I don't own anything. everything you recognize belongs to JKR or R-squared.

Chapter 1

Girls Night Out

Hermione had already spent most of the night sitting at a dingy little table in the back corner of his horrible pub plotting her revenge on Ginny and Luna. It was their fault, Hermione had decided about an hour ago, that she was sitting there at a table stained by formally lit cigarettes and other questionable substances. This "Girls Night" was not turning out to be better than the quiet night in that Hermione had planned to have, like Ginny had promised it would be.

Hermione's night in would have consisted of decent music and better whiskey.

She didn't know where her friends had escaped to in this pub in Surrey. She had lost them about half an hour before she had come to her great conclusion about this night. All she wanted to do was go home and curl up with a book as she had planned. The only thing that stopped her was that if she did leave, she'd never hear the end of it.

The shit whiskey they served here aside, Hermione was in need of more alcohol.

As she made her way to the bar, she spotted the long red hair and freckled shoulders of Ginny, who was currently chatting up some bloke with pointed ears and a mop of messy, dark curls. Hermione's friend was obviously inebriated, enough to make her think about men other than Harry. Hermione stopped herself from going over and saying something.

She was feeling just a bit spiteful.

The bartender, like the bar he worked behind, was a greasy man wearing a maroon shirt rolled up to the elbows. He leered at her as she walked up. She wouldn't have talked to a man with a look on his face like that otherwise, but this man was able to procure alcohol, and that was enough.

"Gin and tonic, please," Hermione said as she pulled money from her tiny hand bag, one that unfortunately did not have a stretching charm on it, and placed it on the counter.

"Comin' right up, luv." The bartender gave her another leer and went to mix her drink. She contented herself on drumming on the bar with her fingertips as she spied on Ginny, who had now situated herself in her bloke's lap.

When Hermione received her drink, she gave a grateful nod. She turned around to back to her horrible little table in the corner that smelled like piss and-

-almost ran smack into a very tall man, with a very muscular chest.

Hermione was of decent height, the tallest of Ginny and Luna, but this man was incredibly tall.

"Mi scusi." The man said, "I didn't see you there."

Despite the Italian, at least Hermione guessed it was Italian (some Romance language anyways) his accent was undoubtedly American. She had to tilt her head up to get a better look at his face, and was suddenly struck with the notion that he looked very much like a certain deceased Sirius Black.

They had the same high cheek bones, piercing gaze, some obvious tattoos and long, dark hair. The had the same aura too, a bad boy vibe that clearly read, "Don't screw with me or you'll regret it." There were some differences too, of course. This man's eyes were so dark brown, they looked black, he was taller than Sirius, had an earring in his left ear, and was dressed entirely in black, which contrasted in his milk white skin.

Hermione was momentarily struck speechless. It took the man's question of, "Um, are you all right?" to shake her out of her thoughts. "Of course," she squeaked, very unlike her and she mentally scolded herself for getting so caught up in the moment, "I need to watch where I'm going. Pardon me."

She scurried out of his path and back to her putrid little corner.

.

.

.

It took another hour for Hermione to lose Ginny. The red head had disappeared some time ago, maybe with her friend from before, and Hermione felt the smallest amount of guilt about stopping her. Not for Ginny's sake, Hermione was still mad at her, but for Harry's.

It surprised Hermione more than it should have when Luna plopped herself down in the other chair across from her. "Hullo," the blonde said.

Luna was dressed eccentrically as always. Her dress was lavender tonight, with ill-placed frills on her hips that were a clashing burnt umber. Her cheeks were slightly flushed and she seemed to be having a much better time than Hermione.

Hermione waved at her friend with an empty glass. Luna was not deterred, "You seem to be having an awful time, and the wrackspurts aren't even in your ears!"

"This place is scummy, it smells awful, the liquor is horrible, and Ginny is possibly cheating on the savior of the entire Wizarding world," Hermione huffed, "You could say it hasn't been a good night."

The blonde sighed airily in the usual Luna fashion, "Pity that. The Nargles must've muddled up her mind. Maybe I should find her. Do you need a breath of air, Hermione?" Luna looked at her curiously.

Hermione was at a loss as to why she hadn't thought of that herself.

.

.

.

He seemed to be following her that night.

She had gone out a side door that led onto a little side street where there was no bouncer, and the smell of the place had more or less been dissipated in the heavy Surrey air. The tall man with the dark eyes and dark clothes had beaten her out there, casually smoking a cigarette. Another similarity between the man and the late Sirius Black.

"Hello, again," the man said between drags, "Small world, huh?"

Definitely American. Hermione was a bit surprised he remembered her, after the thirty second encounter at the bar, but the least she could do was be polite, "Er, yes, hullo."

He reached into the inside pocket of a beat up looking leather jacket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes, "Want a smoke?"

"No thanks, I don't."

Smirking, he said, "You don't want one or you don't smoke, because you look like you could use one. Nobody drinks gin and tonic unless they've had a stressful day."

Hermione gave a glare that even she knew was sort of wimpy, "Both."

"You're friends drag you out tonight?" He asked. Hermione was more comfortable around him than she probably should have been, what with all the questions, but then again she was a bit tipsy and this man was so far the best looking one she'd come across all night. "Yes, how did you...?"

The man was still smirking, "The same thing happened to me. All I wanted to do was have some wine and go to bed, but then Leo got this crazy idea to go to a pub because we're in England and you don't go to bars in England you go to pubs. He got all excited and started with this crap about how I owe him or something and then Leo ditched me for the first girl he sees and here I am. Though, if I get to talk to you, I guess it's not so bad." He winked at her, maybe, it was hard to tell with only the light coming from the bulb beside the door.

Hermione blushed in-spite of herself (definitely the alcohol), "Similar thing happened to me. It was supposed to be a 'Girls Night' but obviously that didn't happen. My best friend ditched me for some bloke, while she's dating a mutual friend."

The man whistled, "Wow. We have some great friends, don't we?"

Hermione chuckled and opened her mouth to agree when something caught her eye. Across the street were four or five figures, their genders hard to tell. They were wearing familiar silver masks that made her heart leap to her throat. Some sort of beast was with them, like a large dog.

Hermione felt helpless. She couldn't pull her wand out with this Muggle right across from her.

But she didn't have to worry about that, because the man grabbed her wrist and dragged her off at a run the other way.

And there we have it folks. Remember that reviews are love, and so are favorites. Expect a second chapter up soon!

Virtual cookies to anyone that can guess Ginny's gentleman friend.