(2012) Edited—almost all the dialogue has been rewritten in some way, but expresses the same things and nothing of significance has been changed.
A/N Okay a problem has been pointed out to me about how they're only allowed out of the house for four hours at a time. Well I kind of overlooked that in my planning stages of the party so I'm going to change something in the last chapter. She sends an owl to Sheila and James and they remove the spell until she gets back. Thanks so much crazy-emerald-blue for pointing that out, it's fixed now!
Props to the people who see the Parent Trap reference.
Disclaimer-I do not own Harry Potter.
Hands shook Hermione and she rolled over, coughing and spitting water onto the ground. Her throat felt like it had been rubbed raw with bricks of sand and she accepted the cool drink that was pressed into her hand. She was sitting on the grass beside the pool, a blanket wrapped around her soaking body with no recollection of how she got there. A few of the people who'd been at the table with her had gathered round and were peering at her like she'd escaped from the zoo and been shot by a tranquilizer.
"Hermione?" Andrea was on her knees beside Hermione, holding onto her hand. "Are you okay? I don't even know what just happened—one second they're throwing you in and the next Jacob was here pulling you out!"
"Jacob?" She repeated, drinking more of her water.
"Hi," Jacob said with a smile and it brought a rush of memories of childhood memories back to her. Of course. Jacob was Andrea's elder brother, who she hadn't seen in years and had the same strawberry blond hair and facial structure.
"I didn't know he was here." Hermione muttered, mostly to Andrea.
"I didn't even notice he was here until he'd jumped in after you," Joel offered, his eyes roving over the business attire Jacob was wearing.
"Thanks." She said, because it seemed like the thing to do when a person dragged you away from drowning.
Jacob shrugged as if he did it all the time. "No problem. I always liked you anyway."
She couldn't help but smile, "Thanks." She almost added that she'd always liked him, too, but she had the feeling the liking he was referring to wasn't the same as hers.
"Here, put these on." Andrea came over carrying a bundle of clothes in her arms, and Hermione was startled to realize she hadn't even noticed the absence. "Pull these on over your bathing suit."
Getting to her feet Hermione accepted the jean shorts and brown shirt, avoiding looking at anyone as she pulled off her wet clothes and swapped them with the dry ones. It may have been a bit teen-novel cliché, but she felt incredibly awkward just wearing a bathing suit in front of everyone crowded around.
"You feeling okay?" Jacob asked her, and she flushed, hoping he hadn't been watching her that intently the whole time.
"Oh, yeah." Her head was spinning and she felt clammy, but that was no doubt a reaction to nearly drowning, mixed with her fear of water.
"Good. I'm going to get changed," Jacob addressed Andrea and pulled her into a tight hug, grinning as she shrieked at the feeling of his wet clothes. "Hey, sis."
"You know, you could have just said that you can't swim," Madison said, one corner of her mouth pulled into a sneer.
"It never came up," Hermione said as coolly as she could, relieved at least that they hadn't realized she was perfectly capable of swimming in the moments where intense terror weren't overriding her basic human instincts.
"I'll make you some tea." Andrea volunteered, "Maybe you should come in the house for a bit."
"No that's okay. I can make it." She assured her friend. Andrea smiled at her and then disappeared to make tea anyway. Suddenly the music was turned back on and Hermione jumped about five feet in the air.
"Easy, killer." Brett chuckled, clapping a hand on her back. She smiled in response, running her hands up and down her arms.
Andrea returned with tea and a dry blanket, both of which Hermione accepted gratefully. She stood, surrounded by Andrea's friends, and they all watched her.
"So… what exactly happened to you?" Joel asked after exchanging a look with Josh.
"What kind of question is that?" Hannah asked with a laugh, but her eyes were on Hermione's face.
He shrugged, "I'm just wondering. None of us have seen or heard from you in years, and now you're suddenly back and act really different and we have no idea where you go to school or anything."
Andrea answered for her, "She goes to this super isolated school."
"What's it called?"
"Erm, its kind of a really long French name that I can't pronounce." She lied quickly, taking a gulp of tea and trying to pretend it didn't hurt.
"But you were always the best in our French class," Joel chuckled, oblivious to her discomfort. "If you've been going to a school for years you must've picked it up somehow."
"Oh, right." She laughed awkwardly, "it's, erm, Beauxbatons."
"Bless you," Joel said, munching on some crisps.
Hermione stared at him blankly for a moment, and then laughed. "Erm, no. That's the school name."
