Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. All rights belong to J.K. Rowling.
This story is about a group of American teenagers that are spending their gap-year on a tour of Europe. No Hogwarts. No magic. They all grew up in the Pennsylvanian suburbs.
Pansy
I watched Ben and Hermione waltz across the ice, Their steps vigorous, but precise, carving patterns on the hard surface. I could see them talking to each other: 'deep edge, 1-2-3, swing-roll'; they occasionally laughed or shared a smile. They ended their dance with a mock bow and curtsey, then grinned at each other. Ben and Hermione were unaware of my presence; I hid behind a wall, my face just barely peeking out. I wanted to see what they would do when they thought they were all alone at the rink. They skated over to the boards, each slide in unison, and took sips of water from separate bottles. Ben set his blue water bottle next to Hermione's green one.
"Race ya?" he suggested, his brown eyes sparkling. I decided his resemblance to Enrique Iglesias was rather amazing.
"Definitely!" replied Hermione brightly. They lined up and counted "3, 2, 1, GO!". I watched them skate around the ice; they put all they had into it, and Hermione had a look of sheer determination on her face. The lap was nearly up when Ben came up behind Hermione and grabbed her, resulting in them tripping and falling; and, ultimately, Ben lying on top of Hermione. I wondered how many times they had lied horizontally like this; except with the feeling of a mattress or the back seat of a car beneath them, instead of cold ice.
If only Draco could see them now. I thought with a smirk.
I watched Ben get up off of Hermione, and Hermione get up off the ice too, brushing snow from her behind. Ben put his arm around Hermione, placing his hand on her hip. A wave of jealousy hit me as I looked at Hermione's perfect brown ballet-bun, and Ben's thumb as it gently stroked her hip-bone. Why couldn't that be me? Hermione the smart girl, the girl who was good at everything, the girl that everyone liked. Why was it always Hermione? Why did Hermione get a boyfriend like Draco, and a friend (and, also, ex-boyfriend) like Ben? It's unfair that she has two guys who worship her, and I have none. At that moment I knew the only feeling I had for Hermione Granger was hate.
I realized the mood on the ice had changed: no longer were Hermione and Ben racing, now they were saying good-bye. I watched as they tenderly hugged each other, and Ben planted a kiss on Hermione's forehead. Would that make Draco jealous? Would seeing that kiss hurt him? I decided of there arose a chance to push Hermione off a cliff in Europe, I would take it. She didn't deserve the life she had: the happy family -the mother-, the nice boyfriend -the guy I was in love with-, the money, the good grades...she took it all for granted. And I...I had so little. If I could just have a mother and Draco, I would be so happy. I knew I couldn't have everything I wanted, and my dad had told me so many times that my mother wasn't coming back; I believed him. Draco wouldn't break up with Hermione without a reason-or some help. Helping wasn't really in my nature, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
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Draco
Harry and Hermione were spending the day at my house. We were flying to Paris the next evening, and Hermione was helping me with my packing. "Hermione, I think they make toothbrushes in Europe." I said, glancing into a filled suitcase she had brought over from her own house across the street. The case was half filled with toothbrushes, toothpaste, dental floss, and other hygienic products.
"How many toothbrushes do you have in here!" I said, my gray eyes wide.
"Like, thirty." Hermione replied calmly; not looking up from the book she was reading while she perched on the windowsill in my room.
"Harry!" I called.
"Yes." said Harry, entering my bedroom.
"How many toothbrushes are you bringing?" I asked, heading into my walk-in closet to get a suitcase of my own.
"One." replied Harry, like it was completely obvious.
"Well Hermione's bringing thirty." said I, exiting my closet and nodding my head in my girlfriends direction. Harry's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Oh my God," exclaimed Hermione, rolling her eyes as she stood up. "Who cares how many toothbrushes I bring with me?" She stuffed a book titled Romania: At a Glance into her suitcase.
"How many pairs of socks are you bringing?" Harry asked her.
"Ten, I think." He blinked, and I chuckled a bit as I sat down on my bed.
"So...you'll bring thirty toothbrushes, but only ten pairs of socks?" Harry said dubiously.
"My philosophy in life is that you can never have too many toothbrushes." Hermione said with a smile.
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Hermione
"We're here; make way!" said Ginny loudly as I opened the Malfoy's front door to let she and Luna in. Both of my best friends heaved two very large suitcases behind them, and I helped the girls lug them into my boyfriends house. A car was coming in an hour to pick us all up and take us to the airport.
Harry was helping Draco bring his suitcases downstairs when he caught the sight of Luna and Ginny, and smiled at them. "Holy suitcase heaven." he said when he and Draco had placed the other two suitcases with the rest that waited near the door. "This had better be one big-ass car that's picking us up. Hell, it'd better be a bus."
"Yeah, this had better not be one of those 'town cars'." I said teasingly to Draco.
