeah,” Harry says. “Tonight, if you can.”

As he says this I’m shaking my head at Robbie, I refuse to go along with this whole, ‘getting Harry jealous’ charade, it’s ridiculous.

“Ummmm,” I say, pressing my lips together. “I’ll have to get back to you after I talk to Robbie.”

“Okay,” he replies. “Just give me a ring.”

“Okay, I’ll talk to you later.”

“Bye.”

And we hang up.

______________________________________________________________________________

“This is perfect!” Robbie practically shouts at me across the small, metal table.

I shake my head, “No it’s not.”

“Yes it is!” he says, too excited to even open the clear plastic take out box containing his chicken and lettuce wrap. “This is a perfect opportunity for us to work together to make him jealous! Like seething jealous! So much so he’s seeing green!”

I take a sip from my long, narrow bottle of water and let my shoulders slump, “Robbie, I told you, I’m not going along with this stupid plan of yours.”

“Hermione,” he says, putting his hand on my wrist. “Think of it this way, what have you got to lose?”

“He’ll think I’m unavailable!”

He gives me a look, “Hon, he’s unavailable as it is. If he realizes he loves you through his jealousy then he’ll fight me for you!”

I raise an eyebrow, “I doubt that.”

“Come on! It’s worth a shot, no?”

I don’t know what else I can do, so I agree.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Robbie picks me up five minutes before we’re supposed to be at a restaurant that is ten minutes away.

He calls from the intercom downstairs and I say, “I’ll be right down-”

“No- I have a surprise, it’ll only take a minute,” he says.

I groan, “Robbie, we’re already going to be late-”

“A MINUTE!” he barks playfully.

“Fine,” I say and unlock the door for him.

In less than thirty seconds he’s walking into my apartment without consent, not that he needs it. He’s clad in new, faded jeans, nice shoes, a clean white button-up shirt and a black pinstriped jacket over that. His dark hair is gelled to perfection, his angular jaw and narrow chin are smooth, without a trace of stubble, and he smells delicious.

“I come bearing gifts,” he says, and I notice the large shopping bag from Harrod’s in his hand.

I shake my head, “We don’t have time-”

“We are going to make time for this,” he pulls a shirt out of the bag.

He throws it at me.

“Take off what you’re wearing and put this on,” he thinks for a second. “And where something lacy under it.”

“Robbie!”

“CHANGE!”

“FINE!”

I go into my bedroom and change, not that it matters, Robbie is gay after all, but I’m prude. I slip into the shirt buttoning it up and call for Robbie to come into my room. He does so, nodding as he sees me. He’s given me a white shirt with small, black buttons going up the front and bell-sleeves. I listened to his advice and put a black lace camisole under it.

He pulls some dark blue jeans from my closet and throws them at me and then walks over to me, unbuttoning several of the top buttons so the shirt becomes low-cut.

I protest but he cuts me off, “You’ll thank me later.”

And he leaves a new pair of stiletto pumps on the floor in front of me.

Oh sod it, what have I got to lose?

Fifteen minutes later I’m sitting in Robbie’s car and we’re on our way to the restaurant. After having dressed me up and fixed my hair just a bit he finally agreed I looked hot enough to ‘tease Harry and piss off the woman I hate most.’

Let’s hope he’s right.

“Robbie, we’re supposed to be there already,” I whine.

“It’s all right,” he says. “If we come a little late they’ll think we’ve had a quick romp in the back seat or something.”

I stare at him, “Romp?”

He laughs a little, “You catch my drift.”

I notice how gorgeous Robbie really is and feel very sad all of a sudden, “Why can’t you be straight? It would be so easier to fall in love with you.”

He smiles and then sighs happily, “Everyone wants to love Robert Bradley, so if I end up stealing this Harry Potter from you, don’t be so surprised, okay love?”

I can only laugh, and then we pull into the parking lot of the restaurant and I feel sick.

The restaurant is nice, this I could have guessed though. It’s relatively quiet, with delicate banter and soft classical drifting around. Should I have worn something other than jeans? Am I too underdressed?

Harry and Natalie are already here, obviously, and we’re lead to their table by a nice waiter. As we approach them Robbie puts his hand on the small of my back and whispers, “Are you ready to milk this for all it’s worth?”

I nod, putting on a smile that says ‘I’m in love, can’t you tell?’

“Sorry we’re late,” I hear myself saying cheerfully. “Traffic was horrible.”

The waiter reaches to pull out my chair for me but Robbie beats him to it. Once I’ve sat down directly across from Harry Robbie sits down next to me.

In a matter of thirty seconds I examine Harry and Natalie’s reactions to my outfit and Robbie in general. Natalie looks as if she’s never seen me look decent and she can’t believe I’m ‘dating’ someone as hot as Robbie. Harry’s expression on the other hand is completely different, he’s looking at me in the way he used to look at me, before I ran away and ruined my chances with him, when he loved me. And then he looks at Robbie, stiffening a little.

“Can I get you something to drink?” the waiter asks.

“Cosmopolitan,” Robbie says automatically, then looks around, regretting his decision, he’s going to become his role as my manly-man boyfriend. Oh God “For her.”

I didn’t actually want one, but, okay.

I giggle at the expression on Harry and Natalie’s faces, “He always knows what I want.”

I realize how inappropriate that could sound but it’s too late, I already said it.

“And I’ll have a water.”

He’s going to need to be sober in order to keep this act going.

“I’ll be right back with your drinks,” the waiter says and leaves.

There’s a disgustingly awkward silence that I was fearing since Robbie suggested we actually go through with this dinner. I adjust the silverware in an attempt to advert my, otherwise darting, eyes.

Natalie cuts through, “So how long have you two been together?”

Robbie takes my hand on top of the table and I try to keep a straight face, this is too weird.

“Almost two years.”

“Really?” Natalie sounds pleasantly surprised, yet slightly skeptical.

Then I realize something about Natalie that always irked me. It’s as if she can sense my feelings toward Harry. I feel like she knows I love him and that this thing with Robbie is just a charade. I get the chills and try not to meet her eyes. She knows, she has to know, that’s probably why she cornered me in the lift on the way to the dress fitting. She knows. She bloody knows, and I’m scared.

I look at Harry, his jaw is tight and his eyes are set on me. He can’t believe a word Robbie is saying about our two year relationship.

“Yeah,” I reply, trying to keep my voice dreamy. If he wants to marry this bitch he should have no problem with me being with Robbie.... Even if it’s not real.

“And no wedding bells?” Natalie smiles, as if we’re old best friends and she’s trying to get the niggling little secret out of me.

Harry clears his throat, she doesn’t even acknowledge him.

Robbie looks at me, “We’ve discussed it.” He meets my eyes and for a minute I swear he’s in love with me. Acting lessons have paid off.

The waiter comes back with our drinks and I guzzle some of my cosmopolitan. This is going to be a very long night.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Robbie is getting way too into this.

He’s making up funny stories about dates we never really went on, his meeting my parents, a romantic weekend to the coast that went awry, and how we met and what made him ask me out on that first date.

My tongue is thick as I look from Natalie’s bewildered face to Harry’s slightly angry one. Natalie knows something’s up but she can’t figure out what it is.... But Harry’s too angry to analyze the facts, he’s convinced, and the plan is working. He’s jealous. Or maybe I’m just drunk.

“Oh my God!” someone squeals and I’m afraid our cover has been blown.

Then I see the words have emitted from Robbie’s mouth and he’s staring at Natalie with wide eyes. I look at her, finding nothing out of the ordinary.

“What?” Natalie touches her face self-consciously and Harry stares at Robbie as if he’s a ridiculous piece of skin and muscle that doesn’t deserve a voice to distract people with his own stupid opinion. Ouch.

“Is that an original Dahlila cashmere sweater?” Robbie prods.

“Yes, it is,” Natalie smiles, glad someone noticed her fashion choice.

I kick Robbie under the table, he’s not supposed to know fashion.

He coughs, “Yeah, my sister wouldn’t shut up about those things, she’s dying to get her hands on one.”

Smooth.

Someone’s phone begins ringing and Natalie immediately shoots for her bag, having hardly touched the food on her plate. She looks at the phone and then tells us to excuse her for a minute. Of course we do.

As she walks to the front of the restaurant I take in a sharp breath and look at Harry. He’s staring at me again, right in the eyes, as if saying ‘How could you do this to me?’ and I feel angry. How could he get married to her?! when I love him.

I’m a tangled mess of emotions and I hardly realize Natalie call Harry over to where she’s standing, until he’s up and walking away.

Robbie looks at me and when they’re both out of ear shot he asks me, “How are you holding up?”

I shrug, taking a sip of my drink, “I’m not sure if it’s working.”

He sighs, “Then we have to make it work.”

“How?”

“Stop looking so sad!” he scolds me.

I shake my head.

And then he looks in the direction of Harry and Natalie, “Harry’s looking this way and Natalie’s yelling on the phone,” he tells me, then leans in and whispers in my ear the lyrics of a Spice Girls song. I can’t help but laugh.

I glance at Harry, and he immediately turns away.

