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Chapter 2
It was half past two in the morning, and she had to meet Kristin and Adeline at nine, as they were taking her to meet up with some of her other friends. They would be spending the whole day at the park. Hermione knew that her eyes would probably be puffy and swollen in the morning, but she didn't care.
'Who thought that Mike would turn out to be such a sweet, funny guy?' Hermione thought, as she laughed at yet another of his stories.
"Okay, Mike, that's enough! I've got a horrible stitch. Give me a break!" Hermione pleaded, as she pressed a cushion to her stomach.
Mike laughed. "It's good to have you back, Hermione."
"I know!" Hermione said. "Hey, are you going to the picnic tomorrow? Did Kristin and Adeline tell you about it?"
"Yeah," said Mike, stifling a yawn. "And tomorrow, I'll introduce you to someone special."
Hermione felt a gnawing feeling at the pit of her stomach. "Someone special?" She echoed. Immediately, she wondered if it was his... Girlfriend? But Hermione didn't press for more information.
Saying goodnight, and kissing each other lightly on the cheek, they retired.
As Hermione stared at the ceiling of her bedroom, she hoped fervently that Mike would just introduce her to his best friend, or something. Anything but a girlfriend...
***
Hermione sighed as the warm water ran over her body. She was in her bathroom upstairs. Mike had gone home to get ready. Gently, she dabbed herself dry, then went to her room to dress. After careful consideration, she put on a sleeveless white t-shirt which showed a little of her mid-riff and a pair of cream-coloured low-slung shorts. Slipping her feet into a pair of white sneakers, she was ready.
Glancing in the mirror, Hermione realized that her hair was a little too wild. 'Better get more conditioner,' she told herself. Reluctantly, she found her wand and straightened out her hair - something she had never done before. She was surprised at the results. 'I have to admit I look pretty good,' she thought, as she surveyed her neat room.
Then, she went downstairs and made herself a tuna sandwich. Chewing slowly, she made her way to the kitchen window, which over-looked her garden, and the houses opposite hers. Hermione found herself gazing across the road at Mike's house, and wondering what he was doing at that moment. Then, she realized that someone was standing at his kitchen window and staring at her. It was Mike himself.
Hermione found that she was blushing for being caught staring, as Mike lifted his right hand in a friendly wave. Hermione waved back. Then, she turned away from the window and checked the clock on the wall. Fifteen minutes more to go.
Sighing, Hermione lowered herself into a chair, and found herself thinking - not for the first time - about Hogwarts. In her seventh year, she had broken up with Ron after a steady two-year relationship. Then, when she became the Head Girl, and had to work alongside the Head Boy, Draco Malfoy, they spent more time with each other than anyone else. Before they knew it, they had become a couple.
However, three months into their relationship, Hermione found out that Draco was secretly seeing a Slytherin fifth-year, Sarah Evans. In fury, Hermione had confronted Draco.
"Draco, how could you see another girl behind my back?" Hermione had yelled, feeling a little less than safe in her room. "I had no idea!"
"Hermione, listen to me, will you? My father, before he died, told my mother that I should go out with Sarah."
"I thought it was Pansy," spat Hermione, her eyes shining with tears.
"No, it used to be her, but Pansy's family is getting weaker. Sarah, he said, would be a better match," Draco had tried to explain, as he attempted to get nearer to Hermione so he could hold her in a hug.
"Then you should have at least told me, instead of keeping it in the dark!" Hermione yelled, as her tears began to flow. Pain attacked her and stabbed her heart. She moved away from Draco, a porcelain dolphin in her raised hand, ready to throw at Draco.
"I swear I was going to!" Draco hollered back at her. "I thought you'd at least give me a chance to explain, but no. Look at you! Why are you so mad?"
"Why?" Hermione laughed strangely. "Why? Because I believed that I'd finally found true love! That's why! And I find that you've been cheating on me!"
Draco crumbled, and his eyes began to fill with tears. "Hermione, I swear I love you more than anything else, but if I break up with Sarah, my mother will be after my blood! She will never hear of it!"
