The Bodyguard
(Rated PG-13 for coarse language, sexual references and mature themes)
Disclaimer: While I have no proper one, I'll give it a shot ... The characters Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy and all other people, things, etc affiliated with the world of Harry Potter do not belong to me, but to J.K. Rowling. I am making no profits from this story. Shows like Hack and other entertainment programs, films, etc do not belong to me either, but to their creators, etc. Do not sue me. I own nothing (except for Tammy Harding - she's mine).
Summary: She was the successful, intelligent and hard-working Ministry official. He was the partying, rich and gorgeous playboy. But when Hermione Granger is unwittingly hired a bodyguard in the form of Draco Malfoy, the people who believe that opposites attract even say that they themselves are wrong ...
Right?
A/N: I AM SO SORRY FOR THE (VERY, VERY) LATE UPDATE!! A series of extremely crappy events took place, which I will go into in the end of chapter Author's Note.
I thought that the summary needed a slight make-over; it was a bit too corny for me. Plus, apologies on the frequent Bridget Jones relations - I couldn't really find any other public figure which I knew that would be so identical to Hermione.
Oh, and sorry if I don't quite nail the hangover thingy - do you feel better for the rest of the day after you take two aspirins? I'm afraid I haven't actually had a hangover before (figures; since it would be kind of illegal of me to do so) and I wasn't going to ask my sister without getting a 20 Questions game in progress.
THE BODYGUARD
Chapter 8 - Flourish and Blotts
"Ooh, bacon!"
With a start Hermione opened her eyes. She was back in her apartment and the sun was shining quite brightly through the window. At once, Hermione shut her eyes. She usually embraced sunlight like a new best friend, but today she would have liked nothing better but to have shut the sun out. Hermione's hand slowly travelled up to her face to grip her forehead. She had the hugest throbbing headache.
There were clinking noises coming from the general vicinity of the kitchen; Hermione obviously wasn't ready to notice such silly small details such as direction when she felt this horrible in the morning. She groaned and her grip on her forehead tightened. It felt as if 3000 house elves were working, albeit unjustly, at the insides of her brain. Like she had taken a saucepan to the head the previous night and there was now a big enough bump on her head that it would soon swell to the size of Draco Malfoy's ego. Then Hermione would never be able to be ready to notice details in the morning due to the colossal size of the massive bump on her head.
Speaking of Draco ...
The frying pan sizzled as Draco tossed in a clump of butter. He swirled it around the pan before throwing in some rashers of bacon. He felt like a decent breakfast today after all those conjured up sandwiches. And besides, this was more of a celebratory feast than the first meal of the day - he had, after all, seen Hermione drunk. And he knew that both of them knew (well Hermione would soon when the headache disappeared) that Draco would never stop holding it against her.
Oh, it was going to be a lovely morning.
The bacon finished cooking and Draco cracked a few eggs. He watched as the transparant egg white slowly became opaque and he made sure that the yolk was runny. After his eggs were done, Draco served his breakfast on a large plate and poured himself some pumpkin juice before sitting down at the table and devouring his breakfast.
He had a talent for cooking; it was evident, he thought as he savoured the taste. Draco swirled the pumpkin juice around in his mouth and sighed. He had missed his cooking. After all, the house elves were the ones who did all the work around his house and not cooking at Hermione's house had been easy. But obviously Draco forgot how much he loved cooking.
When the pumpkin juice had been fully downed and the plate cleared of any food, Draco sat at the table. He half-expected house elves to clear everything or even Hermione to appear and do a simple charm that would dispose of the dishes. But this of course was all under some form of stupor that Draco had succumbed to after eating his food, and so all he wanted to do now was to sit back and sleep.
Hermione just managed to swing her legs over the side of her bed and find her dressing gown. She pulled it on and found herself feeling not as comfortable as she should have been. Her hands went down and she felt the fabric of her 'pyjamas'. It was a sythentic sort of material; not at all like her usual comfortable flannelette which she felt she could always melt into. Hermione looked down and realised that she was still wearing the dress from last night. And the obviously-outrageously-priced necklace as well. Hermione snorted; she had half expected that last night Draco would have grabbed it and run away to live off the money he got from pawning that necklace. That, or he could have at least hidden it.
The dull throbbing in her head grew sharper after she snorted. She tried making a weak mental note to try and warn herself never to do that again, but whenever she tried thinking her head hurt more.
