Hey Jane (Part Nine) (9 of 10)
Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine.
Title: Hey Jane (Part Nine)
Rating: PG
Characters: Hermione/Charlie
A/N: This is the next-to-last one ~ I think I only have one more installment to go! :D
"So you're from another country..."
"World. It's a separate world."
"And people there are all magicians."
"I know it's a lot to absorb..."
"And you and Neville and Dean and Seamus are all wizards."
"Yes. Look... " He steered her gently to the window. "Look out there.... didn't you think it was strange this place went from a rundown dump to the hanging gardens of Babylon over the course of a few months? Neville's magic makes plants grow."
"And what does yours do? Seduce gullible young women?"
"No. I.. well, see.....Neville's good with plants, I'm good with animals. Particular... animals."
She folded her arms.
"Dragons," he admitted.
"Uh-huh," Jane said.
"I have the tattoo," he offered faintly, as if that would prove everything.
"Do you realize that you lied to me the very first day I met you? You came into my shop to buy something you didn't really need. You found out where I lived. You brought that scary man into my house! Are you guys some sort of con group?"
"What?" Charlie would have laughed from surprise but her accusation was so decidedly unfunny. "You think we've been staging some kind of heist all this time? No offense, Jane, but you're a shopgirl, not the Honeyduke Heiress...."
"I could be! Oh my god..... I could be anything... and you could know..."
"No! Hermione, you're not - it's not like that. I can tell you who you are, but..."
"And that's another thing!" she interrupted him forcefully. "You've called me "Hermione" several times. I've let it slide but I'm starting to think you're only with me because I remind you of somebody you used to know. That girlfriend person you were on about when you bought that nightgown, the one who left you. Maybe you're not over her and I just look like her. Sometimes I catch you staring at me with this... sadness in your eyes, like you're somewhere else. With someone else."
Charlie had no idea how to unravel this mess, which suspicion or misapprehension to unravel first, but he could see she was getting more and more upset, and he hadn't failed to notice she had steered the conversation rather emphatically off both magic and her identity. He could at least recognize an impending overload when he saw one. When she started yelling at him to get out and not come back, he decided to comply, for now. He'd been planning on a small demonstration of magic, but he was afraid she'd just think she was going crazy. He was a little afraid it might even push her into some sort of breakdown.
"All right, Jane," he said. "But if you need anything, you pick up the phone and call me."
~~~
Seamus dropped down into the cafe chair on the other side of the table and pulled a now-familiar notebook out of his pocket. "I went back to Hogwarts last night," he began.
Charlie had grown weary of conversations that started off this way. "Oh?" he said distantly, jabbing his fork into a stack of waffe squares.
"Yeah. Chatted up some more folk. The Grey Lady. The Fat Lady. They didn't see Hermione that day."
"She's Jane now. Get used to it." Charlie took a drink of his coffee and decided it was bitter.
"I did have an interesting conversation with a coupla house elves, though. There was one we knew back in school. Frienda Harry's."
"Really."
"He was pretty upset when I told him about Hermione. Showed me a lot of socks and hats and things she'd made for him."
"Fascinating."
"Well, don't suppose it matters, but I just wanted to keep you updated on the investigation."
"Seamus. There is no more investigation."
~~~
Jane got home late, because of the rain. She pulled off her raincoat and hung the dripping accessories of her day on the rack in the hall, before padding into the living room.
Thoughts of Charlie had been washing over her all day, at random intervals, no matter how hard she'd tried to concentrate on work. Now she was home, and in the sudden stillness she missed him so much it was like a physical pain.
She reminded herself sternly of his outlandish claims. Although... she had been considering the possibility that he was simply delusional and not deliberately scamming her. In which case, well ... he'd accepted her and her amnesia problems, maybe she should have been more understanding about him believing in dragons...
She couldn't deal with this tonight. All she wanted was a cup of something hot and a few hours in front of the shopping channel with Herman.
She looked around for Herman. Usually he was here to greet her and demand a tin, but the flat was quiet.
"Herman?" she ventured.
Not quite worried yet, she wandered into the kitchen. She checked inside the lower cupboards.
She checked his favorite spot on the back of the sofa. She checked under the sofa.
Breath quickening just a bit, she walked into the bedroom. She looked in his second-favorite spot on the bed behind the curtains. She looked under the bed.
"Herman?" she called. "Dinner!"
She went back to the kitchen and opened a tin of cat food in the loudest and most deliberate way possible, and clattered it noisily onto a plate.
The flat was as still and quiet as before, expect for the rumbling of the storm outside.
Now she was worried.
Fifteen minutes later she was ransacking the flat like a vandal, rummaging through closets, upending the contents of drawers, clawing open boxes. When had she accumulated so much junk, she wondered desperately, a person could lose an elephant in this place.
She couldn't lose Herman ... she couldn't lose anything or anyone else... she just couldn't.