"Then go to Sarah!" Cried out Hermione, spitting the fifth-year's name like it was a deadly venom. "Go back to her and uphold your darned family name!"
"Hermione, I can always love you too! Please don't do this!" Draco pleaded.
"Love me TOO? No, Draco, I'm not going to wait for you, and go through the torture of seeing you marry that - that girl!" Then, angrily, Hermione pushed him out of her room and sealed it with a strong spell.
But Draco did not give up easily. He wrote her letters, and she never read them. She would tear them up and send them back. All gifts were returned, unopened and Hermione took extra care to avoid him. Work was strictly work. No more fooling around, or making out in between.
Even on the last day, before she had crossed the barrier, Draco had come up to her.
"Hermione, please. Please give us a chance!"
"No. There is no 'us'," she had replied, her voice even, though her heart was slowly crumbling into nothing-ness. She knew she was opening the wound by talking to Draco. "No, Draco. You want me, you decide. It's either all, or nothing."
Then, she had left with her parents.
A loud honking outside her house interrupted Hermione's thoughts.
"HERMIONE!" Yelled Kristin. "WE'RE HERE!!"
"Shut up, Kristin! Or the whole neighbourhood'll know we're here too!" Hermione heard Adeline say.
Hermione laughed as she hastily wiped away the tears she hadn't realized she had. Grabbing her purse from a chair, she ran outside, stopping only to pat Crookshanks.
As she jogged down the pathway, she realized that Mike was seated in the backseat.
"Hey!" He called. "Hope you don't mind! My car broke down."
"Oh no, she won't mind," Kristin answered for Hermione. Then she winked at Hermione. "It's pretty squeezy back there, but it's okay, right, Herm? After all, you'll be with one of the hottest guys around!"
"Shut up, Kristin!" Laughed Hermione, though her heart was racing as she got into Kristin's car. The backseat had baskets of food, and was crowded with other things Hermione couldn't identify. As her leg brushed Mike's, she blushed and pretended nothing had happened.
For the entire ride, Hermione reluctantly tried not to bump into Mike too much. Kristin was driving like a maniac, as usual, but she was swerving left and right on purpose. Hermione had caught her winking at Adeline.
As they were unloading the car, Mike whispered to Hermione, "Don't tell anyone about my parents, okay? No one knows except you, Chester and Alex."
Without glancing at him, Hermione nodded. The places where she had bumped into Mike were tingling. It felt so weird. Like how Hermione had felt about... Draco.
"Earth to Hermione! Is your head still in the clouds, or still high from that ride?" Kristin teased.
"Kristin!" Hermione said, pretending to be mad.
Soon, they had set up the food table, and the food was arranged neatly. While waiting for Chester, Alex and a few others to come, Adeline and Kristin went off to get ice from the 24-hour mart nearby. They did not ask Hermione to come along with them.
"Uh, Hermione?"
Hermione's attention was diverted from watching her friends leave to Mike. "Yeah?"
"You... You wanna walk by the pond?"
"Okay," said Hermione, shrugging nonchalantly so she wouldn't look too eager.
As they strolled by the pond, and watched the toddlers and older children throw large pieces of bread to the ducks, laughing without a care in the world, they began to wish they were 10 years old once again.
"Hermione, this morning when I went home, my dad wasn't there. It's Sunday, and he usually takes my brother to a baseball game. But Jason was home, and my dad's car wasn't in the garage. And his stuff aren't in the bathroom."
"Did you try asking your mom?" Hermione asked, pushing her straight hair over her bare shoulders.
"I did," said Mike, pushing his hands into his pants pocket. "But she just said he was visiting a friend."
"What about Jason?"
"He wasn't home last night either. And he doesn't want to talk about it, anyway."
Hermione sighed sadly, as she stopped and faced the water. She tilted her face upwards to catch a few rays of the sun.
"My door's always open if anything happens, Mike."
"Thanks, Herm."
For a moment, they were silent.
"MIKE!" Called a girl's excited voice.
Mike and Hermione turned. A petite brown-haired girl in a pale blue mini- dress ran up to them, and threw her arms around Mike. Hermione felt like throwing herself into the water and melting.