And then she felt the most horrible feeling. It was like as if she was spinning on some sort of demon ride that wouldn't stop. She could feel the chemicals mixing around in that already damaged brain of hers.
She needed to puke.
Frantic scramblings to the bathroom were followed with frantic scramblings backwards to the bedroom (first take off the obviously-outrageously-priced necklace) which was met with more frantic scramblings back towards the bathroom.
Draco sniggered in his full state and smiled. Hermione Granger had finally experienced her first bout of a hangover. He knew that it was her first one too, he had figured that the closest that Hermione had done to getting drunk and passing out on the couch was drink the occasional butterbeer in a Three Broomsticks booth. Well, before last night anyway.
He picked up the previously abandoned fork on the table and started tapping it against his breakfast plate. Soon the knife joined in as well and Draco gladly entertained himself for quite some time by tapping random patterns on the plate.
Hermione came out of the bathroom wiping her mouth and feeling generally horrible. And that horrible sharp tapping noise wasn't doing much for her head either. She found Draco in the kitchen smirking up at her from the table, tapping the silverware incessantly and as loudly as he could. Hermione felt an overwhelming urge to strangle him.
"Would you stop that?" she snapped before her hand shot itself up to her head.
"No, I quite like this." Draco grinned toothily up at her and he tapped harder onto the glass.
"Stop it you prat!" Hermione said and her head let out another throb. "You're scratching the plate."
"What was that?" Draco yelled over the din of tapping cutlery.
"Malfoy I am not in the mood!" Hermione yelled and her head felt like it was going to explode.
"In the mood for what, exactly?" Draco asked, tilting his head to side.
"Never talk again ..." Hermione muttered to herself as she searched desparately for some aspirin. But first she padded over to the blinds in the kitchen and closed them. She did not need sunlight this morning.
"Tell me, Granger, what are not in the mood for this morning?" Draco asked, now abandoning the cutlery to swivel around in his chair to stare at Hermione.
"You existing." Hermione snapped quietly, shoving aside the salt shakers in her cupboard quite urgently.
"Aww don't worry; I'll cheer you up." Draco sneered and pulled out the jug of pumpkin juice from the fridge. "How about a drink to calm your nerves?"
Hermione groaned in frustration. The urge to strangle Malfoy returned and would have overpowered her if her hands were too busy searching for the aspirin. Draco set down the jug.
"No pumpkin juice?" he asked airily. "Alright then, how about some chardonnay?"
Oh, Hermione needed some chardonnay alright. Then all she needed after that was Draco Malfoy locked in a small room covered in it and a box of matches.
ASPIRIN! Hermione grabbed it as soon as she found it and rejoiced. Who knew that a little bottle could hold such joy ...
"Looking for a drink to down those tablets?" Draco asked. Hermione scowled at him sarcastically and filled a tall glass with pumpkin juice and drank practically all of it in one gulp. Now all she had to do was wait for the pills to kick in whilst she was confined to her room.
"Shut up, Malfoy." Hermione said simply as she walked back to her room.
"Popping pills, swelling alcohol and now unforgiveably rude," Draco shook his head and then tutted. "My my, a hangover really does change a person."
"Unlike you, who's always been popping pills, swelling alcohol and unforgiveably rude." Hermione said, her back retreating from Draco.
"Ooh, sharp, as always." Draco remarked sardonically. He left his plate and such on the kitchen table, not bothering to even attempt to clean it up with a simple charm. He'd rather leave Hermione to ad another thing on top of her to-do list.
And besides, it wasn't as if Draco's day was going to be free of duty. He had his own errands to run, more trouble to cause and more French insults to deliver. Yes, that's right ... today Draco Malfoy had a date.
Not that Draco scoring a date in the first place was headline news, but this was his second date. This would be a milestone in the Draco Malfoy timeline. A first experience for him. It were as if he was going to go taste a foreign food at a not-so-fancy restaurant. A nasty comparison, but a fair one from Draco's point of view.
He could not comprehend how he had gone from the nice tasting apple martinis and girls called Candy to conjured sandwiches and girls called Tammy. It were as if he had down-traded or something.
NO! Draco shook his head; what HAD he been thinking? Malfoys never down-traded; they never got kicked off the top. They were born at the top, stayed at the top, and produced children that would stay at the top. It was simply absurd to assume otherwise.
To distract himself he sat down in front of the TV and turned it on. Draco quite liked this muggle invention, though he'd die before he admitted it to another living soul. Flicking around with the remote control, Draco found nothing quite to his standards. He instead settled for a show featuring a little red 3-year-old monster with a funny voice, a ludicrously gigantic yellow bird and a brown elephant reminiscent of a woolly mammoth with equally large eyelashes. Draco snorted.
