Disclaimer: I own nothing… I'm not making any profit… Blah, blah, you get the idea…
A/N: Thank you guys for all the reviews!! Check out my other fic, "Prophecy" it's a Lily and James fic… I hope you like this chapter… Sorry there's not very much Lexi in this chapter… She'll be back soon though… PS, I know this chapter is a bit boring, but it's sort of a transition chapter… It kinda had to take place for the plot to work…
Harry ended up spending the entire night with Hermione and Ms. Granger. The three of them stayed in the hospital for an hour or so after the doctor told them the news and then they took a cab to the Granger's house. After about three hours, at around four in the morning, Hermione and her mother drifted off to sleep on the couch the three of them were on. Harry fell asleep about a half hour later. Hermione crying into his shoulder all night and Ms. Granger with her face buried in the pillow on the couch. All in all, it had been a dreadful night.
"Harry," Hermione muttered on the side of him. Harry opened his eyes to find Hermione beside him with a tearstained face. "We need to get to work soon." Harry glanced over at the clock on the endtable beside the couch. It was still dark outside, but sure enough, the clock showed that they had to be into work in half an hour.
"Don't worry about it, you stay here and rest. I'll take care of your work." Harry told her as he sat up careful not to wake up Ms. Granger who was on the same couch on the other side of Hermione.
"No, I should—" Hermione said with little zest in her voice. She broke off in a yawn.
"Stay here and sleep. Victor owled me in the night, he'll be as soon as he can. Either late tonight or early tomorrow," Harry said silencing her protests.
"I suppose I should sleep, if you don't mind… agh! I hate slacking off," Hermione said. Harry looked at her.
"I don't mind at all. People expect you to take off work. You have to take off—atleast until after the funeral," Harry said as he stood up.
"I suppose so," Hermione gave in with a reluctant look on her face.
"I have to go now," Harry said, bending over and hugging her and giving her a kiss on the forehead. "I have to pop home and change before I go in."
"Don't leave," Hermione said sadly. She seemed reluctant to let him out of her sight.
"I have to, you'll be alright, I'll be alright and I'll be back in a few hours," Harry assured her giving her one last tight hug. With a pop, he was in his own apartment. He walked into his bedroom.
Upon looking in the mirror over his dresser, he realized that he looked like he hadn't slept all night. Truthfully, he hadn't. His hair was disheveled and his clothes were wrinkled. He sighed and changed into his work clothes before attempting to charm his hair down. After a couple minutes, he gave up and went to brush his teeth and wash his face. Looking down at his watch, he realized that he had to go. With a pop, he was standing in his cubicle.
"Harry, just the guy I wanted to see," Lexi said sarcastically as she looked down at her watch. She was sitting in the chair in front of his desk with her legs crossed. She looked like she hadn't gotten very much sleep the night before.
"Well, you're going to have to wait. I have to go talk to Mr. Edwards," Harry said walking out into the hall. To his disappointment, Lexi followed him.
"Well, I have to talk to you now," Lexi said, walking fast to keep up with Harry's brisk pace that was a poor attempt to get away from Lexi.
"Make it fast," Harry said sharply. He was a bit annoyed with her because of the way she had left last night.
"About what happened last night," Lexi began as the two of them rounded the corner. "If you tell anyone what I told you, I promise you'll regret it."
"Oh, please, I haven't taught you the killing curse yet and you're yet to master the other two unforgivable curses," Harry said smugly. Lexi glared at him. "Fine, I promise I won't tell anyone that you do have a soul aftertall." Lexi gave him a sidelong glare as they walked into Mr. Edwards office. It was a grey, boring office with framed pictures of his family sitting on the desk.
"Mr. Potter, just the man I was looking for." Mr. Edwards said. He was sitting behind his desk. There was a young man sitting across from him who Harry could only presume was Hermione's trainee. He was on the short side and slightly built with brown spiky hair, brown eyes and a tan.
"Yes sir, I have to speak to you about Hermione," Harry told him respectfully.
"Where is that girl? She didn't show up and she didn't owl me. She's on her way to getting fired." Mr. Edwards said in an annoyed voice as he flipped through the paperwork on his desk.
"Please, sir, her father passed away last night and I told her that I'd do all her work. She's really distraught. She needs the time off," Harry said sincerely. Mr. Edwards looked up at him.
"I suppose that's alright. Tell her she can take off as much work as she needs and give her my sympathy. Until she gets back, I expect you to take over her training. This is Daniel Brown," Mr. Edwards said, gesturing to the young man across from him. Harry nodded.
"Well, I guess we should be getting to work," Harry said as he turned on his heel and walked out. Lexi and Daniel followed him.
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The day had went by pretty fast. Harry had worked with Lexi and Daniel. Daniel had been very polite and knowledgeable. Harry couldn't help being jealous that Hermione had gotten someone so much easier to get along with that he had. After work, he went home and changed. Then he went to pick up Chinese food and headed over to Ms. Granger's.
"Hey guys," Harry said when Hermione let him in. His arms were filled with bags of Chinese food.
"Hi," Hermione said. Harry could see that she had probably been crying all day. "Not guys, just me. Mum's been upstairs crying since she woke up this morning."
"And how have you been?" Harry asked as he walked across the room and set the bags on the kitchen table.
"Alright, I suppose," Hermione said weakly as she sat down at the table.
"Do you want the sweet and sour chicken or the—" Harry began to ask.
