Don't Smile At Me

Chapter 1: Meet Cute... Or Not

Hermione bustled down the snow-covered street, groceries in hand. With Christmas a week away, the city was crawling with life, everyone trying to get in their last minute Christmas shopping. Children were running rampant while exasperated parents called after them in increasingly irritated tones. Hermione weaved between the people, hoping she could just make it two more blocks to her flat, when she smacked into something solid that had suddenly appeared. Her bags split open as she dropped them in surprise, dropping a raw, wrapped turkey and spilling tomatoes, asparagus, peas, and other vegetables across the sidewalk. Hermione scrambled to collect as many of the fallen items as possible, spouting profuse apologies. To her dismay, the turkey had slipped out of its paper and onto the shoes of the person into whom she had crashed.

Slowly she raised her head, trailing her eyes up from the turkey juice-covered shoes. Neat black trousers, a thick woolen jacket over a dark suit and a forest green tie. Pale skin protruded in stark contrast from the neckline, and a sharp jawline clenched tightly. She looked up into the stormy, grey eyes of the most handsome man she had ever seen. His face was classically molded, with a straight, narrow nose and high cheekbones. Not a single strand of his thick, black hair was out of place.

"I- I'm so sorry. I didn't see-" Hermione stammered, still captivated by his beauty.

"Clearly. These shoes are italian leather, which I suspect have now been utterly destroyed by your carelessness." He sneered down at her. His eyes held nothing but disgust and contempt. Hermione bristled.

"Well perhaps, if you'd been paying attention, too, it could have been avoided. I'm sorry your italian leather has been ruined, but I fail to see how this is entirely my fault." Hermione huffed in annoyance, shooting her own glare back at the man.

Now a sneer curled up the side of his lips as he answered in a condescending voice, "Hardly surprising, considering you failed to see that the way was clear before steamrolling through. I'll be sending you the bill for a new pair of shoes, Miss...?"

"Psh, you look like you could easily buy a new pair of shoes without batting an eye at the price," Hermione said as she took in the fine material of his clothes, and the way they hung as if they were custom made. She could not say the same, with her faded jeans and worn sweater that were barely holding on to their original shape. The man had also noticed and was taking it in gleefully.

"Be that as it may, blame must be assigned where it is due. Your name?"

"Hermione Granger. And yours?"

He eyed her for a moment, as if deciding whether or not she was worthy. Finally, he said, "Tom Riddle."

"Well, Mr. Riddle. It sure has been a joy meeting you. Happy Christmas." Hermione put as much acid into her voice as she could, before storming off and leaving half her groceries sprawled across the ground.

"Happy Christmas to you, too, Miss Granger," she heard him call back with a hint of amusement.

"What a prick. 'These shoes are Italian leather'" Hermione mimicked in a high voice as she walked away. She didn't care how gorgeous he was, there was no excuse for his utter unpleasantness. She was still muttering darkly to herself when she slammed the door to her flat and irritably threw her jacket over the hook on the wall with a little more force than necessary.

"Hermione, you're back!" called a cheery voice from another room. Harry walked in, took one look at the murderous expression on her face, and said, "Something wrong?".

"Only the most condescending, arrogant, horrible, condescending-"

"You already said that."

"-awful, snotty prick that I have ever met in my life." Hermione finished hotly.

"Blimey, 'Mione," Ron had joined them, coming in at the tail end of her rant. Looking at her empty-handedness, he asked, "Where's the food?" This set Hermione off once more, detailing exactly what had occurred as her two flat mates endured her increasingly shrill voice, wincing slightly.

"Can you believe it?" she demanded once she had finished.

"No, no. He sounds like a git," Ron agreed quickly.

"There's no way he can make you pay for his new shoes," added Harry. There was an awkward silence as the two boys made eye contact while Hermione fumed, neither knowing where to go from there.

Ron finally broke the silence by tentatively saying, "So... I guess this means no turkey tonight?"

"I suppose it does," she replied tightly.

A/N: Thank you all for reading, I hope you enjoy it so far! This is just a little teaser chapter, and I promise they will get longer as I continue updating. This is just meant to be a cute little romance not Gone With the Wind.

Also - This was originally posted on fanfiction.net, where my username is WillowRose11656. Everything that I write will be posted there first, then eventually updated to here.

- WillowRose :)