Is That How You Feel?
Chapter 04 (Hermione-Duke)
Summary: After making a mess with some sugar, Hermione does some writing. What will be Duke's reaction?
AN: Thanks for stopping by and giving this a chance. :) Hope you enjoyed it.
Disclaimer: I make no monies with this.
Inspiration: 'Every Letter' by DawnOfTheDead
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Hermione smiled as she sat at the bar waiting for her handsome rogue to appear. Duke Crocker was such an interesting being to know and she was happy to have made his acquaintance. She had met him a little over four months ago when she had been sent to deal with a magical artifact in the area.
When she had first arrived, she noticed an odd air about the town, like something foreign was left yet she couldn't put her finger on what it was. She had immediately run scans to see if dark magic had been used but found mixed readings. After talking to Amelia about her findings was when Hermione learned of the Troubles. She was amazed that such a thing existed before she chastised herself; magic was real so why would something like the Troubles not be? What truly boggled her mind was that the Department of Mysteries had investigated the phenomenon when they had come across it centuries before. They had learned that a single female, Mara, from another world had purposely infected the inhabitants of Haven with small Aether balls out of maliciousness. This female had swayed a local man to help her and they had reined havoc down on the population for almost a century before her people had put a stop to it. They had forced the woman into a barn that would wipe her memories and block any negativity of her personality as punishment. Then she would stay away for twenty-seven years. What really bothered Hermione about the situation was that the people of Mara's world hadn't healed or corrected Mara's madness, instead, they had her come back to "help" those infected.
As Hermione pondered this, she wondered why the residents of Haven hadn't been cleansed of such taint before it hit her the likely reason, humans of this world were below those of Mara's world. No one cared about the affects the Aether balls had or the Trouble they caused. They only cared about teaching the misbehaving woman a lesson and that was the clincher…how could Mara ever possibly see the errors of her behavior if they never allowed her to have complete memory of the actions she was supposed to be correcting?! It bothered Hermione that this world of beings refused to try any other means of correction, instead they punished all or maybe they were curious to the havoc and catastrophes created by those infected. Either was wrong in her opinion. Equally wrong was that the magical community, mainly the Ministry and Wizengamot, wouldn't lift a wand to help these people and forbade anyone else to.
Despite being told to watch her step, be as unobtrusive as possible and to not get too close to anyone, Hermione had found herself befriending the local rogue. Duke had been flabbergasted that she had known of the troubles and they had bonded over the fact that her government wouldn't allow any in her community to help. They had talked for hours about every and anything. They had gotten along swimmingly. When Hermione had explained why she was there, they had both wondered if the artifact could be causing some of the Troubles to become more than what they were supposed to be.
It had taken her two weeks to find the artifact, ward it and send it back to the Department of Mysteries. Unfortunately it had had no effect on the Troubles and she had been called back. Before leaving, Hermione had promised Duke she would return as soon as she could, so, here she was.
As she waited at the counter musing, she knocked over a container of sugar that was used to refill the smaller ones given when coffee was ordered. Without really thinking about what she was doing, Hermione started writing in the grains. She only realized what she had done when Duke had quietly strode up to the counter.
"Interesting." Was said with a sexy chuckle causing Hermione's head to snap up before her eyes lowered and her cheeks turned pink. Before she could manage a response, Duke dumped more sugar on the counter and started his own writing and Hermione had to blink several times to make sure she was seeing things properly. There had been chemistry from the moment she met Duke but never dreamed he'd feel the same. She was happy to be proven wrong.
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Delicious . . . . . . . . . .Charming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Hot as Hell . . . . . . . . .Genuine
Unappreciated . . . . . Rogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Easy on the Eyes . . . .Rarity
Killer Smile . . . . . . . .One-of-a-Kind . . . . . . . . . . . ..Rule Breaker . . . . . . . Awesome Wit
Excellent Body . . . . .Cool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Magnificent Ass . . . . . Naughty
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kitchen Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . Intelligent . . . . . . . . . . Goddess
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Extremely Sexy. . . . . . . . . . . Opinionated. . . . . . . . .Exciting
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Real Sweetheart . . . . . . . . . . Noteworthy . . . . . . . . .Radiant Smile
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Expressive Eyes
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Hermione leaned forward to whisper, "Is that how you feel about me?"
"Yes" Duke answered as he closed the distance and kissed her soundly.
~Fin~