My Heart Belongs To You…Again
Chapter Twenty-Two: $172.29
Harry and Hermione wouldn't have gotten out of bed if the house had caught fire. They spent most of the day talking and holding each other. Harry's time away was hard on both of them, so they wanted to make sure they made it up. After they spent several hours lounging around, they decided to go to the club to see this big event for themselves.
Hermione was excited, at least until they reached the club. Sarah had been one who told them about this and Hermione sure as hell didn't trust her. Harry sensed she was worried and held her hand. "Ready to have fun babe?"
Hermione smiled and kissed him lightly on the lips. She squeezed his hand and nodded as he led the way inside. The club looked exactly the same. It was a busy night; the whole room was filled with muggles looking at something on the stage. Hermione and Harry looked at the stage and saw a podium with two guys on the stage. One guy was blushing like mad as girls screamed out random numbers.
Hermione laughed and Harry's jaw dropped. Harry squeezed her hand and stared at her. "Hermione…this is a guy auction! Do you have any idea what this means?"
Hermione laughed even harder and winked at him. "Good thing I brought muggle money!" Harry stared at her confused. He gasped and shook his head when he finally understood what she meant.
"No, no, no, no, no, no…"It was too late. Girls already saw him as a handsome victim and forced him onto the stage. The guy dealing the bids smiled at him.
"Alright ladies, here's out next lucky guy! What's the first bid?"
Hermione was laughing so hard she could barely talk. "Twenty bucks!"
Girls all around laughed and clapped as poor Harry turned beat red. The guy running the bids clapped too. "Alright, bidding starts at twenty dollars. Do I have twenty-five?"
"Thirty dollars." Everyone turned to look at none other than Sarah. Hermione resisted the urge to go over and beat the bejesus out of her. That's why she wanted Harry to come! She wanted to win him. Well Hermione, being the good girlfriend she was, knew she couldn't let this happen.
"Forty."
Sarah looked at her and scoffed. "Forty-five. You think you're going to beat me?"
Hermione didn't hesitate at all. "Fifty." She turned to Sarah and grinned. "Let's go." Everyone in the audience became very intrigued with the battle that was taking place. Harry stood, unable to see either of them or do anything except pray Hermione won.
"Sixty!"
"Seventy!"
"Seventy-five!"
"Eighty!"
"One hundred! Ha beat that!" Harry began to silently panic as silence came from Hermione's direction. Sarah let out a squeal of excitement.
The bidder, who had secretly been rooting for Hermione, sighed. "One hundred dollars, going once…"
"One hundred seventy-two dollars and twenty-nine cents." Gasps came from all over the room, including the stage. Harry turned to the bidder, hoping he'd say Harry was sold before Sarah could throw in a bid.
"Alright well I think that little lady wants this guy bad, don't you all agree? Sold!" Everyone in the room, with the exception of Sarah, erupted into cheering. Harry sighed deeply and smiled. Hermione rushed forward toward the stage to get Harry, who had other plans. He jumped off the stage and ran to Hermione, grabbing her face and kissing her right in the middle of the crowd. Everyone cheered even louder, causing them to laugh against each other's lips. They broke apart and headed to the door, feeling like a million bucks.
Before they reached the door, there was a hand on Hermione's shoulder that flung her around. She stood face to face with a fuming and positively pissed off Sarah. "How dare you take him from me!" Sarah swung at Hermione's face full force, but Hermione was quicker. She grabbed Sarah's hand and threw her into a headlock before anyone knew what was going on.
"Alright, look bitch. You really need to get over this obsession you've got going on with Harry. You had him and you were stupid enough to lose him. Stay away from us and stop being such a damn whore!" Sarah struggled against her, but Hermione held her head tightly in place. "Don't struggle, you're not getting away until I decide. Stop tormenting Harry and I and move on. Now, next time your skanky ass tries to interfere with Harry and me, I will personally kick your ass so hard you will have a permanent bed at a local hospital. Now," Hermione slowly released a little pressure from the headlock. "I'm going to let you go and you're going to stay here while Harry and I go enjoy the rest of the evening."
