Chapter Seven Newcomer

Day four began in the usual fashion. Ron and Harry had to wait patiently until Hermione, Ginny and Rain decided to let them out of the basement. Today, they decided to dottle in letting them out. They had found glasses and pressed them against the door, listening to what they were saying.

"Blimey, I wish they'd let us out... We didn't do anything." Harry repeated for about the thousandth time.

"I bet you anything, they're pressing there ears against the door," Ron said grumpily.

"Yeah, probably."

"Did you hear something?" Ron asked, he was bouncing a rubber ball against the wall.

"Nah."

"God you boys are so boring." Ginny said, unlocking the door.

"Yeah, well, it's boring in there. We have no children to molest." Harry joked, glaring at Rain.

"Sorry, It just happened like that..."

"Yeah?" Harry said, temper rising slightly.

Ron was muttering something about his aching back. Hermione had a strong urge to kick it, but resisted.

"What shall we do today?" Hermione asked the crowd. "Play stay away from Emmie?"

"Duh."

"Hey," Ginny said. "Why don't we go to the beach?"

The sun beat down on there backs. God knew, or cared what Harry and Ron were doing, and nobody really cared. Sun bathing was heaven. Ginny, who had never been tanning before was having a field day. Also very pleased when some guy sat down next to her and started talking. Rain was sitting where the waves crashed, oblivious to the current. Hermione's worries about Ron seemed to drift away, returning as fantacies. Fantacy's of him coming over and offer to rub tanning lotion on his back. But it was for not. Ron and Harry were having a splash fight in the water... so immature... At least Emmie was not here...

Ginny suddenly had a funny idea. "Hey Hermione wouldn't it be funny if Ron and Harry were gay?" Ginny fell on her back laughing.

"More scary then funny "she replied. The two friends looked out on the two boys splashing each other. "You know, they would make a cute couple." They laughed again. Hermione was imagining them kissing, and hatred spread through her veins. Harry was evil. He must die.

"What is going on in that over large brain of yours." Ginny asked.

"You don't want to know."

"Excuse me senorita." Hermione and Ginny wheeled around to see a tall, boy with a six-pack and an excotic accent. Hermione's heart started to beat faster. "Can you rub this lotion on my back?" He was clearly speaking to Hermione, who was blushing.

"Yeah, sure." And she enjoyed rubbing back. Ginny was glaring enviously.

"You give good massages." He said.

"Thanks," Hermione said, flushed. "What kind of accent is that?"

"Well, it's a mix of French, Spanish, and British. My parents are divorced. Mom's French, Dad's Spanish. So ever since I was three, I spent a year in Mexico, followed by a year in France. Then my mom died." He fell silent at the memory. "So I went to live with my aunt, here."

"Oh," Hermione said, semi-regretting asking. "I'm sorry."

"I miss her very much." He muttered. His black hair seemed to wilt, and his eyes turned even more grayer then they were before. Before she knew what she was doing, Hermione had wrapped her arms around him. Ron gaped jealously. Harry noticed that Rain was looking over at the boy, and joined Ron in a glaring contest.

"My name is Jouear." He said.

"French," Hermione mumbled, still holding him. "If you need someone to talk to, here's my number." She wrote her number on his hand, then kissed him on the cheek.

"Thanks." He said, walking away. Hermione, Ginny, and Rain's eyes followed him until he was out of site. Before Rain could join Hermione's and Ginny's conversation about Jouear, Harry had grabbed hold of her wrist and walked up to Hermione.

"Hermione, let's go, I'm getting burned." Harry said gruffly.

"Yeah, so am I," Ron said grumpily.

And before Hermione and Ginny could protest, Ron and Harry (half dragging Rain) were at the car.

"He could have hit on you!"

"No he couldn't of, Ginny was right there!"

"So, he could of hit on both of you!"

Ron and Hermione had engaged themselfs in a shouting match... Again...

"Ron, I was just trying to be nice! His mother is dead!"

"Well I don't see you wrapping your arms around Harry because BOTH his parents, and his Godfather, are dead."

"Leave Harry out of this!" Ginny said, suprised at her own words.

"It's not my fault Harry never wants to talk about those things! I'm sure if he did, I would hug him to."

"This is different! Hermione, you can't go around hugging random strangers because you think they're cute."

"I was not hugging him because I thought he was cute!" Hermione raged. "I'm not shallow, Ron. Unlike some people..."

"Don't you even start with that Hermione, I was in fourteen! I was stupid!"

"Like you aren't now!" Hermione ran upstairs to her room, where she was going to cry. Was being the key word, for she found Rain and Harry arguing.

"You were looking at him." Harry growled as Hermione entered.

"No I wasn't!" Rain said entirely unconvincingly. "I was um... making sure Orks wearn't going to attack from behind."

"Rain, you are a long, long way from middle earth, like, half a earth away!" Harry yelled at her. "You can't make up those stupid excuses anymore. I won't take them!"

"I love you...?" She tried. Hermione, meanwhile, slipped into her closet for a nice cry.

"No, Rain, that's not gonna cut it."

