Chapter 7: Another Chance
Hermione sat in the rocking chair next to the window, looking out at the misty horizon towards Harry's cabin. She wore her bathrobe and held a mug full of hot chocolate with her hair twirled up into a ponytail. It had been nearly 2 weeks since she had last seen him, and a part of her missed him. Sure, he was rude and unyielding, but there was passion inside of him, something that he was wary to show.
Marge sat at the table, stirring her hot chocolate with a spoon. "Come on, Hermione, you can't sit there and look out of the window forever. How long has it been since you've left your cabin?"
"A week and a half, when I needed groceries," she stated simply.
"Well, by the looks of it, you're going to need more. Look at you child. You're turning into him!"
"Into who, Marge?" Hermione played dumb.
"You know who. Harry!"
Hermione sighed at the mention of his name. "I feel so horrible Marge, for what I said to him."
"You didn't know. I feel partially responsible because I didn't tell you."
"Oh, no Marge you shouldn't blame yourself. I shouldn't have pushed him and I did. How will he ever forgive me?"
"By getting out of this blasted house and start living! Hermione you've been here a little over 3 weeks now and what have you done that's truly adventurous? When we were fixing this place up you were raving about wanting to go camping and research wild animals and find new and mysterious places of your property. What about getting a job? You still have to pay the taxes on your land. There are plenty of places in the town that are hiring right now. I bed you'd be a fantastic interior designer!"
Hermione giggled, thinking of all the things she had said when she first moved in. "Child, you had a lot of dreams. Don't let one little mishap with a grumpy neighbor make you forget everything you had said. Why did you come out here? To find adventure, and a new life. This is your opportunity, seize it!"
She put down her mug of hot chocolate and turned to Marge. She smiled and then started walking to her bedroom.
"What are you doing, Hermione?"
"I'm getting changed. I'm going to look for a new job and get groceries! And then I'm going out on a different path and I'm going to walk for hours and take pictures! Then I'm going to-"
"Well take it one at a time. First, let's go down to the market place and stock up on groceries."
Marge and Hermione set out in her car and began their trek towards town. For the first time in a while, Hermione had a smile on her face. She was finally excited about living her life up in Canada. She still felt guilty about what had happened with Harry, but she was going to try her damnedest to have a good day.
Hermione found a place to park her automobile, and the first thing they did was walk up and down "business row", as Marge liked to call it, seeing if anyone was hiring. After checking the real estate office, the newspaper, the local magazine, the bridal store, the flower store, the retail store, there was still no luck. Hermione was becoming aggravated and losing hope. That was until she came upon a vacant building with a "For Sale" sign posted on the door. She suddenly had a bright idea.
"Marge is there a phone somewhere I could use?" she asked excitedly.
"Yea, there's one around the corner...why?"
Hermione rushed to scramble down the number below the sign. "I'll be back in a minute!" She ran towards the payphone, added her change and called the number on her hand.
"Canadian Properties, this is Jackie speaking. How may I assist your call?"
"Hi, my name is Hermione Granger. I noticed that you had a piece of property up for sale on Main Street and I was inquiring about it."
"One moment please." Hermione tapped her finger on the phone before hearing a man's voice.
"Canadian Properties, this is Adam. How may I help you, Ms. Granger?"
"Hi, I was calling about the property on Main Street?"
"Ah yes, 16 Main Street. Is that correct?"
"Yes, sir."
"The building has been vacant for nearly a year and a half. The previous owners had gone bankrupt and could unfortunately no longer afford the property. Are you interested in buying it?"
"Yes, sir I am. How much would the cost be?"
"Well, we can do this one of two ways. First, we can rent the property out to you for a flat monthly rate on a lease. Your other option is to flat out buy the place for $160,000".
"Oh my goodness! How much would a monthly lease cost?"
"How long were you expecting to rent it out?"
"6 months, at the most."
"For a six month lease we can rent out the property to you for $300 a month."
"Done!"
She finished her phone conversation, wrote down a few more notes on the back of a blank piece of paper she found in her purse, then rushed back to Marge.
"Girl what in the world has gotten into you?"
"I just rented out this property!"
"You did what?!"
"I called the number and they are leasing it out to me for 300 dollars a month for six months."
"Why only six?"
"Because I'm going back to New York then..." Hermione answered slowly.
"Oh. Well, congratulations! What are you going to do with the place?"
"I'm going to convert it into an interior decorating business. I took a few classes in college relating to the field and I think it'd be a blast!"
"Then how about to celebrate we go get groceries!" Marge replied sarcastically.
"I like your thinking Marge."
The two women walked into the market and picked up a cart. They slowly ambled throughout the store, picking up whatever they felt Hermione would need, before the shopping cart was completely full. Just as they were turning to check out, they hit another cart.
"Hey watch where-" Marge stopped. Standing before them was Harry. He was wearing jeans and a black long sleeved shirt.
"Um, sorry," Hermione mumbled, barely looking into his eyes. She began pulling her cart out of the way when he grabbed her arm.
"Wait," he asked.
There was an awkward silence between them before Marge spoke up. "Um, Hermione I think I'll go ahead and start checking out. I'll meet you in line." She took the cart and quickly ran to the shortest line she could fine.
"Is there something I can help you with?" Hermione asked tersely.
"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry that I snapped at you. You didn't know."
"It's okay," she replied simply.
"No, it's not okay. I've been an utter ass to you ever since you've arrived and I want to apologize properly."
"You're apology is accept, Harry. Really, there's no need to do more." She started walking away before he pulled her back to him. Their eyes met.