------------------------------------------------------------------

After dinner we stand outside before our final good-bye.

The air is cold and crisp and it wakes me up considerably. I shiver ridiculously, even though Robbie’s arm is around me. As we chat a little I notice Natalie look from me to Harry, oh God I forgot that she knows. And then, before I can stop it, my thoughts are in motion, clashing and colliding, bringing up past conversations and linking them with revelations from the present. I’m asking myself silent questions and getting fast, correct answers back.

Did Natalie always know I still had feelings for Harry? Maybe she thought I had left because I didn’t feel the way he felt about me. Maybe she agreed to have me help with the wedding because she thought I didn’t love him before she even met me, she was taking a risk with guessing that of course but that must have been it. And then she realized, she must have realized afterward what my feelings were, by the way I looked at him, by my dodgy responses to things.

“We talked about this,” he had said. “You said you would be okay with her helping out.”

“Yeah well,” she paused. “That was before. . . .”

There was a silence, then, “Before what?”

“Nothing, forget it. I’ll see you tomorrow,” she kissed him. “Love you.”

“Good night,” he replied and the door closed.

I almost gasp at the realization, BEFORE SHE REALIZED I LOVE HIM!

I wince, maybe I’m wrong, but what other explanation could there be?

I’m painfully aware of how shitty this whole situation is right now and I almost want to cry. I want Harry but I can’t have him, Natalie might be guessing everything right now, and everything is just hopeless.

I’m swallowing back tears and regret when we say good-bye.

------------------------------------------------------------------

The second we’re in the car and driving away I release a heavy sigh.

“Mission accomplished,” Robbie says with a smile.

Yes, our plan worked, Harry was jealous, or angry, or something! But why do I feel like I’ve been set back farther than getting ahead of the game?

I release all my theories on the way back to my flat and Robbie pats my knee.

“Think about it this way; if it were meant to be you’ll be together,” he says. “Otherwise you’ll find someone better.”

“I hope you’re right.”

Chapter Eight
Hurricane Hermione

The weekend had seemed to move farther and farther away as the week came to close but finally it’s here and I’m more than grateful. All of today was spent doing paper work and catching up on stuff that I had missed while helping Harry and What’s-Her-Name with their wedding plans.

It seemed that I had sulked most of the week as well. Confused thoughts whir around in my head and I can’t seem to keep anything intact in my brain. Since when can’t I figure things out, why am I such a mess? Why can’t I get anything right?

The memories from the double date are painful in my mind and I find myself wincing every time I think about them. Have I ruined my chances with Harry completely? Have I helped them? Did Natalie figure out Robbie was gay from his sweater remark? Does she know I was using him to get Harry jealous? Can I ever get anything right? Does she know exactly what is going on?

It was early evening when Ron called me from his mobile. He sounded like he was distracted and said he wanted to talk to me, I asked him to come over and he said he’d be there soon.

The door bell rang and I answered it, Ron walked past me quickly. I took his coat and hung it up, walking with him to the living room. We sat down and he looked at me curiously.

“What is it?” I asked.

He stared at me, “I was with Harry today.”

“And?”

“Hermione, he’s still in love with you!” he says.

I shake my head, “That’s not funny Ron.”

He laughs disbelievingly, “I’m not trying to be funny.”

“Did he tell you he loved me?” I ask. “Directly?”

“Well, no but he didn’t have to - Why don’t you just watch it?” he pulls out his wand and says a spell I can’t remember. A ghostly, screen of static unfurls from the tip of the wand and hovers in front of us. It’s the size of a television screen and there’s only static showing up. Ron clears is throat and squints at the screen, it’s not long before a picture of the two show up. They’re walking from the Weasley’s back field to a battered old shed with worn out bags slung over their shoulders.

They’re laughing and talking about something but soon fall silent.

As they continued to trek up the hill to the shed Ron looked like he wanted to say something, but was struggling with the words.

Then, “So how are things with you and Natalie?”

“Good,” Harry replied quickly. “Great.”

“How are all those wedding plans?”

He sighed, “Good, a lot easier because Hermione’s helping.”

“Oh yeah,” he replied. “You guys are getting married at Hogwarts right?”

“No,” Harry sighed. “No, we’re having it at The Manor, Natalie’s house.”

Ron stares at him, “You caved!”

“I did not!”

“You did too!”

“Did not! And what if I did? It is her wedding too.”

Ron shrugged, adjusting the bag on his shoulder. He was about to open his mouth and say something but Harry cut him off, “Did you know Hermione has a boyfriend?” he sounded slightly exasperated.

“Uh - No, I guess I didn’t hear about that,” he looked at Harry unsurely.

“I knew you had made something up,” current Ron says but I continue to watch the screen.

“Yeah she does, I can’t believe she didn’t tell us!” he shook his head as they came to the shed.

Ron stared at Harry, “Why does it bother you so much? She was probably just preoccupied with your wedding plans.”

Harry suddenly looked shaken, “Oh, you’re probably right. . . . And I’m NOT bothered by it, why would I be?”

“Because you still love her?” Ron ventured, opening the chipped door.

Harry looked as if he had been slapped in the face, “Why would you say that?”

Ron shrugged, “It was just a question.”

“Of course I don’t love her anymore, have you gone mad? I love Natalie,” they threw the bags into the shed and closed the door, setting off for the house.

“Just wondering,” Ron shook his head again.

Then there was a tense silence between them, after a few seconds of walking Ron spoke up.

“Hey, mate, don’t you think you’re rushing into this a bit? I mean you’ve only-”

“Why does everyone think I’m rushing into this?!” he barked. “Does it matter how long I’ve known her if I really love her?”

Ron stared at him, “How can you love her if you’ve only known her for such a short time? How can you love her after you felt so deeply for Hermione?”

Harry stopped dead in his tracks and Ron followed suit.

“I thought everyone would be happy that I was over her, why are you turning me against Natalie all of a sudden?”

“Just answer the question Harry, how can you love her after you felt so deeply for Hermione?” he asked again.

Harry shook his head, “I don- I just do, okay Ron?” he sounded extremely agitated. “Can we just drop the subject?”

Ron shrugged and they fell silent.

The screen fell to static again and it was soon sucked into Ron’s wand, he looked at me and I just stared with my mouth slightly open.

“Did you see that?!” Ron nearly shouts.

I jump slightly and look at him, “See what?”

“That!” he points to the place where the screen had been. “Did you hear him? Did you see how pissed off he was because you had a ‘boyfriend’!”

“Ron, I’m sure he was just mad because I hadn’t told him properly,” I shake my head.

As much as I want to believe it I don’t want to get my hopes up.

He stares at me, “Have you gone completely daft over the past nine years?!” he’s shouting now. “He still loves you! He just can’t bloody see it, the prat.”

I laugh at this, if he did love me he wouldn’t know how I felt. . . . Considering the fact that he’s getting married and I have a gay boyfriend..... How ludicrous is my life?

“No he doesn’t Ron, if he loved me he wouldn’t be marrying-”

“I told you! He’s using her as a band-aid. He doesn’t want to be in love with you because you tore his heart out once.... You have to tell him.”

“Ron. I think you’re the one whose gone completely daft!”

Ron looks at me, “How?”

I laugh, “Suppose he’s happy with her and this new life? I’d just be mucking it up if I told him how I felt, then I’d need the Witness Protection Program or something!” I cry.

“It’s a risk you’d have to take Hermione,” he looks at me sympathetically.

I sigh, slowly shaking my head, “I don’t know Ron.”

He continues to look at me, “Why don’t you sleep on it?” he suggests, heading for the entrance hall, grabbing his coat and opening the door. “Hermione, don’t let him make the biggest mistake of his life.”

Then he gives my shoulder a squeeze and leaves.

------------------------------------------------------------------

It’s almost three in the morning and I’ve been trying to get to sleep for nearly two and a half hours. Ron’s words are reverberating through my head. What if Harry is making the biggest mistake of his life? I’m not saying that he should drop her for me (although that would be good) I just think in general she would ruin his life; I mean she’s demanding and controlling and she doesn’t let him have a say in anything. He can’t live like that, if she keeps doing that it could all build up and he could lose his temper one day. After all he’s been through she’s not very consoling.

The minutes are ticking away and I just want to scream, I can’t stop thinking about him. He doesn’t want me, he wants that good-for-nothing Natalie. He doesn’t want to hold me like he holds her, or kiss me like he kisses her, or talk with me like he talks with her, or love me like he loves her. He doesn’t want me and it hurts.

------------------------------------------------------------------

I stayed up for several hours last night, tossing and turning, thinking about him. At one point I cried silently, not a sob escaped my lips but the tears poured down my cheeks and onto the goose-down pillow. I fell asleep like that some time in the middle of the night and woke up in the early afternoon. I got ready and didn’t bother with breakfast. I told Harry and Natalie that I’d help them pick out place settings or some crap like that.

I arrive at Harry’s flat and the sun is bright and blinding, as far as I can tell it’s giving off no heat but it doesn’t make much of a difference. Natalie isn’t there and yet and Harry tells me she’s gone to bring some photos of The Manor so we can work out where the reception is going to be and everything.

