Before you start reading:
I hereby want to apologize for all the errors you'll find in the text. I tried to be as correct as possible, but, you know, I'm not a native speaker of English, so sometimes I struggle with grammar or word choices. Feel free to send me the mistakes you spotted; I'll gladly correct them.
And now, PLEASE ENJOY! :D Hopefully it's not TOO crappy, but I think it'll be best if you decide for yourself! :)
Reviews are love!
The hall was packed with people.
No, people isn't quite right, Hermione thought annoyed when she found herself unwilling to walk against the invisible wall of voices, laughs and chatters; so she stopped right in the middle of the entrance and started surveying the excited crowd skeptically. The slightly more precise term girls wasn't fitting either, especially since it would insult every single female human being on the planet.
Maniacs. The people in here are maniacs.
And, what worst of all, though hardly believable: her current local position suggested that she, Hermione Jean Granger, was one of them.
"Listen, Hermione," Lavender said, "I know you don't want to be here, but I'm glad you still chose to accompany me. You can be sure of my eternal gratefulness." She rolled her eyes before she caught at Hermione's arm and dragged her along, right inside the lion's den. "But this is where the real fun begins! Why do you think I wanted to come here in the first place?! Just to watch other people having fun?!"
"Someday I really would love to hear your precise definition of 'fun'. I can't shake off the feeling that we need to order some things in your brain to-"
"Oh, spare me!" Lavender snorted and shot her a half-hearted angry look, but Hermione knew that she had already lost most of Lavender's attention to whatever was going on on that damn stage at the end of the room.
Suddenly, she stopped, let go of Hermione's arm and nearly started jumping up and down. Hermione knew just how much these kinds of things could make Lavender go crazy, but she never expected it to be that bad. "Just look at them and tell me you don't think they're super attractive! Tell me!" She squeaked, nearly making Hermione clutch at her ears.
"If I could see them, maybe I'd agree with you. Since that's not the case because I'm simply too short, I think I'll leave you to your very own imagination of fun and pick you up again when this… event is over. I'll be in the library." But before she could turn around, Lavender caught hold of her arm once again and held her in place with a firm grip.
"Oh no, you're not leaving," she growled. "Hermione, you're 21 years old and life's not just about university, books and never getting over Ronald Weasley." Hermione's eyes widened while Lavender broke into a sort of very passionate monologue in which she continued to remind her of the true beauty of life – that, being BOYS – and her responsibility towards herself to fill her own life with as much of this essential beauty as possible – that, being… never mind.
Hermione sighed.
"And now," Lavender finished, "Get yourself together, use your tiptoes and tell me what you think of those godlike creatures."
Hermione gave in. There was no way to disobey a very passionate Lavender – a fact she had known before she said "Yes" to her constant questioning whether she would come with her to this so called "Charity Kissing Event" their university held for the first time. She didn't even like Lavender that much; but after splitting up with Ron four months ago, she rarely went out with anyone anymore, just spend most of her time in the library, studying far more than what was expected, once more impressing her professors, just as much as she had already gained respect in the rows of her former teachers at school.
That was Hermione Granger's life; but instead of simply accepting this fact about her, she found herself tiptoeing just to get a glimpse at 10 boys on a stage which couldn't have been any lower!
For some reason, the crowd suddenly parted. Hermione realized that there were actually chairs in the hall which – unfortunately – no one had used because that would've meant losing sight of the "godlike creatures".
But now the people in front of her slowly started to sit down, which gave Hermione the possibility to finally see what made these girls around her nearly faint.
"Yeah, okay, they are quite handsome," Hermione finally admitted, letting her eyes wander over the 10 smiling boys who stood side by side on the stage and were looking down on the huge crowd consisting mostly of girls swooning back and forth.
"They're HOT!"
"Language, Lavender," Hermione reminded her absentmindedly, when suddenly – and who would've thought that?– her attention was caught by the boy on the very left side of the stage.
He was rather tall, had huge, dark eyes and jet-black hair which reflected the bright lights in the big hall. His skin was extremely pale, his slender figure leaned against the table which stood behind him. But the most striking feature about him – apart from his essential and undeniable beauty – was something else: aside from her, he was the only one in the room who was not smiling, which was indeed a really outstanding observation if one let their eyes wander around. He seemed so bored that Hermione couldn't decide if she should feel disgusted – because then why was he present? – or if she was better off laughing at his apparent unwillingness in relation to what was yet to come. Just as she decided that the latter option would probably help her enjoy the next two hours, the boy's dark eyes lazily shifted towards her and their gazes met.
Hermione instantly got goosebumps and felt her mouth go dry. Jesus! Since Ron she never had felt such a physical reaction to someone, especially not to a person she had never seen before.
Lavender to her right raised her eyebrows, but when she saw at whom Hermione was staring, she couldn't suppress a laugh. "Oh no," she giggled, "No! Absolutely not! Not Tom Riddle. Don't do that to yourself. Just how strange are you?"
Hermione blinked and finally averted her gaze from Riddle's dark, very mysterious eyes. "Strange?" she repeated. Look who's talking…
Lavender nodded. "Yes. Strange. At first, you don't want to come here. Then you want leave earlier. And at the very end, you decide that staying is worthwhile as long as you can marvel at the glory that's Tom Riddle."
Hermione frowned. "I never said that."
"You didn't. But you thought just that. I know you did."
For a few seconds, Hermione simply stared at Lavender, who seemed extremely sure of herself. She didn't know why, but somehow, this made Hermione incredibly angry. The day that Lavender Brown knew what Hermione Granger was thinking yet needed to come!
However, before she could say anything to correct Lavender's reasoning, a voice which loudly echoed through the hall stopped her from doing so.