"Is someone bringing three bags?" asked Ginny, counting the suitcases.
"I am." I told her. I knew that I had packed some items that I might not even use; but I didn't want to run out of clean clothes right away, either. Draco's mother, Narcissa, entered the foyer where we all stood.
"Evening, everyone." she said, and she hugged Luna and Ginny. "Is Pansy not here yet?" she asked.
"Not yet, but she'll be here soon." said Harry, speaking on his stepsister's behalf.
"I hope so, sometimes the drivers arrive early, and I absolutely hate to keep them waiting." She looked at Hermione "Have you got everything, Dear? You should all double check that you have all the necessary documents, et cetera."
"Mum, he have everything." Said Draco, sounding a mix of embarrassed and annoyed.
Narcissa smiled warmly, "I know when I'm not wanted." she said with a good-natured laugh. "I'll be in the sitting room, let me know when the car arrives so that I may say good-bye!" She exited through a large door on the left.
"Let's go wait in the living room until Pansy arrives." I suggested.
Pansy arrived about fifteen minutes later. "You're late." complained Harry. Pansy made a rude gesture with her hands.
Ginny laughed, "You two fight as if you'd been brother and sister all your life." Then she gave both Harry and Pansy a wry smile. Even I smiled at that; Harry's mother had married Pansy's father about two years ago, but the teens were still adjusting to it. Harry had dealt with the change fairly well, but Pansy still seemed to loathe the situation. For a second I remembered that Pansy and I had once been best friends, now we just hung out together because...well, I didn't actually know why. I frowned and leaned back against Draco, and he placed a soft kiss on my temple and I was reminded of an event that took place earlier that afternoon at my house.
Hot water pouring down on me; this was my last shower in America before I headed to Europe. I had been to Europe plenty of times before, but this time was different; this time there were no parents, this time I was going with my boyfriend. 'And we'll have hot sex all over the continent' I thought.
"Do you want me to come in there with you?" Draco asked. He was in the bathroom with me, but there was a curtain so he couldn't see me. I could only imagine the expression on his face when he asked my that question.
"I'm good, thanks." I replied. To me, showering was about getting clean, so I didn't really want to get dirty in the shower-if you know what I mean.
I rinsed out my long brown hair and turned the water off. I pulled the curtain aside a tad, only to see Draco sitting a few feet away in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. He was watching me, waiting for the shower curtain to fall a little and uncover a part of me.
"You pig." I said to him. Draco laughed, and I gingerly reached out for my robe, making sure that the shower curtain concealed anything important from Draco's view; though I was pretty sure you could see my nipples through the curtain material.
"Nothing I haven't seen before." said Draco, smirking.
I got out of the shower in my robe. "Not until we're in Paris, remember?" I said to him playfully.
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Hermione
"Seen it. Don't want to see it. ...I've seen all of those." said Ginny as she scanned through the flights movie selections.
"You haven't seen that one." said Luna, pointing to a foreign language film.
"I don't do subtitles." Ginny said flatly. Luna sighed slightly, and then turned to me "What are you going to watch, Hermione?"
"Midnight in Paris" I said with a smile, it was one of my favorite films. I felt as though I had some sort of connection with the lead character; I really understood him. "They have Harold and Maude." I told Luna, smiling. That was one of Luna's favorite films; whereas Ginny liked action and comedy movies.
A few hours later I awoke to a beautiful sunny morning, according to the radar and map on the screen in front of me, we were flying over Cardiff. Flight attendants were moving among the aisles serving awake passengers a light breakfast. I was absolutely exhausted and my neck hurt from the way I had slept. I felt a kiss on the top of my head, and I looked up to see Draco standing up from his seat behind mine. "Morning." I said with a smile.
"More like the middle of the night." he said with a tired smile, he yawned and rubbed his eyes.
Pansy was still asleep in her seat next to Harry's, but Harry was awake and eating a blueberry muffin. "Did you hear that person snoring in the other row all night?" he asked between bites.
"She still is snoring." Draco said with a sneer, looking over at the girl in the other row. The girl was about our age, and her mouth was open and she was sitting in a rather uncomfortable looking position while the snores rumbled out of her. She was an attractive looking girl when awake, but the same could not be said of her at the moment.
"God, I almost feel bad for her." Ginny said, looking at the snoring girl. I turned to my best friend, only just realizing that she'd woken up.
"Hey, Gin, good night's sleep?" I asked.
She shrugged, "They're serving breakfast already? I just ate dinner, like, three hours ago."
A short while later Luna and Pansy woke up, and soon after that we were landing at Charles du Gaulle Airport.
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Draco
She told me that this lift was 'big' by Paris standards. I believed her, I had once spent the night in a hotel near Montmartre that had a lift that allegedly fit four people; my parents and I had had one hell of a time just to fit the three of us.