He doesn’t seem any different from the last time I saw him, except he seems like he’s cooled off, like he had time to logically berate himself and realize his love for Natalie. Maybe there’s a hint of agitation lingering in his eyes but I might be imagining it. He’s not upset or staring at me lovingly. He’s just Harry.

Maybe Ron was exaggerating.

I’ve only been here for five minutes when Natalie arrives, she’s chipper and smiling as she places the large envelope of photos on the table. We instantly begin looking through them and I see the HUGE home Natalie group up in. It’s a large gray stone mansion overlooking a bay, there’s vast green laws and turrets, towers, and old paned windows. It’s so beautiful, yet so damn nauseating.

I hear a flutter in the living room and Harry and I look up, Natalie’s still explaining the current photo of the dining room. When she realizes we aren’t listening she looks up as well. I hear the familiar call of Hedwig and Harry says, “That must be the post.”

He moves to get up but Natalie stops him, “I’ll get it,” and she leaves the room.

My phone starts ringing and I answer it, it’s Ron.

“Hermione,” he sounds worried and scared. “There’s something you need to see.”

“Wha-”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” it’s Natalie’s high pitched scream that emits from the other room.

Harry stands up quickly, knocking his chair backward, “Natalie?!” he sounds worried as well.

“Ron, I’ll call you back,” I say quickly.

“But Hermi-” but I’ve already hung up.

Natalie stomps into the room with a copy of the Daily Prophet in her hand, she’s livid and her eyes are blazing. She stops in the door way and holds the paper up for us to read the front page. And in big, bold print it says:

Hurricane Hermione Strikes Again: Home Wrecker Granger Can’t Let Potter Go!

Natalie is staring at us, her eyes wide. Under the headline there are two pictures: one still of our faces centimeters apart, and the other of us hugging by the alleyway and joking around the village. My face contorts and she is darting her eyes from me to Harry.

“Well?!” she demands.

“Nat-”

She laughs icily, “Don’t you Nat me!” she points at me. “I knew you were hooking up with that whore!”

My mouth falls open, did she just- How could she- What a bitch.

“Hey!” Harry barks, whipping the paper out of her hand and tossing it onto the table in front of me. “Come here,” he says guiding her out of the room. I grab the Daily Prophet and look at the article.

Hurricane Hermione Strikes Again:
Home Wrecker Granger Can’t Let Potter Go!
Written By: Lena Martin

It’s been years since we’ve seen her name in the headlines but she’s back! Hermione Granger, is toying with Harry Potter’s heart once again! This time it’s even worse because as you know, The-Boy-Who-Lived is getting married to Ministry Secretary, Natalie Price. Apparently Miss Granger can’t help but tease him for she’s done it several times in the past. Hermione and Harry were seen keeping quite close as they traveled through Diagon Alley earlier this week. It’s clear that the little brainy bookworm has grown up quite a bit since Hogwarts and it seems Mr. Potter is still very intrigued by her. Here at the Prophet, we’re just upset to hear that Miss Granger can’t quit it even when her subject is clearly in love with his beautiful fiancée, Miss Price. We send our deepest sympathy to her and hope Hurricane Granger will calm down sooner rather than later.
See more on page 7.

I stare at the article in awe. There’s a cold feeling creeping over me and I slowly put the paper onto the table, rubbing my arms. This isn’t good, this is very bad. What am I going to do? What have I done? Harry’s going to have to take so much crap for this.

I can’t think straight.

Harry’s angry voice punctures through my thoughts.

“Natalie! Nothing happened!”

She laughs, “Don’t even try to play that card with me! I know you two still have feelings for each other!”

There’s silence for a second or two.

Then Harry says, “No we don’t! That’s ridiculous!”

“Is it, Harry?” she questions.

“Yes it is,” his voice wavers.

There’s silence again.

“Then why was she hugging you? Why did it look like you two were about to kiss?” she questions.

Harry laughs wryly, “I took her to see Diagon Alley again, it’s been nine years, it was a little emotional.... Besides I hug Ron for crying out loud!”

“Not like that!” she screeches. “And why were you about to kiss?!”

“We weren’t,” he replies, even though we really were. “They must of changed the photo magically just to make a good article.” He pauses. “Hermione has a boyfriend anyway,” he answers and his throat sounds tight.

Natalie laughs, “Right.”

Yet another silence, I feel sick.

“Nat you have to believe me.”

She replies with a groan, “I need a cigarette, I’ll be back.”

There’s no kiss, no I love you, she just stalks through the kitchen, past me and out the door. Harry walks up to the door way and leans against the frame, his hands digging into his pockets.

I feel claustrophobic and I stare at him. I need to say something, I need to find my voice.

“Harry,” I croak, swallowing. “Harry, I’m so sorry.”

He looks up at me, recognition and sympathy clear on his face, “For what?” he asks gravely.

“For that,” I look at the Prophet, then back at him. “Natalie’s mad, I didn’t mean-”

“No,” he says quickly. “I don’t care about that,” he waves it off. “It’ll be her fault if she actually believes it.”

I swallow, my throat is tight and dry.

“Besides if anyone should be sorry it’s me, they’re playing up the whole whore act and it’s not fair to you,” he shakes his head. “I’m so sorry Hermione, this is really my fault,” he moves closer to me.

I shake my head, “No, I’m detached from the magical world, it doesn’t bother me. It’s you and Natalie I’m worried about”

And I really am.

He waves it off as well, “If she loves me she’ll get over it.”

I almost laugh.

There’s a short silence and then he says, “Hurricane Hermione? They could have thought of a better cause of natural disasters, but I suppose the alliteration looked better. Miss Lena Martin must have gotten paid extra for that one.”

I laugh, feeling slightly better.

We fall silent again, I stare at him but he’s looking at the kitchen tile.

He looks up and our eyes lock, “You sure you’re going to be okay?” he asks.

I nod, “I’ll be fine, thanks.”

We fall silent again and the minutes tick away, finally Natalie comes back taking deep drags from her cigarette, she’s tapping her foot impatiently and stares at Harry, expecting him to say something, “Well?”

I find some good old Gryffindor courage and say, “Natalie it wasn’t anything, I promise. Harry and I are just friends, he has you and I have - Robbie,” I almost laugh. “I just hugged him because I was being dramatic and emotional because I hadn’t seen Diagon Alley in so long.”

She stares at me, holding the cigarette between her middle and index finger. The paper is burning slowly and the smoke is curling around the kitchen. I feel even more sick.

“And I can assure you Harry and I weren’t sitting that close.”

Every word that comes out of my mouth is etching away at my heart. As the paper singes off of her cigarette my heart feels as if it’s fading away at four times the speed. I look from Natalie to Harry, he looks hopeful and scared. He really does love her..... I can’t break them up, it would hurt him too much.

She looks at both of us, trying to see behind the masks also known as our faces.

“I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to cause this much trouble.”

She looks from me to him and takes another drag of the cigarette, blowing it out in little plumes of ashy smoke. She looks at me suspiciously.

“Nat, please believe me,” Harry says.

She looks at him, takes one last drag, squashes the cigarette in a bowl of left over cereal. Her frown melts and she says, “Of course I believe you Harry-Bear!” and she latches herself onto him, giving him a quick kiss. Every motion, every gesture is tearing me up inside but my bright smile doesn’t falter, not once. My eyes are swimming in misery but my smile is one of relief and happiness for the two people in front of me.

They break apart but they continue to look at each other.

“I think I’ve caused enough trouble for one day, I’ll leave you two alone.”

And I dash out of the flat before anyone can object.

And as I leave the building I realize, she never apologized for calling me a whore.

------------------------------------------------------------------

It’s the morning after that stupid article came out.

When I got home the previous day I instantly unplugged my phone. When I looked at the machine I had nearly twenty messages from random people and I didn’t even want to hear from Ron or Robbie. Now I’m walking out of the lift and down the hallway towards the front door of my building. I don’t have work until twelve so I might as well take a walk or do some shopping to get my mind off things.

I walk to my car and get inside, looking at myself in the mirror. I look like shit. My eyes are bloodshot and my hair just won’t stay tame. I pull out of the parking lot, and down the road. Where do I want to go shopping? What would make me feel better? Books. Flourish and Blotts. I know it would be catastrophic for me to even set foot in a wizarding village, considering the circumstances, but the whole nostalgia of any magical book would make me feel better.

So I twist my hair into a messy bun, grab a newsboy cap from the back of my car and place it on my head. . . . Maybe no one will notice me.

In less then fifteen minutes I’m walking around Diagon Alley and so far no one’s bothered or paid any attention to me. . . . I’m grateful. I quickly hurry into Flourish and Blotts, grab the first book I see and pay for it, leaving quickly.

Luckily the village is crowded and throngs of people are milling about. I hurry past them all and around little children, hoping to get out of Diagon Alley as soon as possible, I’m starting to feel like people are recognizing me and actually as if someone’s following me. So I pick up the pace and duck around crowds and away from chattering witches.

