Disclaimer: I don't own HP or any of these characters. That belongs to JKR, Scholastic Books, Warner Brothers, etc.
Chapter Eight : Daybreak
Harry awoke the next morning, a bit later and a bit groggier than usual. He smiled when he remembered all that had happened yesterday.
It had been a good day. And an absolutely excellent night.
Then he remembered his roommate.
Damn, he swore silently to himself. There was no way he could get Serena out if Hermione was outside. He quickly slipped out of his bed, pulled on a pair of pajamas, and headed out to the living room.
When he got there, however, he discovered it was empty.
Hmm. Guess Hermione must have figured it out for herself and went somewhere else for the night. At least I hope so. I'd hate to think she spent the entire night working. Harry shook his head at the thought of her schedule lately. Those late nights couldn't be good for her. Sighing, he returned to his room, hoping that she was all right.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Still fuming, Hermione stomped through the door and to her desk, with a cup of coffee and a copy of the Daily Prophet in hand. Why the hell couldn't this have happened on a weekend when I wouldn't have to go to work the next day? she wondered. Oh that's right. Murphy's Law. I guess I should be grateful that it's Wednesday and not Monday. In one motion, she violently pulled out her chair and sat down.
"So what's got your knickers in a twist this morning, Granger?" a lazy drawl sounded out from behind her.
"Sod off, Malfoy. I'm in no mood to deal with you today," she snarled back at him.
"You know the way you say my name, it gives me the impression that you think I'm a bastard," Malfoy stated. "I assure you that I am not."
"I am ever so sorry about that," Hermione replied with mock-sweetness. "I didn't mean to give that impression at all as I think of you as the scum of the earth!" Resolving to ignore her recalcitrant co-worker, she opened up the Prophet to the rentals page.
"Looking for a new flat, I see," Malfoy said, reading over her shoulder. "What happened? Potter kicked you out onto the streets?"
"Fuck you."
"Not at work, dear," he replied smugly.
Though Hermione couldn't see him (nor did she want to), she knew he was smirking right now. Without looking, she quickly rolled up a piece of paper and lobbed it in the general direction of his voice, figuring that was where he would be. Being used to dealing with Bludgers, Malfoy easily dodged her shot.
"Touchy subject, I see," he said.
"If you must know, I need to move because Harry's a damn morning person," Hermione gritted out through her teeth. There is no way in hell I'm going to tell that arsehole the truth, she thought to herself.
"Ouch. What could be worse?"
"He's a perky morning person."
"My condolences. And I do mean that with complete sincerity," Malfoy said. "So are you going to look tonight?" he inquired.
"If I can get off at a decent time, then yes," she replied.
"Fine then. I'll go with you," he told her.
"You'll what?" Not believing what she had heard, she swiveled her chair around to look at Malfoy.
"Are you going deaf, Granger? I said I'd help you look."
"Why in the world would you expect me to want your help?" she asked sharply.
He rolled his eyes at her. "Because I'm a Malfoy. I know where everything is better than you, and what's more, I can get better offers than you could negotiating on your own."
"Somehow I doubt that," Hermione said. "And I'm perfectly fine going by myself, thank you very much."
"You don't really have much choice in the matter. It'd be kind of silly, don't you think, to have me trailing after you," he replied.
She narrowed her eyes at him. "You're up to something, aren't you?"
Malfoy sighed dramatically. "Fine. I do admit I have an ulterior motive."
"Which is?" Hermione asked, tapping her foot impatiently.
"If you had check your mail box this morning, you'd see that we're assigned to research the Cyclops together."
"Lovely. Just what I wanted. More time I have to spend with you." Hermione scowled at the thought.
"And if we do a good job and don't have that many complaints filed against us for incessant fighting, we'll be put on permanent assignment to the Grecian sector."
Hermione paused. Getting a permanent assignment would be lovely, as it would be a step up. It would also mean regular assignments for her, which would translate into less work as she wouldn't be dealing with everyone else's overflow anymore. However, being permanently assigned with Malfoy might be the opposite.
"What's more such assignment would include quarterly research trips to Greece," Malfoy continued.
"Research trips?" Hermione asked.
"The meaning should be obvious." He cocked one elegant eyebrow at her. "So what do you say, Granger? Care to practice being civil to one another tonight?"