She might be angry with Charlie, but he would still help her, she was sure of it. She was sure of this in a way she was sure of precious little else in the world.
She half stumbled over the clothes and debris on the floor and fell on the sofa, snatching up the phone, when she realized...
He hadn't given her his number.
He'd said to call him.
Feeling like the most foolish person in the world, fearing for her sanity and clutching the phone so hard her hands were white, she brought it up to her lips. "Charlie?" she whispered. The sound seemed to spiral away, around and around the curly cord until it disappeared. Then she heard herself nearly screaming his name. "Charlie!"
Just when she thought she'd completely lost her mind, she heard a familiar voice.
"Hey, Jane."
~~~
Charlie surveyed the destruction of the flat without comment while Hermione, tear-streaked and trembling, babbled on and on about the cat.
"... and I've looked everywhere!" she finished.
"Well, not everywhere, obviously," Charlie soothed. "You probably scared him with the commotion. You have to stay calm around animals, or it scares them off. Of course, sometimes they just like to get your goat." He grinned at her. "Particularly cats."
Charlie took out his wand, and performed a simple locator charm, one any First or Second Year could do, and watched the green light trail off into the bedroom. Hermione, though her eyes were wide, didn't hesitate to follow him as he strode into the bedroom.
The light led him to the uppermost shelf of the closet. It was packed deep with boxes and several stacks of knitted blankets. Tall as Charlie was, even on his toes he was barely able to push everything aside to get all the way to the back. When he moved the last box aside, though, he saw a pair of gleaming eyes peering out of the shadows.
Herman strolled out with a pleasant "miaow" - as if Hermione had just arrived home from work and hadn't been frantically looking for him for an hour.
Charlie reached up and collected the cat before he could jump the long distance down, and turned to present him to Hermione.
"I don't know if I want to kill him or hug him," she gritted out.
Charlie poured him into her arms. "Come on. You know you'll get around to forgiving us sooner or later."
Hermione looked up at him over an armful of cat.
"I'm the one who should be asking for forgiveness," she said softly. "You were telling me the truth."
"Yeah, I was."
"And that was a magic wand, that thing you used."
"Yes." Charlie reached into his coat pocket and pulled out another. "You have one, too," he informed her gently.
Hermione's mouth fell open. "That... that's the funny stick I took off the coffee table!"
"Well, don't throw it out the window this time," he said, intending to sound stern, but he couldn't keep from laughing.
~~~
Continue…
Title: Hey Jane (Part Nine)
Rating: PG
Characters: Hermione/Charlie
A/N: This is the next-to-last one ~ I think I only have one more installment to go! :D
"So you're from another country..."
"World. It's a separate world."
"And people there are all magicians."
"I know it's a lot to absorb..."
"And you and Neville and Dean and Seamus are all wizards."
"Yes. Look... " He steered her gently to the window. "Look out there.... didn't you think it was strange this place went from a rundown dump to the hanging gardens of Babylon over the course of a few months? Neville's magic makes plants grow."
"And what does yours do? Seduce gullible young women?"
"No. I.. well, see.....Neville's good with plants, I'm good with animals. Particular... animals."
She folded her arms.
"Dragons," he admitted.
"Uh-huh," Jane said.
"I have the tattoo," he offered faintly, as if that would prove everything.
"Do you realize that you lied to me the very first day I met you? You came into my shop to buy something you didn't really need. You found out where I lived. You brought that scary man into my house! Are you guys some sort of con group?"
"What?" Charlie would have laughed from surprise but her accusation was so decidedly unfunny. "You think we've been staging some kind of heist all this time? No offense, Jane, but you're a shopgirl, not the Honeyduke Heiress...."
"I could be! Oh my god..... I could be anything... and you could know..."
"No! Hermione, you're not - it's not like that. I can tell you who you are, but..."
"And that's another thing!" she interrupted him forcefully. "You've called me "Hermione" several times. I've let it slide but I'm starting to think you're only with me because I remind you of somebody you used to know. That girlfriend person you were on about when you bought that nightgown, the one who left you. Maybe you're not over her and I just look like her. Sometimes I catch you staring at me with this... sadness in your eyes, like you're somewhere else. With someone else."
Charlie had no idea how to unravel this mess, which suspicion or misapprehension to unravel first, but he could see she was getting more and more upset, and he hadn't failed to notice she had steered the conversation rather emphatically off both magic and her identity. He could at least recognize an impending overload when he saw one. When she started yelling at him to get out and not come back, he decided to comply, for now. He'd been planning on a small demonstration of magic, but he was afraid she'd just think she was going crazy. He was a little afraid it might even push her into some sort of breakdown.
"All right, Jane," he said. "But if you need anything, you pick up the phone and call me."
~~~
Seamus dropped down into the cafe chair on the other side of the table and pulled a now-familiar notebook out of his pocket. "I went back to Hogwarts last night," he began.
