Don't Forget to Floss

By RowlingIdol (a.k.a. Lauren G.)


"Up late?" Ron asked Harry coming in before the start of their break.
"Yes." Harry said. He leaned his elbows on his desk and rubbed at his temples.
"What did you do?" Ron said.
"I wrote poems." Harry said. He started to massage his cramped wrist.
"So how are you going to give it to her?"
"With more flowers. I have to go pick them up." Harry stood up and walked quietly past Ron. Ron hurried after him.
"Hey, can I come with you?" Ron said, coming up along side Harry. Harry slowed his pace.
"If you want." Harry shrugged. Harry quickened his footsteps. Ron hurried to keep up.

"Hermione, we're going to the Imperial again. Today's their sub sandwich day." Mary said to Hermione, coming into the supply room. Hermione was reading the letter from yesterday's flowers. It had no meaning. Just, To Hermione. She fiddled with the corners of the paper.
"Come on Hermione. Let's go to lunch. It'll take your mind off things." Mary sat down in the chair next to Hermione.
"What if he's there? At the café? Or what if he comes an drops off more flowers?"
"Hermione, I know guys. They can't possibly afford to purchase those kind of arrangements two days in a row." Hermione sighed. She slid the card into her pants pocket.
"Okay. Let me grab my purse." Mary grinned at her.
"Great." Hermione slid her dentist smock off and put her jacket on. She picked up her purse and slung it over her shoulder. She and Mary walked towards the waiting room. The door tinkled shut. Mrs. Granger turned around. She opened her mouth to say something, but Hermione had already seen the second flower arrangement. She ran out of the office without a word. She looked up and down the street frantically, trying to see Harry. Hermione sighed and hung her head. Mary ran out behind her.
"Did you catch him?" She asked.
"No." Hermione said. She ran a hand through her hair.
"Come on." Mary said, tugging at her arm. "The crosswalk says 'Go'." Hermione let Mary tug her across the street to the café. Neither Ron nor Harry were there.

In Harry's car on the way back to the Ministry, Ron scolded him all the way back.
"You're not supposed to apparate in public Muggle areas, Harry!" Ron said. "You know that! And working at the Ministry!"
"Will you stop yelling?" Harry said. "I was nervous!"
"Good thing no one saw you." Ron said, crossing his arms.
"Good thing Hermione didn't see me."
"Why don't you want her to see you?" Ron replied. "I thought you wanted her to notice you."
"I do. But I..... Just didn't."
"Whatever." Ron said. He was quiet the rest of the drive.

**************

"What does the card say this time?" Mrs. Granger said to Hermione when the Grangers got home from the office for dinner.
"I haven't read it yet." Hermione said, setting the flowers on the table. Hermione took the card out of its stand in the arrangement. She turned around and went upstairs to her room without a word. She sat on her bed and slowly opened the card.
"Oh my gosh." She said to herself. "It's a poem." Hermione began to read;

'The wind it blows, through the trees.
Claiming those innocent leaves.
And the thunder rolls these crashing seas,
Like a tender kiss holds this heart in me
In this life long, love song, you can love right, you can love wrong
In this love song, you can love long, but if you love wrong, it doesn't mean love's gone.
She was a young girl, with a young girl's heart,
All I can remember, is I loved her from the start
I was hers forever, and she was mine, too
But something's wrong, 'cause now she's gone, tell me what did I do
In this life long, love song, you can love right, you can love wrong
In this love song, you can love long, but if you love wrong, it doesn't mean love's gone
And it doesn't mean love's wrong, just because you're feeling low
And it doesn't mean love's gone, 'cause you feel like you want to let go
Well no one wrote in this book of love that you'd always know
I wish someone would have told me before
We talked about love a million times it seems
The words come out our lips like we forgot what it means
We said we'd be together, 'til death do us part
But we said those words with only half our hearts
In this life long, love song, you can love right, you can love wrong
In this love song, you can love long, but if you love wrong, it doesn't mean love's gone.
I wish someone would have told me before.'

Hermione clenched her eyes shut. What should she do now? The world was a puddle of hopelessness for her. How long would this go on?

When Harry came home from work, he grabbed a granola bar and locked himself in his room. Sirius tried to get him to come out for dinner. But he wasn't hungry. He frantically wrote another poem to give to her the next day. He decided to lay off the flowers and just deliver it to the dentist office tomorrow.

*******************

The next day, Harry waited until he was sure Hermione had already left for her break before going into the dentist office. He tried to open the door as quietly as he could, but the bell above the door still made a twinkling noise. Mrs. Granger looked up.
"Hello, dear. Would you like to see Hermione? She's in the back room." Mrs. Granger said to him. Harry blanched.
"Uhhhh... Um...... Er......... No. No. No. This.... This... Is for Her... Hermi.... For her." Harry slid the cream envelope towards Mrs. Granger.
"Well then. I'll make sure she gets it." Mrs. Granger smiled warmly at Harry. Harry backed towards the door. When he turned around and reached for the door handle, Mrs. Granger called after him.
"Oh, Harry dear." She knew his name. Harry swore to himself. He turned and looked at her.
"I'm making linguini for dinner on Friday evening. Would you like to join us?" Harry froze. He would have to confront Hermione. He panicked.
"No thanks. Thank you for the offer, though." Harry fumbled for the doorknob. He turned it and raced out of the office. Hermione raced to the front of the office.
"Is he here? I heard the door." Hermione said.
"He just left, sweetheart." Mrs. Granger said.
"Did you tell him I was in the back room?"
"Of course. I also invited him to dinner."
"You did WHAT?" Hermione cried.
"Don't worry dear. He's not coming to dinner."
"Why not?" Hermione pouted.
"I don't know why. He seems very nervous. But he did leave this." Mrs. Granger handed Hermione the envelope. Hermione ripped it open and read the poem that was inside;

'I figured it out,
I was high and low and everything in between
I was wicked and wild, you know what I mean
Till there was you,
Something went wrong
I made a deal with the devil for an empty I.O.U
Been to Hell and back, but an angel was looking through
It was you
It's all because of you
You are the reason
You are the reason I waked up every day and sleep through the night
You are the reason, the reason
In the middle of the night,
I'm going down 'cause I adore you
I want to floor you
I'm giving it up
No more running around spinning my wheel
You came out of my dream and made it real
I know what I feel
It's you
It's all because of you
You are the reason
You are the reason I wake up every day and sleep through the night
You are the reason, the reason
In the middle of the night,
I'm going down 'cause I want you
I want to touch you
I want to floor you
You are the reason
You are the reason I wake up every day and sleep through the night
You are the reason, the reason.'

Hermione started sobbing uncontrollably. She felt like such a child and such an idiot. Mrs. Granger came out from behind the reception desk and put her arms around her daughter.
"Why don't you go home, sweetie?" Mrs. Granger suggested.
"But... but.... I can't take the car." Hermione blubbered.
"No one's looking, dear." Mrs. Granger whispered in Hermione's ear. Hermione quickly wiped her eyes, and apparated home out of her mother's arms.