Disclaimer: Don't own HP or M&MS
Mr. & Mrs. Evans
Chapter 17: Multiplying Questions and a Four Letter Verb
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A few things about this chapter:
-Hermione knows Sirius as Sirius Black. I figured she was in France when he was all over the muggle and wizarding media about being a murder so she wouldn't have heard about him. And remember, I've previously said that Britain's wizarding news doesn't cross paths with France's (it pretty much has to be that way for this story). So as a teen when Sirius was "at large" she wouldn't have heard about him, and afterwards everyone believed him dead. So that's that.
-Alcohol+ Pent up emotions + Stubbornness = Huge crazy fight with lots of insults
-I'm not relaxing on other things ( e.g. Draco and Ginny). More things are going on than just Harry and Hermione.
-This is the longest bloody chapter I've ever written.
-And again, you're going to want to kill me.
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Hermione laughed gracefully at the totally lacklustre joke Krum had made. Though inside she was cringing because she knew if she had to fake another laugh she was going to have to murder the Bulgarian herself.
She was about to comment on the joke when she heard a voice behind her- a charming, smooth, handsome voice that she hadn't heard in a year.
Her heart stopped.
"Silas Ezekiel?" Harry asked, standing less than a foot behind his ex-wife's right shoulder but addressing the resort owner across from her.
Silas quirked an eyebrow at Harry, tempted to smirk, "Hello. And you are?"
"Harry Evans," Harry announced, his eyes flicking to Hermione's stiff back before he reached a hand out for Silas to shake.
"Mr. Evans," Silas greeted, he too taking a glance at Hermione's frozen pale face, "This is Viktor Krum, a businessman from Bulgaria."
"Much ado Mr. Evans," Krum greeted also shaking his hand, "And this is my friend, Hermione-"
"Yeah, Hermione. I do believe we've met," Harry stepped forward to complete the circle while his eyes looked down to Hermione's, begging for contact.
"Oh? How is it you know each other?" Viktor asked a bit obnoxiously.
Harry's mouth turned into a lopsided grin at the question, "Hermione?"
"Business," she said quickly, "It's not really important, Viktor."
"Oh well, what brings you here Mr. Evans?"
"I'm a contractor. It was brought to my firm's attention by Mr. Ezekiel's Chief of Development that they were interested in possibly adding on to the resort," Harry said proficiently, noticing that Hermione's head was looking straight forward but her eyes were inconspicuously glued to him.
"I'm glad you could make it Mr. Evans. I'm sure Mr. Bode will get in touch with you soon since you so graciously made the long journey out here," Silas answered in a bored tone.
"Not a problem," Harry said with a shake of his head, "I mean, at first I was a bit heckled I had to come all the way out here but as it is, tonight's turning out to be a little more eventful than I had imagined." As he finished, his gaze landed once again on Hermione who instantly tore her eyes away from him as he did so.
Silas smiled darkly, "Is that so?"
"Quite," Harry returned not taking his eyes from her.
Hermione cleared her throat and looked up calmly, "So 25 years this hotel has been thriving. That is a fine accomplishment, Mr. Ezekiel. I'm sure you and you're family are very proud."
Silas looked up and around the ceiling for a moment, thinking over Hermione's sentence before his eyes came back down to stall on Viktor, "Yes, I'm sure they would be…"
Both Harry and Hermione turned to look at Silas with furrowed expressions. What was that supposed to mean?
Krum pursed his lips as Silas finally glanced away again, staring up towards the ceiling, "So how long have you been in the chief's position for the hotel, Mr. Ezekiel?"
"About a year."
Hermione looked at him more observantly. Lifting her chin, she began to talk, "And you just now decided to remodel? Wouldn't it have been more wise for you to do it immediately? And not in the summer months where the resort would be the busiest?" she asked, trying to keep her tone from sounding goading.
Silas tilted his head, "I didn't think it that important in the beginning. But after a bit of thought, I found it a creative way to… get all my ducks in a row…"
Hermione raised an eyebrow, 'Get all his ducks in a row? What the hell?'
Something wasn't right about this man. Hermione made a mental note to instruct her team to get some thorough information on the suspicious owner.
With all her internal thought, she failed to notice the inquisitive look on Harry's face as well.
Krum scoffed, trying to share a condescending look with Hermione, "I'm sure."
Silas merely shrugged with a light smile playing at his lips.
Hermione glanced up, about to spark a conversation with the man, but noticed Harry staring at her again, with those same piercing eyes that had flustered her so deeply back in Nice seven years ago.
