First off, thank you to all my wonderful reviewers. This chapter, again, is more of a filler than anything. I haven't decided quite how I want this all to end. But I thought a look at the morning after would be interesting? If not, say so. Even if you're indifferent about it, say it anyways, I always love to hear. You can always email meJ Ta!
Kissy
Chapter 27: Just Friends
Morning rose on Sunday morning after the ball. In London, Harry and Ron were passed out by their fireplace, arms about each other. How they managed to floo back to their flat was a mystery to anyone who had seen them at the ball once it really got started. Many figured that they were upset about what had transpired out on the veranda between their best friend, her ex-boyfriend, his ex-girlfriend, and a number of on-lookers. There were superb party pictures on the front page of The Daily Prophet documenting Ron and Harry's descent from sobriety into complete inebriation. The two friends snored softly in each other's arms. Harry slowly opened his eyes as the rays of the early morning sun reached out from the sky into their living room. At the same moment, Ron opened his.
Their neighbors were not amused by screams so early in the morning.
/
Ginny had woken up, still in her outrageously low-cut dress on her bed. She remembered vaguely asking Fred and George to get her home after she had had one too many fire whiskeys. She assumed that they brought her to her room and laid her down.
Getting up slowly, she quickly discarded her dress into a pile at the foot of her bed and rushed to have a bath. She wanted to check up on Hermione.
/
Pansy stroked the chiseled chest of her bedmate. After the ball turned into an all out drinking fest, courtesy of the Weasley twins egging everyone to drink as much as possible, Pansy made her escape with a young man who happened to be the oldest son of one her former 'clients.' He was barely twenty years old, but Pansy could care less. Blaise was most likely still pissed at herm and the young man whose father had left him the keys to his flat in London was more than willing to give Pansy a warm bed to sleep in.
Stretching her arms above her head, Pansy rolled out of the bed and quickly apparated home. She was never one to be there when they woke up.
/
Lost, he was sure of it. Draco had decided to leave the ball quickly and walk. Where to? That was something he had not thought of when he began leaving the town of Dover. Deciding to avoid major muggle roads, Draco walked along the countryside, passing fields, endless fields that touched the endless black sky.
The first signs of morning emerged once Draco decided he had walked enough. With his wand, he took a deep breath and apparated home.
/
"So, I heard from your neighbour, Archer, that you two were screaming bloody murder at I believe he said was six in the morning. Ran into your flat since you gave him the key to find the two you clutching each other, screaming. Had to stun both of you, he said."
Ron shifted nervously and stared at his feet. Harry examined his fingernails with such intensity that Ginny almost lost it.
"Alright, tell me what the two of you are being so shifty about!"
"Nothing," mumbled Ron, still staring at his shoes.
"Yeah, nothing," replied Harry.
"Pish, honestly, it's pretty bloody hilarious."
"Shut up Ginny, it was embarrassing, Archer bursting in on the two of us hugging each other and screaming at the same time. He already thinks we are a bit off, now he is sure to spread it 'round that we're bonkers!"
"Oh, poo poo. Look, we're here."
The three of them looked up and saw that they had reached Stoneybrooke Manor at last. They had driven up from Central London rather than apparating. They were sure that Hermione had put up an anti-apparition charm on her home, as she was prone to do when she was raging mad.
Walking slowly towards the door, ginny grabbed both Harry and Ron's hands and looked at both of her friends. They were wearing identical expressions of confusion and fear. Hermione was not someone to reckon with.
They reached the front landing. Each looked at the other, waiting for someone to ring the bell.
Ginny reached out and pressed the doorbell. The sound echoed from the inside. Mr. Castleton opened the door and smiled slightly as he let them all in.
"The mistress is in her suite. She had not come out since she came in last night. A word of caution, she has taken to, well, throwing objects at the door without warning, so do be careful."
The trio nodded as the ascended the grand stairs to Hermione's suite at the top of the landing. They heard nothing from behind the door. Slowly, Harry led the way into the suite, opening the door with caution, heeding the butler's warning. Nothing, not a sound escaped from behind the door. They opened the door a bit wider and gasped at the sight. The once pristine sitting room, a mixture of 14th century French furniture with its cream walls and gold trim was now----pink. Not baby pink, but wild, hot pink. The damask covered chairs and settees were now oddly shaped sofas and poufs in bold primary colors. The floor, which had been a dark, cherry color with elegant Persian rugs strewn about was covered in bright orange shag carpeting.
There were several containers of muggle ice cream and what looked like a few stray French fries. Harry picked up a red cardboard container. Ron peered over his shoulder. "Cdonals?" Harry shook his head. "It stands for 'McDonalds,' a muggle fast food place. I suppose she ventured into London last night."
They saw a pair of discarded trainers near the entrance into the bedroom. They made it past the warped sitting room and opened the door to the bedroom. There was a collective sigh of relief. Hermione had done nothing to her bedroom.
Ginny looked around to spot her friend. Finally, her eyes rested on the bed. There lay Hermione, face down, surrounded by pint-sized containers of ice cream and several tissue papers.
"'Mione?" All three friends quickly ducked as soon as Ginny spoke. When nothing flew over their heads, they slowly got up and peered down at the figure on the bed.
Her hair was spread across her back, wild copper curls that looked like they had gotten into a fight the night before with each other. A small sound came from the face that was hidden in the covers.
"Hermione? Darling, please, say it without your mouth buried in your covers."
Hermione turned her head slightly so that her mouth was visible.
"I said, what are you doing here?"
"Oh," Ron said, shirting about again, "Well, thought that since it was such a nice day, we could all do brunch perhaps?"
