Well, Hello There...Sorry it has been so long. It is just taking me longer then I thought to write out chapter 15. I only have one more scene left to write before its complete, but I just can't seem to get it started. But anyhoo...the main reason why this is late is because I am still swamped in my Mythology class, as we are coming up on the end of the quarter. Only three more weeks, including this one, until finals and then I am off on the week long nap that I like to call spring break. Plus, I have been moving into the new house the past two weekends so that takes up a lot of the weekend...the only spare time I have.
But never fear...the story is moving along nicely. I never intended it to be this long. It started out in my mind to only be like six chapters but then it just kind of exploded into 15...and the story still has a lot to go. I'm hoping no more then 21 chapters but you never know with me. BUT...this chapter is a good one. Big things happen at the end.
Thanks for reading my mindless chatter and my imaginative little world where this whole story takes place. I love reviews...hint hint, wink wink...
DISCLAIMER: I own none of it except for a few characters and the storyline which is sort of based off of Disney Channel's Hannah Montana.
Thank you to the following artists who's songs Hermione claims as her own. It's fiction...deal with it...
ALy & Aj, Everlife, Phil Collins, Avril Lavigne, Hannah Montana, Faith Hill, Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, Pink, and possibly Paramore...I haven't decided on them yet!
Chapter 11
There was a deep rumble coming in from over the hills. Crackles of yellow pierced the light grey sky of mid morning. It seemed overnight that the temperature had dropped from a comfortable autumn, to a bitter cold of deep winter. Hermione normally enjoyed thunder storms and chilling temperatures, but there was something off this morning. As she walked into the Great Hall for breakfast that Saturday, the energy she felt was completely backwards. Add to that was the fact that when she sat down, Luna and Ron both launched into a gentle chatter about how she was doing this morning. Something was truly awry if they were talking this early on a Saturday; they usually were either still half asleep at the table or snogging in their seats. After a few beats wearing a skeptical look, Hermione couldn't take it. "What's wrong with you two? You are never chatty in the morning."
Ron was the first to answer, "We're just curious about your day so far."
"Um…okay," she replied still confused. "If you must know, I woke up and took a shower, then came down here. Why is it important?"
"Hermione, do you want to go into the village today? I could do with a good shopping trip; my closet is looking a little thin. Plus I need to get a present for Ginny's birthday later on tonight," Luna asked before Ron could respond to the previous question.
Now she was certain that things were amiss…Luna never wanted to go clothes shopping. "Okay you two, seriously, what's going on? Something is amiss with you guys."
"Nothing's wrong Hermione," Luna replied, kicking Ron in the shin from under the table upon noticing that he was about to tell her the truth. "I just thought it would be fun to spend the day together. You and I haven't had time to, what with our Charms projects and your rec…stuff," she finished, catching herself before dropping the secrete.
Even though they weren't telling the truth, Hermione felt that a shopping trip would do her some good. It was still a week and a half before she would be able to drop by Bleaker Street, home to her favorite designers: Chanel, Badgley Mischka, Lacoste, and Gucci just to name a few; so a trip to the village would be good. She could add to the less expensive side of her closet. "Sounds like fun Luna…I'll go grab my bag. Ron, do you and Harry want to come?"
"No thank you, shopping is not our forte. You two can take on that beast all by yourselves. But we will see you at Ginny's party at five."
"Okay, Luna I'll meet you back here in like ten minutes." And with that, Hermione flounced off to retrieve her Coach bag from upstairs. She figured there would be plenty of time to needle Luna later. She would find out what was off soon enough.
Trotting down the main stairwell to return to the Great Hall to meet Luna, Hermione's mind wandered back onto why she had seemed so different at breakfast and why the world felt so off. Did something happen between her and Ron? No, that couldn't be it because if something did happen they wouldn't be so talkative with each other. If Luna was pregnant then they would have been incredibly freaked out, so that couldn't be it.
Right as she hit the last step, her eyes landed on Draco exiting the Great Hall, looking over his shoulder furtively. "What are you doing?" She asked in a mixture of confusion and amusement.
The sound of her voice seemed to catch him off guard and he stopped abruptly in his tracks. He seemed to struggle with his answer, almost as if he was inventing it on the spot. "Uh…um…I was…I thought I heard someone call my name as I was leaving the room," he ended lamely. The look on his face was one of guilt but it went unnoticed by his girlfriend.
"Okay," Hermione replied with a chuckle. "Hey, I was on my way down to the village to do some shopping. Do you want to come?" She asked hopefully.
