Disclaimer: You know already. This story is inspired by the movie "The City of Glass".

To flamers: I don't take kindly to flames so back off, if you know what's good for you.

Thank you for your reviews!

Gryffindorgrlwiz: Oh yeah, great idea about the scar thing, wish I have thought of that…. And yes you will hear of Viktor soon. Hermione and Viktor didn't get a divorce until the end of the story…. No, George is only joking about the blood test thing. Lethe is Ginny's and Neville's. By the way, you know where I got her name from? Lethe is actually the name of the river of forgetfulness, which flows through the underworld in Greek mythology. Since Neville is such a forgetful person, I figure Lethe is a suitable name for his daughter.

RedHandedLillian: (hands a pack of tissues to you)

magicpens: Get well soon!

CreekneedCharlie: Err…

J.E.A.R.K. Potter: Thank you!

xThe-Ravenx: I will send you an e-mail about that…

Meg: Thanks for the info!

Chapter 14: 21st January 2003 Part 2

9pm

Dear Diary,

I'm back again. Boy, am I tired from all that shopping….and UPSET! Yes, I'm upset at Harry and his boss! How did he get dragged into this, you ask? I'll tell you what happened…

Harry and I didn't wake up until noon. After a quick lunch in our room, Harry and I went out with our pockets full of money. We were planning to buy souvenirs for the Longbottoms (who I thought were the only ones knew that we were here)

The first person we saw when we came out of our room was Aaron, waiting for the lift. We stopped in our tracks and stared at him while Aaron stared back. At me.

Harry scowled and stood in front of me. Aaron swallowed but didn't say anything.

"Come on, Emma, let's take the stairs." said Harry slowly and quietly.

I nodded and we walked past him with our heads up high.

As we walked down Lincoln Road, Harry looked at the road map that the witch at the travel agency gave us. It consisted of the locations of muggle AND magical shops in South Beach.

"Next to the muggle restaurant…. ah! Here it is!" said Harry and we stopped next to a dark, narrow alley between a restaurant and an abandoned office building.

"Daniel, I didn't see anything." I said in confusion.

Harry smiled at me, held my hand and pulled me to the alley. "Come with me."

We went right into the alley, right past the back door of the restaurant and stopped at the end of it. I was completely lost, what was Harry planning to do?

Harry took out his wand from his pocket and stared at the wall in front of him. He looked down at the map, tapped on the wall and said, "Magical Surf."

The moment he said that, the wall slowly moved. It was then I realised that Harry was opening a magical location's entrance.

The wall moved to a side and our mouths dropped at the sight in front of us.

The wall revealed a giant shopping mall! Wow, it was beautiful! The whole place was brightly lit, witches and wizards were walking everywhere, doing their shopping. Lifts at the end of the mall went up and down, taking customers to their desired floor (there was 5 floors). The ceiling was a huge glass window, showing the sky outside.

"Come on," said Harry, taking my hand. "Let's do our shopping."

We looked past the shops, wondering what to buy for the Longbottoms.

"I suggest that we buy some plant-related thing to Neville, he likes Herbology so much…." said Harry.

"Good point." I said.

So the first place we got into was a flower shop. We walked in and I was amazed at the size of the shop. It looked like an entire greenhouse was here, even through it looked like a normal florist shop outside. At the end, there was a counter with a wizard behind it.

We looked at the plants that the shop sells; we had met some of them before during our school days: Mandrakes, Devil Snare ("who would buy that?" asked Harry, frowning), Gillyweed, Abyssinian Shrivelfigs, Puffapod, Bubotubers, Bouncing Bulbs and Venomous Tentacula….

"Hey, look at that," I said, pointing at a giant grey cactus. It's a Mimbulus mimbletonia.

Harry looked sick at the sight of it. "Reminds me of the small one Neville got in our fifth year. Did I tell you what happen in the train when he was playing around with it?"

I shook my head.

"He let me held Trevor while he was at it. He took out his quill, held the plant up to his eyes, chose his spot, and gave the plant a sharp prod with the tip of his quill."

