Story Title: Imaginary Friend
Rating: G
Warnings: None.
Word count for this installment: 1,856
Running Total no. of words for entire story: 6,807
Summary: Harry thinks he's loosing his mind. He has an imaginary friend but is she as imaginary as he thinks? Response to a challenge by reptilia28 on the forum side. VERY AU!
A/N: This is my first challenge response in a very long time so please be gentle.
*~*~*
A/N2: Thank you all for you lovely reviews. I'm so glad you like it!
RupertsGirl112289: Yes, it's based slightly on the movie 'Just like Heaven' but just my version. The challenge isn't based on it. Thanks for the fantastic review. :D
For yema_potter the rules for the challenge are here. Thank you for the great reviews too.
STORYLINE:
*In an AU where there's no magic, Harry is a thirty-something guy with a dead-end job and no girlfriend.
*One day, he finds a woman (Hermione) in his apartment. He shoves her out, only to see her reappear a few minutes
later.
*He drags her by the arm to his next-door neighbour, an elderly woman, and asks if she saw Hermione go into his place.
The old lady slaps him and says there's no one there before slamming the door in his face. Shocked, he goes back to
his apartment, leaving Hermione behind.
*Later that day, Harry takes a shower to calm himself down, but turns around to see Hermione in the shower with him,
and panic's.
*After several vain attempts to get her to leave, Harry is resigned to keeping her, but she insists on sharing a bed
with him, something he's not altogether comfortable with.
*Over the next few days, Harry finds out that he's the only one who can see Hermione, and so it looks like he's
conversing with thin air.
*Noticing his lack of a love life, Hermione tries to hook Harry up with various blind dates. None of them work out so
well.
*Over time, Harry eventually gets used to Hermione's presence, and even begins to fall for her.
*In the end, Hermione says that she needs to leave. A saddened Harry says his goodbyes, and she walks out the door. He
goes out to go after her, but she's gone.
*Some time later (days, weeks, months), Harry is brooding somewhere (in the street, in a diner, etc.), when he sees a
woman who seems familiar. He walks up to her, and is shocked to see that it's Hermione! He introduces himself, and
they strike up a conversation.
----
REQUIREMENTS:
*NO ONE except Harry can see or hear Hermione.
*Even though she can't be seen by anyone except him, to Harry, Hermione is solid (so she can pick things up, eat
his food, etc.)
*Harry's friends and co-workers start to think that Harry's a bit off his rocker as he continues to bicker with
Hermione.
*Have fun.
----
OPTIONAL:
*A scene where Harry tests to see if Hermione is solid. He prods her on the shoulder, she shoves him back. He prods
harder, she shoves harder. He prods her again, she slaps him.
*Related to above: "WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!" - Harry. "FOR POKING ME!" - Hermione.
*Harry has a diary, which Hermione gets a hold of, and starts reading embarrassing passages, including an incident when
he was in elementary school when he had a "date" with a girl for all of 30 minutes or less.
*When Hermione tries to set up Harry with his boss's daughter, he protests.
"What's the worst that could happen?"
"Umm, let's see, I could lose my job, my dignity..."
[under breath] "Put your virginity in there somewhere, and we'll be making progress."
*Harry gets arrested overnight for reckless driving when Hermione tries to side seat drive. She follows him to prison,
complete with the orange scrubs (or whatever colour prisoners wear in England).
----
Alrighty, here goes chapter 4! Please remember to review.
*~*~*
An hour later and Harry had decided that he would take Hermione out for breakfast, a strange thing to do for someone that had repeatedly broken into your home but that didn't matter. As they walked into the small café around the corner from his flat Harry led her to a small two-seater table and placed a menu in front of her whilst he looked over his own. Deciding on his old faithful the sausage sandwich he looked up at Hermione who was mulling over the choices. He couldn't help but notice how pretty she really was when she wasn't yelling or screaming at him. Her hair though seemingly unruly added a certain amount of charm to her while her frame was small and slim though not overly so. He watched as she brushed a stray piece of hair away from her eyes and tucked it behind her ear and he found himself smiling just a little.
