Light and Shadow

Light and Shadow

Chapter 12 - Dinner at the Juridical Club

For the third time that night, Hermione took a good look at herself in the mirror. She was wearing a tight black dress that reached her knees, and had a discreet neckline. Her hair was neatly pulled back into a bun with some wicks falling beside her face. At her feet, black boots that nearly reached her knees. She smiled, enjoying what she was seeing in the mirror. Suddenly, she remembered Harry speaking that morning: "She's a lot prettier, although about that, unfortunately, there's not much you can do." She shook her head, putting the thought aside. She wouldn't get upset with his words, because she knew that was exactly what he wanted. Mione smiled when she heard the doorbell ring. Mark had arrived.

She grabbed her purse, which was on her bed, and went to the door. But before opening it, she looked for the fourth time at the mirror checking if everything was really fine.

"Hello," Mione said smiling, holding the doorknob.

"Hello! Mione, you're wonderfull!" She smiled. "You know, I think you look so much prettier when you wear your hair like that! Oh! Sorry! Anything you wear will make you look much prettier!"

"Mark, stop hitting on me, that won't work," she said slapping his arm lightly, with her face getting red with embarassment.

"It's a shame it doesn't work... Because if it did, I think the idea would be very interesting," he finished blinking at her.

She just smiled.

"Let's go?" he asked.

"Don't you want to come in and have a drink?" Mione said, only because she was a polite person.

"Hermione, why do you always ask when we're about to leave and never when we're arriving?" he asked playfully. "You know, I think one day I'll accept just to see if you give me a chance, and I assure you won't regret." Mark blinked at her again.

"Oh, Mark, stop playing the fool," she said smiling, closing the door.

Since their graduation, Mione and Mark always went to dinner at the Juridical Club together. Actually, these dinners took place every Fridays, but only once in a year their college class gathered to go to one of them. And since their graduation, they went always to these dinners together, independently of any relationships they might be involved in. This time, things weren't different.

And the fact that their friends from Oxford made comments about them arriving together again and insisting on denying their "romance" also hadn't changed. Mark usually provoked more comments, saying that he was almost conquering her. Nobody understood why they weren't together; whoever saw them would say they made a perfect couple.

They always sat at the same table. It was funny: at all those meetings on Fridays, the same people that were friends in college sat at the same tables. Well, the truth was that there were only two tables: Hermione's and Katherine's, because anyone who was friend of one of them surely wasn't a friend of the other.

Before dinner began, Mione and her friends were all gathered close to the bar, talking and updating the news, when suddenly she heard Mark whispering.

"You won't believe who's escorting the 'peacock'!" Mark always called Katherine peacock, due to the fact that she was very flashy, and because she always thought her "tail" was so pretty and so wonderful.

So Hermione turned to the door and saw Katherine, as always, with a neckline that could easily be called indecent. Wouldn't make any difference if she were wearing nothing. And she was holding hands with Harry.

Hermione felt her breath get stuck in her throat and made a huge effort not to show how shocked she was. Since she started going to these dinners, she had never met Harry, and the fact that he came escorted by Katherine made her face get red of anger. She took a deep breath to calm down, turning to Mark.

"What is he doing here?" Mione asked, still shocked.

"That's exactly what I was going to ask you." Mark seemed just as surprised as Hermione. "Did you know he would be coming today? Better, did you know he would be coming escorted by the peacock?"

"No, I didn't."

Before any of them could say something, they saw Kathy approaching.

"Good evening everyone!" she said with that fake voice of hers, receiving hostile looks from Hermione's friends. "Hermione, my dear, I see you brought your little pet, like every year," she finished, referring to Mark.

"Hm-hm. I see you brought one on your own too, and as always, a different one from the year before."

Kathy smiled and looked at Harry. He just hugged the woman from behind her, resting his chin on the curve of her neck. Hermione just rolled her eyes, thinking how pathetic that scene was.

"Prepared for tomorrow?" she asked, with a superior smile.

"Of course, I'm ready to end it with you, as always, actually."

"Really, it's such a pity that you won't agree with me, and won't take the deal. Harry was telling me he also thinks it's a waste of time, but if you insist that much..." she said, making a move with her hand showing that, for her, that had no importance.

That made Mione get even angrier. That meant that Harry had been talking to her about the case. Controlling her voice the most, she turned to Harry.

"Could we talk for a minute?" And looking at Katherine, 'In private."