All of a sudden I hear someone shout my name and I turn around, someone knocks off my cap and I turn around again, my bun is so loose it falls out. Oh shit.

At first nothing happens, then the person who calls my name comes up to me and shouts, “It’s the woman who ruined Harry Potter’s marriage!”

I whip around and notice people are beginning to stare, oh God, this can’t be happening.

“Hermione Granger? That brat who stole Harry away from his fiancée?”

“What a whore.”

“Hermione!” a camera flash goes off and I blink several times.

They begin firing questions at me and I feel sick, “Do you love Harry Potter because he’s the Boy-Who-Lived?”

“Do you love him at all?!” someone shouts and the crowd laughs.

I try to get away but somehow they’ve cornered me into the side of a shop. I feel dizzy and sick, like a caged animal. The claustrophobia is kicking in and my head is swimming, I can’t think straight. Their questions are like tiny knives being thrown at me and it hurts. I feel like the space is closing in on me and I can’t breathe.

“Do you just want to have Mr. Potter to yourself? Or you a home wrecker?!”

I stare at them all blankly, I feel numb, I try to get away furiously but no one will let me through. I don’t have enough strength to push past anyone, I’m in a panic. What am I supposed to do? I need to get out, I need to get away.

“Hermione?”

I cover my face, this is becoming too much.

“Hermione!”

“Please,” I whisper.

Nobody falters.

LEAVE ME ALONE!

A hand closes around my arm and pulls me away from everyone and into a shop. I look up and my eyes meet those familiar green pools and I nearly collapse.

“Hermione?” he asks. “Are you okay?”

I stare at him in awe. I can’t believe I’m even about to say this, it’s TERRIBLY cliché but he reminds me of a knight in shining armor..... Uh, minus the armor. But he just rescued me from that crowd of crazed reporters. When I don’t answer him he pulls me into the back room of the shop.

“Dean works here,” he says. “I came to talk to him and I saw you outside.”

Once we’re in a cold, dark back room I throw my arms around his neck, holding back tears. There’s such a mix of emotions I can’t decide which one to focus on.

“Harry I-”

“What happened?” he asks, not letting go of me. “You just froze out there.”

“I’m claustrophobic,” I whisper. “State of panic causes me to freeze up,” I let go reluctantly and look at him. “It’s one of my many flaws.”

He laughs, “You don’t have any flaws.”

I smile at him and his face falls serious.

“Are you all right?” he asks.

“Y-Yeah, I’m fine,” my hands are shaking and I feel numb.

He takes my arm, “You’re shaking,” he pulls up a small step ladder and lets me down. “This is all my fault.”

“No-No, it’s not your fault,” I reply, shaking my head stiffly.

He’s about to say something but an oh too familiar voice echoes from the front of the story and I go paler than I already am.

“Dean have you seen Harry?”

It’s Natalie, I’m seriously gonna puke.

“It’s Natalie,” he says and his voice sounds hollow.

I look up at him, swallowing hard. This is it, his decision right now determines whether or not he could ever love me like everyone is telling me.

“You should go, if she found us in here we’d both be in trouble,” I say wryly.

He looks from the door to me and says, “You’re probably right.”

I stare up at him.

“Will you be all right?” he asks.

I can’t even think, he’s just going to leave me here, shaking and near tears. He’s going to leave me in the back room of some shop I’ve never been in with a swarm of reporters outside waiting like a bunch of vultures. He’s just going to leave me here, leave me alone for her.

I nod numbly.

He smiles at me, “Call me later.”

I just stare at him and he pats my arm, leaving me there by myself. I want to go home so badly that I apparate to my flat and feel like collapsing. He left me there, he just left. I was weak and cornered and almost crying, and he just leaves me. Okay I get the fact that she matters more to him, he’s made that quite clear, but to leave me there by myself especially when I was shaking because I was so upset. I nearly had a panic attack!

I call both Robbie and Ron and ask them to come over because I need motivation or something right now! They oblige and as I fall onto the couch, feeling emotionally drained and as if someone’s slapped me in the face I can’t help the silent tears that slip down my cheeks.

He doesn’t love me. He doesn’t even care about me. He loves her and there’s nothing I can do about it. It’s all slowly setting in and I’m just now realizing it. The tears spill on.

Chapter Nine
Revelations

Author’s Note: Thank you so much for all those reviews! You guys don’t know how nice it is to read them! I know a lot of this story so far has been sulking and sobbing on Hermione’s part, but I promise it will get very good soon! Hope you like chapter nine!

I’m laying on the couch, still waiting for Robbie and Ron.

I feel sick and cold and I just want to curl up and hide. I pull a spare blanket that’s lying on an armchair, up to my chin.

There’s a small hurt that’s setting a sinking feeling in my chest and I can’t even try to smile. He’s going to marry Natalie, she wasn’t a band-aid. Everything everyone said to me is a load of rubbish.

My head is stuffy and it hurts, my eyes are swollen and itchy and I feel as if I might throw up.

The door bursts open and in struts Robbie, “What happened? Why are you crying? Where is he? When did he run? Can I punch him?!”

I look up at him miserably and shake my head.

“Aw cookie!” he trills, coming over to the couch. “Schooch,” he pushes my legs over and sits next to me. “What happened?”

“Oh Robbie I was so stupid-”

“No, stop right there!” he says, sticking his index finger out spaztically. “I will not have the brilliant Hermione Granger calling herself stupid!”

I sink into the couch more and let out a squeaky sob and at the same time my phone rings, “Hello?” Robbie answers it for me and I stare at him. “Oh you’re Brawn- Ron! Come on up.” And he hangs up.

I stare at him.

“What?”

“Why did you just answer my phone?” I ask.

“It rang.”

Of course.

I shake my head and stare at him, “Only you Rob.”

Ron comes in a few seconds later and sits on the coffee table in front of me.

“What happened?” he demands.

So I proceed to tell them all about Diagon Alley, about the hat and the cameras and reporters, I tell them about how Harry saved me then abandoned me and by the end of the story their mouths are hanging open.

There’s a sick happiness I’m feeling at the fact that they’re shocked and angry. But I can’t relish in this feeling, I was stupid for even going, stupid for even expecting Harry to stay with me when Natalie came. I’ve been stupid from the beginning, haven’t I? From the day I ran away from Harry to this very moment I’ve been an idiot. An absolute bloody idiot.

“Oh no he didn’t!” Robbie shakes his finger.

“Harry? Harry did that?” I nod. “What’s wrong with that arse!?”

I shake my head.

Ron looks as if he’s in disbelief, “Why would Harry do that?”

“Because he loves Natalie, she comes first,” I sigh.

Ron shakes his head, “No, I know that’s not true.”

“Yeah really, why would he like that little bitch with her nasty split ended, fake ‘blonde’ hair! And her little glued on nails,” Robbie looks at us and we stare at him. “What? I’ve met her.”

“The problem at hand is proving to Harry that he’s in love Hermione-”

“Oh just forget it Ron!” I stand up, walking over to the window. “He doesn’t love me!”

Robbie shakes his head, asking Ron, “Is she being stupid because you’re here?”

Ron walks over to me, standing at the window as well, “Hermione, you didn’t see him that day, the day that I asked him if he still loved you,” he pauses. “He still loves you, I know he does, if I know anyone I know Harry. When he lies to me I just know, he was lying to me that day Hermione, he still has feelings for you.”

I reluctantly look back up at him, a tear glides silently down my face, “Ron, what don’t you get? The part where he left me in the closet of a store I didn’t even know in Diagon Alley with a million reports outside who hate me! Or the part where he’s getting married to another woman?”

“Actually I wasn’t too clear on the part with the article,” Robbie says from the couch, examining his nails.

I stare at him.

He looks up due to the silence and asks, “Oh, was that a rhetorical question?”

Ron looks at Robbie, “You’re gay aren’t you?”

“Thanks for noticing!” Robbie replies, genuinely happy.

He walks over to the couch and asks, “What do you think she should do about this?”

“She should tell him.”

Ron looks at me, “She should.”

“I should?” I ask.

Robbie claps his hands, “She agrees!”

“No I don’t!” I say quickly.

He sighs dramatically, “Hermione you have to!”

“Why?!” I demand. “So I can have my heart broken again?”

Ron looks as if he’s thinking deeply. Maybe this whole little get together wasn’t such a good idea, I think the three ring circus is giving me a headache.

We have the gay, thespian in one ring, the all-of-a-sudden-philosophical Ronald Weasley in the other ring, and the teary eyed, bushy haired, loser.

Well, this is a drama series waiting to happen.

I think I would have been better off crying on the couch.... By myself.

“Hermione,” Ron says. “Why do you think Harry doesn’t love you?”

I sigh, now we’re going in circles?

“If he loved me he would tell me, he wouldn’t be marrying Natalie, and he wouldn’t have left me in the blasted closet!” I screech.

“You love him don’t you?”

I stare at him, “Are you daf-”

“You love him don’t you?!”

“Yes I love him! I love him ‘like the day is long’, I haven’t loved anyone this much since.... ever! I want to grow old with the man! I want everything Natalie could have with him and then some! What do you want me to say Ron?!”

