"Okay, well, I left off at Hermia and me going to breakfast. It was... nice. We also made plans for the next day..."
Pansy rushed through her flat, tossing her sketch pad and other loose art equipment onto the couch. She and Hermia had plans for the day, a new gallery opening in London, but she received an urgent call from a client who needed portraits done for a gift immediately. Finally having everything together, she sat down on the edge of the cushion and watched the fire, waiting for her date, of whom she had forgotten to get the floo address of.
Hermione stepped out of the fire and coughed quickly saying a cleaning spell on her soot covered robes. Smiling when she looked up to see Pansy she readjusted her purse strap. "Good morning Pansy! You ready to set off on our date?" She asked walking over to the brunette.
Pansy rose to meet Hermia, "Actually, I got a call for a job. Sounded really urgent or I would have turned him down. Is there any chance we could reschedule? Or maybe..." Pansy trailed off as she started thinking.
Hermione's face fell, and she started to examine her purse strap. "Oh." Was all the sound that she could really make, her throat seemed to have closed up.
"I am really sorry. I wanted to go to the opening but I can't pass up on a job." Pansy bit the tip of her tongue and finished off her thought from before, "Have you ever been to Essex?"
Hermione looked up and shook her head. "No, I can't say I recall every going there." She replied, her voice barely above a whisper. She tugged at her purse strap a few times, uncomfortable, "But why are you asking?" She asked, a little confused.
Pansy smiled, "Would you care to join me? Mr. Laurent won't mind and I think Analisse and Adrian would love you. We could bring out a basket, have lunch in Mrs. Laurent's gardens..." Pansy was prodding now, hoping that Hermia would say yes. The other option was knowing that if Hermia turned her down, they probably wouldn't see each other again, except in passing. She had an odd sixth sense about those sort of things.
Hermione let out a deep breath she hadn't known she had been holding and smiled the brightest smile that she had in a long time. "I would love to go with you. It would be fascinating to watch you work, not to mention the educational value!" She bounced a little on the balls of her feet. "I've always wanted to watch an artist at work."
Pansy nodded and led Hermia towards the kitchen with a hand on her upper arm, "Well, I'm going to warn you now, that it's probably going to be fairly boring for you. I do the main sketching and color hints and marks before I do my wash and re-sketch. Then it's lunch and on to the actual painting. I do all of it at the clients house so I can hand it off on the same day. It makes me seem much more reliable."
Hermione nodded, carefully filing that information away, "Much more." She said and then nodded again. "So what are we going to make for lunch?"
"Um, well, I don't really know what I have. I don't eat home cooked food much." Pansy pulled open a cupboard door and began searching through the contents, "You want to check to see if there's anything good in the fridge outside of left overs and take out? I've become quite hooked on muggle fast food. Particularly Chinese and pizza."
Hermione laughed and went to open the fridge. Her smile drooped a bit as she looked into the empty fridge. "Well, we could have ketchup." She said holding up a half empty bottle of ketchup.
"And Saltines." Pansy pulled said box from the cupboard, "Tasty and nutritious." Putting the box back she turned and leaned on the counter and bit her lip, "We could always stop at a deli. There's a great Italian one down the street."
Hermione smiled and put the ketchup back in the fridge and closed it. "We could also pop by my house and I could fix us up something." She said, blushing a little. "My friends say I'm a rather good cook."
"I'd like that. Just have to grab my bag and easel. Oh and are we apparating or floo'ing?"
Hermione thought about it for a second before deciding it had to be apparation. Couldn't very well floo to a place called Granger Estate without anyone getting suspicious. "Apparation will be the best way."
"Sounds good to me. Can you double apparate? Otherwise I won't know where to go."
Hermione smiled and nodded. "Okay but you'll need to hold on tight. It's been awhile since I've done this."
Pansy smiled back and jogged into the living room to grab her bag, then back into the kitchen. She wrapped her arms around Hermia's waist, "Ready."
Taking a deep breath she blushed lightly at the warm arms that wrapped around her waist. Kitchen, kitchen, kitchen. She thought over and over imagining herself and Pansy in her kitchen. She placed her arm around Pansy as the feeling apperation gave passed through her.
