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Announcement: Reviews are greatly appreciated. This is my first fanfic and I would like to know how others think of it. I don't care how harsh the reviews are, because harsh reviews are better than none.

­­­­­­­Silence surrounded her as she sat in the library early on a Saturday morning. Not many sane people were up at this time of day, let alone actually using their brain. But of course, Hermione was up and ready to learn, ready to think, ready to read, ready to escape. Worries continuously plagued her; worries about Harry, about how he was doing, about how close he was to finding the horcruxes, about if he was still alive. Through trial and error, Hermione found that the only way to forget about these worries was to read, was to lose herself in the story of another.

A book, Shakespeare's Hamlet, was opened to the second act, third scene. The story had begun to unfold before her that morning when she took the book off of the shelf for her personal entertainment. Her long auburn locks fell in front of her face, falling on top of the words. Quickly, with an annoyed glare, she brushed her hair out of her face, placing it behind her ear. A small sigh escaped her lips as she turned her attention back to the drama.

The sigh caught a boy's attention, one who happened to be in the aisle not too far from her. He was scrawny and pale, his eyes a dark brown, almost black, his brown hair matted and unkempt. His sleeves were long, even though it was the middle of summer, and he was wearing long pants. Quietly, he walked to the end of the aisle, looking to see who the sound came from. His eyes fell upon the only other inhabitant of this library; a very pretty girl who he had never seen before. Out of habit, he picked up a book from the shelf and wandered over to her, sitting across from her at the table near the back of the room.

The boy's stealthy movements prevented Hermione from hearing him, but for some odd reason she looked up. A gasp escaped her lips as she realized that someone was sitting in front of her, someone whose appearance disgusted her. But Hermione wasn't one to judge people on their appearance. It was what was on the inside that counted. So, of course, the benevolent girl smiled at the boy, deciding to start a pleasant conversation.

"Hi," she said softly, her eyes meeting his as a friendly smile crossed her lips. "What are you reading?"

The boy looked at the book in his hands, almost as if it appeared there without him knowing. But he had picked it up. To his dismay and complete embarrassment, the book was upside down, and he quickly flipped it over, skimming the title; The Jewels of Tessa Kent. What type of book is this anyway? He had no idea, so decided to brush the question off with a quick, evasive answer.

"Nothing all that interesting," he said, placing the book next to him, focusing his attention on the girl. "I'm Jesse, Jesse Marshall. And you are?"

He stuck his hand out for her to shake, though he couldn't figure out why. Then again, most of the things Jesse did were unexplained and quite sudden. So his proper introduction was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Hermione Granger," she replied politely, taking his hand, shaking it firmly like a proper business woman should. Spending most of her time at Hogwarts, or in the wizarding world, she was used to people knowing her name, either because of her astute intelligence, or her bouts with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. She almost expected a snide remark or a word of praise to come from this boy until she remembered she was back at home for the summer, back in the Muggle world. So, she wasn't surprised when she heard none of this from him. What surprised her was to hear what came out of his mouth next.

"Do you wanna go get a drink or something at the café next door?"

Hermione hadn't had very much experience with guys, mainly Victor Crum in her fourth year, so this was odd. Her mind could barely grasp the concept that she was being asked out. On a date? Was this considered a date? She had no idea, and it was very rare for Hermione not to know something.

"Sure." That word came out of Hermione's mouth before she had time to stop it. Giving herself no time to mull this over and consider the consequences, she knew she was putting herself out of her element. But she had already accepted his offer and could not take back her consent. She was going to the café with a boy she had just met.

"Great!"

A giggle filtered through the opened window coming from a small boned teenage girl named Hermione, the one and only, the same one which agreed on going to the café with Jesse. One leg crossed over the other as she brushed her hair out of her face. She was flirting. The great Hermione Granger was flirting with someone for no other reason than to purely flirt. A sure sign of the apocalypse if there was one.

Time flew by, more time than Hermione thought possible. It had been two hours since the pair had arrived at the café; it was three cups of coffee later; it was time for them to begin speaking about themselves. Before this point they had been conversing about any book which came to mind. The conversation had been enticing, yet not to invasive. It is inevitable that the conversation would wind down, and it did.

"So, Hermione," Jesse said after a moment of vaguely uncomfortable silence in which both teenagers were thinking of something to say. "Tell me something interesting about yourself."

Interesting? Oh, how she wished she could divulge all of her secrets. Oh, how she wished she could confide in him, spill her story, tell her worries. And if her story wasn't so unbelievable, she would have told him. If she wasn't a witch, if she didn't go to Hogwarts, if she was normal, she would have told him. Instead, she tried to think of something Muggle related. When she couldn't, she decided to change the truth to suit the question.

"I've been going to boarding school since I was eleven."

Hopefully that would satisfy him, because she could think of nothing else. If she was forced to, her thoughts would inevitably turn to those of Harry, which would, in turn, bring forth the worries which plagued her constantly. That was something she was trying to avoid, but at this moment she was failing miserably.

"What about you? Tell me something interesting about yourself."

Jesse is an eccentric human to say the least, yet he was unable to think of something to tell her. He was not one to divulge his secrets, and he had hoped that Hermione was the type of girl who, with very little prompting, would talk about herself. Well, he was obviously wrong. Sitting there, he tried in vain to think of something interesting to say. Or at least something that would appease her.

"Well, I spend more time in the library than I do at home," Jesse answered after a few short seconds of thought. "I know all of the librarians by name, and they know me by name as well."

His speech was nonchalant, not even hinting at the fact that he had been searching for something to say. But Hermione is sharp and knowledgeable in human behavior; or maybe it's because she did the same thing. Either way, she knew that Jesse had just picked a fact about him because he was trying to hide something. Maybe not a secret as unbelievable as hers, but a secret nonetheless. Never being the person to keep her thoughts to herself, she confronted him directly about this.

"There's much more you could have chosen from, but for some reason you chose this," she said, her tone portraying her matter-of-fact attitude. Her gaze met his as she opened her mouth to finish her thought. "What is it that you decided not to tell?"

Of course, she knows that everybody has secrets. And she knows that she is in no position to find out his. But her mouth has an annoying tendency to move before her mind can stop it. Blushing slightly, she realized how blunt her question was; she realized that she probably shouldn't have asked it in the first place. Too bad she couldn't take it back, or wipe it from his memory.

"Something that you'll find out if you decide to stick around."