A/N: I've decided to post this story…and to be honest I'm a little scared. I liked the idea and where I could take it. I just wanted to try it out, so…I hope you enjoy, and review please?:)
Also, Hermione is living as a muggle because she didn't know she was a witch (it'll be explained in a later chapter) Ron and Harry still went to Hogwarts and defeated Voldemort. It's as if everything in the books happened, except for anything with Hermione. I know someone will comment that some things couldn't have happened without Hermione, but just play with me okay?:)
Hope you enjoy:D
Prologue
It seems quite weird doesn't it, the idea of love?
Love. Love. Love.
No matter how many times you say it, the word stays the same. Spelled the same, sounds the same, means the same. However, the word means nothing if it's said, but if you feel it; it's a whole different world at your fingertips. It's a word tossed around between people mistaken by a feeling that is merely on the surface, and has yet to be deeply explored.
Yet I've always been scared and fooled by love. Scared by the true thought of love, and how it can truly possess a person for both the greater and lesser good. Fooled by other boys who I thought had stolen my heart, which turned out to be they had only taken my common sense along with my right to concentrate.
I've heard it is quite a funny feeling, told by my parents that it was one of the only pure things in the world that still existed in today's society. My look on the subject is the same as my parents', but I believe that love can be corrupted in certain circumstances. Such as a man beating his wife, a woman marrying a man based on his money alone, sometimes even just an ordinary relationship can turned corrupted in a blink of an eye.
Though, for some odd reason, I've always been fascinated with love and the way that it works. I have never experienced the type of love that first comes to your mind when you first think of it; roses, kisses, and some things that aren't to be mentioned outside of those two people. Other love? I believe that most in the world have had love at their fingertips in some time in their life. Most are handed love into their palms, as their mother and father see them for the first time with the feeling of undying love surging through their bodies. Sadly, this is not the truth for everyone.
Love is a complicated thing, something that I've been charmed by for a while now; even though I've never truly experienced it. It scares me a bit, to think of lending someone your heart and trusting that they won't drop and break it along the way. Would they hold onto it forever until the world ended? Or would it be when a wind came and blew it out of their hands?
Chapter One: Hiding
"Get up," I felt a plump pillow hit the side of my face. My body curved perfectly into the bed, the fluff of the bed hitting all the right spots, I didn't want to move an inch. Another flying object came flying my way, landing right next to my head. This caused my eyes to open slightly, only to be shut quickly again from a blinding light stabbing me in the eye. I placed a hand up to block the light, and squinted an eye at the person across the room.
"Was that really necessary?"
My vision focused onto Elizabeth's braided blonde hair that frayed at every given point, my eyes still squinting.
"Completely." Elizabeth answered. "Now get up Hermione, it's almost seven."
"Seven, by that I hope you mean 7 at night." I said, swinging my aching legs over the side of the bed. "Or else I would've only gotten three hours of sleep."
"Well, that's your fault then isn't it?" She said, a bit too cheerful for my liking. Elizabeth, being my best friend, was supposed to be there for me when I'm at rock bottom. Actually, I hadn't quite reached my rock bottom; I still had my flat to lose. My best friend had yet to abandon me, and my parents still talk to me every so often. So I guess that I hadn't quite gotten there yet, but at the rate I was going, it looked like I would there soon. "Now get up, it's time to smile at random people in the street and go jogging around the busy streets of London."
Climbing out of bed, I felt my muscles ache to every move I made, regretting the anger that I took out yesterday when I went to the gymnasium yesterday. "Must we jog? Walking would be nice too, but we could also take the tube."
"Nope, you promised me a jog last week, and we're getting a jog. Anyways, I want to show you a little restaurant at the end of our jog, it's the cutest thing." She said, ranting on as she walked out of my room. "I'll be in the kitchen, and I'm guessing that it's coffee and two pain killers?"
"Sounds delicious, but Liz?" She stuck her head back into the room.
"Yeah?"
"Did we go drinking last night and the gym? Or just the gym?" I said, and she laughed at me.
"You tell me," With that, I heard her retrieving my coffee cups from the cabinet and starting the coffee maker. With the headache that soon began to pound against the inside of my skull, I soon knew my answer to my own question.
Wishing I hadn't promised Liz to an act of exercising, I threw on my tank top and shorts, picking up my running shoes and holding them with my fingers as I walked into the kitchen. A cap held two blue pills and a steaming cup of black coffee sat next to it. Liz stood at the counter, leaning against it with her cup at her lips.
"I know it may seem like I'm being a bitch right now," Liz commented. "But I care about you too much to let you turn into a sad lunatic who sits with her cat all day."
"It's nice that you care this much Liz, but sometimes people need those days." I said, throwing the pills to the back of my throat and taking a sip of coffee. The bitterness seemed to bite my tongue, something that felt rather good at this time of the day.
