Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter world

This is a total AU, with no magic, no Hogwarts and no Voldemort destroying people's lives, which means that everyone is alive such as James, Lily and Sirius etc.

Chapter 1 – Looking for trouble

Hermione twisted the key in the lock of her apartment and pushed the door open. A rush of welcome warmth enveloped her as she stepped inside her hallway. She deposited her extremely heavy bag on to the floor with a quick sigh and kicked off her heels as they were killing her.

She'd just hung her coat and scarf up on a peg when she noticed that a light on her phone was bleeping to show that she had a new message. She pressed the play button and leant against the wall massaging her feet while she listened to the robotic voice drone out of the machine.

"You have three new messages. Message one."

"Hello Hermione dear it's your mother. I just rang to remind you that it's your Nana's birthday on Wednesday so don't forget to send her a card in time and she does so love to hear from you, so it'll probably be best if you write her a long letter about how you are getting on and such. Speak to you soon. Don't Forget! Bye"

"Don't worry mum I won't forget," Hermione sighed as the machine prattled off the time of her mother's call.

"Message two."

"Hello Miss Granger. This is Carl from Discovery Prizes. I am calling you to let you know that you have been randomly selected from our draw to win our competition…"

"Oh yes! Which competition is that then?" Hermione asked angrily, "the one I have no recollection of entering. Bloody salesmen!" She growled as she pressed the delete button.

"Message deleted. Message two."

Hermione leant against the wall again and closed her eyes.

"Hey 'Mione. It's Ginny."

Hermione's eyes snapped open. Ginny never called her unless something was really wrong.

"Sorry to call you on a Friday- I know you like your weekends to be hassle free but I…Erm…Ok it's me and Rick. It's over. It was a mutual thing. We just don't have that same connection anymore-"

"Oh no," breathed Hermione as she stopped the message and quickly dialled Ginny's number, waiting impatiently for Ginny to pick up.

"Hi Gin, it's 'Mione."

"Oh" sniff "Hi Hermione."

Ginny spoke only three words but Hermione could tell that her friend had been crying.

"I'll be round in ten minutes- actually better make it fifteen. You know what London traffic is like at this time of day! I'll see you soon Gin. Bye"

She put down the phone and quickly put her coat and scarf back on. She went to put on her shoes but decided that her feet had suffered too much for one day and hurriedly scampered to her room to find a more comfortable pair before running back out of her apartment.

"So I met him this morning for coffee, we talked about things and in the end we both agreed. It's for the best I suppose but still, why does it have to hurt so much?" Ginny blew her nose loudly then wiped at her eyes with her sleeve.

"Oh Ginny," Hermione said sympathetically pulling her into a hug. She hated seeing Ginny upset. They had been friends ever since Ginny had started attending Watchling's Boarding School. Hermione been in the year above Ginny, who was the younger sister of Hermione's best friend Ron Weasley, who had also attended the same school along with Hermione's other best friend Harry Potter.

Hermione pulled herself away from Ginny's embrace and looked straight into her red puffy eyes. "Well crying over it isn't going to do you any good Gin. You know what you need?" Ginny blinked away some more tears and shook her head slightly.

"A good night out."

Ginny grimaced.

"I don't know Mione. I'm really not in the mood. I just feel like sitting here and watching a load of soppy romance films to make me feel worse while eating a load of chocolate and drinking a lot of wine."

Hermione looked horrified at the idea and pulled Ginny to her feet.

"Absolutely not! I'm not going to let you sit here and drown your sorrows! Just think of all the great guys out there you can meet now that you're single again. You said yourself that you lost that connection with Rick well now you get it again with someone else and this time, you never know, that feeling could last forever if you meet the right guy!"

"I suppose so," said Ginny not very enthusiastically.

"I'll tell you what-we could try out Seamus' place. I keep meaning to go and check it out and now we've got a reason- to find you a new man! It's supposed to be an amazing club from what I've heard. Very popular among the celebs apparently but Seamus always said we'd be welcome there. You never know, you could meet some big Hollywood superstar there! How good would that be huh?" Hermione's cheery optimism was starting to have an effect on Ginny.

She smiled a watery smile, "Ok."

'Creative' was the hottest new club in London and was owned by Seamus Finnigan, a former classmate of Hermione and Ginny. Anyone who was anybody had been seen in there over the last few weeks from actresses to musicians, sports stars to politicians. If you weren't on the V.I.P list then you were going to have a tough chance getting in. Luckily fame and fortune hadn't gone to Seamus' head and he still remembered his friends from school and Hermione and Ginny had no problems getting in.

They quickly located the bar and Hermione got them both drinks. It was extremely noisy inside the club but they managed to find themselves a quieter corner where they could at least hear each other without shouting.

"Wow. This place is amazing! It's so busy in here."

"I know Gin! I can't believe this is Seamus' club. He must be absolutely loaded!"

"You bet I am 'Mione!" cried a male voice behind them. Hermione and Ginny span around.

"Seamus!"

"Hey girls!" He said in his thick Irish accent. "You both look absolutely stunning," he complimented them giving each of them a kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks Seamus. This place is incredible! Where did you get all the money to launch a club like this?" asked Ginny

"Won it!" he replied, "luck of the Irish an' all that." They all laughed.

"So Seamus," said Hermione taking a sip of her drink, "which celebs have you got in tonight? I hear that they just flock to this place."

"Not so many tonight. We've got a couple of lads from Man United football club, some singer who I've never heard of but's apparently really good and oh yeah, Draco Malfoy!"

Ginny choked on her drink.

"Draco Malfoy! The Hollywood superstar? No way! I thought he lived in L.A now." Ginny looked at Seamus completely stunned.

