Chapter seven – Million Dollar Smile
Hermione sighed, she was not in the mood to go on a date, especially with someone she didn't even know. Oh well, I'm glad that Ginny, Harry, Luna and Neville are going to join us, it would have been embarrassing to go alone with that Brian guy, she thought and tried to remember how Brian Tanner looked as she walked towards the Leaky Cauldron.
"Ginny, Luna, I'm sorry but I'm not going on this date…"
"What are you talking about Mione? Of course you're going!" Luna exclaimed.
"Yes you are!" Ginny continued. "You're already here, you look gorgeous, Brian is coming any minute now so you can't change your mind"
"Well I think it's up to Hermione whether she wants to go on a date or not…" Harry said and gave Hermione a wink. Neville nodded his head in agreement.
"Ok Mione, it's your choice, do you want to go or not?" Luna asked and glared firmly at Neville.
"Too late, Brian's here"
Hermione turned around to face a tall man with dark brown hair and green eyes. Hermiones first thought was that he looked like a mixture of Harry and Neville.
"Hi, I'm Brian", he said and kissed Hermiones cheek.
"Um… Hermione", she replied and tried to smile. She didn't really understand why he was kissing her? They'd never even met before… He smiled back at her and she was almost blinded by his white smile. That's when Hermione recognized him but she couldn't really remember where she'd seen him before.
"Shall we go?" Ginny asked and grabbed Harry's arm.
"I thought we were going to eat here", Neville said.
"Neville, honey, we're eating here almost every week", Luna replied. "We're going some place fancy tonight", she continued. Brian burst out laughing and everybody turned to look at him.
"Ha-ha, that was just too funny, eating here", he laughed. "This place is for poor people", Brian continued. Hermione gasped. What's wrong with him? She thought. This place is lovely, and I'm eating here every now and then, I wonder if he's joking... I hope he is… Hermione looked over at Neville; his face had turned red and clenched his fists. Hermione knew that he took it badly because he and Luna didn't have so much money. Luna grabbed his hand to calm him down.
"Let's go!" Harry exclaimed. Everybody agreed and they all left the Leaky Cauldron. They started walking down Diagon Alley; none of them said a word until they reached one of the finest and most expensive restaurants in Diagon Alley, River View Garden.
"Now this is what I call a restaurant", Brian said and opened the door. Hermione gave Luna and Ginny a 'why did you set me up with this guy stare'.
"I bet he's not like this all the time", Luna whispered. "He's probably just nervous"
"He better be 'just nervous' or I'm going to punch him black and blue before this night is over!" Neville exclaimed.
"Oh no, no, no you won't", Luna said and gave him a firm look before they entered the
Five minutes later they were all seated around a table for six persons. Luna, Ginny and Hermione looked around, amazed by the dazzling beautiful restaurant. The walls and the ceiling were under a spell so it looked like the restaurant was outside. The sky above them was a beautiful night sky with bright stars shining over them, lighting up the whole restaurant. The walls showed a peaceful, and what seemed to be, an endless ocean, the sound of the waves could calm down anyone. A beautiful blond waitress came up to their table.
"Welcome to River View Garden, here's your menu's", she said and handed them all one menu each. "I'll be back to take your orders soon", she continued and smiled brightly at the company.
"Can you please bring us a bottle of your finest champagne to begin with", Brian asked the waitress.
"And a strawberry juice for me", Ginny exclaimed.
"I would like a strawberry juice too please", Luna said. Brian looked at them with wide open eyes; he thought it was weird of them not to accept the champagne he was offering. Hermione noticed the way he looked at them as the waitress left their table.
"They're pregnant you know", Hermione said without taking his eyes of Brian's chocked face. "It's not good for their babies if they drink alcohol"
"Of course", he mumbled. "I just felt stupid for not thinking about that myself", he continued and smiled again. That's when Hermione knew where she'd seen him before. In a magazine called 'What witches want', not that she ever read those stupid model magazines but she had passed them by in stores and seen his face on the cover.
As they ten minutes later were eating their food Brian started to tell them all about himself.