She bit her lip gently as she turned her eyes down to the clutch in her hand while also tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
"Mr. Ezekiel, you-"
"Excuse me, I must go speak to one of my advisors," Silas cut in before Hermione could get another word out, "I hope you all enjoy the rest of your evening." His eyes lingered on Krum with his hard look before he let it turn into discrete smirk as he passed over Harry and Hermione.
As he turned and walked away, both Harry and Hermione's gaze trained after him, Viktor began to speak, his flirtatious tone back in his accent.
"Well Hermione, since the night is somewhat coming to a close- perhaps you and I could go back to my suite? Continue our earlier discussions?"
Hermione's eyes automatically shot up to Harry's to see his reaction. As she predicted, Harry was giving Viktor a stone cold glare with a muscle in his jaw pulsing out to show that he was clenching down rather hard.
At first she didn't notice Harry turn to her with that same hard gaze, but when she did she lost the simple fabricated reply dancing at her lips.
"Err, Viktor I-"
"Ah, there you are babe!" said Jude's voice jovially, suddenly grabbing Hermione's waist and planting a kiss on her cheek from behind. Krum, and Harry especially, shot the unidentified bloke fiery glares.
"Hermione, you hear this? This is our song! Remember?!" Jude asked her, not dropping his cheerful tone.
Hermione looked at him unsurely and a bit dazed, "Um- yeah, yeah I do."
"And you would be?" Krum asked as Harry was about to open his mouth to give Jude a much nastier greeting.
Jude stepped forward from behind Hermione and gave Viktor a cheeky grin. Harry didn't miss how the annoying man was resting his hand directly on Hermione's bum.
Hermione tried not to look uncomfortable but wanted nothing more then to step out of Jude's hold and run out of the ballroom as fast and far as her high heeled feet could take her.
"Ah, well," Jude started, glancing down to Hermione before looking back at Krum, "I would be the criminal that took this lovely woman off the market. Name's Jude."
Jude held out his hand and Krum briefly shook it, not wanting to be outwardly rude in front of Hermione.
The smile on Jude's face turned into a crooked one as he nodded at Krum's guards and then to Harry, who he again held out his hand for.
"Hello! And you are?" he asked Harry cordially.
Harry was in a limbo between wanting to laugh at Jude for even speaking to him and from wanting to punch him. But instead he looked down at Hermione with an indignant expression.
"Who am I?" he asked sardonically staring at her. Hermione finally lifted her head to look at him, shame hidden in the depths of her chocolate eyes. She gave the slightest shake of her head, knowing what he wanted to say.
Harry, however, ignored it. "Well, I am Herm-"
"-Jude, this is our song," she cut in, shooting Harry a bitter look, "Let's go dance."
"Yeah, sure," Jude agreed, then saying a short farewell to the other men.
He stepped back a bit defensively when he met Harry's eyes, surprised that this man was staring at him like he wanted to rip the life from him.
Krum reached for Hermione's hand and placed a long, soft kiss on the back of it. "Well it certainly was a pleasure, Hermione Granger."
Harry could physically feel his heart wrench. His stomach dropped as he watched Hermione nod politely and step back to grab the Jude bloke's hand.
She was married. She had moved on. Already…
He was suddenly hit with a wave of anger. He had spent a bloody year mourning over their divorce and wishing that she was there with him while she was off shagging and getting married to some daft American! He was such a fool!
He couldn't even watch as Jude walked away with his wife.
…
Hermione let her eyes fall shut, her mind mixed with all sorts of emotions. She and Jude had arrived out on the dance floor and had been slowly moving back and forth for the past minute or so.
She knew she needed to close her mind off and focus on her op, she was still plagued with visions of Harry. The look on his face as Jude introduced himself just short of actually saying he was her husband kept flashing through her mind.
'Why? Why did Harry have to show up the one night she was here for Krum?'
She glanced over to where her ex-husband was, sitting in a booth over on the side of the ballroom adjacent to the bar. Her eyes had automatically followed him as he excused himself from Krum's company, spoke to a waiter, and then headed for his private abode. The waiter had brought over the bottle of alcohol and medium size glass, the latter which he was now practically taking shots from.
She could tell by just the look of him that he was in so much pain from seeing her. And a part of her wanted so badly for him to know that she was in pain too.
But the other part of her - the all business Hermione- forced her eyes away from him to look at the fabric on Jude's shoulder, telling herself that there was nothing she could do about it now.
…
"Harry? You okay?" Ginny asked hesitantly, approaching Harry at his booth.