"Hey," said Mike, closing his eyes as he hugged the girl back.
"How've you been?" She shrieked, letting go of Mike and stepping back to survey him.
"Good. You?"
"Fantastic! Boarding school isn't as boring as it seems to be!"
"A-hem," said Hermione politely.
"Oh, right," said Mike, embarrassed. "Hermione, this is Adriana - or Anna, the special person I told you about. Anna, this is Hermione."
"Hi," said Hermione, suddenly feeling like a giant next to the small green- eyed girl.
"Hey. You're a friend of Mike's? I've never seen you around," said Anna.
"No, you haven't. I've been away studying."
"Away, studying? Man, it's a drag, isn't it, being away from all your friends?" Said Anna, dimples in her cheeks as she laughed.
"Tell me about it!" Laughed Hermione. Though she was uneasy, she found herself liking Anna. She wondered if they were a couple, but it would be rude to ask, so Hermione didn't ask.
However, as though reading her mind, Anna said, "No, Mike and I aren't a couple. But we used to be neighbours, until I moved with my father and my stepmother. But I'm staying with my mother now."
Mike laughed at the obvious relief on Hermione's face. Taking both girls' hands, he led them back to where everyone was.
"Hey, Mikey-boy!" Yelled Chester, loudly enough for everyone to hear. "Two- timing weasel, aren't ya?"
Everyone laughed as Mike dropped both girls' hands and charged at Chester. Laughing, they fell to the soft grass, tackling each other.
"Ignore them," said Adeline, rolling her eyes. "They're always doing that. Let me introduce you to these people, though I think you probably know most of them."
Then, Hermione was introduced to Star, Cheryl, Honey, Dan, and Remy. Hermione knew Star, Cheryl and Dan from when she was in kindergarten and seeing them now, after so many years was a big surprise.
Honey, whose eyes and hair matched her name, was a pretty girl, who was a little taller than Hermione. Her quiet nature seemed to give her an aura of mystery. Remy was a little on the chubby side, and very friendly. His black hair and brown eyes reminded Hermione of Sarah, but she pushed the thought away.
Soon, the party was in full swing. Alex, who was late, as he had to help his father, soon fell into the party mood. The radio, which Chester had brought along, was blasting out music, and Hermione felt like getting up and dancing.
While eating, Hermione got to know the others better and felt more comfortable in her skin. It felt good to belong somewhere again.
Finally, by sunset, Cheryl, Star, Anna and Dan had left. Remy and Honey would be helping to clear up before they too would leave.
When all the trash had been cleared away and scraps of food were scooped into a bag and disposed off, Mike took Hermione's hand, and they strolled once more by the water, watching the sunset. It looked like some giant kid up in the sky had spilled his watercolours. Blue and orange and yellow and red hues dripped and sloshed over the horizon. It was one of the most beautiful scenes the two of them had ever seen for a long time.
Finding a dry patch of grass by the water's edge, they sat down, and Hermione leaned closer to Mike, enjoying his company.
"Herm?"
"Yeah?"
"Isn't this beautiful?"
"What, the sunset? Yeah. It's lovely." Hermione rested her head on Mike's shoulder, and felt her cheek vibrate gently as he spoke to her.
"I wish time would stop and we could just stay here forever."
'He wants to be alone - with me!' Thought Hermione happily. "But life wouldn't go on, would it?" She said.
"I don't want it to go on," he said, with overtones of bitterness in his voice.
Hermione was quiet. Then, at the same time, the two of them turned and looked at each other. Hermione felt herself drowning in those two expressive brown whirlpools. Slowly, the two of them leaned towards each other and, as their lips met, the world faded away, and nothing was there, except the other. When the kiss ended, they allowed their faces to linger near each other's.
In the heat of the moment, Mike asked, "Hermione, do you want to go out with me?"
As Hermione was about to say "yes," Draco's face flashed in her mind like a curse. Gasping, she got up and left Mike staring at her retreating back in surprise, wondering what he had said. As he got up and dusted his hands, he decided that there was more to Hermione and her past than she was letting on.
