hey you lot- sorry for not updating for the last couple of weeks. it's not a very good excuse but- life got in the way. but i've fixed it, and i should be updating more regularly now- enjoy chapter three !
xo,
michelle
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I probably should have closed the curtains last night, was the first thought that flitted through Hermione's mind as the sun peeped through her window. Squinting one eye open and glancing at the clock, she groaned. 6:30 am.
I had another hour to sleep and now I won't be able to, she thought bitterly. Just then upbeat music floated through the far wall of her bedroom. I really need to talk to Charlotte about not turning up her music so loud every bloody morning. Which reminds me, I need to do a load of laundry today… Just then there was a thud, like that of a falling trash can. Hermione groaned.
"Who's in the other room?" she mumbled. Just then she sat bolt upright.
"Harry!" she said, jumping out of bed and rushing into the living room, expecting to see someone on her couch. But no one was there. There weren't any blankets on her couch. There wasn't any sign that anyone had slept there the previous night.
"Harry?" Hermione whispered shrilly, peeping her head into the kitchen. No one was there. Moving over to her coat closet, she swung the door wide- a few jackets, and an umbrella. No Harry.
"Did I… did I dream it?" Hermione asked herself. "That's possible. After all, it's not probable to accidentally marry someone… Yes. Yes, it was just a weird dream."
Just then her phone rang. Walking over to it, she picked up the receiver and said, "Hello?"
"Hey, you," a familiar voice said. Hermione smiled.
"Hey James," she said warmly. "What's up?"
"I need to talk to you," James said. "About the wedding that was supposed to happen yesterday."
"What?" Hermione asked, her trepidation obvious.
"I talked to your mum," explained James. "And she told me that you weren't at our wedding ceremony because you were crashing someone else's?"
"It wasn't a dream…" Hermione whispered. "It really happened. I really married Harry…?"
"Apparently," James said bitterly. "I spent the last day away from everyone- pulling myself together. Do you understand how I must have felt? I went into a separate room and didn't catch whatever it was your mother told the ones who came to watch the wedding- I felt like you just left me to stand there at the alter. After a lot of yelling on my part, and nearly breaking a wall, I'm wondering how in the hell you could have married him."
"It was an accident," said Hermione immediately. "A complete and total accident. Looking back, everything that happened was so unlikely. I mean, what are the odds our phone numbers would have been nearly the same? Or that Ginny's finger would have just smudged the last number? Or that no one would have told me what church it was? Why in Gods name did I take a cab? Or that damn veil…" she was now talking more to herself than to James.
"Well regardless of how it happened, it happened," said James. "And I'm wondering what you plan to do about it."
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.
"I mean us, Hermione," James said, somewhat sharply. "What do you think we should do about this?"
"I don't know, James," Hermione confessed. "I have to live with Harry for a month- until I can file for the annulment. I'm only doing it because Ginny promised me she wouldn't do the one thing she knows makes me want to pound someone's face in- and you know I'm not a violent person."
"Do you love him, Hermione?" James asked suddenly.
"What?" asked Hermione, taken aback.
"Do you love him?" James repeated, his tone a bit harsher. "And not in the friendly way."
"Of course I don't love him, James," Hermione said immediately. "I left him and the rest of my friends in my old life, at least five years ago. If I loved him, I would have stayed."
"Unless you couldn't take seeing him constantly," James said accusingly. "You know what, Hermione? Why don't we take a break. I'll cancel the Caribbean, and we'll see how this month goes. I'll talk to you periodically just to check in."
"If that's what you think is best, James," Hermione said quietly. "I really am sorry about all of this."
"They say that love is blind," said James. "Keep me updated. I'll talk to you soon. Bye."
Hermione put the receiver back down after hearing a faint click. Hermione screamed in frustration.
"Damn it!" she said, collapsing on the couch and punching one of her pillows. "Why-did-this-have-to-happen-?! I had everything. I was happy. Freaking happy, for once! Why-does-he-have-to-ruin-every-god-damn-good-thing-I-have-?" Shoving her face into the pillow, Hermione screamed until her throat hurt. Pulling back, she was surprised to see that tears had leaked out of her shut eyes and onto the pillow. Taking a few deep breaths and hastily wiping her eyes, she began thinking.
"If it wasn't a dream," Hermione said softly to herself. "Where's Harry?"
Just then she heard another thud like the one before, only this one was closer to her front door. Hermione heard the tinkling laughter that belonged to her flat neighbor. Sighing, she opened the front door and sure enough, Charlotte was practically cornering Harry, who looked quite uncomfortable.
"Harry, you're so funny," Charlotte cooed, flipping her hair.
"That wasn't even that funny," Harry said, trying to escape from her yet again. "All I said was I got sort of lost because I don't know the area."
"Good morning, you two," Hermione said, bringing Charlotte back to reality.
"Oh!" Charlotte said quietly, as if in surprise. "Good morning, Hermione. Did we forget to change out of our pajamas today?"
Looking down, Hermione was surprised to see that she had forgotten to change before barging out the door. She was wearing a small pale blue camisole and her rather large dark red pajama pants.
"Oh," Hermione said. "Apparently I did. Why don't you go finish your exercise, Charlotte? Tone those muscles of yours."
"I might need the endurance," Charlotte agreed, winking at Harry. "I'll see you two later."
"Bye," said Hermione cheerfully, guiding Harry inside the flat. "Where were you?" she asked once he was inside. "How did Charlotte end up cornering you?"
"I went for a run," Harry explained, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand. "And when I was coming back up, she opened her door and started talking to me."
"You mean flirting," Hermione corrected.