There’s silence.

Then, “That was beautiful, Lifetime material,” Robbie brushes away invisible tears.

“You love him,” Ron begins.

“Come off it, we-”

“You love him, and you won’t tell him. What makes you think that he isn’t in love with you but just too scared too tell you?” he stares intensely at me and I’m overwhelmed with emotion. “Maybe he thinks you don’t love him, after all you are going out with Queer Eye over here.”

“Hey!”

I stare at him, taking in his words. I shake my head, “You don’t leave the person you love in a closet at a time like that.”

“Okay so his head was stuck up his-”

RING -Pause- RING -Pause-

The ring is shrill and my headache worsens. I don’t make any move toward the phone.

RING -Pause- RING -Pause-

“Are you gonna answer it?” Robbie asks.

I shrug, wondering why he didn’t just answer it like last time.

RING -Pause- RING -PAUSE-

“Might as well let the machine get it.”

RING -Pause- RING -Pause-

Ron looks at the caller I.D. and looks up, saying monotonously, “It’s Harry.”

I lunge at the phone and hit the speaker phone button and say, slightly out of breath, “Hello?”

The fact that he’s even calling does NOT make up for the abandonment issues!

But as I answer the phone this feeling of anger and resentment bubbles inside me. Even if he doesn’t love me he didn’t have to leave me there by myself. And maybe he doesn’t love me, he still seemed mad that I was going out with Robbie, so I might as well use that against him.

“Hermione? Did I interrupt something?” he asks awkwardly.

“Oh, no Robbie’s just over.”

Ron and Robbie both snicker silently.

“Oh,” he pauses. “Should I call back later?”

“No, no it’s fine.”

“Okay,” there’s silence. “Hermione about today-”

“What about today?” I ask bitterly.

He pauses as if he knows what he’s done wrong and has to fess up, “I’m sorry that I just left like that.”

“Yeah.”

I’m overcome with anger and sadness and love and fatigue. I’m sick of this, all of it. Nothing I’ve tried has worked. I can’t get him to break up with her due to jealousy, I can’t manipulate them, I can’t break them up, and I can’t just try to get over him. Maybe for once in my life I should face my fears head on. What else is left?

“It’s just Natalie-”

I cut him off, “Yeah, Natalie- Harry we need to talk.”

“About today?”

“Yes.”

“Uh-Okay shoot.”

“No I mean in person.”

“O-Okay,” he replies. “But what about Robbie.”

I roll my eyes, “Don’t worry about him.”

“Okay I’ll pick you up then?”

“Good, see you,” and I hang up the phone.

Chapter Ten
Confessions

Author’s Note: Thanks for all those reviews! You guys know I love them!

We walk in the same park that we walked in the day he told me he was marrying Natalie.

That day seems so far away, like a distant memory of sadness and regret. But it’s closer than it feels and I’m painfully aware of my stupidity and how foolishly I’ve carried on since Harry came back. I’m usually so calm and collected and in charge of what I do and how I go about things.... But looking back on it I feel like I’ve been completely out of control recently.

I guess love can do that to you.

The sky is cloudy and the ground is damp with remnants of rain. The air is cold, clear and clean from the shower, but biting with chilliness. The setting sun hides behind taunting, heavy clouds and the wind is strong. The stone pathway we walk along has patches of puddles on it and droplets are clinging to dead lamps. The sky would be a pale orange or pink if it wasn’t for the menacing storm clouds overhead.

We walk in an agitating silence that threatens to turn awkward at any moment. But it can’t turn awkward, not today, I’m too mad for anything to feel weird. The blinding, possessive feeling of anger shuts out all other feelings right now and dominates my brain and heart, causing me to shake from within.

I refuse to speak first, Harry can walk into this one, I’ve dealt with enough of his crap.

Apparently he realizes the tension and the fact that I’m growing increasingly angry because when we’re in an empty part of the park he breaks the silence.

“So, what’d you want to talk about?” he asks, stopping to look at me.

It’s so hard to hate him when I love him so much.

But I laugh acidly, because I’m pissed that he doesn’t love me.

He sighs, “It’s about today isn’t it?” he asks, not sounding annoyed, not sounding scared.

I stare at him, “Along with other things.”

“Look,” he begins, taking a step towards me. “I’m really sorry but you said you’d be okay-”

I flinch, “Harry! I was a millisecond away from having a nervous breakdown! I wasn’t about to say ‘Oh Harry no, stay with me so your precious Natalie won’t call me a whore again and never apologize!’”

He stares at me for several seconds with a look in his eyes that borders between suspicious and inquisitive, “So you’re angry at Nat?”

I groan, “Along with other people.”

“Hermione, what’s going on with you? You haven’t been acting at all like yourself since I came back.”

I laugh, if only he knew.

“Maybe you just don’t know me very well anymore,” I say bitterly.

He sounds hurt, “That’s not true, you’re my best friend.”

The words sting. Best friend. It was never a poisonous word before, but now it hurts just to hear him utter the words.

I press my lips together, as to not let a sob escape, and turn away from him.

There’s silence between us for a few seconds. All I can hear are cars in the distance and the soft sound of Harry’s breathing.

He doesn’t say anything and it makes my anger pulse and scream. Why can’t he just love me? Why does he need to love Natalie? Why can’t he break up with her and wrap me in his arms and tell me he loves me? Why can’t everything just be simple.

“Hermione,” I hear him say and he takes a step toward me, every nerve in my body is on end, every hair and cell is shaking and nervous. My whole body is weak because he’s walking closer.... but I’m still so angry.

He reaches for my arm but I twist around and look at him furiously.

“You came here out of the blue and tell me you’re getting married,” I shout. “Do you expect me to be happy for you?!”

He looks at me incredulously, “Yes? That’s exactly what I expect from you.”

He says the world ‘you’ differently, hinting that I have no right to be anything other than happy for him.... Everyone else can be upset about it with good reason, but me? I have no right whatsoever.

“Why should I be happy for you, Harry?” I snap, narrowing my eyes at him. “Why should I be happy that you’re marrying her?!”

He looks at me sternly, “Hermione, you’re not being fair-”

“Harry!” I cry out, startling a bird out of a bare tree nearby. “You’re not being fair! You knew her for a week!”

He’s growing angry, I can tell. He’s been annoyed since I started talking, confused as to why I was acting so weird and annoyed that I couldn’t just tell him why. Now he’s mad at me, angry that I’m being selfish and not happy for him, angry because now I’m confusing him.

He’s keeping quiet though, but his eyes are set low and his jaw is clenched as he looks at every part of me, inside and out. He’s going to snap at me sooner or later.... I hope he does.

And then I say something that I hope will break his ability to hold strong.

“Didn’t you think it was a little inconsiderate-”

He lashes out without a second thought.

“How dare you!” he says, disbelief in his eyes.

We both know that he loved me, we knew then and we know know. He loved me once upon a time, but it’s a forbidden topic, something he haven’t spoken about because it’s over and done with. Something of the past. But I know it’s bubbling to the surface in his mind, just aching to escape his lips. He wants to use it against me, something he hasn’t done yet, but today, he does.

He shakes his head, “You left me, Hermione, nine years ago!” his breathing is ragged as he continues. “You left without telling anyone where you were going.”

I’m silent, my heart pounding in my chest, so loud I’m sure he can hear it. Adrenaline is pumping through my veins and I wait.

Anger is blazing in his eyes, “You knew I loved you, you knew I was going to ask you to come with me.... You knew, but you left me anyway.” His voice is dry, “And I’m inconsiderate!? I’m unfair!?”

I want to say something but I can’t.

“I’m inconsiderate because it took me the longest time to actually get over you, and now I finally am, I’m getting married! And I’m happy, I’m getting on with my life, I’m okay with just being your friend for once,” he pauses. “And I’m inconsiderate,” it’s more of an acid question then a statement.

I look down, my nails are digging into my palm and my breath is coming out in little puffs of steam, “I know what I did was wrong....” I trail off.

There’s a long silence that follows. I look at him and I’m afraid I might begin to cry, my eyes are hot with tears and I swallow hard.

Finally, he says, “And maybe-” he stops, then starts again. “Maybe I never really got over you, and I knew- I just knew that you would either reject me or head for the hills again,” he sounds as if he might cry, his voice is weak and shaky. “So I found Natalie, I thought everyone would be happy but instead they’re all telling me I’m rushing into it!”

I stare at him in awe, Maybe I never really got over you - The words echo around in my head, sending a chill down my spine.

His gaze on me his hazy and shaking slightly. His green eyes are penetrating as he stares at me and suddenly I feel even weaker than before and a little lightheaded.

Is this the same Harry I knew from so many years ago? The same Harry who went into battle and came out battered and bruised but still willing to give his life for anyone? The same Harry who would never let anyone put them self in danger for him? The same man who was so war-beaten but so strong at the same time? Is that same Harry vulnerable? And if so, is he so weak and yielding to the world right now. . . . Because of me?

