A/N. Thanks so much to Kurama Luver 518092 – my first ever reviewer.
Kurama Luver 518092, thank you so much, those four words mean so much and that is the best first review EVER!
Anyway, on with the story. Please Read and Review and enjoy!
Chapter 5The rest of the day was uneventful, until dinner. Hermione and her Parents were sitting at the table eating dinner when Hermione told them her plans for the next day.
'Oh, that reminds me.' Started her mother. 'You got a letter.'
'Really, who's it from? Ron? Harry?'
'No dear, it was delivered by the mailman.'
Her mother bustled out of the room and came back a minute later, holding a white envelope with a stamp on it. Hermione quickly finished her dinner, and dashed upstairs to read the letter. She opened it, full of curiosity. It read;
Dear Hermione,
I don't know if you got my last letter, you never wrote back. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that I'm coming to visit for the holidays. I want to meet you, Daphne, Jeffrey and Isabel at Watson Park around 11:00 am on the 3rd. I hope you will be there. I can't wait to see you all.
Your friend,
Eric
Hermione smiled to herself. "Better late than never." She thought, as she got ready for bed.
Hermione woke early the next day. She got up and did all the morning things, and went back to her room to read. She was halfway through 'Hogwarts: A History' for the thousandth time, when she looked at her alarm clock. The time read 11:44 and as soon as she registered what this meant, she heard a distant knock from downstairs. Her mum answered the door and called Hermione down. Hermione grabbed her bag and rushed down the stairs and saw Eric standing in the doorway, waiting for her.
She bid a quick goodbye to her mum and followed Eric down the path. For a while, they walked in comfortable silence, then Hermione started some innocent conversation.
'I got your letter.'
'Really?' Eric raised his eyebrows.
'I mean, I got it last night. It was a coincidence I was in the park at the right time. But I'm glad I was.' She added when she saw that he was frowning.
'That's funny. I sent that letter ages ago, you should have gotten it at least the other day.'
'Oh, well, we might've. My mum only gave it to me last night. She must've forgot, I only came back from school the day before yesterday.'
'Oh, okay. What's your school like?'
Hermione related to him some unspecific details of Hogwarts.
'Oh, Well, it's a really nice place. Most of the people are really nice – of course with the exception of some.' She thought darkly of Draco Malfoy. 'And there's this really horrible teacher. Harry and Ron especially hate him.' She remembered how Snape had acted when they thought that Sirius was in the Department of Mysteries. How he pretended that it didn't matter that Sirius was about to face the wrath of Voldemort. Thinking these thoughts about Snape, forgetting that she was talking to Eric, she scowled.
He noticed her change in expression and steered the conversation in a different direction.
'Ok, enough about the people you hate. Tell me about the people you like, your friends.'
'Oh, Harry and Ron.' her whole attitude changed at once. 'Well, they're great, loads of fun, but spend a lot of time getting into sticky situations. I'm always helping them with our schoolwork – I don't know where they'd be without me. They're like the brothers I never had.' She thought back to first year and added. 'We weren't friends to begin with. I know Ron for one especially disliked me, but then something happened.'
'What happened?' asked Eric automatically.
'Well let's just say they saved me from a spot of trouble and then I took the blame when they would've gotten into big trouble – and we've been best friends ever since.'
Eric all of a sudden, became uncomfortable.
'So, what's your favourite subject?' he asked quickly in a casual tone.
Hermione had of course, been ready for questions like these.
'English' she replied easily. Of course it wasn't a complete lie, she did love to read after all, and it was he favourite subject at her muggle primary school. 'Yours?' she asked in return.
'Ah, Maths.' He stated after coming to a decision. 'You know how I'm a whiz with the numbers!'
They went on asking pointless, casual questions like favourite colour, flower, food, book and things like that, until they reached the park.
Isabel, Jeffrey and Daphne weren't there yet so Hermione and Eric sat down on the bench where Hermione had first reunited with her old friends the day before.
Eric shuffled closer to her on the bench and reached for her hand. He turned and looked into her eyes, holding her right hand with both of his and said genuinely.
'Hermione. I've missed you so much. You're so fun to be around. For a long time now, I've found myself thinking of you.'
Hermione's heart was beating so hard she was sure Eric could hear it banging against her ribs. She was lost in his eyes, exploding with joy inside, she found herself leaning towards him. He was leaning to her until their faces were mere inches apart. They were about to kiss when a sudden yell echoed across the park.