Chapter 8
Mary and Delinda were standing in the ballroom by the appetizer table. Mary had dragged Delinda in to help her with the Hogwarts Reunion as Lavender Brown had made a lot of unusual requests and she needed Delinda's help.
"So Mary, how was your time on the roof last night with Mr. Potter?" Delinda asked in that gossip tone of hers.
"It was fine Delinda, nothing happened." Mary stated evenly as she eyed the Hogwart's alumni in the room.
"Really, so then why did Jake look so pissed when he came back downstairs!" Delinda said with a wicked gleam in her eye.
"Wait, you were the one that told him I was up on the roof?" Mary asked shocked as she turned her attention to Delinda.
"Well yes. He said it was important. I didn't think he would catch you doing something you shouldn't have been doing." Delinda said emphasizing the word `doing'.
"We weren't `doing' anything. We were just sitting on the bench and Jake jumped to conclusions and left." Mary replied simply.
"So that's all you did. Just sit on the bench. Nothing else." Delinda insinuated.
"Well I kind of had a little breakdown when Jake left, and Harry was kind enough to offer me some comfort." Mary revealed to her.
"Oh, so its Harry now and what type of comfort are we talking about?" Delinda asked sensing some juicy details.
"He tells everyone to call him Harry." Mary said exasperatedly.
"I see already an expert on all things Harry are we?" Delinda said with a cocky smile.
"Delinda, for the last time nothing happened." Mary said angrily.
"So after he comforted you, what did you do?" Delinda persisted.
"Well Danny appeared and…" Mary was explaining.
"Wait, Danny was on the roof with you and Harry?" Delinda questioned sensing some sort of love triangle drama going on.
"Yes he came up with Hermione." Mary said.
"Hermione? Whose Hermione." Delinda asked.
"See the girl dressed in the black skirt and white top standing over by the water fall." Mary said discreetly pointing to Hermione.
"Yeah, I see her,"
"That's Hermione."
"Wait, no way. Danny picked up a girl from this lot?" Delinda asked shocked
"Yep, He brought a picnic up to the roof to eat. Apparently, he spent the whole day showing her around Vegas." Mary replied a bit frostily.
"I always thought Danny wasn't allowed to flirt with the guests." Delinda said thoughtfully.
"Excuse me, but can we get some more appetizers?" Lavender asked Delinda, interrupting the conversation that was going on between Mary and her.
"Sure no problem, I will get right on it!" Delinda said with a fake smile as she left Mary alone.
Hermione was enjoying the reunion so far. She had seen a lot of people that she hadn't seen in a long time and stopped to exchange a few words with everyone. Hermione was meeting Danny for lunch later that day but before she saw him she wanted to have that talk with Mary. When she arrived in the ballroom, Mary was talking with a tall blond lady by the appetizer table. Last night, Hermione thought that Mary must have been the most popular girl at the casino but looking at the blond girl and the way she dressed, Hermione was clearly wrong. She wondered if only beautiful women were allowed to work at the Montecito.
Harry had been acting kind of strange though. Last night he escorted her to her room but he didn't say much. He had this intense look in his eyes that Hermione couldn't quite believe. She had seen it before, back in sixth year when Ginny was dating Dean. He had that look in his eyes when they were together. She had seen it a couple times since then, usually when another man was talking with his current girlfriend. But it was never directed at her before. Hermione couldn't see how that would apply to her. She wasn't Harry's type. She knew that. She had never been. Why would he be jealous? What was he jealous of? A thought then dawned on her that maybe he was jealous of Danny. Maybe he thought Danny was a threat to his perusal of Mary, which in fact he was. Harry was always very perceptive. The added fact that she had appeared to become friends with Danny must have made him angry.
Hermione observed the blond leave with Lavender and realised that this was her chance. Hermione skilfully made her way through the crowd and "accidentally" bumped into Mary.
