Dear Stranger

Chapter 12

Colin would be gone for another two days, so Draco had Hermione all to himself at the shop. They spent a lot of time discussing books as they were constantly surrounded by them and the topic seemed to crop up quite a bit. They talked about Hogwarts: A History, which he soon learned to be her favorite book, even trumping Pride and Prejudice. She wouldn't have been able to tell him that in her letters because it was school-specific. He had always liked that book as he liked history, but he never truly appreciated it until after the War.

He asked her at the end of the day on Wednesday about how she came to run the shop as he was sure she was destined for a very prestigious Ministry position.

"Ah, yes. I was so sure I would just fall in love with public service and just find my niche in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, as any supporter of house-elf rights should, but sadly it didn't work out. I felt overwhelmed and I was doing very little in the way of progress because I was so overwhelmed all the time. Ernie Macmillan took over the position when I left and he deals with stress well so he's done a fantastic job."

"How did you come across the shop though? Doesn't seem like something you'd seek out."

"Not really no. I was walking through the Alley one day and saw a "For Sale" sign in the window and went for it. Honestly, one of the most impulsive things I've ever done. I've learned to trust my impulse over the years, though. It usually turns out to be right."

"And you enjoy being a business owner?"

"I do. I get to be my own boss, I get to be surrounded by something I love all day, I get to inspire other people to read or to love learning, I don't get Saturdays off but I'm still in a bookstore, I can keep up on all the latest news from an abundance of perspectives which is always interesting, I get to meet lots of new people, it's very rewarding. More so than I ever imagined it would be."

"Seems to suit you just right." She smiled at him. Genuinely. And he smiled back. And they paused for a moment, just smiling at each other over a pile of books in whimsical silence.

♢♢♢

On Wednesday morning, they were stacking books on shelves that Draco had brought in from his collection at the Manor. They were in the midst of finding nooks and crannies for them when she came around the corner of the aisle just as he was walking down it to ask her a question.

They ran right into each other and were extremely close for approximately 7 seconds before one of them made any effort to move. Before any moving happened, however, Draco caught her eyes and looked into them very deeply before realizing how ridiculous he was being. She finally stepped away after the very long 7 second pause and straightened out her skirt and sweater before huffing slightly louder than she intended and giving him a quick smile. She turned and went two aisles down and he pressed his back up against the bookshelf for support. He had never been in such close proximity to her and it was killing him now. She smelled like mulberries and fresh air. Her skin was perfect, smooth and lightly freckled, but you wouldn't be able to tell that from any distance further than the three inches he had been from her.

It was all very cliche. He didn't really mind.

♢♢♢

On Thursday, Colin returned feeling very guilty about the fact that he had missed so much work. Draco was a bit disheartened that he didn't have Hermione all to himself anymore but he enjoyed Colin and things with Hermione were going well.

At some point during the day, Colin insisted that he inventory the last two boxes of books as he knew her system backwards and forwards and wanted to do something particularly helpful. Hermione took him up on the offer. She had to do something involving the sales book and the new shipment and had to figure out some ways to store excess books. She had meanwhile asked Draco if he could by any chance step outside a moment to please clear away the absurd amount of snow that had piled up outside of the shop, during the insanely unusual snow storm that had hit the night before, before the Alley was open for business.