Hermione sat up at that moment and stared at her three friends standing at the foot of her bed. She was a sight to be seen. Her wild curls were everywhere, in her face, puffing out into odd tangents around her face. Her camisole was slightly soiled with some paint and what may have been her make-up. She had on a pair of terry-cloth pants that were rolled up to her knees.
"Dear me, Hermione, you look like shit."
Ron and Ginny shot harry a look, which shut him up. They all looked back at Hermione and were preparing to duck when Hermione just stood up and jumped off her bed and headed into the bathroom.
Sighing with relief, Ginny turned and swatted Harry's arm.
"Ouch! Call her off Ron!"
"No way, mate. That was pretty stupid of you to blurt out."
"Right. Well, I could not help it. At least she didn't throw anything right?"
Ginny just shook her head and sat down on the bed. "She's being extremely odd, don't you think?"
"Well, yes, but," said harry, taking a seat beside her, "it's better than walking into a war-zone with things flying about and Hermione throwing random curses about the room."
Ron sat down as well. "That is much, much worse than this angry Hermione."
"I'm ready to go!" The cheerful tone came from the bathroom where Hermione stood, dressed in a sweatsuit, some trainers, a baseball cap and overly large sunshades. "I know a fantastic place up the road from Olivander's, I believe its call…" She stopped speaking as she looked at the bewildered faces of her friends.
"What? Is there something on my face?"
"Hermione," Harry jumped off the bed and engulfed Hermione in a hug. Ron and Ginny followed suit and soon they were in a group hug.
"Umm, oof! Look, um, damn, GET OFF!" Harry, Ron, and Ginny backed away immediately, their wands at the read waiting to dodge a curse…or a vase.
"Look, I know what you're all thinking right now, and to be honest, I know you mean well, and I'm sure you all have brilliant advice, but right now all I want to do is eat and spend the day with my friends. No talk about last night, please."
Everyone nodded and followed Hermione out of her room. As they passed the suite, Ron took Hermione's arm.
"Um, just out of curiosity, can you at least tell us what happened to your sitting room?"
/
Draco arrived at his flat exhausted and angry. He couldn't for the life of him understand what Pansy was after, other than his money of course. And Hermione, Hermione was at the beginning just another pawn in his game, but after a while it finally dawned on him.
'I love her.' he thought woefully as he collapsed on his bed. He sat up, his arms propping him up as he stared at himself in the mirror.
"You seem to have had a rough night, lad," the mirror commented.
'You can say that again.' He rose from the bed and walked into the bathroom. He needed a plan.
/
"I never realized how much I'm going to miss London," sighed Hermione. She was sitting in a small park. Harry, Ginny, and Ron had gone off to buy some food so that they might picnic in the park. A couple sat on a bench across the lawn from Hermione, holding each other, looking into each other's eyes.
'I thought that he and I had that,' she thought as she picked up a piece of grass and twirled it in her fingers.
"Oy! Hermione! Look at this great food we found at some market down the road!" Looking up, she saw Ron running towards her, his hands carrying two large bags. He sat down next to her and began to pull out containers of curry and fruit. Harry and Ginny came up shortly and sat down as well.
Lunch was silent, for the most part. Harry and Ron tried to keep up idle chatter about work and perhaps getting a house in the next few months.
"You can stay at Stoneybrooke, you know." The men looked up at Hermione giving her a curious look.
"But you hated living with us! You said we made your house smell," frowned Ron.
"I never said that!" Hermione let out a small laugh, one of the few she had given that day. "It's just that, well, here's the thing, I love that house and well, I need someone to take care of it while I'm away."
Ginny stopped staring off and jerked her head towards Hermione. Harry managed not to choke on his apple, and Ron just stared at her, his jaw dropped.
"What do you mean 'while I'm gone' ? Where are you going? On holiday?" Ginny was facing Hermione now, a look of sadness beginning to pass over her face.
"Oh, I really have been planning this for a bit, well, for the past week. I contacted Donatella and spoke to her about running the company from the New York offices."
"New York? As in the one in the states?"
"Honestly, Ron, is there another New York you know of?" Hermione was picking up pieces of grass and nervously twirling them.
"You're leaving? For good?" harry couldn't believe it. He thought that they would live in London forever. Maybe find a summer home on the coast, but never leave. "Why? Because of Malfoy?"
"Of course. I mean, I told him to bugger off, but he'll always be there won't he? And he's working for the company now! The least I can do to save my sanity to transfer to the New York offices."
A silence tore through the group. Neither person said a word as the sun reached its peak in the sky. All they could do was sit. Harry thought of how much he loved living in the area, with his two best friends. Ron, although concerned with a piece of meat stuck between his teeth, was also suddenly saddened, knowing that there would no longer be any Sunday brunches or random visits. Most of all, he would miss looking up Hermione's skirt. Ginny felt as though her only close female friend was taking off to an entirely different new world, far away from her. And Hermione, well, all she could think of was that she was leaving her heart behind. And there the four friends sat, on the grass, watching the sun rise from midday and fall into the afternoon light. No one quite knew what to say, but they all felt that at that moment, they were at home.
/
Days had passed, and Draco had yet to come up with a feasible plan to win Hermione back. Save for pacing in his room, he barely left his flat except to wander about muggle London. He refused all calls and owls, preferring his solitude for the moment rather than the gossipy mill that was still churning out stories about the ball.
When he could pace no more, he decided to take leave of his flat and have a walk along the Thames. He figured he would be led somewhere.
'To hell with magic, I'm leaving this all up to fate.'
However, perhaps fate would come too late?
