Unofficial Portkey Archive

Chapter 9

Paper Cup

-

Wishful thinking I might be yours
Drifting on every step
I'm always drawn to the dark horse
Sweet, sweet, oh nothing's said

Wishful thinking you might be mine
Every shiver sends
One breath under the bridge of sighs
Bending where the river bends

(Paper Cup by Heather Nova)

-

Hermione pushed him away so hard that he almost fell. It was a complete stranger!

"What are you doing?" he slurred, his breath stinking of gin. He placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Get off, you wanker!" she hissed angrily and pushed the hand off.

"Look I've been watching you all night. Dressed like that, dancing like that, you are looking for a nice guy to take you home, and you're looking at him baby!" He reached to touch her face but she slapped away his hand.

"I don't think so."

"Let my just buy you a drink, that's all"

"I can buy my own drink, now go," she answered heatedly.

"Now look here, don't you go thinking that you're miss thing! You should be so lucky to get with me," he grabbed her arm hard and she had to stand on her toes. "Sweet Dreams" by Marilyn Manson came on playing. The guy suddenly took several steps backwards. Hermione saw a hand on his shoulder dragging him back. She knew it was Harry's hand.

"Back off, you," he ordered calmly.

"Why don't you bugger off? I saw you dancing with the other girl, I know this isn't your bird," the drunken guy spat back.

"Get out of here!" Harry raised his voice, "I won't warn you again."

The last Hermione wanted was Harry to get in trouble. What would happen if the Daily Prophet caught wind of him fighting with a Muggle? She walked between them.

"Harry, please, it's ok!" she assured and grabbed his arm. "Let's go dance."

"Come back here when you are ready for a real man, unless four-eyed geeks is your thing!" the guy yelled after them. Harry was glaring at the guy who was now walking away. Hermione turned his face to look at her.

"Forget him," she stroked his arm calmly.

"What a jerk," Harry muttered

"Forget him!" she repeated. She took both of his hands in hers.

"Show some tolerance. I work with Malfoy everyday and I haven't punched him yet. You should really be able to handle some loser Muggle." Harry smiled at her. "What?" she asked self-consciously

"This feels like the good old times."

Hermione reached up and stroked his cheek carefully. He licked his lips and gave her a playful smile.

"Do you remember that night at the Hog's head?" she inquired hesitantly. This was a gamble; Harry might get mad at her for bringing that up.

"Of course," he looked into her eyes and leaned closer. "What are you trying to say Hermione?" She could feel his hot breath on her skin and it made all the hairs on her body stand up straight. She was just about to answer when Thomas broke their bubble. They had both been so intensively hypnotized by each other that they hadn't even heard him calling their names.

"Hermy, I have been looking everywhere for you! What are you guys up to? Zoya is looking for you Harry." Harry looked at Thomas with an irritated look.

"Is she?" he answered uninterested.

"Better go find her, she was quite irritated," Thomas continued. Hermione felt this wonderful moment slip away from them. As Harry turned and walked away she really felt like it had been then or never, and now it was too late.

She followed Thomas back to the table where she made polite conversation for about thirty minutes. There was no sight of Harry anywhere; Hermione figured that he must have left with Zoya. Hermione leaned into Thomas and whispered, "I am really tired Thomas, but I had a great time. I think I'm just going to go home if that's O.K."

"I'll take you home," Thomas insisted.

"Oh no, you're here with your friends. Please, I would feel so bad if I spoiled this night for you."

"I guess that goodnight kiss I had planned will have to wait until next time," he winked at her.

She couldn't even answer, she just nodded and smiled. She said goodbye to the people around the table and left the club. When the cold air hit her face she took a few deep breaths, it really had been smoky inside. As if her nightmare wasn't complete Hermione immediately recognized the guy walking towards her. It was that obnoxious guy from earlier. "Damn," she cursed quietly.

"Pretty lady," he called at her.

"Look I really don't want any problems, I just want to go," she spoke calmly. He walked over and grabbed both of her arms.

"Look cutie, I didn't mean any problems in there. You misunderstood; I just think you're hot. I'm on my way to an after-party. Why don't you join me?"

"No thanks, I want to go home," she replied and pulled one of her arms free. The guy was sweating profusely and it made her a little nauseas.

"Don't be such a snob. But O.K., I can follow you home and we can have an after-party there." He winked at her.

"Please let go of my arm," she tried to free herself. When he didn't, Hermione had had enough; she pushed him away as hard as she could.

"You little bitch," he roared. He sprinted close to her and slapped her right across the face. He slapped her so hard that she lost her balance and fell to the ground. The guy seemed frightened of his own actions and hastily started running away from there. She heard a voice further down the alley. It was Zoya's high-pitched voice.

"Isn't that your friend?" she asked to whom could only be Harry, Hermione guessed. She heard fast footsteps running up to her. She sat up and started rubbing her elbow; she had hit it pretty hard when she fell backwards. Harry threw himself on his knees next to her.

"What happened Hermione?" he panted. Zoya was running towards them, slower than Harry because of her high heels.

"Help me up please," Hermione mumbled embarrassed.

"What happened?" Harry demanded.

"It was nothing, O.K. Harry? It was just that stupid guy. But he's gone now, and I just want to go home," she answered as she stood up on her feet. Her elbow was really hurting her.

"I'll take you," he insisted.

"No, I'm fine. A little embarrassed maybe, but I'm fine."

Zoya caught up to them. "Harry, we were supposed to go back inside, remember," she said in a falsely sweet voice.

"I am taking you home," he declared again, and Hermione knew from his tone of voice that there would be no discussion. Zoya looked annoyed and she turned on her heel so fast that her hair almost caught Harry in the face. "Let's go home," Harry walked ahead of her without letting go of her hand. When they were out of any Muggle's sight they apparated, and suddenly they were standing in the living room. She sat down on the big velvet sofa, leaned back, and stared up at the ceiling.

