Disclaimer: Jo didn't complain so far, so I don't think she doesn't mind so much me borrowing her fantastic work.
The L-magic
Chapter 4: Lunch actually
Hermione was walking towards the end of the queue to show her Hogsmeade pass to Filch. She was very nervous; she started to repeat the plan for herself. One: get past Filch. Two: go in the alley behind the Hog's Head and put on the invisibility cloak. Three: go to the apothecary, get some boom slang skin and leave the money on the counter without being noticed. Four: go to the Shrieking Shack and meet up with Ginny between 12 and 12:30 pm. This way Ginny would know if she was late that something had gone wrong in the apothecary. Five: sneak with Ginny under the cloak out of Hogsmeade and go to the Muggle village nearby.
Okay this might be one of the trickiest plans she had ever done, but she needed to do this. She wanted Ginny to see that she didn't need to hide their relationship. But she couldn't show their relationship at their school. Suddenly she felt someone sliding her hand onto hers and tightly squeezing her fingers. She looked up and found herself gazing into Ginny's eyes
Ginny let go of Hermione's fingers and said, "You're worrying about whether our plan is going to succeed, aren't you?"
"Yes, I am."
"Sweetie, what could go wrong?" Ginny smiled.
"What could go wrong, what could go wrong you ask! There are many things that could go wrong, Ginny." Hermione started to raise her voice and some people started to turn their heads towards them.
"Hermione, calm down." Ginny quickly turned and looked as if she was just following the queue, and not involved in a conversation.
"I'm sorry, but be realistic, Ginny. I mean, Filch could revoke our passes, there could be people at the Shrieking Shack, I could get busted in the apothecary, I could lose track of time and be extra careful and you might think that something has gone wrong and people could notice us in the Muggle village and..."
Hermione caught her breath when Ginny said, "Calm down. I'm sure you'll do great; look at what you've done in the past. I mean remember in your second year when you stole the boom slang skin from Snape's office?"
"What happens in the past stays in the past; it came very close at some times. What makes you think that this time will be the same?"
"What makes you think this time will be different?" Ginny smiled.
Hermione let her shoulders go down; Ginny could see the tension sliding from her. "You're right; I'm sorry, I can't help it."
"Look, I know you worry. You think I'm not scared? I don't want to imagine what would happen if you get busted at the apothecary. Or worse, we get busted in the Muggle village. But Sweetie, just be reasonable, I mean, what are the chances of us being caught?"
"Well the chances are..." Hermione started to calculate.
Ginny raised an eyebrow. "That was a rhetorical question."
"I'm sorry, Ginny" Hermione said, a bit surprised Ginny knew such difficult words.
"Don't sweat it," Ginny replied as she handed her pass over to Filch. "I'm going with Thomas and the gang, and I'll see you at the Shrieking Shack. Bye." Ginny waved and wandered off.
Hermione also handed her pass to Filch. Filch took the pass from her hand and started to look at it; he turned it around and took a good close look. Hermione was starting to get worried when he started to sniff the pass. Then he finally handed the pass back to Hermione. "You can go now. Next!"
Hermione took the pass and started to walk.
"What the hell is in your pockets?"
She quickly turned around and saw Filch smelling the pass from George.
"Dungbeatles," George answered truthfully.
Hermione couldn't help the smile on her face as she continued going towards the Hog's Head and thinking, "Stage 1: success."
She walked towards Hogsmeade and suddenly she heard Ron's voice. He started to walk beside her.
"I hope everything goes well, 'Mione, good luck." He kissed her cheek and suddenly he was dragged away by Harry.
"C'mon, Ron, I heard they were sending the Quidditch match between Appleby Arrows and Wigtown Wonderers out on the big screen in the Three Broomsticks."
Hermione couldn't help but to feel the butterflies in her stomach when she saw Ron turning around laughing sheepishly and waving. Ron and Harry headed towards the Three Broomsticks whilst she went to the alley behind the Hog's Head.
When she finally reached the Hog's Head she quickly looked around to see if anybody was looking at her. As she noticed that nobody was looking at her she quickly turned into the alley behind the Hog's Head. She couldn't help but to think, "Stage 2: success," when she draped the invisibility cloak over her head. Hermione was glad that Harry had been able to pass her the invisibility cloak undetected just before she went to the line to go to Hogwards.
