Disclaimer: I don't own it but if I did I'd be a happy woman.
Yuck, Hermione thought as she woke up from a very deep sleep. She had never made it in to brush her teeth and she hated that feeling. She slowly moved her head and was pleased to find that her brain did not appear to be bouncing around anymore. She was still in her clothes, on top of the covers and she was starving. It was only four in the morning but she knew she'd slept enough and looked forward to taking a relaxing shower, eating a huge breakfast and of course brushing her teeth.
During her shower she decided to owl in sick for work. She had a good excuse; everyone knew she had been sick. She really wished that they thought she had the flu but if they wanted to think she was pregnant, there wasn't much she could do about it yet. If nothing else they'd figure it out in nine months. She settled in for a lazy day at home, hoping that people would just forget she existed for the next twenty-two days. Around ten in the morning she was startled out of her reading by her cell phone ringing. She hated the thing but her parents insisted on being able to contact her.
"Hello?" She answered, not recognizing the caller I.D.
"I have been trying to get a hold of you since yesterday!" Harry yelled at her. "Are you alive? Sick? Kidnapped? Pregnant with Malfoy's triplets?"
"Harry, calm down. I'm fine, just a touch of the stomach flu." She sighed. "Triplets?"
"That's the latest news. Tell me you aren't pregnant."
"Of course not. You have to have sex to be pregnant." She said, turning red at saying the word sex out loud.
"And you haven't had. . . um sex?" Harry sounded a bit nervous as well.
"Not recently." She said dryly. "It's been a bad couple of years."
"Right. Well, I'm glad to hear it."
"You are glad that I haven't had sex?"
"Yes! I mean, no. What I'm trying to say is that I'm glad that you aren't pregnant. Have you been avoiding me?"
"Avoiding you? No! I've just been busy and not feeling well." She hated lying to Harry but knew she couldn't tell him the truth.
"Everything is all right between us?"
"Nothing has changed. You are still my best friend. Why are you calling me on my cell? You usually floo or owl."
"I tried to floo but your connection is closed."
"Oh right, I forgot to open it up again. I closed it to avoid Ginny and my other ex-friends last weekend."
"I'm sorry for what they did. Sometimes Ginny just doesn't think. How is the kissing going?"
"Oh, just great. So far I've kissed my ex-boyfriend, a security guard, the Minister of Magic, and my childhood enemy. The security guard sent me flowers."
"No true love yet?" Harry asked with just a tinge of hope in his voice.
"No. All of this torture they are putting me through is not going to end with me getting my true love. It's not going to happen."
"It might." Harry said quietly.
"No. It won't."
"Do you want to have dinner tonight and go over the plans for the ball?"
Hermione panicked. She couldn't be face to face with Harry. She'd kiss him and her life as she knew it would be over. She knew it would ruin her friendship if she were to kiss him. She couldn't lose her best friend. "I can't Harry. I'm really not feeling well. Maybe you can owl me the plans?"
"I could bring them over."
"NO! I mean, it's not a good idea, I might be contagious."
"Oh, all right. Well, I'll let you rest. Let me know if you need anything."
"Thanks Harry. I'll talk to you soon."
After hanging up, she flopped back on the couch. At least the sound of his voice didn't make her sick. It made her a little warm and tingly but that was nothing new. With a flick of her wand she opened up her floo connection, figuring that someone at work might need her. Sure enough, within the hour she heard Kingsley's voice booming from her fireplace.
"Hermione Granger! I need to talk to you!"
"Hello Minister," she mumbled, trying to sound quite ill.
"Why aren't you at work?"
"I have the flu. I was sick at work yesterday."
"Yes, I heard. The plant that you chose to vomit on threw a temper tantrum and we had to bring in Longbottom to settle it down."
"I'm sorry. I'll apologize to it when I come back to work."
"That would be tomorrow Miss Granger."
"If I'm up to it. . . "
"No! You will be up to it. You will be at work tomorrow. I am quite aware of the rumors and obviously know first hand of your little problem. I suggest you just face it and move on. You can't hide. As much as I care about you Hermione, you still need to come to work. We need you."
"Of course. I'll be there." Hermione sighed as sat back after saying goodbye. Kingsley was right, she had to face her problems. Maybe she should just walk through every department and kiss everyone just to get it out of her system. She could set up a booth and just have guys queue up to kiss her. Not a bad idea, except that guys had never queued up to kiss her before. It would be a very short queue.