"Sure," Harry said, kissing Katherine's cheek and following Mione through the room.

When they reached a quieter place, she started.

"Have you been talking to her about the case?" she asked, irritated.

"Why, was it forbidden?" he answered with another question.

"Did you or didn't you talk to her about the case?"

"I did, why, was it forbidden?" he repeated the question.

Mione closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She was trying to control her anger as much as she could, but she couldn't make it. She felt the glass in her hand exploding, and then the lamp that was near them, and after the lamp, the vase of a closeby table, catching people's attention, including Mark's. He thought in approaching to them, but just the look he got from Hermione made him change his mind.

"Are you crazy?" Harry asked, nervous. "Would you please control yourself, before you blow out everything?!"

"What exactly did you talk about the case?" She ignored his comment.

"I said what I thought about it. I don't see any problem in that."

"Did you give her details of my defence?"

"No, I didn't give her details of OUR defence," he answered seriously.

Hermione just looked at Harry as if analysing him.

"I don't believe you." She was very serious as he was and her voice had a tone of warning. "I'll let Philip know about this meeting of yours tomorrow." She heard Harry making a resigned noise. "And if I notice you told her anything about MY defence, and don't come saying it's ours, because I did the entire job, to her, I'll ask the judge for your removal," she finished, turning to go back to the bar, when she heard Harry's voice.

"Is all this jealousy?"

Mione suddenly stopped in the middle of her way, turning to him.

"Excuse me?" She couldn't believe what she had heard.

"You're jealous because I came with Kathy, and you still don't accept the fact that she's a lot, and a lot better than you," Harry said with a smile that made Hermione feel like strangling him.

She approached to him again, this time a little bit closer, and with such a threatening look that even Voldemort himself would feel fear if he were still alive.

"Pay very close attention to what I'm going to say." She had a low voice and Harry had to make some effort to listen to her. "With whom you go out or not is your business. Don't come saying she's better than me, because I know that's not true and it won't be you who will change my mind. And I won't let you destroy the case only because you've turned into this thing you are today. And honestly, I still don't understand why you want to ruin my life. But you won't. You've crossed my path, so now, handle the consequences," she finished, going back to the bar before he could say anything.

When Hermione came back to her friends, Mark even tried to know what was the problem that made her explode everything, but she refused to say anything, saying that this little "setback", as she decided to refer to it, wasn't going to ruin her night.

*

Mione and her friends had already had dinner, and now were talking excitedly. It was time to decide for the dessert. Everybody was discussing about what to order, but her mood had been hit by the talk with Harry, and she ended saying, a little rudely:

"Why doesn't each one choose their own dessert?"

"No way!" a half-bold man said, resigned. "We all eat the same thing every year, dinner and dessert."

"Yes, but every year is the same discussion about which dessert, because each one wants a different one," Hermione said, a little more irritated than before, receiving a reproving look from Mark. He thought that the little issue she had earlier shouldn't be discounted on her friends.

"Ah!... I wanted to have this ice-cream dessert..." Judy said making a face.

'I vote for flambé strawberries!" Mark said.

"No, I still think we should order this apple pie, because last year we've already ordered ice-cream due to Judy's insistence," the bold man said, a little annoyed.

"Well, then, why don't we let the 'big boss' here decide what to order?" Richard, a blonde man who was sitting close to Mark suggested.

Every year it was the same thing. They spent a lot of time arguing and trying to decide what to order when, at some point, somebody would suggest the 'big boss' - Hermione - to decide.

"Yes." Everyone in the table seemed to agree with the man. "You decide, Mione, what should we order?" Judy asked.

"I won't order anything, because I'm on a diet!" Mione said seriously, just to receive 'boos' from the entire table.

"What do you mean diet?" Judy asked, smiling. "You don't need a diet."

"Mione, don't be an idiot, you don't need a diet!" Richard said, throwing her flower from the vase that was in the center of the table.

"Funny, it didn't seemed you were on a diet at lunch today when you ordered a complete sundae..." Mark said, debauched.

After that, everybody ended throwing things at Hermione. She just laughed.

"Okay, okay, okay!" she said, still laughing with the 'boos'. "Let's see what I'm going to order..." she said picking the menu. After spending some time looking at it, she turned to her friends and asked, smiling, "So, this year no one will try to bribe me?"

She should have kept her mouth closed. Suddenly, everybody started to speak at the same time, creating a huge mess, bigger than the one before.