If his first explanation was one to be examined closer, then the answer to this question could be broken apart with even more ease. Glancing around the corridor quickly, he took his time to formulate a proper excuse. "I would go love but…I have to…um…finish an essay for Transfiguration."
"Oh, okay," Hermione replied obviously disappointed. This wasn't the first time in the last few days that he had baled on her.
"I'm sorry sweetie," He said giving her hand a squeeze after noticing her disappointment. "We can do something later okay?"
She brightened at this. "Yeah…it was a tough essay anyway. You go finish it and I will catch up with you later tonight." She finished, giving him a quick kiss before heading into the Great Hall to meet Luna.
He felt bad about lying to her, he really did. But he couldn't very well tell her where he was really going. That certainly wouldn't go over big. He continued on his way up the stairs and down a side hall way. Halfway down the corridor, her head of dirty flaxen hair poked through the doorway. As her hand closed around his, pulling him into the classroom with her, his eyes darkened with the expectation of what was soon to come.
The two girls began their trek to the village right after casting a few umbrella charms over their heads to block out the offending rain. With each hurried step, a sloshing of mud and grime shot up from the ground behind them. Upon reaching The Three Broomsticks, Hermione and Luna spent a few minutes removing the mud from the ankles of their jeans. It was still early and the chill of late October had gotten to them. After taking their seats at the bar, they each ordered a cup of cocoa and soaked into the classical music filtering in through the walls.
They chatted about everything and nothing over their steaming cups, mapping out their quest for the day. Hermione let Luna take the reigns on this one. The first stop would be to The Haberdasher; Luna's favorite establishment for everyday garb. Then they would be off to Sooki's Closet for undies, and then over to Lola Huetez for shoes. It came as a great shock to Hermione when Lola opened up shop in Hogsmead. Ms. Huetez was a posh muggle designer of clicky heals and adorable flats. Hermione had a natural taste for her creations.
After all the purchases had been made, the girls found themselves at Shooters for lunch, each with quite a few packages in their hands. They took a table near the back of the eatery, and sank down into the plush seats. After their drinks arrived and the orders were taken, Hermione looked over at her best friend and said, "You really shouldn't have bought me those heals, they were incredibly expensive."
With a dismissive wave of her hand Luna brushed the comment off replying, "You really wanted them and since you couldn't make up your mind, I made it up for you. Now you have two pairs of shoes for the price of one."
"You know I'm going to kill you for it right?" Hermione quipped with a grin.
"Well then I am just going to have to watch and see if you put something in my drinks from now on," she replied flicking a chunk of bread at her friend.
The conversation stalled a bit and Luna knew that it was now or never. If she didn't tell Hermione now, then she wouldn't tell her at all. But how to broach it? She couldn't just dive right in and say, 'Hermione, Malfoy is cheating on you.' that wouldn't go over big.
Taking a few deep breaths to build up her nerve, Luna eyed her from across the table. "So how is the charms project going?"
"It went superbly. We finally figured it out, and it is done and ready to be presented. Draco and I will practice it a few more times together and on our own. That way we don't have to keep spending nights away from our other homework," Hermione laughed…other homework…what a concept!
"So how does it work? When you told me your proposal, I was greatly intrigued."
"We built upon the Peter Pan theory. Think of a wish and really concentrate on it, then instead of using pixie dust, you repeat the incantation 'Corpus Riseindio'."
"So it really works, I mean, for long distances?"
"Well, you're not going to want to try any cross country jaunts without touching down to rest. But in theory, you could go pretty far with it."
"That is ingenious."
"J.M. Barie wasn't just an excellent storyteller, he was great at charms as well," Hermione replied with a slight smirk.
As she sat there listening to her best friend prattle on about her project, Luna was busy building up her nerve. It was now or never. "Speaking of Malfoy, did you guys get together last night?"
"No, I asked if he wanted to do something, but he had to do some work for Astronomy. I asked him if he wanted to come with us this morning, but he baled," Hermione said a little wounded.
"Oh I'm sorry sweetie."
"Yeah, and he seemed really sketchy too. He kept looking over his shoulder and his eyes were really shifty when we spoke this morning. But it was probably nothing," she finished brushing it off.
Luna looked at her then and almost couldn't bring herself to tell this beautiful girl the truth. But she had too. "Listen Hermione…the other day Ron told me something about…"
But she wasn't able to finish because right then Hermione caught sight of the clock on the far wall. "Oh Luna, we have to get back to the castle for Ginny's birthday shindig in the Great Hall."