"When I graduated from Hogwarts I moved to Italy to kick off my modelling career, and everything went just fine… I got jobs in Paris, New York, Japan, Brazil… Everywhere!" He explained with a bright smile on his lips. "Everybody wanted me, and yeah… Not to brag or anything, but they all still want to have a piece of me"
Harry and Neville looked like they were going to throw up.
"So, Harry", Hermione said. "How are thing going at work?"
Harry was just about to answer her question when Brian interrupted him.
"I just love working as a model, it's so much fun… I could never imagine myself working as anything else!" Brian said, still smiling of course. "As you can see I have the looks, the charm and the intelligence that a model today needs"
Hermione looked at Ginny and Luna with angry eyes. They both whispered "Sorry" Hermione could not believe that they had set her up with a selfish diva who talked about nothing but himself. She was just about to open her mouth to try to change the subject into something else…
"You don't need to say anything dear, I know you think I'm sexy", Brian said and smiled at Hermione.
Harry who was taking a sip of his fire whiskey spit it all out and started to cough. "I'll be right back", he mumbled and rose from his chair.
"Me to", Neville said and followed Harry to the men's bathroom. As soon as the door closed behind them everybody could clearly hear that they both burst out laughing. The girls looked at Brian to see if he got angry at Harry and Neville for laughing at him, but he didn't seem to care.
"When I did a photo shoot in Japan three months ago I met this crazy old man that wanted me to marry his daughter", Brian said and laughed.
"Speaking of daughters", Luna said. "I heard Becky is going to the same day-care as James at Monday, that's great!"
"You have a child?" Brian asked and suddenly seemed to be interested in someone but himself.
"Yes, I do", Hermione answered with a smile on her lips. "Her name is Rebecca, and she's five"
"I would never get a child right now, I think I'm way too young", Brian exclaimed. "I will wait until I'm at least 30, because I feel like a child right now would ruin my life", he continued. "I'm still young and I like to party, no one should get a child while they're young! That's my motto: 'Live your life before you get a child'…"
Ginny looked down at her round tummy before she looked over at Luna who was slowly stroking her hand over her tummy. Hermione saw the expressions on her friends' faces and was just about to tell Brian to shut up, but once again she was interrupted by him… Talking about… Yes, you are right, himself!
"Anyways, that crazy old man that wanted me to marry his daughter threatened to kill me if I didn't marry her"
"To bad he didn't", Luna whispered so that only Hermione could hear what she said. "I'm so sorry for hooking you up with that looser", she continued and looked at Brian who was babbling about some Egyptian princess that was madly in love with him. "He wasn't at all like this when we went to Hogwarts"
"I think I'll survive the night, I'm so glad you guys came along, I can only imagine sitting here alone with him…" Hermione replied, with a smile, in the same quiet tone as Luna. Brian didn't even notice that they were whispering to each other. Harry and Neville came back from the bathroom and sat down at their chairs again, you could clearly see on their faces that they had been laughing a lot.
Hermione smiled at them and took a sip of her wine. Then she looked towards the doors and saw two faces that she recognized. Draco Malfoy and his fiancé, Pansy Parkinson. Draco wore a black suit and a white shirt, no tie. The three buttons at the top of the shirt weren't buttoned. He looked really handsome. Pansy on the other hand looked like a slut. She wore the shortest black dress Hermione had ever seen, with a cleavage that reached her bellybutton.
"Oh, look who's here…" Ginny said and rolled her eyes when she saw the couple walking towards a table at the other side of the room. "That dress gives me all right in the world to call her Parkinslut"
"Who are you talking about?" Brian asked and turned his head around and saw Pansy and Draco. He quickly turned his head back, like he knew who Pansy was…
"Do you know her?" Asked Hermione.
"Er… No… I don't…" Brian mumbled.
"Yes you do", Ginny said and smirked at him. "I can see it in your eyes, how do you know her?" Everybody around the table was now looking at Brian who suddenly seemed really uncomfortable around them.
"Ok, ok, we did a modelling job together in Paris two years ago… We haven't met since then", he replied with one breath.
"Why don't you go over and say hi to her then?" Luna asked and was very eager to get rid of him for at least a minute or two.
"I bet she won't recognize me…"
"Who wouldn't recognize your million dollar smile", Harry said and rolled his eyes, Neville tried to hold his laughter. Luna, Ginny and Hermione giggled.