"He does but he's shooting some new film back here in London. I'm surprised that you haven't spotted him already. He's over there surrounded by all those girls." Seamus pointed to the opposite end of the club. Hermione followed his finger and sure enough there was the attractive blond actor that she'd seen on the front of magazines and film posters. He was laying on a big couch with lots of beautiful, scantily clad women pouring all over him while he talked to them.

"Oh my God Hermione! Draco Malfoy! Can you believe it? Let's go talk to him!" exclaimed Ginny as she smoothed down her dress subconsciously.

"Woah there Gin. You're not serious are you? I mean look at him surrounded by all those women."

"Oh come on Hermione you know I don't go after blonds. I'm a tall, dark and handsome sorta girl. It's just that I've never been near someone so famous before!"

"I wouldn't get so excited over him Ginny," warned Seamus. "He seemed a bit of an arrogant sod to me."

"Why am I not surprised?" said Hermione dryly while Ginny looked slightly put out.

"He walked in here like he owned the place with his entourage and everything then he told them all to get lost. But his manager's still here somewhere. I don't know how he puts up with him. Believe me, when you've met as many celebs as I have you get to tell the good from the bad straight away. He seems the sort who's got everything his own way ever since he's been born."

Hermione looked over at Draco Malfoy and saw all the women laughing at some joke that he'd told and couldn't help but feel like she agreed with everything Seamus had said.

Seamus looked at his watch, "Argh! Is that the time! I'm sorry girls, I've got a million things to do. It was really great to see you again. I hope you have a great night. If you need anything just say I said it was ok." He gave both a hug and a kiss goodbye then disappeared into the dancing crowd.

"Right then," said Hermione downing her drink, "we need to find you someone. Now."

Ginny looked at her slightly apprehensively but then nodded and finished her drink too.

They placed their empty glasses on a nearby table then walked onto the dance floor. They danced there in the middle of the club, both looking around at all the happy faces, trying to find a suitable candidate while bright lights flashed all around them.

They had been dancing for only a few minutes when Hermione noticed a man leaning against a stairwell that led upstairs to another part of the club. He was staring moodily at the dancing crowd and did not look pleased to be there at all. Hermione couldn't see him too well as he was standing out of reach of the colourful lights but she just had this unexplainable feeling that he was who they were looking for.

She turned back to Ginny, tapped the younger girl on the arm to get her attention and pointed towards the bar. She nodded and they both tried to fight their way through the mass of people.

"You've found someone then?" asked Ginny as they took seats at the bar.

"I think so. He's standing against those stairs near that big mirror."

"Where?"

Hermione pointed to the stranger on the other side of the club who was still looked thoroughly moody.

Ginny stood up slightly from her bar stool so that she could see who Hermione had pointed out. Hermione watched her face as she spotted him and saw a frown appear there.

"He looks incredibly grumpy 'Mione."

"I know, but what was it you said to me a few minutes ago- tall, dark and handsome? Well, he fits all three descriptions perfectly." Hermione looked over to the guy again as she said this. She could see him a lot more clearly from here and noted that he had striking dark eyes and neat black hair. He was extremely attractive and Hermione wondered why he looked so miserable.

"You're certainly not wrong there," Ginny breathed as she continued to stare at him, "but he doesn't really look like he's in the mood for talking to anyone tonight."

"Well have you seen anyone else who you've been even slightly tempted by?"

"No, not really-"

"Then it's worth a go isn't it? And if he blows you off then he's obviously an idiot for not wanting to get to know a beautiful, intelligent, vivacious woman such as yourself!"

Ginny smiled at her and Hermione took this as a positive confirmation and called to the waiter.

"How can I help you luv?" asked the waiter, throwing a towel over his shoulder.

"Could I have some tap water in a wine glass please?" asked Hermione giving him a radiant smile.

"Course you can. Coming right up."

Ginny scowled at her.

"What?" said Hermione defensively, "It'll be a complete waste otherwise and I'm not made of money as you full well know!"

The waiter returned with water and Hermione was relieved that she didn't have to pay anything for it. She thought it was wrong to charge people for plain tap water but you never knew with these expensive clubs! She handed the glass to Ginny who looked a little nervous.

"You'll be fine," reassured Hermione, "you've done it before and it's worked!"

"I know," smiled Ginny as she got off her stool.

"Good luck!" called Hermione as Ginny set off towards the handsome stranger.

Hermione watched the scene play out before her apprehensively. She saw Ginny get nearer and nearer to him and then when she was just a couple of feet away she appeared to trip over something and fell straight into the man's arms, sending her drink all over him.

He looked furiously down at the culprit and Hermione thought that he was about to explode at her, but then he saw her face looking up apologetically at him, her beautiful eyes peering up at him through her fringe, and his face melted.

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief as he pulled Ginny to her feet and she produced a tissue from somewhere and frantically dabbed his shirt stuttering hurried apologies over and over again. The man was smiling at Ginny and waving his hand dismissively obviously telling her not to worry about it. She smiled guiltily back at him before quickly glancing at Hermione who gave her the thumps up grinning broadly.

Satisfied that Ginny was going to be occupied with something else for the rest of the evening, Hermione turned her attention back to the dancing crowd and started perusing them once more but this time for herself.

She ordered a proper drink from the bar and was just about to take a sip when a loud voice made her jump.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?"

Thanks for reading. This is just a fic that I've had in my head for quite a while and I just need to get it out of my system. I have a general idea where I want this to end up but I'm just not sure how it's going to get there yet!

I'm quite busy with my other fic New Dawn (also a DM/HG if you wanna check it out) so let me know if you want to read more and I'll try to update regularly if the response is good. I know it's probably a bad idea trying to do two stories at once but as it's Summer now I suppose this is when it will work better than any other time!

Anyhow, thanks for reading! Please review,

Lil Drop of Magic