As soon as she was sure that the cloak was on in a way that no one could see her, she made her way to the apothecary. Threading trough the mushy paths of Hogsmeade caused by the snow from last week, she caught herself with a little smile on her face. She started to think what had caused this smile. When she passed the Thee Broomsticks the reason for her smile was sitting in front of the window watching a big screen. Ron, why was Ron the reason she was smiling? She started to think about the previous week, when she had asked to borrow the invisibility cloak from Harry and just moments before when Ron was dragged away by Harry.
She noticed that he had his typical cheesy smile. This used to irritated her, but now it seemed this was the reason she was smiling. How could this be? Wasn't she in a relationship with Ginny? She knew she liked Ginny but they were only trying to figure out what these feelings meant, weren't they? She shook these questions out of her head and started again to focus on the mission, because she couldn't risk it being caught just because she was distracted. The next step was to go in the apothecary without being noticed. She knew that it wasn't hard not to be seen with the cloak but so many other things could go wrong.
She finally was at the entrance from the apothecary. "Okay, here we go," she murmured beneath her breath.
She stepped in the apothecary and immediately needed to step aside because Snape left the shop. Doing so she bumped into a barrel.
"Sir, would you please watch were you're going?" the apothecary said.
Snape turned around. "Excuse me, but I'm pretty sure I didn't hit that barrel."
"But you were the only one going in or out of the shop; this is curious."
"Yes," Snape said in his icy tone. "Very curious." He started to look around but couldn't notice Hermione since she was underneath the invisibility cloak. "Nobody I can SEE," Snape sneered.
"Yes, sir. Goodbye and have a nice day," the apothecary said in a cheerful voice.
Snape said nothing and stepped away with his bat-like cape.
The apothecary grunted at the rudeness of Snape and turned around and went to the back of his shop. Hermione couldn't help but let a sigh escape from between her pressed lips.
Suddenly the apothecary was back in the shop. "I thought I heard something."
Hermione quickly pressed her hands on her mouth.
"Probably was nothing, strange day though. First that barrel and now that sound, oh well," and the apothecary returned to the back side of the house.
Hermione's heart was beating like crazy when she was thinking: "How could I be that stupid, I've got to be more careful." She tip-toed around the shop. "Boomslang skin, boomslang skin, where would I put the boomslang skin if I were an pharmacist." When she noticed the boomslang skin in the back of the shopping area she sneaked around the barrels to get it. She carefully returned to the register and put some money on the counter that would be more than sufficient for the snake skin. Then she silently went out of the shop.
"Step 3: close but successful," she said whilst she headed towards the Shrieking Shack to meet up with Ginny. When she glanced at her watch she noticed that it was 12:01 pm. "Time enough to go the Shrieking Shack."
Going through the crowd that swarmed the streets of Hogsmeade, Hermione was relatively free to let her mind wonder. She just needed to be careful not to bump into anybody, but compared to what she had just done in the apothecary this was nothing. She thought about the time she was going to spend with Ginny tonight. When she passed the Three Broomsticks her line of thought took a slight turn but stayed in the same category. What would it be like to date Ron? Did she have feelings for Ron? Was she dating Ginny to get to Ron in some sick way? These thoughts raced through her head like bullets that where shot from a gun. But they were blank because there came no answers. And before she knew it, she had reached the Shrieking Shack, the place was deserted, just like Ginny said. Nobody was there, not even Ginny. When Hermione looked around and was assured that nobody was there she took off the cloak. Suddenly she was grabbed from behind.
"Guess who!"
"Ginny, don't ever do that again! You nearly gave me a heart attack," Hermione said.
"Oh Sweetie, I'm sorry" Ginny said and laid her hands on Hermione's face and tenderly kissed her lips.
"Ginny, not here; somebody might see us," Hermione hissed.
Ginny draped the cloak over the both of them and softly whispered in Hermione's ear, "Not anymore," and pressed a little kiss behind Hermione's ear.
Hermione laughed and took Ginny's hand. "Let's get out of here."
"Lead the way, my fair lady."
"Don't you know the way, Ginny?"
"Kinda." Ginny said whilst she raised her shoulders.
"The second star to the right."
They both laughed because of the quote Hermione just used from a story she had explained to Ginny on one of their nights they'd spent together on one of their beds. It was spectacular that they had never been caught.
