Time Is Always Ticking

Through the pouring rain in Diagon Alley, Hermione Granger walked briskly with her black umbrella over the uneven cobblestones towards her favourite shop, where she now also worked in the summer holidays. It was mid July, and she still had another whole month and a half before returning to her beloved Hogwarts and her friends, for her final year.

It was still quite early for a Saturday morning, and all the shops Hermione passed were just beginning to open their doors. In Eeylops Owl Emporium the animals were beginning to make a lot of noise (bar the owls) as the lights in the shop flickered on, across the street Madame Malkin was putting up a notice of a 10 – 20 off sale on dress robes and further down Hermione could see the goblins rushing into the large white building that was Gringotts.

Next to Mr Ollivander's dingy wand store, Hermione decided to duck into a new coffee parlour, the only one in Diagon Alley, and order two cappuccinos to go. After all, it was raining and cold. With the coffees in hand, Hermione strode across the street and entered the newly expanded and renovated Flourish and Blotts. Giant fireplaces were already blazing around the shop though none of the neighbouring squashy armchairs was occupied yet; it was only 7:00am after all. Shelves upon shelves of books of all varieties filled the walls and racks right up to the ceiling, and this was why Hermione loved her work so much.

"Good morning Hermione," said Mr Collins-Harper, the owner of Flourish and Blotts, who, at 70 years young, was still always in good spirits and optimistic, as the doorbell dinged. Hermione, only slightly damp, shrugged off her cloak, closed the umbrella, and hung them both on the hook near the door.

"Good morning Mr Collins-Harper," Hermione replied cheerfully. She couldn't help but be happy because it was raining, and she loved the rain. She smiled brilliantly at Mr Collins-Harper standing behind the old-fashioned oak counter. Although she had only known him since the commencement of the summer holidays, he was one of Hermione's favourite people. Always jovial and relaxed, but was also always prepared for an intellectual debate with Hermione; in a way, he replaced Hermione's late grandfather who was very similar to Mr Collins-Harper.

"I bought a coffee for you," Hermione said, handing him the coffee carefully, and then put hers onto the counter cautiously.

"Thank you dear. It's just what my old body needed," replied Mr Collins-Harper, taking a sip. "If you don't mind Hermione, could you possibly work late tonight? Of course you'll get paid accordingly… or I could let you choose a book for yourself," he grinned, knowing Hermione's love of books.

"Of course. I have no other plans… and I think I'll choose the book option," she returned the grin. Usually on Saturday nights, she went out with her muggle friends, except two of them had gone away for the weekend, leaving only herself in London.

The other shop assistant, Mr Collins-Harper's grandson who was about 12 years old with sandy blond hair, burst through the door along with litres of water. Because of his good nature, all Mr Collins-Harper could do was laugh, and so did Hermione. The boy, named Alexander, joined in too after he had apologised. Alexander's job was restocking the shelves, as he was very nimble when it came to the tall, rickety ladders, which Hermione hated.

"There are new stocks coming today Hermione, so I will be out back all day," said Mr Collins-Harper as he moved towards the back door. "Is that okay?"

"Yes, it's fine," replied Hermione, taking her place behind the counter.

"Just call if you need any help," he added.

After a few moments, the door jingled and the first customer of the day walked in, carefully wiping her feet before stepping onto the plush carpet.

"Good morning Ms. Can I help you with anything in particular?" said Hermione, smiling politely and walked over to the middle-aged woman.

"Yes, actually. I'm in a hurry and I need a book about the magical properties of mushrooms and other fungi," the woman said.

Hermione went over to the 'magical plants' section, which luckily was on a lower level and found 3 books pertaining to the magical properties of mushrooms and other fungi. The lady studied each quickly, and then selected the one entitled "Magical Mushrooms and Fungi". She paid for the book and left the shop with the parcel under her cloak.

The rest of the morning was busy, many people came in to get out of the rain and ended either buying new books or reading by the fireplaces. After lunch, the store emptied and Hermione began to think about her 2 best friends, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. She hadn't seen either for about a month now, though they didn't know that she was working in Diagon Alley. Over the past few months, she began to think that her feelings for Ron went further than just the platonic friendship ones. However, she was too afraid to tell him that… they were best friends after all, nothing more, nothing less than best friends…were.