"Tough night?" Harry sat down, placing his arm along the top of the sofa.

"No, I actually had a wonderful time, I just feel like fool for letting some stupid guy bother me." Harry suddenly leaned very close to her. Hermione held her breath; is this it? Is he going to kiss me? He was looking at her eye; it looked like it was starting to bruise a little bit.

"Did he hit you?" he asked incredulity. Hermione didn't answer, and he knew the answer. "Why didn't you tell me? I would have gone after the bastard." Hermione put her hand on Harry's knee and that silenced him. He grabbed her arm and looked at her bleeding elbow.

"Accio first aid kit," he said and a first aid kit flew across the room. He soaked a cotton ball with alcohol and carefully dabbed her arm. She winced a little. "Sorry." She looks so sad, Harry thought. I wish I could have been there to help her. He placed his arm over her shoulder and pulled her to him. She obediently followed. He moved slightly on the sofa so she could lie down, and he lay down next to her, holding her tight. Hermione was completely silent, and Harry thought it was nice, not having to speak for once. It didn't take long until they both fell asleep.

-

The following week Hermione had even more to do at work then before. The paper piles on her desk were so high that she was barely visible. All she had to keep her company was the big clock on the wall, ticking loudly. She had trouble concentrating, she kept replaying the previous weekend in her mind. It had been so wonderful, being in the club with Harry. He had certainly been flirting with her, and even though they both had dates they just had eyes for each other. She wanted everyday to be like that, but she knew Harry was still very hurt.

There was knock on the door and Hermione called out for her visitors to enter.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" someone asked. Hermione stood up and was now visible. It was Arthur Weasley, accompanied but a young handsome, wizard. "Hermione, dear, I am just showing this young man around a little."

"Hello, I am Isaac Cohen." The wizard stretched out his right arm. He was very handsome indeed. He had brown hair in a ponytail, brown intense eyes, his face had very refined lines and he shot her a beautiful smile. She shook his hand a little self-conscious of how tired she must be looking. She saw that he had a tattoo on the inside of his lower right arm. Something in Latin was written all the way from his hand to his elbow.

"Welcome to the ministry," she said as sweetly as she could.

"Thank you Miss Granger."

"Oh please call me Hermione," she insisted. Mr. Weasley smiled at them

"Well, Isaac, we'd better get going. I want to introduce you to my dear friend Harry Potter as well. You should be working quite a lot with him, I dare say."

"Where exactly will you be working?" Hermione inquired.

"Magical Law Enforcement Squad," Isaac answered while shooting her another intense look.

As Hermione sat back at her table her cheeks felt a little hot, that hadn't happened in a very long time.

-

It took three more days before she saw him again. She was just finishing up her lunch in the canteen, her head in a book not noticing anyone around her. He sat down opposite at her table.

"Hermione?"

She looked up, a little startled. "Oh, Isaac," she stammered. "How is your first week going?" She closed the book and started fidgeting with her hair.

"Very good. I think I will like it a lot here. Thank you for asking."

"Where are you from?" she asked trying to make conversation. She drank a bit of water and looked at his tattoo again. Wearing a short-sleeved shirt made it fully visible. He had a rugged look about him, like he had just put his hair in that pony-tail without really looking in the mirror. It looked a bit messy, but in a good way. It reminded her of a certain someone.

"Manchester," he answered as he took a large mouthful of spaghetti.

"Oh, so you went to Hogwarts then?"

"Yes, I did, but only for four years. My parents moved to France, and I had to follow. But I hardly think we were there at the same time. I would have remembered you," he gave her a sexy smile.

"Oh, well, um… I started 1990," she blushed.

"That explains it. I started 1985, so I left one year before you'd even sorted. What house were you in?"

"Gryffindor."

"Naturally. I was in Ravenclaw myself. I was really bummed out when I heard that Hogwarts had the Triwizzard tournament a few years after I had left. Would have given my right arm to be in that." Hermione looked down at his tattoo again. He noticed her staring and placed his arm visibly in the middle of the table. She gently stroked the letters; she was fascinated by it.

"Dulce bellum inexpertis," she read.

"I made that during the war," he explained in a severe tone of voice. "It means `War is sweet for those who haven't experienced it'." If Hermione would have looked up at the far end of the big canteen she would have seen a man looking with jealous eyes at her. His eyes flickered to Isaac, before settling back on Hermione, Harry jabbed his potatoes with a fork. It was very obvious that that new guy, Isaac, was interested in Hermione, and why wouldn't he be? She was only getting more beautiful by the day. One only had to speak with her for a minute to realize that she was a smart and funny woman. Harry grabbed his lunch tray and walked out without finishing his lunch, he had suddenly lost his apatite.

-

When Hermione came home from work that day Ron and Harry were sitting on the living room floor polishing their brooms. She threw herself on the armchair, exhausted.

"Long day?" Ron asked.

"No, it was fine." The slit of her long robes had opened slightly and her bare legs were visible. Harry tried to not let that distract him. He saw Ron sneaking a peek at her still tanned legs.

"You better close those robes before I start polishing the wrong thing," Ron chuckled. Hermione laughed and closed her robes. She noticed that Harry was ignoring her, but she had no idea why.

"I was thinking of going to the cinema tonight, anyone want to join me?" she asked.

"I'm not going to see any muggle film," Ron answered firmly.

"Harry?" Hermione tried to get eye contact with him, but he refused to look up.

"Nope," he said airily. "Got better things to do."

Ron looked inquisitively at Harry, wondering what was up with him. Another mood swing, maybe?

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