Hermione spent the rest of the day feeling sorry for herself. She really hoped she could use the illness excuse for at least a few more days. She did manage to come up with several questions about the potion and figured she might as well use her short bit of free time to get some answers. She leaned into the fireplace and in a moment her face was in Pansy's kitchen.
"Pansy? Are you home?"
"Hermione? Oh Merlin, I'm so sorry for everything." Pansy said kneeling down to talk to your friend.
"I have some questions, could I come over?"
"Of course, come on in. I should warn you that Ginny is here though."
"That's fine. I have some questions for you both."
Hermione flooed over and stepped out of Pansy's fireplace a few minutes later. Ginny was very nervous and both girls apologized over and over again. Hermione was determined to get answers before deciding which method of revenge would be the best for them. They sat down with tea and Hermione tried very hard to be calm. She asked question after question, about ingredients used, brewing methods, and possible side affects.
"Is nausea a side affect?" She asked.
"Not that I know of. There was nothing in Grandmother's notes about nausea. Blaise told me you've been sick." Pansy answered.
"I've had a few ill moments yes."
"I'll look into it a little further."
"Thank you Pansy. I'd love to copy down the ingredients so I can do some research on my own. I'm hoping there's an antidote."
"I don't know of one, but of course I'll get the book for you." Pansy left the room to retrieve the spell book and with a few waves of Hermione's wand, she had a complete copy of the potion as well as all the notes that Pansy's grandmother had made.
"The other question I have is about the actual kissing. What if I kiss my true love but he doesn't love me back. Will I just want to kiss him forever even if he doesn't return my feelings?"
"Do you know who your true love is?" Ginny asked hopefully.
Hermione just blushed. "Can you answer my question?" She looked at Pansy.
"Right. Well according to the notes, true love goes both ways. If he doesn't feel the same way then he's not your true love."
"So if I kiss the guy that I like, but he doesn't like me back, then it's over? I won't want to kiss him again?"
"If he doesn't like you back, you won't feel the power of the kiss, he won't be your true love." Pansy answered.
"So you do like someone!" Ginny squealed, clapping her hands.
"Thank you for answering my questions. I'm going to go now." Hermione stood up and grabbed her purse.
"Hermione, please wait!" cried Ginny. "I need you to be my friend."
Hermione sighed. She turned back towards the women. "I need you to be my friend too Ginny. Right now you aren't. I'm sure you will be again, you too Pansy, but I'm still hurt. You have no idea what you've really done. You may have ruined several friendships over one stupid plan. I'm having to avoid some of the most important people in my life because of this. I'm not ready to be over it, I still have twenty-two days of this. Goodbye." With that, she headed home.
()()()()()()()()()
Hermione managed to get through day seven without kissing anyone thanks to keeping her eyes down, bringing her own lunch, and never leaving her office. She once again thanked Merlin for having a private bathroom. She kept her door locked and transfigured a button into a peep hole so she could see who was knocking. The security guard sent her more flowers.
Draco had stopped by and let her know that he had put a stop to all rumors going around and people were back to thinking she just had the flu. Hermione was quite surprised at his support, but after all he did have a reputation to consider as well. Kingsley had come to check on her and made it clear that she was not to take anymore time off until right before the ball. She coughed a little for good measure so he wouldn't think she was completely faking her "illness". Ron stopped by to apologize for losing his temper. Harry tried to stop by but when she realized it was him, she hid in the bathroom until he went away.
Day eight went much the same at work. She kept to herself, kept busy and kept all lips away from her. After work she headed into Diagon Alley to run errands that she'd put off while hiding away. She went into Gringotts first where she ran into Bill. He invited her to dinner with him and Fleur, Angelina, George and Lee that night. The desire to be with friends overcame her fear of kissing and she agreed. She did need to do some damage control first. She headed over to George's shop.
Walking into the familiar store, she was pulled into a fierce hug by Angelina. "I'm so sorry, so very sorry!" She cried.
Hermione pulled back and looked at her crying friend. "It's all right, I'm not blaming you. I hold Ginny and Pansy fully to blame."
"But we were there, we could have stopped them."
"No you couldn't. They were set on it. You know how Ginny gets. I am going to be joining all of you for dinner tonight if that's all right. Bill invited me."
"That's wonderful! I'm glad he did." She was just about to ask how Hermione was getting along when George came out of the back room.
