We Know Where You Were Last Summer
(Disclaimer: I have no business connection with HARRY POTTER. My only purpose in writing this story is to have fun and maybe share it)
(Author's Note: This story is set during the summer between PRISONER OF AZKABAN and GOBLET OF FIRE. I have written a couple of other "Hermione's summer" stories: HERMIONE GRANGER AND THE PHILOSOPHER, set after year 1, and HERMIONE ON HOLIDAY, set after year 5)
Chapter 1 Home Alone
It was one of those rare moments when Hermione found herself with some privacy. Hogwarts was a wonderful place, but it was hard to get completely alone there. Hermione had three roommates. During the most of the time when she wasn't with them, she was with Ron and Harry. If she wasn't with any of them, she was usually in a class or the library, where the grownup in charge was careful to keep an eye on the star student. Even in the loo, there was danger of Moaning Myrtle popping up.
But now it was the summer holidays after her third year at Hogwarts, and she was at home. Earlier in the summer she had worked in a bookstore, but that job had wound up at the end of last week, and so now she was alone in the house all day, while her parents were at work at their dentistry office.
She didn't have to present a well-behaved facade to anybody at the moment, much to her relief, and so she decided to do something a bit daring.
One of the other temps at the bookstore – a few years older than Hermione, but also a student – was a boy named Johnny. She had caught him staring at her every once in a while, seemingly admiring her figure. It was the first time a boy had shown that sort of interest in her. Of course she was very close friends with Ron and Harry at Hogwarts, but neither of them seemed romantically interested in her. They always treated her as one of the boys. It hadn't bothered her at first, but now that she was fourteen and noticing boys, she longed for one to notice her too.
Johnny and Hermione had had almost no chance to talk about anything but business – when they did try to have a private conversation, the manager would accuse them of "spooning around" – which was true, though expressed in a very old-fashioned way. But before ending her employment, Hermione had been careful to get Johnny's phone number out of the store employment records. Now she dialled it.
"Johnny, this is Minnie Granger." She wasn't too fond of the nickname, but it was the one she was known by in the Muggle world.
"Minnie! How cool to hear from you again."
"Yes, I'd be interested in seeing you again too."
"Perhaps we could meet at –"
"No, I'm too young to drive." She was glossing over the fact that most witches never learned to drive, but depended on Portkeys, Floo powder, and Apparition, none of which she could use at the moment. Not to mention, she wasn't even of age where she could potentially learn.
"I have a car. Would you like me to pick you up?"
"I don't think we should go out, but if you'd like to pay a visit – let me give you my address. "
"Would your parents object?"
"It doesn't matter. They're at work."
Hermione was a clever girl, but her notion of social behaviour had been formed at a co-educational boarding school. You dealt with boys all the time, you might hide with them in a loo, you might even squeeze near to one under an Invisibility Cloak, without assuming that it implied a strong sexual invitation. Her two closest male friends never thought of giving her a kiss. It didn't occur to her how an invitation to visit her in an empty house might come across to Johnny.
About half an hour later, she heard a knock at the front door. Johnny was standing there, looking very handsome.
"Hullo, Johnny. Come in." She had been careful to hide away all the magic possessions in her room, and was dressed in conventional blue jeans and blouse. "Um, why don't we go into the drawing room?"
"Yeah, OK," he said, noncommittally.
They sat down on the main sofa, in front of her parent's telly. Hermione tried talking about the bookstore, but it turned out that Johnny was no longer interested in the shop now that he no longer worked there. Nor in the common acquaintances they had there. Apparently he had dismissed them all, except for Hermione.
She suddenly found herself at a loss for something to talk about. She could not mention Hogwarts, or anything associated with it. She couldn't describe the thrill of learning a new spell and having it work. Or tell jokes about how silly Professor Trelawney was. Or how exciting it had been to out-manoeuvre the Whomping Willow. Or how the Ministry of Magic had honoured her with a precious experimental gadget, the Time Turner. And it definitely would not be a good idea to mention how she had enjoyed punching Draco Malfoy in the nose.
"Um, would you like to watch the telly with me?"
"That would be cool."
Hermione wasn't familiar with the television schedule. She spent most of her time at a school where electronics didn't work. She let him choose a show, pretending that she was eager to please him, and he chose some American adventure movie that she had not heard of. As it soon turned out, his mind was not really on the telly either.
As they watched, Johnny edged closer to her on the sofa. When she didn't object, he put his arm around her shoulder. Eventually, the telly program quite forgotten, he put his other hand around her and pulled her close.
At first Hermione was thrilled with the embrace, but as he held her more tightly, and she felt her breasts pressing into his chest, she decided things were going too far. She released him and tried to pull back, but he didn't respond to the hint. She had to push him away.
Staring at her avidly, he put out a hand toward her breast. She slapped it away and stood up. He followed suit, and his look got positively predatory. She knew what was in his mind.
Frightened, Hermione turned and dashed toward her room, with Johnny in pursuit.
Slamming the bedroom door, she rushed to her dresser and got out her wand, which she had hidden in her sock drawer. She waved it toward the door.
"Maledictus sit in genitalibus!"
She heard a yelp of pain from outside. Taking a risk, she put her wand in her jeans pocket and opened the door. She saw Johnny doubled up in considerable discomfort, all thought of catching Hermione discarded.
"What have you done to me?" he gasped, holding his abdomen.
"Me to you? I don't know what you're talking about," said Hermione, trying to sound innocent and bewildered. "Seems to me that you were trying to do something to me. I suggest you leave." Hermione took a deep breath. She didn't want to appear shaken.
Johnny hastily turned and headed back to the front door, trying to make it appear that he was complying with her suggestion and not actually fleeing the scene. As he crossed the threshold, Hermione muttered the counter-spell. She didn't think it would stop his retreat; from his point of view, what had happened to his body was not only agonizing but mystifying, and he wanted to get away from the vicinity as quickly as possible.
Hermione sighed. "Stupid, stupid, I was so stupid!" For Hermione, that was a very painful admission to make. Why, with such wonderful boys such as Ron and Harry in her life, had she exposed herself to danger with a bloke that she really knew little about? She realized that there was much to the world she had to discover, and very little of the wisdom would be found in books.
After an hour of gloom and humiliation, she heard another knock at the front door. She looked through the spyhole to make sure it wasn't Johnny again, then opened the door.
"I knew that you'd probably be visiting," she said meekly. "Come in, Professor McGonagall."
TO BE CONTINUED