Chapter 2
It was half past two in the morning, and she had to meet Kristin and Adeline at nine, as they were taking her to meet up with some of her other friends. They would be spending the whole day at the park. Hermione knew that her eyes would probably be puffy and swollen in the morning, but she didn't care.
'Who thought that Mike would turn out to be such a sweet, funny guy?' Hermione thought, as she laughed at yet another of his stories.
"Okay, Mike, that's enough! I've got a horrible stitch. Give me a break!" Hermione pleaded, as she pressed a cushion to her stomach.
Mike laughed. "It's good to have you back, Hermione."
"I know!" Hermione said. "Hey, are you going to the picnic tomorrow? Did Kristin and Adeline tell you about it?"
"Yeah," said Mike, stifling a yawn. "And tomorrow, I'll introduce you to someone special."
Hermione felt a gnawing feeling at the pit of her stomach. "Someone special?" She echoed. Immediately, she wondered if it was his... Girlfriend? But Hermione didn't press for more information.
Saying goodnight, and kissing each other lightly on the cheek, they retired.
As Hermione stared at the ceiling of her bedroom, she hoped fervently that Mike would just introduce her to his best friend, or something. Anything but a girlfriend...
***
Hermione sighed as the warm water ran over her body. She was in her bathroom upstairs. Mike had gone home to get ready. Gently, she dabbed herself dry, then went to her room to dress. After careful consideration, she put on a sleeveless white t-shirt which showed a little of her mid-riff and a pair of cream-coloured low-slung shorts. Slipping her feet into a pair of white sneakers, she was ready.
Glancing in the mirror, Hermione realized that her hair was a little too wild. 'Better get more conditioner,' she told herself. Reluctantly, she found her wand and straightened out her hair - something she had never done before. She was surprised at the results. 'I have to admit I look pretty good,' she thought, as she surveyed her neat room.
Then, she went downstairs and made herself a tuna sandwich. Chewing slowly, she made her way to the kitchen window, which over-looked her garden, and the houses opposite hers. Hermione found herself gazing across the road at Mike's house, and wondering what he was doing at that moment. Then, she realized that someone was standing at his kitchen window and staring at her. It was Mike himself.
Hermione found that she was blushing for being caught staring, as Mike lifted his right hand in a friendly wave. Hermione waved back. Then, she turned away from the window and checked the clock on the wall. Fifteen minutes more to go.
Sighing, Hermione lowered herself into a chair, and found herself thinking - not for the first time - about Hogwarts. In her seventh year, she had broken up with Ron after a steady two-year relationship. Then, when she became the Head Girl, and had to work alongside the Head Boy, Draco Malfoy, they spent more time with each other than anyone else. Before they knew it, they had become a couple.
However, three months into their relationship, Hermione found out that Draco was secretly seeing a Slytherin fifth-year, Sarah Evans. In fury, Hermione had confronted Draco.
"Draco, how could you see another girl behind my back?" Hermione had yelled, feeling a little less than safe in her room. "I had no idea!"
"Hermione, listen to me, will you? My father, before he died, told my mother that I should go out with Sarah."
"I thought it was Pansy," spat Hermione, her eyes shining with tears.
"No, it used to be her, but Pansy's family is getting weaker. Sarah, he said, would be a better match," Draco had tried to explain, as he attempted to get nearer to Hermione so he could hold her in a hug.
"Then you should have at least told me, instead of keeping it in the dark!" Hermione yelled, as her tears began to flow. Pain attacked her and stabbed her heart. She moved away from Draco, a porcelain dolphin in her raised hand, ready to throw at Draco.
"I swear I was going to!" Draco hollered back at her. "I thought you'd at least give me a chance to explain, but no. Look at you! Why are you so mad?"
"Why?" Hermione laughed strangely. "Why? Because I believed that I'd finally found true love! That's why! And I find that you've been cheating on me!"
Draco crumbled, and his eyes began to fill with tears. "Hermione, I swear I love you more than anything else, but if I break up with Sarah, my mother will be after my blood! She will never hear of it!"
