Sunlight flooded through the bedroom window onto Hermione's bed, blinding the young witch, who had just been sleeping peacefully and was desperately trying to hide from the sunrays, which only made her headache worse. Jesus, why is my head pounding? Did I work that late yesterday? Did I drink not enough water?
Hermione couldn't understand why she would wake up with a headache even after a busy night of work. In all theses, occasional night shifts were normal when she was in the flow of work and simply couldn't and didn't want to interrupt the threads of her thoughts while there were still loose ends that she had to tie up. She had never had a headache because of it; after all, she was used to it.
She carefully sat up and massaged her temples, desperately searching for the relevant information in her brain as to why she was feeling so miserable, but the memories of yesterday evening or last night just wouldn't manifest in her mind's eye .
First water, aspirin and coffee. Good plan. She sat up heavily, massaged the back of her neck, and squinted at the sun that was still shining brightly through her window. I didn't even close the curtains yesterday, no wonder the sun bothered me so much. What the hell was wrong with me yesterday?
Shrugging, she stood up, enjoying the cool floor beneath her bare feet as she walked barefoot into the kitchen, running her fingers through her messy hair in frustration, still thinking about the missing memories from last night. A glass of water and an aspirin later, she took her steaming coffee cup to the living room table, where countless stacks of papers and open books were laying around.
She liked working in the living room because the table there was much larger than her own desk in her study and she could spread out, especially when she was working through several essays and articles at the same time, until the individual pieces of information formed a new symbiosis of insights and came together in her thesis. She loved this process and the initial overwhelm in the face of so much information, which eventually led to new insights, to a sudden aha moment that usually came over her in the middle of her work and finally showed her the way out of the jungle of different strands of information.
It was all the more annoying for her that she now seemed to be missing some memories from last night. Well, it doesn't help, she thought, shrugging her shoulders as she sipped her coffee and let her eyes roam almost lovingly over the papers and books. Whatever, just keep working. Whatever happened last night will come to me sooner or later.
She sat down at the table and started looking for her laptop among all the documents. It was not uncommon for her laptop to disappear under some papers while she was working because she was missing some information or an idea came to her that she had to look up before she could continue working.
Organized chaos, she thought with a smile, even though many people would never judge her that way, since she usually seemed very organized to the outside world and people therefore visualized her workplace as a perfectly tidy one. But once she became obsessed with a project, it took over her entire life and therefore her entire living space - literally.
When she had lifted the last stack from the living room table to look underneath for her laptop, but it was still nowhere to be found, deep wrinkles began to form on her forehead. She slowly looked around the living room and thought about where else she could have put it in her work madness.
By definition, this beautiful piece of new technology was designed to be taken anywhere, and Hermione took full advantage of that to be able to work in all corners of her three-room apartment whenever she felt like it, or an idea came up in the kitchen or on the sofa. But no matter where she worked before, she always returned her laptop to its place on the living room table at the end of the day so she could resume her work there the next morning.
She looked around the living room, searching, letting her eyes wander over the blue sofa, the small wooden coffee table, the tall bookshelves that lined the walls, and various window sills, but her laptop was nowhere. With her coffee cup in her hand, she wandered back into the kitchen, leaned against the door frame and systematically scanned every empty space with her eyes while she took another sip of coffee and felt the caffeine slowly settling in her veins spread and the aspirin tablet finally seemed to work.
Hallelujah, at least I'll have a clear head again. She took a deep breath in and out to keep the rising worry about her missing laptop at bay and not panic. She took another sip from the coffee cup while frantically wondering where the hell her laptop was. Think, Hermione, think, why do they call you the most brilliant witch of our time? She could just hear Ginny's sarcastic voice in her head, which would probably respond to that sentence: Pfff, obviously not the most brilliant witch of our time if you can't even manage to take care of your laptop.
Startled, Hermione paused at this thought when suddenly several pieces of information came together to create on of those aha moments she loved so much: Ginny - laptop - the three broomsticks - Harry - Draco - dates - bet - wine - "Oh no, please don't let that be true!"
In a panic, Hermione picked up her cell phone and dialed her red-headed friend's number, drumming her fingers impatiently against the coffee cup.
"Weasley's wonderful matchmaking agency, we will find the love of your life, what can I do for your heart's affairs on this wonderfully sunny day?" announced a squeaky female voice when someone finally picked up after the sixth ring.
"Ginny?!" Hermione asked after a moment of speechless confusion.
