Chapter: Three
Rating: PG, just to be on the safe side
Disclaimer: I own nothing. they´re all J.K Rowling´s characters, I´m just playing with them.
A/N: Remember that reviews are love and that they give my sometimes sleeping muse a good kick in the butt! A third installment at long last, and now there´s a beta onboard.
Thank you so much kcstories! I now give you "A life once ordinary," longer, better and betaed:
Hermione stirred uneasily under the covers. She had never felt this uncomfortable in her life. Not only was she completely naked in a strange bed, this predicament had apparently also led to a very heated discussion in the living room; between Luna and someone who could only be Luna's girlfriend. She thought she recognized the other voice as belonging to Padma Patil.
"Luna dear, why is there a naked woman in your bed?" Padma´s voice had a sharp edge.
"No reason, just a harmless bit of fun," Luna answered. "Sailing in other waters, you know."
"No, I don't know. But do tell me more about these waters of yours."
"Well, I just wanted to try something different. I love you and all that, but I was curious."
Luna could have been talking about cabbage for all her voice revealed. Her tone was flat, matter-of-factly and barely held any of its usual dreamy qualities.
"I don't believe you, Luna. You claim to love me, but think nothing of cheating on me?"
"I never said I slept with that naked woman in there."
"True. Did you?"
"Is it important?"
"I would assume so, yes. Your beliefs have, however, left me baffled before." The sharp edge of Padma´s voice was now covered in ice.
"I suppose so. Alright, we did sleep together."
"Why in Rowena's name would you do something like that? And why is she still here when you knew I was coming over?" A hint of hysteria could be heard in her words now.
Luna remained calm and spoke carefully, pronouncing every syllable with utmost care and a rather vicious tone. "You flaunted your excursions. Why shouldn't I?"
"I did no such thing!" Padma was quick to defend herself. "It would never have happened if we hadn't been pissed out of our skulls and she only remained here because she was too drunk to Floo home. I couldn't let her Splinch herself, could I? And I've told you a thousand times how sorry I am about that. If I had a Time-Turner I would have changed it, but you and your friends destroyed them all. I love you, Luna; you know that. Why did you do this? Just to get back at me? I thought we were over this."
"We were. Until you came home with love-bites on your thighs."
"What, when? Padma managed to sound both surprised and nervous.
"Last week. Forgot how to cast a simple concealment charm, did you? I forgave you once, Padma. I blamed it on intoxication and stupidity, but twice? No. I can't explain away twice. I hope you hurt now, but it isn't half of the pain I felt last week."
"I- I…fell?
"Not true, and not funny. Just leave, Padma."
"Would this be you dumping me?"
"It would be, yes."
"But I—"
"No, you don't. And you won't. Leave please."
The calm was still present, but more exasperated now. Luna forced herself not to look into Padma´s tearful eyes. Her resolution might very well fail her if she did.
Padma gazed at Luna, tears streaming down her cheeks. She knew Luna well enough to know when she was being serious and she certainly was now.
There was nothing for it.
She went over to the fireplace, took a handful of Floo powder from the jar on top of the mantelpiece, whispered "My flat" as she threw the powder and left.
Hermione stared wide-eyed at the ceiling. Nothing in her previous experiences could have prepared her for this particular conundrum. What did you tell someone who had obviously just staged a rather intricate plot to get rid of her girlfriend - "I feel sorry for you"?
"Well done?" And why couldn't Luna just have told Padma to sod off and get it over with? Why the drama?
Being the smartest witch of her age did nothing for Hermione in this case. She was angry with Luna for using her like this but decided not to tell her that. She had enough problems for one morning; or midday, according to a bright yellow grandfather clock in a corner. Slowly, she sat up and started searching for her clothes.
Luna was sitting on the living room couch with her face in her hands. She had never before felt this miserable, not even when she had found out at that Nargles weren't real. Giving Padma a taste of her own potion had felt like a good idea at the time and it had served its purpose. Their three-year old relationship was over now. She knew it was for the best. Fidelity was important to her and Padma obviously couldn't keep her legs crossed; her beautiful legs…
Don't go there, brain.
Approaching footsteps.
Who? Oh, right. Hermione.
Suddenly said witch stood in front of her, wearing a bed cover and a confused expression. "Luna?"
"Yes?"
"Where are my clothes?"
"In the desk to the right of the bedroom door, top left drawer."
"Alright. Why all of them?"
"Well, you fell asleep on the couch and I thought you'd be more comfortable nude. The cooling charms of this flat are rather awry."
"Right. So it wasn't because you were going to use me in some plan to deceive Padma? Something to do with infidelity maybe?"
Hermione was careful not to sound irritated and she really wasn't anymore. Once she'd seen Luna sitting with her face in her hands and had heard her labored breathing all feelings of annoyance had evaporated. Now she was more interested in finding out how Luna was coping with things.
"You heard us, didn't you?"
"It was hard to avoid, you were a little loud."
"I really am sorry for using you like that, Hermione. I didn't know what to do with all my anger and it hurt so much. I apologize for pulling you into my private affairs and all, but it seemed too good an opportunity to dismiss when you went out like a candle."
"It's okay. Really. Are you alright?"
"No. But I will be. The corners of Luna's lips went up in a small smile and she looked up at Hermione through her bangs.
For some reason, Hermione felt her stomach lurch. She must be hungry.
"Will you stay a while?" Luna asked.
"Alright. I'm in no hurry." She hesitantly sat down next to Luna and put an arm around her shoulders. Luna leaned back and they sat together in silence for a while.
Even though they had only sent the occasional Owl to each other since Hermione graduated from Hogwarts all those years ago, her presence felt comforting to Luna. Maybe being around anybody but Padma would be, but still…
Eventually Luna's stomach grumbled and with a tiny giggle at that, she went up and treaded away to the kitchen.
