Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of HP, but I do own this little plot.
Author's note: Thanks so much for all your wonderful reviews! If you guys would like to suggest one of the twelve ways, I'm always open to your suggestions. I know its short but remember, less is more! Hahaha. This is for Maxine who has a cameo in the chapter!
Okay, wizards. That lucky witch should now be a very close friend of yours if you have followed the previous two steps correctly. If not, get out from under that rock and jump to it! So this is the third tip that will help you land her:
3. Surprise her.
It may not sound like a lot, but trust me on this. Any lady (or witch in this case) loves to be surprised, whether it's simply a bunch of flowers at work or you buying for her something small, just because. A lot of wizards seem to have failed in remembering that surprises are always witches enjoy. They always remember surprises better than gifts for some reason, and that's just what you're aiming for.
Surprises combine elements of unpredictability and pleasure, so be sure to be very select about what you give her and when you give her such surprises. If you keep sending her small items, it wont be a surprise anymore, will it? You should surprise her on days that are ordinary so it'll make the gesture even more meaningful. If you sent her flowers on her birthday, it wouldn't be really considered a surprise, would it?
Now get out there and surprise her today!
-12 Fail-Safe Ways to Charm Witches, Chapter 3, Surprise!
Hermione frowned down at the piece of parchment on her table. That couldn't be right. With another frustrated sign, she crumpled the parchment, filled with her neat loopy handwriting, and later scrawls of annoyance, and tossed it to a corner of the room. She leaned back into her chair and sighed, closing her eyes to take a momentary break as she ran a hand through her hair in a gesture of sheer frustration.
It had been three weeks and still there had been no breakthrough on that mysterious outbreak that killed wizards within three days. There had been no way to pinpoint its source and this made her job all the more harder. The corner of the room was littered with several balls of crumpled parchment already and it was all she could do to prevent herself from breaking down in tears of helplessness.
She hated to see the hopeful looks on the patients being dashed when she told them she was no closer to a breakthrough on the cure, the resignation on their faces when their time was up, the way their families cried over the victims. Hermione Granger had never failed before in anything but it seemed as though she would fail in this. She hated to fail, didn't want to fail. She didn't want to see so many helpless people die under the agony of this elusive illness.
She took a deep breath and straightened up once more, tearing a piece of parchment and taking up her quill, beginning to write once more. The disease had not only taken its toil on the patients but herself as well. She often worked late into the night, missing dinner with Ron (who would complain about how she was trying to starve the both of them as well as herself, but nonetheless looked worried) and Harry (who would tell her to eat more with a sort of worried look on his face). When she did get home, it was to gulp down a makeshift dinner and get back to her room where she would struggle through massive piles of research books, hoping they would give her inspiration as to how to find the cure for this disease.
The lunch that she had sent her assistant out for was now cold, having stood there, untouched for hours already. Hermione ignored the growl of her stomach, paused to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear and resumed her furious scribbling. Her coffee, which she had asked for at 7 in this morning, was stone cold and untouched as well. Simply to put it, she had not eaten since breakfast which had only been a protein bar. This unofficial diet seemed to be working; she thought absently, she realized that her uniform had been getting looser and looser everyday.
Her mind raced over the many things that this sickness could have been linked to and she began to write down once again, the many factors that had attributed to this outbreak. Grabbing a file from the stack that was balancing precariously on the edge of her desk, she flipped through its contents, growing feverishly frustrated as she read over the Healer's report for what seemed like the millionth time this week.
Just then, there was a soft knock on the door.
"Come in." She called distractedly, not looking up to see who it was, her eyes still scanning every line of the report, hoping that there would be something in there that she had missed. Finally, she looked up into the kind face of her young assistant, Maxine, who was only a trainee here but would take her examination in a few weeks to become a Healer.
"Miss Granger, Mr. Potter stopped by and he…"
"Tell Harry I'm sorry but I won't be able to see him this morning," Hermione cut off her assistant in mid-sentence, giving the girl a slight, polite smile, one that belied her harried expression, indicating that her frustration wasn't meant for her assistant. "Tell him whatever it is can wait until I get home tonight."
"No, Miss Granger, he stopped by to pass you this." Hermione had not realized that her assistant was holding a package until now. "He said it was very, very important that you got this and I was to pass it to you immediately."
Interest piqued, Hermione shut the file and replaced it on the ever-growing stack, taking the parcel which felt warm and slightly moist to her touch. Pushing aside the piece of parchment she had been writing on, she opened the parcel carefully.
Inside the crackled brown paper, lay two sandwiches and an apple. Upon closer inspection, Hermione realized that the sandwiches had come from her favorite eatery that was just a few blocks away from St. Mungos'. She leaned in towards the sandwiches, noticing a short note scribbled on the side of the package in what had to be Harry's slanted, hurried writing.
Hermione,
I know you're probably too busy to have had time to step out of St. Mungos' for lunch so I brought you this. You'd better eat it. If you don't, you're going to die of starvation and what would happen to me and Ron? Surely you don't want us to die of starvation too?
Eat it. See you at home.
-Harry.
P.S: Lunch helps to stimulate the creative juices. Trust me on this. Ron and I always made up our best "death by Hippogriff" predictions for Trelawney after lunch.
Without realizing that she was still in the presence of her assistant, Hermione laughed aloud, in what had seemed like the first laugh all morning. The stress of her work and frustration had melted momentarily. Harry had probably gone out during his lunch break to buy her this and instantly she felt infinitely less tired or annoyed at what he had done for her. She couldn't help but become more severely conscious of her aching stomach by the minute.
"He's so nice to you, Miss Granger." Hermione looked up, the hints of a smile still playing around her lips at her assistant who was staring at her wistfully. "If I had someone like that, I'd never let him go."
Hermione smiled then at her assistant, a real, full one, knowing that she was also referring to the bouquet of flowers that Harry had sent her at work the other day, when she had simply commented at home that her office needed brightening. When she had thanked him for it at home and asked why he had sent those to her, he had simply shrugged away her thanks and told her, his eyes sparkling mischievously that he had sent those flowers to her, "just because he wanted to."
Yes, she was very lucky indeed to have him around. Only Harry would do such wonderful things for her. She frowned slightly at that. It had always been Harry to go out of his way to do all these wonderful things for her, never Ron, who was supposed to be her boyfriend for some reason. She cleared that thought away with a shake of her head. That was just silly. Ron had to practice with the team at Puddlemore United' home field, how was he supposed to send her food all the way over? But still it had been so sweet of Harry to be so concerned for her even during lunchtime.
"I know." was all she said to Maxine, the statement's simplicity hiding all her other thoughts from her assistant. She picked up her cup and its contents, holding it out to her assistant. "I suppose you couldn't help me to get another cup of coffee? This one has gone cold."
"Certainly, Miss Granger." Maxine smiled, taking the cup. "I'll just dispose of your other lunch… I don't think you want it now." And with that her assistant retreated from the room, holding the cup and the unwanted container.
Hermione carefully picked up the first sandwich, still smiling absently at Harry's sweet gesture. With a peek at its contents, she realized it was egg and tuna, one of her favorite sandwiches from that store and her smile grew even wider at the thought that he had actually remembered what she had ordered the last time they were there together, which had been about three weeks ago.
That egg and tuna sandwich had never tasted better.
I hoped you guys liked this one. It's my last one for the weekend so enjoy!