Thanks for all of the reviews! I hope I'm putting in enough detail. I don't want these chapters to be huge, so I think the story may be going a little fast sometimes.
Chapter 3: The Nerd
George had convinced her to give him another chance at matchmaking, so Hermione was pulling on a set of dark blue robes in the early evening of a sweltering Saturday. She tapped her hair a few times with her wand to get it just right, twisting it up upon her head, knowing that the humidity outside was going to turn her hair into a bushy mess if she left it down.
She had suggested the same Italian restaurant. In typical Hermione fashion, she had wanted to turn the dates into controlled experiments, making the guy the only variable in the experiment. This time, her date was waiting for her in the lobby, also carrying a red rose for identification. Pasting a smile on her face she thought to herself, Oh no… he's a nerd!
"Hermione?" he asked, pushing his glasses farther up his nose.
"Hello," she said, extending her hand to shake his, "You must be Marcus."
"Indeed, I am," the young man said, a giggle escaping his lips.
"So, what do you do for a living, Marcus?" Hermione asked as the waiter left to bring them their drinks. As he launched into a long explanation about his research at the ministry, all Hermione heard was, "blah blah blah Dark Arts, blah blah blah Ministry, blah blah blah, blah blah blah…" She almost didn't notice when he asked her about her own career.
"Oh, um, I'm in training to be a Healer," she said. Knowing it would start another intellectual conversation, she tried not to roll her eyes.
"Wow! George told me that you were the smartest witch or wizard he knew, and you really must be if you're going to be a Healer!" he said, causing Hermione to blush. "So," he continued, "What are your views on combining Muggle and Magical medicine? Being Muggle born, you must have an interesting view on it…"
To her surprise, the night actually got better. Marcus knew quite a bit about Italian culture, and was explaining the origin of Hermione's meal as she ate. Hermione found herself being drawn into the conversation, asking him more questions and actually paying attention to the answers. Towards the end of the meal, the conversation turned to books.
"My favorite has always been Hogwarts: A History," Marcus said, laying his napkin back on the table.
Hermione gasped and excitedly said, "Mine too! I've read it at least a hundred times!"
"You probably had all of your textbooks read before the term started, didn't you?" Marcus asked, smiling.
Hermione nodded enthusiastically and said, "I'm guessing you did too, correct?"
"Of course!" he said, smiling. They stared at each other happily for a few seconds before Marcus reached across the table to take Hermione's hand.
Expecting sparks, Hermione was sadly disappointed. She looked back at him, once again plastering a fake smile on her face as he squeezed her hand. She then realized that she was not physically attracted to him what-so-ever. It was as if she was holding hands with Harry or Neville.
"Fancy a walk?" Marcus said, pulling out several galleons and handing them to the waiter.
"Sure," Hermione shrugged, hoping that a romantic walk might convince her body to be attracted to him.
He offered her his arm as they exited the Italian restaurant in Hogsmeade. "It's a wonderful night, isn't it?" he asked her, smiling at her before returning his eyes to the night sky. As they strolled, they named the constellations that they recognized, spending almost an hour looking for planets. Hermione became quieter as they looped around Hogsmeade, returning to the front of the restaurant.
"I had a great time with you tonight," Marcus said, placing his hands on Hermione's shoulders.
"Me too," she said, smiling slightly.
"Can I floo you sometime?" he asked shyly.
"Sure," she said, actually meaning it; he was great for a conversation.
As he leaned in to kiss her on the mouth, Hermione had to stop herself from moving away. She allowed him to kiss her, confirming what she had already known: she was not attracted to him.
He offered to accompany her to her flat to ensure that she got home safely, but she politely refused, saying she had promised Fred and George that she would visit their shop before she returned home. He bid her goodbye, kissing her on the cheek just before disapperating. She sighed and turned toward the road, heading to 3W: Hogsmeade.
The moment she stepped into the shop, Fred and George cheered. "We were watching you lot kiss! How did it go?" Fred said before noticing the sad look on Hermione's face.
"It was great," she said, walking behind the counter and sitting down at George's desk.
"Well then why so sad?" George asked, pulling over another chair to sit down for a chat.
"He was smart, he was polite, he sounds successful, but I'm just not attracted to him. The kiss was almost bordering on gross. It was like I was kissing Neville," Hermione groaned, covering her face with her hands. Fred looked at George and shrugged. It was strange for them to see a girl who was moping since Ginny usually punched someone when she was upset about something.
"Well, I've got another guy in mind for you, if you want to try again," George said, placing his hand on her shoulder. A strange feeling crept up his arm, but he attributed it to the Tingling Taffy that he and Fred had been testing. Hermione looked up at him strangely for a moment before nodding.
"Alright, then your next date is with Draco Malfoy!" George said, smirking.
"No!" Hermione shrieked, whacking George with her hand as both he and Fred laughed hysterically.
"Just kidding! It's really with You-Know-Who!" Fred said, laughing more.
"You two are awful," Hermione said, trying not to smile, but not succeeding.
"You know you love us," George said, laughing.
"Meet us for lunch tomorrow, we'll cheer you up," Fred said, slinging his arm around Hermione's shoulder as he walked her to the door.
"Alright, I'll be here at noon," she said, finally smiling, "Thanks for the matchmaking. I really do appreciate it."
They watched her disapperate and then turned to return to work. "I think we may need to adjust the Tingling Taffy. I don't think it has worn off on me yet," George said, shaking his arm.
Hermione watched George ring up customers as she waited on the twins for lunch. After ringing up several Skiving Snackboxes, George called out to the back, "Fred, I'm leaving for lunch! I'll be back soon!"
"Fred's not coming?" Hermione asked, following George out of the shop.
"Verity called in sick today, so Fred volunteered to stay while I went to lunch with you," George said, unbuttoning his magenta robes because of the heat. He shucked the heavy robes to reveal a t-shirt and slacks underneath.
"We could have done it another day, when you weren't so busy and short handed," Hermione said, immediately feeling bad. She hadn't realized that 3W would be so busy on a Sunday.
"No, it's fine," George said, waving his hand, "How does Rupert's sound? They have great sandwiches."
"Sure. I've never been there," Hermione said, looking around for the restaurant.
"Well, you're in for a treat!" George said, linking his arm through hers and pulling her along as he skipped down the lane to the busy little shop.
"One check or two?" the frazzled waitress said after taking their order.
"One," George said, cutting off Hermione. The waitress nodded and walked away before Hermione could correct her.
"George…" Hermione said, frowning, "I should be buying your lunch as thanks for the matchmaking."
"Oh, forget about it. If our little brother wasn't such a stupid prat, he'd realize what he was missing and dump that stupid Lavender Brown," George said, forcefully tearing the paper off his straw.
"I don't want to talk about it…" Hermione said, concentrating on her own straw paper.
"I'm sorry," George said, pausing for a moment, "Do you want to hear a funny story?"
"Sure," Hermione said, looking up at him and smiling slightly.
"Okay, so Fred and I were testing out this new product of ours…" George began.
Unbeknownst to them, Fred, Ginny, and Harry were huddled at the window of Rupert's, watching George and Hermione. "Now do you believe me?" Fred said, looking over at his sister.
"I had my doubts…" Ginny said, watching as Hermione laughed, throwing her head back as George continued to talk, gesturing wildly.
"That prat… he's telling the story about me peeing my pants…" Fred mumbled.
To be continued…