Make No Promises
Chapter 1:: Framed
By: hermioneharry4ever
Out of all of wizard history, every wizard or witch knows of the tale. The tale of Voldemort finally being defeated by the famous Harry Potter, and his friends, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. As the tale goes, the three friends overpowered Voldemort, and afterwards, Harry Potter proposed to Hermione Granger. Hermione Granger accepted, and became Mrs. Potter one year after the defeat of Voldemort.
As the tale says, within six years of being a married couple, they had three kids. At the end, they lived happily ever after. But all of that was a lie. Harry and Hermione did not have three kids, Hermione did not become Mrs. Potter within the six years. And Harry, Hermione, and Ron did not live happily ever after when Voldemort was killed. But, it was true, Harry Potter did proposed to Hermione, and she accepted.
But at the alter, Harry and Hermione were standing, and when Harry Potter was asked if he took Hermione for his wife, he hesitated for a moment. Then said no, and ran out of the church. Ron Weasley followed Harry out of the church. Hermione started crying, and followed the two boys out of the cathedral. There, outside of the church, the three friends were yelling at each other on their top of lungs. When all of the yelling stopped, the three friends decided they should separate, and never, ever see each other again.
But that was seven years ago. Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger went their own separate ways, and had followed the agreement. They didn't talk, or make up. But, once said, you should never dwell on the past...
~*~
Harry Potter heard his alarm clock going off. He moaned, and hit the snooze button. Harry had returned to the muggle world, and worked at a restaurant. Harry Potter had changed a lot the past seven years. He was now the bully of the adult world, and this drew women to him.
Harry had took the memory of his Hogwarts years, and put it on a piece of paper. The piece of paper was buried out by the lawn that was a Kings Cross with pictures of his old Hogwarts days. Even though he did that, Harry Potter still had his wand, and was using it as personal gain.
On his nights off, he was at his favorite bar, dancing with all of the women that he could. Harry would be seen drunk, walking back to his house, with a woman. The woman was always different each night.
He lived in a run down apartment, that was in a bad neighborhood. Rats could be seen climbing the walls, or getting into food that was left out. The walls were all run down, and all of his things were old, or second hand. The Gringotts bank account was empty by the second year the trio had split up.
The alarm sounded again. Harry moaned, and shut it off. Now that he was wide awake, he rolled over, and smiled. There was a girl with dark blonde hair, and with hazel eyes. She was naked under Harry's bed covers.
The girls eyes snapped open, and she sat up. Harry was watching her with lust in his eyes. The girl looked at him.
" What time is it?" She asked.
Harry looked at the alarm clock. " Ten o'clock." He said simply.
The hazel eyes widen. The girl jumped out of his bed, and started putting on her clothes in a rush. Harry's eye's narrowed.
" What's the rush?" He asked.
The girl looked at him in amazement, then frowned. " I forgot. You don't go to your job. Anyway, for your information, I have a very good job, and intend to keep it." The girl looked at Harry, while fumbling with the back of her earring. " I would be seeing you again, if you remember my name."
Harry's mind quickly thought of a name. " Betsy?" He hoped it was right.
The girl sighed. " I knew it. Your just on of those creeps who is full of lust. Anyway, my name is Nikki." The girl stormed out the room.
" Nikki! Come back!" Harry yelled from his bed. The sound of the apartment door could be heard slamming. Harry sighed.
~*~
By the time Harry had got out of bed, and to work, he was fifty minutes late. Harry hoped that his boss didn't notice. As he walked though the front door, he froze. His boss was standing there, and a grim face.
" H-hello sir." Harry manage to stuttered out.
" Potter! Is there some reason why you were late?" His bossed rounded on him.
" N-no sir. Just slept in."
The boss looked at Harry with no pity on his face. " Well, sleep in all you want. Your fired!"
" But, I need the money!" Harry wined.
" Well, find some other jobs. You aren't to be needed here any longer." The boss showed no mercy. Harry groaned, and slumped out of the job. That was the second job that he had lost in three months.
A thought traveled through his head. It was about Hermione. He stilled loved her, and felt angry with himself when he thought about running out on her. 'But, she deserves better than an asshole like myself.' Harry usually thought. He had often occasionally thought about his old life.
As Harry was walking back to the apartment, he saw a bar. He smiled wickedly as he went inside the bar. All he really needed now was a couple of beers to make every regretful thought go away...
~*~
Ron Wealsey was walking off the field, with his broomstick leaning on his shoulder. He had a very successful life, being the captain and keeper for the Chudley Cannons. The coach had revised a whole new team, and for the first time in years, they won the Quidditch Cup.
All of the team players were talking to each other, but as always, after practice, Ron walked off the field alone. He too had regrets of the big fight seven years ago, but stayed away from Hermione and Harry.