She slowly nodded yes. "You're not really giving me a choice, anyway, are you?" she responded. After hearing that, the permanent assignment would be good for her. It would be very good for her to get away from London for a bit right after . . . last night. If it meant being civil to Malfoy – well, she could do that so long as he behaved himself.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Immediately after work, Ron Weasley headed back to his friends' flat. He had already heard the good news and had owled Harry with his congratulations, but he rather felt that it'd be better to drag them out to celebrate tonight. And maybe give them a nudge in the right direction as well, he thought gleefully while rubbing his hands together. Hermione did need all the help she could get as she was taking far too long to snag Harry for herself. Especially when it was blazingly clear that Harry was interested in Hermione too. And especially when Harry's likely to do something stupid to get Hermione off his mind as well, Ron added to himself.
Once at the flat, he paused to knock on the door only to wind up barely missing hitting Harry's face.
"Hey! Watch it!" Harry said.
"Sorry about that," Ron apologized. "And congratulations! I told you you could do it!" He then peered around Harry. "Is Hermione back yet? I thought I'd take you both out to dinner to celebrate. Goodness knows that girl works too much."
"Er . . . that was why I was leaving. To go check up on Hermione," Harry said.
"Still at work then." Ron shook his head. "You know, we ought to start planning how to get her to relax more."
"Actually, I don't know if she's at work," Harry told him. "She didn't come home last night, or rather, she didn't stay, and I think she might have gone back to her parents'—"
"Okay, wait a minute here," Ron said, holding up his hands. He turned sidewise to get in past Harry. Harry closed the door and followed Ron as he walked into the living room and sat on the couch. "You're not making any sense at all," Ron continued. "Why would Hermione be at her parents' house instead of here? Did you two have a fight or something?"
"No, we're not fighting," Harry hastily put in. "But she wasn't there last night and I figured she was working late and so I went out celebrating by myself . . . and I met this witch and one thing led to another . . ."
"What?" Ron said. He could feel the heat rise in his face as he thought how that must have affected Hermione. "You did what?"
"That's why I need to find Hermione to tell her that she can come back now. That I didn't mean to put her out for the night, and that I definitely didn't mean for her to pack up and leave because she took all her stuff with her. Even Crookshanks," Harry added.
"You bloody well better apologize!" Ron jumped up and stalked towards Harry. "How could you have done such a thing to Hermione! This is the lowest, the most despicable, the absolute worst thing you've ever done!"
"Stop right there," Harry said angrily. "I freely admit that it was rude of me to do so. But it wasn't as if Hermione didn't put me into this situation. She barges in here one night and announces she's moving in – and what am I going to do, kick her out? My best friend? Not bloody likely. Despite the fact it's kind of impossible to have go out and meet witches when your best friend in living with you."
"So you're blaming Hermione for this mess?" Ron's tone was full of disbelief.
"No, I'm not," said Harry. "Like I said before, I'm sorry that she was embarrassed and she had no place for the night . . . but what else was I supposed to do?" He grimaced. "And this is getting me nowhere. I'll find Hermione, apologize, and then let her shake some sense into you."
Ron mentally snorted at the idea of Hermione taking Harry's side in this argument. Although I doubt she'd be in a mood to talk to him, he thought to himself. Hearing the door open, he turned his attention back to Harry. "And where are you going this time?" he asked.
"To the Grangers' of course," Harry replied.
Damn. Put off killing Harry till later. Must stop him from attempting suicide. "You can't go there," he told Harry.
"Give me one good reason why not," Harry said.
"Her father."
Harry paled at those two words.
"It doesn't matter what Hermione thinks or not," Ron continued. "I can assure you that her dad won't look kindly on you after Hermione wound up spending the night at her parents', for whatever reason." He grimaced. "And believe you me, you do not want to see her father when he's angry."
"Oh, I can believe that," Harry said, thinking of his previous interrogation. "He's a bit overly protective, isn't he?"
Oh, I wouldn't say that considering what you've done, Ron thought. "I can understand how he feels, having a younger sister myself," he said aloud.
"I know," Harry said. "But I do have to see Hermione—"
"It's best if I go myself," Ron began. He stopped to consider what he had said. "Actually, no, it's not, as her dad probably won't be kindly disposed to any of her male friends right now. Remember how he was after me and Hermione broke it off?"
