Here's the fifth chapter. Not long but I hope it is enough :)

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Path – Chapter 5 – Books

Hermione.

Instantly I feel my body raising from the chair and going towards her, never turning my gaze from her eyes. They don't look so much tired like yesterday. Her eyes are a deep brown and I feel light chills on my back because she doesn't turn her gaze away too.

"From The Winter's Tale?" I ask. My voice is hoarse.

"How do you know?" She smiles, while shaking my hand.

"Exactly! My husband and I are big Shakespeare fans. I remember the first time I read that play. I was still a teenager. That name caught my attention and I knew that it was the perfect name for my daughter." Mrs Granger says, while putting an arm around Hermione's shoulders.

I almost forgot that there were other people in the room. I have to force myself to stop looking at her to respond.

"It's one of my favourite plays too, next to Twelfth Night."

Now that I can see all of them clearly, it's really obvious that they are a family. She has physical traits from both of them, nicely mixed.

"So, you are an avid reader?" Mr Granger asks me, raising from his chair and showing interest.

"Yes, since I was 4 years old. I forced my grandmother to teach me."

"That's really amazing. Hermione enjoys books too, a lot." He smiles at her and I can see a small blush. Is she embarrassed because of that? Or because of me?

"I don't like to read. I can't understand the sentences…"

I almost forgot about Michael! He is seated on the kitchen table and we are all gathered near the kitchen's door. Hermione approaches him and shakes his hand.

"Hello. What's your name?"

"Michael. And that's my brother Luke." Damn, I forgot to tell her my name. She looks at me with a smile, nods, and then turns her attention to him. And now I have to close my mouth.

"Why you cannot understand the sentences?" She asks with a bit of worry on her voice. Maybe she thinks he has some kind of learning problem.

"Because I read to slow and then, when I finish the sentence, I already forgot about the previous words…" He is pouting and looking at his hands. He just got her pity.

"Oh, don't be sad. I had that problem too when I was young. But my dad helped me."

Michael looks at Mr Granger and then looks at her.

"Do you want me to help you?" Hermione asks while touching his hair with her small and delicate hand.

Michael looks at me and I don't even know what's the expression I'm showing when he makes a decision and turns to her.

"No. I want Dr Granger to help me. I know that you are busy with some books."

Oh damn! He just admitted that we were spying on them! They just caught us!

"How do you know I'm busy?" She asks after a laugh and a raised eyebrow.

"Your mother told us."

Did she? I don't remember.

"Yes, I guess so." She is wondering the same thing but quickly gives up.

"Ok Michael. I'll help you but you have to promise that you won't bite me." Mrs Granger starts to laugh to and Hermione opens her mouth in an amused shock.

"It was you?"

"Sorry." He says shameless. She 'punishes' him with a little pat in his head, smiling.

"How about you come with me upstairs? I have some old books that helped Hermione when she had difficulties reading. I can show you how to start training. I'll lend you some books and one of these days you can show me how are you doing. What do you think?"

"Really? Thank you Dr Granger!" And then he raises his hand to offer an high five to Hermione's father, who takes some time to understand what he's doing, and then slaps poorly his hand. Michael is trying to teach him how to do it better when Mrs Granger clears her throat.

"Ok, I'm glad that the boys sealed their deal. Hermione, since your father will be helping Michael and I have to start preparing our lunch, maybe Luke can help you with the books we were sorting on the living room. Do you mind, Luke?"

"Not at all." I notice that my answer was too quickly. I look desperate.

Hermione looks at me with the same look she used yesterday on her backyard, the one who made me blush, and smiles.

"Alright, join me."

I follow her to the living room, leaving my brother and her family behind. If I want to now about her, I must forget them or I won't achieve anything today.

She approaches the small table and without looking at me, starts to give me the instructions while getting some books out of the boxes.

"So, my parents like to sort the books in this way: genre, author and then, release date. We didn't organize them when we put them inside the boxes, so maybe you'll se some medical book next to a drama."