"Yeah, sure," Harry said. "All I wanted to do was get back into your flat to shower, but she wouldn't hear of it. So I started talking to her and she backed me into the wall- I figured if you weren't already awake, that'd jostle you awake."
Hermione wasn't paying much attention to what Harry was saying- she was paying lots of attention to what he was doing. She noticed his stomach muscles (fully visible- his shirt was soaked through) moved every time he so much as moved an arm. Quite odd, Hermione thought. I don't think I know any other guy whose stomach muscles flinch so much. I wonder what else could make them flinch…
"Hermione?" Harry asked, waving a hand in front of her face- effectively breaking her stupor.
"What?" asked Hermione, running her hands through her hair and shaking her head slightly.
"I said do you mind if I take a shower?" Harry said, gesturing to his sweat soaked body.
"Oh!" Hermione said. "No, go ahead."
"Thanks," Harry said, walking in the direction towards the bathroom.
~*~
Sitting on her bed, Hermione listened to the sound of the water running from the shower.
He's in there, she thought transiently. It would be so easy to just accidentally walk in- I could blame fatigue… hmm. Might be able to see what exactly happened to him in those five years. Oh, for the love of God! What am I doing? I shouldn't even be thinking about stuff like this. It's Harry.
Just then she heard the water turn off. She saw Harry walk- more like glide- out into the hallway, glance in the living room, and then walk into Hermione's bedroom.
"Why did you put my trunk in your room?" he asked sleepily, stifling a yawn and fixing the towel wrapped around his waist.
Because I'm apparently pretty smart, Hermione thought, her gaze transfixed on a bead of water making its way down his spine, then disappearing as it was absorbed by the maroon towel.
"I don't know," was what she said. "I didn't like looking at it in the living room."
Harry chuckled softly. "That's just like you."
"Yeah," Hermione said softly. "So Harry, what do you want to do today? We could sit here and wait for Charlotte to come back again…"
"No," Harry said quickly, spinning around so fast the towel nearly slipped off his body. Hermione laughed, her cheeks tainted pink.
"Or I could give you a small tour of the area around my flat," she finished. "So you won't get lost again on another run of yours."
"That one," Harry said hurriedly. "I-I want to go outside," he said, a bit slower. "Know where I'm going so I don't get lost again."
Hermione smiled. "Alright," she said. "Get dressed-" her gaze lowered to his towel for a moment. "-and we'll get going."
After seeing her gaze drop, he briefly looked down and, seeing that the towel was still in place, took a pair of dark blue jeans and a white T-shirt out of his trunk. He then swiftly walked into the bathroom to change.
~*~
About five minutes later, Harry emerged from the bathroom, shaking his still-damp hair. Walking into the kitchen, he found Hermione leaning against the counter, holding a cup of coffee with both hands. Slowly moving forward, he stood next to her- his hip was just barely brushing against her lower stomach.
"Are you ready to go?" he whispered, not completely knowing why he did. She inhaled deeply.
God, what is he wearing? She thought; her eyes fluttering closed. It smells so good. Oh God, stop that- I can't let this happen again.
"Yeah," Hermione said, standing up and placing her coffee cup in the sink. "I'm ready." Without another word, she walked out the front door- Harry right behind her.
~*~
"So if you cut through this alleyway," Hermione explained, pointing down a dark alley as the two of them walked past it. "You can get home a lot faster, avoiding everyone else who is probably running."
"How did you know that?" Harry asked, speeding up just a bit to stay next to her.
"I used to go running with…" she trailed off. "I used to go running here. I didn't like having to slow down for anyone."
"Oh," Harry said. "Okay."
"And this is the ice cream shop," Hermione said, tilting her head in the direction of a sign boring the words Susan's Sweet Tooth. "A pretty popular place- for both little kids and adults looking for a place to eat after a movie or something."
"Hermione?" Harry asked, looking her in the eye.
"What?" she said, turning her attention to him.
"Would you like some ice cream?" his face told her that he wanted some, as well. Hermione laughed.
"Yes, Harry," she answered. "Let's get ice cream." Smiling widely, she led him into the store. After ordering and paying for the ice cream, the two of them stepped outside and sat down.
It took Harry a moment to realize that Hermione was looking at him intently- her ice cream half forgotten.
"Yes, Hermione?" he asked, leaning forward on his elbows.
"What?" she asked, her tone lighter and her eyes a bit unfocused. "Oh!" she said, blinking her eyes a few times to get them back into focus. "Sorry, I was just thinking. You haven't changed much since…" she trailed off.
"Since you ran away," Harry finished for her. "Hermione, I've been meaning to ask you- and I know this isn't the best time or place for it- but why did you leave?" Hermione took a deep breath.
"You know me, Harry," she began. "I can't take people knowing every little detail about me and throwing it out to random strangers. I just couldn't take that."
"We- you, me, and Ron- could have gone somewhere else," Harry said quietly. "The Trio has to at least stay together, Hermione. Without you, we're two idiots."
Hermione smiled softly. "You're not complete idiots- you just don't understand a lot. I just- I needed some time by myself. I needed to get a few things straight."
"Did you get them straightened out?" Harry asked, his expression concerned. Hermione took a deep breath.
Have I gotten them all straightened out? She thought. Let's see- I "ran away" because I couldn't take the publicity, yes, but also because I couldn't stand to see Harry with all those women- throwing himself at him. And he was just standing there and taking it all in! Maybe James was right.
"I'll let you know," she whispered, taking a bite of her ice cream.
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if you've got a moment, your thoughts would be immensely appreciated (:
musical inspiration- don't ask me by OK Go