Seamus Finnigan jogged up to Ron. " Hey, Ron, did you know that my Mum is throwing a party for all of us?"
Ron starred at Seamus in amazement. " What for? We haven't won the Quidditch World Cup yet."
" Well, it's good as ours. I mean, the Wasps don't have a very good chasers. Too bad we don't have Harry on this team." Seamus said.
The red-haired boy just looked onto the ground. He didn't say anything.
Seamus frowned, " Ah, cheer up, Ron. It's not your fault that Harry turned into an asshole."
Ron starred at Seamus. " How'd you know about that?"
" Ah, Neville went to the muggle world, and saw Harry walking home with another tramp. He was too afraid to go up to him. Neville says that he was drunk. Hermione would be mad. I would have thought that she raised you two better." Seamus joked.
" Har, Har," Ron said sarcastically.
~*~
Five hours later, forty-three glasses of beers later, Harry Potter was slouching at the bar, looking through his empty glass. The bartender was standing before him.
" 'Ore" Harry said lopsidedly.
The bartender had a scowl on his face. " You can't have more. You've well exceeded the legal alcohol limit."
" I 'ant 'ore, 'O gives me somes," Harry said drunkenly.
The bartender shook his head. " If you don't leave my pub, I'll call the Police on you."
Harry didn't have a change in expression. Nor he didn't move. " I 'ants mores."
The bartender glared at him, and walked off. It was then that Harry realized what was happening. He sighed, and laid himself down on three stools. He must've fell asleep, because when he looked up, there was four ministry wizards looking down on him, with their wands out. Harry narrowed his eyes, and glanced at the edge of the counter, his wand was lying there. How did it get there from out of his pocket?
One of the ministry wizards spoke. He looked like fifty-five years old, and winkles speckled his face, but he had brilliant blue eyes. " Harry Potter," the old wizard said, " You are hereby being hold in custody for killing Alfred Williams. Your wand in being hold in a safe. You are to come with us."
Harry's mouth dropped. A sudden pain came inside of his head. It wasn't his scar though. It was the after effects of the beer that he had, but Harry manage to get something out. " I didn't kill anybody!" He testified.
An younger ministry wizard spoke. " You can tell that to your attorney. If you don't have one, then we will get you one. You will have a trial." The wizard seemed like he had practiced it a lot of times.
Harry looked over where he last saw his wand. It wasn't there. Now he had no choice, but to go with the ministry officials. He was now going back to the world he had once loved, but he didn't want to.
~*~
" You're late, Hermione." Ginny said, waiting by her horse. Hermione had just appeared by her. Hermione nodded, and walked into the stables.
" I know Ginny. And I'm sorry. I just got caught up in work. The person who I was working with kept coming up with different stories about what happened, and I don't really know if one of them is exactly true." Hermione recalled while she was putting the saddle blanket, and saddle onto her horse called Socks.
Hermione had took up horseback riding with Ginny about an year after Hogwarts. Of course, Hermione, being the way that she was, had lessons on how to ride a horse. She now was in horse shows. Her horse was brown, and on the back was white freckles. The mane was a light brown. But the most unique thing about Socks was that he had white fur on each of his legs that went up about to his knees.
" It's always all work, and no play with you." Ginny said, while jumping upon her horse. Hermione did the same.
" I can't help that. My supervisor wants me to get another award, so he'll look good, and he keeps giving me all of the hard cases." They had now made their horses to walk, side by side.
" When are you going to have fun though Hermione? I mean, you're twenty-five years old, and you're still a Virgin."
Hermione stopped as she heard those words out of Ginny's mouth. She had took her hands off of the reins, and they were now at the sides. She had a miserable look on her face. Ginny looked around, and saw the face. She had said the wrong thing. Ginny reared her horse around, and went to Hermione.
" Hermione, I'm sorry. I know that things aren't going well with your love life. You haven't had a date since five years. You wouldn't even let me set you up."
" Ginny," Hermione said quietly. But that had caught her attention, and she had stopped rambling.
" I'm sorry. I won't say anything about that topic. What was the topic anyway?" Ginny pretended, but Hermione got a slight smile on her face, and had her horse gallop. Ginny followed on her horse.
" No, it's okay, Ginny. It's not your fault. I just... I, well, I still have feelings for Harry deep down in my heart, but I still hate him a the same time. I mean, I just remember his face, and his beautiful eyes, then hates gets into me, and tell me that I could have been Mrs. Potter, and have a wonderful life." Hermione explained.
Ginny nodded, but didn't say anything.
