Ace of Hearts
Chapter 8
It had been three days since Hermione moved in with Ron and Harry and about two weeks since the day she arrived
emotionally depleted to her boyfriends house and then, when he wasn't looking… kissed his best friend.
"Ugh," *thump* her head hit the desk.
Remembering that kiss kept her awake at night and when she did finally fall asleep all she did was dream about what would have come if they hadn't stopped. The feel of Harry's warm breath against her lips haunted her and left her filled with a need, a need to know what it would be like to taste him…
*thump* *thump*
"Focus Hermione, focus... you're supposed to be working not having lewd thoughts about your best mate," she mumbled to herself dipping her quill in ink.
She was home alone tonight. Ron had gone to an urgent meeting with his coach at the Wizardz training facility, and Harry had been at work when she got back, so she wasn't sure where he was and she didn't dare to ask Ron.
Sure, they had talked about their fight outside the restaurant that night and had both apologized. He had even said that he trusted them--she wasn't even going to go into the amount of guilt that statement had caused--. But, she still knew that for all his pretenses of understanding Ron had a jealous streak, and it was huge when it came to Harry.
Even though she had been there for three days already, she had yet to see Harry in more than just passing and was nervous about what she would do when that moment came. How she would act -how he would act, would they talk about what happened? It sounded cowardly, but she hoped not. She wasn't sure if she was ready to handle that just yet, but she knew they would have to talk eventually if this place was ever going to become a home. She just wasn't sure that she was ready just yet. Giving a small sigh and picking up her wand, Hermione said a minor spell and the time flashed on her wall.
`Nine thirty,' she thought rubbing her temples `I haven't eaten since lunch. I should stop being ridiculous and go grab a snack, after all I can't avoid him forever and he's probably not here anyway.'
With that she got up and slid on her slippers, giving Crookshanks a small scratch behind the ears and grabbing her wand Hermione headed out of her bedroom. She had just walked into the kitchen when she saw Harry leaning slightly against the counters sipping a butterbeer. He paused briefly when she entered looking at her, then averting his gaze he continued to sip his drink in silence.
"Hello," she said walking in and opening the fridge.
"Hello," his deep voice responded.
She was silently looking through the fridge for something to snack on when he spoke again.
"So, how are you getting settled?" he asked, in his usual friendly manner.
Hermione relaxed. She could tell by the tone in his voice that he was striving for normal and trying to revert back to the relaxed vibe that they had before. Just like their kiss hadn't happened. She felt relief pour though her, choosing to ignore the small tinge of disappointment in her heart. This was what she had wanted. She just wouldn't have been able to bare hurting Ron like that.
"So far so good," Hermione responded giving him a small smile as she pulled a plate of strawberry jam doughnuts and a pitcher of pumpkin juice out of the fridge and placed them on the counter. "You look nice are you heading out?"
Harry nodded taking a final gulp of his butterbeer. He was dressed in black shoes and slacks and a white button-up shirt that had the first two buttons undone, exposing his long throat and bronzed collarbone. His hair looked as though he had attempted to get it to stay down, but as always it didn't obey and was sticking straight up at the usual odd angles.
"Yeah," he responded throwing his empty bottle in the bin. "Aurora and I are going to the Lion's Den tonight -it's supposed to be fun."
She frowned for a second before quickly changing back to an attentive expression, however she could tell by the look in his eyes that he had noticed her irritation. Pretending to be ignorant of his perception, and against her better judgment, she pressed on.
"Wow," she commented pouring herself a glass of cold pumpkin juice "so you two are still seeing each other huh?" She took a small sip from her glass. "What has it been about... two, three months now?"
"One," he answered smirking.
"Oh," she took a bite of a jam doughnut and giving him an innocent expression. "Funny, it feels like longer."
He quirked a brow then, grabbing a napkin off of the holder he walked towards her coming to a stop directly in front of her. Lifting his right hand to her face Harry wiped a bit of strawberry jam off of the corner of her mouth. Hermione looked up at him with big brown eyes, her breath quickening.
"Hermione... I... I should go," he pulled away from her, expelling a breath, then giving her a weak smile he walked past her and out of the kitchen.
She turned to face the counter feeling confused and once again guilty, though this time they hadn't done anything. Sighing Hermione poked at her jam doughnut, pushing it around on the plate and no longer feeling very hungry. She had just picked up the pitcher with the pumpkin juice to place it back into the fridge when she heard an audible `pop'.
"Great you're dressed!" she heard Ron exclaim from the living room. "Mione! Mione, where are you?!"
Hermione walked out of the kitchen to see a confused looking Harry and a very excited looking Ron.
"Oh good there you are!" He ran up to her, giving her a huge kiss on the lips and a gigantic hug swinging her around twice. When he pulled back there was a colossal grin on his face.
"Get dressed, no time to waste, get ready, come on let's go." He then ran over to the fireplace, threw in some floo powder and jammed his head in.
