Wow, how time flies! I had a writer's block on my Star Wars story down at ff.net, and until my friend and Beta straightened it out I was stuck. I'm basically alternating between the two stories, so update times may be a little delayed.
Also, I was going to spend more time and made this chapter longer than previous ones. Please tell which you prefer. Obviously, the longer the chapter, the longer the time it'll take. It's all up to you guys. I'm warning you in advance, this chapter's a little slow, which is one of the reasons why it took so long to write. I decided it was better to post this and not leave you guys hanging much longer. I'm going to work on the next chapter now, though, instead of working on the SW one.
So... where were we? Oh, yes. Harry and Ron are tracking "someone of extreme power." Before we get to them, though, let's drop in on Hermione first...
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1:00 P.M. EST:
Hermione felt the eyes of the TSA guard on her as she turned the corner, and moved quickly to get out of his line of site. She hurriedly made her way to the baggage claim, where she picked up her suitcases, rolling her eyes when she saw the label "overweight" in big red letters. Apparently, her idea of "a few books" was considered to be over the limit allowed to passengers, and she had been forced to pay a small fee to let it through. Performing the feather spell, as she liked to call it, she peeled off the tape and went to look for a cab
After hearing the announcement that she shouldn't "use non-registered cabs" and that "transportation agents are standing by to help" so many times that she wanted to blast the speakers to smithereens, she finally found a cab that would take her to her apartment in upstate New York. It turned out it was only an hour away, and even though the driver kept asking her questions in a valiant, if not futile, attempt to make conversation, she managed to enjoy the ride.
"Where are you going?" the driver asked for the third time. Hermione sighed, and then, resigned to this ride told him the address.
"Oh, wow! That's really far out! What brings you there?" He had asked this exact question a half-hour ago, and Hermione knew exactly where this was going.
"Oh, just visiting. I needed a vacation and my friends told me that that area's pretty nice."
"Oh, yes. It is. Let me ask you something."
'I don't let' Hermione thought, but her British manners would never actually let her say it, so she stayed quiet.
"You're from England I presume?"
"Yes."
"How is it there? I've always wondered. What do you do there for recreation?"
"Umm... Go bowling?" She wasn't sure what he was driving at.
"Oh." He sounded disappointed. Hermione wasn't sure exactly what he wanted to hear, but apparently that wasn't it. He wasn't about to give up, though.
"Well, what about..." At that point Hermione stopped listening. She simply tuned out his voice and settled back for the ride. He seemed to realize this and fell silent.
'Finally' Hermione thought, as they cruised down the New York State Thruway.
1:45 PM EST
The cab pulled up in front of a simple, two story white townhouse. As Hermione pulled out her purse to pay the driver, the driver turned to her and said,
"By the way, you may want to look for yourself. You never know what may happen in a foreign country."
With that he took the money and drove off.
'What was that about?' Hermione wondered as she climbed the short flight of stairs leading to the house and rang the doorbell.
"Who is it?"
"Hermione Granger" she replied. "I came to look at your apartment a little while ago."
The door opened to reveal a woman who strongly reminded Hermione of Mrs. Weasley. She was wearing an apron (although there was no wand sticking out of it) and was drying her hands, as if she had just washed them of whatever she had been doing until then.
"Well, good afternoon!" she said, putting the towel down. "Please come in. Yes, I think I remember you. You're that English woman, aren't you? So, you've taken your vacation then?" The woman, who had identified herself as Mrs. Heller, had told Hermione the first time that she could have the apartment for a week or two at a very reasonable rate whenever she took her "vacation" from work.
"Yes. I just flew in this morning."
"So how long would you like the apartment for? The full two weeks?"
"Well, at least one, then we'll see about the rest." It really depended on how she felt, so she couldn't be sure one way or another. At the moment she just wanted to collapse. Not to sleep, but to…well…collapse, for no apparent reason. Then maybe she'd go for a walk and start thinking.
"Very well. Here, let me get your key. Won't you come in? Sorry about all this" she motioned to the towel and her living room, which Hermione now noticed was quite a mess. "We're in the middle of setting up for my son's 8th birthday party, and I just put the cake into the oven. Would you like a cup of juice? That's all we have right now. My husband just went out to do some shopping."
"Oh, yes, that's quite all right. Thank you." Very grateful for the offer, Hermione walked in and closed the door behind her. Following Mrs. Heller into the kitchen and accepting her glass of orange juice while she rummaged around a drawer, Hermione looked out the kitchen window at the street below. It was empty, although that was probably because the kids weren't home from school yet. She had heard a lot about this area from a co-worker, and she hoped this place would live up to that image.
She was broken out of her daydreams as Mrs. Heller finally proclaimed, "Here they are!" and held up a small key ring. "Now, this one over here is for the top lock, see? And this one's for the bottom. It's already furnished, so enjoy!"
Thanking her, Hermione took her luggage and let herself in to her new temporary home. As soon as she walked in she immediately switched into housekeeper mode. Some of the furniture needed dusting, and the beds needed new linen sets. She immediately set down her bags, rolled up her sleeves, and got to work.
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An hour later she stopped, looked down at her handiwork, and smiled, content. All the dust was gone, and the chairs were neatly situated around the table. She had given the living room a complete makeover, moving the couch so that it faced the window, giving her a great view of the area. The desk was also now facing a window, and the sunshine illuminated it like a few hundred LED's.
The bedroom had been similarly redone. The bed was pushed against the corner to maximize space, and the night table was easily accessible from it. All in all, Hermione was very happy with her work, so she threw herself on the bed and closed her eyes.
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I know this wasn't worth the wait (although if you think I'm wrong, please tell me) but I'll try to make it up to you soon. Please review one way or the other, though. Thanks!
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