Disclaimer: Is there any point in writing this when everyone's seen it
before? Don't sue - this does not belong to me.
A/N: I am trying to approximate how long this story will be. Long, Very long or medium? Currently - clueless.
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Next day, using the money that Ron had given to her resourcefully, Hermione went shopping with Claire. Claire hadn't been out to muggle London often and had to control herself to not let her curiosity get he better of her. Hermione still thought Claire was her sworn enemy but found herself taking quite a liking to the girl; after all, she hadn't done her any harm thus far. Looking through the racks and finding more things that she wanted to buy than she had money for, Hermione found herself making some tough decisions. She hadn't been shopping in quite a while and even Ron's generous allowance couldn't extinguish her desire to buy, buy and to buy. Strangely, Claire had found a curious liking to the smell of the Twenty Pound note and kept on lifting it to her nose to take in the fragrance.
"Claire would you STOP doing that? People are starting to stare."
Claire abruptly tore the note away and gave an apologetic smile. "Sorry."
"Ok I am out of money. Except the note you're holding there. Well, you can keep that as a souvenir." Hermione tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Or, we can use that to have some lunch." She said pointedly.
Reluctantly, Claire gave Hermione the note, who snatched it out of her hand with two fingers. "Thank you."
Outside, blocked by the sun's harmful rays by big striped umbrellas, Claire and Hermione enjoyed their pastas while talking about Ron. After all, it was the only thing both knew about well enough to talk about.
"So. How did Ron and you meet?"
Claire tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Ron and I met.when I was looking at our apartment. You see, we both wanted it so much, that we got into a fight over it. Since we couldn't get into a real physical fight, we decided to have a duel."
Hermione raised her brow. This person was Ron the female. Trust those two to settle it with a duel. "Who won the duel?"
"Of course Ron did. . . I actually let him win, you see, Ginny's my friend and she knew that I could kick his arse easy so she begged me to be benevolent."
Hermione nodded sceptically.
"Hahahaha. . . well, of course Ron won. . . simply because he is an Auror." Claire held her chin up haughtily, "had I been an Auror I really would have kicked his arse senseless. . . unfortunately for me that was not the case."
"So how did you come to share the apartment?"
"Well, after the duel, he was very sympathetic and offered to share the apartment with me."
Claire smiled and continued eating. Meanwhile Hermione was itching to pop the question. Several actually, 1. Was she interested in Ron? 2. Did Ron and she ever go out? 3. Could she help her in getting Ron? She sighed. She took a breath in. And released it. She took one big breath in again and let it out hurriedly with her questions.
"Are you interested in Ron have you two ever gone out can you help me get him?"
Claire looked up from her plate with a strand of pasta hanging from her lips. Quickly she sucked it into her mouth and chewed furiously.
"Excuse me? Repeat that for me!"
Hermione sighed. The girl who had stood up to Voldemort was too afraid to ask questions about the heart.
"Are you interested in Ron?" she asked quietly.
Claire stared for a moment, and burst into peals of laughter.
Hermione frowned, was this girl mocking her? Well, she'd show her!
"NO! Hermione, of course not! I can't believe you even thought that!"
If there was a hole, then Hermione would have crawled in to it gladly.
"Me and Ron are just friends, you know?"
Hermione forced laugh, "Of COURSE I knew that!! I was just. . . er. . ."
"It's alright Hermione I know all about you and Ron, he really likes you to and I can tell that you like him." Claire said annoyingly like she knew something that Hermione didn't.
"Right." Claire had been promoted form enemy status to annoying brat status. Pretty soon, she may even make the 'acquaintance' list. Hermione decided to skip her second question and go straight to the third - was this Claire willing to bridge the relationship between her and Ron? I.e. get lost for a couple of days? Hermione took a deep breath.
"Claire. I know we haven't known each other long. . . but well. . . could you please do me a great favour that may result in your discomfort?"
Claire bit her fork lightly. "Well, what is it?"
"Could you leave us alone? Could you leave the house for a couple of days and live somewhere else?"
