The Minister's Daughter

9. Josh

Hermione woke up suddenly as she heard the bathroom door closing. Right after that, she heard the shower running. It took her a couple seconds to remember that she was in a little hotel in Columbus, Ohio - a hotel room she had paid for with hard labor as a matter of fact. As she lay flat on her back, staring at the white ceiling above her, she recalled the previous night. It still hurt her to realize that Harry, who was making her feel things she had never felt before, didn't feel the same way about her. His reaction to her touch had been obvious.

Just then, Hermione heard a soft knock at the door. She threw the blankets aside, gathered the towel safely around her, and walked to the door. Thinking it could be Ernie, she opened the door just enough to peek her head out. To her relief, it was Ernie's mother coming to deliver her clean clothes. Hermione thanked her and, as soon as she closed the door, hurried to get dressed.

When Harry exited the bathroom about ten minutes later, Hermione was already dressed. She walked passed him and into the bathroom without saying a word.

........................................

Thinking that Harry and Hermione would be taking the 8 a.m. train to Chicago, Kath and Maurice arrived at the train station shortly after 6 a.m.

"It's way too early," complained Maurice. He was having a hard time waking up. The tiredness of the past couple of days was getting the best of him. "Can't we wait for one more hour?"

"I want to be there with plenty of time to catch them," Kath replied, not looking at him. They were entering the train station, and she was trying to locate a good spot to wait for the pair of misfits. "I don't want them to get away once again. I'm tired of chasing after them."

Maurice nodded silently. "She's right," Maurice thought. He was also getting tired of this game and was looking forward to bringing it to a prompt end.

........................................

After a delicious breakfast that Ernie's mother prepared, Harry and Hermione stood up and were about to leave when Ernie stopped them.

"Wait," he said, placing a hand in Harry's arm. "Didn't you two say you were heading to Chicago?"

"Yes, we are," Harry responded.

"And how you plan to get there if you have no money," Ernie's mother asked. She smiled at the young couple as they looked at each other silently. The woman sighed resignedly as she shook her head. "My Ernie will give you both a lift. Don't think he'll take you all the way to Chicago," she quickly said. "That's too far for us! But he'll get you to the state line at least. That should help."

Harry tried to dissuade them, but Ernie wouldn't take no for an answer. Finally, they agreed to it and followed Ernie to the street. When Harry saw Ernie's rackety old car, he doubted it would take them as far as the end of the street. He was proved wrong, however, when 3 hours later they arrived at the tiny city of Decatur, Indiana.

.............................

When the eight-o'clock train left the station, Kath and Maurice realized this affair was not going to end as easily as they both wanted. The two of them had placed themselves in strategic points where, they reckoned, they had a good view of the station and the boarding platforms. But the two people they waited so anxiously for never showed up.

Maurice sighed, resigned to continue exploring America, while Kath paced furiously in front of him.

"I can't believe it!" She spat. "They've done it again. They didn't come. I was so sure they were going to take this train," she continued her monolog. Maurice, knowing it was better to leave her alone when she was upset, remained quiet at a cautious distance.

"But, where can they be then? If they're not taking the train, how are they going to get there? Unless..." She suddenly stopped and turned to face Maurice. "Why would they not pay at the restaurant?" she asked him.

But before Maurice could respond, she continued, "Because they had no money, right? I mean, it's completely out of character for Hermione to do something like that. There's no other explanation." Maurice simply nodded. Kath didn't really seem to be expecting him to reply anyway. "And... if they had no money to pay for dinner, they obviously had no money to take the train."

After that, Kath fell silent again and resumed her pacing around. Maurice crossed his arms over her chest, waiting for her to finish her analysis of the situation. He just was not in the mood - and he didn't have the energy - to provide any input.

Finally, Kath stopped pacing and walked towards him. "C'mon," she said as she grabbed him by the sleeve. "We have to go back to that street where we lost them."

"Why?" Maurice managed to say.

"You'll see when we get there."

..................................................

Hermione had remained silent during the three hours they'd spent in Ernie's car. In fact, she had not talked at all to Harry other than the absolute necessary. Harry realized she must be upset about the previous night, but he could not discuss it in front of Ernie. So, when Ernie finally waved them good-bye and headed back home, Harry decided to break the silence.

Ernie had dropped them off at the outskirts of town, hoping another good Samaritan would pick them up and drive them a little closer to their final destination.

