Disclaimer: See Ch.1
Hermione, Harry, Ron, Ginny and the rest of the Weasleys ate a delicious breakfast. Feeling guilty about not having spent time with her friends, she suggested that the four of them go to Muggle London for a day, just to hang out together and have fun.
Hermione and Ginny were both drawn to the clothes section of the mall in downtown London, while Harry and Ron wanted to see a Muggle film. So it was decided that the girls would meet the boys when their movie was over.
Ginny had a wonderful taste in clothes normally, but set her loose in a Muggle shop and her good taste went out the window. She tried on numerous combinations of shirts that were too small and skirts that would be more suitable as belts.
Hermione decided to wander over to the jewelery section of the store while Ginny continued to try on clothes. She looked into a display case and a necklace caught her eye. It had a fine gold chain, and from it was dangling a pale rose quartz pendant in the shape of a heart. Hermione fell in love with it, but her hopes of purchasing it sank when she noticed the price tag. "575 Euros!" she muttered, turning away disappointed.
She went back to find Ginny in yet another fashion disaster, and simply laughed. "Did you find anything that would be Hogwarts appropriate?" asked Hermione. As a response, she was handed two pairs of jeans, one skirt, and three cute tops.
"I'm going to change. Would you mind saving a place for me in line?" asked Ginny sweetly from behind the closed changing room door.
"Sure," said Hermione. She made her way through the crowds and stood at the end of the line. The sounds of the crowd were loud, but a distinctly familiar voice drifted back to her ears.
"No, it does not need to be gift-wrapped," said a man exasperatedly. The voice triggered a memory at the back of her mind, but she couldn't quite place where she had heard it before. She looked towards the front of the line, hoping to see who the man was, but the crowd was so big that all she saw was the man's back. He was wearing a dark green turtleneck sweater and black slacks.
Hermione craned her neck, searching for Ginny. She didn't have much time, because by the looks of things, her mystery man was preparing to leave the store. Making a split second decision, Hermione cast a series of spells--a quick Levitation charm, an Invisibility charm, and a Banishing spell to send the now floating and invisible pile of clothes towards Ginny, wherever she might be. Having gotten rid of the clothes, she stealthily made her way towards the front of the line. Almost there, she was close enough to reach out and touch him on the shoulder. He made a sudden motion, as though he had sensed her behind him. She inhaled, and smelled fire! Was this her Erik?
She stretched out her hand, and was about and inch away from touching him, when someone yelled, "Fire! FIRE!" Momentarily stunned, Hermione made no effort to get out of the way as the frantic crowd desperately pushed to get out of the store. One particularly large man shoved into her, and she fell to the ground behind the feet of her mystery man. She tried to stand, but the crowd was too strong for her and she was unable to get up. Another large man tripped over her ankle, and a twinge of pain shot up Hermione's leg. Her ankle had broken. For fear of being trampled even more, she backed up and hit the knees of the mystery man. This seemed to awaken him to her presence. "Hermione!" he questioned more to himself than to her, and without waiting for a positive reply, he scooped her up into his arms and carried her from the store.
Hermione was amazed at this man. Strangely, when she was in his arms, she felt safe, like everything would be alright. She felt, oddly, comforted by this stranger's embrace. All too soon, Hermione was set down in the hall outside the store. She was turned around, and was unable to see the man's face. He grabbed hold of her shoulders and steadied her, while taking out a wand discreetly and healing her ankle. "Now I want you to listen to me, Hermione. Go back to the Burrow. I will find the others and send them along after you. Can you Apparate back?"
Hermione was too shocked to do anything other than nod dumbly. She felt his hands leave her shoulders, and she knew she had to Apparate quickly before her ankle gave out. But in the second before she squeezed into nothingness, she looked over her shoulder to glance at her savior. Maybe it was the combination of fear, shock, and pain that have befuddled her mind, but Hermione could have sworn that she saw Severus Snape staring back at her.
A/N: Well, I hope you enjoyed this so far. I just got the sudden inspiration for this story, which is why all these chapters were uploaded at once. But now, I have exams an the end of the school year approaching fast, so I might not update for a while. Please bear with me! And reveiw! I love hearing what you have to say!