Charlie had grown weary of conversations that started off this way. "Oh?" he said distantly, jabbing his fork into a stack of waffe squares.
"Yeah. Chatted up some more folk. The Grey Lady. The Fat Lady. They didn't see Hermione that day."
"She's Jane now. Get used to it." Charlie took a drink of his coffee and decided it was bitter.
"I did have an interesting conversation with a coupla house elves, though. There was one we knew back in school. Frienda Harry's."
"Really."
"He was pretty upset when I told him about Hermione. Showed me a lot of socks and hats and things she'd made for him."
"Fascinating."
"Well, don't suppose it matters, but I just wanted to keep you updated on the investigation."
"Seamus. There is no more investigation."
~~~
Jane got home late, because of the rain. She pulled off her raincoat and hung the dripping accessories of her day on the rack in the hall, before padding into the living room.
Thoughts of Charlie had been washing over her all day, at random intervals, no matter how hard she'd tried to concentrate on work. Now she was home, and in the sudden stillness she missed him so much it was like a physical pain.
She reminded herself sternly of his outlandish claims. Although... she had been considering the possibility that he was simply delusional and not deliberately scamming her. In which case, well ... he'd accepted her and her amnesia problems, maybe she should have been more understanding about him believing in dragons...
She couldn't deal with this tonight. All she wanted was a cup of something hot and a few hours in front of the shopping channel with Herman.
She looked around for Herman. Usually he was here to greet her and demand a tin, but the flat was quiet.
"Herman?" she ventured.
Not quite worried yet, she wandered into the kitchen. She checked inside the lower cupboards.
She checked his favorite spot on the back of the sofa. She checked under the sofa.
Breath quickening just a bit, she walked into the bedroom. She looked in his second-favorite spot on the bed behind the curtains. She looked under the bed.
"Herman?" she called. "Dinner!"
She went back to the kitchen and opened a tin of cat food in the loudest and most deliberate way possible, and clattered it noisily onto a plate.
The flat was as still and quiet as before, expect for the rumbling of the storm outside.
Now she was worried.
Fifteen minutes later she was ransacking the flat like a vandal, rummaging through closets, upending the contents of drawers, clawing open boxes. When had she accumulated so much junk, she wondered desperately, a person could lose an elephant in this place.
She couldn't lose Herman ... she couldn't lose anything or anyone else... she just couldn't.
She might be angry with Charlie, but he would still help her, she was sure of it. She was sure of this in a way she was sure of precious little else in the world.
She half stumbled over the clothes and debris on the floor and fell on the sofa, snatching up the phone, when she realized...
He hadn't given her his number.
He'd said to call him.
Feeling like the most foolish person in the world, fearing for her sanity and clutching the phone so hard her hands were white, she brought it up to her lips. "Charlie?" she whispered. The sound seemed to spiral away, around and around the curly cord until it disappeared. Then she heard herself nearly screaming his name. "Charlie!"
Just when she thought she'd completely lost her mind, she heard a familiar voice.
"Hey, Jane."
~~~
Charlie surveyed the destruction of the flat without comment while Hermione, tear-streaked and trembling, babbled on and on about the cat.
"... and I've looked everywhere!" she finished.
"Well, not everywhere, obviously," Charlie soothed. "You probably scared him with the commotion. You have to stay calm around animals, or it scares them off. Of course, sometimes they just like to get your goat." He grinned at her. "Particularly cats."
Charlie took out his wand, and performed a simple locator charm, one any First or Second Year could do, and watched the green light trail off into the bedroom. Hermione, though her eyes were wide, didn't hesitate to follow him as he strode into the bedroom.
The light led him to the uppermost shelf of the closet. It was packed deep with boxes and several stacks of knitted blankets. Tall as Charlie was, even on his toes he was barely able to push everything aside to get all the way to the back. When he moved the last box aside, though, he saw a pair of gleaming eyes peering out of the shadows.
Herman strolled out with a pleasant "miaow" - as if Hermione had just arrived home from work and hadn't been frantically looking for him for an hour.
Charlie reached up and collected the cat before he could jump the long distance down, and turned to present him to Hermione.
"I don't know if I want to kill him or hug him," she gritted out.
Charlie poured him into her arms. "Come on. You know you'll get around to forgiving us sooner or later."
Hermione looked up at him over an armful of cat.
"I'm the one who should be asking for forgiveness," she said softly. "You were telling me the truth."
"Yeah, I was."
"And that was a magic wand, that thing you used."
"Yes." Charlie reached into his coat pocket and pulled out another. "You have one, too," he informed her gently.
Hermione's mouth fell open. "That... that's the funny stick I took off the coffee table!"
"Well, don't throw it out the window this time," he said, intending to sound stern, but he couldn't keep from laughing.
~~~
Continue…