Hermione let Sarah go, who stepped away from Hermione and held her neck. She glared at Hermione, then turned to Harry with pathetic eyes. "You really want her? She's insane!"
Harry looked at Hermione and smiled. "Yeah I want her." Hermione smiled as Sarah charged at her once again, screaming as loud as she could. In one swift movement, Hermione twisted Sarah's arm behind her head and flung her clear over her shoulder. Sarah landed with a loud thud on the floor, trying to move as little as possible.
The entire crowd, who had been on Hermione's side the entire argument, burst into another set of applause. Sarah, pissed off more than she ever had been, stood with great difficulty and headed straight to the bathroom. Harry stared at Hermione in awe, his mouth slightly open. Hermione blushed and grabbed Harry's hand, rushing out of the club. They kept walking, Harry still completely stunned. He finally stopped and pulled her toward him, kissing her right on the lips.
After a few moments, they both parted. Harry just laughed. "Where…in the hell…did you learn to do that?" Hermione laughed and blushed again.
"Well, my dad took this muggle defensive art called Judo for 21 years. He put me in it when I was little so I could protect myself. Even after I went to Hogwarts my dad would teach me stuff over the summer. It can come in handy."
Harry chuckled and kissed her forehead. "I guess it can. That was seriously very sexy back there. I mean…damn!" Hermione laughed as Harry put his arm over her shoulder. They walked around for sometime, just talking and having a great time. They easily forgot about the time; it didn't matter to them. It never really had…for them, time was just there to be there. It held no significance or importance in their life together.
They still had not let go of each other even after the arrived back at Harry's. Since it was such a lovely night, they just sat on the swing on the porch, Hermione's head in Harry's lap. They just sat in silence for the longest time; speech, at times, was exactly like time…not important. The other's presence was good enough for them. Harry stroked Hermione's hair and chuckled.
"Why didn't we ever date in school? We didn't really need to, I mean hell we were close enough for it to seem that way, but why didn't we ever make it official?"
Hermione laughed. "Simple…" She turned over and laid on her back, looking up at him. "…you never asked me out."
Harry grinned that great Potter grin Hermione loved so much. "If I had asked you out, would you have said yes?"
Hermione sighed. "I don't know. I would've had to think about it. I mean…we were different back then. I loved you as always but it was different. Plus you had so much on your plate."
Harry laughed. "Voldemort always seemed to screw everything up didn't he?" They both chuckled lightly. "I'm just glad that nightmare's over. By the way…I never thanked you for being there for me throughout everything. You were always the best at that."
Hermione sat up and took a good look at him. "You're very welcome." She smiled and kissed him. She pulled away after a moment and bit her lower lip. Harry chuckled again and kissed her cheek.
"What is it? You ok?" Hermione nervously smiled at him.
"I have a favor to ask you. This weekend, my family is having a reunion type thingy ma-jigger and I was wondering, you don't have to I mean I don't want to put pressure on you but if you wanted to go it'd be fun but if you don't want to…"
Harry laughed and kissed her. "You are so cute when you're nervous did I ever tell you that?" Hermione smiled and blushed. "I'd love to go and meet your family."
"But it's the whole family! And they're like…crazy! I mean like crazy. Not like truly crazy but they're so weird! My uncle Mike, for example, was born in Japan and he wants to get 'made in Japan' printed on his butt!"
Harry burst into laughter. "That's awesome! Did he do it or does he just want to?"
Hermione just looked at him oddly. "He just wants to. My grandma says she'll disown him if he does it though. Are you sure you want to meet them all?"
Harry nodded and kissed her forehead. "I'd love to. I bet they're all great. I can't wait." He leaned in to kiss her but stopped halfway. "Hey…was I really worth that much money?" Hermione just smiled and kissed him again, holding this one longer than the previous ones.
Author's Note: Sorry this chapter took so long! Summer's been somewhat hectic lately but very good. Just for future chapters, everything involving the Granger family comes from my true family. (I do have an uncle Mike who was born in Japan and wants that tattoo!) So it's going to be a little weird! Hopefully it'll be up soon.