Chapter 14

Hermione got a job in a small cafe in Diagon Alley. The pay was pitiful, but it was a nice environment and it was much better than sitting in the apartment all day. Both Harry and Ginny were true to their word and wrote, sometimes together, which was sickeningly cute. She did look forwards to the news from Hogwarts. Things had died down after she left, apparently. A Hufflepuff girl had gotten pregnant and that was the only real news.

The first week away was tough. It was really nice to be away from the harassment, even though she was lonely with all her friends so far away. But it got easier as she settled in, started setting down routines. She could visit her parents, and she went for a drink with Seamus when she ran into him. He wasn't around much as he was living back in Ireland. She even had dinner with Bill and Fleur.

The customers at the cafe were nice. Usually older shoppers who tended to need a break from shopping. She got to know most of them by name. Occasionally different types of people came in, sometimes the odd person who had graduated ahead of her.

She spent a great deal of time browing Flourish and Botts, to the point where she would get excited on publishing day when the new titles came out.

One day, she literally bumped into a guy when entering the store. It was Gregory Dalsmith. He had been a sandy blond boy who had graduated a few years ahead. A rawenclaw. The setting sun just made him glow golden as she looked up to see who she had just bounced off. The sight took her breath away and to her chargrin made her a bit giggly. He smiled when he saw her and she was shocked when he remembered her name.

She had a very pleasant conversation with him as they stood there holding up the traffic. To her complete surprise, he seemed to want to speak to her because they talked for a whole ten minutes, ignoring the dirty looks of the shoppers trying to squeeze past them.

In the end, he invited her to a party and she accepted. She said goodbye with a smile and couldn't let it go the whole way home. He was astonishingly cute and he seemed a bit interested in her for some astounding reason.

Hermione looked forward to the party the whole week. It had been a really long time since she had been nervous for a good reason. She did her best to look good and she scrubbed up fairly well.

The party was a Rawenclaw party. She knew of a few people there, not well, but acquainted. She wondered how different her life would have been if she had been placed in Rawenclaw. She'd never have been friends with Harry and Ron, and she probably wouldn't have been the continual focus of Draco's persecution to the same degree.

Greg was a pureblood from a fairly old family. He had a sister, which was unusual in a pureblood family, where the Weasleys' fruitfulness were an exception to the rule. But he was really nice, with a smile that made her stomach tingle.

He even took her home afterwards and gave her a small peck. She'd never been escorted home before. These were not the kind of manners she was used to. Life was very exciting for Hermione Granger.

He came and visited her in the cafe a couple of weeks later and ended up staying till closing, but it wasn't until a couple of weeks later that he took her out. They went to one of the small restaurants, then spent an hour at the pub after talking about everything and anything.

Before she knew it, she pretty much had a boyfriend. They went out on the weekends and before long spend a good hour at the end kissing on her doorstep. Hermione was utterly intent of taking it slow. She was not going to make the mistake she did before, when she let her hormones run with it. That had led her to sleep with Draco Malfoy. Anger still seared through her whenever she thought of him and she expressly forbid herself from doing so. But it snuck in at least once a day. Sometimes five.

Come April, Greg and Hermione were an item. They went everywhere together and lately she had asked him to come inside when he took her back to her apartment. It had been a bit nervous at first, but it wasn't long before it was really comfortable. He had a lovely body and his kissed gave her goosebumps all over. The sex was nice and it made Hermione feel safe and sexy. There wasn't the feel of needing to consume and being consumed that it with ... you know, him, but it was lovely.

She had found the nice, respectful, reliable boy slash man she had always wanted. He had just introduced her to his parents and they were a little reserved. She recognised that she was not the ultimate match pureblood parents wanted for their child, but they weren't devastated. Not like they were anything near considering any permanent match, but all the same.

Before she knew it, Harry was back. His arrival at the apartment was a shock to Hermione. She had noticed that there had been few letter from Hogwarts recently, but she'd been too distracted to worry about it.

"Why are you here?" Hermione asked. "You shouldn't be here for another two weeks."