Hermione twiddled her thumbs for a few minutes, waiting for another customer, but none came, so she selected a book from the New Releases stand at the front of the store. It was a romance about a girl and boy, madly in love, but madly in denial. Once their love was finally known, similar to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the girl and boy's families hated each other and would kill them both if they discovered them. The plot interested Hermione, though she only started to read it because it was the holidays and she had finished all her work thus far. She sat in one of the squashy chairs, half facing the fire, and half facing the front of the shop so she could see if a person entered the shop.

Time began to elapse, the clock kept ticking as the minutes passed in blissful silence with only the steady crackling of the kindling and the scruff of a page when turned. The hours passed, and the shop remained empty except Hermione. Alexander had long gone at 3pm but every now and then, Hermione would hear a scuffle in the back of the shop, reminding her that Mr Collins-Harper was still present.

At 5pm, Mr Collins-Harper re-entered the front of the shop and told Hermione that he was leaving. Slightly embarrassed at being seen by her employer in such a leisurely position, Hermione accepted the keys to the shop from Mr Collins-Harper and assured him that she would be back the next morning to open up. She continued to read the novel; she thought that if there were not another customer until she had to leave at 10pm, then she would finish the romance easily.

In the plot of the novel, Hermione had reached the climax: After many pages and chapters of denial, the man and woman were finally acknowledging their love to each other for the first time. The clock struck 7pm.

Suddenly, a small jingle accompanied by a column of fresh air resonated through the shop, startling Hermione, making her jump slightly in the armchair and her heart beat increase gently. Though it was only a small noise, she had only heard silence in the recent hours.

She lifted herself quickly off the armchair, dropping the book in such a way that her place would be kept, and went to greet the customer.

"How may I help…" was all Hermione could get out before she came vis-à-vis with none other than her mortal enemy: Draco Malfoy. Before he realised who she was, she saw that the summer had been quite kind to Malfoy. His infamous pale skin was a shade or two darker in contrast with his hair, now almost white blond and fell over his blue-grey eyes (Hermione wasn't sure of their colour… she had never really wanted to get that close to Malfoy before). His outfit, consisting of a simple but obvious high quality, stylish black cloak, and black (Italian, Hermione guessed) leather shoes, along with his posture, carried off his impression of superiority and refinement and enhance his height of around 6 feet. He looked at Hermione and smirked his notorious smirk.

"Granger, what a pleasure," Malfoy sneered sarcastically. Hermione just rolled her eyes. Why me, she thought. Any other day, and I would not be here… Just my luck, she though bitterly. Regaining her composure and professionalism, she retried offering the prat her help.

"What do you want Malfoy?" she asked, not so nice this time.

"You"

Hermione's eyes grew wider and she almost choked with disbelief. Malfoy rolled his eyes.

"I was kidding Granger," said Malfoy sardonically.

Hermione gave him a bitter glare. "I'm not an idiot, Malfoy. Look, why don't you just leave."

"Why?"

Hermione groaned.

"Because I'm busy," she said.

Malfoy looked around, seeing no other prospective buyers.

"Really?" he asked. "It sure looks like it, Granger." He began walking through the lines of books, his eyes darting over various titles and sections. "Actually," he said, turning to face Hermione, again smirking, "I am looking for a book about dragons. Have any?"

Hermione paused. She knew they had plenty of books about dragons, though the only problem was, was that they were all on the top most shelf against the wall. She had two options: one, tell Malfoy that they didn't have any (and he would probably know she was lying) or face her fears, in front of Malfoy, and climb the damned ladder. Her mind automatically flickered to the option of simply summoning the books, except because she didn't know the titles of all the 20 books or so, or what one Malfoy wanted, they would all come tumbling down at once.

"Granger, I don't have all night. Do you, or don't you?" Malfoy asked harshly when Hermione hadn't replied.

She threw him a dirty look and said, "Um yes, we, um… do. I'll just go and fetch them for you." Stupid Granger… stupid Granger… she kept repeating to herself. Of course, something bad was bound to happen, with both Malfoy and ladders at the same time.