Pansy steadied herself with Hermia's shoulder as they landed. She wasn't a fan of apparating. The feeling of her breath being sucked out of her was not a pleasant one, that was for sure. Looking around the kitchen, she smiled. It was fairly large, definitely larger then her own, and yet it had a homey and comfortable feel to it, despite the size, "It's nice! I really like this room." She knew she was jumping way ahead of herself, but she could see that the sunlight streaming in, as well as the ceiling lights, would be wonderful to paint under.
Hermione blushed prettily and smiled. "I'm glad you like it." She reluctantly let go of Pansy and walked over to the pantry. "So what would you like me to make?" She asked, reappearing tying an apron around her waist.
Pansy shrugged and sat down at the table, her chin resting on her palm, "Oh, I don't know. Anything your craving? I'd say hungry for, but it's going to be a few hours until we actually eat it."
Hermione nodded and walked over to the fridge. Pulling the door open she bent over looking in one of the lower drawers for sandwich meats, giving Pansy full view of her behind. She wiggled it a little before looking around at Pansy. "So what kind of meat do you prefer?" She asked raising an eyebrow.
"Er," Pansy cleared her throat and raised her eyes away from the view to Hermia's eyes, "No real preference, except nothing with little pieces of something else in them. The only exception to that is cotto salami."
Hermione smiled and went back to fishing in the drawer. Soon she stood with a few different sandwich meats in her hands, closing the fridge with her foot she smiled at Pansy again. "How about ham, turkey, or honey glazed ham? I don't have any salami, I'm out."
"That's fine, maybe a mix of the three?" Pansy stood and walked to the opposite side of the counter, "Would you like some help?"
"Sure. If you want you can either finish making the sandwiches or raid my pantry in search of cookies and other yummy snacks." Hermione said as she pulled a butter knife out of the drawer near the sink and walked over to the bread box.
Pansy stiffened slightly, "I'll take the sandwiches. I always feel a bit uncomfortable going through other peoples things, food cupboards or not."
Hermione laughed lightly and dropped the bread on the counter. "That's fine. I'll see what I can find." She walked quickly to the pantry and smiled to herself. "So, I never learned what your favorite color was." She yelled from inside the pantry.
Pansy glanced up at the door as she spread mayonnaise onto the bread for her sandwich, "Er, well, I like black, but since that's not technically a color I'd go with a deep prussian blue or maybe a dark violet. How about you?"
Hermione laughed lightly. "I have had a thing for red since I was younger, that and deep green." She replied, grabbing a box of crackers and a small box of chocolate cookies.
"I wouldn't say no to some crisps if you've got them." Pansy smiled at Hermia when she saw a flash of brown at the doorway, "And red and green are nice, but only in certain hues." she finished the sandwiches and leaned against the counter, arms crossed and the knife she forgot to put down sticking up by her elbow.
Hermione bit her lip. "Umm... Oh maybe.. Ah Ha! Your in luck I found some! I normally don't have any, but I have a friend who brings at least two bags over every time he visits." She smiled and walked out into the kitchen holding the three things. "Normally, he has them all eaten before he leaves but last time he had to head off in a rush and ended up leaving them here." he held out the bag. "I hope these are fine."
"Those are perfect, actually. The saltines is a weakness." She smiled and waved her hand at the counter, "I made four, all with a different combination. I think there's one with no lettuce or tomato either. I wasn't sure how keen you were on vegetables."
She smiled widely. "I hate them, but there good for me so I try to eat them. I like lettuce but no tomato's." She replied smiling.
Pansy nodded, "Well, I'll take the ones from the other sandwich you have then. I love tomatoes." Looking at everything accumulated, then at the wall clock above the sink she said, "We've got about half an hour until we need to be there."
Hermione nodded and leaned against the counter and glanced up at Pansy shyly. "What should we do till then?"
"Haven't the faintest, actually." Pansy replied with a soft laugh.
)Break(
Sorry about the wait everyone! We know that you don't want to hear excuses but here's ours anyway... We're just really really lazy... That and it... Heh.. So we'll get the next one out as soon as we can. Perhaps if you review we will feel more up to writing the next chapter...
Till then! Your lovely friends the .Blaise Ron Shippers. !