Hermione looked at her boyfriends bum sticking in the air out of the fireplace. Then, making a face, turned her questioning gaze to Harry who was standing to her right with his hands in his pockets watching Ron also. Feeling her gaze on him, Harry looked at her and gave a shrug, looking as confounded as she did. After a few minutes Ron removed his head from the fireplace.
"Okay, it's all set Dean and Ginny will meet us there and they're passing the word to Neville, Luna and everyone else," he looked at Hermione. "You're not dressed, come on Mione, lets get going."
"Uh, Ron," interrupted Harry "going where? You still haven't told us what's going on."
He looked at Harry like he was Fluffy for a minute before realizing that the other man was right and having the grace to look embarrassed.
"Sorry Harry, sorry Mione, I was just so excited," his embarrassed expression turned back to pure happiness. "I did it! You are looking at the new official Chaser for the Chudley Cannons!"
Harry and Hermione immediately shouted out their congratulations and gave Ron huge hugs. They knew how much he had wanted this. He had gone to one tryout and two callbacks and hadn't heard anything. Ironically enough, he had just told Hermione last week in a dejected tone, that since the season was getting ready to start he must not have made it or they would have told him already.
"Ron, I told you that you could do it!" she exclaimed happily.
"Way to go, hey now that you're on the team, I might actually bet on them!" Harry ribbed laughing and receiving a playful punch from Ron.
"So, come on let's go! Everyone's meeting up at The Phoenix Talon for beer, food, dancing and fun!" Ron said again pushing Hermione towards her room.
"Crap. Sorry mate but I already made plans with Aurora," Harry said apologetically.
"Bring her along, most of the gang has met her and she gets along with everyone. Besides Fred and George have been hounding me about when they would get to see your girlfriend," he leaned forward before finishing in a loud whisper. "I told them how bloody hot she was, now they can't wait to see for themselves."
He gave Harry a broad smile that was replaced by a cringe when Hermione whacked him on the back of the head.
"I heard that," she said in a clipped tone.
Harry gave him an amused look.
"Okay, I'll do that. I'm sure she won't mind the change in plans to celebrate such an important occasion. We'll meet you guys there," he gave a jovial smile and then Disapparated.
Ron turned back to her, "Come on Hermione everyone's waiting," he said in a slightly whiney tone.
She gave him a mocking smile. "You know Ron, big tough Quidditch players don't whine."
His head fell back and he stared at the ceiling for a few seconds before giving her a pleading look.
"Fine," she went and gave him a kiss on the cheek "I'll be out in a moment."
With that said she walked the rest of the way into her room, which wasn't far thanks to Ron's "gentle" nudging earlier, and entered. Closing the door once she got in, Hermione opened her wardrobe and scanned its contents.
'Hum,' she thought tapping her chin with her finger, and still smarting a bit from Ron's comment to Harry earlier. `I need something that makes me look incredible and I need it now, since I'm sure I don't have much time,' as if on cue Ron knocked on the door impatiently asking if she was ready yet.
"Ten minutes," hearing him groan and a small bang as his head hit the door, she frowned. "Did you want to go for twenty?" Hearing no response she gave a small smile and turned back to her wardrobe, pushing her pink sweater to the side she saw something.
"She's hot you say…" Hermione murmured a small smile playing on her lips. "No, I'll show you hot."
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Harry Apparated to the alleyway one block down from Aurora's flat. After running a hand through his hair and taking a quick look around he walked the short distance to her place. Making it there in less than five minutes he took the stairs two flights up to her door, then reaching her flat he rung the buzzer twice and waited.
"One moment," he heard her say in her usual husky tone -boy did he love that tone.
At what Harry would have guessed, was exactly one moment later Aurora opened the door. She was wearing a slim black dress that came down to about mid-calf and had a nice cut that showed some cleavage, but didn't have her falling out of the dress. She was also wearing black pumps and carrying a small black purse. In fact she was pretty much in black from head to toe with two small exceptions. Her long hair, which she had left hanging, flowed down her back in a waterfall of soft curls that were peppered with small steaks of silver and on her right wrist where she normally wore her black wristband, there was a small silvery metallic bracelet instead, both colors were an exact match for her eyes. Aurora smiled upon seeing Harry and motioned for him to come in.
"Hi, you're a little early. Just what I like in a man," She grinned giving him a short but sensual kiss on the lips.
Harry looked at her with a broad smile, "Well I'm glad that you're in a good mood, because there has been a small change in plans."
She gave his a suspicious look, running her hands through the curls at the bottom of her hair.
"Really, and what change is this?"
"Well, you see," he replied placing her cloak over her shoulders "Ron found out that he made the Cannons. So everyone's going out tonight to celebrate his incredibly good fortune."
She gave his a quick cynical look, and then turned back around, "And making the Cannons is good fortune?"
"Hey, it's what he wanted and he got it, so it's good fortune." He stated smiling, mainly because he had initially thought the same thing.