Harry thought they could walk to town and convince Hermione to call her father. Hermione, however, had another idea in mind. She started walking at the side of the road, leaving the town behind.

"Hermione!" Harry called her. When she didn't stop - on the contrary, she hurried her steps - he had no choice but to run after her. "Hermione," he repeated once he caught up with her. "What are you doing?"

She rolled her eyes. "Isn't it obvious? I'm walking."

"I can see that," he replied with a look of exasperation. "I thought we should walk back to town and look for a telephone so you could..."

"Call my father?" she interrupted him. "Forget it! I'm not going to cry for help at the first sign of trouble. If you want to go back on your own and find your own way home, it's fine with me," she added as she continued walking hurriedly. "I can get to Chicago by myself."

Harry stopped. "You're a stubborn, spoiled little prat!" he shouted to her back.

Hermione stopped and remained motionless for a while, breathing deeply, her fists tightened. She turned to face him, but she didn't get any closer. "If that's what you think, then why the bloody hell have you been following me around the country? Nobody forced you to come with me."

Harry passed a hand through his hair exasperatedly. How could he respond to her without letting go the real reasons for his behavior? Seeing that he was not going to give her an answer, Hermione turned around and continued walking.

"Brilliant!" Harry said to himself, shaking his head. "This is un-fucking-believable." He took a deep breath and ran after her. "Wait!" he called out. But Hermione continued walking without looking back. Once he caught up, he held her arm tightly. "Hermione..."

She quickly pulled her arm out of his grip. "I thought you didn't want to touch me," she said furiously.

"What?"

"Wasn't that the reason why you slept in the floor last night?" she quickly added.

Harry looked silently at her for a while. The reason why she was so upset dawned on him. She thought he didn't like her. A half smile appeared on his handsome face. "She cares about whether I like her or not," he thought happily.

Seeing the grin on his face, Hermione assumed he was laughing at her. Angrily, she turned around and tried to resume her walking. This time, however, Harry was ready for her, and he quickly grabbed hold of her arm to stop her.

"Let go of me!"

"Hermione, it's not like that," he said in a soft voice. He smiled, trying to show her how truthful he was, but Hermione was too upset to see it. She misread his expression.

"Look," she said with a calmer voice. "If you don't like girls, you just had to say it."

His masculine pride hurt, Harry immediately let go of her arm and stood straight, raising his chin. "Hey! I do like girls," he quickly replied.

"You just don't like this one," she said. Right after that, trying to hide the hurt in her eyes, she turned around and walked away, this time at a slower pace. Without turning back to see him, she continued talking. "All this time I thought I was alone for lack of opportunity," she shouted to him. "Thanks for proving me wrong!"

Harry shook his head. He felt torn in two. In one hand, he was more than happy to see that she liked him as much as he liked her. But he also knew he had to wait until his assignment was over to make a move and accept his feelings to her.

Silently, he started walking after her. "Why don't you just quit this stupid game and go back home? You don't have to prove anything."

At those words, Hermione stooped. "I'm not a quitter! If you're tired of following me... go. Leave! I don't need you." She quickly turned to walk away. Just then, she spotted a group of people sitting at the shade of some trees and headed in their direction.

.........................................

When Kath and Maurice arrived back at the street where they had lost sight of Harry and Hermione the day before, Kath spent several minutes surveying the area. To Maurice, she looked like an old hunter dog, sniffing around to find the trace lost.

Suddenly, she stopped right in front of Ernie's little hotel. Without a single word to Maurice, she went straight to the door and pushed it open. Maurice hurried after her. When they stepped into the tiny lobby, Maurice was surprised to realize the building was a hotel. He wouldn't have guessed it from its outside look.

Seconds after they walked in, an old woman came in from another room. "Hello? Can I help you," she asked in a friendly way.

"I hope so," Kath whispered. She walked up to the woman while taking a photo out of her pocket. "We're looking for this young lady. She's accompanied by a tall..."

"Oh yes!" The woman said immediately after seeing the picture. Maurice opened his eyes wide and looked at Kath. "They were here."

She quickly went on to tell them that her son was driving them right at that moment towards the state line. She informed them - without even asking why they wanted to know all this - about how they had paid for their room by washing dishes due to their lack of money and about their plans to get to Chicago.

After getting the information they needed, Kath and Maurice exited the building, mumbling a quick thank you.