"Oh, yes there is."
Hermione sat in the rocking chair next to the window, looking out at the misty horizon towards Harry's cabin. She wore her bathrobe and held a mug full of hot chocolate with her hair twirled up into a ponytail. It had been nearly 2 weeks since she had last seen him, and a part of her missed him. Sure, he was rude and unyielding, but there was passion inside of him, something that he was wary to show.
Marge sat at the table, stirring her hot chocolate with a spoon. "Come on, Hermione, you can't sit there and look out of the window forever. How long has it been since you've left your cabin?"
"A week and a half, when I needed groceries," she stated simply.
"Well, by the looks of it, you're going to need more. Look at you child. You're turning into him!"
"Into who, Marge?" Hermione played dumb.
"You know who. Harry!"
Hermione sighed at the mention of his name. "I feel so horrible Marge, for what I said to him."
"You didn't know. I feel partially responsible because I didn't tell you."
"Oh, no Marge you shouldn't blame yourself. I shouldn't have pushed him and I did. How will he ever forgive me?"
"By getting out of this blasted house and start living! Hermione you've been here a little over 3 weeks now and what have you done that's truly adventurous? When we were fixing this place up you were raving about wanting to go camping and research wild animals and find new and mysterious places of your property. What about getting a job? You still have to pay the taxes on your land. There are plenty of places in the town that are hiring right now. I bed you'd be a fantastic interior designer!"
Hermione giggled, thinking of all the things she had said when she first moved in. "Child, you had a lot of dreams. Don't let one little mishap with a grumpy neighbor make you forget everything you had said. Why did you come out here? To find adventure, and a new life. This is your opportunity, seize it!"
She put down her mug of hot chocolate and turned to Marge. She smiled and then started walking to her bedroom.
"What are you doing, Hermione?"
"I'm getting changed. I'm going to look for a new job and get groceries! And then I'm going out on a different path and I'm going to walk for hours and take pictures! Then I'm going to-"
"Well take it one at a time. First, let's go down to the market place and stock up on groceries."
Marge and Hermione set out in her car and began their trek towards town. For the first time in a while, Hermione had a smile on her face. She was finally excited about living her life up in Canada. She still felt guilty about what had happened with Harry, but she was going to try her damnedest to have a good day.
Hermione found a place to park her automobile, and the first thing they did was walk up and down "business row", as Marge liked to call it, seeing if anyone was hiring. After checking the real estate office, the newspaper, the local magazine, the bridal store, the flower store, the retail store, there was still no luck. Hermione was becoming aggravated and losing hope. That was until she came upon a vacant building with a "For Sale" sign posted on the door. She suddenly had a bright idea.
"Marge is there a phone somewhere I could use?" she asked excitedly.
"Yea, there's one around the corner...why?"
Hermione rushed to scramble down the number below the sign. "I'll be back in a minute!" She ran towards the payphone, added her change and called the number on her hand.
"Canadian Properties, this is Jackie speaking. How may I assist your call?"
"Hi, my name is Hermione Granger. I noticed that you had a piece of property up for sale on Main Street and I was inquiring about it."
"One moment please." Hermione tapped her finger on the phone before hearing a man's voice.
"Canadian Properties, this is Adam. How may I help you, Ms. Granger?"
"Hi, I was calling about the property on Main Street?"
"Ah yes, 16 Main Street. Is that correct?"
"Yes, sir."
"The building has been vacant for nearly a year and a half. The previous owners had gone bankrupt and could unfortunately no longer afford the property. Are you interested in buying it?"
"Yes, sir I am. How much would the cost be?"
"Well, we can do this one of two ways. First, we can rent the property out to you for a flat monthly rate on a lease. Your other option is to flat out buy the place for $160,000".
"Oh my goodness! How much would a monthly lease cost?"
"How long were you expecting to rent it out?"
"6 months, at the most."
"For a six month lease we can rent out the property to you for $300 a month."
"Done!"
She finished her phone conversation, wrote down a few more notes on the back of a blank piece of paper she found in her purse, then rushed back to Marge.
"Girl what in the world has gotten into you?"
"I just rented out this property!"
"You did what?!"
"I called the number and they are leasing it out to me for 300 dollars a month for six months."
"Why only six?"
"Because I'm going back to New York then..." Hermione answered slowly.
"Oh. Well, congratulations! What are you going to do with the place?"
"I'm going to convert it into an interior decorating business. I took a few classes in college relating to the field and I think it'd be a blast!"
"Then how about to celebrate we go get groceries!" Marge replied sarcastically.
"I like your thinking Marge."
The two women walked into the market and picked up a cart. They slowly ambled throughout the store, picking up whatever they felt Hermione would need, before the shopping cart was completely full. Just as they were turning to check out, they hit another cart.
"Hey watch where-" Marge stopped. Standing before them was Harry. He was wearing jeans and a black long sleeved shirt.
"Um, sorry," Hermione mumbled, barely looking into his eyes. She began pulling her cart out of the way when he grabbed her arm.
"Wait," he asked.
There was an awkward silence between them before Marge spoke up. "Um, Hermione I think I'll go ahead and start checking out. I'll meet you in line." She took the cart and quickly ran to the shortest line she could fine.
"Is there something I can help you with?" Hermione asked tersely.
"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry that I snapped at you. You didn't know."
"It's okay," she replied simply.
"No, it's not okay. I've been an utter ass to you ever since you've arrived and I want to apologize properly."
"You're apology is accept, Harry. Really, there's no need to do more." She started walking away before he pulled her back to him. Their eyes met.
"Oh, yes there is."
