An: Thanks for the reviews. I believe I replied to every single one! Thanks to my beta for editing this chapter!!
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
Chapter 6
Danny had politely escorted Hermione back to her room when her tummy grumbled loudly.
"Sorry" Hermione said as a light pink colour appeared on her cheeks.
"It's ok. How about I order us some room service and we can head to the roof. It's beautiful up there. You'll like it." Danny said as he pulled out his cell phone and started ordering a meal for them.
Hermione was going to object but the thought of food did sound appealing. Hermione silently cursed herself, she was turning into Ron!
"Room service will be here soon." Danny said as he shut his phone and placed it back in his pants pocket.
"So do you take all your new friends up to the roof?" Hermione asked with a slight tease in her voice.
"No only the special ones." Danny teased back.
Hermione arched an eyebrow at him. "Let's go inside and sit down. Maybe you can expand more on what you mean by `special ones'." Hermione said fully aware that Danny didn't realise how `special' she was.
"In truth, you would only be the second girl that I have taken up to the roof. Not many people are allowed up there and guests usually stick to the tables." Danny informed her.
"Really, why does that sound hard to believe?" Hermione said.
Before Danny could reply there was a knock at the door.
"Room service." A voice on the other side called.
"Already! That was fast." Hermione commented.
"When you're the head of security you can get things pretty quickly." Danny said with a cocky grin.
He opened the door and collected the food. Danny had ordered some sandwiches which were packaged and easy to take up to the roof.
"Come on let's go." Danny said
"What about a tip?" Hermione asked
"Don't worry. It's fine." Danny said as he exited her room and waited for her in the corridor.
Hermione doubled check to see if she had her key on her and then followed Danny out the door. He led her to the stairwell at the end and up a few flight of stairs before they came to the door that connected to the roof. Danny opened the door and they were both surprised by what they saw. There in front of them was Mary and Harry locked in an intimate embrace. Before either of them could control themselves they each blurted out the name of the person that was connected to them on the roof.
"Mary"
"Harry"
Mary broke from the embrace with Harry and turned to face the new additions to the rooftop crowd. There was a short pause before Mary broke it.
"Danny, I thought this was your day off?" Mary questioned. She was a bit surprised that Danny was there but that didn't stop her from noticing that Danny was on the roof with another girl and she felt a twinge of jealousy. She closely scrutinized Hermione and consoled herself with the thought that she was not the type of girl Danny would normally like.
Harry had instantly recognized Hermione's voice but the shock of seeing her on the roof with another man had completely short circuited his brain. It was only after Mary had asked her question that he even remembered that he could speak. As soon as this realization hit, he voiced the first question that had been bothering him since he arrived
"Hermione, where have you been all day?"
"Danny offered to show me around Las Vegas. I accomplished most of my list." Hermione said proudly. Harry and Ron had been making fun of her list before they left and Hermione insisted that it was the best way to see everything she wanted to see in Vegas.
Danny basically nodded and figured Hermione's answer also answered Mary's question.
Harry walked over to Hermione and conveniently placed himself between Hermione and Danny. "You could have left a note. I was worried." Harry said softly to her.
"Harry. I'm a big girl. You of all people should know I can take care of myself." Hermione replied back.
Mary took the opportunity to corner Danny on his day's activities.
"I didn't realise that Ed had added escorting the guests around Las Vegas to your job profile." Mary said in a sarcastic tone.
Danny frowned at her. "She was going to go exploring by herself. I figured I would show her around myself that way Ed wouldn't call me in to look for some lost guest. You do remember that we've had three this week." Danny replied sharply to her.
"One of those guests had Alzheimers, the other was a child and third was an elderly man. I'm pretty sure she could have found her way around." Mary snapped.
"Why are you even concerned?" Danny asked frustratingly.
"Because she's a guest at the Montecito and part of an event I'm planning." Mary fired back.
"Really and who's he?" Danny said indicating to Harry.
"One of Sam's whales that she asked me to entertain for her." Mary said as she crossed her arms in front her chest.
"Oh yes, I noticed exactly how you were entertaining him" Danny said
A hurt looked crossed Mary's face and Danny realised that he had gone too far. He had hurt her feelings. Danny didn't realise that he was the second man in less that 10 minutes to imply that Mary was being more than friendly with Harry.
"I'm Hermione Granger by the way." Hermione said as she extended her hand to Mary. Harry had wanted to discuss her tour a little more but Hermione didn't want to hear it. She decided to move the conversation in a different direction and decided to introduce herself to Harry's companion on the roof.
"Mary Connell I'm the Special Events Coordinator here. I'll be assisting Ms. Brown with the reunion."
Mary this was the woman Danny was in love with. The woman she had offered to help Danny with but things were complicated now. Harry appeared to have taken an interest in her. Mary was Harry's type after all. Harry always did love the gorgeous ones. Physical beauty was the one thing Hermione never possessed. Sure she could be pretty at times and special events but she could never look the way Mary looked 24/7. For crying out loud it was 11:30 at night and Mary looked absolutely stunning. Hermione, however, had hair sticking out all over the place and her eyes were dropping because it was time for sleep. She could never compete with any of Harry's ex-girlfriends. She had contented herself to remain in the best friend position.
Hermione had a problem though. How was she supposed to talk to Mary to determine her feelings for Danny, when Harry was also interested in Mary. Encouraging a relationship between Danny and Mary would somehow betray Harry. Yet she promised Danny that she would help him. Danny was so nice to her and he deserved to have some happiness. The only way to deal with this was to talk with Mary. If she could figure out what she wanted maybe things could work out.
"Mary, I have heard so much about you." Hermione said to her.