"You're right." She replied, she took a sip of her juice, "it will result in my discomfort."
"You'll be very disturbed when you hang around to find out exactly what I am capable of."
Hermione told her grimly. Claire narrowed her eyes at her.
"Are you threatening me?"
Hermione leaned back in her chair. "No. . . you'll be disturbed at what Ron and I do." She told her simply.
Claire screwed her face, "Yuck. Alright. I'll leave you two alone. If you do me a favour."
"What?"
"Explain to Harry why I'll be going over to stay in his house for a couple of days." Claire said with a crooked smile. This Claire wasn't so sweet after all.
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Claire and Hermione had an understanding; they were two women on a mission. Resolutely, Hermione bravely walked towards Harry's apartment. She rang the bell.
"Hey. What are you doing here?"
"I've been made redundant." Hermione told Harry calmly. He however, did not take the news calmly at all.
"WHAT? They fired you? Is the world coming to an end? If they fired you, that means I am getting fired for SURE. Oh NO!" Harry ran his fingers through his hair in a very agitated manner.
Hermione laughed lightly, "NO HARRY! I got robbed today and well. . . the thief broke my wand you see. So I can't go to work for a couple of weeks. I'll still be doing some paper work though.
"Oh thank GOD." Harry breathed a great big sigh of relief. Hermione glared.
"No, no. . . not that you got robbed Hermione just that I won't be made jobless." He explained sheepishly. "Would you like to come in?"
Hermione nodded. There was a job to be done, and she had to do it.
"Harry." She started.
"Yeah?"
She opened her mouth but stopped.
"What?"
"Harry."
"What?" Harry asked impatiently, sitting himself down on the sofa.
"Harry." Hermione couldn't think where she could begin.
"Alright, say my name one more time, I'll have you arrested for public disturbance. What is it?"
"Harry, I have to ask you a favour."
"Alright. . . this sounds like a bad favour."
"Well," Hermione said thoughtfully, "it depends on which angle you look at it from."
"Alright then Hermione. What is it?"
"Well . . . Ron offered me to stay at his place, since I can't get in to my house."
"Why not?"
"It's complicated." Hermione waved her hands, "Anyway, Claire doesn't take a liking to that so she had a huge row with Ron. So,"
"So you want to come and stay with me? That's fine."
"Erm. . . no. Harry, I want Claire to come and stay with you."
Harry opened and shut his mouth for several seconds. "Well. . ."
"Is it okay Harry? Can she please?"
"I suppose so. . . Hang on." Harry's emerald eyes shone with sudden intelligence and narrowed. "Why can't YOU stay here with me? Certainly won't that be much simpler? Shouldn't you be the one driven out of Ron's house rather than the inhabitant?"
'Okay. . . this is going to be more complicated than I assumed.' Hermione thought desperately for an answer.
"Hermione Granger. . . what exactly is going on?" Harry stood up to pace. "No, don't answer that. Let me take a guess." Harry stopped form a thoughtful moment. "You and Claire made a deal."
'When was Harry so god damned intelligent?' Hermione thought, irritated.
"You want to stay at Ron's. . . alone. Alone." Harry burst out laughing here, "I KNEW it!" he said gleefully. Hermione scowled severely. "So you told Claire to get lost. . . in a polite way I hope, and you have come to find her a place to stay, and since Ginny lives all the way out in France," Harry stopped pacing and smirked triumphantly, "you are asking me!"
'Well at least he didn't get everything. . .' Hermione thought. She gave a reproachful glance to Harry.
"Fine. So you read me like a book. Will you do me, your best friend of 13 years, this favour then? And thereafter be named Harry the benevolent?"
"Harry the Benevolent." Harry said to himself. "Hey, I like that!"
Hermione rolled her eyes.
Harry smiled with a faraway look in his eyes. "All hail Harry the benevolent."
"Oy Harry!" Hermione grabbed his arm and shook him out of his reverie.
"Alright then Hermione, I'll help you. But you owe me. And I'll do this only if you do me a favour."
Hermione groaned. "What FAVOUR???"