'And it's all set on some street,' he said, rolling his eyes incredulously, but not bothering to turn off the TV. The little red monster had a somewhat charismatic hold on him.
Hearing Hermione groan from the pain of her headache, Draco smirked subtly and turned up the volume. He leaned back on the couch and rested his head in his hands.
"Bastard," Hermione muttered as she heard the muffled voices from the next room growing louder. "I'm going to kill him."
"But when are you ever going to?" the mirror asked.
"I don't know ... maybe when my head's gone back to the state of sane pain activity." Hermione grumbled. She reached over to the glass she had just filled and took another swig of pumpkin juice.
"What if your head does and doesn't go back to the state of sane pain activity?" the mirror asked. Hermione screwed up her forehead.
"What?"
"I said, what if --"
"I heard what you said!" Another gulp of juice. "I just don't know what you mean."
"Well what if your head does resume normal pain activity, but you don't want to hurt dear Draco--"
"Malfoy. His name is Malfoy."
"--DRACO ever again?" Hermione stood up and walked towards the mirror.
"What?" she asked darkly.
"What if you like him?" the mirror had obviously turned evil.
"I do not like him!" Hermione denied profusely. This was sickening! She was being told that she liked Draco Malfoy of all people, by a mirror of all things!
"Sure, sure," Hermione was sure that if the mirror had a mouth it would have been smirking.
"You're just lucky that I haven't shattered you." Hermionet threatened. The mirror let out a hoarse laugh.
"And risk seven years of luck? Think again, deary. This isn't the muggle world where it's all the superstition. This is wizards world ... and knowing your kind of luck after smashing me, you wouldn't want to risk it." Hermione turned away. It was too early in the morning and she was in no way fit to be arguing with her mirror. Even if it was a smart-ass mirror that deserved a good cracking at the very least in the first place.
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Hermione sighed as the aspirin pills had finally kicked in and provided some sweet relief from all that ridiculous pain. This was nice; not puking as much and not feeling like she was about to faint from all the throbbing headaches and sensitivity to noise. She felt normal and ready for a decent breakfast, but she knew that she needed a little bit longer to survive the onslaught of Draco-friggin-Malfoy.
After a few more minutes in bed, Hermione pushed back the covers and had another drink of pumpkin juice before venturing out to the kitchen. She found Draco sitting down watching a little red monster parade around the screen. The show looked like it was suited for toddlers.
"What are you watching?" she asked innocently and Draco dropped the remote.
"A little ..." he flicked the channel and ended up with a rather boring golf game. "What the heck is this?"
"Golf; but wait a minute ... Draco Malfoy blatantly showing that he doesn't know everything on the face of the planet? I never thought that I'd see the day." Hermione smirked and crossed her arms.
"YOU'LL never see another day if you keep on talking, Granger." Draco watched the golf game with boredom. He changed the channel.
"Oh, yes, you're extremely threatening." Hermione replied dryly as she walked past him and went into the kitchen. Time to eat.
"Intimidation is the key to everything." Draco said as he secretly flicked back to the little red monster channel.
"I'm sure." Hermione rolled her eyes and made herself some cereal.
"You should be," Draco replied snootily, "a Malfoy's assumption is always the right one."
"Assumption?" Hermione asked as she poured some milk. "So there's no knowledge up in that little ferret brain of yours?"
Draco scowled. He hated being beaten by anybody - especially by such a prissy, know-it-all mudblood by the name of Hermione Granger. And to top off his luck, he saw that the little red monster program had ended, and that they were about to show another program.
Grumbling, Draco turned the TV off and stood up. He glanced at his watch and realised that he was going to be late for the foreign food at the not-so-fancy restaurant.
"I'm going," he announced as he grabbed his coat.
"Fantastic," Hermione replied. "Don't come back."
"In case you burn down the apartment with your sharp wit and intellect, I'm going on a date." Draco smirked, opening the door. "I'll be back later on."
There was a slight twinge inside of Hermione. She had no idea what it was, but it had been there all the same. It was weird, but Hermione tried ignoring it and instead started eating more rapidly.
The door closed and Hermione was left alone to finish her breakfast.
As she ate, Hermione let her own mind wander about.