"I'll tell you what," She opened the fridge, taking out a pitch of creamer. "Tomorrow, you sleep to your hearts content and we can watch all the movies we want." She proposed, and my heart ached for that at the moment. I fidgeted a bit, and then sighed.
"Mint chocolate ice cream?" I asked.
"Only the best." She smirked, and took another sip of her coffee. I nodded in agreement, and took another sip.
"So why did you spend the night?" I sat down, taking advantage of the time that my legs could be without my weight.
"I stayed because you were a bloody mess." She curled her fingers around the crevices of the mug, and began to tap on the side. "You took all your anger out on a boxing bag last night at the gym and you had quite a few drinks, I just couldn't leave you here alone."
"I would've been fine," I assured her. "And anyways, I wouldn't have been alone…"
"Your cat does not count." She pointed to me with glossy, red nails that sparkled in the morning light. "You have to get out more Hermione, meet some new people. Live in the moment. Find a handsome man, perhaps. Don't let your idiot of a boss ruin your life." Her Irish accent a bit more noticeable with this statement. "I hate seeing you like this Hermione, this isn't healthy."
"I understand, but I believe that I'll get through this. Like you said, after I get a run and eat all the ice cream I can tomorrow, I'll start back in the world with a smile."
"I really hope you will," She said, placing her cup in the sink and washing it out. "It'll be good for you Hermione."
"And you'll help me?"
"You know I will," She said. "But you know that I have to get back to my reality sometimes."
"Yeah," I sighed. "Is your firm hiring? I reckon I could be a good assistant to a lawyer or something."
"I'll ask around, but I think that they're all taken up by far too attractive women that have no idea what they're doing." She laughed. "Half of them are shagging each other, that's the only reason they keep their jobs."
"Liz!" I stifled a giggle behind my cup, laughing for the first time that day. I noticed that it was empty, and I set it down.
"Come on, we both know it's true." She took my cup from me and placed it into the sink. "Now, are you ready?"
"Ready as I'll ever be," I said, pulling on my shoes and lacing them up. "Mind if we run through the parks today? I know you like talking to that man at the bus station, but I'd rather go around him today."
"That's fine," She said. "He's not even there today, so it's not going to affect me the slightest."
"Now tell me how you know that?" I questioned.
"He told me he's off today, and asked me to dinner remember?" She said, and I nodded my head in remembrance.
"So are you going?" I questioned. "He seems like a nice guy."
"Yeah, I reckon so. He wants me to meet him at the Elephant and Castle tube station at six," She said. "I have no idea where we're going."
"Just be safe alright? Don't get yourself killed." I said, and she opened the door for me to step through.
"I won't, now are you ready?"
"No." I groaned and she smiled.
"Perfect, let's go."
It had taken an hour to reach the restaurant that Liz had mentioned, weaving through flocks of pigeons and people who were walking incredibly slowly on the park sidewalks. The medicine hadn't kicked in until after we had completed the jog, and I was actually thankful, or else I would be more in pain that I had before. Sometimes I like to thank modern technology and medicine, but sometimes I just don't want to think about it.
The restaurant was next to an old bookstore; a metal fence surrounded three tables that lay outside the front window. Each embellished with the necessary utensils, and a single lily lay in the center of each table, not a single flower was wilting. The outside was painted a vibrant yellow colour, able to be seen from a block or two away.
"So this is it?" I asked, smacking my lips.
She didn't answer, instead she simply walked into the restaurant, and so I followed her. When I stepped into the restaurant, it seemed to have enlarged from when I saw it from the outside. I reckon it was just the glass making it look smaller, though.
"Hi, welcome to Sunshine Daisies." A cheery, blonde-haired witch greeted us. Her voice was dreamy, each word smooth and easily transitioning into the next one. Her smile was radiant, and it was very evident why the owner's made her the hostess of the restaurant. "Is it just two today, Elizabeth?"
"Just us two, Luna." She confirmed.
"Will it be inside or outside today?"
"Do you care?" Liz asked me, and I shook my head. "Outside please."
"Outside it is, then."
After being taken to our table, Liz and I talked about our run and how out of shape I felt after drinking last night. Also how I was surprised I haven't run to loo to vomit that day, which Liz cringed in response. A few minutes later, a tall, redheaded man walked over to our table and handed us our waters.
"My name is George," He said, playing with the rag on his apron. "I'll be serving you this evening."
"Morning." I automatically corrected, the words slipping out of my mouth before I even thought about it. A hand shot up to my mouth, and I laughed nervously. "I'm so sorry, I don't normally do that—,"
"No, no, it's no problem." He chuckled. "I'm new here, I'm just helping out my younger sister for the time being."
"She owns the place?" I questioned, and he nodded.
"I reckon she needs a few extra hands these days." He laughed. "Most of my brothers and I are pitching in, but I'm cursed with the morning shifts."