Harry finished off his glass full of hazel liquid, "Fine."
"If you're so fine, then what's up with the bottle of whiskey?"
"Nothing, Ginny. I just need to be alone for a few minutes."
Ginny sighed relenting, "Okay, I think I'll go to the bathroom to touch up my makeup. But when I get back we'll mingle, yeah?"
Harry nodded, "Yeah."
Ginny looked at Harry sympathetically. She'd hate to be in the shoes he's in. Even though she and Draco were on thin ice, she knew it'd be nothing like seeing someone she loves with another person.
"Hey," Harry called out to her before she could leave.
"What?"
Harry waved his hand for her to come closer. Ginny obliged, moving in to sit next to him on the booth.
"Will you tell your brother to watch out for Silas Ezekiel?"
Ginny frowned, "Why?"
"I just think there might be more to him then we originally thought…" he slurred a bit, pouring another glass.
She gave Harry a grim smile, patting him on the back consolingly before heading off for the women's loo.
…
"Hermione? You okay?"
Hermione finally opened her eyes to look at Jude who was staring down at her expectantly. For the last few minutes she had been dancing with him absently, letting him lead her back and forth smoothly as she followed him with her eyes closed.
She simply nodded, Jude noting that he had obviously just broken her out of deep thought.
"So…" he started, a bit perturbed by the lack of conversation and feeling like he needed to make some, "who was the black haired dude?"
Hermione shrugged, staring into his shoulder, "Um, just some contractor guy…"
"Oh. He sounded like he was from England…"
Again, Hermione shrugged, "Yeah, I dunno."
"Hermione-"
"Uh, look I need to use the loo real quick," she told him, avoiding eye contact completely, and keeping her gaze locked on his shoulder. She felt too vulnerable right now to be looking into anyone's eyes.
"Sure," Jude said gently, "I guess I'll check in with Sienna and see how everyone's doing?" he asked, wanting to assure her that he wouldn't push her to talk.
"Yeah, remember she was supposed to follow that Yaxley guy out, and I think he's left by now so…"
"I know, Hermione."
"Okay, I'll be back in a bit."
…
As Hermione broke through the doors to the bathroom, she immediately pushed her way into an empty stall, not even looking out for other occupants.
"Pull it together," she whispered to herself taking a deep breath, "Pull it together! There's more important things happening…"
She drug her hands up her face, clutching at the top of her hair.
"You can handle this… it's just one night and you'll never have to see him again. It's been a year Hermione. And you've both moved on and he's just being an ass…"
'Who the fuck are you kidding? You won't be able to ignore him! You can barely ignore him when he's nearly 6,000 miles away- how are you supposed ignore him when he's in the same room?!'
"Shut up. You've been trained for this. Just get the job done," she muttered to herself quietly, now leaning her forehead up against the wall.
With another deep breath and a promise that she'd be more focused, she straightened up, flattened down her dress and left the stall, making a quick exit from the bathroom.
…
An exact minute of silence and stillness swept through the bathroom before there was a clicking sound and the furthest stall from entrance cracked open hesitantly.
Ginny poked her head out slowly, making sure she was alone.
When she saw the empty room, she exited with a calming breath and a frown firmly planted on her lips. She quietly made her way to the loo that was just used and carefully pushed the door open in search of anything mysterious.
Her frown intensified and the many questions floating around her mind increased. The stall was clean, but still- the things she had heard said were irking.
She had panicked when she seen the familiar face of Harry's ex-wife enter the bathroom soon after her. Luckily, Hermione headed straight for a stall, not noticing Ginny leaning over a sink applying some lip gloss.
She could make out the sound of Hermione's ragged breathing and her telling herself to 'Pull it together', but that wasn't what had confused the redhead.
It was the 'You've been trained for this. Just get the job done' right after the context in which she was clearly speaking of Harry that had.
…
Exiting the bathroom, she frowned for the thousandth time that night catching someone peering secretively through a potted tree out into the populated ballroom.
Her first thought was that this someone was a person looking for the whereabouts of Krum, but that theory quickly changed as she seen the shade of the tall, thin man's hair.
"Draco?"
The man's back went rigid and he began to turn slowly, revealing the face of her boyfriend.
"Hey Red…" Draco greeted her quietly, sounding much different then he had earlier that night.
Ginny glanced around to make sure no one was there before stepping further behind the tree and closer to Draco.
"What are you doing here?" she whispered.
"I… I just- I wanted to come find you so I could apologize for my behaviour earlier tonight."
