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Well here's my third chapter. I know it took some time to have it written down, but some phrases just didn't want themselves written... I think I'll be looking for a beta to write the next one, if anybody's interested...
Now, about the names in this chapter... For those of you who don't know, Cian is to be pronounced Kian, and Saoirse is something along the lines of Seersha. They're both typical Irish names that come from Gaelic.
Enjoy!
'I've got a present for you.'
Hermione tilted her head to the side at the blunt declaration. She ran a finger through her dampened hair. Of course, the day she was going to travel by Portkey, it had to have rained. She was standing on top of a hill, near the Burrow. If she remembered rightly, they weren't too far from the spot they had been portkeyed to de Quidditch world cup form. Their Portkey was due in fifteen minutes, and Ron, George, Harry and Ginny were keeping Hermione and Charlie company until the battered hat started glowing. Ron took a packet out of his pocket he had very obviously wrapped himself. Hermione took it with a sincere smile and placed a light kiss on his lips, with a quiet 'Thank you.'
'You can open it now' He added hastily. He seemed proud of his finding. The young witch tore the wrapping paper delicately, careful not to break it, and took out the small notebook it had covered. On the front a white dragon with glittering eyes breathed a colourful flame represented by multicoloured sequins. Hermione's name was engraved on the cardboard page. She gasped, stroking the cover gently and trying to protect it from the drizzling rain that poured over her. 'It's beautiful.'
Ron grinned all the way to his ears, turning a bit red. 'It's one of George's latest products. It's not out yet. It's a 'Cheater's Cheeky Carnet'.' He explained in a rush. Hermione's brow lifted slightly as she gazed at the red-head. 'But it's not just for cheating, you know. Well, I have one too, you see, and the two notebooks are charmed together. If I write something in mine then it'll appear in yours.' His voice sounded sweetly ashamed as he went on with his explanation. 'That way... We'll be able to keep in touch. Although George said since the books will be so far apart it might take a few hours for the writing to go all the way. It's still faster than owls, I reckon.' When he stopped staring at his shoes and looked back to Hermione, he took in her bright smile and his heart fastened a bit. She put the Carnet in her backpack, not taking her eyes off Ron, and wrapped her arms around him. He gladly returned her hug, and they stood for a moment, getting themselves soaked and not caring about it. Finally Hermione broke their embrace to look up at the tall boy she was so sorry for leaving behind. He leaned in and kissed her in a way that made her whole body warm up. They were brought back down to earth by Ginny calling over the rain. 'All right, Portkey's here. Hermione get off my brother or you'll miss it.'
They broke apart, and the witch set her light hazel eyes in his darker brown ones. 'Write to me every day?' She asked timidly.
'Of course.' She gave him one last kiss and moved to say goodbye to Ginny, George and Harry. She would miss the lot of them, but behind the Portkey a whole new world lay out for her to discover. She waved them a last goodbye and set her hand on the old glowing hat, thrusting her free hand inside Charlie's.
'Ready?' He asked.
'As much as can be.' She answered with a grin.
The world started to distort and soon she was thrown inside the familiar, sickening tunnel. She clasped to Charlie like her life depended on it. The 'ride' was longer than she had thought it would be, but then again Romania wasn't that close. She soon felt seasick, and was awfully glad to find the ground under her feet after what appeared like an eternity of being torn apart in all directions. She hated travelling by Portkey, but it was by far the easiest way to go so far. She stumbled when meeting solid ground and tried to regain her very altered balance. Failing miserably. The young witch found herself on her bottom, her head swinging madly and ears blotted the way it would usually get after a long plane ride. She shook her head to try and clear her thoughts a bit, and did not take notice that a very bright pink-shaped object had appeared in her field of vision. When she did, she automatically followed the skin-toned bit that was attached to it, and all the way to something red, somewhere above her. Charlie's face was the first thing she managed to focus her blurry vision on. He wore a half smile, probably amused at seeing her on the floor with the look of utter confusion she felt across her face. Her eyes went back down along his arm, to land on the glass of fizzy fuchsia potion he was holding out. Now, this made a bit more sense. She recognised Miss Messy's Hangover Reliever, and sighed contently.
'Thanks' was all she managed to say before grabbing the cup greedily and downing it all at once. Her head lightened nearly instantly, and she got up –shakily, yes, but got up nonetheless, catching the corner of a nearby table to steady herself.
'Don't worry about it. I know how it feels' Charlie answered when he saw her get better. 'Did that to me as well the first times I went through a twenty minute long Portkey ride.'
She gave out a small giggle. 'Those probably were the worst twenty minutes of my life... Well if you count all the Voldemort chasing out obviously.' She felt him flinch more than saw it. That name was still an issue for some, as well as the thoughts it brought up. She was not sure which had set the Weasley boy off.
'Well are you feeling any better now?'
