Disclaimer: This is all for fun, I do not claim ownership of the characters or anything recognized from the work of JK Rowling. I am only borrowing them.
Warning: Mild references to violence, very mild language.
Playlist: All Time Low - Outlines
[A/N] EWE This is really just a random fanfic that was inspired by a challenge. Originally posted on harrypottterfanficiton . c o m in July 2007. It was also written before the release of Deathly Hallows.
Kept at a Distance
The small bell above the door jingled happily, heralding another customer for the small shop. Though it was boiling hot in the cramped, overly decorated room, it still had a few customers who preferred to stay inside the frilly teashop than take a stroll in the afternoon filled with summer sunshine.
"What was your intention, Granger, bringing me to this ragtag heap?"
Hermione looked up from her cup of tea and nodded to the chair across from her, saying, "Please sit down, Potter. I merely wanted to talk to you; is that such a crime?"
"Since when do you call me Potter?" His gaze was piercing as he looked from her, to looking around the shop. He didn't look like he wanted to be there at all.
"Since when do you call me Granger, hmm?" she said, taking another sip of her tea, stirring it and gazing at her guest, her eyes questioning him innocently.
"…Fine then, I'll share a cup of tea with you; but only no longer than a half-hour, mind you. Ginny will be waiting for me back home."
"As I expected. And that quite throws my speech into the fire."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means that you opened the topic of conversation yourself."
Harry startled, standing deliberately from his chair that he had just sat down in, with his hands balled into fists, demanding in a dangerous voice, "What, Ginny?"
Hermione took another sip as if she hadn't noticed his sudden outburst. "Mm-hmm."
"What's this meeting got to do with her?!"
Hermione sighed and set down her cup and indicated the seat across from her. "Please sit down, Potter, you'll upset the other guests. And do drink your tea before it grows cold from all the glares you and I are getting. Or one of the abhorrent cherubs throws more confetti in it."
He sat down after he noticed that the customers of the small tea shop were staring at him blankly, like they had that day in fifth year with Cho, and he itched under their gazes. He mumbled, "I've never liked this place."
"Madame Puddifoot's? Oh, I know that. That's why I chose it. But we digress."
Looking at her questioningly, he thought better than to say anything, and sighed, running his hands through his untidy hair a few times. "Yes. What's this about my wife, Granger?"
"This is a cause for great consternation and careful treatment, not to be taken lightly," she said, setting down her tea for a moment, putting a cautionary hand over top of it while eyeing the detested decorations raining around them. "Ginny is being tailed by a member of the Death Eaters."
Harry was surprised but recovered smoothly, scoffing at her. "And since when do you tell me the inner workings of your undercover jobs, Granger?"
"Please stop calling me that. It's not my fault that I was the only one for the job; being a…Death Eater is risky business. Very fragile. If for once I drop my Illusion Charm or allow the many defenses and walls the Order put in my mind for me on top of my own Occlusion to falter, Voldemort will have me executed on the spot."
"I…I'm sorry," he said, looking truly demurred. Harry noticed for the first time the faint hum of a Muffliato around them.
Her eyes flashed with a few emotions Harry had rarely seen there. "You should be."
"I can't help it though, Hermione. You've just gotten yourself in too deep and if you keep going deeper into the binds of being a Death Eater, you might not ever be able to get out. Don't think that members of the Order or your friends haven't seen you with that ferret," glaring at her with utmost suspicion.
Hermione was unshaken, returning to stirring her tea as she said, "Who, Draco?"
"So he's Draco now, eh? Don't be so naïve; he's the one who's been snogging you publicly."
She immediately took the bait proffered her, and exploded. "That is none of your concern! And since when have you been in any of the side alleys of Knockturn Alley at night, Potter?"
Unshaken by her sudden outburst, he said, "Ah, so you admit to it?"
"YES! What else am I supposed to do? How was I to turn him down, Potter? How was I supposed to push him off my scent in any other way? Any and all of the other Death Eater women are falling all over him, the holier-than-thou Prince of Voldemort, so I have to, too!"
"Practice what you preach and sit down. I realize what you've been going through Hermione, but think of Ron. It's hard for him, seeing you with Ferret Boy, even though you're masked as someone else. I imagine it's harder to keep your illusion up while you're snogging the Pureblood Prince?"
"Harry, listen to me. I know what I'm doing; I'm not a child that needs to be watched constantly, put on a schedule so I'll be a good little girl," she said, ignoring his last question completely.
"I didn't mean-"
"And furthermore, though you probably won't believe me, the 'Ferret Boy' is capable of deep thought and emotion and even guilt for what he has done in the past. He admits things to me what he wouldn't tell anyone else."
"But that's what he wants you to think."
"No. I've thought of that. After I dated Seamus for awhile, I was stupid and new to the whole trust thing and my heart was trampled on. I know what I'm doing with Draco Malfoy may not look smart to you, but, if I get closer to him, I get closer to information, and, though I don't like to think of it often, I get closer to Voldemort. Harry, I'm doing this for the Order."
"I know. It can't be helped."
She shuddered a bit. "You don't know what it's like, being a woman Death Eater," she said in hushed tones. "You're in league with…creatures like Bellatrix Lestrange, and others. It's so frustrating to not be able to finish what we started at the Ministry in fifth year."
Harry's look was blank as he lost himself in that memory. "I'm sorry."
A few minutes passed in companionable silence betwixt Harry and Hermione, before she hissed in pain through gritted teeth, flexing her left arm.
"What is it?"
"It's the…the Mark, Harry, I'm being called. I have to go."
Harry's face had lost all color and emotion as she had said that. "Right, then. Well, thank you for telling me about Ginny's follower. She sends her concern and…Ron does too."
Hermione started on her way standing up, and Harry looked at her shrewdly.
"Don't look so surprised, Hermione. Though it pains him to say it aloud or admit to it, he loves you. And you'd better get rid of that blush before you leave."
"Yes. Of course. Tell him something for me Harry, will you?" She said, vigorously rubbing her cheeks.
"What is it?"
"Tell him that…I think of you and him everyday. It's one of the things that keeps me going sometimes, and keeps me sane during those horrible meetings."
"I will…just…be careful, Hermione."
"I always am, Harry."
"I know…goodbye."
"Goodbye."