"Oh I'm so sorry." Hermione said faking a remorseful tone.
"It's no problem." Mary replied.
"Hey didn't we meet last night. Mary right?" Hermione said in a casual tone.
"Yeah on the roof. So what exactly did Danny say about me?" Mary asked bluntly. It had annoyed her that Danny spoke about her to a stranger.
"Oh nothing much. Just that you guys were friends and you grew up together." Hermione said politely.
"Yeah we are friends. I've known Danny since I was two and we've been through a lot together." Mary replied making sure to emphasise together.
"So what was Danny like back then?" Hermione asked pretending not to notice Mary's attitude towards her.
Mary started to explain to her what it was like growing up with Danny McCoy. Mary recalled memories about high school and Danny on the football team while she was a cheerleader. She told her stories of a couple of Danny's girlfriends and always made sure she emphasized the worst of Danny. Mary eventually inquired as to how Hermione met Danny.
"I came in rather early yesterday and Danny had the misfortune of tripping over my luggage!" Hermione told her.
"Danny tripped over your luggage!" Mary said with a half smile.
"Yeah, spectacularly! Fell straight on his face!"
"That must have been embarrassing." Mary said while laughing.
"I think he was angry that my suitcases were in the middle of the lobby but I just went where they sent me. The bellhop wasn't in so I had to wait. That was when Danny decided to take them up for me."
"So you just let strange men take your bags up to your hotel room?" Mary inquired sardonically.
"Oh heavens no. In fact, I refused to believe Danny was the head of security and went to the reception desk to ask. Naturally, you know the outcome of that conversation. After that, I let him escort me to my room." Hermione responded ignoring Mary's tone.
"So how did you end up on the roof with Danny?" Mary asked a bit jealous.
Hermione arched an eyebrow at all the questions. She had come to question Mary, yet it seemed the other way around now. Mary had question after question for her but she decided to answer it. She didn't want to become Mary's enemy though it already seemed that Mary disliked her. She was hoping Mary's negative response to her meant that Danny still had a chance. Hermione decided to tell her about her day with Danny and judge her reaction.
"We got talking and I told him what I read about Las Vegas and what I wanted to see. I had the whole day to myself so I was going to go exploring. I guess he felt I couldn't do it on my own, so he volunteered to be my personal tour guide. What really convinced me to go with him was he promised to show me the real Las Vegas. Not what was depicted in all the books. When we got back I was hungry so we ordered room service and he said the roof had a spectacular view at night so we went."
Mary shifted uncomfortably. "I guess from your excitement last night, you really enjoyed it! You're quite lucky, Danny doesn't do that for just everyone." Mary replied sadly.
"It was the most fun I've had all year but what are you trying to imply?" Hermione questioned. She realised that Mary was jealous of the time she spent with Danny but she was hoping Mary didn't think Danny was a lost cause.
"Nothing, it was just an observation" Mary said. "So, what do you do back in England?" she asked.
"Oh I am a hea … Doctor. I treat patients at a hospital in London." Hermione responded
"Doctor really, Danny is usually scared of going to the Doctor. Can you imagine a grown man scared of Doctors! He has been in the hospital before but he won't go to see a doctor unless forced" Mary replied.
"What was he in the hospital for? I hope it was nothing serious!" Hermione responded.
"He was shot." Mary said leaving out the minor detail that he was shot in the foot and it wasn't serious.
"Shot!" Hermione gasped holding her hand to her mouth.
"Yes. It's a dangerous job he has. He was beat up by members of the triad once." Mary said as she started to list off every dangerous situation Danny had ever been in.
"Security is never an easy business though it does seem like trouble follows Danny." Hermione responded calmly. Trouble also liked to follow Harry. There wasn't a week that went by that he didn't turn up in her office with some affliction. No matter what was wrong with Harry he would always insist on coming to her. A small smile appeared on her face. Harry was so adorable when he came to her. He had recently taken to imitating Bugs Bunny and saying "What's up Doc?" when she entered her office. Sometimes she just felt like hugging him and never letting go.