"Really?" she asked sceptically, "Then why do you look so surprised to see me?"
"Because I didn't know you'd pop up behind me!" he snapped, making her jump.
He took a deep breath and jutted out his jaw- something he did when he was trying to calm himself down.
"Look baby, I'm sorry. Just… I'm just really not myself today."
"I know Draco and you know how much I wish I was with you all of today to help you through it, but you shouldn't take your anger out on me," she told him calmly.
"Sorry."
"It's okay," she responded, absently taking his hand and squeezing it.
"I missed you so much today," he said quietly, using her hand to tug her in closer. Ginny didn't object.
"I missed you too. Where did you go today? I mean, if you were back on time we could have at least spent the mission together."
"Well we're together now," he replied slyly, ignoring her question and bending his head to place a kiss underneath her ear.
"Draco…" she whispered reluctantly.
"Hmm?" he mumbled as he ran his mouth across her cheek, finally catching her lips.
His kiss was heated and urgent, so she gave in for a few moments before regaining her senses and pulling away.
"I can't do this now- if someone sees…"
"Let them see. Who cares?" he asked carelessly as he leaned in to kiss her again.
But Ginny backed away, "I do, and you should. You know we're in the middle-"
"Yeah, yeah, the bloody mission. How could I ever forget?"
"Look, I know you need this and I want it as much as you, but do you think we could wait just a few more hours? I promise it'll be worth it."
"It better be," Draco sighed, letting his hand fall from her waist.
"Good boy." Ginny said with an impish grin, poking him in the stomach.
Draco smirked and leaned in to steal one last kiss from her.
"I'll see you later then?"
"Definitely," she grinned, before backing away and turning to head back into the ballroom.
Draco let out a relieved sigh, before turning to look back through the tree.
…
"Serving the pity table, party of one," an annoyingly enticing voice floated into Harry's ears.
Sirius was staring down at his godson who had his head down with his arms folded over him. He had intercepted the waiter heading towards Harry's booth with a new bottle of Jack and brought it over himself so he could have a little chat with him.
Harry looked up to give Sirius an irritated glare as he slammed the bottle down loudly on the table.
Sirius raised a challenging eyebrow at him before he turned to check that no one was watching. After he knew no one was listening in, he sat down across from Harry, continuing to look at him with daring eyes.
"What was the whole speech you just gave me about Draco- that he shouldn't come drunk to the job. Isn't that in the same category as 'don't get pissed while on the job'?"
Harry let out a burp, "No, it's completely different."
"Why's it so different? It has the same affect," Sirius said in a no-nonsense tone that he hardly ever used, let alone used it on Harry.
Harry was quiet for a moment, "She's married already."
Sirius again raised his eyebrows, "So you're ex-wife is seeing another bloke. You either do something about it or use it to move on, you don't sit in a corner by yourself and drink your sorrows away."
Harry groaned and slapped a hand to his forehead, dragging it down his face as he muttered, "Go away, Jack."
"No, I'm not going to go away, you are. You're putting Krum and your own team at risk," he said, saying the sentence lowly, "You're either in this 110% sober or you're not in this at all."
"Fine," Harry gave in gruffly, standing up from his seat surprisingly stable, "But I'm taking this." He grabbed the bottle of alcohol that had been in the middle of the table and then started walking towards the exit.
Sirius rolled his eyes, "We'll talk about this later."
…
Hermione was at the bar, waiting for the bartender to take her order. Apparently in the span of the last three minutes, half of the attendants decided that they wanted a drink too.
She felt a presence close behind her causing her back to go rigid.
Her shoulders fell though as she heard a familiar handsome voice call out to her.
"Is that Hermione Evans I see?"
'I should have expected this…' she thought with a wry smile.
"It's not Evans anymore Sirius- you should know that."
Hermione turned around to look into the attractive smiling face of Sirius Black.
"And I'm not so serious anymore," he told her with a wink, trying to find the smoothest way to cover up her use of his real name.
"You never were serious," Hermione grinned.
Sirius quirked one eyebrow, "Exactly love." He motioned his head towards the dance floor suggestively, "So I know I've already buggered up my opening line but care to grant an old man a wish and give him a dance?"
Hermione shrugged and rolled her eyes good naturedly, "Well… you're lucky you look so good in that suit."
"Are you sure it's the suit or the man in the suit?" he asked coyly, holding out his hand to her.
Hermione grabbed it and wrinkled her nose, pretending to think it over, "Mmm, definitely the suit."
