Life as it is Lived 4
The Bowling Alley was very dark when the group walked in and the fluorescent lights of the various games around them very really the only light in the room. The same dark blue glow that came from almost all of them was rather harsh on the eyes in the darkness. The pool tables on the right hand side of the room were also in darkness, waiting for someone to come over and switch the down light above the grassy surface of the table on. The bar on the back wall was lit up and obviously open, but the tables in front were also in darkness. "Did someone forget to feed the metre in here?" joked Harry, pretending to feel his way to Hermione with his eyes almost shut. Hermione batted his hands away as he made contact with her waist and stomach. "Quit it Harry," she said, giggling at his silly antics.
They all converged on the front desk and Hermione went to get the lanes as Harry led Draco over to the metal stands with the bowling balls so that they could pick out the right sizes for their fingers, and a weight enough that they could pick it up but it would also do its job on the pins. The guy behind the counter who looked like he'd rather be anywhere but at work right now, Matthew according to his name tag was fiddling with his mobile phone and totally ignoring them. Hermione coughed loudly to get his attention and his head snapped up to the desk where the group was standing. Smiling and looking Hermione up and down he came over and said to Hermione, "How many lanes would you like darlin'?" and winked at her cheekily. Hermione was decidedly unimpressed with him, and kept her face neutral but raised an eyebrow slowly. The young guy's smile diminished somewhat, sensing he'd get nowhere with this girl.
"We would like 2 lanes thank you very much, and don't call me darlin' little man," said Hermione, pulling her copy of their credit card out of her purse to pay for the lanes. Remus, Severus and Lucius hid their smirks behind their hands, revelling in Hermione's obvious dislike for the cocky young man who obviously thought he was god's gift to women on earth. The guy put the payment through and Hermione returned the card to her purse, placing it back into her bag. "Right guys, bowling shoes time" she said, taking her red flats off and turning to Matthew behind the counter again. "Size 6 for myself please, and try to make sure my shoes don't disappear by the time I get them back."
Draco and Harry came over, each holding a bowling ball in their hands and Draco frowned at Hermione with no shoes on giving them to the guy behind the counter, and Harry now taking his own off. "Why are you taking your shoes off? Is it not a bit dangerous to have balls this heavy and large around with bare feet with no protection? What if someone were to drop the ball on their foot?!" Sniggering slightly Harry went up to the counter as Hermione had done and asked for size 9's and the young guy exchanged his Barker Black leather boots for the hideously unattractive bowling shoes.
Following Hermione and Harry's lead, Remus, Severus, Lucius, Dora, Albus and Minerva all followed suit and quickly the only person who didn't have his bowling shoes on was Draco. "Draco you need to change your shoes to these ones. Normal shoes aren't allowed on the bowling alleys because they mark the floors with rubber marks. These ones don't." Draco frowned but seemed to take this in and begin unlacing his Berluti black leather shoes. Taking them off, he walked over to the desk and put them on the wooden surface, "Size 9's please. Oh and these are £250 shoes. They go missing, and so will you!" he said, as the guy took them away and put them in one of the holes behind the desk. Draco inspected the shoes before beginning to put them on, "What do they do with these once you've given them back and got your own shoes? Do they chuck them away or something?"
Hermione couldn't stop the smirk that spread across her face at her utter glee that Draco didn't know that they recycled the shoes for everyone. Oh she was going to enjoy this! "Well of course not Draco," she said, in a light and nonchalant tone, "that would terribly wasteful and very silly! No, No, they spray them with anti-bacterial spray and wipe them down then put them back for someone else to have later on. Everyone wears the same shoes." It took a matter of seconds for a look of utter horror and disgust to appear on his face and he held the offending articles at arm's length. "So you're saying that other people's feet have been in these!" he said, gesturing to the shoes with his other hand, "They could have anything! Foot diseases and stuff!" burst out Draco, not caring that he sounded childish and petulant.
Almost everyone found this too funny to try and hold it in, and suddenly everyone except Draco was holding their sides laughing at him holding the red and blue shoes away from his body. "Draco," laughed Hermione, trying to get control of her laughing and wiping the tears from her eyes, "what do you mean foot diseases and stuff? Next you'll be saying they could have cooties!" This set most people off again, and this time no one attempted to stop until they'd had their fill of laughing at the blonde, who had now dropped the shoes to the floor and had his arms crossed over his chest in annoyance, a slight pink tinge to his cheeks at being openly laughed at. "Well they could have that cooties disease! What are cooties anyway?" Hermione started giggling again but Harry managed to get himself under control first and told Draco to just put the shoes on or we'll never get 1 game in, never mind the 3 they'd paid for.