"Then go to Sarah!" Cried out Hermione, spitting the fifth-year's name like it was a deadly venom. "Go back to her and uphold your darned family name!"
"Hermione, I can always love you too! Please don't do this!" Draco pleaded.
"Love me TOO? No, Draco, I'm not going to wait for you, and go through the torture of seeing you marry that - that girl!" Then, angrily, Hermione pushed him out of her room and sealed it with a strong spell.
But Draco did not give up easily. He wrote her letters, and she never read them. She would tear them up and send them back. All gifts were returned, unopened and Hermione took extra care to avoid him. Work was strictly work. No more fooling around, or making out in between.
Even on the last day, before she had crossed the barrier, Draco had come up to her.
"Hermione, please. Please give us a chance!"
"No. There is no 'us'," she had replied, her voice even, though her heart was slowly crumbling into nothing-ness. She knew she was opening the wound by talking to Draco. "No, Draco. You want me, you decide. It's either all, or nothing."
Then, she had left with her parents.
A loud honking outside her house interrupted Hermione's thoughts.
"HERMIONE!" Yelled Kristin. "WE'RE HERE!!"
"Shut up, Kristin! Or the whole neighbourhood'll know we're here too!" Hermione heard Adeline say.
Hermione laughed as she hastily wiped away the tears she hadn't realized she had. Grabbing her purse from a chair, she ran outside, stopping only to pat Crookshanks.
As she jogged down the pathway, she realized that Mike was seated in the backseat.
"Hey!" He called. "Hope you don't mind! My car broke down."
"Oh no, she won't mind," Kristin answered for Hermione. Then she winked at Hermione. "It's pretty squeezy back there, but it's okay, right, Herm? After all, you'll be with one of the hottest guys around!"
"Shut up, Kristin!" Laughed Hermione, though her heart was racing as she got into Kristin's car. The backseat had baskets of food, and was crowded with other things Hermione couldn't identify. As her leg brushed Mike's, she blushed and pretended nothing had happened.
For the entire ride, Hermione reluctantly tried not to bump into Mike too much. Kristin was driving like a maniac, as usual, but she was swerving left and right on purpose. Hermione had caught her winking at Adeline.
As they were unloading the car, Mike whispered to Hermione, "Don't tell anyone about my parents, okay? No one knows except you, Chester and Alex."
Without glancing at him, Hermione nodded. The places where she had bumped into Mike were tingling. It felt so weird. Like how Hermione had felt about... Draco.
"Earth to Hermione! Is your head still in the clouds, or still high from that ride?" Kristin teased.
"Kristin!" Hermione said, pretending to be mad.
Soon, they had set up the food table, and the food was arranged neatly. While waiting for Chester, Alex and a few others to come, Adeline and Kristin went off to get ice from the 24-hour mart nearby. They did not ask Hermione to come along with them.
"Uh, Hermione?"
Hermione's attention was diverted from watching her friends leave to Mike. "Yeah?"
"You... You wanna walk by the pond?"
"Okay," said Hermione, shrugging nonchalantly so she wouldn't look too eager.
As they strolled by the pond, and watched the toddlers and older children throw large pieces of bread to the ducks, laughing without a care in the world, they began to wish they were 10 years old once again.
"Hermione, this morning when I went home, my dad wasn't there. It's Sunday, and he usually takes my brother to a baseball game. But Jason was home, and my dad's car wasn't in the garage. And his stuff aren't in the bathroom."
"Did you try asking your mom?" Hermione asked, pushing her straight hair over her bare shoulders.
"I did," said Mike, pushing his hands into his pants pocket. "But she just said he was visiting a friend."
"What about Jason?"
"He wasn't home last night either. And he doesn't want to talk about it, anyway."
Hermione sighed sadly, as she stopped and faced the water. She tilted her face upwards to catch a few rays of the sun.
"My door's always open if anything happens, Mike."
"Thanks, Herm."
For a moment, they were silent.
"MIKE!" Called a girl's excited voice.
Mike and Hermione turned. A petite brown-haired girl in a pale blue mini- dress ran up to them, and threw her arms around Mike. Hermione felt like throwing herself into the water and melting.
