A/N: Another chapter! YAY!
Disclaimer: I own nothing! Don't sue!
Chapter 7: Out-ings
"It's not professional and you can't do it!" Hermione yelled at Viktor Krum who was ignoring her and staring at his reflection in a mirror hanging over his desk. "Viktor, I'm serious, you can't just make decisions without checking with Parvati and I first. The Malfoy issue could have really caused a lot of problems, It could still cause a lot of problems.." Hermione was pacing.
"I understand, I said I'm sorry," Viktor said with a nonchalant wave of the hand. "He iz my friend, he von't do anything, relax."
Hermione could not relax. Things were not going as planned. This business that was supposed to help her get in touch with herself seemed to be tearing her personal life apart.
"If it happens again, I'll sue you for breech of contract- you signed a contract saying that everything would go through me-"
"You can't do everything by yourself," Viktor retorted making eye contact.
"I know, but I need to approve all the transactions-"
"Relax, I von't do it again," Viktor was off in his own world again and Hermione responded with another lawsuit threat before exiting.
"You ok?" A red-faced Ginny asked as Hermione made her way to her own office.
"Yeah, just dealing with Viktor," Hermione grumbled.
"Yeah, Parvati told me about the Malfoy thing- everything ok with my brother?" Ginny responded. Hermione raised an eyebrow.
"Umm, I don't know."
"Well, maybe if you made up your mind about whether you want to be with him or not-"
"Ginny, I don't have time to talk about this right now," Hermione interjected. "I have work to do." Ginny made a noise in the back of her throat as Hermione swept past her, into her office. It was rude, Hermione knew it was rude, but she really could not discuss her issues with Ron, with his little sister.
Hermione took a seat in the squishy armchair behind her desk and picked up her phone. She wasn't in the mood to make her own calls, so she decided a little call monitoring was in order. She tapped into Pansy's phone line, then Boyanna's and then to Harry's…
"I love running my hands down your chest-" Harry hissed, "I want you on top of me right now," admittedly, Hermione felt a little awkward listening in and was on the verge of switching to another line when she heard the response to Harry's seduction:
"I want to be inside of you.." The rough, low voice responded. It was very clearly the voice of a man. In a shock Hermione clicked the phone off and stood up. She felt the need to tell someone and at the same time mentally promised herself that she would never tell anyone, ever. One thing she would do, however, was talk to Harry.
"You ok?" Harry asked, after the two had ordered dinner at an upscale restaurant. Hermione took a long whine, nodding.
"Yeah."
"You don't sound fine, I heard about the, um, Ron, Malfoy, Viktor Krum drama," He murmured. "You want to talk about it?" Hermione shrugged.
"There's not a lot to say, Krum is a dick, Malfoy's a bigger dick and Ron, well that's just a huge mess- who told you about it?" Hermione asked hurriedly.
"Ginny," Harry said looking down. Hermione raised an eyebrow, "Just because we're separated doesn't mean we don't talk, we see each other everyday, here, so…"
"News travels fast," Hermione muttered. Harry nodded.
"She said you were a bitch to her," Harry said bluntly. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"I don't exactly know what she expected. I was busy, had just had a fight with Viktor over the Malfoy thing, and then she launched into the Ron issue-"
"What is the Ron issue?" Harry asked leaning forward. Over the years Hermione had found it harder and harder to confide in her friends about personal issues. They were all so interconnected, best friends and siblings that had all grown up together. She hadn't told Harry about the sex problems or her boredom, or any of it really. When she had set up the business she had told Harry it was simply a business venture, nothing more. Of course, Harry hadn't believed her then and he didn't now, but he had let it go. Now, he seemed unwilling to put up with her remedial excuses.
"I don't know," Hermione stalled, glancing around, as if looking for the waiter.
"Really? All of your theories and experiments and hypotheses and you haven't figured out a single thing about your relationship?" Harry inquired with a touch of sarcasm.
"Relationships are not academic, Harry," Hermione retorted.
"Was he too needy? Not attentive enough? Too picky? Not clean enough? Is it that sound he makes when he's stretching in the morning?" Harry asked tauntingly.
"I don't know whether to be annoyed by your incessant questioning, or scared of the fact that you took notice of the sound he makes while stretching in the morning," Hermione responded grinning.
"We did live together for over seven years," Harry said laughing. "But seriously, is it that sound?"
"No. It's not that sounds," Hermione laughed, "I just, I don't know, boring now. I feel like we know each other too well, there's no excitement no…"
"Sex?" Harry asked. Hermione coughed on another sip of whine.
"What do you mean?"
"Ron mentioned that the last few weeks before the split, you two stopped having sex," Harry confided, lowering his voice. "I'm not here to judge, but… He sort of wondered if you were seeing someone else…"
"No!" Hermione shouted, before lowering her voice to match Harry's "No. I never cheated on him, I-I wouldn't. I mean, well now we're separated, so I suppose I could- I mean, well that's not the point, the point is, I never cheated on him while we were together, and I still haven't-"
"I didn't think you had, I just- well, I don't know, this whole phone sex thing after you and Ron separated…"
"The phone sex thing is a means of getting a sexual release without cheating," Hermione explained, "Though if I had sex with someone now, that wouldn't be cheating because we're separated," Hermione continued.