'Loads better actually. And thanks for Miss Messy's. I didn't know it could be used for anything other than hangovers... But then again the two feelings are very similar.'
He chuckled. 'I suppose they are.' He caught his bag from the floor and held hers out for her. 'Well now that you're all set, I say we get out of the Portkey arrival areas and get to through with the administrative part. After that's done you'll get to meet some very good friends of mine.' He trailed off and started smiling dreamily. He had mentioned some of his friend a few times, and they sounded like fun.
'We only get to the reserve tomorrow, don't we?' The hazel-eyed witch asked, following him out of the small room into a corridor that reminded her strongly of St Mungo's.
'Right you are' He answered, pushing a wooden door open and letting her through.
'Anything special planned, since we're in Bucharest?' He glanced her way with a mischievous twinkle that was normally found in the twins' eyes. Or at least the remaining one. Hermione fought that trail of thoughts off. She was not ready to face any of this just yet. She quirked an eyebrow in response.
They entered a wider room, filled with rows of lined up desks. Hermione found weird that only three of them had people seated behind when there were over twenty altogether. He led her to one of the used ones, taking his passport out of his back pocket. He gestured towards it. 'You have it with you, right?' She gave her a warning glance that was meant to remind him he was talking to the most organized witch of her age. He shrugged and sat down in front of a tall balding man with almond-shaped eyes.
'Passports?" The man asked them, with a very peculiar way of pronouncing his r's, rolling them much the ways the Spanish did, but with a hint of something even more foreign in it. Both friends handed their documents to him. The royalties took them even longer than the actual trip, as Hermione had to fill in an enormous pile of papers to apply for a residential visa. It reminded her of the trips she took with her parents to France over the holidays, through Muggle transports.
An hour and a half later, they were out of the arrival building and in the streets of Bucharest. The sun was slowly setting in the distance. Hermione gasped at how hot the air was and took off her jacket. Charlie led her towards a small group of people apparently waiting for him with a broad smile on his face.
'Charlie!' A small girl shrieked, starting to run towards him. Her bright green ponytails startled Hermione for a second. The girl was wearing a delicate black dress and a torn pair of tights. She threw herself in the Weasley's arms with a laugh.
'Anca, I've missed you!' He answered, spinning her around in his arms. Three other silhouettes approached them meanwhile, amused at a scene which was apparently routine. When the redhead lowered the girl to the ground again, he seemed to realize Hermione was still there. He cleared his throat with a grin and turned to her, placing a hand on her shoulder.
'Well, Hermione, meet some of my friends. This is Anca.' He gestured towards the green-haired girl. 'She's a Romanian animagus, and probably my best friend to walk this earth.' Said Anca beamed at Hermione and winked at her. 'Then, you have Cian and Saoirse, the Irish brothers.' A tall sandy brown-haired man came forward and shook Hermione's hand vigorously. His eyes were a startling shade of blue. Behind him stood a smaller witch with dark hair. She waved at the girl with a shy welcoming grin. Moving Hermione a bit further, he turned her in front of a tanned black-haired man. 'And this is my very good friend Luca. He's from Italy and he can practically sing dragons to sleep.' The comment was met with a short bark of laugh, as Luca grabbed the young witch's hand and lowered his head to brush his lips against the skin of her hand. She blushed slightly.
'And you,' he looked back at her, 'must be Hermione!' Smile at him and nod was all she managed. 'Welcome to Romania!' squeaked Anca, jumping up and down on the spot. 'Charlie wrote to us about you, he said you were a nice girl.' The smile on her face was so warm and welcoming Hermione relaxed a bit. She always felt awkward in front of people she didn't know.
'Well that's very nice of you, Charlie.' She gave him a small nudge in the arm. He just waved off the comment. 'Yeah, well, now you've all been introduced, let's get going. I'm starved!' Everyone just laughed at the comment, and Hermione got the distinct impression Weasley appetite was legendary here as much as it was in Britain. The crowd made its way on the street until they came to a stop in front on a tiny, sappy pub. Cian informed her it was the Romanian equivalent of London's Leaky Cauldron. Hermione took a moment to get a detailed look of everyone. They seemed to be a happy bunch. All worked at the reserve along with Charlie. Anca was one of the rare wizards working there to be a native, as most of the Romanian folk preferred ministry jobs or going abroad. Cian and Saoirse had arrived before Charlie, and worked everything as a duo. They weren't twins, but Saoirse was only one year older than her brother. They reminded Hermione of the way Fred and George used to act. She pushed the allusion aside, not wanting to let everyone witness her cracking up. As they made their way inside the bar and through a wooden door in the back, her stomach started growling angrily. Hermione blushed, but everyone just laughed playfully.
'I thought she was not a Weasley, Charlie. But it looks like she is as hungry as one!' That was Anca speaking.