Mary was disappointed that Hermione took it all in stride and wondered why on earth she was smiling. She was supposed to be intimidated by Danny's life. She had to come up with a different strategy to shake her off of Danny.
"Have you picked out something nice for the concert tonight?" Mary asked
"Concert?" Hermione asked confused.
"Yeah the PCD concert"
"PCD?" Hermione said as she racked her brain trying to remember what PCD referred to.
"Pussy Cat Dolls?" Mary replied
"Oh the Pussy Cat Dolls. There's a Pussy Cat Dolls concert tonight?" Hermione asked.
"Didn't I just say that?" Mary replied with a sweet smile.
"I don't have tickets." Hermione replied in a panic.
"Actually you do. Ms. Brown arranged for everyone at the reunion to get tickets."
"Oh!" Hermione responded. "I didn't pack anything for a concert."
"You could ask Danny to take you shopping!" Mary responded knowing that going shopping with Danny was a disaster that would scare away even the most determined girl.
"You think he would do that?" Hermione said slightly worried now. She needed to get some nice clothes or girls like Lavender and Parvarti would definitely show her up and she hated that.
"Of course he would. Plus you can see more of Vegas that way." Mary replied hoping Hermione would take the bait.
"Ok I'll ask him." Hermione responded confidently.
Just then Hermione saw two figures out of the corner of her eye.
"Well speak of the Devil" Hermione said with a wide smile. Danny's presence would make it easy to ask him now but she was thrilled to see Harry. She had missed him greatly and he looked really good. His hair was still slightly damp from his morning shower and he was wearing the black pants from his suit with a green satin shirt that really brought out his eyes. She could get lost in his eyes.
"Hi!" Danny and Harry both timidly replied
-*-
Ginny had woken up early and decided to get dressed and head down to the reunion. She realised that Draco had joined her sometime last night and she couldn't help but admire his handsome face as he slept. She loved him so much but sometimes his attitude annoyed her to no end. She wondered what was happening to their relationship. Draco had told her that this vacation would be the best vacation of her life but so far she was only miserable.
Ginny quickly cast those negatives thoughts away and had a quick shower. When she emerged from the bathroom Draco was still asleep and she decided that maybe it was best if she left him sleeping. She didn't want to fight with him this early in the morning. It would ruin her entire day. She left their room and decided to impose on her brother and Luna. A sleepy Ron answered the door and Ginny barged in. She effectively ended what ever they had in mind for the morning and she demanded that they head down to breakfast together. Ron was about to argue with her when Luna interrupted.
Half an hour later the three of them were eating breakfast when Lavender Brown joined them. As usual she relentlessly flirted with Ron right in front of Luna. She discussed the menu for lunch with Ron and changed the dishes to food Ron would prefer. Ginny decided to ignore Lavender as that was really the only thing you could do and she spoke to Luna. Luna asked her if she ok since she hadn't been acting herself recently and Ginny assured her that she would be fine.
Eventually the four of them entered the ballroom and Lavender left them to deliver the opening address. Ginny noticed that most of their classmates were still asleep and she guessed that most really didn't want to have to listen to Lavender prattle on about their time at Hogwarts. Hermione was of course there on time but she noticed that Harry wasn't with her. Ginny frowned. She thought those two had been beating around the bush forever and it was about time that something happened between them. Maybe it was time for her to step in. Ron wandered off and Ginny asked Luna what she thought about Harry and Hermione. She felt the same way too but she advised Ginny to leave them alone. Ginny ignored her. Ginny was feeling hungry again but noticed that there were two muggles by the appetizers. She waited for them to leave before she helped herself. She noticed that Harry had arrived and that he was with Hermione. Now was the time to do a little interfering. Ginny grabbed two more appetizers before making her way towards Hermione.
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