His teeth are chattering a little bit and as he stares at me, his face forlorn, I can’t help but fall in love with him all over again.

He’s about to get lost in the silence and our eyes locked on each other when he shakes his head a little and shouts, “And what about Robbie?” he questions. “You didn’t tell me about him! At least I told you about Natalie!”

I throw my hands up in exasperation and roll my eyes, “Robbie’s gay!”

He stares at me for a second, “Excuse me, what?”

I sigh, “He’s really just one of my best friends, and the gayest man you will ever meet.”

He shakes his head, closing his eyes for a second as if he doesn’t understand any of it, “Then why’d you tell me he was....” he trails off.

I can’t stand it.

I honestly can’t take it anymore! I love him. I love him more than I’ve ever loved anyone, so much so that it hurts. If I don’t do something about it soon I will go completely mad.

I can’t remember a time where I didn’t love him, a time where I wasn’t thinking about his gorgeous face and the feel of his lips against mine.

“Ha-Harry,” I start off shakily. “I’m about to do something, and if you hate me for it then I’m sorry.”

I throw away all my inhibitions and unsureness in a matter of five seconds and do the only thing logical, I kiss him.

My lips cover his and vice versa. I sneak my arms around his neck, pulling him tighter.

I’ve waited to do this for so long.

His lips are warm and sweet despite the cold, forgotten atmosphere around us. He’s not pulling away and he’s not pushing me back, he’s returning the kiss. Maybe he can’t help it, or maybe Ron was right.... I don’t know, I don’t care right now. The world could melt away right now and I wouldn’t mind.

It’s heaven on Earth for nearly a minute when he suddenly pulls away.

“I can’t do this! I’m engaged!” he shouts, backing away.

And with that final statement, I turn away, making a quick fleeting decision.

“Goodbye Harry,” and I hurry away before he can break my heart again.

Not that a shattered heart can break anymore, but he could probably stomp on the pieces pretty well.

Chapter Eleven
She’s A Little Runaway

Author’s Note: This was intended to be the last chapter, but I’ve changed my mind.

It was remarkable how quickly my parents agreed to let me move back home.

I told them I couldn’t deal with the hectic atmosphere of the city, and work was stressing me out and that I wanted to find a house to buy near them and they offered to let me stay in my old room until I found a new job and a new home.

The first people I told were Ron and Robbie.

I took them out to lunch and explained it all to them, I couldn’t deal with London, I couldn’t deal with the magical world, I needed to start over again. Maybe I’d move to New York City and start completely fresh.

They had argued with me about it vehemently, ganging up on me and using different strategies about what I could as an alternative.

“Plastic surgery! You’ll feel like a new person and you’ll forget everything that happened soon enough!” Robbie suggested.

I shook my head sadly, “Guys, it’s already settled, I’m not changing my mind.

So now I sit alone in my flat, looking around at the emptiness of it. I had all my stuff put into a storage place and all that’s left are a few of my suitcases that weren’t yet at my parents’ house.

The whole place feels cold and bare and I shiver.

There’s a knock at my door and it opens without waiting, it’s Ron.

I smile sadly at him as he closes the door and walks over to me.

“Hey,” he says, sitting cross legged on the floor in front of me.

“Hi.”

There’s silence between us, and I can hear the traffic outside. I wonder if he can read what’s going through my head right now, does he know I hate doing this? running from my problems all the time? I should just stay here, stay and suck it up, I’ll go to Harry’s wedding, cry because it’s all so beautiful, not because I want the groom to myself, and act like the kiss never happened.

But it did, and he broke away, that’s why I’m running.

My heart physically hurts in my chest and I swallow hard, taking a deep breath.

The whole moving process happened far too quickly, under a week, and Harry still hasn’t tried to contact me. Another reason why I need to leave.

I really had hoped he would come and try to stop me, get down on his knees and beg for my love but, he didn’t.

“You know, you don’t have to leave. . . .” Ron tries to persuade me one more time as I blink slowly.

He’s smiling at me hopefully, and there’s a pang in my heart that almost convinces me that I need to stay, but I shake my head sadly.

“I have to.”

He looks thoroughly depressed, “You’re just gonna run away?” he asks. “After you’ve just figured everything out?”

I laugh, “I haven’t figured anything about, Ron! Everything has come undone and ruined, just because I associated myself with the magical world again!”

He’s silent.

“I’ve ruined an engagement, brought up rumors for H-Harry in the Prophet and created enough trouble for a lifetime,” I shake my head. “I need to get out of here, and to forget about him completely.”

If that’s at all possible.

“But he loves you Herm-”

“My God, Ron! When will you learn to drop it? It’s over, I tried, I really did, but my attempts were pointless!” I sigh shakily. “Please don’t make this harder for me,” I say quietly.

He frowns, “But I’ve only just found you again, you’re my best friend.”

I choke down a sob, and a tear slips down my cheek, “You’ll always be my best friend, Ron.”

He looks at the floor, playing with the hem of his trousers.

“But I’ll miss you,” he looks up.

“I’ll miss you too,” I stare at his sad, confused face and feel the urge to sob relentlessly. “You’ve been such a good friend,” I lean over and hug him tightly. “Thank you for being there for me.”

He squeezes my shoulder.

“Even when I was a relentless whore,” I whisper, looking at him.

He smiles, holding back faint tears, “You were never a relentless whore. You were just my Hermione.”

I half-sob, half-laugh and hug him again.

“Goodbye Ron.”

“Goodbye Hermione.”
______________________________________________________________________________

When I reached my parents house in Hertfordshire I was tired and empty.

My eyes ached from resisting the urge to cry and my head hurt from attempting to focus on the road and nothing else.

But I felt relief wash over me when I entered the familiar town I grew up in, passing familiar shops and buildings, pulling to my street and then into my old drive.

It was dark by the time I got there and the second my headlights came into view my parents were outside, waiting to meet me and take in my bags.

“Hello, dear,” Mum called as I got out of the car. “How was the drive?”

“All right,” I managed to say, and she strode over and hugged me tightly.

I slumped into her embrace, feeling so drained through everything.

“Where are your bags?” Dad asked.

“In the boot,” I replied, and I opened it for him.

After we were all in the house and all my things were in my room, my Mum told me and my Dad to go into the living room and watch some of the telly while she finished dinner.

I should be hungry, I thought, but I not.

I had lost my appetite recently.

Dad and I watch the news as we sit here. The voices coming from the TV are monotone, a fake cheeriness, or a serious drawl that fails to distract me from my heartbreak.

Why am I still moping? I’m here to set my life straight and become happy again.

“What’s wrong?” Dad asks me.

I’m startled by the question, “N-Nothing.”

“I don’t believe you,” he says.

His hair is light and golden, short on his scalp and balding in the front. His beard is short, light stubble against his face. And his amber eyes are watchful and all-seeing.

I sigh, shaking my head.

“What about life in London has you so tense and upset?” he questions.

“My job is just really stressful, it’s so hard dealing with people all day and the traffic is horrible.....”

I’m rambling now, whining about a place I loved to live in, a job I loved to work.

I sigh again.

And then it’s time for dinner.

______________________________________________________________________________

I wasn’t hungry, but I ate everything on my plate and then some. And then I had dessert.

Mum kept commenting on how thin I was looking so I ate as much as I could. And although I didn’t feel physically empty anymore, it was still in my head.

After dinner I watched some more television with my parents and talked to them a little about city life and how I just recently started talking to Ron and everyone and how I’m involved with the magical world again.

“How is Ron?” Mum asked.

“Good, he’s married.”

“And Harry?”

My throat closed, “He’s engaged.”

“You better hurry up and find someone, love. Everyone’s beating you to the altar,” they joked.

I laughed.

And now I’m alone in my old room.

I pull out my cell phone and call both Robbie and Ron and tell them I’m here safe and they ask how I am.

“As good as can be expected.”

They don’t mention Harry, so I know he hasn’t asked for me.

And I want to cry myself to sleep but I don’t.

Author’s Note: Next chapter coming up soon, I know this one was kind of said and a little pointless but I promise you the next few chapters will be good! And to anyone who’s celebrating Hanukkah, Happy Hanukkah!

Chapter Twelve
In the Rough

Author’s Note: Thank you so much for those reviews! I was having a bad day, which turned into a crappy week and the things you guys say make me so happy, I’m so glad you like the story! Here’s chapter twelve. And don’t worry, everyone’s going to come to their senses soon.

The first few days at my parents’ house was lonely and miserable. The house was usually empty all day because both my parents were out working so I’d lie around on the couch, stuffing my face and watching old sitcoms or cartoons.

I would never go out, I would never move to find a new house or a job or a life. Moping was the only thing I wanted to do, and damnit, that’s what I did.

By the time my parents got back everyday, I had made myself look presentable and faked a story about the job interview I had or the real estate agent I talked with.

My car never left the drive, and no one noticed.

A few days have passed and I’m getting a little stir-crazy.

It’s only twelve in the afternoon and I’m restless and agitated.

The house feels too small and I want to crawl out of my skin.

I walk into the kitchen and rummage through the cupboards, maybe if I eat enough I won’t feel so empty.

