Chapter 3
What A Coincidence
Lynch gave him a lopsided smile and called Joe's name next. Joe introduced himself and sat back to his chair. The first class was running nicely. Lynch was such a great teacher. He hadn't told Chris about his last job. By the end of the class, Lynch asked Chris to stay. Chris told Joe that he would meet him later and Joe left Chris and Lynch alone.
"Okay, I think it's time to tell you…" Lynch said. "But first, I'd like to ask you something."
"Say it," Chris replied plainly.
"Hmm… How do you know me?" Lynch said.
"I saw you in final Quidditch World Cup 1994. Ireland Seeker. Krum caught the snitch but Ireland won the game," Chris stated.
"You're a wizard, then," he said. Chris nodded and Lynch continued, "Well, after that game, I broke some of my bones, and I couldn't fly anymore. I also lost my magic power, so it means… I'm, I'm a squib."
"WHAT?! But, there weren't any news about that!" Chris yelled.
"Of course there weren't any. I left to New York right after I realized that I was a squib and before anyone knew about that. I just wrote a letter to my team saying I'm leaving," he said.
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that…" Chris said quietly.
"No big deal, Chris. At least I found something as interesting as quidditch. Soccer's cool," Lynch mumbled.
"Yeah, I found it interesting too. Anyway, thanks for telling me about it," Chris said and smiled.
"No problem. I don't know the reason why you leave the wizarding world, but I believe you'll do very good at soccer!" he said and left the class.Other than soccer, the college also taught business and administrations. Chris did very well in all subjects. He had made the soccer team keeper on his first try. And Joe also was on the soccer team.
Five uneventful years had passed. Chris had graduated from the college after three years with a top mark on his year. Chris had also found a job. As he was the brightest student, many people gave Chris chances to work for them.
At last, a person asked Chris and Joe to work together, managing his five-star hotels and some high-class clubs. Chris accepted this offer and started working there right after they graduated from the college. Joe who was still continuing his career in soccer declined this, but he was still in contact with Chris.
Chris' boss was a well-known Mafia in the underground world, but was also a member of the United States Parliament. Chris was his personal advisor since he joined the group. Every people respected Chris.
Chris was only 23, but his wisdom and skills were more than it seemed to be. Since he joined the family, he moved to one of the five-star hotels along with Padfoot. Padfoot was now an elegant, fully grown black dog that always accompanied Chris while he was doing his mission. Sometimes to helped getting underground things out from police sight. His face showed the hard character he owned. But his face could turn to be an angel face anytime.
Chris was also practicing his magic. His wandless magic was much better now. He could conjure a patronus without using a wand, and it could last longer than his usual ones. Sometimes, he missed his friends very much but he managed to hold his feeling down.
Chris was sitting at his room. He was working on something and his phone rang. He picked the handle and said, "Christian Farandole Office, anything I can help you?"
"Chris, I need you to be here as soon as possible," said a voice Chris marked as his boss.
"Okay, boss. I'll be right there," he said back and put the phone handle back on its place.
He wore his suit and went outside his room and said to his secretary who was working in the room next door, "Shane, I'm off to boss' office. Tell the ones who have appointment with me that I'll arrange a new schedule with them."
"Right away, Mr. Farandole," she said as she started searching for documents.
Chris left his office and headed to the main office two floors upstairs. He knocked at the door and heard a deep voice, "Come in."
Chris opened the door and took a seat in front of his boss. The man had a fat and short body. His face was very kind and calm, but he could turn strict if he talked about business.
"Chris," he said.
"Yes, sir?" Chris said.
"I got something for you to do," the boss said and rubbed his eyes.
"What is it, Sir?"
Unpredictable, the man smiled warmly at Chris and said in his deep calm voice, "You need some rest, Chris. Don't be too serious in your job. I'm thinking of your future." He said, rose from his chair, walked and stopped behind Chris. He gave Chris a fatherly hug and patted his head softly. "You already know that I see you as my child, Chris. Now, you are already 23 and I think you need someone to love," he said again.
"But, Boss…" Chris started to give a reason.