"Hey," said Mike, closing his eyes as he hugged the girl back.
"How've you been?" She shrieked, letting go of Mike and stepping back to survey him.
"Good. You?"
"Fantastic! Boarding school isn't as boring as it seems to be!"
"A-hem," said Hermione politely.
"Oh, right," said Mike, embarrassed. "Hermione, this is Adriana - or Anna, the special person I told you about. Anna, this is Hermione."
"Hi," said Hermione, suddenly feeling like a giant next to the small green- eyed girl.
"Hey. You're a friend of Mike's? I've never seen you around," said Anna.
"No, you haven't. I've been away studying."
"Away, studying? Man, it's a drag, isn't it, being away from all your friends?" Said Anna, dimples in her cheeks as she laughed.
"Tell me about it!" Laughed Hermione. Though she was uneasy, she found herself liking Anna. She wondered if they were a couple, but it would be rude to ask, so Hermione didn't ask.
However, as though reading her mind, Anna said, "No, Mike and I aren't a couple. But we used to be neighbours, until I moved with my father and my stepmother. But I'm staying with my mother now."
Mike laughed at the obvious relief on Hermione's face. Taking both girls' hands, he led them back to where everyone was.
"Hey, Mikey-boy!" Yelled Chester, loudly enough for everyone to hear. "Two- timing weasel, aren't ya?"
Everyone laughed as Mike dropped both girls' hands and charged at Chester. Laughing, they fell to the soft grass, tackling each other.
"Ignore them," said Adeline, rolling her eyes. "They're always doing that. Let me introduce you to these people, though I think you probably know most of them."
Then, Hermione was introduced to Star, Cheryl, Honey, Dan, and Remy. Hermione knew Star, Cheryl and Dan from when she was in kindergarten and seeing them now, after so many years was a big surprise.
Honey, whose eyes and hair matched her name, was a pretty girl, who was a little taller than Hermione. Her quiet nature seemed to give her an aura of mystery. Remy was a little on the chubby side, and very friendly. His black hair and brown eyes reminded Hermione of Sarah, but she pushed the thought away.
Soon, the party was in full swing. Alex, who was late, as he had to help his father, soon fell into the party mood. The radio, which Chester had brought along, was blasting out music, and Hermione felt like getting up and dancing.
While eating, Hermione got to know the others better and felt more comfortable in her skin. It felt good to belong somewhere again.
Finally, by sunset, Cheryl, Star, Anna and Dan had left. Remy and Honey would be helping to clear up before they too would leave.
When all the trash had been cleared away and scraps of food were scooped into a bag and disposed off, Mike took Hermione's hand, and they strolled once more by the water, watching the sunset. It looked like some giant kid up in the sky had spilled his watercolours. Blue and orange and yellow and red hues dripped and sloshed over the horizon. It was one of the most beautiful scenes the two of them had ever seen for a long time.
Finding a dry patch of grass by the water's edge, they sat down, and Hermione leaned closer to Mike, enjoying his company.
"Herm?"
"Yeah?"
"Isn't this beautiful?"
"What, the sunset? Yeah. It's lovely." Hermione rested her head on Mike's shoulder, and felt her cheek vibrate gently as he spoke to her.
"I wish time would stop and we could just stay here forever."
'He wants to be alone - with me!' Thought Hermione happily. "But life wouldn't go on, would it?" She said.
"I don't want it to go on," he said, with overtones of bitterness in his voice.
Hermione was quiet. Then, at the same time, the two of them turned and looked at each other. Hermione felt herself drowning in those two expressive brown whirlpools. Slowly, the two of them leaned towards each other and, as their lips met, the world faded away, and nothing was there, except the other. When the kiss ended, they allowed their faces to linger near each other's.
In the heat of the moment, Mike asked, "Hermione, do you want to go out with me?"
As Hermione was about to say "yes," Draco's face flashed in her mind like a curse. Gasping, she got up and left Mike staring at her retreating back in surprise, wondering what he had said. As he got up and dusted his hands, he decided that there was more to Hermione and her past than she was letting on.