Why didn't SHE have a date? Why didn't SHE have somebody to meet that was romantically interested in her? Why was SHE sitting at home alone eating soggy cereal feeling jealous because somebody else was actually pursuing their love life?
Hermione frowned and looked down into her bowl of deteriorating cornflakes floating about in her milk. She was fighting a spinster's inevitable fate. It didn't really matter that she was in her early 20's, but she figured that if she couldn't get a date in her 'prime', then how would she when she would be having her early mid-life crisis? It wasn't really logical; and Hermione thrived on logic.
But there was Bridget Jones, wasn't there? Hermione continued eyeing her cornflakes, but she wasn't really seeing them. Bridget was a 30-something London-er and managed to find gorgeous, loyal Mark Darcy and then have a happy ending. If Bridget - the woman who had a very open choice of dying alone and being found three weeks later half-eaten by Alsations - found a dream boat, surely Hermione could get a paddle and make her way to her own one ...?
But Hermione didn't have a boss. She WAS the boss. But that was so if you didn't include Arthur Weasley. Hermione didn't want to think about him at this time, though. And besides, it wasn't only because of the R-O-N situation, but more of the fact that Bridget had an affair with her boss; and Hermione having an affair with Arthur Weasley was extremely wrong on so many countless levels.
SPLOOSH! The spoon Hermione was holding fell into the cereal bowl, resulting in milk splaying out everywhere. She didn't seem to notice, though, and instead stood up as if she were the Ministress of Magic who was about to declare world peace. It was a revolution in Hermione Granger's mind. It had come to her, and dammit, it was brilliant ... BRILLIANT! It was an idea. No, not an ordinary idea, but a BRILLIANT IDEA!
Hermione Granger would get a boyfriend.
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As they strolled leisurely about in Diagon Alley, Draco and Tammy looked around at the different stores with vague interest. They had just finished a rather nice brunch at The Leaky Cauldron (Draco had obviously exploited Tammy for more food; even though he had enough money to buy the entire Leaky Cauldron) and had decided to look around the strips of magic shops.
"Do you like books?" Draco asked Tammy as they neared Flourish and Blotts.
"Oh, yes," Tammy said, in a tone that was a mixture of awe over Draco and uncertainty of what to say. "I find them delightful."
'Yep, this one really does have a pair of brains on her ...' Draco thought to himself as he pushed the door open to the bookstore.
Draco cleared his throat as he entered in an important manner. He started wondering around the store with Tammy to see if anything caught her fancy.
"Oh, God," Draco groaned beneath his breath when he saw where Tammy was leading the two of them.
"I love this book!" Tammy exclaimed as she picked up a title from underneath the sign that had the words 'Romance Spellbooks, Potions, Guides, Visuals, Herbology, Handbooks, etc' written on it with old, scratchy writing.
"It looks ... interesting." Draco said, giving the book a non-committing look without even bothering to read the title. Maybe he would give the 'Romance Visuals' section a go ...
"No; wait; this one is SO much better!" Tammy picked up another, thicker book.
"Fantastic," Draco drawled as he casually slipped into the 'Romance Visuals' section.
But he must have slipped too much by accident, for when he looked around in the section that he was in, all he saw were black leather bound books bearing blood red writing. Some were covered in rusting chains and others looked extremely old. He turned around and saw that he had wondered through a door that was marked "Staff Only" and realised that he had travelled to the restricted section of the store.
'Dark Magic Spellbooks, Potions, Guides, Visuals, Herbology, Handbooks, etc' Draco read from a scrappy label.
He smirked to himself. How appropriate it must have been for him to have walked by accident off the trail and land in the dark magic section. Draco started pacing around, looking at the different books.
"'Dark Magic Spells', 'Dark Magic Guides', 'How to be a Dark Magic Leader'," Draco's eyes feasted themselves on the many different books.
He was drawn to the Dark Magic Visuals section. On the covers of these books there were different little drawings. One book about dark magic symbols held pictures of crows, dark shaggy dogs and an eye. Another book of dark magic groups had pictures of bloody teeth, black angels and wands emitting black sparks on its cover. Draco was fascinated. (A/N: Sorry to interrupt, but please excuse me if these things aren't generally related to all things 'dark' and stuff - I must admit that I know very little on the subject. Now that my ignorance is publicly acknowledged, continue reading!)
He continued to be transfixed by these books and found the Dark Magic Spellbooks. Such titles were 'How to Entrance', 'Unforgivables: Who, What, When, Where and WHY' and 'Your Harm for Other's Self-Harm'. Draco was about to investigate these books futher when he heard Tammy's voice.