"And?" I asked.

Harry had a look of disgust. "Stinksap squirted from every boil on the plant! Ginny flung her arms up in front of her face just in time and looked like she was wearing a slimy green hat. But I received a faceful, because my hands were full with Trevor. It smelt like rancid manure, yuck. I still remembered the smell. Neville got his whole face and torso drenched too."

I laughed…..

At this point, the whole group who was listening to Ron, began to laugh as well. Ron smiled slightly.

Neville's face was pink. "Oh great, I can't believe that Harry still remembers that. I almost forget about that incident."

"Good, then Harry and Hermione had reminded you about it." said Fred, grinning. "Ah, sweet memories."

"That could be a nice story for Lethe when she grows older." said George.

Neville shook his head and groaned. "Oh no."

"Oh yeah, if you don't tell her, we will." said Fred and cleared his throat. "Hey, Lethe, know what your Daddy did when he was 15? He poked a cactus and it sprayed Stinksap all over his friends and your Mummy."

The group laughed while Neville said, "Ron, save me and continue to read the entry."

Ron continued.

I laughed, imagined Harry and Neville with their bodies full of Stinksap and Ginny wearing a so-called green hat.

"And then Cho Chang came in, looked at me with a face that says 'Are you mental?' and she walked off."

My laughter stopped. My heart was filled with slight jealousy when Harry mentioned his old crush. I didn't know why. I knew that the relationship between Cho and Harry was long over but I still got this horrible feeling in me….. "Cho Chang."

"Hm-mm." said Harry, looking at a reddish plant that moved slightly.

"Harry?" I asked quietly, so that no one could hear.

"What?"

"Do you still think of her? Cho Chang, I mean." I asked slowly.

Harry paused. Then he turned over, looked at me straight in the eyes and said firmly. "No. It's you that I always think about."

If we weren't in here, I would have kissed him. But I couldn't, so I just smiled at him. The awful feeling was gone.

Harry smiled back and returned to look at the plants. I looked as well. Besides magical plants, there were muggle plants on sale too.

I looked in adoration at all the beautiful roses (which actually put into pots), they had so many different types of colours: Red, blue, purple, pink, yellow, white, green, black, gold, silver…. and oddly, a mixture of red and yellow with sliver glitters at the edges of their petals.

"Daniel, look at this one." I said, pointing at the pot of lovely coloured roses.

"Beautiful." said Harry simply. "Too bad Neville isn't a girl, or we will buy him that."

"I was thinking at how pretty it would look if I put it in my bedroom. I wondered what's the price….." I looked at the price tag and my face fell. 30 Galleons.

"30 Galleons for a small pot of roses?" I asked in disbelief.

"It's one of the kind, Miss." said a witch besides me. She had a flower shaped badge on her chest. "And it never wilts as long as you water it. Good for a real plant."

I stared at the witch for a moment before I sighed. "I think I will give up on it. It's too expensive."

I turned to Harry, trying to look cheerful. "Come on, Harry, let's go and find Neville's plant."

Harry looked at me. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." I lied.

We found a plant which reminded me of the ocean. It looked like a purple sea anemone and its tentacles moved by themselves, even though there was no water around it.

"What is this?" Harry asked the witch.

"Helios Neptuna. It's actually a magical anemone that could live without water." said the witch helpfully.

"Whoa." said Harry and stared at the anemone. "Does it do anything else besides waving its tentacles?"

"Sure." said the witch, took out her wand, pointed at the plant and said, "Lumos Maxima."

Her wand lit at the plant. Harry backed away.

Nothing happened for a while but soon, the anemone changed from purple to navy blue.

Harry smiled slowly. "Hey, not bad."

"They only grow in warm climates." said the witch. "Their colours will change constantly under the sun if they stand under it long enough."

"So you won't find this kind of plant in Britain?" asked Harry.

The witch shook her head.

"In that case, I'm sure that Neville don't have one." said Harry and I nodded. "I'll take it."