And it’s when I’m about to chew on a chocolate truffle that I have an epiphany.

Sitting around all day like this, being worthless will not help me at all. I won’t get over Harry that way.

No.

I’ll be the supportive best friend, we can forget what happened. Just like we forgot about our once-upon-a-time-and-very-brief romance from way back when. I can live my life out here and they’ll all be in London.

I forgot about it all once, and if Harry wants to be happy with Natalie and spend the rest of his life with her then I’ll let him and I won’t get in the way any more.
I’ve been inconsiderate enough as it is.

I’ll start a new life here, in my neighborhood town.

So I take a scalding hot shower, iron some smart gray pants and put on a thin, black cashmere turtleneck and the black stiletto pumps Robbie gave me to make Harry jealous. I dry my hair, taming it so it’s full of bouncy curls and it shines. I pull half of it up and out of my face and leave the rest of my shoulders. I borrow my mum’s rather large, square diamond earrings that are heavy against my ear lobes. I finish it off with a trace of make up and grab my bag, and my long, wool trench coat, and leave.

------------------------------------------------------------------

I drive around for a bit before I figure out exactly what I’m doing or where I’m going. When I realize I have no idea what to do I pull into an old park with a frozen pond and a gazebo.

I pull out my mobile and call Robbie, he doesn’t answer, so I try Ron.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Ron,” I keep my voice neutral.

“Hermione! How are you?”

“Good, really good.”

He hesitates, “Are you telling me the truth?”

“I wish,” I sigh. “I’m off my arse though, so I’m improving.”

He chuckles, “That’s good.”

And suddenly, the question bursts into my head and I need to know.

“How’s everything there?” he knows I mean with Harry and Natalie.

Ron lets some air escape his mouth and his muffles the line, then he says, “He hasn’t said anything to me.... The wedding plans are,” he pauses. “Natalie doesn’t know anything, so they’re still getting married.”

Should I have expected anything different?

No.

“Oh,” is all I say. “Well, that’s good.”

“Not exactly.”

“So, you’ve spoken with Harry then?”

“Yes, briefly- a few times.... He didn’t say anything about you though,” he sounds like he wishes he didn’t have to tell me the truth.

I sigh, “Oh well.”

“I’m sorry Hermione.”

“No, it’s fine, I’m perfectly fine out here, don’t worry at all, please,” I pause. “I have to go though, I’ll call you again soon. Thanks.”

And I hang up.

I don’t cry, I don’t even think about crying, I start my car up, and drive again.

I think of things to distract me.

I should do something productive, something to make myself busy and productive.

I drive to the grocery store and pick out some things to make my parents dinner. I won’t mope around anymore, I won’t be miserable.

The grocery store isn’t very crowded and I decide to make my parents spaghetti and garlic bread, a nice salad, and I’ll buy some brownie mix too. I throw it all in the trolley and push it passed magazines and chips and sodas and romance novels. I take in a deep breath to clear my head, feeling as if this decision to be happy will really work. It will work, I will be happy without Harry.

I stop at a little kiosk of floral arrangements and bouquets of fragrant flowers.

I pick up a bouquet of beautiful, bright purple flowers, mixed in with some orange ones and some greenery as well. It smells nice and fresh and I contemplate buying it to brighten up my parents’ dining room.

“Hermione Granger?”

I hear a man saying my name and I furrow my brow, turning to look to my left.

There’s a man standing there, he’s got dark blonde hair and brown eyes. He looks familiar, but I don’t know where he’s from. He’s smiling at me, as if he can’t actually believe it’s me standing here, smelling a bouquet of flowers in the supermarket. He’s clad in a blue and white striped button-up shirt and jeans, and I have to admit, he’s rather handsome.

“Yes?” I say.

“Don’t you recognize me?” he asks.

Am I supposed to?

“I’m sorry?”

“It’s me! Adam Garett,” he says.

I think for a minute, Adam Garett? Who the bloody hell is- OH!

“Adam!” I exclaim with a bright smile. “How are you?”

“I’m good,” he replies. “And yourself?”

He’s staring at me with such wonder I almost falter when I answer, “I’m good, goodness, I haven’t seen you in ages!”

“I know, it’s been too long. What have you been doing with yourself?” he asks.

You don’t want to know.

“Well, I’ve been London since I got out of school. I just recently decided to move back here though,” I smile brightly. “What have you been doing?”

It’s so weird to see a face from my childhood all grown up. Adam Garett used to go to primary school with me, and our parents are good friends. It’s so odd to see him here, in the supermarket, as an adult. Especially when I haven’t seen him in years.

He stuffs his hands into his pockets and says, “I went to medical school, I’m a dentist now.”

My parents must love that.

“Wow, that’s great.”

He nods, “Yeah, and I still live here in town too.”

I nod.

“Not all of Miss Mark’s class moved out to the big city,” he says.

I laugh, although he said it kind of nastily, “That’s too bad.”

There’s a short silence before he says, “I know this is kind of random, but do you have plans on Friday night?”

Oh lord.

“No,” I squeak.

“Would you like to go out to dinner with me?” he asks.

This is perfect right? I can start getting over Harry completely, I’ll go on a date with Adam and have loads of fun and I’ll move on.

Then why do I want to say no to him?

“Sure, I’d love to.”

------------------------------------------------------------------

“You’re going on a date with Adam Garett?” Mum says. “Hermione, that’s fantastic.”

“You know he’s a dentist?” Dad points out to her.

“It’s not a big deal,” I say, taking a sip of water.

“I think it’s adorable,” she says. “You two would look so good together.”

Bloody hell someone end this.

“I guess you took our advice to heart when we said you should hurry up before everyone beats you to the altar,” they joke.

I laugh, but inside I’m silent.

Author’s Note: I promise, next chapter everyone is coming to their senses. Merry Christmas!

Chapter Thirteen
Coming to their Senses

Author’s Note: Thank you for all the reviews! Here’s chapter thirteen!

(Harry)

It’s been more than a week. More than a week since it happened.

I loved her. I love her, and she kissed me.

I’ve been going through my normal routine since it happened, thinking about what to do, regretting my actions, questioning my sanity.

I can’t decide whether I’m a bloody idiot or a rambling genius. The truth is, I NEVER stopped loving her, I NEVER got over her. I have been an idiot all along, where did I think I was going with Natalie? Did I honestly think I loved her? They were all right, I was rushing into it, I was using her to fill up that space that Hermione had left when she ran away.

Who was I kidding anyway?

“Harry-Bear!” I hear the voice penetrate the quiet air around me and I cringe. “Where are you?”

“Kitchen,” I croak.

She comes in, all smiles, “Hello pet!” she trills. “I was thinking, since that Hermione character can’t help us plan the wedding why don’t we hire a wedding planner like Jennifer Lopez?”

That’s it, the straw that broke the camel’s back or whatever the saying is. I’ve had enough of this bull shit.

”No, Natalie, I don’t think we will.”

“Why not?” she asks, slightly agitated.

I sigh, running a hand through my hair, “Natalie, I’m sorry-”

“Sorry for what,” she snaps.

I clench my jaw, I’m beginning to see her for what she really is.

I stand up, “I’m really very sorry, but I can’t marry you.”

“WHAT?!” she screeches.

“I’m-”

“WHY?” she demands, her eyes blazing, nostrils flared.

Oh man, she’s making this really easy.

“I-I don’t love you.”

“Yes you do! Of course you do!” she’s growing increasingly annoyed that things aren’t going her way. “We’re perfect together!”

“No,” I shake my head. “We’re not.”

“Prove it,” she says icily, sneering at me.

Fine, she wants to play it her way.

“Well,” I say frankly. “For one thing? I can’t stand you.”

Her mouth opens in horror, “Excuse me?!”

“Everything! Your smoking, your talking- the way you treat people!” I shout.

“What’s wrong with the way I treat people?” she asks, glaring daggers at me.

I look down, sighing, how can I put this?

I don’t say anything.

“Answer me!” she screams.

I’m trying to restrain myself, I really am, but I can’t take it anymore, oh well.

“Fine, you’re a bitch!”

She looks completely and utterly disgusted.

This should make her throw up then, “And I love Hermione.”

“You can’t be serious,” she manages to say, laughing a little.

“Oh, I’m very serious.”

After a few seconds of staring at each other in silence she reaches her hand to slap me across the face but I grab her wrist.

“I don’t think so,” I growl. “It’s over.”

I let go of her wrist and head for the door, but turn around quickly and say, “And by the way, she’s not a whore or a character,” I pause. “She’s an amazing person and you can’t even begin to compare to her. Now get out of my apartment.”

______________________________________________________________________________

I rush over to Hermione’s flat and pound on the door.

When it finally opens I’m greeted by an unfamiliar man in a suit.

“Are you here to look at the flat?”

I stare at him, and the look into the apartment, it’s empty.

“Where’s Hermione?” I question.

“I’m sorry sir, who?”

I run away from him and immediately drive over to Ron’s house. I pound on his front door, never ceasing until he opens it.

He stares at me.