"Feisty!" Sirius called out playfully, leading them both onto the dance floor and beginning to dance, "You know I always liked that about you. Reminds me of someone I used to know very well…"
"Some poor soul that used to date you?"
"Very cheeky 'Mi," he returned cocking his head and winking at her, "But no. She was married to my best mate."
Hermione gave Sirius a genuine soft smile, realising who they were talking about. She always felt very proud and special to be allied with Harry's mother.
"Well thank you."
Sirius shrugged it off and continued in his cheerful tone, "So you ever think about coming back to London?"
"No."
"Not even for a visit?" he asked, cocking his head again in a persuasive manner.
Hermione stared at him impassively for a moment, "No."
"Blast. Well don't say I didn't try. Now I'll just have to come to you," he replied, knowing that'd rile her up.
"Only if you call a year in advance," she said seriously. Sirius let out a bark of a laugh as he twirled her expertly. Her eyes caught on to Krum chatting up a new blonde woman as Sirius brought her back in.
"So you got a new bloke, huh?"
Hermione just shrugged, knowing if she opened her mouth to deny or affirm it he'd see right through her words. 'He must of seen Jude and I walk in together…'
"Does he treat you right?" Sirius asked.
Hermione gave him a tight smile, "I can take care of myself Sirius."
"Just making sure. You deserve the best…"
The two stood there dancing for a few silent moments. Hermione heard Sirius take a breath.
"He misses you," he in a casual undertone.
"Sirius…"
"I'm just saying," Sirius returned quickly in a defensive manner, "It's been a year and he's still moping around, all depressed like. All he ever does is work then go home."
Hermione looked away from his eyes, "He's not my problem anymore."
"Was he really ever a problem to you?"
Hermione kept quiet, continuing not to meet Sirius's warm grey eyes.
"Look, I'm not telling you to give him a second chance. All I'm asking is that you'll talk to him- give him a chance to explain himself."
Hermione suddenly jerked her head back to look brazenly at Sirius, "I refuse to be the bad guy in this. If he's so heartbroken, then maybe he should have kept his trousers on and his tongue in his own mouth!"
"Babe, you know me and you know Harry. Now I'm the type of bloke that has walked all over women for many years. Harry-"
Hermione scoffed, "What, are you saying he learned this from you?" She could see a look of hurt flash through his eyes but it disappeared before she could make anything of it.
"No, I'm just saying if you do talk to him you know you'll both get the closure you deserve. That's all I'm trying to say," he finished gently with a subtle shrug.
Hermione looked away from Sirius's gaze, right into the blue eyes of Jude standing under the awning of the bar.
"Sirius," Hermione started quietly, almost sadly, "I have to go. It- it was good seeing you again."
"Alright," Sirius said, letting go of her waist but bringing the hand he was holding up to kiss it, "Don't be a stranger kid. You can look me up anytime."
Hermione smiled sincerely, humbled that this man would still care so much for her after all that she and his godson had been through. She nodded and kissed his cheek before turning.
"Hey!" Sirius shouted to her after she got a few feet away. Hermione turned and gave him a questioning look.
"Think about what we talked about."
"Take care Sirius," Hermione finally responded.
…
"Hey," Hermione said as she approached Jude, "What's up?"
Jude tore his eyes away from the older gentleman Hermione had been dancing with who was now speaking with a pretty red head.
"Krum left a few minutes ago with a woman and his two guards. Colgan and Matthews have tracked him up to his suite and are now watching infrared scans of their movements."
Hermione nodded, "Did Jeremy get that security lining around Krum's door like I asked him to?" she asked referring to the new lining's she had helped create that would detect the brief structure of somebody's magical signature. There was no way for a witch or wizard to hide their magical signatures, so the invention was ingenious in that aspect.
"Yep, it came out clean. The woman really is a muggle."
"Good," Hermione replied turning to look around the now half full ballroom and then back to Jude with a small shrug, "So, I guess we can get out of here then."
"Yeah. Did you, um…" Jude began uneasily not meeting Hermione's eyes. They had began to walk towards the exit and were just now breaking free of the noise and smoke hazed ballroom.
"What is it?"
"Did you maybe want to go up to your private room first so we could maybe talk?" he asked shyly, scratching at the back of his head. He had a lot of questions he wanted to ask her regarding the night…
"Uh," she voiced hesitantly, "what did you want to talk about?"
"You know… tonight."
"Well, if it's about tonight," she pressed the button for the elevator, "I think we should get back to the operations room so we can discuss it with everyone."
"I was talking about the kiss," Jude finally got out with a small blush.