"Huh, funny name." Josh said, "I've never heard of it."
"It's pretty obscure. More of a word-of-the-mouth type place. I'll be right back, I'm just going to the loo." She said quickly and made her way through the crowds of people to get inside. The cool air of the house swamped her and she sighed at the relief and change of atmosphere.
Her content was soon gone when she left the bathroom and had to return outside. The remainder of the afternoon consisted of Hermione watching the dancers and day dreaming, interrupted by the occasional exchange of words with old classmates. Mostly, though, they watched her from the corners of her eyes and she half-heartedly let Andrea introduce her to some of the people in the yard.
When the pizza arrived Hermione volunteered to go get it, mainly so she could take a breather from the crowd. She wasn't entirely sure how long she was obligated to stay, but as the alcohol began to disappear she was more and more inclined to depart. Being surrounded by completely wasted teenagers that she really didn't know at all wasn't much of an appealing prospect.
When she reached the door she was surprised to meet Jacob there as he paid with the money Andrea had set on the counter earlier. He carried them over to the marble tops and placed the boxes on there. The pizza guy went back to his car and got the other stack. For a second she thought it was Mike and had the urge to run over and ask to be driven back home, but he turned around and she was met with someone most definitely not Mike. He caught her looking at him and smiled before he left.
Jacob turned around and started when he saw her. "Jeeze Hermione you gave me a fright!" He got a plate from the counter and opened the top pizza box. "I prefer not to venture into Andrea's parties, even for food."
She smiled at him, contemplating the task of carrying that many boxes outside. "Why?"
He shrugged, "Drunk high school girls. Enough said there."
"They're not all bad," Hermione said as he pulled two slices onto a plate.
"The last time I was home during one of her parties a girl literally jumped on my back and yelled 'Go ponyboy, go.' I couldn't tell if she was actually referencing The Outsiders or just really out of it." He shrugged, taking a bite. "Shouldn't you be outside shimmying up to some boy who won't remember your name later?"
"You have a pretty bleak impression of high school girls." She said in response. "And I don't do that sort of thing."
He was watching her thoughtfully. "Not all high school girls, I suppose."
She shrugged. "I'm going to take the pizza out."
He nodded but didn't reply so she picked up as many boxes as she was physically able and used her hip to open the door. When she was about a meter away from the door people came over and in seconds she had her arms out, holding nothing. As she turned back more teenagers came out of the house with the rest of the food. Jacob was leaning against the counter inside, laughing and she grinned at him.
"Hermione!" Andrea called and she turned to see her friend coming over. "Here, there wasn't going to be any left so I brought you a piece. These kids are barbarians."
She accepted the slice and tilted her head slightly to the side so she could see inside the house. Jacob was gone.
"Why aren't you dancing?" Andrea complained, "I've seen guys asking you."
"I'm not really interested in dancing like that." She said and smiled meekly. "I mean, we went to elementary school with some of these people."
"The slow dancing is going to start soon and you don't even have to be that close to the person so I expect you to dance with someone." She turned as her name was called. "Oh, sorry, god, I have to go start the bonfire."
Hermione made her way over to the bonfire and sat on a log that wasn't occupied by a couple. Andrea was soon drawn away and was dancing with someone she didn't recognize. When watching the other people provided no entertainment she turned her attention to the fire and watched it slowly eating away at the dry wood. It was nearing 9:30, and she decided she would wait until 10 and then head back to the house. While she'd never been the most social person at Hogwarts she'd felt accepted by most of her peers, so being at this party was uncomfortable, to say the least.
"Do you want to dance?" She jumped, getting to her feet so she could face Todd. "Sorry?"
"Let's dance." He smirked at her, taking a drink from his nearly empty beer bottle. She wrinkled her nose against the smell.
"No, thanks."
"What?" Any traces of a smile disappeared.
"No thanks." She repeated, looking over his shoulder at the group of males collected behind him. He obviously didn't get rejected very often and she heard laughter from the crowd.
"C'mon Hermione. Dance with me once."
She frowned. "I said no, Todd."
"Why are you like this? I'm trying to be nice and get over stuff that happened so long ago. I'm different, I thought you were too." If it hadn't been Todd speaking, and he wasn't drunk, she might have actually believed him.
"Todd why don't you go find someone as intoxicated as you are?"
He rolled his eyes. "I have a high alcohol tolerance. Two beers isn't enough to get me drunk."