Dora decided that she'd rather watch the action from a comfortable chair rather than play around holding the large bowling balls. The weight she was carrying was heavy enough as it was for her back. This meant that the teams were now even at 4 on each, so they separated into 2 teams, one contained Severus, Lucius, Draco and Hermione and they called themselves 'Ingenium' meaning intelligence in Latin. The other team was headed by Albus and included Harry, Remus and Minerva along with him. In typical Albus style his team was named after his favourite sweet, so they were 'The Lemon Drops'. Hermione sat down in front of the keyboard for the screen above their heads and pressed a button next to the 'qwerty' keyboard and within a minute a waiter was beside her to take an order for them. Turning to her team mates she said, "Let's get some drinks ordered before we start that game and we can open a tab so that we don't have to keep disappearing to get rounds in". Both teams ordered a round for themselves and as soon as the drinks had arrived the games began in earnest. Hermione and Harry went first for both teams to show the others what to do if they were at all unsure, and at that point Ingenium went ahead, and stayed ahead for the entire 3 games
...
After a rousing win from Ingenium over The Lemon Drops, the group decided to call it a day with the bowling and move over to the bar to continue their night. They gathered up coats, jackets, handbags and any remaining drinks that had not been finished and made their way over to the tables in front of the still very empty bar. "Looks like we've got the place to ourselves doesn't it," said Harry, flopping down onto one of the chairs. He picked up their drinks menu and had a look through it, pulling a face at some of the cocktails they had on there. "What the hell is a woo – woo?!" he said, furrowing his brow and looking towards Hermione turning the menu towards her so she could see what he was pointing at.
Hermione looked over at the drink and smiled, "It's a cocktail made of vodka, peach schnapps, and cranberry juice. It's a "Sex on the Beach" minus the orange juice really. It's nice actually, once you get over the fact that it's pink," she said nonchalantly, pulling her hair brush and perfume out of her handbag. Harry's eyebrows flew into his hair and he made a face of disgust as if she'd told him it was some sort of bodily fluids cocktail. "You seem to be very knowledgeable on muggle alcoholic drinks Hermione. Got a sneaky alcoholic side to yourself that no one else has seen? A closet alchy are you?" Harry said, wiggling his eyebrows at her in what she assumed was supposed to be a suggestive manner, but it simply looked like he'd temporarily lost control of his facial muscles. Arching her eyebrow, Hermione replied, "Of course I'm not an alcoholic Harry", she said, pulling her purse out of her bag and checking she had enough money for the first few rounds. "I am a drunkard. Alcoholics go to meetings!" she joked, sticking her tongue out and standing up.
Hermione moved over to the bar, closely followed by Severus and Lucius who gave the barman everyone else's collective order and waited for Hermione to add her choice to the bar tab. Hermione thought for a second and then said, "To that order you can add a 'Comfortable Screw Up Against The Wall' I think. For now that will do nicely for me." The barman arched an eyebrow and smirked at her before grabbing a glass and beginning the cocktail for her. Smiling, she turned to find two pairs of eyes looking at her with confusion, but also thinly veiled amusement and a little heat. Severus broke out of the reverie first and said, "What the hell was that Hermione? Did you just proposition him or something?" Feeling somewhat affronted but rather playful she rolled her eyes and said, "Severus, I am somewhat offended that you would think I would proposition a total stranger behind a bar, however to answer your questions, no I did not just proposition him! It is a name of a cocktail and he is currently mixing it for me." Hermione turned on her heel, leaving them standing together at the bar to bring the drinks over in a couple of trips.
After he had gotten a few drinks inside him, Harry couldn't help but begin to become somewhat morose about things. "I can't believe I didn't figure it out before! All that time I spent chasing Cho and it turning into something closely resembling a car accident should have taught me something, but no. 4 years I spent skirting around Ginny, and then when it did happen it didn't work out right. I mean, not being able to get a hard-on should have told me something!" Sniggering, Draco said, "Well to be fair to you, it could have been anything. I mean she was ginger for a start. And when you looked hard enough she wasn't that attractive really was she. You shouldn't be too hard on yourself." Smiling and snorting into his drink Harry couldn't help himself, "Yea but someone doesn't have to be beautiful to get you hard! A little mess about is usually all it takes, and I couldn't even do that. I should have figured it out after Cho. Maybe I always knew I was gay, I just never wanted to admit it to myself."
Patting Harry on that back, Draco put his drink down on the table top and took a deep breath, "Well, if we're confessing and being awfully sad then I'll have to say that I too am gay." Almost everyone at that point stared openly at Draco for at least 5 minutes before the moment was broken by Hermione laughing. "So all those years Pansy 'Pugface' Parkinson spent chasing you around that school was a lesson in futility! Ha that's so funny. Still, in all seriousness you could kind of see it if you looked into it. You dressed much too nice for your average bloke, and you took care of yourself. Most guys sort of fell out of bed, then spent the rest of the day grunting until it was time for bed again." Harry sniggered at her and said, "Well you'd know all about that wouldn't you Hermione. You dated the only guy in the school that was third best to Crabbe and Goyle In the oaf grunting competition. Ron was less a human, more a sort of creature from the deep most of the day."