The moment had passed and Luna missed her shot. She cursed her hesitation. Resigning herself to the fact that the truth would have to wait for another day, Luna hauled herself up out of the chair and gathered up her bags. As they recast the umbrella charms over their heads and pushed out into the torrential rain to make the trek back up to the castle, Luna sent up a silent prayer that Hermione wouldn't find out about Malfoy just yet.
"Okay, this one's from you Hermione," Ginny said pulling another colorfully wrapped box her way. With Ron, Harry, Luna, Parvati, Susan, Seamus, Dean and Neville in attendance, Ginny had made quite a killing in the amount of gifts she had received. "Oh wow, these sun glasses are great," she exclaimed as she held the big white frames up for everyone to see. "And those silver interlocking C's are adorable…thank you so much Hermione."
She chuckled to herself. Leave it to Ginny to not realize just how expensive those glasses were. Adorable didn't cover it…more like spectacular. "I have them in black, but I thought the white would look better with your hair. I'm glad you like them."
"I love them," Ginny replied slipping them on and then pulling them up onto the top of her head. "This has been the best birthday ever. You guys are great, thank you all so much." A chorus of "you're welcomes" and "no problems" ran down the table.
"Let me help you pile these up Ginny," Hermione offered as everyone chattered amongst themselves like normal at the end of any party. They were just dropping a gift back into its bag when Lavender came trotting down the aisle, holding a sparkly bag in her hand.
"Sorry I'm late Ginny but I just witnessed for the second time, the best piece of gossip ever," Lavender announced placing the bag down in front of Ginny and taking a seat next to Dean. Apparently she didn't see Hermione standing there boxing up all of Ginny's new stuff. For if she had, there was no way she would have said what she was about to say. In rapid fire, Lavender explained, "So I was on my way down from the common room after grabbing your gift Ginny and right as I was about to pass by the History of Magic classroom, I saw Malfoy exit with some very disheveled hair and what looked like lipstick marks all over his neck. Then not twenty seconds later I see Gretchen Prescott leave the same room with even more disheveled hair, smeared makeup and her skirt on backwards. It looks like someone was definitely getting…Ow," Lavender yelled right as Luna kicked her hard from under the table. "What the hell Lovegood!" And then she saw the furtive look that Luna was sending between Hermione and herself.
Realization dawned on her too late. Hermione was staring at her with a confused and hurt look. "What are you talking about Lavender?"
"Oh God Hermione, I didn't see you," She replied in a strained voice. "Had I known you were there, I never would have said anything." Her head dropped into her hands in defeat.
"What's going on?"
Luna looked up at her friend and voiced to Hermione and the rest at the table who were in the dark, "Hermione, last week Ronald saw Malfoy leaving an empty classroom accompanied by Gretchen looking like he had just gotten shagged. That's what today was about. I was about to tell you when we had to leave for Ginny's party," she finished looking like she might cry.
"Is this true Ron," Hermione asked her friend. His only reply was a slight nod of the head. "Is that why you bought me those shoes Luna? To sweeten me up before telling me? I can't believe you! If it were true, why not tell me right away?" In her eyes shined a hurt made all the more worse because it was brought on by her friends. "I know you guys don't like Draco, I get it, but I didn't think you would stoop so low as to make up a lie so disgusting, just to get me to break up with him!"
Ron spoke his first words since the bomb had been dropped. "Hermione, we're not lying. Why would we?" And when she looked like she would protest, Ron continued, "We didn't want you to find out like this but if you don't believe us…see for yourself." And his hand pointed in the direction of the doors.
Her eyes followed his hand towards the doors and what she saw made her stomach fall to the ground. In walked Draco and Gretchen looking sated, both with rumpled hair and clothes. Comprehension smacked her in the face like a fish from old cartoons.
Hermione saw Draco's eyes land on her and grow wide…he pushed Gretchen aside quickly. But she couldn't hold her eyes to him. The betrayal was too much. She was feeling it again. It had been almost a year since the last time, but it was as strong as ever. Knots bunched up her insides, her breathing came in short shallow gasps and she felt her fingers curl up in typical arthritis fashion. And when the urge became to much to bear, she locked eyes with Luna for a beat, then made a break out of the Great Hall drawing the eyes of Harry and the rest of the table, along with others in the hall…including the sod. Luna pushed herself up off the bench and took off at a run after her. Bewilderment descended on the table as Luna reached the bathroom. She opened the stall door immediately, and gently pulled back the hair of her best friend.
AN: I used my friend Lola's name for the shoe designer. She is going to school for design and she really wants to be the next Jimmy Choo.
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