A/N: Okay, my friends, don't go into conniptions over the whole "Harry-
Hermione-David" love triangle just yet. I've told you that I've already
worked everything out so you all just have to wait for it - - - kinda like
HP and the Order of the Phoenix. At least I have you coming back, right? :)
More shout-outs first...
mmRosalez: You are so completely right! MEN!!!
Shellz: You've been very observant so far so I'll let you in on a little secret...this is the chapter where I show you the 'something strange about David' I've been talking about.
mystical: I'm so in love with Ron (Rupert Grint)! Which is why I just can't bring myself to write a Ron/Hermione story. :) Anyway, I haven't heard from you in a while so your review is a pleasant surprise. I know I've been updating fast these days but my mind is in overdrive. It's just how it is when you're a film student with lots of creative juices flowing through your brain from morning till night. :)
Nighttime Sunshine: Here's the bright, happy moment you asked for. There's a tad bit of angst in there but not as much as I placed in my other chapters. Don't believe in overkill, sorry. Besides, I'm trying to make your hearts wrench, remember? But be forewarned, this chapter is far from being a redemptive one. At least, not soon.
Just a reminder, this chapter occurs on Sunday evening, just a couple of hours after Hermione left Harry at the Pitch. Let's time it at around eight in the evening.
On with the story...
DISCLAIMER: J.K. Rowling owns the Harry Potter characters.
CHAPTER 10:
I sat stoically in a corner booth of a cheesy little diner in London, a few metres away from the Leaky Cauldron...and Harry. Diners appeal to me, I don't know why, but they do. They've got such a homey and secluded feel to them that I feel comfortable in - and this particular diner is my refuge from my confrontation with Harry.
His words kept reverberating in my head, taunting me, laughing at me.
*The perennial student who had something to hide underneath her skirt.....*
*You were probably so happy that David did all the dirty work for you last night that you decided to reward him...*
*Tell me, what exactly have you been doing at Cambrige? I don't think you were studying all the time, were you?*
In our eleven years of friendship, it all comes out. Harry thought of me as nothing more than a tease who used books to make men notice me, to seduce them. I knew I wasn't supermodel status, nor would I actually have the chance to win in beauty contests but I thought that I was beautiful enough to get decent dates once in a while. But Harry negated all those. Evidently, I wasn't beautiful enough to make other people believe that men like him and David would actually *want* me. Or, in David's case, actually want to *marry* me.
A solitary tear coursed down my cheek and I brushed it off hastily. I shouldn't be crying over that. What does it matter what Harry tells me? I'm getting married to a fantastic man who also happens to be a doctor and wants to take care of me for the rest of our lives.
"You okay, hon?" the youngish-looking, blonde waitress asked me, her tray under her arm. She handed me a small packet of Kleenex. "Looks like you've been dumped."
I took the Kleenex from her and pulled out a sheet before giving it back. "No, hon, keep it," the waitress, whose ID said Mildred, told me as she slid into the opposite chair of the booth. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," I mumbled in reply.
"It's not nothing if you're drowning yourself in coffee every five minutes," she said consolingly that I just had to smile. "People usually flush out their worries with scotch or bourbon."
"I've had enough of scotch," I replied, thinking of last night.
"Man problems?"
I nodded.
"Did you catch him cheatin' on you or somethin' like that?"
"No. He just wasn't the man I thought he was."
Mildred smiled. "Honey, no man is ever who they say they are. That's why they're filthy, lyin' scum the lot of them. That's what makes 'em men."
"But - but its different with this one, you know," I found myself opening up to her. "We've been best friends since we were eleven and he's saved my life more than once. He's smart and kind and considerate and loyal..."
Hardly loyal.
I took a deep breath. "I'm getting married to someone else," I said flatly.
"But you love this best friend?"
"I do. At least, I thought I did. I don't know, I'm so confused. He just told me that he thought that the man I'm going to marry only wants to marry me because I seduced him in the first place."
"Did you?"
"No!" I exclaimed, appalled. "I would never seduce a man. I don't even try to entertain thoughts of seducing men. But he thought I did and he said so to my face."
Mildred gasped. "He didn't!"
"He did. And he started saying that I must have put on a bookworm act for him to make him notice me, like those fantasies they publish in Penthouse and Playboy? That I was only out in the library to meet men." I could feel my tears threatening to push their way out of my eyes again.