"One weekend in my country-house for the apple pie," Giles, the bold man, said.

"I'll give you that blue blouse of mine that you like so much, for the dessert with ice-cream," Judy said.

"I'll keep on keeping your secrets, for the flambé strawberries." Mark looked at her debauched.

"Ah! So, if I don't choose the strawberries, you'll cheat me and will spread all of my secrets?" Hermione asked.

"No." Mark made an offended face. "It's just that if you don't choose the strawberries, I won't be responsible for myself if I go out saying something else..." he finished smiling and Hermione slapped his arm.

This mess of people offering things for desserts lasted some time, until Mione finally seemed to reach a decision.

"Very well! Giles, unfortunately this year I won't take your offer, because every year you say the same thing and don't make it." The man grimaced and smiled at her.

"Judy, I really would love to win your blue blouse, but..." The woman seemed happy with the 'but', "Mark keeps my secrets, and to choose between the blouse and the secrets... I'll keep the secrets."

Mark released a victory smile and rose his hands up. Mione looked at her friend and laughed. She really liked him, because he always could see the bright side of things. No matter how big the problem was, he always, somehow, cheered her up. Sometimes, when the problem was really serious and hard to solve, he always seemed to have the solution, but never talking to her seriously. He always found a way to help her with plays and jokes.

And while thinking what a good friend Mark was, she looked at the dance floor. And there was Harry, dancing with Katherine. The dancing was, well, quite sensual, and was catching a lot of attention. So she remembered her fifth year, when she still dated Harry, when they learned how to dance.

* * *

Harry and Mione were in an empty classroom in Hogwarts. Dumbledore had decided to have a Christmas ball, to cheer up the students, since the events of last year still haunted them.

They were trying to practice some dance steps, but no matter how hard they tried, it didn't seem to be working out. They had been practicing for a week, after classes and after everybody had gone to sleep. But they only practiced a few minutes, because Harry always found a way to kiss her and they ended up stopping the practice to stay together.

But that night, Mione had decided that there would be no kissing, at least not until they showed some progress, which irritated Harry a little.

"Very well,' Hermione started, "I think we can jump this start, I believe we know it well. Actually, this is the only thing we know, after a week of training," she finished in a moody face.

'Mione, I think that we know too well, considering the time we've been practicing," Harry said with a sly smile, which made Hermione blush quickly.

"Okay, then. Today we'll learn a bit more than that. I searched in the library for the book that Sirius indicated, and the coolest thing is that there's a charm we can use in the beginning. But we'll need music, because the charm follows the music played."

"All right, Miss Granger," Harry said, pulling her closer by her waist. "What's the charm?"

"Harry, I told you we need the music," she said, serious, trying to discourage him to do what she was thinking he would do.

"I'll sing for you," Hary whispered in her ear.

Hermione hated when Harry whispered things in her ear. Of course she loved it most of the time, but today she would hate it, because they would never learn how to dance.

"Actually, I already arranged something," she said, pointing at the corner of the room, where there was something like a mugge radio set.

"Hermione!" he said, mockingly. "Don't you know you can't use electricity in Hogwarts? Haven't you read 'Hogwarts, A History'?"

"I know that," she said, laughing. "It happens that this might look like a muggle radio set, but it was charmed, so it'll work here. And thank your godfather for the help."

"I won't thank Sirius." Now Harry was irritated. "It's his fault that I won't win any kisses today."

Now it was Hermione's turn to get closer and whisper in his ear.

"If you behave like a good boy, at the end of the class, I'll think about it."

Harry was almost kissing her, but she was faster and moved away, leaving him with a frustrated face.

She approached the device and selected the first song. Then, she came back closer to him and they did the initial move of a dance. Hermione took her wand and said "Dancer Baller."

And they magically started to dance in the rhythm of the song. Which was good, at first, because it was a slow song. But the stereo Sirius had lent them came with a CD that hadn't only slow songs. There were faster ones, like salsa, for example. And as amazing as it could be, they started dancing salsa, Hermione laughed at the face Harry had made. He wasn't exactly enjoying that. But she stopped laughing when the next song started: tango.

"And you still wanted me to thank Sirius for this?" Harry asked irritated.

"Harry, look at the good side. They can play any kind of song in the ball. We'll know how to dance."

"Any song that can play in that ball, we won't know how to dance, how are we going to catch other's attention dancing like this?"

When the CD finally reached the last song, they sat down in the floor, exhausted.