"No, but six are." She heard someone from behind him say with a snigger.
"I don't dance." She said and glared at him, turning to walk away. His hand gripped her arm and he pulled her back, his mouth beside her ear.
"Hermione, you're hot, I'm hot. We should dance. Anything we do would be hot." He added a suggestive undertone. "How about we see just how hot we can make things?"
She gasped, affronted, and whirled around, her hand making contact with his face before she could stop herself. His eyes widened and he backed away from her, a stream of curse words flying from his lips. She let out a huff of breath and decided 10 be damned, eyes scanning the yard for Andrea. Coming to this thing was a mistake. She hadn't done anything except clash with the people here, and it was a constant reminder of the fact that the differences between people in the muggle world and her life were growing exponentially. She wasn't even sure how much longer she could be friends with Andrea. She would have a magic job, befriend magic people and live in the wizarding area of London. How could she explain away an entirely secret life?
Not to mention the fact that the only thing different about her was her teeth. She still had the same bushy hair and same general shape as before, except that she'd obviously gotten older. So the only thing that had Todd coming up to her was the novelty of Hermione Granger six years later, and she would not indulge him.
She was on the brink of just leaving without saying anything when Jacob popped up beside her. "Hi."
"I see you ventured out of the house." She turned to look at him distractedly. "Careful, someone might mistake you for a fictional character and jump on your back."
"Yeah, I'll take my chances." He smiled and shoved his hands into his pockets. "As you rightfully pointed out, not all high school girls are like that, so I may as well give one a chance."
"A chance?"
"At changing my opinion."
"Lucky as that makes me, I was just getting ready to leave."
"Leave? Without even dancing one dance? That won't do." He was grinning at her in a way that made her flush, as if she was an interesting book he just couldn't put down. "I heard you've made quite a splash at this party."
"Yeah." She sighed heavily and he chuckled.
"That wasn't actually supposed to be a terrible joke. Do you want to dance?" The question was so abrupt and unexpected it took her a few seconds to process what he'd asked. A new song was just starting and it was roughly four minutes. Four minutes of inescapable time with Jacob.
"Sure." She stood up and he led her to the middle of the dancers. She placed her hands on his shoulders and was forced to move closer to him because of the way he rested his hands on her waist.
"When did you get back from school?" She asked, trying to avoid an awkward silence.
"Today, about the same time you fell in the pool." He smiled as she wrinkled her nose. "It must be destiny."
"Thanks. For jumping in."
"I didn't think you were in mortal danger," he paused, "But there was something really eerie about how you stopped moving, and I didn't want to take any chances."
"Thanks."
"Of course." There was another silence. "We do seem to have a lot of these, don't we?"
"Yes, we do." She smiled. "So what have you been up to these last few years?"
"Well, I'm done with my schooling in a month or so." He said lightly and she leaned her head against his shoulder.
"That's exciting."
"Yeah. I plan on having my own place by then, I've started looking around. I hope to have my own chain of banks eventually, but I don't know quite how long it will take before that's accomplished." He went on, describing how he'd like a business run and where he planned on locating, including how he wanted to work up to it.
"Any plans for family in all that business?"
He looked a bit startled, "Of course, doesn't everyone? Getting married and having a couple kids would be ideal."
"Any idea who she'll be?" Hermione asked him, not entirely sure why she was blushing.
"Er, not really. Never found 'the one,' so to speak." She felt him shrug. "I like maturity, and a lot of the girls I've been out with act like they're still in high school."
"I'm in high school," she said, and the hurried on to explain why this was important. "Remember—not all high school girls are immature."
He grinned. "I haven't seen much maturity from you. You shouldn't slap people." He tsked her.
"It was completely warranted," she said with a small smile playing over her lips. "And that was a one-time offence. Or, I guess, two-time, really. But the last time."
"Second slap, eh? Who's the lucky receiver?"
"Draco Malfoy," she said after a brief hesitation. "Also completely warranted."
"Draco Malfoy? Who names their kid that?"
"I think it's a family thing." She said in reply.
"So who was he? A past boyfriend?"
"Malfoy? Oh, no. Someone I really do not get along with well. He's very arrogant and—well, he's just not someone I get on with."
"This isn't like a Pride and Prejudice thing, is it? Bad first impression, carries through but ends in eventual love?"