"What a welcome." Harry said. "They needed some extra time to repair the castle so they ended school early. Have you forgotten I was coming?"

"What do you mean two weeks early?" Hermione said feeling fear and adrenalin running through her. "What about Newts?"

Harry looked at her funnily. "They've already been."

Hermione felt ready to faint. She had missed Newts, how had this happened. "What?"

"We already sat them." Harry said, looking at her like she'd lost her mind.

Thoughts were swimming around Hermione's mind.

"You know this." Harry said. "I told you , McGonagall told you. You said you weren't going to sit them."

"No I didn't." Hermione said raising her voice. "Of course I was going to sit them. What do you mean I told you I wasn't going to sit them?"

"You wrote to both me and Professor McGonagall saying that you weren't going to sit them because you had to deal with some family issues."

Hermione could only stare at Harry in disbelief. "What family issues? But I can't get a job at the Ministry unless I have my Newts."

"You wrote me a letter."

"I haven't written to you since March."

"I got a letter from you three weeks ago."

"I even wrote you back to ask if you were sure and if there is anything I could do to help."

Hermione only shook her head.

"I have to see Professor McGonagall." She said and apparated to Hogsmead.

The trek up to Hogwarts was fraught with worry for Hermione. Missing Newts was devastating. It would mean that she didn't graduate and that she couldn't get a real job. It would shunt her career before it even got started.

McGonagall confirmed that she missed Newts and that she had written and said she couldn't make it. There was no way she could remedy it, but she could sit them next year. Hermione cried a bit in the hallway, but at least not all was lost. She could sit them next year, so it was just a year's hiccup in her plan.

When that was settled, she turned her mind to how this happened. Letter she never wrote and more she never read. She hadn't been that distracted. Someone had intercepted her mail and made her miss the Newts; the only thing of crucial importance in her life. She didn't think any of her friends would play a joke like this. It was too bad a taste for Fred, eventhough he'd been acting weird. This was done by someone who wanted to hurt her and she only knew one of those.

Granted there were lots of people who wanted to see her brought down a peg or two, but she only knew one that would act on it. Mother effin bastard, she swore over and over. Luckily there weren't anyone around in the hallways to hear her.

She stayed at Harry's apartment for a few days and thought over every revenge scenario she could think of inflicting on Draco Malfoy. The apartment was really too small for a couple and a third wheel, particularly as Harry and Ginny were all over each other. They also announced their engagement one night at the Burrows. Hermione was really glad for them, not that it had been a surprise by any stretch of the imagination. The engagement did make Mrs. Weasley a little more lenient on letting Ginny stay with Harry, which made nights much more uncomfortable for Hermione in the small apartment.

Thinking of revenge scenarios when people were noisily having sex in the room next door just wasn't working right. Hermione moved back to her parent's house the next day. It was strange being back in her childhood room. She didn't feel like a child anymore, but she didn't want to change it because it was so nostalgic.

Greg was a perfect distraction. He made her laugh and life was fun when she was with him. She even took him to the Burrows when Harry and Ginny got engaged. Ron wasn't happy about it, but he was a damned sight happier than her last choice.

Having the school out did send little shivers of anguish down her spine as some of her old classmates started to appear in Diagon Alley. Some even came into the cafe. Even some of the Slytherin's. They weren't downright harassing, but they made it known that working in a cafe was well beneath them. Actually she served quite a few of them.

At the end of the week, she was called over by the boss at the end of the shift.

"Miss Granger, we have had a few complaints about your service lately." She said in a colder voice than usual. "Some of the patrons have said that you were rude and untidy."

Hermione didn't know what they were referring to, she given exactly the same level of service as she had before.

"I am afraid we have to let you go." The cafe owner continued.

Hermione was stunned and shocked. She gathered her things and left the cafe. She'd never been fired before and she couldn't quite understand how that had happened. It wasn't until she'd walked down the Alley a bit that she had realised what had just happened. It was the Slytherins. They had complained and gotten her fired. She wanted to throw her bag and stomp her feet she was so angry. He had screwed her again.