"Hello everyone!" said a very cheerful blonde girl who was standing right in the middle of the stage. The noises surrounding Hermione instantly vanished, and she internally wished that one day, she would encounter the same silence in one of the lectures she visited. That was a perfect learning atmosphere. Everyone was quiet, everyone was happy to be there. Really, there was nothing more one could ask for.
"Well, thanks for coming to this event," the girl continued. "I'm Laura, and I'm going to guide you through this auction." Some of the girls started screaming and crying at this time, ruining Hermione's dreamlike learning atmosphere by doing so. "The rules are simple. The highest bidder will get a kiss from one of the boys standing behind me. The money we gain here will go to charity organizations which are already counting on the success of this event, so don't disappoint me, please." Laura winked, taking a step back. "Before we start, there is just one very interesting thing I need to tell you." She fell silent, waiting for the atmosphere to grow extremely tense. Hermione rolled her eyes. So much drama in one day!
"You can just bid for boys one to nine. Boy number ten" – at this point, Tom Riddle lowered his head and observed his shoes – "will turn the game around. But you'll see what I mean as soon as we get there. But now… let's start."
What happened then was an explosion of cries, screams, tears, laughs, and – last but not least – kisses. Hermione observed what was going on with her arms crossed in front of her, very determinedly trying not to look at Tom Riddle again.
Actually, the boys one could bid for weren't just good looking – according to Lavender, all of them were rather famous and well-known around campus, which was either because they were a) very rich, b) very intelligent, or c) very rich AND very intelligent.
Hermione was aware of the fact that such people existed, but she had never cared much about them. Yes, she had seen some of the faces before, but since all of the boys studied different things than her, she had never worked with them. She wasn't very interested in visiting parties or attending official events, so there was hardly any place left where she actually could've met one of them.
But even if she would be acquainted with them, she still wouldn't be willing to bid the absurd amounts of money the girls around her were shouting at Laura, who seemed to be incredibly pleased with the way things worked out. Hermione guessed she had been part of the planning committee.
Even Lavender tried her best to make her dream of kissing a complete – and probably very arrogant – stranger come true, but the girls around them seemed to have saved all of their money earned in their previous lifetime just for this specific occasion.
Just as the biddings for boys one to nine were finally over and Hermione intended to raise her voice to remind Lavender that she could always try to continue fulfilling her dream simply by going to one of the discos nearby, Laura announced, "Thank you so much for your huge support, guys! Up until now, the event has been extremely successful, and we couldn't have accomplished that without your help!" Hermione looked at the stage, just to find it nearly empty. Only two people were remaining. Laura, and…
"And now, get ready for the very last and probably most exciting thing to happen this evening." She smiled, looking over at Tom Riddle, who was still sitting on the table, finally looking up at the blonde show master. A small smile made its way onto his handsome face, though Hermione couldn't tell whether it was true or not. He slowly stood up, unfolded his arms, put his hands in his pockets and came over to the place where Laura was standing. Hermione was fairly sure she saw how the girl started to tremble.
Honestly, she couldn't blame her.
"Yeah," began Laura while trying to regain her calm. "So, like I said. Mr. Riddle will turn the game around, Ladies." The girls started to whisper and elbow each other. They strangely reminded Hermione of her grandpa's chickens.
"He already spent 50,000 pounds" – a soft cry erupted some of the girls' throats – "to be able to choose the girl he wants to kiss." The whispers got louder and finally broke into hysterical chatter and screaming. Hermione was sure: the girl Tom Riddle would want to kiss probably would end up unconscious out of pure excitement, missing her chance to get the kiss she never expected to get.
Though that would be rather sad, it wouldn't surprise Hermione all that much. Honestly, she just wanted this event to be over. She wanted to be in her room. She wanted to read a good book. She wanted to leave this place. As soon as possible.
"So, Tom. Already made up your mind?" Laura looked down at the screaming crowd.
Riddle just looked at the ceiling. "Yeah, a while ago, to be honest," he answered quietly, though it was easy to understand him, because when he had raised his voice, the chatter and screams had died out immediately. Hermione raised her eyebrows. Now, that was an accomplishment. Maybe she just had to ask him if he was willing to accompany her to one of her lectures; maybe his very melodic and deep voice would be able to quiet the people there as well…
"And? Who is the lucky one?"
He very slowly raised his long index finger and pointed in Hermione's direction. The girl in front of her doubled over and was – unconscious. Oh, well. So predictable. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Is she all right?" shouted Laura and shot a worried look towards them. The girl next to the unconscious one knelt down beside her friend and nodded after a few moments.
"Thank god," said Laura and looked at Riddle. "Well, I'm sorry, Tom, but I think you have to choose someone else-"
"Oh, no problem at all," he assured her, tilting up his face. "You know, I'm really sorry to say that, but I actually wasn't pointing at that poor girl." He smiled, showing his bright, regular teeth. "I meant the one behind her, with the lovely bushy brown hair and the intelligent eyes who hasn't even smiled once the entire time. I really want to change that, because obviously she's not having an enjoyable time."
Hermione didn't need to look at the gaping Lavender to her right to feel her heart sinking.
This just couldn't be happening.
But right at that moment, Riddle's eyes shifted to meet Hermione's, before slowly nodding in her direction.
"You see? This one over there."
Laura followed his gaze and ended up looking at Hermione – just as everyone else in the now very quiet hall.
She had never felt so entirely uncomfortable in her whole life.
"Oh, I see. Good choice! Congratulations! Well then, would you mind coming up the stage?"
Hermione knew the last words were directed at her – but her feet just wouldn't move.
She rarely found herself in situations like this, but for once in a very long time-
Hermione Granger didn't know what to do.