"Draco!" it called. He cursed inwardly at her for disturbing him when he was in some form of haven. He slipped out of the room and managed to sneak up behind her. He put his hands around her eyes.
"Guess who," he whispered into her ear.
"Mike! How wonderful it is too hear you again," Tammy said. Draco pulled back his hands in shock. Who has this Mike person that she was talking about? "Got ya." Tammy turned around and smiled. Draco quickly covered up his shock with amusement. She was cunning; he had to give her that.
"May I be your Mike then?" Draco asked sweetly, flashing Tammy a toothy white grin. Tammy giggled and went to give him a kiss.
Suddenly there was a crash near them. Draco and Tammy turned to look at what was happening. Somebody had knocked over a large display of books and a blonde shop assistant was going to help her.
"Isn't it funny how some people can fire spells whilst others still can't find their balance?" Draco asked Tammy, who laughed. "Just like Gran - Hermione at the office Christmas party. I had to carry her home because she was so drunk." Draco continued non-chalantly to Tammy, who's face had soured once she realised that Draco had carried another woman home. But she quickly covered it up.
Tammy laughed. She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and held up the romance handbook. "I think I'm going to get this."
Draco followed her to the counter and when she was about to pay, insisted that he do the honours. He plonked some gold onto the table (Hermione had paid him in the week of the eventful Christmas party) and the cashier readily accepted it, without giving Tammy the opportunity to object.
Then the two left the store to enjoy the rest of the day together.
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Hermione sat down on her bed, deflated.
How could SHE get a boyfriend? Knowing her romantic track, he would end up leaving her to be famous for the rest of his life or just end up leaving her, full stop.
She groaned and fell back onto her bed. This was depressing. How could she think that she would be able to get a boyfriend; of all people? It was ridiculous! But then Hermione knew that she didn't need a boyfriend.
She needed ice-cream.
But after plonking down on the couch with a tub of strawberry ice cream and an extremely large spoon (actually a ladel) and about to eat her troubles away, Hermione paused. What would stuffing herself stupid achieve? Surely, it would be harder to find a man after knowing that she had just pumped herself with ice-cream in an uncontrollable spree of self-pity. She would feel guilty.
'Who cares? A man doesn't know if you've eaten a whole tub of ice-cream! Look at your metabolism - you could eat an entire Hippogriff and nobody would notice.' the reassuring voice in her head said. Convinced, Hermione started to bring the extremely large spoon/ladel down to the ice-cream.
'And what's this going to solve? You're right; if you eat an entire tub then you'll be feeling guilty and won't be able to fit in any other food that your potential boyfriend might offer.' The second voice said. Hermione put the extremely large spoon/ladel down. As much as she hated to admit it, the second voice was right.
She put the ice-cream back into the freezer and put the extremely large spoon/ladel back in its rightful place. Then she went to her room and changed into a cute little sundress which Tammy influenced her to buy when they went muggle shopping in London.
Hermione then locked her apartment and Apparated to The Leaky Cauldron.
"Miss Granger!" Tom said from behind the counter. "How nice to see you again."
"Hi, Tom," Hermione smiled.
"Anything you'd like?" he asked, polishing a glass.
"Oh, no thanks. I was thinking of nipping off to Diagon Alley." Hermione replied. "See you!"
"See you," Tom gave her a toothy grin and then resumed polishing the glass.
Hermione tapped on the magic brick and the doorway slowly opened. The bricks re-arranged themselves into an archway and Hermione, satisfied, stepped through it.
Then she stopped.
Where DO you go when you want to meet men?
Hermione had to admit that she had never gone guy-scoping in Diagon Alley - or anywhere - before. Should she have stayed in the Leaky Cauldron?
An image of a hag chatting her up entered her head and she decided that the Leaky Cauldron was off limits.
Quality Quidditch Supplies? No; there would be sport crazed men in there who probably didn't care about anything else.
Gringotts? Now that was really stretching it. Goblins didn't quite make ideal boyfriends.
Flourish and Blotts?
Hermione smiled. Of course! She was bookish and smart, wasn't she? She wanted an intelligent man that she could hold a decent and thought-provoking conversation with, didn't she? Yes - Flourish and Blotts was perfect!
When she pushed open the door of Flourish and Blotts, she was greeted with the familiar smell of new books. She loved that smell; it reminded her of knowledge yet to be learnt and words yearning to be read. She ran her eyes over the vast rows and bookshelves packed with different books on different subjects. Hermione didn't know what to do - look through the books or find a man. Maybe she could do both ...?
