Hermione arrived at The Bookend early the next morning after the Puddlemere United party. Her store didn't open for another two hours so she had some time to herself even before her staff came in for the day. She sat down in her office to go through the mail she had missed yesterday since she didn't drop by the shop the whole day. She then reviewed the inventory report she had asked Alice to complete so they can place orders for low-stock titles and newly published books that had been recently released. It took her an hour to finish reviewing everything and she had begun writing down order forms when there was a knock on her office door. She looked up and saw Alice standing by the door frame, a cup of coffee-to-go in her left hand.

"Good morning, Alice! Come in!" She gestured for the younger woman to enter her office. Alice gave her a smile, walked into the room, and took one of the seats in front of Hermione's desk.

"Good morning, Hermione! I'm surprised you're in quite early today, considering there was an event last night," Alice said, a gentle smile on her face. "It would have been fine with Stephen and I if you took the day off. I'm sure the party ended quite late."

"Oh I know you and Stephen can run this place perfectly without me," she replied with a laugh. "Ethan had an early football practice this morning so instead of lounging about at home, I just went straight here after I dropped him off. Besides, I've been gone a lot these past weeks because of the event. I kinda feel bad about it."

"You could still get a few hours of sleep in here," Alice offered. "Besides, we know how busy it could get whenever The Magic Touch gets these big events. It's perfectly fine. Between there and here, you work too hard as it is."

Hermione looked at the younger woman in front of her, appreciating her concern. Alice Hooper was fresh out of Hogwarts when she applied for work at her bookshop a year ago. Stephen was already working for her for a couple of months by then and when she met Alice, she knew she had found a kindred spirit in her. With her dark brown hair cut in a pixie style, ocean blue eyes and her lithe physique due to her quidditch career in Hogwarts, people tended to assume she didn't belong in a bookshop. But then she would surprise them with a display of her intelligence that had put her in the famed Ravenclaw house at Hogwarts. Hermione knew that's the house that prized intelligence above all, having read Hogwarts, A History a couple of times before. She would have gone to Hogwarts as well, had her parents not decided to move to France when she was around nine years old. Not for the first time, she had wondered which Hogwarts house she would have ended up in.

Hermione shook her head. "No, I'm fine. Besides, I'll be picking up Ethan after his practice so I'll be leaving earlier, anyway."

"Alright," Alice conceded. "So tell me, how was the party last night? Met any gorgeous quidditch player?" She wagged her eyebrows at Hermione, a teasing smirk on her face.

It was fortunate that Hermione wasn't in the process of drinking her morning tea or she would have spewed the liquid all over her desk and at Alice. She could feel the intense blush crawling from her neck to her cheeks. She began fixing the documents on her desk so she wouldn't have to face her employee but Alice already noticed the redness on her cheeks.

Alice laughed at her boss. " Oh you did! You're red as a tomato right now! Tell me, who was it? Was it Robinson Puck? Or was it Harry Potter?"

Hermione still could not look at the younger woman. "Uhm. Last night was so hectic! I was too busy to meet anyone."

"You know you can't lie to save your life."

She finished fixing the papers on her desk so she couldn't find any more excuses to stall, she sighed before leaning back on her leather chair. "Oh fine! I met Harry Potter last night. Mind you, I already met him a few weeks ago at their quidditch stadium, so I didn't technically 'meet' him last night."

"How exciting! Is he as gorgeous in person as the photos in the papers and magazines?" the younger woman inquired excitedly.

"He's actually more good-looking in person. He was incredibly nice and was such a gentleman," Hermione said. She barely kept herself from swooning, which was ridiculous, because she had never swooned over a man before. She remembered the way he placed her hand on his arm as they took a walk around the gardens. Whenever she spoke, he looked directly at her and listened to her intently. She realized that he showed genuine interest in the things she spoke about and had not once made her feel bad about her love of books or her intelligence. It was the first time where she felt comfortable to be just herself and not worry about what the other person thought of her.

"Earth to Hermione!" Alice said in a sing-song voice as she waved her hand in front of her face to try and get her attention.

"Oh! I'm sorry, got a bit lost there," she said with a guilty smile.

"So I've noticed," Alice remarked with a wry grin. "You can be forgiven for being lost in a daydream about Harry Potter. He is quite dreamy."

Hermione laughed. "That, he is. Truly. I've never met a man quite like him," she admitted and the blush on her face remained.

"So? What happened that gave you that goofy smile on your face?" The younger woman inquired eagerly. Hermione smiled at her friend. She might be several years younger but Hermione considered Alice to be one of her dearest friends and knew she would not tell anyone anything she said.