"No, this is Severus Snape, brewing love potions and dressed all in pink. Well, who else? I thought the point of this super muggle technology was that all you had to do was dial a specific person's number to actually get to that person, right? Well, for the most brilliant witch of our time, you really are a bit slow sometimes, my dear Hermione."
Hermione had to laugh despite herself: "Well, I'm clearly overrated."
"Absolutely", Ginny agreed, dead serious, before she could no longer contain her giggles. "Are you ready for later?"
"What about later?" Hermione was now slightly annoyed by her own questions, as she was usually the one who had all the answers instead of having to beg others for information.
"Uhhhh, our meeting? To present the candidates? For the three weeks of fun that lie ahead of you before you maybe get your devilish device back to mutate into zombie Hermione again? Though I really do hope that after these three weeks you will bring a little more work-life balance into your life. Honestly, Hermione, what you're doing isn't healthy at all, but I think we made that abundantly clear to you last night."
"So I didn't imagine it all?" asked Hermione, against all hope.
"Tell me, Hermione, how little can you actually tolerate? You just had a glass of red wine last night?! Or did you drink more at home without us?" Ginny exclaimed.
"I had one glass and the rest of your glass, don't forget that!" Hermione tried to defend herself.
"Aaaahhh yes. Exactly . You little alcoholic you," Ginny laughed. "You're so unintentionally entertaining sometimes, really. Anyway, to get back to your question: No, you didn't imagine it. I still had the phenomenal idea of filling your time with dates for the next three weeks to find the witch of your dreams for you, along with Harry and Draco of course, which of course you'll be happy to do if you ever want to get your laptop back alive."
"You've definitely seen too many action movies with Harry," Hermione groaned at her friend's last sentence.
"Oh no, I would describe it more as a deepening of Muggle studies, intercultural learning, so to speak, only with a connection to everyday life. You should be proud of me!"
Hermione laughed: "You're insane."
"Well, as our dear friend Luna would say: You are just as sane as I am."
"I really can't say anything against that. So what's next?"
"You move your magnificent bottom here to our place this afternoon, Draco will come over too, and then we will present our three candidates to you and explain a little about what will happen over the next three weeks. Merlin, this is going to be so good. I already have so many ideas!" Ginny rattled off her plan excitedly.
"Wait a minute, Ginny. How did you find potential dates for me so quickly when I just got up?"
"It's not my fault that you slept half the day - even though I'm really happy about it, your body definitely urgently needed the sleep! But while you got your well-deserved beauty sleep, the three of us were busy here. But details will come later, I still have so much to do before then. That's why I have to go now, we'll see each other later! See you then," with which she simply hung up without even giving Hermione the opportunity to reply.
Hermione stared at the cell phone in her hand, completely flabbergasted, and could only shake her head at what her friends were cooking up. A look at the clock told her that she had really slept too long and that she didn't have much time left before the meeting. Have breakfast, shower, do at least a little analog work and, above all, come up with a plan so that this whole dating situation will steal as little time as possible from her valuable working time. She certainly wasn't going to let Ginny stop her from working on her thesis and even though she couldn't continue writing without her laptop, she still had all the books and papers here to make handwritten notes, which she then just had to type into her digital essay. As far as her dating candidates were concerned, she already had an idea. Even if you got up before me, you'll have to think a little harder if you want to trick me, Weasley. Hermione smiled victoriously to herself. It felt good to regain at least some control and be the master of the situation.
That's why Hermione was anything but nervous when she knocked on the door of Number 12 Grimmauld Place some time later. But neither Harry nor Ginny, who had lived here together since the end of the war, opened the door for her, but Draco Malfoy, once again elegantly dressed in a gray suit and, like yesterday, already holding a glass of whiskey in his hand, with only a sip left in it.
"Malfoy," Hermione uttered in pleasant surprise and let her gaze slide over his suit, "do you want to sell me a building society contract or what's the point of that fancy suit again? I really wonder if I'll ever see you in sweatpants and a t-shirt. But seriously: Isn't that uncomfortable in the long run?"
"Funny, Granger, very funny," Draco replied coolly, but his eyes sparkled with amusement. "A gentleman must always be well dressed. My mother raised me well."
Hermione had to admit that the apple didn't fall far from the tree. Narcissa Black, which was her name again after the divorce from Lucius Malfoy, was known for her elegant clothing style and expensive clothes and Hermione couldn't imagine her in sweatpants any more than she could imagine her son in them. She shrugged her shoulders: "As long as you feel comfortable, you can open the door for me in whatever you want." Seeing the mischievous glint in his eyes and sensing what inappropriate comment was brewing behind his gray eyes, she quickly added: "Except naked! I really can do without the sight of that."