"If you say so," she laughed "so where to?"
"The Phoenix Talon, it's a small intimate night club not far from here, with lots of drinks, music, fun and..." he paused causing her to look back at him "very dim lighting." He finished with a boyish smile that caused her to chuckle.
"Sounds like fun."
"Oh, it will be." He gave her a kiss on the cheek, before taking her hand and Apparating them to the club.
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They arrived in the cloak room less than a second later. Harry quietly removed Aurora's cloak from her shoulders as
she silently observed their surroundings.
"Nice," she commented taking note of the dark colors and bold accents.
"Trust me, you haven't seen anything yet," at this Harry swept back the curtain to reveal a well, but not overly, populated dance floor. The music was loudly playing a muggle pop song and more people were going back and forth talking to each other than actually dancing. The ceiling was covered in thick streams of chocolate colored satin that made you feel like you were inside of a sweets factory, and the walls had huge posters of beautiful women and gorgeous men that seemed to dance in sync with the music. There were small circular tables place periodically throughout the perimeter surrounding the dance floor with candles floating in the middle of them to give the illusion of a romantic atmosphere while also providing a source of dim light.
"Hey Harry! What's up?!" Dean exclaimed over the music, squeezing past a couple snogging against one of the elegant tables. Upon reaching them he gave Harry a huge slap on the back and a jovial smile.
"And of course the beautiful Aurora," he added taking note of the enchanting dark haired woman to Harry's left. Lifting her hand he placed a light kiss on the back.
"Alright, watch it." Harry warned playfully, a smile gracing his handsome face.
"Don't get you knickers in a knot Harry I was just kidding around," Dean said grinning in return and winking at Aurora.
"Oh, it's not my knickers you should be worrying about," Harry retorted making a motion with his head. Dean turned to see Ginny waiving them over to the large booth that they had reserved, and turned back around looking at Harry nervously.
"You're not going to say anything are you? She'd box my ears for sure!" He yelled over the music.
Harry smiled, "Of course not," then a twinkle entered his eyes "but then again, I can only speak for myself..."
Dean quickly looked to Aurora, who quirked and eyebrow giving him a serious expression, but before he could go completely mental, she smiled. Realizing he was out of harm's way, Dean visibly relaxed and turned to once again look over his shoulder at Ginny giving her a thumb up.
"Let's head over," he said motioning to Harry and Aurora. They silently followed him over to the booth.
After going though the crowd and up a short flight of stairs they reached the booth, which was placed so that it overlooked the dance floor. Looking around the table Harry's face lit up at all of the familiar faces. Of course there was Luna, Neville, Ginny and Dean, but now there was the added addition of both Fred and George Weasley, Seamus Finnegan, Lee Jordan and Oliver Wood, who all waived happily at him. He gave a huge grin and turned slightly. Grabbing Aurora's hand and pulled her so that she stood next to him. Upon seeing the beautiful dark haired witch, all of the single guys tried to simultaneously clamor out of the booth to be the first for personal introductions.
"Where are Ron and Hermione?" Ginny asked, shoving Fred when he bumped into her while trying to shake Aurora's hand.
"Don't know," Harry responded shrugging, then laughing as George tripped Oliver who was just sliding out of the booth in an attempt to introduce himself to Harry's date. "Hermione was just about to get dressed when I left. I suppose that they'll be here in a few."
Ginny nodded, rolling her eyes at the boys vying for Aurora's attention.
"What is she anyway, part Veela?" She asked staring incredulously at the idiots before her.
"Nope," replied Harry smiling and leaning towards her a little "-part vampire." Ginny looked up at him in surprise and he winked.
"So how did you guys get a great booth like this so quickly?" Aurora asked the group of gaggling blokes. "Harry said that this was a last minute thing."
They all laughed in response before George said loudly, "There isn't a place in town that wouldn't reserve a space for the famous Harry Potter-"
"-and of course his lowly friends," Fred finished with his best puppy dog face, before breaking into a grin.
"To Harry!" The twins yelled, holding up shots of Firewiskey and making Harry blush.
"STOP!!" Ginny screamed causing everyone in the group, and a few people not in the group, to freeze with their glasses halfway to their mouths and look at her. "This is Ron's celebration and there will be no drinking until he gets here."
"Here! Here!" They heard a voice say from behind Harry and Aurora, everyone turned to see Ron jogging up the stairs. "Sorry it took so long, Mione had to get ready."
At that point Hermione walked up to stand beside Ron and all the commotion at the table stopped as all eyes fixated on her.
There was the one universal thought…'WOW!'
AN: Well that's it for this chapter, I know I suck but it seemed like the right place to stop, stay tuned for the next part. I finish things off at the club and things heat up between Harry and Hermione. Pleeeeease Review!! Until then See ya!
AN: Thanks for checking out my story and for those you who have and will leave reviews (which is hopfully most of you *wink*) Thanks!!!
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