"Oh, hon. What did you do?"
"I slapped him."
"Well, good for you. He shouldn't be allowed to get away with saying things like that."
"Oh, but I feel awful about it, but I hate him as well. I just never would have thought..."
Mildred patted my hand in a concerned fashion and I appreciated her presence. It felt good to talk to someone sympathetic, albeit a stranger.
I stared at the silver band on my ring finger and twisted it around. An engagement ring. Works almost like a binding charm, but it's guilt-ridden. Take it off and you're being unfaithful. Wear it when you don't want to and you're being unfair.
"Do you love him?" Mildred asked.
I raised my head to meet her eyes. "Of course I do. Harry's the first man I've ever loved and I told him so, but he didn't do anything about it. I guess he just..."
"I meant the man who gave you that ring," she interrupted and I felt my cheeks burn.
Mildred looked at me with knowing eyes and a dimpled smile. "You're taking an awful long time to answer," she quipped.
"Well, I was...surprised and - "
"I asked you the same question before but your thoughts immediately jumped to this Harry fellow. I presume he is the best friend." I nodded. "Then," she added, tapping my engagement ring with a long finger. "Why are you wearing that?"
I stared at her in surprise. Why *was* I wearing this?
/Because you want to get married to David./
/No, you don't. Not yet, at least./
/Don't I?/
"You don't," Mildred snuck in between my thoughts, as if reading my mind. "Shall I pour you more coffee or are you going to run out of here and do something?"
I collected my purse and paid for the cups of coffee I had before making my way to the exit. "Thank you," I told Mildred, holding her hand in grateful appreciation.
"You just make sure you marry the right guy. It's no use loving someone if you can't end up with them, eh?"
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Nine in the evening and I was still searching the streets for any sign of David. I checked with the inn he was staying in and they'd told me that he had went out early in the morning and hasn't returned yet. I called the hospital and they told me that David was off today. Then I checked every restaurant in town - he did say that he had to meet a colleague today, didn't he?
I stopped the car when the traffic light turned red, just as I was about to enter the red-light district, the sleazy part of town. Well, I had to search everywhere. Perhaps his colleague was one of those big, fat-bellied expatriates who preferred a lap dance to to the theater. My eyes were trying not to come into contact with any of the milling prostitutes - male and female - who were displaying their 'wares' on the sidewalk. Just beyond the intersection, a group of about six people emerged from a hole-in-the- wall club and I realized with a sickening jolt that I recognized one of them.
David.
Kissing another man.
I was rendered speechless by this blatant display of affection, watching disgustedly as David pulled the other man close to him, his strong arms encircling his waist. The other people around them cheered them on and neither of them was trying to pull away, unlike what he did to me last night.
A sharp beep startled me out of my trance and I saw that light had already turned greed and that I was causing traffic. I rounded the corner and parked the car in a clearly-marked tow away zone, not caring what the consequences will be. The next few moments happened in a blur - I got out of the car, stalked angrily over to him and threw his ring at his back.
"You bastard!" I cried angrily, hurling the ring to him. "You lying, cheating bastard! How could you do this to me? How could you?" Tears streamed down my face for the second time today and I hardly cared when people on the sidewalk and on the streets looked at me. "Who the hell are *you*?" I yelled, pushing the other guy away as David struggled to hold me back. "Who the hell are you!? Don't you know that this is *my* fiancée?"
The other guy stumbled and fell to the sidewalk and David let go of me to help him up. I watched with growing revulsion as he picked the fallen guy up, helping him get on his feet.
"Keep your stupid ring!" I yelled at David, backing away toward my car. "I don't need you or anything else from you! Just stay away from me!"
"Hermione!" he called after me. I could hear his footsteps trail behind me as I opened my car door and locked it.
"Hermione, please, let me explain," David pleaded, knocking on my window and trying to open the door handle. "Come on, let's talk about this. Hermione..."
*There's nothing to explain...* Harry's words resonated in my brain as I sped home.
***************
A/N: I can actually hear the people murmuring, "Yes! Now it leaves the path clear for Harry and Hermione!" But, like I told you before, this is hardly a redemptive chapter - not yet. And the next one won't be either. But it's coming, it's coming.