"Angelina, I'm going to owe you an apology in a moment." Hermione told her as she stalked up to George. "Let's get this over with." She said as she jumped into his arms. George stood there, looking at his girlfriend while trying to hold Hermione up. Finally she removed her lips and he put her down on the ground. "Hi George." She smiled and started laughing then, shaking and holding her stomach. "I'm sorry for laughing but all of a sudden this is all just very funny. Angelina, I'm sorry I kissed your boyfriend, George, I'm sorry for attacking you. I really need to sit down."
Angelina explained about the potion to a still silent and shocked George. Upon hearing the whole story, he joined Hermione in her laughter.
"So am I your true love?"
"Sorry George, you are not."
"That's good because I already found mine." George pulled Angelina in for a soft kiss. They talked for a few more minutes when George noticed Harry coming towards the shop.
"Here comes Harry."
"Oh no!" Hermione muttered, looking out the window. As soon as she saw him the nausea immediately returned. "I need to use your restroom. Don't tell him I'm here!" She ran into the back, one hand clenched over her mouth and the other around her stomach. Angelina followed her in the back to make sure she was all right.
"Hermione? Sweetie? Are you sick?"
"Is he gone?"
"You mean Harry? No, he's out front with George. Can I come in?" Hermione opened the door only enough for Angelina to squeeze through and then locked it behind her. "I'm sorry, I've had a touch of the flu."
"You were fine until you saw Harry."
"Yeah, it comes on suddenly like that."
"Does Harry have anything to do with it?"
"Don't be silly, why would my best friend be making me sick? I'm fine now, but I don't want to see Harry so can I stay here until he's gone?"
"Why don't you want to see him?"
"I haven't kissed him yet and I don't want to. I don't want anything to ruin our friendship. It will be too weird to kiss my best friend." Angelina left her alone then, heading back out to see if the coast was clear. Their conversation had put several questions in Angelina's mind. She only hoped she was wrong.
()()()()()()()()
Hermione arrived at the restaurant to find Lee waiting outside for her. Oh well, she though, best to get this out of the way now. Her body was heating up in that familiar way and at Lee's smile, she lost it. What she didn't expect was that he was ready for her and expecting her to kiss him. He opened up his arms to her and kissed her right back, enjoying it thoroughly. She had always thought Lee was a great guy. He was the voice of reason for the twins and when he started his wireless program in support of Harry, her respect for him grew tenfold. Now that she was kissing him, she thought she definitely should have spent more time with him.
"Wow. Um hi Lee." She gasped.
"Hi Hermione." He smirked. "George warned me I might be kissed. I wasn't sure of course but I am flattered that you found me attractive."
"You're a good guy Lee." Hermione laughed.
"So I'm not your true love either huh?"
"No, I'm afraid you aren't. Sorry."
"No problem, I'll cancel the wedding plans." He offered Hermione his arm and they went into the restaurant to join their friends.
Hermione sat down between George and Lee and immediately George put his arm around her.
"So Hermione, are you going to marry my best friend?" He asked with a wink.
"No, I'm afraid not."
"Really?" George looked surprised. "I thought you and Lee. . . well I thought he might be your true love."
"Unfortunately not. It would make my life much easier but Lee is not my true love."
At one point during their dinner, Fleur left to use the restroom. Bill took that chance to put Hermione on the spot.
"So Hermione. . . If I weren't married to my wonderful wife, would you have had to kiss me?"
Hermione blushed. "Maybe."
"That's not an answer Hermione." George pointed out.
"Yes, of course I would have had to kiss you. You Weasleys are all very good looking and with the exception of Percy and Ginny, I've had mild crushes on all of you. Are you happy now?"
"Yes, thank you." Bill couldn't help but smile. "I really do hope you find your true love Hermione," he added as his wife came back to the table.
"I don't think it's possible." Hermione whispered as she looked down at her hands. Desperate to change the subject she asked George about his new products and the conversation started flowing again.
By the time Hermione got home, she had to admit that she felt better than she had in days. Just spending time with people who loved and cared for her without the pressure from the potion helped ease her worry. She realized that she could get through this. All she needed was to find a way to avoid one certain person. If she could avoid him, she would be all right.
Author's Note: I know many of you are figuring out where I'm going with this but I am still trying to be a bit vague. All will be revealed in a few chapters. Thanks so much for the reviews, I hope you are enjoying this story. Every review is a little gift really. I know that sounds sappy but it's true. Thanks.