"Harry, it was the stupid hormones, I can't control these things. I promise it won't happen again."

"It better not."

Hermione, Emmie, and Rain went to bed extremely early that night. Hermione's dreams about Ron were quickly replaced with dreams of Jouear. Except for one. Ron was kissing her under the misltoe, and Hermione's heart melted. No one in the world she could love better than Ron, no matter how hot they were. Emmie had some interesting new dreams. Rain was dreaming of killing Orks, nothing new.

Ginny was awake and dreaming; talking to Harry.

"That was really rude of Rain." She said slyly.

"She's only human, I just wish she'd pay as much attention to me as she does to that Jouear dude."

"Oh, Harry, you deserve better than her, why can't you just admit it?"

"Because... I love her..." He sighed, then put his head in his hands, frustrated.

"I have an idea, you know Martha and Diana?" Ginny asked. She had planned this for a while, another great idea of Emmie's.

"Yeah, what about them?"

"Make Rain jealous."

"You mean, go out with one of those preps?"

"Yeah."

Harry shifted unconformably. "I couldn't do that... I mean, she only looked at him."

"Harry snap out of it, she was drooling! Just think about it, okay?"

Harry nodded. It just seemed so strange for Rain to be staring at another man. It hurt him, a lot to think that there would be another boy. But did he actually think that they would be together forever? No... He answeared himself. He was with her until they decided to break up. Was this way, looking at another boy, a way of breaking up with him. Harry put his head in his hands again, frusterated. Girls! Why did he have anything to do with them? Why didn't he just ignore them? Why did he have to get roped into liking girls? They were useless, every last one. But maybe... Maybe Ginny had the right idea. Yeah... she was, he decided. He thought back to when he had met Martha and Diana. He chose to ask out Martha, with the pretty blonde hair. And Diana had accused his parents of abuse. While Martha had stayed usually quiet. Harry looked up to see a deserted living room, apparently, Ginny had gone to bed. Harry walked over to the kitchen, where the phone numbers were kept. He put his finger on the piece of paper, and ran it down until he found Martha's phone number. He picked up the phone and dialed the number. "Hello?" Harry asked into the phone. He rubbed the back of his neck, nervously. "May I talk to Martha?"

"Hello," Martha said into the phone.

"Um... Hi, this is Harry, I don't know if you remember me, but I met you at McDonalds..."

"Oh, you're the guy with the cute glasses." Harry felt himself blush.

"Um... Yeah, that's me, the guy with the cute glasses. I was wondering if you wanted to go to the movies tomorrow at noon?"

"Um... Sure. And maybe we can go on a drive later."

"Sure, but I don't have a car..."

"Oh, well, then we can go on a walk."

"Yeah," Harry gulped. "I'll see you at noon. Bye."

"Bye." Harry hung up. He quickly then retreated to the basement to find Ron snoring WAY to loudly. "Ron," Harry womped him with his pillow.

"What do you want?" Ron said sleepily.

"Ron, you suck at acting, just give it up already. I know you're thinking about Hermione and that Jouear guy."

"No I'm not!" Ron said blushing.

"Whatever. Listen, I just asked Martha out."

"WHAT! That mean prep? Why?"

"It was Ginny's idea... Make Rain jealous."

"I don't see why you'd want to make Rain jealous, Hermione was all over him. She's never hugged me like that in all the years we've been friends."

"Yeah, but Hermione's your friend, Rain's my girlfriend. There's a big different."

"So?"

Hermione was very reluctant to unlock Harry's and Ron's door due to there fights. Rain wanted to see Harry, but Hermione still, flatly, refused to unlock the door. Then, finally, once Hermione saw the pool, let the boys out. They wanted to run right to breakfast, but Rain, Hermione, and Ginny had another plan... They blind folded the boys as soon as they were out.

"We got a suprise for you..." Hermione said, leading Ron down to the pool.

Ron gulped nervously. What terrible revenge did Hermione plan for there fight?

There, at the pool, Hermione and Rain pushed Ron and Harry into the pool. Ron and Harry screamed. "You can take off your blindfolds..." Ginny said, smirking. A scream louder than the one when they fell in the pool. The pool was filled with red food coloring and... to Ron and Harry's horror, pads and tampons. The two boys quickly swam over to the edge to get out. For once, Emmie's joke was for the boys, not for Hermione, Rain, and Ginny.

"I hate you." Ron said, brushing the water off his clothes. "I hate you so much..."

"Rain! I will never fight with you again. Now, why the hell did you do that?"

"It was fun," she said, smiling. Then, Rain ceased up. "I feel darkness." She said stiffly. And with a splash, she fell into the pad infested pool. The slash woke her up. Soon she was cursing, trying to get out of the pool fast, but not fast enough.

Jouear came strolling up the driveway. With a tiny, "eep," Rain dived back into the water.

"Hello, Hermione," he said, laying a kiss on her cheek. Ron glared at him visiously. Jouear didn't seem to notice this, though. "You said I could come over whenever I needed it, right?"

"Right."