"No buts, Chris. Here, there will be two British musicians showing in this hotel next week. I'd like you to deal with them. You know why. You are British too, so I think it's a good idea. Both of them were girls, one pianist and one cellist. They're around your age. Beautiful, of course, and I think they are the perfect candidates," the boss chuckled a little and grinned at him.
"Boss… I'm not interested in women," he started to say.
"I doubt you won't, Chris. Anyway, they are coming this evening and I want you to welcome them and behave yourself, okay? This is a request from an old man, okay?" his boss had known his weakness that he couldn't say no to someone who was requesting.
"Uh… You've got me again… Okay," he said hesitantly.
"There you go, my boy…" the boss walked back to his seat and smiled at Chris.
"Any other thing, Boss? I think I should get ready for the evening, shouldn't I?" he teased his boss.
"You're right, Chris. Here," he said and handed some pieces of papers to Chris. "Their data. They're great, you know. Don't be late and behave yourself," he added.
Chris nodded and excused himself back to his room. Chris sat at his desk, rubbed his eyes behind his spectacles. He huffed and started to scan the papers.
Name : Hermione Granger
Country of Residence : England
Chris couldn't believe what he was looking at. Hermione. There was no doubt about it. In the paper, there was a photo of Hermione, older looking Hermione. He read through the writings. It said that Hermione attended a music school in London and was the brightest student the school had ever got. Chris wasn't too surprised at this. It wasn't unusual for Hermione. But this evening, Chris would have to meet her.
"What should I do, Padfoot?" he asked the black dog who was curling on the carpet beside him. Padfoot only gave a small howl.
Calm yourself down, Chris. You're not Harry Potter anymore. You're a new person. You're Christian Farandole, he tried to convince himself.
He calmed down and put the papers away. He took the other one and there was a picture of a long black-haired Asian girl. Her eyes were dark brown. He read the name, Eve Tai. There's no doubt, she's Chinese, he thought. The paper said that Eve was born in England, 1982, but she attended her high school in French. After she graduated, she went back to England and went to the same music school as Hermione. She was too, the brightest student that school had ever got. The only difference was that Hermione played the cello, and Eve played the piano.
Chris couldn't help to notice that Eve was very beautiful. He didn't know why. Perhaps, he was interested in Asians, just like when he had been interested in Cho on his third year at Hogwarts.
The girls would arrive in two hours and Chris hurried to prepare himself. He took a long luxurious bath and dressed in his semi-formal suite, a nice deep blue shirt and black trousers. After that he brushed his teeth and made sure that it smelled nice and sprayed some perfume to his cloth. For the last time, he faced the mirror. It was a shame that it wasn't a magical one so it could give Chris some comments about his look. He was now two meters tall, still wearing rectangular spectacles, but it was an Oakley one. Chris' hair wasn't the shoulder-length hair anymore. He cut it down when he joined the family. His hair was now tidy, black short hair, which end on his neck. After he was sure about his look he grabbed his PDA and cell phones then headed to the hotel lobby. Chris decided to leave Padfoot behind, so Hermione wouldn't get suspicious about him.
It was six o'clock. According to the documents, they would arrive at around seven. In his journey to the lobby, all the staffs bowed when they saw Chris because Chris was rarely being out of his room. He confirmed with the coordinator if everything was ready and then waited for the two musicians arrival.
At 6:45, a shiny black limousine stopped by the hotel lobby. The driver opened the door and two magnificent ladies stepped out from the car. They were both wearing long dresses. One of them was definitely Hermione Granger. She was wearing a light blue long dress. Her curled brown hair was twisted in an elegant knot behind her head. The graceful silver bracelet on her wrist matched her earrings and necklace. Chris could tell that the other one was Eve from the picture his boss gave him. She was also wearing long dress like Hermione's but it was in a deep blue color. Her waist-long black hair was tied nicely on her back.
Chris approached to welcome them. He was very nervous inside about Hermione. But he didn't show it on his face. He walked confidently toward them and offered his hand.
"Welcome, Ladies, to our hotel, The Imperial Palace. I'm Christian Farandole, co-leader of the Imperial Group," he introduced himself.