'Yeah, well she is dating my brother, so I guess it rubbed off on her.' The party nodded their agreement. Her going out with Ron was apparently no news. It made her a little uncomfortable, but then again she would not have to clarify things later on. And she was quite hungry too.
The Romanian version of Diagon Alley was something entirely different, but at the same time the place felt like she had already been there. The shops were smaller, more diversified and yet more colourful and bright. The whole thing looked like a busy street on a market day rather than an established commercial lane. The group walked eagerly towards a counter, at the end of the street. Men were cooking full porks on top of huge fires while women moved about with plates of drinks. Anca ordered them all meals in Romanian while the rest of the group headed towards a free table. The entire scene was set outside, and reminded Hermione of a village party. The trees around were covered in lights, and the indistinct chatter that reached them from the shopping street behind them mingled with music. Hermione sat between Luca and Charlie on a wooden bench. Soon, Anca joined them, and not long after a curvy witch brought them a tray of butterbeers and a bottle of transparent liquid that did not smell like water. Glasses were passed around and filled with the liquor.
'Ever had Vodka, Hermione?' Charlie asked. She shook a nervous head. 'Well then, there's a first to everything. Just don't tell mum, she would probably ground me if she knew...' He was only half joking. Cian chuckled and held up his glass.
'Well, cheers everyone.' They all lifted their glass and downed them at once. Hermione coughed as the liquor burned through her throat, harder than Firewhiskey. She felt Luca's hand pat her back gently with laughter in his eyes. She just smiled and turned back to the table. The witch had come back with a huge plate of grilled pieces of pork and a bowl of mash. They all started to dig in. In between bites, Charlie explained to her it was tradition to come here on the first day, party with the people in Bucharest at the same time, and then head to camp the following day.
The night fell on the cheerful crowd, which after emptying their plated went on to downing entire bottles of Vodka. Soon Hermione felt light and dizzy. Not being used to drink, she was careful not to end up completely wasted. The atmosphere was warm and everyone made sure she was enjoying herself. She ended up without knowing how sitting next to Anca and chatting with her. Charlie was apparently some sort of legend over here. The guy who never threw up, and never fell in love. All the girls around camp tried to seduce him, but so far he hadn't kept any of them for longer than a month. As she looked up, Hermione saw him dancing away with Saoirse a small way down, with other couples. This was a very different Charlie than the one she thought she knew. Of course, he had told her a bit of the wild Romanian lifestyle, but she had never taken time to picture the way he acted around women. Somehow, she had always guessed he had some Romanian girlfriend or other. A hand on her shoulder got her back to present. Cian asked her to dance with him, so they both got up and headed for the improvised dance floor. Anca and Luca soon followed. The night got deeper to find the six of them still dancing wildly among others. At first, Hermione had a bit of difficulty learning the steps, mostly due to what she had already drank, but then the music scooped her up and she became unstoppable. The fast and cheerful music came from a small band in a corner of the open space, and the songs they ^played were a mix between Russian polka and Irish gig. She danced with Cian for a while, as he was a very good teacher and dancer at the same time. Then with Luca, who had a much more sensual approach to dancing. Finally, Charlie cut in and showed her a few more tricks. She missed the way Anca watched them as they went, eyes full of hope. After some time, they all felt a bit sore and dizzy, so the group headed back towards the table. Hermione was rightly drunk by then. And so was Luca. He got up after a short while on the bench and ran to the nearest tree. A thunder of applause and laughter welcomed him back, and Charlie slipped inside bewildered Hermione's ear: 'First one out pays for everyone.' Before getting back to joking his friend around.
Dawn was not far when the party moved itself towards the Laughing Unicorn, the pub which gave access to this part of town. Rooms had already been taken care of earlier, so everyone said goodnight rapidly before going to bed. Hermione lifted a brow upon seeing Charlie wasn't going alone, and had a tall, black-haired girl hanging on one arm. He caught her eye and shrugged with a smile. She shook her head with a giggle and said her farewells to the remaining group before heading to her own room. She let herself fall on the comfortable bed, but couldn't go to sleep just yet. There was something she was forgetting. After a few minutes of thinking, she got up in a rush, nearly falling to the ground in the process and reached for her bag. She grabbed a self-inking quill and opened the small Carnet Ron had given her earlier. She had promised herself to write to him before the day was over. She thought again for a minute, not sure what to write, and then started.
Dear Ron,
Romania is great! I met a couple of your brother's friends today. Everyone was very kind. There was a welcome party thrown for us. I had good fun, but I missed you still. I hope you're having a good time in Ottery St Catchpole. I'll write to you some more tomorrow.
Love,
Hermione.
She wondered for a minute about writing down 'I love you', but although she could picture the words in her head, she was unable to tell them to Ron just yet. She laid the booklet down on her night table and made her way back to bed. The dizziness kept her awake for a few minutes, but exhaustion was stronger. That night, she dreamed about dancing with dragons, of parties and red-haired boys.