She refrained from commenting on his knowledge of Jane Austen's work. "Love? Definitely not. And in terms of it just being a bad first impression, I don't think so. Sometimes I try to be generous and convince myself that he's this misunderstood person who's so wrapped up in the tradition and expectations of his family that he doesn't realize what he's become…but I've known him for years, and I think that's just wishful thinking."
"Seems like you've given him a lot of thought." She almost laughed incredulously at the situation—talking about Draco Malfoy with her childhood muggle crush.
"It happens when you spend six years fighting with someone," she said in return. "I think it's also just my instinct to want people to be better than they are."
"A good instinct to have," he said and smiled as the song ended. He stepped back, his eyes intent. "Well, I'll see you later I suppose."
Hermione watched him walk away, a puzzled frown on her face. It seemed like he'd just come out of the house to talk to her, but that seemed kind of odd. Someone ran past her and dumped cold beer down the back of her shirt and she gasped, leaping to the side. The boy in question ran away giggling as Andrea sidled up to her.
"Hey Hermione!" Andrea sidled up to her. "I saw you dancing with that guy! Who was he?"
Hermione looked at her friend and rolled her eyes. "Are you drunk?
"If I was why would I tell you?" Andrea giggled. "Are you staying over?"
"No. Actually I have a bit of a headache, I'm going to head out now."
"Yeah, okay." Andrea hugged her tightly. "We'll talk later."
As Hermione was walking to the front door to catch her cab she heard the sound of Jacob speaking on the front porch. "I know…yes…well, 17…My entire childhood, really. I don't know if I—Hermione!" He nearly dropped his cellphone as she came into view. "Er, I'll call you back."
"Hi. Sorry to startle you." She smiled while her mind raced. If she wasn't delusional, it sounded a lot like he was talking about her.
"Everyone needs their heart to stop once in awhile." He joked and they were plunged into silence again. "So you're leaving now?"
"Yeah, I'm really tired." She rolled her eyes and to her intense relief heard the approaching sound of a car. "That would be my taxi. I'll see you later, Jacob." She smiled and walked down to the end of the driveway, stopping just as the taxi pulled up.
"Good for you, calling a cab." The driver, a woman of about 40, said as she climbed in the back seat.
"I haven't been drinking. I just don't have a car." She corrected.
"Of course, dear. Do your parents know you're out?"
Hermione rubbed her temples wearily. "I don't live with my parents."
"Oh!" Hermione jumped at the woman's exclamation. "Moved out at such a young age, did you?"
"You could say that." She mumbled.
"Well you know my daughter moved out when she graduated from college. She's a doctor now, hasn't married though. Never found the right man. Have you got yourself a partner? 'Course you do, you're such a pretty little thing. You know my son married at eighteen to a woman that looked like you. A couple sizes bigger though. She had this habit of sucking on her hair really loudly. Quite annoying actually. Their marriage lasted two weeks. You know I never liked her…"
"Mhmm…"
"Well dear make sure you take some advil for your headache tomorrow. The hangover will be bad." Hermione opened her mouth to argue and then closed it. It wasn't worth the fight.
"That's right, dear. You know when I was your age I never got drunk. Though there weren't any parties with that much throttle or alcohol. None that I was invited to anyway. But that doesn't matter I've never really like alcohol. Except for vodka. God I love my vodka." They pulled into the driveway and Hermione was extremely relieved when she was able to escape.
She paid her fare and just before she closed the door threw in, "I'm not drunk."
Hermione made her way into the house slowly, her fatigue spreading to the very tips of her limbs. Despite how incredibly tired she was she wandered into the dark living room and sat down on the couch, leaning her head against an armrest with a sigh. There was something incredibly satisfying in sitting in a completely dark and silent room.
"I thought I told you to go away." A cold voice said and she leapt to her feet, her wand out in a matter of seconds. She cast a quick lumos and steadied herself on the couch as Draco came into view.
"Back, are you?" He asked her, an eyebrow raised. "Move that damn light out of my face, Granger."
"Yes, I'm back." She redirected the light to just beside Draco's body.
"It's a pity, I was hoping the muggles might rally around you and never let you leave."
"What makes you think they like me any more than you do?" She snapped, rubbing at the base of her skull.
"Well, they're rather simple, aren't they? I just naturally assumed that if they got wind of someone who isn't a complete dimwit they'd gather around to examine such a spectacle."
"They're people, Malfoy. Not some rare specimen of frog."
"Like that stupid creature Longbottom totes around everywhere?" Draco said with his arms crossed over his chest. "I suppose that would be a rude comparison. For the frog."