"Oh… oh!" she ended with a gasp, staring unnervingly into the elevator that had just opened it's doors.
"What- oh, you," Jude said, trying to mask the upset tone in his voice as he looked down to the raven haired contractor that had been chatting with Ezekiel and Krum earlier. He never did catch his name…
Harry had been bent over next to the level keys, his nose about an inch away, trying to figure out which one to press when the silver doors opened showing him the two people who had him absolutely livid. He straightened up, putting a maddened look on his face and stared Jude challengingly in the eyes.
Jude was obviously taken aback by Harry's demeanour because he grabbed Hermione's hand to try to get her to step back with him.
This only incensed Harry more as his eyes moved down to their joined hands, and then up into Hermione's wide eyed face.
Hermione bit her lip nervously, doing some quick thinking. "Um, Jude I'm not feeling up for drinks tonight. Will you ring Sienna and let her know?" she asked, turning to look at him innocently.
"Hermione, I think I should stay with you," he responded lowly taking a questioning look at Harry.
"Jude," Hermione said, this time more sombrely, "It's okay. I know him, I'll be fine. Just… go talk to Sienna okay? She'll explain."
"Are you sure?" he asked sparing another untrusting glance to Harry.
Hermione nodded, giving him a brief smile before letting go of his hand and stepping into the elevator with Harry- who still had his eyes trained on Jude.
Hermione pressed one of the level buttons next to Harry. Another couple ran up to also enter the lift. As they pressed their floor and smiled to Harry and Hermione, the doors slid close with a curt ding.
A second later the couple in front of them began chatting loudly, leaving Harry and Hermione in silence.
With her eyes shut, she took a deep breath and whispered, "What are you doing here Harry?"
"What are you doing here, Hermione Granger?"
Hermione rolled her eyes but didn't answer.
"So you got married? That didn't take too long."
"I'm not married."
"Judging by the pathetic ring on your finger," Harry said lifting up her left hand, "And the new last name- I'd say you're pretty well hitched."
"What do you care anyway?" she asked, jerking her hand back and quickly taking off the ring, throwing it into her clutch.
"Oh I care, all right. And that was your biggest mistake, thinking that I never did!"
The couple turned back to look at them oddly as another faint ding sounded, opening the door to reveal their level. Luckily there was no one on the outside waiting to get in.
As the man and woman left, Hermione stepped away a bit to get some distance from Harry.
"If you always cared, you have a right twisted way of showing it," she told him, registering the sealing of the elevator and the feeling of it sliding upwards to a new destination.
"Don't bring that up," he hissed, taking a step closer to her, "Don't forget that it was me always having to make the first move! It was like you were always too scared to tell me you loved me first!"
Hermione's face turned red, "Oh so it's my fault right?! You ran off and did god knows with god knows how many women, all because I never said I love you first?!"
Another ding and the elevator began to open again.
Hermione glared at him, "That's a pretty piss poor excuse, Harry."
"It's not a fucking excuse and I told you not to bring that up! You didn't understand it then, and you clearly don't understand it now. If you would have just got off your bloody high horse and let me explain things to you at that meeting we wouldn't be in this situation now. But as usual you got scared and ran away before anything could get justified!"
"Um, I'll take the next one…" muttered a voice from the hall. Harry turned to see a pithy man standing cautiously outside the elevator. Harry didn't apologize, just punched the button pad so the doors would close.
"I wasn't scared and I didn't run!"
"You fled like a dog with it's tail tucked between it's legs," Harry provoked, taking another step towards her.
"You're a bastard," Hermione muttered, folding her arms and looking away.
"And you always were scared, too. You couldn't be spontaneous to save your life! Everything had to be planned and booked!" Harry finished, also turning red in the face. He had been waiting to get all this off his chest for a long time now- and the fact that (at this point) he wasn't afraid to hurt her feelings was making it even easier.
Hell, he wanted to hurt her feelings.
"I was to spontaneous! What do you call jumping in bed with you the first night we met?!"
"Drunken desire," Harry sneered, "Nothing like that ever happened for the other five years we were married."
"SIX!"
"Whatever. The point is you couldn't do something unpredictable. It'd chafe your knickers too much."
"What are you even trying to get at!" Hermione yelled, throwing her hands up in frustration- clearly having had enough, "None of this fucking conversation matters anyway! Our problems didn't stem from me keeping a schedule, it was from you being unfaithful!"
"That-"
"What? Are you seriously going to try and deny it again? Harry, I caught you with my own fucking eyes. And even if you want to say I was imagining- Sienna was right there seeing it too! We could have been having some common marital issues, but I didn't try and get over it by seeing someone else!"