"Nah. I'm just kidding - but you owe me."
A/N: I am trying to approximate how long this story will be. Long, Very long or medium? Currently - clueless.
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Next day, using the money that Ron had given to her resourcefully, Hermione went shopping with Claire. Claire hadn't been out to muggle London often and had to control herself to not let her curiosity get he better of her. Hermione still thought Claire was her sworn enemy but found herself taking quite a liking to the girl; after all, she hadn't done her any harm thus far. Looking through the racks and finding more things that she wanted to buy than she had money for, Hermione found herself making some tough decisions. She hadn't been shopping in quite a while and even Ron's generous allowance couldn't extinguish her desire to buy, buy and to buy. Strangely, Claire had found a curious liking to the smell of the Twenty Pound note and kept on lifting it to her nose to take in the fragrance.
"Claire would you STOP doing that? People are starting to stare."
Claire abruptly tore the note away and gave an apologetic smile. "Sorry."
"Ok I am out of money. Except the note you're holding there. Well, you can keep that as a souvenir." Hermione tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Or, we can use that to have some lunch." She said pointedly.
Reluctantly, Claire gave Hermione the note, who snatched it out of her hand with two fingers. "Thank you."
Outside, blocked by the sun's harmful rays by big striped umbrellas, Claire and Hermione enjoyed their pastas while talking about Ron. After all, it was the only thing both knew about well enough to talk about.
"So. How did Ron and you meet?"
Claire tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Ron and I met.when I was looking at our apartment. You see, we both wanted it so much, that we got into a fight over it. Since we couldn't get into a real physical fight, we decided to have a duel."
Hermione raised her brow. This person was Ron the female. Trust those two to settle it with a duel. "Who won the duel?"
"Of course Ron did. . . I actually let him win, you see, Ginny's my friend and she knew that I could kick his arse easy so she begged me to be benevolent."
Hermione nodded sceptically.
"Hahahaha. . . well, of course Ron won. . . simply because he is an Auror." Claire held her chin up haughtily, "had I been an Auror I really would have kicked his arse senseless. . . unfortunately for me that was not the case."
"So how did you come to share the apartment?"
"Well, after the duel, he was very sympathetic and offered to share the apartment with me."
Claire smiled and continued eating. Meanwhile Hermione was itching to pop the question. Several actually, 1. Was she interested in Ron? 2. Did Ron and she ever go out? 3. Could she help her in getting Ron? She sighed. She took a breath in. And released it. She took one big breath in again and let it out hurriedly with her questions.
"Are you interested in Ron have you two ever gone out can you help me get him?"
Claire looked up from her plate with a strand of pasta hanging from her lips. Quickly she sucked it into her mouth and chewed furiously.
"Excuse me? Repeat that for me!"
Hermione sighed. The girl who had stood up to Voldemort was too afraid to ask questions about the heart.
"Are you interested in Ron?" she asked quietly.
Claire stared for a moment, and burst into peals of laughter.
Hermione frowned, was this girl mocking her? Well, she'd show her!
"NO! Hermione, of course not! I can't believe you even thought that!"
If there was a hole, then Hermione would have crawled in to it gladly.
"Me and Ron are just friends, you know?"
Hermione forced laugh, "Of COURSE I knew that!! I was just. . . er. . ."
"It's alright Hermione I know all about you and Ron, he really likes you to and I can tell that you like him." Claire said annoyingly like she knew something that Hermione didn't.
"Right." Claire had been promoted form enemy status to annoying brat status. Pretty soon, she may even make the 'acquaintance' list. Hermione decided to skip her second question and go straight to the third - was this Claire willing to bridge the relationship between her and Ron? I.e. get lost for a couple of days? Hermione took a deep breath.
"Claire. I know we haven't known each other long. . . but well. . . could you please do me a great favour that may result in your discomfort?"
Claire bit her fork lightly. "Well, what is it?"
"Could you leave us alone? Could you leave the house for a couple of days and live somewhere else?"
"You're right." She replied, she took a sip of her juice, "it will result in my discomfort."