She looked up and he instantly shifted his gaze just to the left of her in a clever ploy to pretend that he wasn't watching her intently. He had no idea that that certain ploy never ever worked.
"I'll have a sausage sandwich" she said finally "loads of brown sauce too."
"Ah, my kind of girl!" he said with a grin before he stood and made his way to the counter to place the order.
Waiting in line he looked back at Hermione sitting in the corner of the room and smiled once again, it was becoming a nasty habit he noticed snapping himself out of his staring match instead focusing his attention on a blonde haired woman behind the counter who was looking at him expectantly. Apparently the staff in this café were rather efficient.
"Oh sorry!" he apologised "In a world of my own." The woman chuckled, purely to humour him he was sure, and began tapping her pen on the pad in front of her impatiently.
"I'll have two sausage sandwiches please, loads of brown sauce on both." he said with a grin which he quickly chided himself for.
"Two?" the woman repeated looking slightly taken aback.
"Yeah, two. One for me and one for her." he gestured back to the table that Hermione was sitting patiently at.
"Who?" the woman asked clearly confused.
"My friend… she's sitting right there!"
"Oh. Right. Your friend." She glanced back at her workmate in the kitchen motioning to Harry with her eyes. "Two sausage sandwiches coming right up. Would you like two plates?"
"Yes." Harry replied slowly. Why in the world was this woman being so odd? He made a mental note to not return here, the staff were undoubtedly insane.
"Okay, I'll bring them right over to you and your friend."
"Thank you." He made his way back to the table deciding against asking for tea. The sooner they were out of this place the better he thought.
"Oi Seamus! We have a right nut job in the corner. I swear he has an imaginary friend." he heard the woman yell to the friend she had not so subtly glanced at whilst serving Harry.
Rolling his eyes he ignored the questionable blonde woman and took his seat opposite Hermione once again.
"The staff here are crazy." he whispered glancing over to the man and woman talking very quickly looking every now and again directly at Harry before looking back at one another and shaking their heads before beginning to speak at super-human speeds again.
"They do look a little strange…" Hermione nodded in agreement. Well, there's a first time for everything Harry thought as she agreed.
Eventually their food was bought over by the man behind the counter, Seamus Harry remembered.
As he retreated after putting Hermione's food in completely the wrong place and not even apologising to her for it Harry heard him shout to the blonde woman "You're right you know Lav! Completely barkin'!"
"How about we eat up and get out of here?" Hermione suggested quietly. Harry was only too pleased to agree and so once they had eaten the sandwiches with no where near enough brown sauce on Harry paid the bill and ushered Hermione out.
*~*~*
"So," Hermione said suddenly as they stood in the lift waiting for it to take them up to the eighth floor of the block of flats. "Why don't you have a girlfriend?"
Harry, a little taken aback by the sudden broach to the subject spluttered, showering his Starbucks Latte all over the woman that he knew as 39C standing in front of him. Thankfully the thick coat she had on meant she didn't feel a thing and therefore Harry didn't receive a slap. He had been getting far too many of those lately.
"What do you mean?!" he asked in a voice reminiscent of the tone he produced when Hermione had appeared in his shower.
39C turned quickly and frowned a little though Harry was too focused upon Hermione to care too much.
"You know what I mean, why don't you have one? Are you a loner? Male spinster? Do you have several cats I'm yet to meet? Oooh! Are you gay?"
"I am not gay!" He exclaimed deciding to get that question out of her mind instantly. At this point the lift paused in its climb to the eighth floor and 39C stepped out before the doors had even opened all the way. Harry was sure he heard a loud "Freak!" being yelled his way but he, as usual, ignored it and continued to defend his sexuality to Hermione.
"I am most certainly not gay. I'm not a loner… technically. I have friends. My best mate is meant to be coming later actually. You can meet him."
"Best mate or best mate?" She asked clearly enjoying all of the indignant spluttering that Harry was doing.
"Best mate. As in friend, a purely heterosexual entirely straight normal male friendship where we talk about beer and sports and," he paused for a second strangely uncomfortable telling Hermione the next thing. Her smug grin however spurred him to exaggerate the next word "women!"
"Right, well I'll see. What time is he going to get here?"