...........................................

Four hippie-looking guys and two girls were sitting around a campfire at the side of the road. An old, rusty van was parked next to them. An old frying pan sat on the fire filled with what seemed to be beans, and several empty beer cans littered the ground. When they saw Hermione approaching them, a tall, broad guy stood up to wave at her.

"Hello, there," he called out to Hermione.

Without a second thought, Hermione shook the hand that the big guy stretched out to her. "Josh here," the guy said. "What's your name sweet pie?"

"Hermione," she said just as Harry stood next to her. "And this is Harry," she added in an annoyed way.

"Welcome Hermione and Harry to our little piece of heaven," he said with a friendly smile after introducing his friends to them. "Would you like a drink?" he offered, grabbing a beer can from an almost empty cooler.

"Sure," Hermione quickly replied.

"Hermione..." Harry tried to warn her, placing a hand on her arm. Hermione, however, quickly moved away from him and sat next to Josh.

A blonde girl Josh had introduced as Liz pulled Harry's hand and invited him to sit next to her. Harry gave her an annoyed look, but she ignored it. She started asking him all sort of questions, but Harry was paying no attention to her. His green eyes were focused on Hermione and the gorilla next to her.

Hermione's laughter, which for some reason Harry thought was a bit exaggerated, echoed through the campsite. Apparently Josh was telling her a funny story of some sort. Hermione's brown eyes made contact with Harry's for a second, but she quickly turned all her attention back to Josh.

The hippie lot offered Harry and Hermione food. Since they hadn't eaten anything since early that morning, they accepted; but Harry didn't eat much. Somehow, he didn't seem able to swallow the food.

"So," Josh said after taking a good sip at his beer. "Where are you two comrades heading to?"

"Chicago," Hermione informed him. "I'm going to visit a friend of mine. We haven't seen each other in ages, but I know she's going to be sooo happy to see me."

Harry looked at Hermione from the corner of his eye. The beer Hermione had consumed seemed to be raising her spirits. She was turning into the can't-stop-talking Hermione he had met outside the New York's underground club. He knew that wasn't such a good thing. She was bound to say more than she was supposed to.

He stood up, ignoring Liz' complaint, and headed to the place where Hermione sat. "We need to talk," he said. Then, without waiting for her reply, he grabbed Hermione by the elbow, made her stand, and steered her aside. He had been so fast that Hermione hadn't even had a chance to react.

"I think you've had enough," he said, taking the empty can out of her hands.

"Hey..." she complained with a loud voice.

Josh quickly stepped forward. "I don't think she wants to talk to you right now."

Harry turned to face him, exasperation written all over his handsome face. "Stay out of this."

"No, you stay out of this," Hermione said to Harry. "I was having an enjoyable conversation with my friend Josh here."

"Listen," interfered Josh. "I see you two have issues and I can see you're not very good at dealing with Hermione." Harry was about to interrupt him, but Josh quickly continued. "So... since you two are heading to Chicago, what do you say we give you guys a lift? We're gonna head out in about an hour. I mean, we're not going all the way to Chicago. That's way out of league, but we can get you as far a Peru. We'll turn south from there."

Harry would've loved to say no to Josh, but he had to admit they needed the lift. They were in the middle of the road, and Hermione was not likely to go back to the town willingly. There was no other choice but to keep with their original plan. After a deep sigh, Harry nodded his head.

"Alright, just don't let her drink any more," he finally said.

Josh chuckled at that, placed a hand over Hermione's shoulders, and took her away from Harry. Seeing her with Josh was more than he could take, but there was nothing he could do at that moment. He contented himself with keeping a close watch on the two of them.

...............................................

Knowing that Ernie had planned to drive Harry and Hermione all the way to Decatur, Indiana, Kath and Maurice headed in that direction. They arrived at the small town around noon. Kath stopped the first person she saw and asked where the train station was. She was informed, however, that there was no train station in town.

Maurice laughed when he heard the news. "It doesn't surprise me," he said between laughs. "Look around you! This is the smallest town I've ever seen. Their population must be like... 100 people."

"Would you stop it?" said Kath, although she couldn't help chuckle as well. "Someone could hear you." But Maurice's laugh was way too contagious. Inevitably, Kath started laughing as well.

"Anyhow," said Maurice once they had been able to stop laughing, "What do you want a train station for? They have no money!"

Kath and Maurice looked at each other and started laughing once again.