The witch wrapped the plant up and shrunk it, so that we could carry it easily. Harry and I went past the roses as we went towards the entrance and I looked at it longingly before I joined Harry at the door.
The next stop we went was a souvenir shop. The place was lovely, it had sea-shells made wind charms, bracelets and necklaces. All of them were so beautifully made that I was dying to buy them.

"What do you think Ginny will like?" asked Harry.

"Well, she's not a fan of big stuff….. hey, how about this?" I asked, holding up a necklace. It was a mixture of pink and orange coloured shell hanging from a red string. It was simple, but it looked pretty enough. I'm sure that Ginny will like it.

"Whatever you say, you are closer to Ginny." said Harry.

We decided to buy that in the end and we paid for it before moving on to the next shop to buy something for Lethe.

Now that was a problem. We didn't have a single idea what to buy for the youngest Longbottom. We stood in the middle of the mall, wondering where to go next.

From what I have heard from Harry, Lethe already has loads of toys (Fred and George practically showered her with them ever since she was born).

She already has clothes that could last her for the whole year (because Ron's mother likes to knit for her youngest granddaughter).

She has a whole shelf of books (That would be Percy and Penelope's fault, who want their niece to be the smartest girl in her year at Hogwarts when she grows older).

She has a toy broomstick (Charlie gave it to her when she was one).

She has a mountain of dolls (Ginny, Angelina, Alicia and Pallas have made sure of that).

She even has her own jewellery. (Bill and Fleur treat her like a princess, they give her either a necklace or a bracelet when they have a chance to)

In fact, she has almost everything that a 1 year old baby could ask for. What Harry and I had in mind was something special, but we couldn't think of anything that Lethe DOESN'T has.

"Well, I suppose we could just walk around and look at the same time." said Harry slowly.

I nodded and we walked around the mall. After one round, we realized that we couldn't find anything.

"I suggest that we look more carefully." said Harry. "Maybe we missed out something." he added with a slight hopeful note in his voice.

"Maybe a candle stand should do the trick." said Harry flatly after the fifth round at the mall, looking at a row of candle stands on display as we stood outside the shop.

I leaned on a wall tiredly, it was already 5pm and we still couldn't find anything that suited Lethe.

"Ha ha." I said without humour.

Harry seemed to be thinking for a long while before he said, "Emma?"

"What?"

"Lethe has long hair, right?" he asked.

"Yeah, and it's dark brown." I said.

Harry went silent. Suddenly he slapped himself on the forehead. "Of course!"

"What?"

"Remember the hair accessories store we passed by just now?" asked Harry.

"Yes….." I said slowly. "Daniel, do you mean…."

"I think I got it!" said Harry excitedly. He grabbed my hand and dragged me to the hair accessories store at the 3rd floor. "Look!" he pointed at the items on display.

I went "oh my" at the thing at Harry was pointing. It was a set of two beautiful velvet black hair bands, with two navy blue pearls on each of them.

"She would look cute if Ginny uses them to tie her hair!" I exclaimed and hugged Harry. "Daniel, you are brilliant!"

"If I'm brilliant, I would have spotted those hours ago, come on, let's go in and get them."

After shopping, Harry and I went to the restaurant next door to have dinner. While Harry ordered for two sets of salmon steak and two glasses of lemon tea, my mind drifted back to the pot of red and yellow coloured roses. How I wanted to have them…..

"Emma? Emma?"

I snapped out of my trance and looked at Harry. "W-what?"

"Are you okay?" asked Harry in concern.

"I'm okay. Just thinking about the roses." I said truthfully.

Our meals arrived and I forgot about the roses for a while when Harry raised his glass at me. "Cheers."

I raised mine as well. "Cheers."

CLINK

….went our glasses.

We strolled back to the hotel, hand-in-hand and when we walked past the counter, the lady called, "Mr Evans?"

"Yes?" asked Harry.

"I have a letter for you. It just come an hour ago." said the lady said.

Harry blinked. "For me?" He asked, looking confused.

Then his expression went from confused to realization. "Oh yeah, yes, thanks…."