Hermione stepped forward and shook his hand, "Hermione Granger, Cellist. Nice to meet you, Mr. Farandole."
She walked back and let Eve shook Chris' hand. "Eve Tai, Pianist. It's a pleasure to meet you," she said and smiled sweetly.
"Nice to meet you too, Miss Granger, Miss Tai. And please, just call me Chris. Now I'll guide you to your rooms," he said and gave his charming smile, turning his face from its stern look to Don't-I-look-like-an-angel innocent face.
Chris walked inside the hotel as the two magnificent ladies followed him behind. They were on the elevator. Chris swapped his staff card and pressed the 45th floor of the building. It took a plenty of time in the elevator and Hermione started the conversation.
"I noted from your accent. You sound like British, um, Chris," she said hesitantly.
"The brilliant of you, Miss Granger. Yes, I'm British," Chris replied and threw a smile to Hermione.
"Oh, stop calling me that way. It's too formal, you can call me Hermione," she said again.
"Okay… Hermione," he called hesitantly. "I heard you two were the most brilliant student in your music school, am I correct, Miss Tai?" he turned to Eve.
"Ah, yes. Actually we are friends. We used to play together in concerts, and that's what we are going to do again starting the day after tomorrow. Oh right, just call me Eve. It sounds better," she said.
"Oh, I see… Er, please excuse me," he said as his cell phone rang.
It was his boss.
"How are the girls, Chris? You finished taking them to their room? You like them?" he heard his boss said abruptly.
"Aw, come on, Boss. I'm still in the lift. I'll call you later," he whispered and closed the phone line.
"Sorry, my boss," he said.
"Oh, it's okay… By the way, have our schedule been arranged?" Eve asked.
"Yeah, I'll give it to you later," he said. The lift gave a small ding and the door opened.
"Ah, we're there. Let's go, Ladies," he said kindly as he placed his PDA back to his pocket.
Chris let the girls walked out of the lift and he followed them out. He headed to a huge mahogany door in the left corridor of the lift. He opened the door for the ladies, which awed loudly. Then, he showed their rooms.
"Okay, here is your room, Hermione," he said, pointing his hand to a door on the left side of the room. "And that one is yours, Eve," he said as he walked Eve to a door, similar like Hermione's on the right side of the room.
"Okay, now, I'll leave you. Don't hesitate to dial 888 from the phone if you need anything. It links directly to my office," he said and gave both of them a small wink.
He closed the door behind him and huffed. He remembered his promise to tell the boss how was he doing. Because it would take a very long time to his office, he disapparated right to his room. He made sure that the door was lock and he collapsed himself to the comfortable armchair. He sighed and took the phone from his desk. He dialed to the main office.
"Boss?" Chris said.
"Yeah. So, how are you doing? Do you like the girls?" said a deep voice through the phone.
"Not too bad, just same as usual," he lied. He truthfully had a feeling to Eve, but he didn't want to bother it after his first experience with Cho.
"Chris… Try to fix it up, okay?" The boss said solemnly
"I'll try to. But, it depends," he said.
"Huff, okay then. I still have work to do. I'll give you a free time this week. Use it wisely," his boss muttered.
"You don't have to, Boss. I love doing my job," he started to argue.
"Come on, my boy, you need some free time… to shag them," his boss joked.
"Boss…" he yelled.
"Oh, okay, okay. I'm just joking. Ah, well, works waiting for me. See you later, Chris and treat them well."
Chris putted the phone after shut it off. Padfoot jumped to his lap and licked him all over the face. Chris smiled and patted him.Ring, ring the phone rang. Chris was sleeping on his armchair and woke up because of the phone. He checked his watch and realized that it was already 9 o'clock in the morning. He sighed and picked the phone.
"Christian Farandole speaking, can I help you?" he said.
"Oh, Chris. Can you please come to our suite?" came a voice of Hermione Granger.
"Right away, Miss – oh, Hermione," he said sleepily.