"He invited me to walk around the gardens of the hotel," she began, deliberately prolonging the suspense and it amused her to watch Alice bounce in her seat in anticipation.

"And?" She prompted when Hermione didn't continue speaking and took her time as she drank her tea.

"And we just talked," she said, as casually as she could with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Well, what did you talk about?"

"Random things, really. Our careers, our schools, among other things," she reminisced. "But we had to cut our walk short because there was an emergency at one of the food stations. One of the guests was complaining about the food not being vegan-friendly, when in fact, half of the dishes we chose were vegan." Hermione rolled her eyes as she remembered the irate man and how he was told off by one of the chefs since half of the dishes were, in fact, vegan, and he would have realized that if only he read the labels beside each dish. She had to refrain from laughing at the red-faced man when he walked away in embarrassment but she gave the chef a subtle thumbs up.

Alice rolled her eyes at that but the excited expression on her face returned. "So did Harry Potter ask to see you again?"

This girl has a one-track mind, Hermione scoffed internally. "He did."

"And what did you say? Did you say yes?"

"I said it wasn't a good idea."

"WHAT?! Why?!" Alice asked, shocked.

"I said the timing was off and I don't have time to date," Hermione shrugged.

"That's a load of bullshite, Hermione," Alice rolled her eyes again.

"It really isn't, you of all people know that. Between The Bookend, The Magic Touch and Ethan, I don't have much time left for myself, much less for meeting and dating men, especially ones that are famous. I can't even get started on taking my mastery because I'm swamped right now," Hermione said with a frown. She had planned on taking a mastery in Charms and Spell Development after she graduated from Beauxbatons but had to postpone it when her life turned upside down before the end of her fifth year.

"Again, that's a load of bullshite. You know you need to have some time for yourself and have some fun, or else you're going to burn yourself out," Alice said, repeating the same sentiments Margarethe expressed a few weeks ago.

"I can't afford to have 'fun,'" Hermione retorted with her fingers gesturing in the air.

"So what, you're going to wait until you're too old to start dating again?" Alice asked incredulously.

"It's not like I haven't dated before, I have tried the whole dating thing. And I'm quite tired of the whole getting-to-know-you routine of dating just for the whole thing end. Most men just couldn't handle the baggage I have."

"Hermione, you can't be serious. You can't let your life revolve around work and Ethan. You've got to have your own life, as well," Alice said pleadingly. Hermione understood her friend's worries. She's not even the first one to express such concern, since Margarethe had been saying the same thing to her for years already. The few times she did date, she already expected the relationship to end prematurely. It's not like she lacked admirers and suitors, they simply didn't interest her enough or they didn't date long enough for them to stick around.

Until Harry Potter.

And that scared her. In the few minutes she spent with him, she felt like he already knew her for so long, and she, him. He was so easy to talk to, with his dry wit and profound understanding, that she felt comfortable with him. She had never felt that way about anyone she had only just met and that was one of the reasons why she refused his invitation to dinner. When the messenger spell arrived, it had burst the bubble she was in and her reality had come crashing around her. She had no business spending time and taking romantic walks around gardens with an admittedly gorgeous and fascinating man. Harry Potter could have any woman he wanted and she was sure that once he found out about the massive baggage she carried around, he would need his broomstick to get away from her as fast as he could.

—

Harry slowly emerged from the land of dreams on a large king-size bed, in the room provided to the team by the hotel. The Puddlemere Team management didn't want their players to apparate while intoxicated because that may cause some accidents. He stared at the ceiling of his room and the sunlight peeking through the closed windows told him it's already late in the morning. He began to think and reminisce about the events that happened the night before.

He wasn't the type of bloke who slept around (mainly due to his fame as the man who ended Voldemort's reign of terror and his quidditch career, but also because he found it crass to stick his cock in everything that moves in a skirt, like what some of his teammates and peers did) but he was, after all, of the male species so he did sometimes indulge himself to a willing woman once in a while. This was not one of those instances. A year ago, he had a warm, willing body with him in bed the morning after the same party. But after last night, after those few stolen moments with a certain Ms. Granger, he didn't even look at the other women in attendance. Not even the most scantily clad women at the party, who were practically throwing themselves at him, gave him a minute's pause. He simply ignored them in favor of looking at Hermione from afar. He couldn't stop watching her as she was a sight to behold while she worked. She was gracious, patient and was not afraid to get her hands dirty if she needed to. She always had a ready smile for everyone and even if she was far from him, he could hear her laughter in his mind whenever he saw her laugh. He didn't dare approach her again because he knew she would just scamper away and find a way to escape him. So he just settled on watching her work and move about the large ballroom. He knew she knew he was watching her because she caught him looking at her several times during the night. He smiled internally because that meant she was looking for him as well. She was definitely different from all the women he had met and dated before, and he knew he will regret it for the rest of his life if he simply let her go now.