"Really, how nice of Danny. Don't believe a word he says." Mary said as she looked over at Danny introducing himself to Harry. If you knew Mary long enough you would know that she was sending Danny a very disapproving gaze but to an outsider it simply looked like she was smiling at him.
"Yes well I can assure you, he has nothing but good things to say about you." Hermione responded sweetly.
"I have your registration package for you. You can collect it tomorrow at the registration table." Mary said politely.
"Does the package contain the list of events for the week?" Hermione asked. Lavender and Parvarti had planned the entire event and reused to give any details away until the right time. Hermione was secretly dreading what those two might have come up with.
"No. Ms. Brown will announce the events of the day at breakfast every morning." Mary said
"So what happens if we miss breakfast?" Hermione asked
"Ms. Browne was pretty confident that you would get the message. Though she did start talking about owls for some odd reason?" Mary said with weird look on her face.
Hermione made a mental note to remind Lavender to be careful about what she said.
While Hermione was talking with Mary, Harry decided to follow her lead and introduce himself to her companion.
"Harry Potter, nice to meet you" He said as he extended his hand to Danny.
"Danny Mc Coy, head of hotel Security." Danny replied as he firmly grasped Harry's hand.
Harry surveyed the man in front of him. He noted the strength in his handshake and looked him straight in the eye. He was almost tempted to use legilimens on him to determine his intentions towards Hermione. Harry wouldn't admit it to himself but he was very jealous.
Danny also surveyed the man in front of him. He too noted the firm handshake and realised that Harry was a lot stronger than he appeared. Danny held eye contact and tried to read his intention in his eyes. He realized that Harry seemed to be sizing him up as well.
An awkward silence fell between Harry and Danny as neither man had anything to say to each other. They both tuned back in to the girl's conversation.
"So you went to Hogwarts with Harry?" Mary asked Hermione.
"Yes I did. I was always keeping him out of trouble!" Hermione said with a fond smile.
Harry pinched Hermione on her side.
"ow." Hermione yelped.
"You were not always keeping me out of trouble. Sometimes you used to join in the trouble." Harry said flashing her with his dazzling smile.
"Someone had to make sure you took care of yourself! If it weren't for me you might be married to Cho with ten kids!" Hermione teased.
"Hey! I was drunk when I asked her to marry me. Everyone knew I wasn't serious!" Harry said in protest
"What about the time you and Lavender……"
"Don't go there Hermione. Don't ever go there." Harry said in a warning tone.
Hermione gave him a wicked smile and Harry knew she loved holding that incident over his head.
"Who is Lavender?" Danny asked dumbfounded.
"Not important. If you see a short thin blonde with crystal blue eyes coming your way run! She likes tall guys. She will be all over you in a second!" Hermione stated.
Mary laughed. "That I would like to see, Danny running from Lavender."
There was an awkward silence after that and Hermione decided to politely excuse herself to go to sleep. She could eat her sandwich in her room. Harry quickly volunteered to walk her back to her room leaving Danny and Mary on the roof.
They walked down the stairs and exited on their floor. Harry realised that his room was three doors down from Hermione's. He told her that Draco and Ginny and Ron and Luna were on either some of him. Harry walked Hermione to her room and they stopped in front of her door.
"Good night Harry." Hermione said as she opened the door.
"Good night Mione" Harry said as he kissed her on her forehead.
Neither noticed how Harry's lips lingered a little longer than they were supposed to or how Hermione leaned into him. Neither noticed the sense of loneliness they felt when Hermione closed the door or how the room felt a little colder without the other.
-*-
Danny exited into the main lobby of the Montecito in an angry mood. Lately all encounters with Mary left him utterly frustrated and upset. He stormed passed the guests and was stopped by Mike.
"Hey Danny, I want you to look at a video from a private game earlier today. I swear the guy is cheating but I can't tell how." Mike said
"Did you check the table?" Danny asked
"Yeah as soon as the game was finished I had the dealer and the table escorted into the back room. The dealer is clean as well as the table and the cards." Mike said
Danny wrinkled his eyebrows. "It's late. I'll look at the video in the morning."
"Sure man. I'll catch you later." Mike said.
Danny walked off and Mike decided to head into Mystique to take a quick look around. As he walked around he noticed a figure in the corning staring at his drink. Mike decided to join him. Maybe he could find out a little more about the incident earlier.
"You know staring at it won't get it in your mouth." Mike said casually.
The blond man scowled at him.
"Just giving you some advice, no need to send death glances." Mike said
"Was there something you wanted?" Draco said getting to the point.
"I was just curious as to why you thought you friend was cheating." Mike asked
"Forget it. I was just frustrated. He wasn't cheating." Draco replied
"Are you sure? You felt pretty certain at the time." Mike pointed out.
"I'm sure. Now can you please leave me and my drink alone." Draco snapped.
Mike didn't push his lucky any longer and left without another word.
Draco stared at the drink on the table. It was his first drink that he ordered over and hour ago and he still hadn't touched it. It was muggle whiskey and though he was curious as to how it tasted his mind kept imaging Ginny's reaction to him going back to the room with alcohol on his breath. She didn't like him drinking alone. If he drank it she would be upset but if he didn't drink it he would be upset. This selflessness really annoyed him at times.
Draco got up and left the drink on the table. By now Ginny would be asleep and he could sneak on to the bed. She was a sound sleeper and he knew from experience that she wouldn't realise if he joined her during the night. Hopefully she would be so happy to wake up to his beautiful face that she would forget about the night before. It was their first major fight as a couple and Draco honestly had no clue what to do but he knew he had to figure it out fast or is grand plans for this week would come crashing down around him.
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