~*~
Harry stood at the front of the courtroom wearing Bright Yellow robes. The judge in front of him looked familiar, but he couldn't figure out who it was. Finally, when the judge spoke, he remembered the drawl. It was Millicent Bulstrode. Harry groaned. Now he would have a harder time to get out of this mess.
Millicent Bulstrode talked with the guard, and then said " Mr. Potter."
" Y-yes?" Harry asked.
" You are going to have a fair trial. I believe that you don't have an attorney?"
Harry bit his bottom lip. " Yes, that's right."
Millicent glared at Harry for a few seconds, and then clapped her hands. She turned her chair so that it would face a group of five people. " Well, which one of you people wants to have one of your recruits to defend Mr. Potter." None of the supervisors rose their hands.
The doors opened, and a man with greasy, black, mild cut hair scampered in. He was carrying in a briefcase. The briefcase latches came undone, and papers full the floor. He bent and pick them up.
" Michel, what are you doing? You should have been here ten minutes ago." Millicent scowled. She looked too annoyed. Harry began to wonder if the only reason why Millicent Bulstrode liked this job was only because she could boss people around.
" I'm sorry, but I think that my employee should work on this case than any other." Michel had a high voice, like he had never gone through that stage of puberty.
Millicent just looked at him. " This is Harry Potter we are talking about."
" Yes, I know. She would be able to work hard with him. Please!" Michel pleaded.
Millicent relented. She turned back to Harry. " You will be in room 535 in this building tomorrow. Your attorney is going to decide what to do with you. In the meantime, you are going to stay locked up."
~*~
Hermione sat on her couch at her home. She had one of the nicer homes in Hogsmeade, having the help of Hagrid, Sirius, Ginny, Colin, Dennis, Seamus, and Dean to make it. She had decorated the house herself, so it had a comfortable look to it. The house itself had six bedrooms, three bathrooms, and an office.
Cookshanks was with her, curled up on the couch. Hermione had a pad of parchement with her. She had been thinking about what Ginny had said about having fun. The pad of parchment had one-two-three going down the edge. At the top it said What to do for fun. So far she had nothing on the list.
Hermione bit the end of the quill, and looked at Cookshanks. " Cookshanks, do you have any ideas?" She asked. The cat just purred.
Five minutes later, Hermione had five things scribbled in her neat writing. But the thing was, when was she going to do them. Hermione scanned her list, and finally came across going to a club.
She sighed. " Cookshanks, maybe I should go and get Ginny then we can go to a club. Maybe not. Colin would be home by now. I'll go by myself." Hermione stood up to her height, and started walking to the blue-carpeted stairs. The was a tapping noise at the window. Hermione turned around, and saw an owl.
After giving it some food, she read the letter. She looked at the cat and sighed. " I don't think I'll be having fun tonight though. Work calls. And anyway, I didn't have anything to wear to the club."
Cookshanks scowled at Hermione, and she just shrugged.
~*~
" Ah, you're here! Finally, I just sent you the owl like two-hours ago 'Mione!" Said somebody when Hermione apparated in. Hermione glared at the greasy haired person.
" Michel, First of all, don't call me 'Mione. Second, stop being drastic. You only sent the owl twenty minutes ago. So what did you do now?" Hermione sighed as she sat down in a chair.
Michel smiled. " You're going to like who you're working with. I set it up with Millicent." Hermione groaned. Millicent and Hermione hated each other.
" Who is it?" Hermione groaned.
" Can't tell you. You'll hate me." Michel said casually. " Just meet your client in room 535 tomorrow. All I can tell you is that'll this would make US look good."
" You and social standings, Michel. I'm leaving." Hermione said, standing up. Michel caught her wrist, and Hermione turned around. Michel was starring at her with love in his eyes.
He made his lips and tongue move, " Hermione, I'm going to a party tonight. Would you want to be my date?" Michel asked.
~*~
Coming up in Chapter 2: All isn't well:
Hermione's decision, and Ginny's new information...
A/N: This beginning was just an introduction. It explains all of the problems people were having. I hoped you liked it. Yes, this is the story that I rushed on The Looking Glass to write this one. I hoped it was good. Writing this took about five days.
The cliffhanger can go anyway, so don't think you know it. Hermione still loves Harry, and afraid to go out with other guys, YET, she wants to have fun...so have fun guessing what it would be about. Evil, yes I am.
As I'm guessing, I think that many of you think I'm mean for doing that to Harry. I'm not saying anything about this topic, except that he had a reason, if you don't know why he did that, then I suggest you reread that section when he was walking home from his old job. Well, that's all,
Ta-Ta-4 now
--hermioneharry4ever--
( This Chapter was finished on:: 02/28/02)
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry Potter Characters, J.K Rowling owns them to some extent.
Claimer: I own this story, along with Michel, and the horse name Socks.