I could tell you there's no fireworks,
I could say they rang no bells,
But there are just some things I cannot tell.
And the air it seems much cleaner,
In these streets where my feet dwell.
She crept into my pocket and whispered softly, 'do not tell'.
Charlie Winston - Secret Girl
The sound of clicking heels intermingled with the sounds from the early morning crowd. People pushed or shoved their way between each other just to find enough space to raise their half empty cups of coffee to their lips, or maybe even to light the first cigarette of the day.
Who cares?
Windows showed off their newest items, be it the current hottest sweater, or a used bookstore that was displaying a first edition copy of Alice in Wonderland. People were sitting outside that famous bistro, the little round tables and chairs filled with teenagers who thought they were too cool for the 'mainstream'. They sat there quietly, each of them tapping away at the touchscreen on their phones.
Across the street a law firm building had its lawyers rushing in and out, almost all of them with their own phones pressed tightly against their ears, or maybe even they two would stop to type out a message to some other person. Sometimes they would even be reading a book or a magazine, usually the current best sellers the media talked about all the time.
Over head, the sky was overcast. But this was the norm, London always seemed like it was covered over in clouds. It was no wonder that the people always seemed to be so depressed. Today, however, the forecaster said there was little chance of rain.
Cars rushed by as the people in them were rushing to work. No doubt late because of some forgotten paper or some other item. Or maybe they had simply wished to say hello to their children before leaving?
Who knows... Maybe they didn't even have children in the first place, or maybe their children were with their other family.
Standing on the corner of these two streets was a single blonde women. She took in all of these observations quietly, marveling at how two groups of people could be so different and yet so similar.
Around her neck was an Olympus OM-D E-M5 camera, a gift from a friend. The camera had a retro style look to it, but was completely modern. It hung from a black leather strap, coming to rest against her sweater clad stomach.
Her hands fiddled with the devise instead of the phone tucked safely away in her loose fit jeans. Below her, a random tune was being tapped out by her anxious trainer covered feet.
Blue eyes were flicking between the crowds of people and the red walking sign for pedestrians. The little walking person popped up right as she was going to push the button to call for it, something she was glad for.
People started walking all around her, each on their way with some other destination in mind. The woman enjoyed thinking about different places where the people might be off to, each person always had so much potential to do something great.
Her own destination, was currently on her own mind. A smile came so easily to her, the thoughts of being with her friends never ceased to fill her with joy.
Turning the corner, she stopped suddenly to contemplate a storefront add before her. The record store was selling off their supply of vinyls, either for half off or buy three and get the fourth free.
The sudden force of someone crashing into her sent her spiraling onto the hard ground. A warm wetness spread across her chest, giving off the unmistakeable scent of coffee.
Her hands immediately flew to her camera, fingering the devise to be sure that it wasnt damaged. It turned on with the click of a button, not in the least bit damaged. God, she loved all weather protection.
A loud string of curses reminded her of the other person who had fallen, their voice furious.
Blowing the bangs that obscured her vision, the woman almost gasped in surprise. Before her was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen.
She had curly, mahogany colored hair that fell down past her shoulders, her bangs grew parted off to the side. The woman was currently looking at the coffee stain on her salmon colored blouse, the string of curses becoming much more colorful by the passing seconds.
The blonde woman took in the short legs folded beneath the other woman, a plum colored skirt reaching the tops of her knees. In her hand was a crumpled up cup, the origin of the whole coffee fiasco.
"Jesus! Cant you watch where your going?" The women yelled as she whipped her head up to glare at the blonde.
Her pixie like face had a light dusting of freckles over her nose and cheeks. Blazing, chocolate brown eyes were glaring, plump, pink lips set into a firm line.
"Well? What do you have to say for your self?"
"Fleur! Hermione!" A woman's voice called out from somewhere behind the two women on the ground.
The blonde woman, Fleur, turned her head to look behind her. The woman before her, Hermione, huffed in what she guessed was irritation.
"There you two are! We were beginning to worry about you!"
Luna Lovegood came running up to the two women, a big, burly man following right behind her. They looked concerned, then relieved at having found their friends.
Fleur's face brightened at the sight of this man, Hermione's brightened at the sight of Luna.
Getting to her feet, Fleur outstretched a hand towards Hermione, her own way of apologizing. The brunette looked at the hand extended towards her for a moment before reluctantly pulling herself up.
Fleur was pleased to find that even with heels on, Hermione was still a few inches shorter than her.
"Fleur! Vhat happened to your shirt?" The man said once he got close enough.
"Oh, Hermione! You spilled something on yours as well!" Luna gasped, taking the ends of the brunettes shirt in her hands.