Harry leaned back against the titanium wall in an offended matter, as the elevator opened to admit another group.
"I always loved you. And I made a point to tell you whenever I could," Hermione went on quietly.
Harry rolled his eyes somewhat disappointedly. Maybe she thought she had, but she hadn't. Was it his fault for never telling her it wasn't enough?
"You didn't make it a point to show it," he chose instead as the elevator again came to a halt.
"That's not true-"
"Prove it."
As Harry stepped forward again, close enough to where his lips were an inch from hers, the elevator opened it's doors. Hermione looked out to see her level number glowing from the button pad.
"See Harry, that's where you're mad. I don't have anything to prove to you. Not anymore."
Harry's implacable expression fell and he blinked as Hermione tore away from him and the group in front of them, leaving the elevator and him behind.
…
Hermione threw the door closed to her suite and fell against it. She slid to the ground with her eyes shut, wondering how her life could get so buggered up in one night.
Something buzzed inside her clutch that she had abandoned next to her room key at the side of her leg.
Blindly reaching in the small carrier, she pulled out her phone and flipped it open.
"Hermione?" Sienna's voice asked.
"Yeah?"
"You okay?"
Hermione sighed. Was she? "Yeah, I-I- yeah."
"'Mi-"
"What's the 411 on Krum?" Hermione asked, crispier than she intended. She had let her personal life interfere to much with her work tonight. She felt like a failure for being so distracted.
"He's fine," Sienna said uncaringly, "Taking a post shag nap in his suite. I don't know why thought, he only lasted like two minutes…"
Hermione snorted, "Okay, keep 24 hour surveillance on him."
"Colgan and Matthews are on it. You know Hermione if you wanted to go home for the night, we could just meet up in the morning…"
"No Sienna-"
"Hermione, I'm your partner- not you're employee," she stated using a tone she hardly ever did with Hermione, "Plus, you know we have more than enough people here. It seems like we're pretty much out of the woods with Krum anyway."
"Thanks, Si. I appreciate it," Hermione finished with a small smile, "And I'm sorry about earlier…"
"Don't get mushy on me," Sienna continued in her stern voice, causing a laugh from Hermione, "So we'll talk later, yeah?"
"Yeah. Meet you at the room tomorrow morning?"
"See you then."
Hermione shut her phone and sighed. At least she didn't have to worry about anything else tonight. She could crawl into her bed and not leave it until she would be forced to tomorrow morning.
Hermione emitted an audible groan at the aspect of everything she'd have to deal with the next day. Sienna would want to know what happened with Harry, they'd have to follow Krum until they were sure he was safely back in Bulgaria, she'd have to talk to Jude…
That was not a conversation she was looking forward to. Of course she knew Jude had feelings for her and she also knew that the kiss a few hours ago wasn't strictly a disguise for the mission.
But besides the fact that Hermione didn't harbour any feelings for him, there could never be anything more than a professional relationship between them. In their line of work there wasn't room for serious romantic relationships and she had to learn that the hard way.
"I should give him that ring back," she mumbled to herself, reaching for her clutch again and beginning to riffle through it.
She tossed aside some of the larger things like her wand and a bottle of perfume absently as her eyes scanned the bottom.
"What the hell," she said in confusion after not finding the ring anywhere in the clutch. She checked her hands and then growled, her head hitting back against the door.
She must of dropped it in the elevator.
"Great, just fantastic," she got up and opened the door, heading out into the hallway with her phone and card key in her hand. She hoped the ring would be in there because she didn't want to explain to Jude that she didn't have feelings for him and she couldn't give him the no doubt expensive ring back. That wouldn't go over well.
As she finally reached the double silver doors, she pressed the down button hoping for the elevator to come along quickly. A few moments later the lift still hadn't arrived so she pressed the button again.
She waited three minutes this time before cursing and pressing the button more angrily.
"You've got to be kidding me," she muttered with a shake of her head. Not willing to wait any longer, she flipped open the phone and dialled the room number in which her team was gathered.
"Hello?" a voice she recognized as Jeremy's answered a ring later.
"Jeremy it's Hermione," she said, glancing up and down the hall to make sure no one was coming, "I need you get to the controls of the north elevator and get it to come to my floor. It's not working or something."
"Oh, sure thing boss. That all?"
"Yes-" ding.
Hermione smirked, "Thank you Jeremy."
She ended the call and waited for the door to open, her eyes on the ground.