“Come to your senses have you?”

“Where’s Hermione?!” I demand frantically.

He raises his eyebrows at me, “You mean you actually care now?”

“Ron, I need to talk to her! Where is she?! Why is her flat empty?!” I question.

“You missed her mate,” he says shrugging.

A peel of panic rushes over me like hot water and I feel scalded, “What do you mean I missed her?!”

“She’s gone, she’s been gone for two weeks.”

“Ron, what the hell are you talking about- Gone? Gone where?!”

“Why do you care?” he asks viciously. “You pushed her away!”

I sigh defeatedly, “Listen, I know I screwed up, I need to see her! I need to talk to her- to fix everything!”

Ron shakes his head, heat rising in his ears, he’s growing angry, “You don’t know anything!” he shouts. “You weren’t there when she nearly had a nervous break down in Diagon Alley! You weren’t there for the aftermath, when she was crying- To me! She felt like she wasn’t good enough for you, like you didn’t love her!” he pauses. “You weren’t there after you broke her heart!”

I stare at him, every word is stabbing at me and I feel horrible. I never wanted to hurt her. I’ve been a bloody idiot. I swallow back the urge to cry like the damn coward I am.

“I know she hurt you once but I didn’t think-”

“Ron please, tell me where she is, I can’t let her go again....”

He thinks for a second, staring at me, then he sighs, “At her parents house in Hertfordshire.”

I feel an extreme amount of relief overcome me as I rush toward me car.

“Thank you!”

______________________________________________________________________________

I finally find Hermione’s parents’ house.

It’s a small house, painted white with a brown shingled roof. There’s a small dormant garden out front and a nice, stone pathway from the drive to the door.

Hermione’s car is here and I feel a strong surge of determination as I get out of my car and practically run up to the front door.

Hermione’s mother opens the door, she’s confused to see me, but she smiles.

“Harry? How nice to see you.”

“Mrs. Granger, is Hermione here? I need to see her,it’s urgent!”

Mrs. Granger’s eyes cloud over for a minute, as if she’s worried. And then she stares at me, and she knows, realization makes her smile, and she knows everything.

For a minute I feel so relieved to have this woman on my side, but when she frowns my spirits fall.

She shakes her head, “I’m sorry dear, she’s on a date.”

Date.

The words echo in the empty spaces of my mind and I freeze, every cell in my body seems to go rigid. I completely screwed up.

She’s on a date. She’s moved on because I pushed her away.

Damn it.

The woman in front of me seems to be almost as upset as I am, “I’m sorry. Should I tell her you came by?”

I nod numbly, “Y-Yeah, thanks.”

And I stumble down to the edge of the drive and sit down on the sidewalk.

I didn’t love Natalie. Why is that so bloody clear to me now? Why couldn’t I have realized this about four weeks ago? I’ve always loved Hermione, and I never stopped.

But she’s moved on, she’s on a date. She did the independent thing, she moved on, she’s going on with her life, and she’s not pathetically waiting around for me. I swallow, it’s so selfish of me, but I hope things don’t work out with this guy she’s out with. I hope it goes horribly.

I tried to move on after she ran away from me, and that relationship was a disaster. So I really hope it doesn’t work out with this guy she’s seeing right now.

I feel a physical pain in my chest, right near my heart and I swallow. I don’t want to be alone the rest of my life. I want to have Hermione. I don’t want to settle for someone I just like a lot and can deal with until I’m eighty, I want love, love like I felt for Hermione. And okay, that might sound totally soft, whatever, I am in love with her.

I stare ahead, looking at the houses across the road, not really seeing them. The sidewalk is cold and uncomfortable and the wind is growing strong. I hear the sound of rain overhead, but it turns completely silent soon after. And it begins snowing.
______________________________________________________________________________

(Hermione)

I march up the sidewalk, staring at my feet in hopes of shielding my eyes from the snow that’s collecting in my hair. I look up to see how much farther I have to go when I see someone sitting on the sidewalk in front of our house.

Who on Earth-

No.

No.

No.

No.

No.

This is not happening. Am I going mad?

I don’t stop when I near him, or even when he looks up. I go on my way, prepared to walk up the drive and straight into the house.

“Hermione!”

“Leave me alone Harry, please,” I say, wondering how long he’s been sitting there.

I walk with my back turned to him, but he scrambles to his feet.

“Hermione, you have to listen to me please!” he pleads, grabbing my arm and turning me around.

I look at him.

His hair is damp with melting snow and his cheeks and nose are red. Those green eyes are round with sadness and longing. And a lump forms in my throat.

“Go away Harry,” I say firmly, jerking my arm out of his hand.

I turn around again, but he takes my bare wrist. He engulfs both my hands in his and warms them slightly. My skin is prickly under his, I can’t stand touching him, I can’t bear to have him stand before me, this is too much, all too much. I want to run inside, but this is just what I wanted.

“Hermione-”

I rip my hands from his grasp and lash out at him, walking a little bit a ways toward the street, “What do you want Harry?!”

“I-”

“I broke your heart, you broke mine and now we’re even. Can we stop playing this game now?”I ask viciously.

He shakes his head sadly, his eyes falling slightly, “Hermione, I didn’t mean to-”

“Stop it Harry!” I nearly shout. “You can’t- It’s just-” I groan. “You don’t even know!”

He doesn’t say a thing.

“I can’t deal with this anymore,” I cover my face. “This isn’t fair,” I mutter to myself, shaking my head.

“Hermione,” Harry ventures. “Why did you leave?” he asks.

I move my hands, “Why did I leave? Why did I leave?! Because of you, because of you and Natalie!”

He stares at me.

“Hermione I’m sorry.”

I shake my head.

“I honestly don’t know what to say to you, Harry,” I feel like crying, but I don’t. “All right, I understand you loved me and I ran away like a coward and I regret it. I do, I have been regretting it every day since I left.”

He stares at me.

“And I’m sorry for that. But you came here and you had Natalie and I really understood how much I had screwed up,” I shake my head. “And then you asked me to help plan your wedding and what could I say?” I laugh bitterly. “And the whole time I wanted to break the two of you up so badly, but then when the article came out I felt horrible.”

“Hermione, Nat-”

“If I did break you and Natalie up I’m so sorry, but please if you came to tell me you never want to see me again or something like that, please just spare me!”

It was at that moment, when my eyes met his I realized how much I truly loved him. And now I’m going to make a decision, to take the advice of a gay best friend and my oldest best friend. I’m going to tell him.

I take a deep breath, “Basically, what it breaks down to is this: I love you. I’ve never loved anyone this way, ever. I can’t stop thinking about you and even though I’m trying to run away from you I know I never will because you’re always there, in my thoughts, in my dreams,” I swallow. “I can’t get away. And it hurts because you have Natalie and all I want is for you to be happy....”

I keep going on without stopping or thinking, the words do fade on my lips though, but only when Harry kisses me.

Wait, WHAT?!

Yes, he’s definitely kissing me, an eager, apologetic kiss. I nearly melt. He wraps his strong arms around my waist and pulls me tighter, I’m at such a vertigo right now I can’t even think straight. All my problems wash away because he kissed me, he wanted to! The kiss is deep but not nearly enough. The shock is wearing off and I put my arms behind his neck. I am in such a state of bliss I feel light headed and dizzy.

We pull away at the same time and we’re both breathing raggedly.

“I love you,” he says, his eyes burning into mine. “I always have. I came here to apologize, to get you back. I don’t know what I was thinking when I was with Natalie-”

“Was?” I’m stunned.

“Yeah, I told her to piss off earlier today,” he smiles, half-laughing.

I’m speechless.

I hope he told her to stuff it too, that cow.

We’re silent for a few minutes, standing in the silent snow.

“Your mum told me you were on a date,” he whispers. “I was worried I had lost my chance.”

I shake my head, sighing shakily, “It went horribly, the guy was a jerk. I left and I didn’t even care that I had to walk home.”

“I’m sorry,” he says absently, then he thinks for a minute. “No, I’m not sorry.”

I laugh, feeling so light and giddy I’m almost walking through a dreamlike state.

He strokes my cheek, “I missed you when you left,” he leans his forehead against mine. “Why did you leave me all that time ago?” he asks.

I frown, “I was scared,” I pause. “It was stupid, I was afraid my feelings for you would get too intense I wouldn’t have any control over them.”

“I wish you had talked to me before you ran,” he mutters, kissing me softly.

“I’m sorry-”

“No, I’m sorry.”

“Can we never be this stupid again?” I ask.

He nods, “Deal.”

“Hermione, love, does this mean you’re not dating the dentist-boy?” Dad calls from the house.

Harry and I laugh, smiling to ourselves, “That’s right.”

“Good choice!” he yells back with a smile and then closes the door.

“So you’re not running away anymore?” Harry asks, his eyes drilling into mine with such passion it almost takes my breath away.

I laugh, “I’m not going anywhere.”

And I grab his collar, pulling him into another kiss.

Author’s Note: The end! Sequel? Of the actual wedding? I dunnnno. You tell me in those lovely and awesome reviews!