Now all you have to think about is whether I'll actually make Harry and Hermione end up together. :) R/R!
More shout-outs first...
mmRosalez: You are so completely right! MEN!!!
Shellz: You've been very observant so far so I'll let you in on a little secret...this is the chapter where I show you the 'something strange about David' I've been talking about.
mystical: I'm so in love with Ron (Rupert Grint)! Which is why I just can't bring myself to write a Ron/Hermione story. :) Anyway, I haven't heard from you in a while so your review is a pleasant surprise. I know I've been updating fast these days but my mind is in overdrive. It's just how it is when you're a film student with lots of creative juices flowing through your brain from morning till night. :)
Nighttime Sunshine: Here's the bright, happy moment you asked for. There's a tad bit of angst in there but not as much as I placed in my other chapters. Don't believe in overkill, sorry. Besides, I'm trying to make your hearts wrench, remember? But be forewarned, this chapter is far from being a redemptive one. At least, not soon.
Just a reminder, this chapter occurs on Sunday evening, just a couple of hours after Hermione left Harry at the Pitch. Let's time it at around eight in the evening.
On with the story...
DISCLAIMER: J.K. Rowling owns the Harry Potter characters.
CHAPTER 10:
I sat stoically in a corner booth of a cheesy little diner in London, a few metres away from the Leaky Cauldron...and Harry. Diners appeal to me, I don't know why, but they do. They've got such a homey and secluded feel to them that I feel comfortable in - and this particular diner is my refuge from my confrontation with Harry.
His words kept reverberating in my head, taunting me, laughing at me.
*The perennial student who had something to hide underneath her skirt.....*
*You were probably so happy that David did all the dirty work for you last night that you decided to reward him...*
*Tell me, what exactly have you been doing at Cambrige? I don't think you were studying all the time, were you?*
In our eleven years of friendship, it all comes out. Harry thought of me as nothing more than a tease who used books to make men notice me, to seduce them. I knew I wasn't supermodel status, nor would I actually have the chance to win in beauty contests but I thought that I was beautiful enough to get decent dates once in a while. But Harry negated all those. Evidently, I wasn't beautiful enough to make other people believe that men like him and David would actually *want* me. Or, in David's case, actually want to *marry* me.
A solitary tear coursed down my cheek and I brushed it off hastily. I shouldn't be crying over that. What does it matter what Harry tells me? I'm getting married to a fantastic man who also happens to be a doctor and wants to take care of me for the rest of our lives.
"You okay, hon?" the youngish-looking, blonde waitress asked me, her tray under her arm. She handed me a small packet of Kleenex. "Looks like you've been dumped."
I took the Kleenex from her and pulled out a sheet before giving it back. "No, hon, keep it," the waitress, whose ID said Mildred, told me as she slid into the opposite chair of the booth. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," I mumbled in reply.
"It's not nothing if you're drowning yourself in coffee every five minutes," she said consolingly that I just had to smile. "People usually flush out their worries with scotch or bourbon."
"I've had enough of scotch," I replied, thinking of last night.
"Man problems?"
I nodded.
"Did you catch him cheatin' on you or somethin' like that?"
"No. He just wasn't the man I thought he was."
Mildred smiled. "Honey, no man is ever who they say they are. That's why they're filthy, lyin' scum the lot of them. That's what makes 'em men."
"But - but its different with this one, you know," I found myself opening up to her. "We've been best friends since we were eleven and he's saved my life more than once. He's smart and kind and considerate and loyal..."
Hardly loyal.
I took a deep breath. "I'm getting married to someone else," I said flatly.
"But you love this best friend?"
"I do. At least, I thought I did. I don't know, I'm so confused. He just told me that he thought that the man I'm going to marry only wants to marry me because I seduced him in the first place."
"Did you?"
"No!" I exclaimed, appalled. "I would never seduce a man. I don't even try to entertain thoughts of seducing men. But he thought I did and he said so to my face."
Mildred gasped. "He didn't!"
"He did. And he started saying that I must have put on a bookworm act for him to make him notice me, like those fantasies they publish in Penthouse and Playboy? That I was only out in the library to meet men." I could feel my tears threatening to push their way out of my eyes again.
"Oh, hon. What did you do?"