Having made up his mind regarding the mysterious brunette, he looked at the clock on the nightstand beside the bed. It was a little after 10 in the morning. Thankfully, their coach didn't schedule any training that day as he knew his players would be up until the wee hours of the morning, drinking and partying. He stood up and made his way to the bathroom to do his morning business.

Half an hour later, he had showered and was ready to go. He decided to leave the hotel early to do some of his errands and maybe visit his godson, whom he hadn't seen in weeks. He made sure all of his things were already packed in his overnight bag then left the hotel room.

"Good morning, Mr. Potter! How are you this morning?" The hotel receptionist greeted him when he reached the front desk.

"Good morning. I'd like to check out, please," he replied as he gave the man the keycard to his room.

"Of course, sir. Just give me a few minutes." The receptionist then proceeded to do the check out transaction. As Harry waited, he took a moment to observe the hotel lobby. It was quite a lavish hotel, with walls covered in white paint and gold metal accents. The floor was all white marble with some carpets interspersed underneath extravagant couches for waiting guests. To the left of the front desk, where Harry came from, was where the lifts and the entrance to the hotel's restaurant and bar were located. To the right was a hallway leading to the ballrooms. Hermione's smiling face came unbidden in his mind as he saw the closed doors of the ballroom where the event was held the night before. He wondered how he could get in touch with her as he realized he didn't even remember to ask for her contact number.

I bet the team's management can help me there, he mused.

"Everything's been settled already, Mr. Potter," the receptionist said as he returned.

"Great! Thanks a lot," he replied as he picked up his duffel bag from the floor.

"You're most welcome, sir. We hope to see you again at our hotel."

Harry tipped the muggle baseball cap he was wearing and gave the man behind the front desk a small wave. He turned towards the exit. When he reached the apparition point, he apparated straight home.

— — —

"Hey Harry, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be on your day off today?" Lavender Brown, Orpheus Gregson's secretary and his Hogwarts classmate, asked in surprise when she saw him approach her.

"Hi, Lav. How about you? You were at the party last night, too. I'm sure you had a late night, as well," Harry replied with a smile when he stopped in front of her desk.

Lavender waved her hand abstractly, "I had to finish some paperwork that Mr. Gregson needs by next week. And I'll be gone for a few days so I want everything done before then."

He observed her for a few seconds, remembering the giggly blonde back in Hogwarts. She was definitely pretty, with her wavy blonde hair, large blue eyes, and a fair complexion. Her to-die-for curves were every man's fantasy, though Harry felt strangely immune to them. It was probably because he considered her one of his good friends and he was glad to see her settle well in her job with Puddlemere United. She was smart and competent, despite her being quite a gossip, which he was planning to exploit a bit in the next few minutes.

"Oh, right! You're going to Greece. Maybe I should take a few days before the season starts, too," he said thoughtfully.

"I'd like to see you try and ask for Armond's permission this close to the start of the season," she laughed.

"We'll see. Actually," he took a deep breath, "I need a bit of help."

She nodded, "If I can. With what?"

"I'm sure you know who organized the party last night," he began.

"Of course! The event organizer was the company called The Magic Touch! They were recommended to Mr. Gregson. I was the one who contacted them and coordinated with them regarding the party. Why? Do you have a party that needed organizing?" she inquired.

"N—actually, yeah. Something like that. So I need to know how to get in contact with them about it," he lied. He pocketed his hands to keep them from fidgeting. He hoped she didn't catch his bald-faced lie. For some reason, he didn't want her to know why he needed to contact them.

"Well, their office is at the new lane, Pentagon Alley, just beyond Diagon Alley," Lavender turned her swivel chair and searched for something in one of the drawers behind her. When she found what she was looking for, she turned back towards Harry. She waved her wand and made a copy of what looked like a business card in her hand.

"Here's their address and their phone number. Thank Merlin someone finally made phones work here. It was so much easier to talk over the phone than owls," she said as she gave Harry the copy of the business card.

"Thanks a lot for this, Lav!" He couldn't help the smile that grew on his face as he looked down on the card in his hand.

"U-huh. Just make sure to invite me to whatever party you're planning on having," she said with her eyebrow raised, but there was a smile on her face.

He guessed he'd have to have a party for real or else, Lavender would give him a hard time about it. Lavender loved parties.

He nodded, "Sure. I'll let you know the details once it's planned." He gave her a smile and a wave goodbye before heading back to the lifts. Now, what he needed was a game plan.