AN: You guys are skipping out on reviewing again:cries: Please, keep up your reviews! I thought I'd get a ton for the last chapter… well… here's hoping this one fairs better… :weak smile: Thanks to those that DID review: mysteriouscharm, gidget89 (sadly, the review-hit ratio is NOT improving…), orlandoroxmysox, Shadowed Rains (I'm terribly sorry for not explaining things fully, but, you see, I took for granted that you would simply know these things… writer's weakness. To answer your questions… it's common knowledge that a wand is an instrument used to do magic and Mr. Johnson had a particular fear of magic if you didn't infer that :sweatdrop: ; Muggles CAN see Hogwarts, but to them it's an old ruin, which is why they saw no problem in bombing it in the first place; and Voldemort doesn't have to be in EVERY story, does he? He was hardly in the third book at all, he was simply mentioned! Again, I'm sorry for not explaining these questions, I just thought you would be able to surmise the answers for yourselves…), nobody, katepotter13, Gryffindor620 (Indeed it is a series of unfortunate events, but it DOES get better!), and dork1147! Please, guys, keep it up:big smile:
Chapter 9: Dreams Do Come True
The next morning, Hermione had awoken before Harry, and had taken a shower while he was sleeping. Now, as she sat on her bed and combed out her wet hair, she began thinking about how she and Harry were going to do their "interview" at the restaurant. As long as it got them the job, she didn't care what they did. The prospect of living on the street scared her very much. Just as she got finished combing her hair and charming it dry, Harry stirred and rolled onto his back.
"Good morning, Harry," said Hermione cheerfully.
"Morning," he grumbled. Then he sat up and stretched.
"I'd suggest getting a shower, Harry; you'll want to be fresh for our interview today," said Hermione.
"Oh, right," said Harry, remembering. He quickly grabbed a set of clothes and jumped into the bathroom. Hermione took that chance to open the curtains to the slider door, which she had closed the previous evening. The sky looked dismal, but Hermione didn't think it would rain just yet.
Twenty minutes later, at 9:00, the two teenagers were walking across the street to the small restaurant.
"I hope this goes well..." said Hermione nervously.
"Relax, Hermione, I'm sure it'll be fine," comforted Harry. They walked into the restaurant, and the smell of breakfast cooking made both of their stomachs growl. Hermione had just noticed a "Help Wanted" sign in the window.
"Harry, look!" she said, pointing to it.
"Wow, we're in luck. Let's find the manager." They walked up to the front counter where there was a hostess waiting for someone to ask to be seated. She was fairly short and skinny, with curly white-blonde hair.
"Party of two?" she asked, assuming they were there to eat.
"Oh, no, we were looking for the manager," said Hermione.
"Oh," said the hostess. "Follow me." She then led them behind the counter to a door labeled "MANAGER."
"Just knock on the door, he should answer. He's a pleasant guy for the most part," said the hostess. She then walked back to her post at the front of the restaurant. Harry took a deep breath and then knocked on the door three times. It opened almost immediately, and standing in the doorway was a tall, fairly plump man in black slacks and a white shirt, accessorized with a red and black striped tie.
"Can I help you?" he asked.
"Yes, um, we noticed your Help Wanted sign and--" Hermione started, but the manager cut her off.
"Say no more, young miss, come in, come in!" he said, motioning them into his office. He closed the door once the three of them were inside and he sat down behind his desk, which had a flat-screen computer on it and various papers spread around. The room was fairly small, and the walls were stark white, but were decorated with certificates for the restaurant and pictures of the manager's family.
"Well, don't just stand there, sit down!" said the manager cheerfully, motioning to two chairs across from his desk. Harry and Hermione did as they were told.
"My name is Bill Larrep, the manager, as you probably guessed. So, you two youngsters saw the Help Wanted sign, correct?" he asked.
They both nodded.
"And now you want jobs, right?"
They nodded again.
"Well, I just so happen to have two spots open - a server position and a busser position - but I need to hear if you have any experience, first," said Mr. Larrep. Hermione jumped right in.
"Well, we were working at a Bed and Breakfast for a while, and we both got a lot of experience with serving and bussing."
"Really?" said Mr. Larrep interestedly. "How long is 'a while'?"
"About a week," said Hermione, realizing that wasn't very long.
"Mmhmm...well, if I did hire you, when would you want to start?" he asked.
"We could start today if you wanted us to," said Harry. Mr. Larrep raised his eyebrows.
"All right, I'm going to need your names and addresses," he said, pushing a piece of paper toward each of them. Hermione glanced at the paper and then back at Mr. Larrep.
"Um, Mr. Larrep?" she asked.
"Yes?"
"Well, we don't exactly have an address... we're currently living at the Lake Shore Motel across the street. We only have just enough money to get us through one more night there. That's why we came here in the first place," said Hermione.
"Ah," said Mr. Larrep. "Well, you can just say 'Lake Shore Motel' for your address, but I do need your names." Hermione thought for a half-second before kicking Harry's foot lightly and making him look at her paper. She was deliberately writing "Hermione Potter." Harry got what she was trying to say, and continued filling out his paper with, "Harry Potter, Lake Shore Motel, Room 115." When Mr. Larrep got their papers back and he glanced at them, he looked at Harry and Hermione curiously.
"How old are you two?" he asked.
"We're both sixteen, we're brother and sister," said Hermione. Mr. Larrep looked at her suspiciously, but didn't question the fact.
"Well, I should stop over to your room sometime today, so wait for me," he said with a wink.
"Thank you, sir," said Hermione politely, standing, and Harry following her lead. Mr. Larrep ushered them out the door of his office, him following.