He took the letter and on the envelope, it said, "Mr D. Evans, Hotel Astor, South Beach, Miami, USA"

"Who sent it to you?" I asked when we were in the lift.

"Erm, I dunno." said Harry, but he wasn't looking at me.

When we came back to our hotel room, Harry sat down on the chair and opened his letter. He read it slowly and his face went pale.

'What is it?" I asked.

"Nothing." said Harry and tried to hide the letter from me.

"Let me see it." I said, holding out my hand. "Obviously, it is something awful."

"Really, it's nothing." said Harry slowly.

I glared at him.

"Well, it is something. I, um….. err….." said Harry.

Seeing that Harry was getting nowhere, I snatched the letter from his hand.

"Hermione, no! Oh damn." I heard Harry said.

I ignored him and read:

Dear Mr Potter,

I regret to inform you that you have to cancel the rest of your vacation and come back to England as soon as possible. You are required for a very serious meeting. I won't say anymore here, in case this letter goes astray.

Hoping you are well,

Yours sincerely,
Edward Pellew
Auror Headquarters
Ministry of Magic

My mouth dropped open at the letter.

"You have to go back?" I asked loudly, staring at Harry as if he had betrayed me or something.

"Yes." said Harry quietly.

I sat down on the chair, staring at the envelope. "How did he know you are here?"

"I, um……" started Harry.

I looked at him for a moment before I realized something. "You told him."

To my horror, Harry nodded.

Silence.

"How could you do this?" I demanded. "I was looking forward for a week alone with you and then you go and tell your boss that you are here, so that he could find you and ruin everything!"

Harry was silent, which made my temper worse.

"Great, Harry," I said bitterly. "Thanks a lot for telling your boss where you are! It's bad enough that we couldn't be spend our time together back in England, it's even worse that we couldn't be together anywhere on this Earth! Do we have to die so that we could be together forever?"

"Hermione, darling, please….." said Harry helplessly.

I covered my ears, closed my eyes and started to sing Avril Lavigne's "My Happy Ending" loudly.

Harry tugged on my hands, trying to pull it away from my ears. He managed to do that, but my eyes remained close and I was still singing.

"Hermione, please stop!" I heard Harry yelling.

I refused and sang: "All this time you were pretending, so much for my happy ending….."

I kept on singing....

SLAP

…. until Harry slapped me across the face.

I was still, my eyes were open. My hand reached for my cheek and placed itself there. It hurts, badly.

But my heart felt worse.

I moved my head and looked at Harry. "You slapped me." I said in disbelief.

Tears welled up in my eyes. I blinked and they flowed out of my eyes and down my cheeks.

Harry swallowed, clutched his right hand with his left tightly and said, "I, I'm sorry. But you are hysterical and um…."

He bowed his head, muttered something like "excuse me" and he marched to the door.

Once he closed the door quietly, I kneeled down to the floor and wept.

That's what happened, Diary. I didn't get up from the floor until an hour ago. Harry isn't back yet. I don't know where he has gone to. Maybe he has headed straight back to England.

My cheek doesn't hurt anymore but my heart still does. I couldn't believe that Harry slap me. I thought that he would never, ever, do that.

Is he turning into Viktor?

But he did say something about me being hysterical and from what I read, slapping is what you have to do when someone is hysterical.

All Harry is trying to do is to stop me from being hysterical, right? He didn't mean to slap me, right?

I'm lost.

My head hurts now, Diary. I need some sleep…..

I wish Harry will come back.

Hermione

"Well, I'm sure that Harry didn't slap Hermione on purpose." said Fred when Ron stopped. "I mean, he's not like Krum, he knows what he is doing."

"Where do you think Harry had gone to?" asked Alicia.

"No idea, but I'm sure that Harry was blaming himself for slapping Hermione wherever he was that night." said George.

"Maybe the next entry will tell us where he went." suggested Neville. "Read the next one, Ron."

Ron shook his head slowly. "I'm tired. You read it." he said and passed the diary to Neville.

Neville nodded and took the diary.