Chuckling into her drink she then sighed and put the empty glass on the table, "Well yes, I plead momentary insanity for that period in my life. Not quite sure what happened there, because it clearly made no sense for us to be together. Although in saying that I really don't think any of the guys in our year at school suited me. Not even the Ravenclaw guys were on my level. I think I knew I needed an adult not a child." Harry nodded vigorously at this, and then left the table for the bar, empty glasses in hand to order another round for the group. While he was gone Draco leaned over to Hermione and said, "Between the two of us, if I made a move on Harry do you think he'd reciprocate, or is it a bad idea on my part?" Hermione looked at him out of the corner of her eye and saw a look of sincerity, but also fear in his eyes and took pity on him. "Draco, I honestly don't know how Harry feels about you. He's never mentioned any attraction to you but in saying that i'm not sure he would admit it even if he did. I suggest you let tonight and your admission sit for a few days, then see where the ground is between the two of you."
Nodding his head as Harry came back with the drink son a tray, Draco sat back up properly in his seat and a mischievous look came over his face, "Well seen as we are on the road of no return, who else has got a little nugget of intrigue for us to chew over?" Scanning the group his eyes rested on his father, who gave him a glare and silently shook his head, but Draco's mind had been made up so he pointed at his dad and said, "Come on daddy dearest, surely you have something to share with the here congregated group." Giving his son another glare, Lucius looked around and look of glee spread across his face. "Given the present company and the previous conversation I would like to confess that, for awhile I've thought that Hermione has grown into a beautiful young woman and I think she's very intelligent and sincere. Hermione Granger I have a crush on you!"
Almost spraying her drink on the rest of them and nearly falling out of her seat Hermione blushed furiously and smiled at Lucius fondly, "Lucius Malfoy you are a charmer, handsome and very well dressed. You have exquisite taste in food, books and when necessary, fine clothing. However, you are unfortunately not my type." He smiled and nodded his head slowly, then gave her an evil smirk. "Well then, if I'm not your type who or what is? What's he like?" Tapping her finger to her temple, Hermione feigned a look of deep thought and then smiled, "Well there a few things I could include in that description. He'd have to be tall, taller than me at least. He needs to have dark hair, and not short either. I don't do short back and sides, I like to have something to hold on to, to pull when the mood takes me. The main thing I think really is he'd have to be intelligent enough to keep up with me."
Lucius smirked at her and said, "Who are you thinking about when you say that? There's got to be someone out there that you think is good enough for you?" Hermione thought about it and said, "Well I'm not exactly thinking about a particular person when I describe him," she said, looking down at her finger nails, pretending to pull invisible bits of fluff off of them. Lucius raised an eyebrow at her and then frowned slightly at her suspicious behaviour. "I've always thought that the actor Richard Armitage was rather hot, and Alan Rickman. He's like super hot I think. His baritone voice is so sexy, and he's got a dark and intense sort of look about him."
Dora chimed into the conversation at that point, "Which one is Richard Armitage again? I recognise that name from somewhere." Hermione nodded at that, "Yes you would recognise his name. Remember we watched that Robin Hood series on BBC 1, he was the Sherriff of Nottingham in it." Dora thought for second then a smile spread across her face. She nodded and a glazed look came over her eyes, "Oh yea, I remember him! All that leather and the studs. He had the full on dark, dangerous and scary thing."
Hermione snorted at her facial expression, and then smiled and put a dreamy look on her face. "Well that's my type of guy, although out of the two I think Alan Rickman would have to get my vote. The voice is just sinful. If he did the M and S food and drink adverts women from all over the world would record it from their TV's to watch on a continual loop." Almost everyone looked confused, Harry was the only one who understood and he sniggered, "I'd have to agree with that. His voice is amazing, but he has a lot of bad luck in his films. He's always a villain; in fact he is the definitive villain. He's been the Sheriff of Nottingham, Hans Gruber, Judge Turpin and Rasputin. You can't really get more evil than Rasputin!"
Draco frowned, "Wasn't the Sheriff of Nottingham the bad guy in the last film we watched? The one that Hermione chose last time." Hermione nodded and said that, yes he was the baddie in the film she had chosen. "Hey Severus, he kind of looks like you doesn't he. All the dark clothing, the hair, the voice and even the personality!" Severus chuckled and nodded his head smiling. Draco smirked and eyed Hermione gleefully, "Well I suppose out of the people here then, Hermione's choice of bloke would be you then Severus." Hermione's head whipped round to Draco so fast he thought she'd have whiplash, and she glared at him, mentally battering him with a beater's bat. Hermione's face was heating up and her cheeks were turning a wonderful shade of Weasley red. She covered her face with her hands to get away from the faces of the grinning group around her. Sighing she said behind her hands, "Yes ok fine, let's all have a good giggle. I fancy Severus, there I said it."