Harry shuddered. "I was trying to forget that," he said.
"I think all of us are," said Ron. "It might be best just to owl Hermione . . . though Pig's not here and . . ."
"But Hedwig is," said Harry. "I'll send her a letter right now."
Ron sat down as his friend went off in search of quill and parchment. Killing Harry won't make Hermione feel any better, he thought to himself. Though the idea's tempting because he's being such a dunce right now. He sighed. And I do hope Hermione's all right.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
If she had known of them, Hermione would have appreciated Ron's well wishes. Searching for a flat was going much, much worse than she thought it would.
Malfoy was being a complete prick.
Not to her directly, of course. If it had been that, Hermione would have hexed him and sent him on his way. But he was bloody impossible when it came to them actually looking at a flat. He could find fault in the smallest of things. Though privately Hermione had to admit that it was impressive how he could get a landlord to lower the price for a place just by looking at him. The bad thing was they hadn't even been through her entire list of flats to look at. After the third one they had tried, Malfoy took one look at her list, had tossed up his hands in despair, and had dragged her to a café so they could eat while he tried to find something in a "halfway decent neighborhood," to use his words.
It was all Hermione could do not to bury her face in her hands and cry. Last night, her heart was broken. Tonight, it seemed that Malfoy was intent on breaking her budget. At least she knew better than to ask, hypothetically, if things could get worse. Of course they could and if one even wondered about that, Murphy's Law would be happy to show one how.
I hope I've not jinxed myself just thinking about that, Hermione thought. And I was stupid enough to think that things would calm down after we finished school.
"Don't look so glum, Granger," Malfoy said, looking up from perusing the Prophet. "I won't hold it against you that you apparently have no idea what the good neighborhoods are."
Hermione repressed a sigh. Choking Malfoy wouldn't be civil, and for some reason that was getting harder to remember, she had promised she would be civil tonight. "This might come as a surprise for you, but not all of us have endless amounts of money at our disposal."
"I am perfectly aware of that," he told her. "That's why I'm not looking at anything with more than two bedrooms."
"Two bedrooms?" she gasped. "Malfoy, I only need a studio."
"That's not thinking ahead, Granger. What if you want to invite a group of friends over to entertain?"
"I won't." Hermione tilted her chin up stubbornly.
"You never know," Malfoy returned. "Unless you're finally going to break down and profess your admiration of the art that is Divination."
Hermione snorted in response. "You'd be waiting a bloody long time for that to happen."
"If it makes you feel better, we can look at all the one-bedroom flats first. If nothing is suitable there, we'll go on to the two-bedroom flats," said Malfoy. He folded up the newspaper and placed it on the chair beside him. "And yes, I remember your comment about budgets. I do think I'll be able to convince at least one landlord that to come down on prices."
"And here I thought that bargaining would be below you," Hermione noted.
"Contrary to popular belief, paying full price for things is not the way to save money," he remarked. "Though I am sure that some of your friends have—"
"Say one bad thing about Ron, and I will hex you," Hermione threatened.
"Whatever happened to civility?" asked Malfoy.
"You think that insulting my friends is being civil?"
"I was merely stating a fact."
Hermione took a deep breath, intent on telling Malfoy that he didn't know a damn thing about her friends when a snowy white owl swooped down in front of them. "Hedwig!" she exclaimed.
Malfoy looked on as Hedwig patiently held out her leg so Hermione could reach the message. "How do you plan on moving out when Potter can't bear to be without you for one night?" he asked languidly.
If only that were true, Hermione thought to herself. But I must keep up appearances, at least. "That," she said haughtily, "is the least of my concerns." She unfolded the letter and scanned its contents. So Harry's sorry about last night, didn't mean to embarrass me (as if that's all), and wants me to know that it's safe to come back? She mentally sighed. Right now, I don't think I'll ever want to go back there! At least, not until I'm really fine with it all. If I eer am.
"So running off to see him?" her dinner companion asked.