She looked around. There didn't seem to be any men browsing along in the store. In fact, there weren't much customers at all; and they were mostly women. Hermione should have been disappointed about this lack of males, but she had books here to comfort her. And books always made her feel better.
Where to begin? Which books to pick up and read about? Finally she decided that she would go to the romance section. It was awfully corny of her - she was never the school girl sitting in the common room corner with her girlfriends giggling over the prospect of a love potion. And besides, she knew the strict penalties that would have been inforced if she had actually brewed such a potion.
But it just seemed appropriate to go to the romance section when she was looking for a boyfriend. She looked through the many books offering guidance in all the sections of magical romances. Her fingers ran over the many different covers of the books as she scanned for something that was remotely interesting.
Then she saw it - 'Prince Charming: Finding Your Perfect Wizard Love'. Hermione picked it up immediately and turned it over so she could read the back.
'Verity Hart offers an insight for all those single witches out there with her book about entrancing the right man, the perfect man, for life. Met somebody new? Take the fail-proof quizes available and find out if you're meant to be! Already with somebody but the spark is running out? Read the articles, references and hints for bringing the spice back into your love life! About to commit full-time? Look at -'
Hermione stopped reading. Who belonged to that voice? It sounded so familiar, yet she hadn't heard it in ages ...
"Mike! How wonderful it is too hear you again," the voice said. Hermione's eyes widened when she realised who the voice belonged to. TAMMY!
Stuffing the book back onto the shelf, Hermione quickly but silently crept toward the voice. Was Tammy doing the dirty on Draco? A small part of her wished that she was. It had popped out of nowhere and wished that Tammy was cheating on Draco so that he couldn't get involved with her. But why?
"May I be your Mike then?" She heard Draco's voice. Hermione felt deflated for the second time that day. The adrenaline rush that she had experienced when she thought that Tammy may have been cheating had disappeared. How could she have thought that it would have been ideal for one of her best friends to be cheating on her enemy? It would have been good in that sense, but when Hermione realised that she wanted Tammy to get in trouble, she thought that she was being ridiculous.
Hermione saw the two of them again. Tammy was giggling and leant over to kiss Draco. She didn't want to see this. Hermione turned and started running blindly. She had to get out. She didn't want to torture herself. She needed to go home and drown in ice-cream.
CRASH!
It seemed that Hermione took the phrase 'running blindly' literally and had not seen a giant display of romance books sitting right in her path. Books flew everywhere (mostly onto her head) and one even went out of the window, shattering the glass. Hermione could feel her cheeks burning from her fallen position on her floor. BOOM! Another book landed on her head and then proceeded to fall off - onto her hand.
This was perfect; absolutely perfect. Hermione was supposed to be elegantly looking through the romance books, perhaps giving the man next to her the occasional dignified coy look; not sitting in a pile of books which she had just knocked over after destroying a shop window. She wanted something - anything - to swallow her up whole on the spot. That, or she could Obliviate everybody's memories.
"Are you alright?" a voice asked as a hand appeared in front of Hermione. She took it without even looking at who the arm belonged to, but she recognised the staff uniform on them.
"I think so," Hermione said, rubbing her head as the store clerk pulled her up.
There was a jingling from the front of the store - Draco and Tammy had just left the store; Tammy carrying a Flourish and Blotts brown paper bag. Hermione looked at them with an unreadable look on her face and turned back to the clerk.
"I'm so sorry for knocking over your display." she said, dusting off her sundress. Hermione turned to the broken window. "And breaking your window."
"Don't worry; it's alright." Hermione finally looked up to see the clerk's face ... and nearly fell over again.
He had the most piercing blue eyes imaginable, yet they were somehow gentle. He had silky blonde hair that was in an organised mess, and he was taller than Hermione. In short, he looked like ...
Draco.
"Malfoy?" Hermione whispered, realising that the bumps on her head that she sustained must have finally clouded her brain.
"Pardon?" the clerk asked, leaning in a little bit. No way was this Draco - Draco would have never been so polite to ... anybody.
"Oh, nothing." Hermione said breathlessly. "I'm sorry for knocking over your display." she repeated, fixing her eyes on his Flourish and Blotts badge. She found it hard to meet his eyes.