Malfoy followed her to the ladder, and stood beside it while Hermione gingerly placed her feet on the bottom rung.

"Scared, Granger?" asked Malfoy maliciously.

"Shut-up ferret face," Hermione spat. The professionalism could rot in hell for all she cared now… and she hated how Malfoy could get to her so easily!

Slowly, Hermione made her way up the ladder, carefully testing each rung before applying her whole weight onto it. She finally reached the dragons sections, and saw approximately 20 books on the subject. She groaned softly. Not many were too specific; they were all along the lines of The Species of Dragons, or How to Identify a Type of Dragon, and so forth.

"What kind of dragons book do you want, Malfoy?" hollered Hermione.

Malfoy smirked. "Just a few about this and that," he said as vaguely as possible. He could see that Hermione rolled her eyes again at him. She selected a few "this and that" books and proceeded to make her way towards safety. However, the fifth rung from the bottom snapped as she put her foot on it, causing Hermione, with the unbalanced stack of books in her arms, to lose her balance and fall from the ladder. As she fell, she let out a terrified scream as air rushed into her lungs and gravity wrenched her down.

She hit the carpet and managed to escape the falling books also. As she sat up, she caught sight of Malfoy, picking up a very large book on dragons and taking a seat in the armchair Hermione herself had just been in. To add more insult to injury, he carelessly tossed her romance onto the table, losing her place.

Hermione was overtaken with anger for Malfoy. He was such an arrogant, selfish git, Hermione thought as she stood and dusted herself off. Obviously very engaged with the book, Hermione decided to ignore him and close up the register, as it was nearly 8pm.

Pretending to read, Draco's mind was wondering back to this afternoon's happenings, and how he ended up in the same bookshop as the stupid Mudblood. It had all started when his father had called him into his study.

----------Flashback----------

"You wanted to see me father?" Draco had asked, walking into the imperious study. Lucius smiled thinly at his son and thought that he saw all his hard work had paid off.

"Yes, son. I want to discuss your future," Lucius said. Draco nodded, knowing where this was going. Lucius sat at his desk leant forward and stared at his mirror image son.

"As you know, you are expected to preserve the Malfoy name and reputation in the Dark Lord's ranks." Draco nodded again and Lucius continued in a commanding tone:

"Your ceremony will take place during the Christmas break. That way we will have another spy inside the castle itself, which will greatly help our cause," said Lucius, leaving no room for argument.

"Yes father," replied Draco, his shoulders sagging slightly as he left the claustrophobic air.

----------End of Flashback----------

He didn't want to become a Death Eater! For some time now, well since the beginning of his sixth year that wish had been growing stronger and stronger. Death Eaters were weak, power-hungry followers of the worst hypocrite in both muggle and magical worlds. There was no way he wanted to be a part of them and there was no way that he wouldn't be a part of them.

His attention returned to the book on dragons, and found himself enjoying sitting in the comfortable chair, reading peacefully. He decided that this was a nice escape from the ominous presence of his father in Malfoy Manor. That was until Granger decided to kick him out.

"Okay Malfoy, you have to leave now," Hermione said, standing in front of him with her hands on her hips.

Draco looked up at her, and noticed that within a small amount of time, Granger had changed significantly. Her hair, no longer an unmanageable frizzy mane, fell in dark waves down her back with natural golden streaks highlighted now by the firelight. Hazel or amber eyes, he couldn't quite tell, a small straight nose and rosy lips fitted her fair face in perfect proportion. Her long, slender legs were made visible by her rather short business – type skirt.

Suddenly his reverie ended with a loud noise.

"Malfoy!" Yelled Hermione at him. The stupid git was openly staring at her, albeit with a blank expression, but staring nonetheless.

"I'm going, I'm going, Granger!" said Malfoy, closing the book and stretching. "No need to get testy." Hermione just glared at him and pointed towards the door. She was surprised he had stayed that long, and that she actually had to force him to leave.

Malfoy left without another word to her, which was a good thing. She went outside, muttered a few locking spells on the door, and began to walk slowly through the alley in the darkness home.

A/N – Please R & R! – I'm feeling that this plot will actually go somewhere this time! (And it isn't HBP compatible) Epona21 xoxo