Playfully insulted, Draco pushed his lower lip forward: "I thought I might be able to convince you of the advantages of the stronger sex. That would at least give you a lot more choices in the dating business." He twitched his eyebrows in a seemingly seductive manner.
Hermione couldn't hold back her laughter and hugged him warmly. "Thank you for the offer, my dear." She leaned back to look him in the eyes and rested a hand on his chest. "Given the wonderfully poor selection of suitable women for me, maybe I'll come back to you at some point if I'm really desperate and my marriage with my work falls apart, too." With a look at the almost empty whiskey glass in his hand she added: "I'm not your mother, but don't you think it's a little early to start drinking?"
"Oh, this is for you." He held the sip of whiskey under her nose invitingly. When Hermione just stared at him in confusion, he explained, "Believe me, you'll need it. Ginny...is really into her new project and even though I fully support the whole thing, I can imagine that it will be a bit much for you. Well, and since you can hardly tolerate anything anyway, I thought one sip would be enough for you." He grinned meaningfully.
Hermione narrowed her eyes suspiciously, but took the glass from his hand and swallowed its contents in one gulp, shuddering briefly and trying to blame the sinking feeling in her stomach on the alcohol, whose burn was making its way down her throat and down her throat to her bowels, and not on the recurring nervousness that she had so successfully suppressed throughout the day.
"Are you trying to drug her before the actual presentation of the candidates in the hope that she'll put up less resistance then, Malfoy?" Harry had appeared in the hallway behind Draco and, grinning, took Hermione into his arms.
"Oh Potter, if we wanted her to not put up any resistance, we would actually have to obliviate her immediately afterwards, alcohol won't help either, even if she is quite the lightweight."
While the two men exchanged knowing smiles, this information worried Hermione even more. How bad could these ominous candidates be that they assumed she would fight back like that?
Without further comment, the two led them into the living room, where Ginny was already waiting for them in front of a large white screen. She grinned excitedly and practically jumped into Hermione's arms, who was still wondering what was actually happening. Taking advantage of Hermione's speechlessness, she pushed Hermione into the middle armchair set up in front of the screen, while Draco and Harry took seats on either side of her and Ginny took position in front of the screen again. Hermione's uneasy feeling increased a little more and she suddenly wished she hadn't drunk the sip of whiskey in one gulp.
"Welcome, dear Hermione, to the presentation of your ladies of the heart," Ginny announced beaming with joy. To Hermione's great surprise, as she said these words, a picture of her appeared on the screen behind Ginny, framed in a large heart, next to which three smaller hearts appeared, each with a question mark flashing. Shocked, she turned her gaze to Harry on her right, on whose lap a laptop - unfortunately not hers - was resting: "Did you create a Power Point presentation specifically for this?! "
Harry shrugged helplessly and pointed at Ginny: "Don't look at me so reproachfully, she's the boss, I'm just carrying out her orders and assigned to click on the slides."
"Quiet now, this is where the music, or rather love, is playing," Ginny once again demanded the attention of her "audience."
As Hermione still stared at Harry in shock, he whispered, "I'd really rather do what she says." Believe me, I don't want to go down in history as the boy who survived death several times, but then not this relationship." With a meaningful look at Ginny, he leaned back in his chair again, while Hermione heard Draco laughing heartily behind him, who seemed to have heard Harry's saying.
"That goes for you too, Malfoy, time is money or rather love and we only have three weeks to find the witch for life for our dear Hermione, so pull yourself together," demanded Ginny sharply.
Pfff, the "witch for life" because that's someone who even exists, thought Hermione cynically at Ginny's words.
"Contestant number one," Ginny announced loudly, a smile on her face again and all her attention back on Hermione, "suggested by our ever-popular Chosen One, the Boy Who Lived, Mr Harry Potter!" She applauded brightly in Harry's direction, who retreated deeper into his chair.
Hermione felt like she was on a pretty bad dating show: "Ginny, what the hell else are you watching on TV?"
"Will you finally stop interrupting me all the time?" She glared at Hermione, who backed away intimidated, completely overwhelmed by the rapid mood swings of her red-haired friend, who clearly seemed to have gotten too invested in this project.
"Candidate number one," Ginny repeated, giving Harry a meaningful look, who clicked on his laptop to bring up the next slide, where the first of the question mark hearts moved to the center of the screen, still blinking mysteriously, "is an expert in the field of Transfiguration and probably one of the few people on the planet who has read more books than you, dear Hermione. Her favorite animals are cats, her favorite color is green and in her free time she enjoys taking long walks in the Scottish Highlands. I present," she nodded again in Harry's direction, who with a click made sure that the flashing question mark gave way to the image of a stern-looking woman with bright green eyes that Hermione knew all too well: "Minerva McGonagall."