"God! I thought this would never end," Harry said, lying in the ground.

"Well, I believe that after that we've learned how to dance," Mione said laughing and lying down beside him.

"Yes," he said leaning over her. "And I think I was a good boy, wasn't I?" Harry asked, with an innocent expression.

"Yes, I think you were," Hermione said smiling.

"Well then, I think I deserve that kiss you promised, don't I?"

"You do," she said, pulling him and giving him a long kiss.

After the kiss, Harry touched her forehead with his, saying:

"I love you Hermione, and I think you're a wonderful person. If it depends on me, I'll spend the rest of my days with you.

* * *

When the song in the Juridical Club finished, Hermione had her eyes full of tears due to the memories. It was almost impossible to believe that that tender and lovely Harry had turned into the monster he was now. She excused herself to her friends and went to the ladies' room as fast as she could.

She washed her face, but the tears insisted on coming and her eyes were starting to get red. She closed them and took a few deep breaths. She had to stop that, she couldn't stay like that because of Harry, after all, he didn't care about her. When she calmed down and started doing her make-up again, a woman came in, and stood right beside her.

"Parvati?" Mione asked, surprised.

"Hermione?" The woman seemed just as surprised as she was. "What are you doing here?" Parvati finished with a smile, and then hugged Hermione. "Where have you been? You were gone so suddenly... Nobody has news from you..."

"Well, I wasn't gone. I work among the muggles now," Hermione said, hugging her back. "I'm a lawyer, I guess that explains what I'm doing here," she said smiling. "And you?"

"I married. To a muggle lawyer, we come here every Friday, Thomas loves this place. Even when I'm extremely tired, he always finds a way to drag me down here."

"That's nice! And where are you working, among the muggles or among the wizards?" Mione asked curious.

"Both, actually," she said smiling. "I work in the same department as Potter," Parvati said, the smile fading away when she said 'Potter'. Seemed like Hermione wasn't the only one who didn't like the new Harry.

"Oh, yes, Draco told me something about you being a psychologist."

"Yes. But how did you know that?" she asked curious. "Where did you meet Draco?"

"Well, he went to my office, he was looking for Potter." Parvati laughed. She had never thought she would hear Hermione calling him Potter someday.

"Sirius told me something about Harry's new assignment, and him being working with you. How are things going?"

"Horrible," Hermione said, making a face. "He changed too much."

"That's true. Well, then, I believe you don't know the latest news," Parvati said in a confidence tone of voice.

"No, what?" Parvati would never lose the gossip habit.

"Well," she said, approaching to Hermione, whispering, "I shouldn't be telling you this, but they've found Ron."

Mione was completely shocked. Ron was back? How could that be?

"They've found Ron? What do you mean?"

"Well, seems the reason why he's back is that his daughter was kidnapped, and he's back to resue her. But I don't know things for sure, because Sirius didn't want to tell me the details."

"Ron has a daughter? Where has he been all this time?" Hermione asked, still shocked.

"He was living in Luxembourg, he got married and has a daughter. I don't know if you are aware of it, but we're working on trying to stop a group of Death Eaters, the ones who aren't arrested, to get back to action, and as you must know, Ron was a Deatn Eater."

"And where is he now?"

"Under the custody of the Ministry. Sirius was furious with Potter, looks like he went to the hotel where Ron was hidden without authorization. But that's all I could find out," the woman said, upset with the fact of not finding anything else. "But please, don't tell anyone I told you this, otherwise I'll loose my job."

"It's okay," Mione said, still shocked.

"Look, Mione, I have to go, because I'm really tired and I intend to take Thomas back home before I sit on that chair again and fall asleep. We need to meet again to talk more."

"Yes," Mione said, starting to leave that shock state she was. "Sure, let's set up something," she finished, smiling.

After saying good-bye to her friend, Mione went back to her make-up, thinking about what Parvati had said. Ron was back. And suddenly, this feeling of rage started to grow inside her, but she didn't know where it came from. The memories of Ron revealing he was a Death Eater, that he was Voldemort's spy, came like a movie in her head. She simply couldn't believe he was back.

She left the ladies' room and sat back with her friends, but she passed the rest of the night silent, thinking about the past. Once in a while she looked at Harry's direction, asking herself how did he handle with that news, but soon she put that thought away, because that Harry didn't deserve her worry. She had to see if that was true with her own eyes, and that's what she would do first thing in the morning, before the trial.