"Okay." I respond while watching her hands moving. I notice that she is using a long sleeved shirt. Today is warm. Isn't she hot?

"Do you see that table?" She points to a big table near behind the sofa. "There are some piles that my mother and I already organized. Now, this is the challenge that I propose to you. If you are a true reader, you'll recognize which pile is the correct one. Are you ready?"

Hermione likes to have control. The way she is talking to me and saying what I have to do shows me that she won't let me talk much about nothing but the task we're doing. Fortunately, I've read some books about this behaviour and I can change the way things are leading.

"Did you tell your parents that I was here yesterday?" I know that she didn't. But I want to see if she is willing to have a conversation with me that is not related with our task.

"No." She eyes me for the first time since we got to the living room and crosses her arms. I think she didn't like my out of topic question.

"Why?"

"I didn't think it was necessary for them to know that a ball fell in our backyard and the owner asked me to pick it up."

"Why not? I tell my mom when someone enters in our yard."

"Well, I'm not like you."

I'm shocked. She said that with a calm voice but it sounded cold. Where's the sympathy she showed in the kitchen? I have to recompose myself because I am really surprised and almost disappointed in her. Even tough I don't know her to well. But I was expecting something different.

"Did I bother you yesterday?" I ask looking at her.

"No."

"Am I bothering you now?" I'm afraid that she might say yes. If so, I'll have to leave and forget about getting to know her. Thinking about that gives me a little pain in my stomach, because I just spent a restless night thinking about her and I don't want to believe that it was for nothing.

"No, you aren't bothering me." She sits in a near armchair with a sigh and starts to rub her temples. "Please, sit."

Maybe she'll tell me that she can't be involved with someone like me because I'm… a boy? Really, I can't find any good excuse besides that one. What could it be?

I sit on the sofa, facing her and getting worried.

"Look, I'm not used to having friends… like you. I know that you are trying to be friendly and that's why you came here this morning, but I don't think that… we should be friends." She bites her lower lip waiting for my reaction.

"Why? Because I'm a boy?"

I notice that it was a stupid question like I suspected because she looks taken aback.

"What? No! Believe me, that's not the problem. I'm just…different. And I'm only used to socialize with people… like me."

"Like you… like what? Are you like…gifted?" Why not? Of all the possibilities it's the most plausible. She looks uncomfortable.

"I guess you can say that… Gifted." And looks at the floor.

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"What do you think?" She is moving her hand nervously and I want to comfort her, so the answer leaves me easily.

"Being gifted it's uncommon. You should be proud."

I say with a smile. And she smiles to me, looking at my eyes. I start to feel the curiosity about her again. But this time isn't in a desperate way.

"I am proud."

"So why you were concerned about my opinion?"

Her smile faints.

"Usually, people don't enjoy gifted people."

I get a little closer to her, without leaving the sofa.

"That's because people don't like to feel less important or lower compared to another people. It doesn't bother me to have a super intelligent friend. It doesn't bother me at all."

Her eyes open at my revelation. Maybe I said too much…

"How do you know I'm intelligent?"

"That's what gifted means, right?" Does she think that I'm so dumb that I don't know the meaning of gifted?

"Yeah… sure…" She looks concerned.

"Maybe I'm not so intelligent like you, but I think I can follow your line of thought." I say laughing. "Don't worry Hermione, I'm not offended."

"Still, I'm sorry. And sorry about my behaviour before. I was being defensive…" She smiles ashamed.

"I totally understand"

"Thank you."

We keep ourselves seated, looking outside. I look briefly at her and notice that her nose is just the right size for her face. And slightly pointed upwards. It makes her look confident.

"So, should we sort the books?"

She 'wakes up' from her daydream and stares at me, and with a playful smile gets up from her armchair.

"Can you manage it?" She asks with a quirked eyebrow and arms crossed.

"Of course" I get up and follow her to the table. " But I might need some help with the books piles."

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The next chapter will be uploaded on friday. I wanna thank who reviewed this story because it really helps me. More reviews will be welcome too :).