Fleur shrugged as she slid her hands into her pockets, Hermione huffed again as if there was some great nuisance bothering her without letting up.
"I didnt do anything! This blonde twit here just stopped suddenly and I crashed into her, spilling my coffee all over!" Hermione gestured to the nonchalant blonde. "And to top it off she didn't even apologize!"
Fleur looked slightly ashamed about this, her gaze down at her shoes. The man stepped toward her and laid a hand against her back in an attempt to comfort his blonde friend.
"I vill apologize for Fleur." The man said, turning to look at Hermione before leading the blonde back to the where the main group were gathered.
"Really, Luna. I don't know what goes through your head when it comes to choosing your friends." Hermione said once the two retreating figures were out of ear shot.
"Don't take it too seriously, Hermione." Luna turned to look at her friend. "Fleur has always been on the quiet side ever since I met her."
"And her boyfriend, whats the deal with him?"
"Viktor? Oh, their not dating." Luna laughed. "She's his adoptive sister, they go everywhere together that people usually just assume that their together."
"That still doesn't explain why she didn't say anything, quiet or not." Hermione narrowed her eyes, turning to look at the blonde.
"Hermione, Fleur is mute. She cant say anything even if she wanted to." Luna's eyes turned sad. "Now lets go join the others and get you changed out of that top, shall we?"
The get together was in full swing. Luna had organized the thing a week in advance, inviting only the closest of her friends. Which, Luna being Luna, meant all of her friends.
Harry had secured the table at the park and Luna brought various types of food items, these being mainly vegetarian.
Cedric had brought the grill and the charcoal, but forgot the lighter.
Fleur brought the music, which meant that she brought her ipod and docking system.
Viktor brought the meat, but locked his car keys inside his car. Fleur ended up having to slip through the partcialy opened sunroof to retrieve them.
Neville brought the crisps, while Ginny brought the dip and plates.
Ron brought the napkins and plastic spoons and knives, the twins even came with logs to build a bonfire, they even brought a few extra lighters.
And last but not least, Hermione brought the legal knowledge to keep them all from being arrested. She also brought the beer.
Everything was going smoothly and the sun eventually sank below the horizon, the night chill bringing with it the promise of a nice bonfire.
The men decided that they were best suited to the job, shooed the girls away and started arguing about the best way to start the fire. It had been much the same way earlier when they argued over who was the best griller.
Fleur had snapped a lot of pictures of Cedric glaring down the steaks while wearing Harry's 'Kiss the cook' apron.
At the moment, the tree girls were sitting on the tailgate of Cedric's pick up, conveniently backed up before their little campground.
Fleur was sitting in the middle, Luna off to the left and Hermione to her right.
Hermione sat quietly on the tailgate, listening to the quiet squabble the boys always seemed to make every few seconds. They were currently arranging the logs into a teepee like formation, balls of newspapers smoking inside, something Ginny had been trying to convince them to use in the first place.
The brunette would occasionally hear the seemingly one-sided conversation Luna was having with the girl between them.
She was just about to throw away her empty beer can when a yellow post it note was placed on her knee. Puzzled, she unstuck the little note and held it up closer to read, she had left her reading glasses in her purse.
'Im really sorry about earlier this morning.'
Hermione looked over to see Fleur looking directly at her, an apologetic look on her face. The long fingers of her hands were tapping out a random pattern against the glass of her empty beer bottle.
"Did you put this there?" Hermione held up the sticky note.
Fleur nodded, reaching beside her to hold up a pad of multicolored sticky notes and a pen.
"Well then, apology accepted. But I have to apologize as well, it wasn't right of me to snap at you for ruining my blouse."
Fleur glanced down at the tie dye shirt the brunette had borrowed from Luna before hastily scribbling down on another note.
'I'll cover your dry cleaning cost.'
Hermione smiled a little at this, sticking this new post it onto the first.
"Thats really not necessary, its not like it was a work blouse anyway."
'Then at least allow me to buy you another coffee.'
"We'll see." Hermione winked at the blonde before going for another beer.
Fleur sighed a quiet sigh, her eyes never leaving the retreating figure of the brunette.
"You like her." Luna singsonged, making the blonde blush furiously.
"Shall I go and tell her?"
Fleur shook her head violently, her golden locks of hair going every which way.
Luna grinned, then jumped off the tail gate to run after the brunette, leaving Fleur to gape openly at the other blonde woman.
"Hermione! Can you come here for a second? I need too, oof!"
Hermione turned back to see Fleur laying atop a struggling Luna, her hands covering the other blondes mouth.
She shook her head as the boys behind them were giving off cries of victory as the bonfire actually caught fire, Ginny's voice joining them.
Sometimes, just sometimes, she really did wonder where the hell Luna got her friends from.