The six of us were going to be spending the next two weeks in an apartment overlooking the Seine. Technically, it was illegal for all of us to stay in one place, but we had told the owner that it would only be four, maybe five of us, and she had consented. Only Hermione, Harry and Pansy were accompanying me as a young woman named Adele showed us the flat.
I was fluent in French so I did most of the talking to Adele (though she spoke perfect English, also); asking her where good restaurants around the area were, et cetera. After handing us over our sets of keys, Adele left and Hermione quickly called Ginny to let her know that she and Luna leave the cafe they were at and meet Harry outside of the apartment building to let them in and help bring up their luggage.
"I'm starved." said Ginny as soon she was in the apartment; her red hair was flying everywhere and she still wore the pajama bottoms she had worn on the plane. God knows what people must think when they see her. I thought.
"Okay, who wants to get settled in first and then go out?" asked Hermione. Hermione had changed, and brushed her hair and teeth at the airport already this morning; she was ready to go out and walk and experience Paris (a city she claimed to know like the back of her hand).
"It's not even eleven, so we can go have lunch in a little bit, and then spend the rest of the afternoon exploring." Suggested Luna.
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Luna
"Aren't those earrings beautiful?" I said to Hermione, pointing to a pair of fine filigree and amber earrings.
"They're really pretty." Hermione said, admiring them as a smile played at her lips.
"Luna, I found a pair of earrings that are so you." said Ginny from the other side of the shop. They were little dangling radishes. I smiled at Ginny, "You know me." I said to her softly.
"Radish earrings? As if you weren't already weird enough." said Pansy sourly, peering over my shoulder.
"They're not weird, they have character." I told her.
"Not that anyone asked your opinion." Ginny snapped at Pansy. Thankfully, Ginny and Pansy did not make a scene, and I was able to purchase the earrings in peace. The two girls had notoriously not gotten along since they met in eighth grade. Part of it likely had something to do with a territory issue over Hermione; Hermione and Pansy had been friends since first grade, but Ginny had not met Hermione until many years later. Ninth grade had been when the big 'falling out' between Hermione and Pansy had been, and neither of them had been amicable since. We left the little shop and found Draco and Harry sitting down and enjoying Amorino's ice creams.
"You didn't get us any?" Hermione teased her boyfriend, and she licked some of the ice cream from his cone. I noticed the expression on Pansy's face at this display; not that Pansy had really tried to hide it, everyone knew how she felt about Draco.
Since we were all experiencing some serious jet-lag, we just spent a few hours walking around before heading back to the apartment to take naps before dinner. I was sharing the main bedroom with Ginny and Pansy; Ginny and I slept in the bed, while Pansy slept on a cot that was stored under the bed and could be pulled out when it was needed. Hermione and Draco shared a small bedroom at the back of the apartment, and Harry was the unlucky one who had to sleep on a couch for the next two weeks.
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Pansy
He was an unconventionally attractive man, Lev Shevchenko, I supposed. Against his pale skin his green eyes stood out considerably, and a shadow of stubble was present on his long thin neck and square jaw. I invited him to sit with us at dinner, much to Hermione's dismay. Anything to displease Her Royal Highness, I thought.
Lev spoke with a moderately heavy Russian accent, but nonetheless spoke English very well. Almost everyone at the table was getting French onion soup, but Lev recommended I get the lamb.
"I'll get it if you will." I said to him rather coyly.
He looked at me as no one had ever looked at me before, and grinned in a way that made me wonder if I should feel aroused or terrified. As I looked into his slightly bloodshot eyes, I felt a little bit of both. My eyes dropped to my lap, my confidence shaken slightly and I smiled demurely. When I lifted my eyes back up I noticed Hermione looking at me with her pretty brow furrowed slightly, she looked away but I could tell she thought something was up. Even after all these years of not even being friends, we could still read each really well; which was scary in its own way.
Luna, or Loony as I liked to call her, talked to Lev quite a lot; asking him about Russia, and asking him how long he had been in Paris. Eventually we found out that he was a butcher, but soon I could not tolerate any more of her inane questions.
"Jeeze, Luna, don't interrogate the guy!" I said to her as nicely as possible, even with a smile on my face, but it did not matter there was still a stinging note to my words. The tension at the table was palpably awkward until the next bottle of wine arrived. Yes, I loved that about Europe; I could drink, and tonight we were drinking a fair amount. We ate, drank, talked, laughed, ordered more food; bottles vine and perrier were flowing freely, and I couldn't remember a recent time when I had had more fun. I also loved the fact that Lev Shevchenko's eyes almost never left me all night.
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In the next chapter:
I woke up. A dim light was seeping through the curtains. I looked around and saw a pile of my neatly folded clothes for today: shorts, t-shirt, and my bray lay on top. My heart surged a little when I remembered we were in Paris. I heard soft breathing coming from the body pressed against my back...