"I slapped him."
"Well, good for you. He shouldn't be allowed to get away with saying things like that."
"Oh, but I feel awful about it, but I hate him as well. I just never would have thought..."
Mildred patted my hand in a concerned fashion and I appreciated her presence. It felt good to talk to someone sympathetic, albeit a stranger.
I stared at the silver band on my ring finger and twisted it around. An engagement ring. Works almost like a binding charm, but it's guilt-ridden. Take it off and you're being unfaithful. Wear it when you don't want to and you're being unfair.
"Do you love him?" Mildred asked.
I raised my head to meet her eyes. "Of course I do. Harry's the first man I've ever loved and I told him so, but he didn't do anything about it. I guess he just..."
"I meant the man who gave you that ring," she interrupted and I felt my cheeks burn.
Mildred looked at me with knowing eyes and a dimpled smile. "You're taking an awful long time to answer," she quipped.
"Well, I was...surprised and - "
"I asked you the same question before but your thoughts immediately jumped to this Harry fellow. I presume he is the best friend." I nodded. "Then," she added, tapping my engagement ring with a long finger. "Why are you wearing that?"
I stared at her in surprise. Why *was* I wearing this?
/Because you want to get married to David./
/No, you don't. Not yet, at least./
/Don't I?/
"You don't," Mildred snuck in between my thoughts, as if reading my mind. "Shall I pour you more coffee or are you going to run out of here and do something?"
I collected my purse and paid for the cups of coffee I had before making my way to the exit. "Thank you," I told Mildred, holding her hand in grateful appreciation.
"You just make sure you marry the right guy. It's no use loving someone if you can't end up with them, eh?"
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Nine in the evening and I was still searching the streets for any sign of David. I checked with the inn he was staying in and they'd told me that he had went out early in the morning and hasn't returned yet. I called the hospital and they told me that David was off today. Then I checked every restaurant in town - he did say that he had to meet a colleague today, didn't he?
I stopped the car when the traffic light turned red, just as I was about to enter the red-light district, the sleazy part of town. Well, I had to search everywhere. Perhaps his colleague was one of those big, fat-bellied expatriates who preferred a lap dance to to the theater. My eyes were trying not to come into contact with any of the milling prostitutes - male and female - who were displaying their 'wares' on the sidewalk. Just beyond the intersection, a group of about six people emerged from a hole-in-the- wall club and I realized with a sickening jolt that I recognized one of them.
David.
Kissing another man.
I was rendered speechless by this blatant display of affection, watching disgustedly as David pulled the other man close to him, his strong arms encircling his waist. The other people around them cheered them on and neither of them was trying to pull away, unlike what he did to me last night.
A sharp beep startled me out of my trance and I saw that light had already turned greed and that I was causing traffic. I rounded the corner and parked the car in a clearly-marked tow away zone, not caring what the consequences will be. The next few moments happened in a blur - I got out of the car, stalked angrily over to him and threw his ring at his back.
"You bastard!" I cried angrily, hurling the ring to him. "You lying, cheating bastard! How could you do this to me? How could you?" Tears streamed down my face for the second time today and I hardly cared when people on the sidewalk and on the streets looked at me. "Who the hell are *you*?" I yelled, pushing the other guy away as David struggled to hold me back. "Who the hell are you!? Don't you know that this is *my* fiancée?"
The other guy stumbled and fell to the sidewalk and David let go of me to help him up. I watched with growing revulsion as he picked the fallen guy up, helping him get on his feet.
"Keep your stupid ring!" I yelled at David, backing away toward my car. "I don't need you or anything else from you! Just stay away from me!"
"Hermione!" he called after me. I could hear his footsteps trail behind me as I opened my car door and locked it.
"Hermione, please, let me explain," David pleaded, knocking on my window and trying to open the door handle. "Come on, let's talk about this. Hermione..."
*There's nothing to explain...* Harry's words resonated in my brain as I sped home.
***************
A/N: I can actually hear the people murmuring, "Yes! Now it leaves the path clear for Harry and Hermione!" But, like I told you before, this is hardly a redemptive chapter - not yet. And the next one won't be either. But it's coming, it's coming.
Now all you have to think about is whether I'll actually make Harry and Hermione end up together. :) R/R!