"So that one," Liz pointed to a tall, ginger man scrubbing a table with a rag. It looked as if he couldn't keep his eyes open, and he had to shake his head in able to stay awake. "Is he your brother also?"
"Sadly, yes." He laughed. "He's not a morn—,"
"What's his name?" I asked, still staring in the man's direction, cutting off George's sentence. The man across the tables hadn't noticed that I was so clearly staring at him and his blue eyes, and how they switched from side to side when he was rubbing down the table.
"His name?" George asked. "Oh, it's Ron. I personally like to call him Ronnikins, from time to time, but that's beside the point. So, for your breakfast today ladies?"
After reciting our orders to George, he took our menus and walked over to Ron. Placing his hand on his shoulder and whispering something into Ron's ear, Ron shrugged George's hand off his shoulder and George laughed loudly.
"What was that about?" Liz asked. I stopped watching what was happening behind her back, and transitioned back into our conversation.
"What?" I asked innocently while taking a sip of my water.
"The whole Ron thing," She asked. "You were staring at him like he was…I don't know," She blanked out and I smiled behind my glass. "But you get the point."
"He's attractive," I said. "Can't help but stare, I guess."
"George was too, why couldn't you stare at him?" Liz pouted and fixed her napkin onto her lap. "He was right here, in front of your nose and you look across at Ron?"
"Are we going to have a debate about attractive waiters in a restaurant? Honestly, Liz?" I said. "Anyways, I see attractive men everywhere I turn, it's not like I'm just staring because I think he's the one or something."
"But it sort of looked like it," She commented.
"No, it didn't." I laughed.
"Yeah, it did."
"I seriously doubt that."
"I don't, and I saw you. I could ask George to back me up—,"
"No, it's fine, you don't have to." I sighed in defeat. "I don't know what happened," I confessed.
"I reckon it's just your emotions right now." She said. "Lost your job, no boyfriend, living alone with a cat…"
"You spend most nights with me Liz, you barely spend the night at your own flat." I countered.
"True, but I do have a date tonight, Hermione. A date with an actual human being." She said, and I seemed a bit more interesting a flock of pigeons atop a tarp than to hear what Liz was saying that the moment. "I'm not just staring at him in a restaurant."
"Obviously, it's just the daily bus stop routine." I mocked her, and she glared through thinned eyes. "But Liz, I'm a big girl. Though it's nice to have help from you, which I appreciate, I can take certain matters into my own hands."
"Fine," Liz deflated in her seat. "But promise me one thing?" She held up her pointer finger and mouthed please. I rolled my eyes and nodded. "Get a job before the end of the month."
"Does it matter where?" I asked, and she shook her head. "Okay. Deal." I reached my hand across the table and in return she shook it.
"Pleasure doing business with you Hermione." She smiled.
"And to you."
I was done with walking for the day, let alone running. So while Liz jogged back to our apartment complex, her and her athletic self, I was a lazy bum and called a taxi to take me home. The cabbie tried to make small talk with me, and I responded, but there was nothing left to say other than 'my day's been good,' and 'how's your day been?"
It was only eleven when I reached my flat again, trying several times to get through the door, only to realize two minutes later it was the wrong key. As soon as I stepped into my apartment, I walked into my room to grab my book from the library and sat on the couch next to my cat, Crookshanks, until the sun fell once again in the late night.
"Crookshanks," I yawned. "I think it's time that you and I ate dinner and went to sleep, how does that sound?"
Almost in response to me, Crookshanks stood up and stretched before lazily making his way over to his food. After I had given Crookshanks his food, I walked over to my fridge and opened it up.
"Empty?" I questioned. "There's no way it's empty, I made…nothing last night." I groaned, realizing I was supposed to go grocery shopping yesterday, but resulted in a job loss, punching bag anger management issue, and a few glasses of rum and diet coke.
Knowing that I had to eat something, I grabbed my purse and walked out the door, hailing a taxicab. Riding back to the restaurant I had been to early this morning, not knowing why, I walked up to find a woman closing up the shop. In her right hand dangled a help wanted poster that she then proceeded to place on the front window.
"I'm sorry, can I help you?" I shook out of my trace and looked at the woman who stood in front of me. Her hair was similar to George's, however her eyes were brown and she looked as if age had not touched her face.
"Actually, would you mind it I asked you a question, just a quick one?" I said, and she nodded her head while adjusting her scarf. "I couldn't help but notice the help wanted sign, and I've been recently…unemployed."
"So you want a job?" She asked, and I nodded sheepishly. "Well, come in tomorrow at noon, I'll see what I can do."
"Thanks Ginny." I smiled, and she tilted her head to the side. "Your brother told me your name this morning."
"Oh, that makes more sense doesn't it?" She laughed. "And I didn't catch your name, I'm sorry."
"Hermione." I said.
"Well then, I'll see you tomorrow Hermione."
"Yeah, I'll see you then."
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