"What happened to your pool?" Jouear asked confussed. Jouear was kind of like Robert Monfore, in the way that he is completely oblivous to what pads and tampons are. Actually, all in all, Jouear was an idiot. Sure, he may be sexy, but he was a dumbo.

"Nothing," Hermione said, ushering him into the house. Ron followed Hermione into the house, making sure that Jouear didn't make a move on her. Ginny bounded off, following the hot stranger. Rain came up for breath, then sank down. Harry shook his head, frusterated. Girls. He didn't get them.

"Rain," Harry called. "He's in the house, you can come out now."

Rain stuck her nose above the water, making sure that Harry wasn't pulling her leg. He wasn't so she swam to the edge, and got out. "Harry, I'm so sorry, I couldn't help myself.. It's like this weird thing... When a dark, shadowy person is around I get all--"

But Harry wasn't listening to her. Though he was deeply offened, he couldn't help stare at Hermione. He was perfecty entitled to, after all, she was his girlfriend... and she was all wet.

"–Harry, are you even listening to me?" Rain asked after a while.

"Uh... What? Sorry, you're just so beautiful..." Rain looked down at her clothes and noticed her bra was showing,

"Shit!" She said. "Harry James Potter, if you're thinking of trying anything, you are so dead."

"I wasn't, besides, I have a date in thirty minutes, and thanks to you, I need to change."

"You have a date!" Rain screamed at him. Harry started walking back into the house, Rain followed, wacking him with her scabbard. "Why! I'm your girlfriend. I'm going to kill you."

"Well I thought you didn't want to be with me anymore when you were staring at Jouear."

"That's stupid. He's just so dark and--" Rain went into deep contemplation.

"See what I mean! You are totally in love with him." Harry yelled at her. "That's why I'm going out with Martha."

"Martha... Martha... Martha... That name sounds so farmilier... wasn't she on The Brady Bunch?"

"No, that would be Marsha, Martha is the girl that we met at McDonalds."

"You're... you're going out with someone that's a prep?" Rain stammered in amazement. "You've sucken to the bottom."

"I just want to go out with someone who will like me, and just me."

"But... but... but..." Rain stammered, as Harry closed the door in her face. "Why'd you do that?" Rain called through the door.

"I'm changing for my date."

"Oh yeah..."

"Have you ever read Of Mice and Men?" Hermione asked Jouear. Jouear and Hermione were sitting Hermione's room, talking about books.

"Yeah, it was splendid." He said, scooting closer to Hermione. "Have you read Olive Twisters?" Did I mention what an idiot he was? Good, just checking.

"Yeah, I've read Oliver Twist, it was brilliant. What did you think about the Oliver's gang of crooks?"

"I thought they were devils in disguised." Jouear was also very good at guessing. See, he had have his rounds before with the ladies.

"That's a very good analogy." Hermione said.

"Sorry?" He didn't know what the word, analogy, meant. "I was lost in your beauty."

Hermione blushed nervously. "That's okay," her breath was shallow and uneven. Her heart was beating nervously. Jouear leaned close to her. She didn't move away. Her mind was lost in his beauty. The kiss came, and she knew that she was in trouble. Jouear ran his hand through Hermione's hair. Every thought of Ron, drifted out the window.

Except, the trouble was, Ron was thinking of Hermione. She had been in the room with Jouear alone for a very long time, and he was getting nervous. Something possessed him to do it, he walked up to Hermione's room. There, he opened the door to see the terrifying site. Ron wasn't the only one to gasp. Hermione quickly pulled away, Jouear looked confused. I mean, more confused then he normally looked. Ron blushed, then ran downstairs. Hermione got to her feet and followed him.

"Ron, what's wrong?" Hermione sat down next to him on the couch in the living room.

"Nothing's wrong... It's just weird to see you, kissing someone." Ron lied. His heads were buried in his hands, to conceal tears.

"I see..." Hermione said, "Well, got to go. Bye!" She leapt up and searched for Jouear. But he wasn't there. He was with Rain. Alone. In Ron and Harry's bedroom. They were sitting, just talking.

"I'm sorry about your mother." Rain said after Jouear had finished his sad story of his life.

He shrugged. "I write about it, it helps."

"You write?" Rain said, impressed. Then stood up. Jouear looked puzzled. "There's a bed... and you're a poet... Not a good thing..."

"If you feel uncomfortable, let's go somewhere else. Do you like walking?"

"Uh huh." Rain said.

He grabbed Rain's hand. His grip was firm, unlike Harry's, who perfered not to be held. "I know this great trail a few miles away, we'll walk to my house, then hop on my motorcycle and ride over there. Sound like a plan?"

"Uh huh."

"The rain falls on my face. Steady tears wash over me. The blood is soon to heal."

"You wrote that?"

"Yes, I did." Jouear lied. He couldn't even spell. However, he could read people very well.

"It was beautiful." She said, stepping over two pairs of shoes, who's inhabitants were in a bush. They walked on, Jouear even slipped his hand into Rain's and Rain didn't pull out her double-headed war axe. Amazing.

Harry poked his head out of the bush. "Was that Rain?" He asked jealously.

"Who cares!" Martha said, pushing Harry back down in the rosebush.