Work Text:
19th of April 2000
Hermione went into the little cafe near Diagon alley.
Hej, A double vanilla latte tack.. hmm and a cinnamon bun.
The little cafe was run by a Swedish muggle couple. She had picked up some small phrases. Like the ones for thank you, hello, goodbye and chokladboll. That was a tiny (or not so tiny) cookie. A ball of chocolate (or technically oatmeal, cocoa powder, butter and coffee) with either sprinkles or something called Pearl sugar.
Since it was Wednesday she took the cinnamon bun. She had different choices for different days.
Mondays was chocolate ball
Tuesday was danish pastry
Wednesday was cinnamonbun
Thursday was bananoffepie
Fridays was coffeeball
In the odd occasion she went on the weekend she took one of the specials. She always had the vanilla latte to drink. Sometimes a small and sometimes a big. It all depended.
-sorry love, I’m all out for the moment. The next batch is 10 minutes away from being done.
-oh hmm then I take a coffee ball. I need the caffeine anyway.
She had discovered the cookie that was sort of a specialty at Monkey drums (The little cafe). It was almost as the chocolate ball but without chocolate and lots of coffee in it.
-ok here you go love.
The owner Lena gave Hermione her coffee and cake.
-Hi Hermione!
Marcus Flint called out for her, he waved at her and she walked towards him.
-Hi Marcus.
He pulled out her chair and she sat down.
Hermione had found the little cafe when she had just broken up with Ron eight months ago. Her and Ron had broken up after just 2 months together. 2 months where Ron had cheated on her at least 10 times with different witches. But somehow he still expected her to come back to him.
She hadn’t been on any dates since her break up. She didn’t see the point but somehow Marcus Flint had convinced her to go out on a coffee date with her.
-I don’t get why you wanted to go on a date with me Marcus
-Your amazing witch so why not?
-You got to be kidding me? You can get any witch and you want a date with me?
Marcus Flint was no longer the troll he was at school. That was actually thanks to quidditch. Or thanks to a bludger to the jaw that needed to get fixed. So now he was in the top 5 of most eligible bachelors in the wizard of the world.
Hermione was not on any list. She had managed to stay out of the papers since her break up from Ron. Not thanks to Rita Skeeter and Pavarti Patil. But thanks to the fact that she mostly kept to the muggle world. She worked from home as a potioner. She had a company together with Draco Malfoy, Theo Nott and Blaise Zabini.
They had formed a friendship during the eighth year and it was through them she had met Flint. They had actually been friends or what you should call it for 2 years. Contrary to what everyone thought Ron and Hermione had not become a couple straight away after the battle. It took over a year. When she graduated from Hogwarts in June 1999. They had gone on a trip and came home as a couple. That was 10 months ago now and she had given up on love.
“All love ever does is break and burn”
She had loved her parents and now they were gone or they were alive but didn't remember her. Her mum lived in Brazil with some retired soccer player and her dad was somewhere in Asia backpacking with his latest girlfriend. Hermione had kept a check on them but decided to leave them to live their lives. Both of them seemed happy, happier than what she had ever remembered.
“All love ever does is break and burn”
Harry had not had any contact with her since she broke up with Ron. Apparently Ron had told Harry some story about how it was not his fault but Hermione's fault. That she had been cheating on him… With Draco. That was really funny considering that he was a gay as they came and had been together with Theo since they were 14. Hermione was not a virgin when she and Ron became a couple. Ron was no virgin either. He had lost it to Lavender and then he had been with others before the trip.
Hermione didn't mind. She had lost her virginity to Viktor Krum in the library after the Yule ball. It was an ok experience and they had kept on having sex until he left Hogwarts and then during most of eight year she had been FBs with Blasie.
“All love ever does is break and burn”
Ginny had never been her friend. She had just used Hermione to get close to Harry. That had been made clear to her when Harry and Ginny became a couple. Then Hermione had just become something that was in the way and a threat. It didn't matter that both Harry and Hermione said that they were like siblings. To be honest that wasn't true at all. They had been having sex almost the entire time that they were gone during the horcrux hunt. They almost got caught by Ron so many times. Sex with Harry had been fun.
“All love ever does is break and burn”
- Hi Hermione, I'm here. Marcus laughed and looked at her
- Ooh i'm so sorry. I got lost in my own thoughts.
- They must have been interesting because I have been calling your name the last 5 minutes.
- Sorry I was just thinking about the song Begin again by Taylor Swift. Do you know it?
-yes I actually do know it. It's a sad song. Why do you think about that?
- It fits my life. “All love ever does is break and burn” All the ones I have loved are gone from my life in one way or the other. She started to cry.
She couldn't stop crying. She heard a chair moving and all of the sudden she was in Marcus arms. For some reason she suddenly felt safe and the crying calmed down.
-Life must have really made a number on you love.
All of the sudden she sat there and told Marcus all of her life. About Viktor, Ron, her parents and what had happened when she was on the hunt with Ron and Harry. She was starting to tell about what had happened at Malfoy Manor when Lot one of the owners' sons came up to their table and told them that they were closing.
-Oh im so sorry. We are gonna leave. Marcus, want to join me at my place? 20 minutes later they sat in her kitchen and she continued her story.
When she went to bed late that night she felt so much better. She and Marcus had laughed, she had cried and they had cuddled. They had also agreed to meet for a date on saturday. They had agreed to stay in the muggle world for the time being.
On their date they had stuck to talking about everyday life. Marcus told her about the game earlier that day and she told about the progress she was making on the wolfsbane potion, she and Theo worked on making it more effective and cheaper.
6 months later (October 2000)
-Pansy I can't do this!
-Hush it´s a game you going to nothing else.
-It´s not just a game tho is it? We are going public!
-Yes so what?
What if Rita writes crap again?
-You don't get the Prophet anyway so it doesn't matter. Plus that Marcus is heads over heels with you. Has been since you were 13..
-WHAT?What did you just say Pansy??
-Opps… shouldn't have said that.
12 months later (October 2001)
The year or the 18 months since that first date had gone by fast. They had stuck to their Wednesday date in the cafe and to Saturdays when Marcus didn't have away games. They moved in together the weekend after they went public. As predicted Rita and Pavrati had written loads of stuff in the Prophet. Draco had gone livid, Theo wanted to sue and Marcus had just laughed at it, so in the end it was ok and she didn't care.
It was now 31 october and they were going to the Halloween ball at the manor. Hermione lived her life as she wanted with her snakes. Her circle of friends was mostly old slytherins. Plus Luna and Neville. She was close to Pansy, Daphne and Astoria.
Wedding Day 19 april 2005
6 years after that first date they were getting married. Marcus had proposed on one of their Wednesday dates at the cafe. He had gotten the owners to play the Taylor Swift song that she had been thinking on that first date. She didn’t even let him finish before she say yes.
Finally the end of the song made sense.
“But on a Wednesday in a cafe
I watched it begin again”
She was finally home and no longer felt that love just break and burn.