She heard them open and looked up, her stomach dropping for the umpteenth time that night.
Harry was sitting in the corner with his legs splayed out in front of him. He had a bottle of Jack Daniel's whiskey perched in his lap and was looking at something cupped in his hand.
Hermione let out a ragged breath, her eyes skipping from the bottle, to Harry's face, to the ring Jude gave her nestled in his palm. Harry looked different then he had earlier, no doubt a little drunker, but it was like he had an aura of defeat around him. That was something she'd definitely never seen before.
She bit her lips and looked back to the liquor, "Where'd that come from?"
Harry winced then shrugged.
Hermione sighed and glanced away back down the hall. "I need that," she told him indifferently nodding at the ring.
Harry stared up at her for a few solid moments before holding it out. He dropped it in Hermione's hand and then looked to the wall close to his face, raising the alcohol to his lips once more.
Hermione scoffed and rolled her eyes. She never liked the sight of Harry drinking or unhappy, so the two put together was almost nerve-wracking.
She wanted to walk away from him. She wanted to walk away so bad. Her legs even turned her, preparing themselves to walk back down the hall. But she couldn't.
"Damn it Harry!" she shouted suddenly taking a step into the elevator, "You're not supposed to be like this! You were supposed to have moved on by now! Gotten over me!"
"It's hard," Harry only said.
"Well stop making it hard! Just accept it! We're divorced, there's nothing left for us!"
He looked up to her, "You really believe that?"
Hermione let out an uneven breath, "Yes."
Harry nodded as he looked down into his lap and began tapping his fingers on the neck of the bottle. Hermione didn't no what else to say to him. She started to spin around to leave when he spoke again.
"What was so shitty about me?"
She knew she could say something to really hurt him but he was a man who looked like he had just lost everything- why hurt him more?
She shook her head softly, "Nothing, Harry. You're not a shitty person."
"Then why don't you want me anymore?"
She gave him an are-you-serious look, "You were the one that obviously didn't want me!"
At her raised tone, Harry threw the bottle against the opposite wall causing it to shatter, "Oh don't play innocent Hermione!" He stood up and stepped closer to her, pointing a finger in her face, "You lost interest a long time ago! Those late nights at the office, the trips, all those private phone calls! You're telling me you didn't have something going on the side!"
"Don't you dare turn this on me!" Hermione screamed totally incensed. Her blood was boiling now and she was no longer unwilling to say something that might hurt him. Clearly he wasn't as weak as he previously looked.
"You know what Harry? You're a bastard- a complete fucking git! You're only like this because you lost the glory of getting something you can't have. I'm sure after tonight, you'll return to London and get right back into your new lifestyle; shagging any girl that gives you an opening. And honestly you think you'd like it more now that you don't have to worry about hiding it from a wife!"
Hermione spun on her heel and stormed out of the open doors. She was seeing red and she knew if she had to stay another minute with that insufferable man she'd rip his bloody head off.
"Fuck you!" Harry yelled harshly, following after her since he didn't want her to get the last say, "Bloody hell, I can't believe I was stupid enough to still have feelings for a crazy bint like you!"
"And I can't believe I didn't divorce your lying ass years ago!" she screamed back with tears of anger rimming her eyes. By now, Hermione had reached her own room and was standing just in front of the door. But she couldn't make herself go in yet. She needed to hurt him like he had hurt her.
"I should have known the day I met you all you'd do was hurt me! I was so naive to think you'd every really want someone like me. You belong with someone as spiteful and disgusting as you are."
Harry's indomitable attitude diminished and he looked at Hermione with regret filled eyes. Is that what she really though? Or was she just trying to hurt him like he was trying to hurt her? Though he knew he shouldn't be; she didn't deserve to be hurt after the unforgivable thing he'd done in front of her, even if it wasn't what she thought. Yes, he was angered and hurt that she apparently was with someone. But could he really blame her for that? Afterall he would have tried to move on from a cheating spouse by now too.
It was time for the truth and she needed to know that his feelings have never been anything but genuine for her.
"I wanted you. I still want you- I always want you…" he sputtered, not looking away from her eyes.
In an attempt to stay strong, she scoffed and began to turn away so she could open the door to her suite.
Before she could even reach to put the key in the door slot, Harry turned her around and did something he'd been dying to do since he was told to sign the divorce papers a year ago.
He kissed her.
---
:]
So just a kiss or are they gonna get their freak on?
Review p-p-please?
-Also, thanks to Hana-XOXO and Cosmo for their input. Even though I really didn't get to it yet…