"You'll be very disturbed when you hang around to find out exactly what I am capable of."
Hermione told her grimly. Claire narrowed her eyes at her.
"Are you threatening me?"
Hermione leaned back in her chair. "No. . . you'll be disturbed at what Ron and I do." She told her simply.
Claire screwed her face, "Yuck. Alright. I'll leave you two alone. If you do me a favour."
"What?"
"Explain to Harry why I'll be going over to stay in his house for a couple of days." Claire said with a crooked smile. This Claire wasn't so sweet after all.
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Claire and Hermione had an understanding; they were two women on a mission. Resolutely, Hermione bravely walked towards Harry's apartment. She rang the bell.
"Hey. What are you doing here?"
"I've been made redundant." Hermione told Harry calmly. He however, did not take the news calmly at all.
"WHAT? They fired you? Is the world coming to an end? If they fired you, that means I am getting fired for SURE. Oh NO!" Harry ran his fingers through his hair in a very agitated manner.
Hermione laughed lightly, "NO HARRY! I got robbed today and well. . . the thief broke my wand you see. So I can't go to work for a couple of weeks. I'll still be doing some paper work though.
"Oh thank GOD." Harry breathed a great big sigh of relief. Hermione glared.
"No, no. . . not that you got robbed Hermione just that I won't be made jobless." He explained sheepishly. "Would you like to come in?"
Hermione nodded. There was a job to be done, and she had to do it.
"Harry." She started.
"Yeah?"
She opened her mouth but stopped.
"What?"
"Harry."
"What?" Harry asked impatiently, sitting himself down on the sofa.
"Harry." Hermione couldn't think where she could begin.
"Alright, say my name one more time, I'll have you arrested for public disturbance. What is it?"
"Harry, I have to ask you a favour."
"Alright. . . this sounds like a bad favour."
"Well," Hermione said thoughtfully, "it depends on which angle you look at it from."
"Alright then Hermione. What is it?"
"Well . . . Ron offered me to stay at his place, since I can't get in to my house."
"Why not?"
"It's complicated." Hermione waved her hands, "Anyway, Claire doesn't take a liking to that so she had a huge row with Ron. So,"
"So you want to come and stay with me? That's fine."
"Erm. . . no. Harry, I want Claire to come and stay with you."
Harry opened and shut his mouth for several seconds. "Well. . ."
"Is it okay Harry? Can she please?"
"I suppose so. . . Hang on." Harry's emerald eyes shone with sudden intelligence and narrowed. "Why can't YOU stay here with me? Certainly won't that be much simpler? Shouldn't you be the one driven out of Ron's house rather than the inhabitant?"
'Okay. . . this is going to be more complicated than I assumed.' Hermione thought desperately for an answer.
"Hermione Granger. . . what exactly is going on?" Harry stood up to pace. "No, don't answer that. Let me take a guess." Harry stopped form a thoughtful moment. "You and Claire made a deal."
'When was Harry so god damned intelligent?' Hermione thought, irritated.
"You want to stay at Ron's. . . alone. Alone." Harry burst out laughing here, "I KNEW it!" he said gleefully. Hermione scowled severely. "So you told Claire to get lost. . . in a polite way I hope, and you have come to find her a place to stay, and since Ginny lives all the way out in France," Harry stopped pacing and smirked triumphantly, "you are asking me!"
'Well at least he didn't get everything. . .' Hermione thought. She gave a reproachful glance to Harry.
"Fine. So you read me like a book. Will you do me, your best friend of 13 years, this favour then? And thereafter be named Harry the benevolent?"
"Harry the Benevolent." Harry said to himself. "Hey, I like that!"
Hermione rolled her eyes.
Harry smiled with a faraway look in his eyes. "All hail Harry the benevolent."
"Oy Harry!" Hermione grabbed his arm and shook him out of his reverie.
"Alright then Hermione, I'll help you. But you owe me. And I'll do this only if you do me a favour."
Hermione groaned. "What FAVOUR???"
"Nah. I'm just kidding - but you owe me."