He put the phone down, took a quick shower, and dressed on a dark green casual shirt. He knew that it would take a long time to reach their suite on foot, so he disapparated right to the 45th floor. He headed to their suite and knocked.
Eve opened the door, "Oh, come in, Chris."
Chris came inside the room and sat on the sofa as Eve motioned her arm.
"Any problems?" he asked, turning to Hermione who was watching the CNN News.
"Oh, we're just bored in the room. Can we take a walk outside? Maybe shopping?" she asked, turned her head to Chris.
"Sure, want to go now? I'll keep you company," he said and gave them his enchanting smile.
"Sounds great. Let's go then," Eve said excitedly.
Chris smiled when he saw him and quickly looked away, blushed.
"I'll take my car. Wait me at the lobby," he said and went out of the room.
Chris disapparated to the parking area and picked his new Mercedes he had just bought last week from the parking area and went to the lobby to pick the ladies.
Hermione was wearing a nice casual black dress and Eve was wearing a nice pale blue blouse matching her dark blue knee-length skirt. Her long black hair was tied up neatly with some accessories in it.
Chris opened the window and asked them to come in. They sat on the back of the car and Chris started driving the car. He droved them to the best shopping center in New York and waited for them to finish their shopping in front of the building.
A few hours later, he saw the girls came out of the building, bringing a huge amount of things. Girls he thought and went outside the car to help them carrying their items. After everything was packed on the car, he started driving away again.
"Where do you want to go now?" he asked as he turned the car to the left.
"Hmm… An interesting place?" Eve said jokingly.
"Hey, every place is interesting!" Chris shouted cheerfully. "Want to see my former college?" he asked.
"Sounds great!" Hermione said. "Tell me something about it."
"So Hermione," he mumbled quietly.
"Sorry?" Hermione asked in confusion.
"Oh, nothing. I'm thinking about something else. Ah well, the college is famous of its basketball and football team," he said.
"Oh, boys…" he heard Hermione sighed.
"You don't want? Then let's go somewhere else," Chris said in a plain tone.
"No, it's okay… Although, Eve loves sports," she said.
Chris didn't reply. He drove his car to the Harrington Street and parked it in front of the main college building.
"We're there. Wait for me in the car. I'm going to find my friend," Chris said. The girls nodded and he left to the soccer field.
Chris saw Lynch and Joe coaching the students. He called them and they turned to him.
"Chris!" Joe yelled and ran with Lynch toward him.
"Hey, Joe. Hey, Aidan," he said.
"It's a pleasure to meet you again after two months. You got some free time?" Joe said.
"Nope. Duty. I'm guiding two guests from England. Come, I'll introduce you," he said.
Joe and Lynch followed Chris to his car. On their way there, Chris elbowed Lynch and whispered, "Don't say to them I'm you-know-what. I know one of them is a witch, but I'm not really sure with the other. If she's a witch too, she will definitely know if you are a former quidditch player. Just don't tell them I'm a you-know-what, okay?"
Lynch nodded. Joe gave Chris a confused face but he ignored him.
Chris introduced Joe and Lynch to Hermione and Eve. Both of them (Hermione and Eve) looked surprised when Lynch said his name. So, they definitely were witches! Lynch guided them for a tour through the college while Chris helped Joe coaching the students.
"God, they're back. I have to go, Joe. Contact you later," Chris said to Joe when he saw Lynch, Hermione and Eve heading to the field.
"Okay, Mate. See you some other time," Joe replied.
Chris left the field and headed to the girls and Lynch.
"Have a nice tour?" he asked kindly.
"Yeah. This college is really great," Eve replied cheerfully.
"Chris. Can I talk to you before you go back?" Lynch asked uneasily.
"Hmm, yeah, sure," he said and left with Lynch to a corner.
"They're witches. And Eve is a professional quidditch player too. A chaser," Lynch said.
"What? A chaser?" he asked disbelievingly.
Lynch just nodded and said, "You'd better get going. They'll get suspicious, you know."
"Yeah. See you some other time, Aidan," he waved and went back to the girls.
"Tired already?" he asked when he saw the exhausted face of Hermione.
