La Vie en Rose

Woke up, fell out of bed,
Dragged a comb across my head
Found my way downstairs and drank a cup,
And looking up, I noticed I was late.

Found my coat and grabbed my hat
Made the bus in seconds flat
Found my way upstairs and had a smoke
Somebody spoke and I went into a dream

-A Day in the Life (Lennon/ McCartney)

Hermione woke up with a start. She was lying on her bed in her flat. She had fallen asleep on the covers. She looked up at the window and saw that a pale sun was shining. She ran a hand through her hair, slightly disoriented. She then remembered the events of the day before and sighed, swallowing hard. She rolled her head a few times, heard her neck bones crack, then glanced at her alarm-clock. When she saw it was ten o'clock in the morning, she bit her lower lip, muttered something that sounding like "Merde..." and then put her head in her hands. She was late for work. Again.

Ronald Weasley didn't have to be in Paris to make a chaos of her life. Thinking about it, she had been the one who created all that havoc.

She shook her head. She was already late, she didn't have time to think about the past, however close it was these days.

She shut her eyes tight, dismissing the memory. She got up and rushed to the desk, where her telephone was. She rang her boss, Mrs. Dumoncel, but Sophie answered. Hermione told her she would be at le Café de la Galette in ten minutes. She took a quick shower, put on clean clothes, drank a cup of tea and was out of her flat ten minutes later. It only took her two minutes to go from la Rue Saint Vincent, where she lived, to la Rue Norvins, where she worked.

A bell rang as she entered the café. Sophie was at her usual place behind the counter. Mrs. Dumoncel was serving a cup of coffee to a customer. Hermione smiled faintly, looking at her boss. But Mrs. Dumoncel smiled broadly at her. She had always liked Lily. She reminded her of her diseased daughter, Juliette. She took the money the customer was giving her and walked to Hermione.

"Late again, Lily?" she asked, caressing Hermione's face in a motherly way.

Hermione lowered her gaze, feeling guilty.

"I'm sorry, Madame Dumoncel, I really am... I fell asleep and forgot to set my alarm-clock."

"It's all right, dear... Go take your apron and help Sophie now, will you?"

"Sure, Madame Dumoncel."

Hermione smiled at her and walked to the back of the café, into the arrière-cuisine where she left her bag and coat, and took her apron which was hanging from a nail sticking out of the bare wall. She put the apron on, and, turning around, she saw her reflection in the mirror hanging on the back of the yellowish door of the arrière-cuisine. She was so pale. Could this girl really be her? Was it Hermione Granger? She shut her eyes tight for a few seconds, then opened them again. The ghostly girl was still there, with her pale face and her very red lips. Hermione Granger did not exist any longer, she reminded herself. She was now Emily Smith. Someone that everybody nicknamed Lily, without knowing that anytime she heard the name Lily, it made her think of her former best friend, Harry, and eventually, to Ronald Weasley, her former... something.

The reflection of Emily Smith suddenly disappeared as someone opened the door.

Sophie entered the room and closed the door behind her. She smiled to Hermione and then said, "My God, Lily, you're as pale as a vampire! You could easily pass for Dracula's fiancée or something."

Hermione tried to smile but her heart flinched when Sophie called her Lily. Instead, she said, "I know. I did not sleep very well. That's all."

Sophie stared at her with a strange look in her eyes. She sighed, ran a hand through her dyed red hair and said to Hermione, "Don't bullshit me, Lily. My God, what happened to you?" Sophie asked, stepping closer to Hermione, genuinely worried.

Damn Sophie and her ability to guess whenever there was something wrong. Hermione played with the knot of her apron, then answered, "Nothing's wrong, Sophie, I just didn't wake up on time. It happens to everyone."

Sophie took a step closer and caressed Hermione's hair. Lily had been her friend for a year, and the sad look in her eyes had never disappeared. Sophie had tried so hard to help her, but Lily had never really let her in. She had decided to be very nice to her, helpful and always present, hoping that someday Lily would open up and smile a real happy smile, not the shadow of a smile.

"Yes, it happens to everyone," Sophie agreed, "but not everyone looks as ghostly as you do, Lily. I thought you would trust me by now. Why don't you tell me what happened? Because I can see on your face something happened to you, something that turned you upside down."

Hermione stared at the floor as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. She whispered, "It's not a matter of trust, Sophie, I told you that before... It's just that... that I can't tell you what's bothering me.... I'm sorry. I just... can't."

Sophie licked her lips, and asked, a bit embarrassed, "Are you taking drugs?"

Hermione stared at Sophie in disbelief. Could she really believe she was a drug-addict?

"What?? No! No, Sophie, I am not taking any drugs."

"I was only wondering. I like you a lot, Lily, and I hate seeing you so... unhappy. So lost. I mean, you've always been a little bit lost, melancholic, but these days, you are..."

"I am as fine as I can be," Hermione cut in. "Sophie, I like you a lot too, but please, stay away from this."

"Stay away from what, exactly?"

Hermione looked at the yellowish walls and said painfully, knowing she would hurt one of the only persons who really cared for her in Paris, "Stay away from my private life. Mind your own business."

Sophie looked hurt. A muscle in her jaw clenched as she turned around to open the door.

"All right, Lily. I won't bother you anymore."

Hermione exhaled deeply, painfully.

"Sophie!"she called her friend back.

"What?" Sophie snapped.

"If I'm not telling you... what's... 'bothering' me... it's because... because I care for you. You don't know me, Sophie. My life really is a mess. You've already guessed so, haven't you?"

"Please, get to the point," Sophie said, looking at the ceiling, tears threatening to roll down her cheeks.

"I haven't always been some clone of Dracula's fiancée. I used to be... someone else. Someone happy. Someone successful, who had everything for her. Everything but one." She paused. "Years ago, I made a mistake. A huge mistake. The biggest mistake I could ever have committed. I hurt everybody, including myself. I ran away from all my troubles, but they found me again. I'm going to get hurt -- again. I'm already hurting. I don't want you to be caught in the middle of my troubles. I don't want you to get hurt, too. You really were a great friend to me, Sophie. But, believe me, my days in Paris are numbered." She paused again. "But I owe an apology to someone. I'll apologize before leaving. And I'm apologizing to you, too."

Sophie was silent for a moment, staring at the nail on which Hermione used to hang her apron. She breathed in deeply and turned towards the door again. Her hand was on the handle when she said, "You were right about one thing, Lily. I don't know you."

She lowered her hand and exited the arrière-cuisine.

Hermione stood in the middle of the room, alone. She ran her hand across her face and rested it on her mouth. She was biting her lips very hard. She could taste blood in her mouth. Tears appeared in her eyes and she tried to swallow back a sob. In vain.

***

Aymeric Beaumont entered le Café de la Galette at ten thirty in the morning, fingering as usual the Swiss knife he always kept in his pocket. He was in a good mood. He had finished Lily's portrait and wanted to ask her to come and see it after work.

He said hello to everyone as he entered the café. He knew practically everybody; there was Mr. Florian, who was sipping his coffee, sitting at a table near a window. Mr. Tristan was drinking his usual hot chocolate.

Mr. Tristan had been coming to this café for thirty years, had always sat at the same table, at exactly ten twenty in the morning, and had always drank his hot chocolate while reading the newspaper. Sometimes, he would look at the window, lost in his thoughts, or looking as though he was waiting someone who never came.

Aymeric saw Sophie washing dirty coffee cups in a sink. She looked sad and furious at the same time. He was about to talk to her when Mrs. Dumoncel greeted him.

"Bonjour, Aymeric!"