Chapter 2
A man sits with his back to the door. Bits of conversation swirl around him while he hunches over his butter beer. A dusty corner in the British pub is a perfect place to escape from prying eyes. As he sipped, he finished reading the letter before him.
…HG is important to our plan. She is the key to getting to the other two. These three have defied the Dark Lord and they must pay for their actions. Make sure you stay close to her and report her actions as often as possible. When the time comes, you need to be in position to take action.
He slipped the note into his back pocket and continued to nurse his drink.
He saw two familiar girls enter the pub, his appearance changed to that of an old man. Much to his luck, they chose to sit in the empty booth behind him.
"Oh my, I'm so tired. I think you've worn me out properly, Dory."
"Yeah, right, you know you were just as excited as I was to go to that ancient world and antiquities museum. After witnessing how big your eyes got when we entered, you can't tell me I dragged you there."
"That may be so, but I sure don't have the endurance you do."
The blond ordered two butterbeers for them as the brunette propped her head in her hands and stared into nowhere.
"Hermione? Can I ask you a personal question?"
"Sure, you know you can ask me anything." She said as the waitress came back with their order.
Dory got straight to the point. "What is going on with you and Adam? I thought he had a girlfriend back home, but you almost spend as much time with him as you do me."
"I honestly don't know. He hasn't mentioned anything about his girlfriend to me, yet it seems like we're becoming really close. It's really strange to me. I'm used to knowing straight up if I'm dating someone or not, but he's really good at not defining the relationship and yet still having all the liberties of a boyfriend."
Dory held her hands over her mouth. "Does this mean you two are an item? I thought maybe it was just a relationship in the making, I didn't think it had gone that far."
"I don't know what we are." Hermione had a pained look on her face. "He acts like we are close when we are alone, yet as soon as someone enters the room we're just best buddies. I feel so good when I'm around him, yet I'm so confused by his actions. Somehow I've allowed him to have all the control over this relationship just because I'm afraid to find out if he has a girlfriend."
"Hermione, that doesn't sound good. He seems like such a nice guy to me, yet it doesn't sound like he's treating you very well. Maybe it's time you two had a talk."
"I wouldn't know where to begin. Nothing has been outwardly spoken relationship wise. He could deny the whole thing and just say something about thinking we were just really close friends. I don't think it would do any good. I think I'm just going to ride this one out for awhile longer."
"Okay, whatever you say. I'm really worried about you. I've seen how you aren't eating and I don't like it that this guy is so slippery."
"Don't worry, Dory, I'm just nervous. I just don't want to be that other girl who stole away someone's man. It'll go away when things get straightened out. It's already been two months; he can't act like this forever."
"He better not…"
Dory walked away as Hermione's eyes suddenly widened.
"Fred! Where have you been? I haven't seen you in months!"
"Oh just caught up in a bit of a tricky situation with the business. I used to be the one making all the messing for others to clean up, and now it seems to be the other way around. It's not my fault that people have been misusing my products. Anyway, enough about me and my silly company, how's life?"
"Better now that you're around. How's everything back home?"
"Oh the usual…people keep trying to force out of us where my little brother and Harry are, but we always seem to manage to outsmart them."
"Thank goodness you haven't gotten into any trouble over those two."
"If this is the kind of trouble they give me, I can't imagine what you go though." His eyes narrowed in concern. "Be careful, Hermione. They mean business."
She mildly smiled. "I know. That's one of the reasons I came here. Luckily things have calmed down for me."
Fred stood up and held out his hand, "I'm hungry, let's go get a bite to eat."
