A/N: A series of unfortunate events kept me from updating this story, the first and foremost being that my laptop was out of commission for several weeks. You have my humblest apologies for the delay, and I promise to make it up to you by updating regularly now that it seems it will be possible.
Again, I'm very sorry for the delay and I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 11 - A Lucky Break
Hannah had to clutch the arms of her chair to prevent her own arms from violently shaking. She could feel sweat beading on her forehead and upper lip. The noise from the restaurant seemed to bombard her, and she could feel a muscle in her eye begin to twitch. Her senses were on overdrive and being assaulted. She was hyperventilating, she couldn't get enough air in her lungs.
The money. Why did Harry have to take away the money?
"Hannah?" asked Harry, looking at his fiancée with concern. "Hannah, are you okay?"
"Am I okay?" asked Hannah. "Am I…okay?" She could feel laughs bubbling up for no apparent reason. She let them out and they had a mad edge to them. "Of course I'm not bloody okay! I feel horrible!"
Harry abruptly stood up and grabbed Hannah by the arm, pulling her up and dragging her toward the exit after slapping some bills on the table. "Why didn't you say anything earlier?"
"Where are you taking me?" demanded Hannah, trying to struggle out of Harry's grip.
"We're going to St. Mungo's," he informed her. "Something is obviously wrong with you."
Harry walked down an empty alley and apparated to St. Mungo's Hospital, taking Hannah with him. They arrived right in the reception area. Luckily for them, it seemed to be a pretty slow night, so they were taken to see a healer right away.
Hannah dreaded each step toward the room. Once the healer checked her out and discovered nothing wrong with her, she would have to spill the beans to Harry. Either way, this looked like a dire situation.
The healer came in, a tall, old, thin man with coke-bottle glasses, his pristine white robe swishing around his legs as he walked. "Ah, Mr. Potter," he said, reaching his hand out to shake hands with the-man-who-triumphed. "Healer Pinkstaff at your service."
Harry shook the man's hand quickly, saying, "Nice to meet you, sir. Can you please check why my fiancée isn't feeling well?"
"Certainly," said Pinkstaff. He muttered a spell under his breath and moved his wand around Hannah's body in a similar fashion to the way muggle airport security would scan someone with a handheld metal detector. "It seems as though she only has a simple case of food poisoning," said Pinkstaff with a smile. He waved his wand in the air, making a piece of paper appear in the air which he snatched and handed to Harry. "Just take this to the receptionist and she'll give you the proper potion to fix your fiancée up in a jiffy."
"Thank you very much," said Harry with a smile before exiting the room and heading toward the reception area.
That certainly explains the sweating, Hannah thought numbly to herself as she followed Harry. But that's not all that's ailing me.
"I'm sorry, Hannah," said Harry, running a hand through his hair in frustration.
"Sorry?" she asked.
"You didn't want to go to the seafood shack yet I talked you into it anyway," Harry replied. "It's all my fault."
It was as though a divine power had saved Hannah. Here was her golden opportunity. "Well, you can always make it up to me," she said with a grin at Harry, acting her part perfectly.
"Anything," he said sincerely.
"Take me shopping tomorrow?" she asked hopefully, smiling at Harry and batting her eyelids. It was sickening to her that she had to be nice and sweet to Harry. She knew that if Harry took her shopping tomorrow, she could hold out for the last few days.
"You got it," he said.
They picked up the potion and Hannah drank it all before the couple apparated home, where they decided to call it a night.
Hannah lay in bed thanking fate, knowing she had dodged a fatal bullet.
Raven and Jade woke up in misery several days later. Today marked the end of the month-Hannah had made it without cracking. They couldn't believe it. They thought for sure that there was no way Hannah could possibly make it.
This was going to be much harder than they thought.
They still had five weeks until Christmas Break, which would be the easiest time to break Hannah and their dad up if only because of the fact that they would be right there to implement their plan. In the meantime, they could put one or two more plans into motion before then-they had always taken pride in the fact that they were overachievers.
The only problem was that they were fresh out of plans. They needed to regroup and restrategize, which meant that another official meeting of the Marauders was in order.
So later that evening found the four huddled up again, faces showing signs of frustration. "I can't believe she made it," said Teddy glumly.
"Dang it," said Scorpius angrily. "I thought for sure that…you know…wouldn't make it!"
"We need a new plan," said Raven. "And we need one now."
"Hmmm," they all said in unison.
After one minute all four spoke simultaneously.
"Threaten her," said Raven.
"Trick her," said both Teddy and Jade before blushing and looking in opposite directions.
"Kill her," said Scorpius with mad grin on his face.
Three pairs of eyes turned to Scorpius, looking at him like he was crazy. He shrugged. "What? It seems like it could be pretty easy. Just pretend it was an accident."
The other three looked at each other. "Who votes that Scorpius isn't allowed to share any more of his ideas?" said Raven.
Three hands were raised in response.