"It's alright," the clerk replied. Hermione read the name on his badge. Tom. Tom was his name. (A/N: No, not Riddle but the OTHER Tom and no, not the Leaky Cauldron Tom, but the OTHER Tom)
"TOM!" a voice roared from behind a door marked 'Staff Only'. "What was that?"
A stocky fat man appeared from door and walked over to Tom and Hermione, his face turning slightly purple and reminding Hermione of Harry's uncle Vernon.
"Oh, it was nothing sir," Tom said, moving towards the pile.
"THE DISPLAY!" the stocky fat man yelled, spit flying everywhere. "YOU KNOCKED OVER THE DISPLAY!" he said, pointing an accusing finger at Hermione.
"I-I-" Hermione stuttered. She was too scared to talk. Even though she was the President of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement in the Ministry of Magic and found herself dealing with the doings of evil wizards practically every day at work (in the form of filing, but it was still the same thing), yet she couldn't bring herself to stand up for herself to a purple, stocky fat man.
"I did it, sir," Tom said. Hermione's jaw dropped. This person - who she had just met - was defending HER? She was speechless with shock. She couldn't believe it!
The purple, stocky fat man rounded on Tom. "Tom? You did this?"
"Yes, sir." Tom replied, sending a quick sidelong glance to Hermione. "I was helping this young lady here and I accidentally crashed into the display."
The purple, stocky fat man swelled with anger.
"Tom! That was totally irresponsible of you!" the purple man yelled. "But since you've never done anything out of line before and this is your first hiccup ... I'm giving you one more chance."
"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir." Tom said. The purple fat man turned to Hermione.
"I'm sorry for accusing you like that," he apologized. "As compensation, you may have a book from this section for free."
"I -" Hermione started, but the fat man was talking once more.
"Clean this up, Tom." he said before trodding off back to through the door marked 'Staff Only'.
"Thank you," Hermione said to Tom, who had started waving his wand.
"Your welcome," he said, as the books rearranged themselves. "I couldn't bear to see the boss scream at another customer. He's got no respect for anybody but himself. And I could afford it anyway. Being squeaky clean was never my thing." He gave her a grin and Hermione felt fuzzy inside.
"I guess I should be going, now." she said, heading for the door.
"What about your free book?" Tom asked after repairing the window. He had a won't-you-stay look in his eyes.
"Oh, yeah," Hermione said, happy at finding a reason to stay. "I guess I'll just take this one."
She stumbled back to the romance section, the fuzzy feeling growing, and picked up the 'Prince Charming: Finding Your Perfect Wizard Love' book and going to the cash register.
Tom picked up the book, scanned his eyes over the title and scoffed a little bit. Hermione felt herself going red. Tom may have looked like stupid Draco, but he had a gentler look to him. More nice and proper. She liked him.
"What's wrong?" she asked after he scoffed.
"Nothing; just why would you need this book? It doesn't look like you need it." Tom said, diverting his eyes to processing the book through.
'Oh my God. He's flirting with me!' Hermione realised inwardly.
'Duh!' the two voices in her head remarked in unison.
"Y-Y-You'd be surprised," Hermione replied. She focused her attention onto another display of books. With any luck she wouldn't knock over that one.
There was a silence between them while Tom put the book into a Flourish and Blotts brown paper bag and handed it to Hermione.
"Thanks, er," Tom said.
"Hermione," she supplied.
"Thanks, Hermione," Tom finished. Another silence.
"Well ... I guess I'll see you later. I mean, see you around. I mean ... goodbye." Hermione stuttered. She gave Tom a quick smile before exiting the store to Apparate back home.
As soon as she arrived in her apartment she knew that she had made a mistake. She had been practically begging for a guy to come along and she had found one. One that had not only been walking along but had helped her up and taken the blame for her clumsiness even though he barely knew her. It were as if life were handing her a boyfriend on a silver platter and she had looked right through him.
She knew what she had to do. She had to go back to Flourish and Blotts.
10 minutes later through the magical portal at the Leaky Cauldron, Hermione was back in the store. Tom was working at the counter with another person and so Hermione carried the book awkwardly with her. The person left and then Hermione went to the counter. Tom smiled when he saw her.
"Hello, Hermione," he said. He saw the book in her hand. "Quite a fast reader, aren't you?"
"Oh, I," Hermione blushed. "Actually, I've decided to return it."
"Really? Why?" Tom asked. "Surely not because I've touched it?"
'Surely not,' Hermione thought.
"No, I, er ... thought that I didn't need it anymore." she said, blinking a bit more than usual and looking down onto the wooden counter. Tom smiled and took the book from her hands.
