Chapter 2 The Guide Dog
Hermione walked through the open doors of the grocery store and hunted along the right wall for a basket. After finding one, she unclipped it from the stack and slung it over her shoulder, hoping none of her library books were in fragile cases. She then continued onward, using the rout her and her mother had practiced time and time again to get to each part of the grocery store she needed. She was so focused on counting steps, she did not expect the cheerful greeting from a man quite close to her.
"Hello miss," he said, making her startle violently. "Oh dear I've gone and scared you. I'm so sorry. I'm Mr. Black from the deli. I'd be glad to give you some free ham for startling you so badly."
"I should hope so," she said a little sniffily, then instantly feeling bad for that said shyly, "Um 1/4ths of a baked ham was actually on my list."
"What else is on your list?" he asked. "Why don't I help you out and then we can get that ham?"
"I… I'm not sure," she shuffled her feet. "Are you sure you work here?"
"Would it help if I said I was friends with the head librarian?"
"No," she said. "I'm carrying library books."
"You are a smart one aren't you?" Mr. Black asked. "Well I'll leave you alone before I get into trouble with that cane of yours, and you can stop by the deli when you're done."
She nodded, whacked him slightly because she felt like it, and moved on to find tomatoes. The number 1 rule was to never ever hit someone with your white cane, and if he truly was a worker she could have just landed herself in a heap of trouble. Unfortunately, Hermione felt more than a little flustered around this man. First she had met the librarian who had a smooth, bass voice which warmed her like her mother's soothing honeyed tea. Now this man came up to her with a slightly gruffer voice, reminding her of some sort of posh gentleman gone bad boy.
She tried to shake the thoughts out of her head as she placed 2 plump tomatoes in a small bag. Carrots and celery were next, then corn. She tutted as she found no ears of corn readily available and pulled out her phone to scan the tins in front of her. She must have been muttering to herself, because a hand reached past her, just barely brushing her shoulder to put something in her basket.
"I'm assuming you're looking for some corn, my lady?" asked the same man she had whacked earlier. "That's the best brand we have available."
"Thank you… Mr. Black was it?" she asked. "I suppose ham is the last item on my list."
"I don't want to assume," said the posh, but gruff voice, though could I interest you in some potatoes?"
Hermione pulled her brailed list out of her library bag and grimaced as she read it. She moved along toward the potatoes and was faced with a conundrum. She sighed as she bit her lip in thought. She never got a shopping cart because they always got in the way, but her basket was getting heavy and there were no small bags of potatoes.
"I think I will have to strike the potatoes and ham off my list," she said. " I have a long way to walk to get to my apartment."
"I'll tell you what we'll do," said Mr. Black. "The cashier is a friend of mine, so we'll just go up to the till and you can pay for all your purchases including those you needed to buy. He'll make sure at the end of his shift that the rest will be delivered to your door."
It took some convincing, but after a while, Hermione agreed. She left the store and walked home, eager to make dinner and cuddle up with a good book. She was also eager to tell her cat Storm all about the 2 lovely men she met today.
A/N Why are Sirius and Remus acting like Muggles? They're looking for Hermione of course. Again to make it more clear they love each other but aren't quite in love, not until she completes them. I'm sorry if that's confusing but for some reason it makes sense to me. A Taste of Chocolate is up for adoption. Please read and review this story. I would very much appreciate any feedback on any date ideas and thoughts in general. My dog will turn your flames into squeaky toys.