Hermione was now pretty sure that her friends were having fun with her, but she didn't dare interrupt Ginny again and just raised her eyebrows as she gave Harry a look that spoke volumes: Seriously?!
She sank even deeper into her chair, exhaled in annoyance and decided to endure this "show" and then at the end demand the names of the real candidates so that she could finally go home and continue writing her thesis.
"Contestant number two," Ginny exclaimed, seeming to completely ignore Hermione's attitude towards her efforts, "suggested by everyone's favorite blonde pretty boy, the boy whose father will surely hear about this bet, Mr Draco Malfoy!" This time she applauded in Draco's direction and then nodded in Harry's direction, who in turn pressed a key on his laptop. The second flashing heart slid under the heart that was still filled with Minerva's portrait and Hermione was excited to see how her friends would top the headmistress of Hogwarts.
"Contestant number two is a potions expert and probably the best-dressed woman in the entire wizarding world. Her favorite animals are snakes, her favorite color is silver and in her free time she enjoys going on long shopping trips in well-known cities around the world and organizing balls for charity. I present," with a click, the image of a blonde woman with blue eyes so cold that Hermione shuddered at the sight appeared in the second heart, "Narcissa Black."
Now they're just being ridiculous. Hermione shook her head, laughing. Malfoy's Mom. Grinning, she thought of the America Pie movies and had to hold back from laughing out loud when she heard one of the boys in the movie say Stifler's Mom in her mind. She would now probably laugh every time someone mentioned Narcissa Black, who was now stored in her head as Malfoy's mom.
"Contestant number three," Ginny seemed even more excited now as she began to introduce her own candidate, "suggested by everyone's favorite red-headed top chaser of the Holyhead Harpies, the woman whose boyfriend is always covered in blood, Miss Ginny Weasley!" She applauded herself in earnest. The third heart slid beneath the hearts of Minerva McGonagall and Narcissa Black and Hermione just wished that they would get to the end of this farce.
"Candidate number three is an expert in the dark arts and probably the most dangerous woman in the entire wizarding world. Her favorite animals are ravens, her favorite color is black and in her free time she likes to go on long tours on her motorcycle, go kickboxing or take care of..." Ginny wiggled her eyebrows just like Draco did at the front door, "...women." She grinned cheekily at Hermione and the brown-haired woman could only imagine what was going on in Ginny's head. She rolled her eyes. "I present," Harry clicked again and coal-black eyes appeared in the last heart, framed by equally black long curls and Hermione sucked in a startled breath, "Bellatrix Black."
Hermione finally lost her patience and stood up from her chair: "Ok guys, the fun is over. I really can't believe you went to such lengths to tease me like that." She looked reproachfully at all of her friends, who returned her gaze with a calmness that once again worried Hermione.
When she received no response, she threw her arms in the air in frustration: "I'm serious. Just tell me which women you chose for me so I can get it over with."
She turned her gaze to Draco, who spoke up for the group: "We just did that," and pointed to the three women in the three hearts that still graced the screen behind Ginny, now with Hermione's picture next to them and one big question mark that separated the three women from Hermione.
"Yeah, sure," replied Hermione sarcastically. "You're seriously telling me that Minerva McGonagall, Narcissa Black and Bellatrix Black were persuaded by you three to go out with me for the next three weeks? Who are you kidding?"
"We're not kidding you," Harry chuckled.
Desperately she turned to Draco: "Draco, these are your aunt and your mother ."
"Which will make me the clear winner of this bet because I know my mother very well and I know how compatible you two will be. Potter, Weasley, you can actually give up straight away, because you have no chance."
"Ha, Hermione has been into Minerva McGonagall for years and the woman must have thousands of books in her private library, even your mother's long legs can't compete with that!" Harry countered.
"You're both backing the wrong horse, boys. No woman can resist Bellatrix Black. Both of your girls will get their fingers burned by her when she turns Hermione's world upside down so much that you'll lose sight and hearing."
Hermione had to sit back down in her chair as her friends started throwing arguments at each other about who had chosen the best candidate for Hermione. They were actually serious. Hermione felt dizzy as she stared, mouth agape, at the three women in the three hearts on the screen that she would be spending a lot of time with over the next three weeks, whether she liked it or not. She swallowed. Merlin help me.
Notes:
I'm curious! Who is your favorite? Minerva, Narcissa or Bellatrix? 😁