"You disgust me." She snapped, purposefully shining the light back in his eyes. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to sleep."
"Oh, I do mind. I would really love if you stayed for a while longer and completely disrupt all my happiness and peace." He said, his tone almost as dark as his glare.
"Tempting, but too much sacrifice is involved." Hermione strode from the room, breathing deeply out of her nose. The next few minutes passed mostly in a blur, so the next morning when she woke up she almost couldn't remember collapsing into her bed and falling asleep.
The next morning Hermione padded to the kitchen in her pajamas, stifling a yawn. A full night's sleep never failed to cure her head and muscle aches and she felt loads better than the previous evening. Much to her surprise she walked in on Draco sitting at the table, reading The Daily Prophet.
"Oh!" she exclaimed before she could contain herself. He looked up, rolled his eyes and went back to the paper.
He was silent as she filled a bowl with cereal, doused it in milk and then took a seat at the table as far from him as possible. He was reading intently, a slight crease in his forehead, and couldn't help but watch him with interest. During school she usually tried to avoid looking at the Slytherin table, so she'd never witnessed him in the action of reading. "Interesting article?" She finally asked when curiosity overcame her sensibility.
"Not exactly." He flipped it around so she could see the full page spread titled 'The House of Hell? Or Heaven?' Right beside the title was a photograph of Sheila and James in a very staged position, both smiling their winning smiles. Midway through the page was a picture of Harry, Hermione and Ron across from one of Draco, Blaise and Pansy. The latter group was gathered around the base of a tree that Hermione didn't recognize as one from Hogwarts. Draco was leaning against the trunk, Blaise was lying on his back, propped on his elbows and Pansy was stretched out beside him. A mansion loomed in the background.
The one of her and the boys was similar in that it took place beside a lake, but this one was at Hogwarts. She and Ron were walking on either side of Harry, and the three of them were laughing together. Hermione had her arms wrapped around books and Ron was pointing out to the lake, where she assumed the giant squid had made an appearance.
Other small pictures dotted the page, a few of which she recognized as ones that had been in the Prophet during their fourth year, and the article was filled with all kinds of falsities about their lives pertaining to the show. It ended with the suggestion of going to page six, where personal biographies of each of them could be located.
"Rubbish." She muttered as she scanned through it. "'We know that there will be confrontations, fighting and many laughs. But will there also be love? And will the viewers be ready for it? We hope these young teenagers don't fight the cosmic feelings that may change life for them as they know it.' Who writes this?"
"Did you read the paragraph describing our unrequited love for each other? Apparently we're the favorite couple of the house." Draco said with a snort, glaring into his coffee as if it had personally offended him. "Like I would ever go near you."
"You know you're sitting pretty near to me right now, Malfoy." Hermione answered, rolling her eyes when he edged his chair back in response. "Very mature of you."
"You know all about maturity, do you? You, with your cooties?" He sneered and got to his feet. "Well, this has been a delight, but I have places to be."
She watched as he strode to the dishwasher, fumbled with it until it opened, stuffed his mug in it and closed it with a triumphant smile. He turned, caught her watching him, and scowled. "Muggle rubbish."
Hermione turned back to the paper, her lips pressed together as she stared at the title. Magic rubbish.
Miles away a couple was looking at the newspaper with similar expressions of disappointment. "The reviews just aren't what we expected, James. Even with the star factor Harry brings there's no action, no drama, no promises of romance—nothing. If this show doesn't pick up people will lose interest."
"My dear, surely they'll start interacting more soon," James said in an effort to reassure his wife. "And when they do, something it bound to happen. I can feel it."
"They could all just decide to ignore each other. Or come to some kind of cohabitating truce. We've already got the Ministry expressing concern over the proximity to a muggle town, and the magic we've already had to do to build the house and not attract attention and—"
"Darling, breathe." James rested a hand over her own, squeezing. He looked up to the many screens that spanned the wall of the office. "This is when we help things along. Add our own spice to the recipe."
Sheila raised her head and followed his gaze, a smile growing on her lips. In times like these she loved her husband's guts.
A/N Sorry that took so long! I had 1/4 of it written the day after I last updated and left it sitting until yesterday.
I'm not getting very good weather for the summer, right now its pouring rain! I'm not really doing anything interesting, my two younger siblings have/are going to camp and my older sister is in Europe right now. But I am staying home. :D All the more time to write, I suppose. Do any of you have any plans for the summer?
Please review!