"How about I treat you two to breakfast?" he offered kindly.
"That would be great, Mr. Larrep," said Hermione, who couldn't ignore her stomach's continuous growling. Mr. Larrep said something to the hostess, who promptly led the three of them over to a booth by a front window.
An hour later, Harry and Hermione were making the journey back across the quiet street to their hotel. The sky hadn't cleared, and it looked darker if anything to Hermione. Once they were back inside their hotel room, Hermione spoke.
"Well, that seemed promising, didn't it?" she stated.
"Yeah," said Harry, who was staring out at the lake.
"Harry? You seem distracted," said Hermione, walking over to him.
"Oh, I do?" he said, turning to her. "I'm sorry. I just don't want to be shut up in this room. Why don't we go outside?"
"But, Harry, it looks like it could rain at any moment!" said Hermione, glancing up at the sky.
"Oh, who cares? Come on!" he said, taking her hand and nearly dragging her out to the pier. They ran all they way to the edge of the small dock, and Harry quickly sat down on the edge, Hermione following. Once Harry was sitting down, however, a strange feeling came over him. It felt like he had been sitting here, in this very spot, some other time recently; but he knew that he had never been to Dufftown in his life. He brushed the feeling off and began slowly swinging his legs back and forth; they were about a foot above the water. To his left, Hermione was doing the same. Neither of them said anything, but before he knew what he was doing, he had put his arm around Hermione's waist. To his surprise, she just sighed and laid her head on his shoulder. He let her stay like this for a few seconds before speaking.
"What's wrong?" he asked her.
"Oh, nothing's wrong!" said Hermione, sitting up and looking him. "It's just... who would've thought, that, after all this...?" she trailed off.
"I know," said Harry simply. After all this... their school - their home - had been destroyed, they had walked for fifteen miles before finding solace in a small-town bed and breakfast, of which they were kicked out a week later because of their wizarding heritage, and now they were living in a motel, and the decision of one man decided if they could stay there or not. How could so much happen to two helpless teenagers in just a week and a half? Harry turned to look at Hermione and saw that she was looking back. She made to turn away, embarrassed; but Harry, who had felt something completely new to him in that split-second, put his hand on her chin and kept her looking at him.
"Don't," was all he said. She looked at him with questioning eyes, and he just smiled. He leaned toward her... she closed her eyes and so did he... his heart was beating uncontrollably... his lips met tenderly with hers... before he knew it, Hermione was kissing him back, and they were both oblivious to the low, rolling thunder coming ever closer. By the time they broke away, gentle raindrops had started to fall.
"It's raining," said Harry, indicating that maybe they should go inside.
"Who cares?" said Hermione giddily, and wrapped her arms around Harry's neck and kissed him again. When they pulled away the second time, the rain was coming down harder, and they were already close to being completely soaked to the skin, but a lightning strike fairly close at hand made them both stand up.
"We really should go inside," said Harry.
"Yeah," agreed Hermione, who was starting to shiver. Harry took her hand and they both walked back to the hotel room.
About two hours later, when Harry and Hermione were snuggled together under the covers of his bed watching TV, there was a knock on their hotel door.
"That must be Mr. Larrep," said Hermione.
"I'll get it," said Harry. He got out from under the covers, walked over to the door and opened it. As suspected, Mr. Larrep stood there.
"May I come in?" he asked politely, glancing at Harry and then beyond him to Hermione laying in the bed.
"Yes, please do," said Harry, standing aside and letting Mr. Larrep pass him. Harry then shut the door and followed Mr. Larrep over to the small table. Hermione got out from under the covers and sat on the end of the bed so she could be closer to them.
"Well, I'm not going to beat around the bush here," said Mr. Larrep. "I've thought about all you told me during our interview, and I think you two would be wonderful at the restaurant. Your hours would be from nine in the morning until three in the afternoon, Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday. You can start tomorrow morning if that isn't too inconvenient."
"Oh no, tomorrow morning is great!" exclaimed Hermione.
"Very good. I wanted to hire one of you as a busser and one of you as a server, but I figured I would let you pick which one you wanted to do," said Mr. Larrep.
Harry, who didn't pride himself on social skills or memory, volunteered to be the busser, while Hermione was very enthusiastic about being a server.
"Jolly good. Now, a word about how you will be paid," said Mr. Larrep, pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket. "Harry, your salary will be five dollars and seventy-five cents an hour, and Hermione's will be six dollars and fifty cents an hour. That makes a total between the two of you of seventy-three dollars and fifty cents a day, and two hundred twenty dollars and fifty cents a week, plus tips, which should cover what the salary doesn't. However, because of your current - er, situation, I figured I would pay you daily rather than weekly. And also, any meals you would choose to have at the restaurant would be discounted by fifty percent. Any questions?"
Harry and Hermione both shook their heads.
"Excellent! Well, I will see the both of you in the morning at eight thirty. Then I'll give you your appropriate attire, give you a quick overview of your jobs, and you'll be off on your first day of work!" he said, standing up from his chair.
"Thank you so much, Mr. Larrep," said Harry, also rising.
"Yes, you have no idea how much we appreciate this," added Hermione. Harry walked Mr. Larrep the short distance to the door, and when he closed it behind him, he whipped around to face Hermione and flashed her a huge smile, before he ran over to the bed and kissed her quickly.
"We did it Hermione!" was all he could think of to say.
"Yes, Harry, yes we did," she said, smiling, and they embraced each other in a kiss again.
AN: Now, come ON people, if you don't want to review this chapter then something must be WRONG with you! PLEASE, REVIEW AS IF YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!
-xXx SpicySugar xXx-