"We're going on an adventure! We're going on an adventure! We're going on an adventuuuuuuuuuurrrrrreeeeee!!" Hermione sang as she and Ginny skippedtowards the Leaky Cauldron. They were headed to meet up with Harry and Ron and the rest of the Weasleys to go shopping for school. Ginny was staying with Hermione for the next week before school headed back. They still hadn't decided if they wanted to continue their relationship during the school year. They would have to do so in secret because they knew no one would ever accept their growing love for each other.
"Two knuts says Ron is at least an inch taller than two weeks ago." Ginny dared her best friend.
"He can't have grown that fast! It's physically impossible!" Hermione scoffed.
"Then you're assured to win."
"Deal."
They shook hands to seal the deal and entered the little pub. Two tall redheads immediately stood and waved them to a booth in the back. There was another table pushed up to the end of it and chairs crowded around that. They wrestled their way across the crowded room and greeted everyone with smiles. Ron and Harry gave both girls hugs and Harry blushed lightly when Ginny kissed him on the cheek. What he failed to notice was she greeted al her brothers in the same fashion. He also didn't see the way she and Hermione sat close to each other or how when their hands touched they would smile a little wider.
The morning flew by and soon the girls left the others to go clothes shopping in Muggle London. They enjoyed window shopping and ice cream throughout the afternoon. Ginny was checking out a little jewelry boutique while Hermione sat outside on the bench and finished her ice cream. That's when she saw him.
To understand her first reaction you must first visualize what she was seeing.
He was tall. Maybe 6'2", 6'3". He wore a black undershirt covered with a black buttonup almost completely covering the undershirt except where the top button was open enough for it to peep through. He wore dark blue jeans and black oxfords. He stood against a wall across the street. Gold aviators hid his eyes so Hermionecouldn't see but she could see his deeply tanned skin and his perfect lips. A breeze ruffled his crow feather black hair, so black it shone bluish in the sunlight. His carefree stance indicated a confidence that few people could attain on their own. But what shocked Hermione more than anything else about his appearance was the fact that in his left hand he held the exact same ice cream she held in her own right one.
Maybe she had gone a bit barmy to be shocked by an ice cream cone when the person holding it was so absolutely gorgeous.
But if you knew what sort of ice cream it was you'd be surprised too.
Hermione and this mysterious stranger were both snacking on a waffle cone filled with one scoop of peanut butter and one scoop of coffee ice cream with chocolate sauce and gummy worms.
How on Earth did another person find her Super Secret Special Ice Cream Recipe?!
At that precise moment in time something happened in Hermione's brain. Her rational and logical centers shut down temporarily to allow time to accept this shock. That left her only with crazy and impulsive. So being she ate the last bite of her treat and marched right across the street to give him a what for. He looked at her mid lick and his eyebrows furrowed together in confusion.
Hermione scowled at him as she snatched his dessert and licked it.
She shoved it back at him and began talking.
"How did you possibly figure out this particular combination? I'll have you know I've been eating that sort since I was... (here she paused to count) 7 years old!! Who told you to eat your ice cream like that!!" She demanded poking his chest.
The boy smiled.
"If you must know I went into the ice cream shop and asked for whatever the person in front of me had. Apparently you were that person. By the way, this is a rather interesting combination. I'm enjoying it."
Flabbergasted Hermione took a moment to process this new information.
"Oh." She said articulately.
(A/N: This chapter brought to you by the wonderful Taylor.)