Harry glanced at his watch; it wasn't going to be long now surely. "About an hour" he replied as the doors to the lift opened and a pair of elderly women he knew as 'Crazy 1' and 'Crazy 2'. They were both constantly talking to themselves, it was really rather unsettling when stuck in a lift with them both babbling away to absolutely no one. He was positive they weren't talking to one another; they were always looking in opposite directions and having completely different conversations. He remembered one particularly disturbing moment a month ago, Crazy 2 was having a conversation with the wall about how hard Menopause was for her.
He still had flashbacks.
Crazy 1 and 2 were thankfully quiet today and so he continued his conversation with Hermione "You better not freak him out Hermione" he warned "I've had a hard enough time with him thinking my ability to meet women is lacking."
"Well is it?"
"No it is not! I just… I like how I am now."
"Spending your time watching QVC and screaming like a girl?"
"Yes, spending time watching QVC and roaring in a very manly way." he said correcting her mistake.
Finally the lift doors opened on the eighth floor and he moved in between Crazy 1 and 2. Just as he thought he was free from them however Crazy 1 grabbed his arm and looked at him sharply, her eye twitched and her wrinkled face moved well into the his comfort zone which, in the case of the Crazies, was around 3 miles. "Stop talking to no one man! They will come and get you. Pretend she's not there until you're alone. Trust me."
Harry nodded numbly unable to do anything else out of sheer shock and allowed the lift doors to slide shut just as Crazy 1 and 2 both let the crazy out muttering about "another one they'll say is insane."
*~*~*
A knock at the door and hour and a half signalled Harry's entirely heterosexual albeit usually late best mates arrival.
"Remember what I said Hermione, don't be insane."
"Yeah, I'm the insane one." she replied sarcastically staring at the blank TV.
"It works better if you turn it on." he said as he opened the door to his red headed best friend.
"What works better if you turn it on?" his friend asked walking into the flat with no hesitation.
"The TV." Harry replied offhandedly
"Uh well then yeah, it usually does. Crazy greeting though don't you think man?"
"What? I was talking to her. Speaking of crazy, this is Hermione." Hermione glared at Harry as she stood from the couch.
"Who is Hermione?" the redhead asked looking around the flat.
"She is."
"Who is?"
"She is!"
"Who is?!"
"Ron don't be an idiot, I'm trying to introduce you here." Harry said exasperated.
"I'd love to be introduced to this Hermione person but there's no one here but you and me… and maybe an organism living in this mess. Seriously, when was the last time you attempted to clean in here?"
"What's the point? It's just gonna get dirty again."
"That is not an excuse Harry!" Hermione inserted "You should clean."
"Don't gang up on me!" He said diverting his attention to Hermione.
"Gang up on you? There's only me here!" Ron said staring at Harry as though he had something gross that would of course fascinate half of the male species growing on his head.
"No, there's you and Hermione who by the way has been driving me nuts since she broke into here yesterday. Three times!"
"Let's not start that again." Hermione sighed plopping herself back down on the couch looking as defeated as she did when Mrs Figg refused to acknowledge her. Harry frowned and looked back at Ron.
"Ron, stop this now just say hello to her or something. You can see what it's doing to her" he said quietly making sure Hermione didn't hear him.
"There's no one there Harry! You're loosing your mind!" he said far too loudly.
"I don't think he can see me Harry." Hermione said staring at the TV again.
"Yes he can he's just being an idiot." He tried to reassure her whilst glaring at Ron.
"Okay you're starting to freak me out now. Who are you talking to?"
"Hermione! She's sitting on the couch. Right there!" he pointed to Hermione and Ron turned to look where he was pointing he then looked back at Harry and motioned for him to sit at the kitchen table.
"Harry look, I'm saying this as your best friend, this comes from a good place I promise you but you're freaking insane man! The only people in this flat are you, questionably, and me. There's no woman here. I think I need to set you up again. I know my sister wants to give you two a shot again, she was gutted when you-"
"No way! No offence or anything but she was insane."
"Perfect match then." Ron muttered.
*~*~*
There you have chapter four. I hope you liked it and please remember to review.
~Bec AKA Harry/Hermione 4eva