"No, I'm only sending him a reply. I can see him and Ron during the weekend. I'm busy at the moment," Hermione said. Never thought I'd see the day when I'd forsake the chance to see Harry so that I could spend more time with Malfoy, she reflected. Given the circumstances though . . . it's not surprising. Though I do have to see him again soon. Bad enough that . . . that I . . . that my heart's been shattered. I do not want him to know that I fancy him. She turned the letter over on to the other side and scribbled a note back to Harry, telling him that she was busy and that perhaps they could get together some time this weekend for lunch. Rolling the parchment back up, she fastened it back to Hedwig's leg and thanked her for waiting.
Switching her attention back to Malfoy, she asked, "So are you ready to go? I don't expect that—"
"I know it's getting late, and we can get going once we finish arguing over who is going to pay the bill," he said.
"What makes you think we're going to argue over that?"
"The fact that you'll want to split it despite my mother raising me better than that," he said. "If you're in a hurry, I suggest that you capitulate now."
This time Hermione did not resist the urge to bury her head in her hands. It was going to be a long evening.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Harry paced the floor of his living room as he waited for Hermione's response. It was taking far too long for Hermione to answer for his comfort. He hoped that she wasn't too upset at him.
Not that she's completely . . . okay, to be fair, she did offer to pay rent and I suppose I could have suggested then that she moved out. But she never was honest about why she suddenly came here, and I didn't want to throw her out. Not when she's always been there for me. He sighed. Though, in one way, she should be grateful. I was beginning to think that I fancied her. Something tells me that she wouldn't appreciate me jumping her. Harry shook his head frantically to get that thought out of his mind. No, no, it was good for me to get out and spend time with other people again. I just should have been more discreet. Especially as Ron is taking it very hard. I'd expect Hermione to be upset – I was rude and inconsiderate – but Ron? He's usually more levelheaded than that. And he usually agrees with my point of view instead of Hermione's. Hmm . . . maybe there is something between the two of them. In that case, I must stop thinking of Hermione as . . . anything more. Bad enough to risk one friendship, even worse to risk two.
"Should we put a new carpet on your wish list for your birthday?" Ron asked from his vantage point.
"Huh . . . what?" was Harry's inelegant response. He had been so lost in thought that he had forgotten that Ron was still with him.
"At the rate you've been walking back and forth, you'll need one before Hedwig ever gets back," Ron said pointedly.
"It usually doesn't take this long," Harry responded.
Ron shrugged. "Maybe Hedwig is having a harder time finding her. Maybe she isn't at her parents' house or at work.."
"Where would she be then?"
"Who knows?" Ron replied. "At least you can trust Hedwig. With Pig, I always have to worry about him deciding to go off on his own for some scatterbrained reason or another."
"True, true," Harry replied. He was about to go on when a scratch at his window informed him that Hedwig was back. "Finally!" he exclaimed. "Not that I blame you or think you're slow, Hedwig," he hastily amended when she shot him a nasty glance. "I'm worried about Hermione, that's all."
From across the room, Ron muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, "Too bad you weren't worried about it last night." Not wanting another near fight with Ron, Harry ignored that comment and read Hermione's letter.
Dear Harry (and Ron if he's there),
Sorry for making you worry. I'm actually out looking for a new flat for myself right now. It's sort of obvious that your place isn't big enough for the two of us and it was getting rather cramped there. I know you've not said anything but I'm sure you'll be happier once I'm out of your hair. I have to run. If possible, I'd like to find some place tonight. Would you and Ron like to meet for lunch on the weekend? My treat.
Love from Hermione
Harry stared mutely at the letter. He had never intended for her to feel unwelcome or that he wanted her out of there. He wished that she had spoken to him before leaping to conclusions, but that was vintage Hermione.
"So what does the letter say?" Ron asked.
"She says that she's fine and that she's out looking for a flat at the moment," answered Harry, who still couldn't believe that she had decided to move so suddenly.
"That was to be expected," Ron noted.
"She offered to meet us for lunch some time this weekend," Harry continued.
"Does she need help moving?" Ron asked. "Why don't you write back to her letting her know that we're willing to help?"
"That's a good idea," Harry said. "I'll do that as soon as I find
another piece of parchment." And while I'm at it, I have to ask
if I can talk to her before then. I really don't want her thinking
that I don't want her here, that I think she's a nuisance, or any nonsense
like that.
Author's note: Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last
chapter. ^_^ I'll be updating again next Friday, as chapter
nine is finished and just needs to be edited.