"I'm not really hungry," Hermione said sadly. She was rocking back and forth with a dazed look on her face.
"You should eat something," Harry advised with concern in his voice.
"I'm not hungry, I'll eat later," Hermione assured him. "We can put the leftovers in the fridge and I'll eat them later."
"Have you been back to your apartment since last night?" Harry asked her as he sat down and pulled out a carton.
"No," Hermione answered. She had a sad look on her face.
"Have you heard from Victor?" Harry asked as he took a bite.
"Yeah, he'll be here tomorrow morning. Hey Harry?" Hermione asked.
"Yes?" Harry asked, looking up from his food and meeting her eyes.
"Can we go out?" Hermione asked.
"Hermione, I thought we'd been—" Harry began with a sigh.
"Not date. Go to a club or something," Hermione confirmed. Harry gave her a confused look.
"I don't think that—" Harry trailed off at the sad look on her face. "If it'll cheer you up."
"Great!" Hermione said, sounding energized for the first time since the previous day. She jumped out of her seat. "I'm going to go tell mum that we'll be back in a few hours. Can we stop by my apartment first? I want to change."
"Sure," Harry said, putting down his food. He knew that Hermione should stay here, but if it would cheer her up…
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Harry and Hermione had apparated to her apartment and she changed. When she came out of her room, she was wearing fitted blue jeans, a fitted, longsleeved, black shirt, spike heeled boots and looking slightly happier.
She and Harry went a wizarding dance club in Hogsmeade. Hermione was dancing and she seemed happy, but Harry only danced one song. He hated dancing. He felt like an idiot. The club was full of people, bumping into each other as they danced. There was smoke everywhere. Harry suddenly felt very claustrophobic. Hermione was on the side of him, dancing and having great fun. He couldn't ask her to leave.
"Hermione," Harry screamed over the music. Hermione turned her head towards him. She appeared to be sweating. "I'm going get drinks." Harry said. She nodded. Harry then started to walk towards the counter, trying not to run into anybody. He got hit a couple of times. It took forever to get to the counter. Right before he got there, he ran right into a girl. He put his arms out to try and prevent her from falling.
"Thanks," The girl said looking up at him. She had light brown hair and deep brown eyes with a very pretty face. She seemed to be short and she was definitely slender. She was very pretty in Harry's opinion.
"Sorry about that," Harry apologized over the music. The two of them were standing right in front of the counter.
"It's my fault," The girl apologized. Harry ordered two butterbeers when the clerk asked for his order. "Wait a second," The girl began. Harry looked down at her. He knew what was coming now. "You're Harry Potter, aren't you?" Harry felt himself blushing.
"I-I-yeah," Harry stuttered. Her face cracked into a grin. It was a very pretty smile. She had perfect teeth. "Good to meet you."
"You too… And your name would be?" Harry asked looking at her after he finished paying for the drinks.
"Elizabeth," The girl—Elizabeth said with a smile. Harry suddenly felt very self-conscious.
"Harry!" Hermione called out as she walked up. She was out of breath and sweating. Elizabeth's face fell.
"Oh—no, she's not," Harry began.
"Hi," Hermione told Elizabeth. "I'm Hermione Granger." Hermione stuck out her hand which Elizabeth took reluctantly.
"Elizabeth," She said, shaking Hermione's hand.
"She and I were just—" Harry began.
"Let me save you the time. Elizabeth, Harry's twenty-three, single, and a great guy. He'd like to go out with you sometime next week, is it possible that he could get your fireplace code?" Hermione said quickly. Harry and Elizabeth blushed.
"I-I—" Harry began. He felt very embarrassed.
"Sure!" Elizabeth said cheerfully. She gave Harry a sheet of paper with her name and fireplace code on it.
"Harry, can we go now?" Hermione asked, dragging him away by the arm. Harry smiled at Elizabeth and she smiled back.
~~There it is! I know what you're thinking, nothing happened, but many important things did actually happen.
1) The love triangle has began…
2)Hermione is in possible denial…
3)Lexi refuses to be vulnerable to anyone… She had the chance to ask Harry out right there, but she didn't b/c he knew too much…
4)Hermione is clinging to Harry a bit…
I don't think this ones all that great… I dunno… Victor will be in the next chapter… I hope you like it… Don't worry, Elizabeth and Harry won't be what you think they will if that makes any sense… If it sucks, just tell me… Now, go leave a good or most likely bad REVIEW!~~
I-HATE-CLIFFIES~They might get together… But as you may have noticed in this chapter, it's definitely not right away… A lot of stuff happens before they even would have the chance to get together… I'm not saying they will, they just might…
Faith456~Thank you! I love anyone who doesn't think Lexi is a Mary-Sue!
AngelEyes699~I love the pen-name! I'm glad you like it! That's what I wanted, something different…
PotterChick1~Thank you!!! I'm glad that I described the last chapter enough for it to be sad!
SweetDreams~Thank you!! Finally, someone who understands my Harry!
Slimpun~Thank you! I love Lexi too! Does that sound egotistical?
Chiquita-3~Lol! Thank you! You'll see H/V next chapter! Harry's not that much of a tactless ass… Lol! He does have a heart, it's just buried!
PSHDrummer07~Oh, thank you email buddy! *Tear*
Muse of the Stars~Love the pen-name! I'm so glad you love my story! I hope you like this chapter…