A/N: Apparently I haven't updated this fic for almost two years. I'm such a great author. Haha. After reading Deathly Hallows and listening to Read My Mind by The Killers, I've been craving fanfiction. I have no idea why, but I am. And I saw that I had written this fic, read it over, and now I'm updating it. It took me awhile to remember the plot for this fic, but I got it now. The ships I have planned are kind of iffy, so if you have a request, go ahead and tell me in a review. I'd love to hear your opinions.

Anyway, here's the much delayed second chapter. I hope you enjoy. )

Spinning the Hourglass

Chapter Two: Outrunning the Devil

It was all very routine. Meet the old friend I had never heard of at the airport, drive to the new house I had no say in buying, drag all our luggage into the empty house, set up temporary sleeping bags and blankets in the living room, take it all in.

I felt like screaming. Like throwing myself against the living room window until it shattered into tiny shards. Like ripping at my skin.

I compensated by slamming the front door as I left for a walk.

"Be back for dinner!" my mom screamed from a window upstairs. She was showing the house to the old friend I had never heard of.

Routine.

I walked aimlessly down endless maze of streets. The hot July sun beating high above, numbing my thoughts, melting me into mush upon the sidewalk. I felt like a hot and sticky lunch for the sky. With my foul temper, I bet I tasted delicious. Just like a burger dripping with grease, only I was dripping with sarcasm.

The heat started to ooze through my every orifice. My feet were as heavy as lead bricks, occasionally dragging the toe of my shoe across the rough sidewalk causing to trip up. My head softly pounded its protest at lack of water as my body became heavier and heavier and heavier with each agonizing step.

Then I heard the voice of an angel. Well, as close to the voice of an angel as you can get when you're dying of thirst on the pavement where the heat could give Hell a run for its money.

"You can get a heat stroke if you're outside too long without water," a young girl said from the porch of a house to my right. I'm sure her voice was whiny and bossy sounding, but the moment that word fell from her lips, I could hear Heaven's bells ringing and a wash of ecstacy fell over me.

Water.

I slowly turned my head towards her and flashed her a look of longing that was far from faked, even though I had rehearsed it many times in front of the mirror. It did the trick because the next moment she was inviting me inside for a glass of water.

The moment I stepped over the threshold to her house a blast of cool AC engulfed me from all angles. Goose bumps prickled along my arms and legs from the sudden rush of cool air, but the sensation of my sweat being cooled upon my skin was so refreshing I wasn't bothered to rub them away.

Her house was stark white and very cleanly looking. I felt like I was in a dentist's office by how sterile it felt. The kitchen seemed to almost gleam. I could even see my reflection in the smooth, stone kitchen floor. It was quite different from the way my mom kept our house.

I stood in the center of the kitchen, too nervous to sit down without her telling me to do, and watched as she filled a crystal glass with cold water from a jug in the refrigerator.

"Aren't you going to sit down?" she said in a somewhat snotty voice, but I was too excited to care.

I sat down at a her crystalline table, afraid to touch it in fear of leaving a fingerprint, or breaking it for that matter. She set down the glass in front of me and returned to get one for herself.

"I'm Hermione Granger," she said after she'd sat down beside me.

"Lilas Dayao," I replied with a smile. I was becoming more and more comfortable as each second bore on. The house didn't seem as intimidating and she didn't seem as snooty. Almost hospitable.

Almost.

"Are you French?" she asked, noting my accent when I said my name.

"My dad was, and I just moved from there with my mom. We only lived there for about two years though."

We chatted like this for about an hour. Our past, what we liked, what we didn't. She told me that her family travel to France for holiday sometimes too. For the first time that day, I was happy we had moved to England.

A/N: Lilas is pronounced lee-lah, by the way. It means lilac, and if that's not how it's really pronounced, well now it is. lol And sorry for how slow it's going, it'll pick up soon. Oh, and Dayao is pronounced dye-yow. Anyway, review:D