"Well I guess I'll just delete this off of the sold list ..." Hermione watched as deleted the book and headed over to the romance section. She followed him.
"I just wanted to say ..." Hermione said as Tom finished putting the book back on the self. "Thank you again for taking the blame."
"No problem. Happy to help." Tom grinned.
"Yes well, tell me, is there any way that I can repay you?" Hermione asked. "I mean, I nearly got you fired and ..."
"It was nothing, seriously!" Tom said. "But how about dinner? Not in the way that you can repay me ... I was just wondering - and you don't have to agree or anything - if you'd like to have dinner or something with me. But I understand if you don't want to."
'He asked me out.' The thought dawned on Hermione.
"I ... sure!" she said. "Where and when?"
"Great!" Tom smiled. Hermione liked his smile. "Well how about The Leaky Cauldron tonight at eight o'clock?"
"That'll be fine," Hermione said. "I guess I'll see you then."
"OK," Tom said. A customer entered the store. "I have to go now and help -"
"Yeah, I know." Hermione interrupted. "I'll see you tonight."
"Yeah. Bye." Tom said.
Hermione exited Flourish and Blotts like she was riding Harry's school-time Firebolt (this time without the mortal fear of heights). She had done it! She got a boyfriend!
And practically dancing, Hermione Apparated home. She had a date!
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A/N: Ok, Ok, don't kill me now but I've left you with a slight cliffhanger. And honestly - I couldn't be bothered to type anymore today. The chapter is already 17 pages long, people!
From the first A/N - OK, well here goes the (actually true) account of what happened:
My sister's computer's (the one which I always use for updating) hardrive went crazy and then completely died, which resulted in me losing ALL MY FILES (yes, even those yummy pictures and videos of gorgeous DAN ... sob!). So my sister got a temporary hardrive and it took her a week to actually call my internet company and get our username, password and number to dial. And then when I actually connected, I was on for all of five minutes when the computer connection went psycho, and I got disconnected. And then my sister told me that the computer got a virus that prevented us from going on the internet, and now she's too lazy to get a patch to fix the damn thing (even though she has an internship at a friggin internet computer)
So yeah, that's why fate was out to get me. Anyway, at least the chapter is up and everybody can be happy and review and review (and then I'll be even happier)!
Hrm, maybe this chapter wasn't as eventful as I had planned it to be, but c'mon people ... HERMIONE GOT A DATE! Isn't that eventful enough on its own ...?
Now, to the special people. The people who make everything happen (except for me, of course) - THE REVIEWERS! So for the very wonderful (and extremely appreciated) reviewrs, THANK YOU! You guys are the ones for which I write for. And now since you are wonderful and special and appreciated and all those other spectacular things (I'm running out of adjectives), you may claim your Bridget Jones style red diary for your (extremely belated) New Years Resolutions:
kirt, Black Aliss, NitenGale (DAN IS MINE ... MINE! Lol), Meg, blonde-brain, HGDM lova, x1nfernal, claudia, DCMMFAN, Jexi, Miss Mills, sweet-77-thang, stargazer starluver, SmilinStar, Bharanthnatyam, The-Flame-Faerie, IceCrystal, xOxOkIsSmYaSsXoXo, dizzydragon, Ashley, Nubia, alien726 and Christi-Lynn.
Thank you once again guys!!
OK, for this chapter, I think you all shall receive ... hrm ... I know! If you review, I will bribe you with a whole block of mud truffle chocolate! It is the only thing one will eat when one's creative genius is off with the fairies and the only thing one will use to tempt one's fairy-dancing creative genius back. So review and get your whole block of mud truffle chocolate.
One last thing before I go, be sure to check out my best friend's Deltora Quest fanfic and be sure to review! (Reviewing is the way to a fanfic writer's soul) Her story is called A Pirran's Story and her username is Little-Kity. I (and my friend) would greatly appreciate it if you read it and reviewed. Thanks!
OK, well that's all I had to say I think except for: school's starting - bleugh!! Which means I will try and update as soon as I can (if my sister's comp doesn't go crazy again ... which it probably will do) in between studying, homework and other stuff (I'm trying to get good grades this year ... in the summer holidays at the beginning of 2005 and the end of 2004 my dad made my sister tutor me in maths - it's definately not fun to be called stupid every five seconds whilst thinking that this will be a good way for me to learn something).
Your devoted fanfiction writer,
--Look at moiye, ploise!--