"I don't think it would work to threaten her," said Jade thoughtfully. "Daddy did beat Voldemort. Also, we're trying to work for Daddy to be happy. I think he won't be happy if Hannah is threatened and leaves him because of it. We have to make sure that Daddy breaks up with Hannah because of what she did, or else he'll blame himself and get depressed."
"Fine," huffed Raven. "I guess you're right. What are your ideas?" she asked Teddy and Jade.
"I say we trick her into cheating on daddy and make sure he sees," said Jade. "I mean, yeah, it'll hurt him, but in the end it'll still be her fault, not his."
"And just how do you plan on tricking her into cheating on him?" asked Raven skeptically.
"Remember that one time we were bored and looking through the Daily Prophet?" asked Jade. Raven gave her a look that said 'get to the point'. "We came across an ad that said 'Wizard Gigolo Service'. Remember, we asked daddy what a gigolo was?"
Raven grinned. "I think I see where you're going with this."
Jade nodded, an identical grin on her face. "We order one under Hannah's name, sending him to Potter Manor, and tell the man to destroy the letter. And even if she tells the man to leave, he'll want his money, which means that in the end daddy will end up seeing the man no matter what, because Hannah will have to fetch her purse from the room, where daddy will probably be working. You know how much he dislikes the office."
"Then it'll be obvious that Hannah is cheating on your dad!" said Scorpius excitedly.
"Exactly," said Jade.
"I like it," said Raven with a satisfied nod. "But before we implement it, what's your plan, Teddy?"
"Mine was actually the same as Jade's," said Teddy with an apologetic smile.
"It looks like we're going with that, then," said Raven.
"Good," said Jade. "Once this works out, all we'll have to do is focus on getting daddy and Professor Granger together."
Hermione sat at her and Harry's usual lunch table, smiling down at her hands as she waited for him. She really had missed him the past three years and was really enjoying reconnecting with him. It was always the best part of the week, even better than watching a student who had been struggling with a certain concept or spell finally master it, understanding in their eyes.
Today was the day that she really began her bid for Harry's heart. Now that he felt at ease around her, it was time to start moving in for the kill. She didn't have a lot of confidence in her beauty, so she was very afraid, but she knew that she would later regret it if she never tried.
Harry showed up a few minutes later, coming to the table with a look of confusion on his face. "What's with the basket?" he asked.
"It's a picnic basket, silly," said Hermione teasingly. "I asked Rosmerta to prepare us a picnic because it's such a gorgeous day."
"Good idea," said Harry. "Where exactly are we going?"
"You'll see," said Hermione, standing up and grabbing the picnic basket. She grabbed Harry's hand and started dragging him out of the Three Broomsticks before he could register the fact that he was holding her hand.
Just as Hermione had planned.
She slowed down after they had exited the Three Broomsticks, but made sure that he couldn't let go of her hand. It felt so good in her own, so big and warm, like her own personal shield.
She ended up taking him into a clearing a couple hundred feet into the Forbidden Forest, using her wand to transfigure a boulder into a picnic blanket.
Now that she was actually in the act of passively gaining Harry's attention, she found it easier to continue. They were both wearing short sleeves, and she deliberately brushed her arm against Harry's before sitting on the blanket, making him stop before shaking his head and sitting down across from her.
She then waited until he started reaching for the basket before doing the same herself. Their hands touched, Hermione's on top of Harry's, and Hermione intentionally let her hand rest there.
But not for long though, as Harry quickly took his hand back, a blush staining his cheeks. He cleared his throat a couple times as Hermione started handing him food, smiling as she did so.
This was all going perfectly.
As Hermione walked back to Hogwarts Castle after her 'date' with Harry, as it was romantic enough to call it that, she smiled and thought about how well the last couple hours had gone.
After the hand-touching incident, Harry had tried to mess with the romantic atmosphere by talking about the wedding. Hermione told him to relax because it was just such a peaceful and beautiful day, and he did so.
They listened to nature as they munched on the delicious chicken sandwiches Rosmerta had made the pair, the chirping birds and rustling leaves just adding to the vibe that it was just the two of them out there.
It was actually a pretty hot day, and as Harry and Hermione wanted to talk quietly without disturbing the nature around them, they got up and sat against the same tree trunk, their sides touching. Harry became a little awkward and nervous after that and Hermione hoped it was because of the contact.
They ate a couple ice creams a little while later, laughing and reminiscing as they did so. Harry seemed to grow a bit quiet and solemn as they did so-it seemed to Hermione that he was reliving those good times in his head. A time when they were young and naïve despite the fact that they were going up against the most powerful dark wizard of the past 300 years. A time when life seemed so simple, without love mucking it all up.
Sighing to herself, Hermione opened the door to the entrance of the castle. What she saw when she got inside shocked her.
Red hair, a speckled face, and a friendly smile. "Ron?"
A/N: I know, I know. You all hate me. I really got you all good! You really thought that it would be that easy? You don't even know what I have in store for you…*evil grin*.
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