...................................................

The two- hour drive seemed like an eternity to Harry. He was sitting on the back seat with Liz glued to his side while Hermione was on the front seat next to Josh, who was driving the old van. Just before taking the road south, Josh pulled over. As soon as he could, Harry got out of the van and opened Hermione's door so she could do the same.

"Are you sure you want to stay here?" Josh asked Hermione. "There's not much to see in Peru."

Hermione laughed at his words. "That's funny. The town's name is Peru - just like the country."

"That's right," Josh replied. "There's also a town called England. If you stay with me, I could take you there," he said, placing a hand on Hermione's knee.

Harry, seeing Josh's hand on Hermione, quickly grabbed Hermione's arm and firmly pulled her out of the car. Hermione let Harry drag her out and simply smiled at Josh. "Sorry," she said to Josh as she stepped out. "It would've been fun..."

Before she could say anything else, Harry pulled her away from the van. Hermione waved good-bye at Josh and the others as they went back to the road. Her attitude changed completely when she turned to face Harry. "Let go of me!" she said firmly, pulling her arm out of Harry's grip.

Harry let go of her, but said nothing. Hermione threw him a killer look and started walking away. "Hermione..." Harry called out. She stopped and turned around to face him.

"I can't believe you were so rude to them!" she spat at him. "You should be thankful they helped us out." Harry rolled his eyes and made a disbelieving grunt. "They gave us a lift. They fed us."

"Sure," said Harry sarcastically. "Overcooked beans!"

This time, it was Hermione rolling her eyes. "So, what? At least he was kind to us."

"Oh, he was kind!"

"Yes," replied Hermione, raising her chin. "He was kind and friendly and funny and..."

"If he was all those things," Harry interrupted as he couldn't take her compliments to that scumbag called Josh, "...then why don't you go ask him to take care of you and drive you to Chicago!"

Hermione, not expecting this from Harry, made an effort to hide her disappointment. She tightened her lips and looked away. "Maybe I will," she declared firmly and turned her back to Harry so he couldn't see the hurt in her eyes.

For a couple of minutes, Hermione didn't move or speak. She half expected, half feared that Harry would leave, abandoning her alone in the middle of nowhere. She was about to turn around to confirm if her suspicion was true when the weight of a grown man bumped into her, almost sinking her into the ground. The wonderful manly scent that invaded her senses told her it was Harry hugging her so tightly she was having trouble breathing.

"You think I'm going to let you go that easily?" she heard him whisper in her ear, which caused her to freeze on the spot. His words sent out shivers down Hermione's spine. "You think I'm going to leave you like that? Don't you see the only reason I dislike that idiot is because he dared placed his dirty hands on you?"

Hermione's throat suddenly went dry. Not just Harry's words were having an effect on her, but his sensual tone, his closeness, and even the warmth of his body were making her knees tremble.

"Can't you see I hate it when Josh, or any other bloke, gets close to you? Can't you see I want to be the only one?"

Hermione finally turned her head to look at him. "You do?" she asked softly. "I thought... you didn't even want to touch me."

Harry placed his hands on her shoulders and gently turned her around. They were standing so close to each other that their noses almost touched. Harry centered his gorgeous green eyes on her brown ones.

"I've been dying to touch you since the first time I saw you."

Hermione smiled widely at that. She was glad to hear she was not the only one feeling like that.

"I've been dying..." he said as he leaned even closer to her, "...to kiss you."

And he finally did. He placed a soft tender kiss on her closed lips. Hermione closed her eyes as that sweet kiss made her head twirl and her knees weak. Harry pulled away and smiled at the dreamy expression on her face. Surprised to see he had retreated so quickly, Hermione opened her eyes.

"Is that the best you can do?" she asked teasingly.

Harry's face twisted in a half smile. He then went back to her lips, but this time more fiercely. He nibbled and gently bit her lips. Hermione opened her mouth, inviting him in. Harry didn't wait one second, but took the opportunity to explore her mouth and savor her sweet flavor. After several minutes, the need to breathe made them pull away.

Harry rested his forehead on hers and smiled warmly. He didn't care what happened next. Even if having a relationship with the person he was supposed to protect caused him problems at work, he didn't care. It didn't matter. What mattered was that Hermione felt the same way about him, and he was not going to let anything or anybody take her away from him. He was certain he'd do anything just to kiss her again.