"According to you," Harry finished.
"What?"
"According to you, you're separated. According to Ron-"
"We're separated. I told him I needed a break and if he can't handle a break, then I'll just end the whole damn thing!" Hermione said finishing her glass and pouring herself another. The two were silent, as the waiter nervously placed the entrée's in front of his disgruntled customers.
"Can we not talk about Ron and I for a while?" Hermione asked, after the waiter had left. Harry nodded.
"What would you like to talk about?" He asked diplomatically.
"You and Ginny," Hermione responded. Harry groaned. "Hey, we talked about my love life. It's your turn."
"Fine." Harry conceded. "Ginny and I are… fine. We are on good terms, but we haven't decided on where our relationship is going."
"What's the hold up?" Hermione prodded. "What's keeping you from knowing if you want to be with her or not?"
"Well, it's not just me, for one. She isn't sure she wants to be with me. Apparently, I'm too moody and I can be very 'cold'. At least, that's what she tells me."
"Have you considered seeing anyone else?" Hermione asked. Harry shrugged nodding.
"She is."
"What?" Hermione asked.
"Ginny is seeing someone else. She hasn't told me who, but she told me that she has gone out with someone and it's not serious right now. So yeah. I've thought about seeing other people," Harry's tone was dismal and he was moving his food around on his plate without actually eating it.
"I'm sorry," Hermione mumbled. Harry shook his head.
"Maybe it's for the best. I've been thinking a lot lately, and I figure that if we are meant to be together, we will get through this and if not… We'll just find other people." Hermione nodded encouragingly, trying to find a way to ask about Harry's interesting phone call.
"If you were to go out with someone… Do you have a type you're interested in?"
"Not really," Harry muttered. "I guess, just someone I connect with."
"So it wouldn't matter, like, what they looked like, or their job, or anything-"
"As long as we had a good connection, I mean, I'd have to be attracted to them to some degree-"
"Well yeah, but, you'd go for any person, who fit that requirement?" Hermione asked. Harry nodded, oblivious to the insinuations Hermione was trying to make.
"Right," Harry agreed.
"So, even if the person was totally different than anyone else you've ever dated- like say they were part veela, or-or a squib or a lot older or younger-"
"Yeah, as long as-"
"Or male.."
"What?" Harry asked.
"Well, I mean, would you ever consider…"
"Did you say, or male?" Harry asked. Hermione took a large bite of chicken.
"Well, I was just wondering, cause you know, that would be fine," She said through a mouthful.
"Is that what Ginny told you?" Harry asked, his voice raising. "Did she tell you we broke up because I'm gay?" Hermione shook her head- no.
"She didn't tell me that, I, uh, noticed that you, um, were taking calls from men…"
"What?" Harry asked. "You were listening in on my calls?!"
"Harry, we told all of our employees about the monitoring system and…"
"I just didn't think you would listen in on my calls without at least telling me," Harry said, standing.
"Harry, don't go- I'm sorry, I just flipped through and I- I think it's fine, I mean it's great and I mean, I support you whatever you decide-"
"I don't need to deal with this right now," Harry muttered, tossing some money on the table and stalking out of the restaurant.
Shit. Hermione thought to herself, she may or may not, have just outed her best friend.
"Why so blue, Granger?" A man called from a few feet behind her. Hermione turned to face Draco Malfoy.
"Hello Malfoy," She said curtly, before turning and continuing her walk home. Sometimes walking home instead of apparating was therapeutic, though speaking with Malfoy never was and she wasn't about to let him make her train wreck of a week any worse.
"You haven't been tending to your phone a lot lately," Malfoy drawled, picking up his speed to match hers. Hermione didn't respond. "Where are we going?"
"We aren't going anywhere."
"That freeze-out didn't last very long. I expected more from you," Malfoy said.
"Malfoy, I'd really rather not do this right now," Hermione said, honestly. "I know you have no compassion and that you dislike me and get great pleasure out of making my life hellish, but I am trying to take a walk, and if you continue to follow me, I'll just apparate to a different location, and continue my walk from there, so either you can be an adult and leave me alone, or I'll leave and you can do whatever you want."
"Harsh, Granger. Since we're going to be business partners, I would have expected a bit more tolerance from you," Malfoy said accusingly. "Before you leave in a angst-filled bubble of self loathing, I need to discuss something with you."
"What?" Hermione asked promptly.
"Well, this might take a while, why don't we go to your flat- or mine if you'd rather and we can sort this out-"
"Why don't we make an appointment for tomorrow morning, in my office," Hermione countered.
"I'm busy then."
"Tomorrow afternoon?"
"I'm going to be busy pretty much all day tomorrow," Malfoy said with a grin.
"Doing what?"
"Moving in to my new office, at Witch Whispers inc." Malfoy said casually.
"What?!" Hermione yelped.
"Hush Granger, do we really need to make a scene? How about I take you to one of my flats, I have a penthouse right around the corner here."
A/N: Let me know what you think! Hopefully I will update much sooner next time!