Hermione sat on a bench, watching the hustle of London pass her by. I really should get a move on. Practice starts in a half hour and I'm still sitting here in Notting Hill. Of course, the sun is shining today, and it feels so nice… Just a couple more minutes won't hurt anyone. She shut her eyes to better appreciate the sun, but was quickly interrupted by a voice.
"Look what I have found – a Sleeping Beauty. Although, you look more like Snow White…"
Hermione's eyes snapped open. Green eyes were twinkling mischievously at her. "The only difference, Zack, is that I don't need a Prince Charming to wake me up." She smiled up at the blonde man standing over her.
"And here I was, hoping to be your Prince Charming, oh Bella da Domire…"
She rolled her eyes. "Zack, just because you spent two years studying in Italy doesn't mean you have to show off all the time."
"It doesn't?" The astonishment in the man's voice was quite comical.
"Nope." Hermione shook her head solemnly.
He just shook his head right back at her. "May I escort the Bella to practice?"
Of course he has to remind me we have places to be. I was so enjoying this escape of mine. But all that she said out loud was, "So when did my name become Bella?"
"Just now." He grinned impishly at her. "Do you like it?"
"It's lovely."
"Bloody hell. We're REALLY late now, Bella. We better get going."
"Okay, Zack."
They walked quickly to Aria's, never noticing the eyes that followed them.
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Luckily, Aria herself wasn't at this practice. She always was upset when Hermione was late. Thank goodness for small favors. Just me and the boys today.
"Where have you two been?" asked the guitarist, Billy. "I was starting to wonder if practice had been canceled, and you two "forgot" to tell the rest of us." He winked at Hermione. His blue eyes danced under the mess of blonde hair on his head. Only Billy could look sexy with permanent bed-head hair. Then again, none of the guys are shabby looking.
Her eyes wandered over the group, tuning out Zack's answer to Billy. There's Taylor; whose caramel skin and dark eyes makes you just want to grab him and keep him to yourself. Zack, Ryan, and Billy cover the blonde hair, classic American look that some people really go for. Richard and Marc have their charisma working for them. Chris, Mike and Nick have the "tall, dark and handsome" look. Bobby has the redhead lovers swooning over him. He looks so much like Ron…That should probably make me feel weird, but it doesn't. Maybe because he never acts like Ron…Suddenly she frowned. There are thirteen bys in the room. Who's missing? She quickly ran through the boys' names and instruments in her head, checking each one off as she saw them.
"Where's Seth?" She asked Mike, who was still putting together his saxophone.
"He said he'd be late. Something about an old friend. Hey Marc, who is Seth late because of?"
Marc placed his trumpet in its case. "He's dropping Krissy off at the train station. Her holiday is done, and she has to head back to Scotland."
"Krissy… isn't that the cute girl you two were showing around the past two weeks? How'd the three of you meet anyway?" Zack asked.
"Are we going to practice? If not, I'm leaving." Chris, the pianist, seemed disgruntled about something. Probably the fact that Aria's got a new boyfriend. It was a well-known secret that Chris had an enormous crush on Aria. Poor boy is never going to realize that he doesn't have a chance with her. Hermione loved the intrigue of the band. Its gossip was better than that of Hogwarts, which she never participated in. Maybe I should listen to what they're saying…
"…Bloody hell, Chris, what's up your arse these days?" demanded Bobby.
Billy leaned over and whispered in her ear, "He'd be in a better mood if Aria wasn't at lunch with her boyfriend right now."
She tried to control her laughter, but couldn't. As peels of laughter floated across the room, everyone's eyes turned towards her. However, when they realized that she wasn't going to explain why she was laughing, they turned back to their conversation.
"Getting back to Krissy, where'd you meet here?" Zack asked again.
"We met in school. The three of us went to the same secondary school. Seth and I stopped some bullies from picking on her, and it just developed from there." Instantly images of Ron, Harry and herself flew through Hermione's head.
"…and it just developed from there." Harry smiled at Hermione while talking to the reporter. "These two are the most important people in the world to me."
She shook her head. Don't think about that part of your life.
"I remember Krissy getting really upset when Seth and I realized that she's a girl." He laughed. "She wouldn't talk to us for a week after that."
"Hermione, Neville's right – you are a girl…" Ron's eyes lit up.
"Oh well spotted." Hermione said acidly.
"Well – you can come with one of us!"
"No I can't," She snapped.
"Oh come on," he said impatiently, "we need partners, we're going to look really stupid if we haven't got any, everyone else has…"
"I can't come with you," She felt her face heat up, but continued, "because I'm already going with someone."
"No you're not!" Ron said. "You just said that to get rid of Neville!"
"Oh did I?" She said, eyes flashing dangerously, as her temper got the best of her. "Just because it's taken you three years to notice, Ron, doesn't mean no one else has spotted I'm a girl!"
Ron stared at her. Then he grinned again.
"Okay, okay, we know you're a girl," he said. "That do? Will you come now?"
She felt her blood begin to boil. "I already told you! I'm going with someone else!"
As she stormed away, she heard Ginny tell them that she had been telling the truth.
She stood up quickly. She had to stop this conversation or she'd end up in tears. I'm not going to cry, I'm not going to cry, I'm not going to cry…
"Sorry I'm so late. Krissy's train was late." Seth voice came from behind her.
She turned and smiled at him. Seth was one of her favorite people in the band, and he had just improved his approval rating because of his timely arrival.
"Hey." He smiled down at her.
"Hey yourself. Decide to grace us with your presence today, eh?" She said teasingly.
His smile faded slowly from his face. "What's wrong, 'Ren?"
"Why would anything be wrong, Seth?"
"You have tears in your eyes."
"Nothing's wrong." Please oh please, don't push this, Seth. Don't push it…
Slowly he nodded. "Okay, I'll leave it alone for now. But 'Ren… you do know you can talk to me about anything, right?"
"Yes, Seth. I'll keep that in mind." Thank you for understanding.
They stood there a second, eyes locked on each other.
"Bella! We're doing "Beauty's Beholder" first!" called Zack.
That broke the spell between the two of them. All Hermione's thoughts were focused on the songs and practice for the rest of the afternoon.