Hermione followed suit.
As full as the living room and hallway were with books and artifacts the kitchen was with cupboards and cabinets. Most of these were of a dull beige colour that clashed magnificently with the variety of the rest of the apartment.
Luna was opening cupboards and ripping out drawers at an alarming rate, picking out this and that.
Her arms overflowing with jars, satchels, cutlery and plates, she went over to the enormous kitchen table Hermione was already seated at and laid everything down in a heap. An uttered charm later, everything was laid out orderly on the table and they both had napkins in their laps.
It was everything you could wish for from a breakfast table. A breakfast buffet even. Eggs, bacon, toast, marmalades, jams, kippers, scones, yoghurt and much more.
Hermione, who felt famished at this point, ate to her heart's content.
Luna just nibbled slowly at a piece of toast and gazed at Hermione with a curious expression. Well, more curious than usual anyway.
"I'm sorry about Padma," Hermione said, breaking the silence. "Your girlfriend, was she"?
"Yes," Luna said, smiling inwardly. Like Hermione hadn't figured that out already! "And don't be," she added. "It was time to break it off. I could only tolerate that much. It'll be alright. Thanks though."
"Do you want to talk about it?" Hermione had started to fidget, but stopped the impulse before it reached her nerves.
"No."
"Okay. I just have one question. Why did you tell Padma that we slept together? I mean, we couldn't possible have, er—" she said, blushing deeply. "I mean, I'm- and—"
Luna came to the rescue with a wide grin that had erupted during Hermione's uncomfortable utterings.
"We did sleep together. The key word being sleep. Padma always had a bad habit of jumping to conclusions. That stood out in our House. I used to find it refreshing."
An awkward silence broken only by the sounds of the cutlery followed until Hermione was sure she couldn't eat another crumble.
"This meal was delicious, Luna. Thank you."
"Mm," Luna said, putting down her teacup and starting to put everything back where it came from.
Hermione also rose, wanting to help but soon realised that she didn't know which of the dozen cupboards was the right one for the kippers. So she sat back down again and let Luna finish.
If Luna wanted help, she could ask, Hermione thought and then reprimanded herself for her insensitivity.
Suddenly remembering her ragged old cat, Hermione rose again as Luna put the last satchel into one of the larger cabinets.
"I should probably get home. Crookshanks must be starving by now. I haven't fed him since early yesterday morning."
Luna nodded, but something in her eyes lost its shimmer.
Hermione went back to the bedroom to get dressed. Decent once more, she looked at her reflection in the mirror above the bureau and pulled her fingers through her hair to get it at least almost acceptable. Not that anyone but Luna would notice, since she was going to Floo home.
She checked that she hadn't forgotten anything, grabbed her handbag, which Luna had left at the bedside table, and went out into the living room.
Luna was curled up on the couch gazing into nothing. She didn't look up or speak until Hermione had almost reached the fireplace.
"When do you usually have lunch?"
"Um. Around 12, usually. If there's not too much to do. But I can usually fit it in at that time, since even Dark wizards get hungry. Why?"
"Fancy eating with me some time next week? Dad and me are going to Hungary on the 27th, but I'm around until then. It would be nice to stay in touch."
"Yes, it would." Hermione smiled and noticed how Luna's eyes lit up when she did the same.
"It certainly would. I'll Owl you."
"Alright then."
Hermione Flooed home.
A very angry and aggravated cat was pacing the floor and when Hermione was thrown out of the fireplace, Crookshanks let out a mew so loud it almost shook the walls.
Like a well trained pet-human, Hermione quickly got to her feet and hurried to the kitchenette, refilled Crookshanks' water bowl, took out fresh food bowls and filled them up with an excellent array of the nasty-smelling cat food brands he seemed to prefer. Five bowls in all. No one could ever accuse Hermione of neglecting her familiar.
When the tray was set down, Hermione could finally peel off her dress (that smelled of cigarette smoke) and take a relaxing shower. Return to routine at last.
Her Snorkack curiosity had made the whole weekend disjointed, she thought as she shampooed her hair thoroughly.
She usually caught up on paper work at this time on a Saturday. In case there was still any left, since she usually worked extra on Friday to be able to end the week with a clean slate. It always gave her immense pleasure to do that, even if her usual weekends gave her plenty of opportunity to catch up on her work.
Clean slates, shining surfaces, all things in their proper place was how Hermione preferred the world.
Her small, one-room apartment was proof to this. Even though the couch-and-bed-in-one futon, bookshelves, dinner table and cat playhouse had to fight for space, all surfaces remained speckless. At all times. Not a single ginger cat hair tainted the floor.
The kitchenette was a steely modernistic affair. The window above the sink let through the sunlight, which made the steel of all the cupboards glimmer brightly. On a sunny enough day, Hermione's kitchen could render an unsuspecting spectator blind. But she loved it.
Her salary was good enough to afford her an apartment much bigger than this, or a small house even, but what she saved on the rent for a small flat she made up for in state-of-the-art compact living solutions of mainly steel or tile.
The kitchenette had an amazingly large number of luxurious appliances for a space so small, and the bathroom managed to cram in both a shower stall and a sitting bath tube with Jacuzzi and massaging functions. But she hadn't told Ron or Harry about those.
They would want to come over and leave hairs in the sink. She loved her best friends dearly, but she would never let them live down a hairy bathtub or sink, no matter the cleaning spell.
That reminded her of Luna's flat. She remembered that she had seen owl feathers on the bedroom floor and she was momentarily stunned to realise that the sight hadn't bothered her at all.
All the normal rules of her life didn't seem to apply where Luna was concerned.
And that felt strangely relaxing.
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