They would have kissed if it wasn't for Char… oh, well. It happens! lol Hermione tried to get off her dates, but Lavender wasn't having any of that; wonders what Hermione is going to do. This chapter is dedicated to my family of writers (Ash, Char, Becca, Drish and Lor) and I hope you guys can find the easter eggs hihihi
Hermione was sure that she had feelings for Theo, and somehow she could tell that he reciprocated her feelings. They hadn't voiced their feelings yet, but she could feel the tension between them, especially after the day they had spent building snowmen and throwing snowballs at each other.
"You should just ask him out," Ginny said as they walked towards the park where Hermione was supposed to meet her new date. "Why are you still going out with people who aren't Theo?"
"I already told you; I went to that coffee shop, but the woman in charge wouldn't let me end things before I completed all the dates," Hermione said with a huff. "I don't want to continue this."
"Because you've found the one you were looking for?" Ginny asked excitedly. "Please tell me it's Theo, otherwise you'll have to face an intervention, which wouldn't be pleasant since Blaise planned one."
"Wait, what? Blaise prepared an intervention? Why are you people so weird?" Hermione tried not to laugh at her friends, but it was too much for her. "Thanks for coming with me today, Gin, I don't know what I would do without you… but I still don't need the intervention."
"Don't mention it. I'll always go along with your ideas." Ginny smiled sweetly at her. "As for the intervention, you should speak with Blaise before he goes crazy. You know how he is."
Hermione could not help but laugh as she imagined Blaise preparing her intervention. "I'll speak to him so he will stop being weird, but in the meantime, I'll meet my date for the day."
"Enjoy it, but not too much!" Ginny said, while Hermione shook her head before walking toward the spot in the park where she and Thorfinn had decided they would meet.
Though she wasn't certain about the date, she had no choice but to face it with her head held high since she couldn't back out until it was done. Thorfinn was a sweet and normal guy, but Hermione knew that her heart wasn't in it.
"Why didn't I just make up a fake illness to get out of this? Blaise would have been happy to help me." Hermione walked around, trying to locate her date. "And now I'm here, probably being stood up, and it's all my fault."
Hermione looked around, trying to find someone who looked like Thorfinn, but no one similar to his description was standing in the vicinity. Hermione saw a man in his forties, but she knew that it couldn't be Thorfinn, since he had said he was thirty-two, but something was bugging her when the man approached her.
"Hermione? Is that you?" he asked, and Hermione just stood there, blinking at him. "I'm Thorfinn."
"No, you're not," was her automatic response, which caused Hermione to blush. "I'm just saying... you don't look like what you described to me."
Thorfinn laughed. "I know, right? I look like a 24-year-old." He smiled at Hermione, waiting for her to agree, but she was frozen in shock.
"If you say so..." Hermione trailed off, unsure of what else to say about this whole thing. "How about we walk to the lake? What do you think?"
"I think that's an amazing idea!" Thorfinn cried and grabbed Hermione's hand, pulling her towards the lake. "I love watching the swans. They are so pretty."
Hermione had no idea what to say or how to respond. Hermione thought Thorfinn was a sweet guy, but the fact that he lied about his age - and still believed everyone agreed with him - was a big 'no-no' in her book... not that she needed any more reasons to want to get out of this date as quickly as possible.
"So, Thorfinn, tell me more about yourself. I don't know much about you," Hermione said, trying to make small talk. "You mentioned that you like coming to this park... Why do you like it so much?"
"I come to watch the swans. During the summer, I feed them and they let me pet them," Thorfinn said like an overexcited puppy. "I named them all; there's Gertrude, Brian, Guinevere, Sandra and baby Orville."
Hermione was speechless at the way Thorfinn spoke so passionately about the swans. If she wasn't already falling in love with Theo, she might have agreed to go on another date with
When Hermione did not reply, he continued, "This place is peaceful, and I always make friends here. There's a lady who always comes here at the same time, but we barely speak."
Despite knowing where this was heading, Hermione groaned internally; at least this time she wasn't upset for trying to act like cupid.
"Have you tried talking to her? Women like men who talk about things they have in common," Hermione said softly, watching Thorfinn's face. "Why not ask her which of the swans she prefers most?"
Thorfinn looked at Hermione with bright eyes and a smile on his face, and Hermione could see why he thought he looked like a twenty-four-year-old man.
"That's a brilliant idea, I think! Could you help me with that? I don't know how to read a woman's face." Thorfinn was practically begging her, but she just nodded. "Thank you, Hermione, you're amazing!"
"That's what people tell me," she muttered to herself as she followed Thorfinn to a bench.
On the bench was a pretty brunette who looked to be around the same age as Thorfinn. The sight of them coming near her made the woman smile, and Hermione knew Thorfinn didn't need her assistance.
"Hi, how are you, Natasha?" Thorfinn asked softly, and the woman's smile grew.
"Hello, Finn, how are you doing?" Natasha replied with a soft accent. "Who is your friend?"
Seeing as Thorfinn seemed to be tongue-tied, Hermione replied, "Hello, I'm Hermione. I've heard some good things about you. Thorfinn told me how you two liked watching swans together."
"Yes, that's how we met," Natasha replied, blushing, and Hermione couldn't help but smile at the scene in front of her. "Although the lake is frozen, the swans still gather around it." She glanced at Thorfinn and asked, "Did you see that Orville is almost as big as his parents?"
"He looks like he's going to be one of the big ones around here," Thorfinn said, smiling at Natasha and forgetting about Hermione. "Do you think Gertrude and Brian will have more cygnets?"
Hermione smiled at the conversation, and without anyone noticing, she started to walk away. Instead of being upset, she was actually relieved that she had played cupid this time.
After walking toward where she knew Ginny could be found, she found the redhead buying some hot chocolate from a stand in the park.
"This one was fast," Ginny said when Hermione approached. "What happened? Did you throw him into the lake?"
"You think you're so funny, don't you?" Hermione asked with a roll of her eyes, while Ginny just shrugged with a smile on her face. "When I realized that he wasn't who he said he was, I played cupid for him."
"Are you sure this was the only reason?" Ginny asked as Hermione ordered a hot chocolate for herself. "This doesn't have nothing to do with the charming guy we both know?"
Hermione walked towards the entrance of the park without saying anything. Her friend wouldn't let her off the hook that easily, but she still needed to try.
"Are you really running away from me in order to avoid stating that you have feelings for Theo? It's like you forget who you're talking to."
"I'm not trying to escape. I'm just not interested in discussing my love life or my life in general out in the open where anyone can hear." Hermione was lying through her teeth, but lucky for her, Ginny let it slide.
"Fine, suit yourself. You do remember we're going shopping together tomorrow, right? There's no escaping me, Miss Granger." Ginny smiled like a cat eating a canary, and Hermione could not help but groan.
"You're a menace when you want to be. I hope Draco knows what he's getting into," Hermione muttered, but Ginny heard her and blushed. "Fine, you redhead nightmare. I'll come with you."
"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Ginny patted Hermione's head as she said, "I knew you'd do what I wanted. Who knows, maybe Santa will be there and he'll grant you a wish."
"Yeah, right. Santa will bring me what I want for Christmas." Hermione knew that she was being sarcastic, but she didn't believe Santa could bring her what she wanted.