"Yeah. Can we go back? We'll need some rest in order to success tomorrow," Eve said weakly.
"Okay. Come on, girls!" he shouted and they raced to his car.Chris was in the boss' office. It was only an hour before the concert started. The girls were already on their dressing room.
"Chris, any improvement about the girls?" his boss said in his kind voice.
"Uh, Boss… Nothing at all," he said, he felt his face turning red.
"Chris, don't lie to me. I know you like one of them. Tell me, which one?" his boss teased.
"Er…" Chris couldn't say a thing.
"Let me guess… the Chinese one?"
Chris didn't reply but he blushed even redder than before.
"Correct, eh? Well, we'd better get going, Chris. It's just 10 minutes away," his boss stated.
Chris nodded, wore his suit, and followed his boss to the concert hall. They arrived just before the concert started. They sat on their chair and watched the concert quietly. Hermione and Eve played a bunch of classic music together. The most impressive one was Swan Lake, by Peter I. Tchaikovsky. After that song ended, Chris stood up and went to the washroom. He locked himself on one of the cabin. Chris conjured a beautiful blue Lily flower bouquet. He putted it aside and conjured a piece of paper, a quill, and emerald green ink.
Dear Hermione,
I love the way you played your cello, especially on Swan Lake. Give a hug for everyone from me. I'm sure you know who I am. Eve Tai is a great pianist too. Congratulations, and please don't try to find me. I'm just passing by.
Always loving all of you,
Harry
He reread the note and slipped it to the bouquet. He grabbed the bouquet and apparated to the dressing room. He placed the bouquet on Hermione's table and disapparated from the room. He reappeared on the washroom and walked back to his seat.Hermione Granger and Eve Tai were both exhausted after the concert. They entered their dressing room and collapsed to their chairs.
"Huff, finally it finished," Hermione said.
"Yeah. Hey, Hermione. Look at that bouquet on your. It's beautiful, isn't it? Who is it from?" Eve said.
Hermione noticed the beautiful blue Lily bouquet and took the note. Once she finished reading it, she dropped the note and collapsed to the floor.
"It's… it's…" Hermione stuttered.
"Who is it from?" Eve asked confusedly and took the note from the floor.
"Harry? Who is this Harry?" she asked again.
"Don't be stupid, Eve. It's Harry, Harry Potter. The one who defeated Voldemort!" Hermione yelled on her.
"Harry Potter? You're not serious!" Eve asked weakly.
"I'm bloody serious, Eve. It's in the same emerald green ink he used to write his last note for us. God, I'm glad he's okay…" she said and quickly pulled her wand from her pocket.
Hermione cast an always-fresh charm to the Bouquet, shrunk it, and inserted it carefully to her pocket along with the note and her wand.
"He might still be here," she said quickly and ran out of the dressing room. She headed to the lobby and the bumped to someone.
"You okay, Miss?" said a gentle voice.
She looked up and saw Chris standing in front of her.
"Oh, hi, Chris. Sorry. I'm looking for someone. Do you see anyone with a black, messy hair, emerald green eyes, and using spectacles?"
"No," Chris lied. It seemed that Hermione had read his letter.
"Oh, okay then…" she said quietly and walked back to the dressing room.The next day, Hermione and Eve went back to London. Chris drove them to the airport and he could that Hermione had been crying all the night. He felt guilty and decided not to say anything.
"Thanks for coming. I hope we'll meet again someday," he said when they had arrived at the airport and gave the girls a friendly hug each.
"See you again next time," Eve said and gave a kiss on his cheek. He blushed and turned away.
"See you…" Hermione said sadly and walked away.
"She's just not in the mood. She'll get better soon, don't worry," Eve said. "Here, my address and phone number in London. Visit me when you got there," she gave him her name card and followed Hermione after waving to Chris for the last time.
A/N. It took a long time to write
this chapter. I'm sort of… loss of ideas… Anyway, it's not as long as the two
chapters before, please enjoy it! Next chapter… will be up around Saturday to
Tuesday. It depends… Oh, yeah, all HP characters belong to JKR.
PLEASE REVIEW!!! (05/13/04)