"Seriously for a minute I would really like to spend some time together in public not underneath an invisibility cloak. I know it's in that direction," Ginny said whilst she pointed to the south. "But exactly how to get there, I'm not 100% sure."
"I'm sure there will be direction markers leading there."
"What are direction markers?" Ginny asked curiously.
Hermione started to explain what direction markers were when they started to walk towards the Muggle village. For her it was evident what sign markers were, but to Ginny, who was raised in a wizarding family, it wasn't that evident. By the time that they had reached the village Aalst. They were busy discussing all sorts of Muggle versus Wizarding inventions. But before they entered the village they went off the road and when they were out of sight they took the cloak from them. Hermione hadn't finished stuffing the cloak in her backpack, when Ginny threw herself into her, knocking her over and started to kiss her. Their kisses grew into a more deep passionate kiss. They were both breathless when Hermione said, "No matter how much I would like to continue kissing you, I suggest we make our way to the village, if we want to show how affectionate we are of each other, even in public."
"Oh, Hermione, you don't know how happy that makes me," Ginny exclaimed.
"I do know it, else I wouldn't have said it."
They stood up and returned to the road to make their way to the Muggle village. Strolling through the big streets and small alleys Ginny noticed that Aalst wasn't so different from the Wizard's village Hogsmeade. Hermione smiled and let her fingers curl into Ginny's. Ginny stopped walking turned to face Hermione and kissed her even more passionately than moments before. People even stopped their pace to stop and look at the couple kissing so affectionately in the middle of the shopping street. When they ended their kissed they stared into each other's eyes.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't help it, I just love you so very much and I'm over the moon at this moment," Ginny whispered.
Hermione said nothing, she just kissed Ginny's lips.
"What was that for?"
"To say that you don't have anything to be sorry for. I'm glad too Ginny." Hermione hugged Ginny and said, "But at the moment I'm also starving. Let's get something to eat, shall we?"
"Fine by me; I'm just glad that we are together."
"Yeah, but we can't survive on love, now can we?" Hermione said with her lips curled into a little smile.
"Bet I can survive on the love that I feel for you." Ginny grinned.
"As satisfying as that sounds, I do suggest we get something to eat." Hermione took Ginny's hand and asked, "Where do you want to go?"
"I'm not sure. How about we walk in that direction and see if there's anything interesting over there?" Ginny took Hermione's hand and they started to walk. After a short walk they stood in front of a stone building with a sign hanging from its wall. The sign read: Allegro.
"How about here?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah this sounds good." Ginny couldn't be bothered where they went to eat as long as she was in Hermione's company.
They entered the little tavern and were greeted by a blond waitress.
"Good afternoon ladies, a table for two, I presume?"
"Yes." Hermione said determined.
The first part of the tavern was dimly lit and the second part of the tavern was an open space covered by a glass so it look like a greenhouse. The waitress asked where the ladies wanted to be seated.
"Is that table in the back there free?" Ginny asked pointing in the direction of a table in a dark corner only lit by the candle that stood upon the table.
The blond lady took a glance in a book that laid upon the wooden counter. "Yes it is." The lady called one of the other waitresses and asked her to show them to the table. They reached the table and were seated by the waitress.
"Hello ladies, my name is Lisa and I'll be your waitress." She handed them each a menu and walked back to the counter.
Ginny laid the menu down and took Hermione's hand. "I'm so glad, Sweetie."
"Me too, Ginny, me too."
Ginny bent over the table and kissed Hermione in an ever-deepening kiss, in which they both forgot the world around them.
After word:
Well a bit of reviewers from the last chapter, I'm starting to see that peoples interest in this story is starting to grow. But a reviewer more never hurt anyone so read and review I would say.
As you might have noticed I have changed bits and pieces in the previous chapters, little errors. I think if you wouldn't look for them you wouldn't see them. That doesn't mean I'm happy that I wouldn't like to thank the new beta reader.
It's my fourth beta reader so far. I'm starting to think that the post of beta reader is something like the post of DADA teacher, every time a new one. But I've got a positive feeling about this one, so that's why I would like to thank her for her work, and hope she stays on. So a big applause for Jessica. als known as Nessa Surion
I would also like to thank my reviewers from the last chapter: femslashreader, K59, DaPhoenix and Angel From Above Is Here
