Dear Stranger

Chapter 14

The rest of the week flew by rather quickly and before Hermione knew it, it was Saturday afternoon and she was sitting at the counter on a particularly dry day as a quiet customer browsed the sports section. Draco and Colin were in the back dealing with the massive amounts of inventory thanks to Draco's generous donation of around 375 books. It was truly ridiculous.

Hermione had had enough of inventory, and Colin and Draco were very aware of it, so they told her to man the front and that they would handle the mess in the back. She sat there, twiddling her thumbs and doing nothing of importance, driving herself mad. She wanted to occupy herself with some task but there was nothing to do. She could help the boys but they had it under control and the back room was too insanely packed to house another book much less a third person.

Another customer entered the store just then, a middle aged woman with dark hair and an elegant face.

"Welcome to Flourish and Blotts!" Hermione said cheerily out of habit as the woman closed the door behind her. The woman simply smiled and nodded in acknowledgment before heading to the muggle studies section. Hermione was once again without anything to do, hoping one of the customers would quickly make a decision and come to the counter so she could at least use the cash register. She glanced down at the thin watch on her wrist a few times in a span of about five minutes. The shop closed at 7 o'clock and it was currently 5:32. An hour and a half left. That was it. And then she could go home and painstakingly deliberate over what she should wear the following day. She wasn't sure if she should dress up a bit for her breakfast with Draco, or maybe remain casual as she still wasn't sure if it was a date or just a simple breakfast between friends. Either way she wanted to look nice, presentable. Her stranger, though, that was a different story. She wanted to look nice for that, make a good impression but also show him what a catch he was missing out on when he stood her up. She wasn't usually one for revenge, but this wasn't revenge, it was just sticking it to an exceptionally rude man.

Eventually, both quiet customers made their way to checkout and once the sophisticated middle aged woman had made her way out of the store and down the street, Hermione closed the door, locked it, and turned the small golden plaque from 'OPEN' to 'CLOSED'. She made her way to the back room, glad to be done with the day.

"Hello, boys." She said as she entered the backroom.

"What are you doing back here? We told you we'd handle it." Colin said from a bent over position as he dug threw a box that was a bit too far away.

"I decided to close up a bit early since there seems to be a low flow of customers and I am very ready to be done with the day." She said as she picked up a few books that had been strewn about.

"Well I'm not going to protest an extended Saturday night." Colin said as he straightened himself out and made his way to the coatrack. "I'll see you two on Monday then, have a nice Sunday." He said with a wink in Draco's direction before pulling on his coat and hastily making his way out the door.

"Did he just wink at you?" Hermione turned to Draco and berated him the moment Colin shut the door.

"Yes, he asked about Sunday plans and I told him we were going to breakfast tomorrow morning and now he's convinced that we're secretly seeing each other." Draco said with a small smile and that look that said "Ridiculous. Right?" to which Hermione chuckled in agreement and a look that said "Yes, absolutely ridiculous." "Anyways," Draco said putting down his books and grabbing his coat. "I will see you tomorrow morning?"

"Yes, of course! 9 o'clock at the apparition point, it's on my calendar." She said hastily as he nodded and smiled before closing the door behind him. She was on her own now, her and her thoughts. She really liked Draco and honestly it was bothering her that she wouldn't know what to do about her stranger until a few hours before meeting him, but that was part of the fun, right?