Forget-Me-Not
Chapter 2
Ms. Selly
Disclaimer: You know the drill, no one you've seen in the books belongs to me.
Sunshine shone brightly against the dingy gray apartment building. Blinds covered a window it was trying to shine through but there was, of course, one tiny strip where light could sneak through. And that light shone, of course, directly into Miss Hermione Granger's eyes every single bloody morning. Hermione sat up with a scowl, stretched and managed to step (mostly) out of bed. She stumbled in her sleep-deprived state, but caught herself on her dresser before she fell.
Grumbling about her shoddy blinds, the obnoxious sun and her own traitorous feet, she headed into the bathroom and turned on the shower. She shook her head vigorously to try and wake up a little more, and stripped out of her oversized sleep shirt. She stepped into the shower stall. And screamed at the top of her lungs.
"I understand you only have one heater in this building but-….yes, I know you've asked a plumber to look at it. No, I cannot 'deal with it'! The water is totally FREEZING," she shouted into the telephone receiver, clutching her robe tightly around her goose-bump covered body. She listened to what the manager was saying with a fresh scowl. "Well, fix it!" She slammed the receiver down and took a deep breath to calm herself. On the plus side….she was definitely awake now.
She took as quick a shower as possible, though she still felt like she had been bathing in ice water. It took a little while to brush her hair and she put on a bit of make-up. After pulling on a skirt and a matching cardigan, she slipped on some shoes and slung her purse over her shoulder. She opened her door and carefully locked it behind her, though she couldn't imagine what anyone might want in her apartment. As she strode down the hallway, she heard frantic scuffling behind door 7 as always. The door swung open.
"Morning, Hermione!" A very tall and lanky young woman with long, loose black braids and thin wire glasses shut the door quickly behind her. She took a deep breath and blew it out, shaking her head and blinking her large hazel eyes.
"Good morning, Madeleine." Hermione tried not to smile as Madeleine adjusted her short gray skirt and white blouse.
The two walked out together, Madeleine glancing back at her door every few feet. Once they reached the parking lot, she sighed with relief.
"Have a nice day," she said with a smile and a wave as she climbed into a car that didn't look like she could fit in very comfortably and sped off. Hermione shook her head and laughed quietly as she turned and walked down the sidewalk. Behind her, she heard rapid footsteps and a shrill shout of "Madeleine!" She couldn't help but smile. A dedicated student, every morning Madeleine Adams snuck out the apartment she shared with her sister and took the car that supposedly belonged to said sister. The elder Adams, Miranda, was then forced to walk to campus to retrieve it, a task she was most displeased with. However, Miranda never managed to get up and out the door before Madeleine did.
Hermione walked down the street, cars driving past on one side, storefronts looming above her on the other. There were far more cars than pedestrians at this time of morning, but she was perfectly happy walking to work. The shop was close enough that she didn't need a vehicle and, truthfully, she didn't have the funds to acquire one anyway. Shrugging off such gloomy thoughts, Hermione instead focused her attention on sending positive energy to the plumber she sincerely hoped was not a figment created to shut her up. Without a doubt, the most temperamental water heater in the United Kingdom was in the basement of her apartment building. And she was tired of the sporadic absence of hot water.
She reached into her purse and produced the key to the florist shop and quickly set about readying things for the day. In an hour, customers started to arrive, and she was ready to greet them with a sunny smile. She spent the morning retrieving and taking orders for bouquets, as well as selling the pre-made ones on display. The other assistant, Ellen, showed up around noon, and Hermione moved to the back of the shop and began arranging flowers. It wasn't technically in her job description to work in the actual making of bouquets, but she had moderate talent, and the resident florist and shop owner, Mrs. Flannery, simply did not have the time to create each arrangement on her own.
So Hermione sat there for a few hours, then went back to the greenhouse to water the plants and see if any flowers were ready to be put in bouquets. When the work day was done and Ellen had left, Hermione gathered up the flowers that had been deemed 'damaged' and were unfit for sale. She wrapped them gently in plastic and held them carefully to her chest as she walked home. Her dim apartment could use some brightening.
When she reached the building, she found Madeleine perched on the roof of Miranda's car, reading a thick textbook, biting her tongue in concentration. Hermione smiled inwardly. There was an image that reminded her of herself. At her approaching footsteps, Madeleine looked up.
"Hey, Hermione."
"Hi."
"Oooh, you've got a bouquet! Secret boyfriend?" Madeleine smiled, eyes twinkling behind her glasses. Hermione laughed shortly and shook her head.
"If I got a boyfriend, you would be the first to know. They're leftovers from work."
"Oh." Her bottom lip jutted out adorably in a disappointed pout. She was such a romantic, and Hermione envied her optimism sometimes. As well as that innate youthful cuteness. Although they were probably separated in age by no more than a year, Hermione already felt very old and worn. But then, her life had probably held more stress than Madeleine could even imagine.
They exchanged a few more pleasantries, then Madeleine went back to Russian Literature, and Hermione headed for her apartment.
She unlocked her door and entered, flipping on the lights and leaving her purse and make-shift bouquet on the counter. She went into her room and pulled open her closet door, looking for a vase. She pushed aside some blazers and old shoeboxes. She was sure there was one in here somewhere. Standing on tiptoe, she peered at the shelf, wrinkling her nose in frustration. Out of the corner of her eye, she spied a box in the far corner of the shelf, tied shut with twine. She swallowed hard and a cool tingle ran down her back. She closed her eyes and shut the closet door forcefully.
Hermione exited into the living room and spied the vase she had been looking for on a shelf. She smiled to herself at her own forgetfulness and removed it, banishing all memory of the box in the closet from her mind. After filling the vase with water and carefully arranging the flowers in it, she set it in the center of the table and smiled. Much better.
The doorbell rang and she frowned. Who would be visiting her? The only people she knew were Mrs. Flannery, Ellen, Madeleine and Miranda. And none of them were likely to show up on her doorstep, especially since she had just seen Madeleine outside. Still searching her mind for who it might be, she strode over and pulled the door open. Her heart plummeted through her chest. Now here was one person she never in her wildest dreaming expected might appear outside her door.
"What are you doing here?" She asked, voice low and strained, trying to conceal the pain she felt at seeing this dreadful reminder of the life she wanted to leave behind.
"Well, I," Draco Malfoy looked down at his hands, embarrassed. "I was hoping you might tell me that."