At the same time Pansy noticed that Brian was giving her another look. She quickly looked down at her feet.
"What's up?" Draco asked. "Who did you see?" He continued and looked in the same direction that Pansy was looking before and noticed Hermione Granger and her friends sitting around a table at the other side of the room, laughing. "Oh, isn't it Miss Granger", he said and smirked.
"Can we leave?" Pansy asked.
"We just got here Pansy and I'm hungry, we're defiantly not leaving!" He replied and started to look trough his menu.
"Waitress, can I have a BIG glass of fire whiskey?" Pansy asked and suddenly seemed all sweaty even though she barley had any clothes on. "Please hurry"
"I would like a glass of white wine, please", Draco said and smiled at the waitress who left to get their drinks. Draco turned to look at Pansy. "Why the heck are you acting so weird?"
"Me? Weird? What are you talking about Drakie?"
"Do not call me Drakie ever again", he said with a firm voice. "And I am not stupid, why are you acting like you've never been to a public restaurant before?" He asked but Pansy didn't seem to listen. "Is it because Hermione is here and you still feel bad about the article?" He asked.
"Er… sure…" She mumbled as the waitress came back with their drinks. Pansy took her glass of fire whiskey and started to drink immediately. Draco looked at her and felt embarrassed because of her behaviour. He took a sip of his wine and looked towards Hermione and noticed that she was looking at him to, that made him forget all about Pansy… He raised his glass and gave her a wink before he took another sip of the wine.
Hermione felt her heart beating faster when he looked at her, she didn't take her eyes off him until she heard someone say her name.
"Hermione?" She turned around and noticed that Brian was trying to talk to her. "Do you think this shirt makes me look fat?" He whispered so that only Hermione could hear.
"Excuse me?" Hermione exclaimed.
"I think maybe that's the reason why Harry and Neville were laughing before… Because I look fat!" He whispered.
"Are you kidding me?" Asked Hermione and tried to see if he was serious or not.
"So you don't think I look fat?" He asked and smiled. "Thanks"
Oh, I wish he could just take that 'million dollar smile' and wipe his arse with it! It's even worse then Draco Malfoys most annoying smirk, Hermione thought and wished that she was at home reading a good book. As Brian started to tell Harry and Neville about the time he was nearly eaten by a dragon while he did a photo shoot in Japan Hermione decided that it was time for her to visit the ladies bathroom.
Draco noticed that Hermione left the table; he watched her hips swing when she walked and thought she looked incredibly hot in her red dress. He felt a sudden need of teasing her; he wanted to make her annoyed... He loved it was she was annoyed and he loved it even more when he was the reason for her being annoyed... He made the decision to follow her and rose from his chair.
"I'll be right back", he told Pansy and the hurried into the men's bathroom from where he transferred himself into the ladies bathroom with a snap of his fingers.
Hermione who was looking at herself in the mirror almost got a heart attack when Draco Malfoy showed up from nowhere.
"You?" She exclaimed once she'd catch her breath. "This is the ladies bathroom", she snapped and turned around to look him in the eyes. He laughed. "It's not funny, get out!"
"No, I want to talk Granger"
"What do you want?" She snapped as he moved closer to her.
"I think you look extremely sexy in that dress", he said and licked his lips.
Hermione rolled her eyes. Why? Why? Why? Does he have to tease me like this, I hate him!
"But that's not what I wanted to say", he said and laughed at Hermiones facial expression. "Next week, on Thursday, you and I are going on a little trip, we'll be gone all weekend"
"What are you talking about?" Hermione asked.
"It's the annual conference for witches and wizards who work as journalists", Draco replied. "I thought you might want to go…"
Hermione knew exactly which conference he was talking about, it was the conference every journalist in the magical world wanted to attend to. This year it took place in Venice, Italy, and yes Hermione badly wanted to go… But with him? She wasn't sure…
"What do you say?" He asked.
"I'll think about it", she snapped before leaving him in the ladies bathroom. She spent one more hour listening to Brian's endless talk before they all decided to go home. Brian offered to walk Hermione home, but she said that he absolutely didn't need to.
"Ok Hermione, it was nice meeting you, I hope we meet again soon", he said and smiled that million dollar smile before pressing his lips against Hermiones.