In Her Touch
Dating
It was barely nine-thirty when I bid goodnight to Charlotte Griffiths. I made my escape without providing the perfunctory "I'll owl you". I simply exited as quickly as possible. No doubt she assumed my hasty departure had to do with Hermione's sudden illness. I suppose that I should feel like a right shit for the lie but considering how badly the date had gone I felt the action was justified. And as it isn't a complete lie; Hermione had contracted a mild case of Hungarian Wizard Flu on her recent trip to Debrecen, I expect I'll be forgiven.
This is all Ron's fault. I have half a mind to hex him into the middle of next year when I see him again. In the nearly eight months since Ginny and I had ended our relationship my social life had been virtually nonexistent. Not that I was ever all that social to begin with, but when I'd been with Ginny there was the occasional night out with friends or a nice dinner. Those occasions had been rare given our busy work schedules and my inability to venture out in the wizarding world without causing an uproar but they had happened. It was the absence of these occurrences and the presence of Rhys Anderson that had promoted Ron to urge me into tonight's debacle. Rhys Anderson was the star keeper for the Falmouth Falcons and Ginny's new boyfriend. The pair had been seeing each other for about two and a half months and were fast becoming quite the item in the Prophet's society section. Seeing that his sister had moved on Ron inquired as to why I hadn't done the same. He seemed to think I was pining. I told Ron that nothing could be further from the truth.
Though I did, and still do, care a great deal for Ginny I am not pining over the demise of our relationship. Looking back on things now I think that Ginny and I were doomed from the start. I'm not sure how you'd classify what we had other than to say it was an intense infatuation. Ginny was the only girl I'd ever been involved with who didn't constantly treat me like some sort of god. True there was the odd moment that she acted more like a fan girl than a girlfriend but those were few and far between. And at least, thanks to Hermione's advice, she could carry on a conversation with me without getting tongue tied. We were good together for a bit Ginny and I; but in the end we just weren't meant to be forever. Ours was a mutual infatuation; hers one of the knight in shining armor and mine the one thing I'd never had a normal life.
Ron reckons that I need to get on with things and by that he means I need to get out there and give dating a go. My protests that I was fine as I was or too busy with work fell on deaf ears. So against my better judgment I agreed to think about it. Thus, when Charlotte, an administrative assistant in the Magical Law Enforcement department, suggested that maybe we could get a bite sometime I'd asked what she was doing Friday. She'd immediately accepted and we'd made plans to have dinner in Diagon Alley. Ron had been rather shocked when I'd told him of my plans. Perhaps he knew what I'd landed myself into.
Charlotte turned out to be one of those witches who wanted the whole bloody world to know she was on the arm of Harry Potter. Her mindless giggling and her shrill shouts of "Oh Harry" this and "Oh Harry" that had put me off the shapely doe eyed blond nearly immediately. During drinks our conversation turned to the final battle. As Charlotte peppered me with questions about what had gone on, I set my pre-established escape plan into motion. When we'd arrived at the restaurant I'd slipped the maitre d' a few extra galleons to come by with an urgent message about Hermione having suddenly taken ill. I hustled Charlotte out of the restaurant and apparated her back home, keen to be away from her as quickly as possible. I'm not much in the mood to head back to the emptiness of Grimmauld Place and as I skipped dinner I'm bloody starving. I stop off and pick up Hermione's favorite Chinese take away.
Hermione answers the door with an astonished look on her face. I show her the bag of take away as I step across the threshold and head into the lounge. Hermione summons a bottle of wine and two glasses as we plop down on the couch. I recount my nightmare of a date over spring rolls and red wine. Hermione agrees that Charlotte sounds quite awful but reprimands me for running out on Charlotte like I did and tells me that the next time I use her as an alibi to weasel my way out of a date she'll hex my bollocks off herself. I laugh at that. And wrapping my arm about her shoulder I pull her close and say that I wouldn't have to make up stories if every witch was as perfect as she was. This time she laughs and calls me a cheeky bastard as she snuggles closer to me and switches on the telly. I laugh again and Hermione rests her head on my shoulder and we settle in for the evening.
A/N: Sorry for the delay but this one took a bit more time than usual. I've decided to stay with the no dialogue format. I'm not sure how or if I'll be able to pull it off but I figure what the hell, it'll be fun to give it a try.
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