U Got Owl

CHAPTER 3

"There's probably two hundred letters. Awesome!" George looked at the pile of letters on her lap, and then at the letters strewn across the floor.

Ron went to stand behind her, not saying anything. Then he glanced at the twins, who were grinning devilishly. "What's going on?"

"It seems we underestimated Herm's appeal. From the looks of it, she attracted a lot of male members of the Lonely Hearts Dating Club she had just joined," answered Fred, his eyes gleaming with mischief.

Ron still didn't say anything. Hermione knew he had already learned a painful lesson the last time he set her up with Justin Finch-Fletchley's cousin Jake.

Harry, George, and Ginny all crowded around her, looking curiously at the pile of letters.

"Hey!" She glared at George who quickly swiped one letter and opened it. A picture fell from the letter. George quickly picked it up.

"Wow!" George stared at the picture.

Harry, Ginny, and Ron all ran towards George to take a look. "Wow!" they all said in unison.

Hermione was very intrigued at their reaction, but out of stubbornness, remained in her seat and did her utmost best not to look interested.

Ginny grabbed the picture and ran towards her. "Herm, you gotta take a look at this!"

She took the picture and was amazed at what she saw. The guy, apparently in his mid-twenties, with raven-black hair, eyes-the color of midnight, and a model-handsome face, was simply too perfect to resist. 'He's gorgeous!'she mused as her face took on a dreamy state.

"Earth to Hermione!" Harry snapped his fingers in front of her face. She blushed.

"Herm, he's absolutely perfect!" Ginny shrieked with excitement. "He's absolutely the one!"

"Hey, what's the hurry? I mean why decide immediately, when there are so many letters here to choose from. Open the other letters first and then you choose," Fred commented, his face oddly serious.

George scooped an armful of letters and placed them at the center of the table. Without asking her, he and Ginny began ripping the mails open. She glared at them but remained silent, for she was feeling nervous at opening the letters.

Harry took the open letter George had left lying on the table. He scanned the letter and chuckled loudly. "Herm, you have certainly met your match."

A raised eyebrow met this comment. Hermione simply looked at Harry, waiting for him to explain. Harry sat next to Hermione and read the letter out loud. "Hi! My name's Marc Elddir. I'm twenty five and works in the Ministry of International Relations. I'm looking for someone who is smart and loyal. I love to read and spends my free time poring over books of great interest. One of my hobbies is to visit- " Harry broke off and with a grin, said, "Is this guy for real?"

She snatched the letter and glared at Harry. "Just because he sounds like the perfect guy doesn't mean he couldn't be one," she said defensively.

"Hey, here's another good-looking guy!" Ginny announced excitedly. She elbowed her way between Harry and Hermione and showed them the picture. The guy in the picture was certainly cute, with blonde hair, hazel green eyes, and a killer smile. Ginny and Hermione shared a knowing look as if to say, "I'm really enjoying this."

George suddenly burst out laughing. They all looked at him.

"Oy George, care to tell us what the hell is so funny?" Ron couldn't help but ask.

George snickered loudly, then passed a letter to Ron without a word.

"Crikey!" was all Ron could blurt out.

Harry got curious. "Hey, Ron pass it over here!"

Ron threw the letter to Harry, who quickly caught it. This time, it was Harry's turn to say, "Holy critters!"

"What it it?" Ginny and Hermione asked in unison.

Harry passed the letter to Hermione, a wide grin on his face. Bewildered, Hermione took the letter and giggled loudly. "Ginny, it seems your adorable twin brothers didn't inform you that they also entered your name in the Dating Club. You've already got one admirer. He even sent his picture for you to see." Hermione tried to stifle her laughter but failed.

Ginny snatched the letter and the picture. Upon seeing the picture, she gasped and turned scarlet. "Bloody hell!" All of them were startled to hear Ginny so furious. Her face was purple with rage and she seemed to have trouble speaking. She crumpled the letter and picture, threw it on the floor, then angrily stormed out of the kitchen. A few seconds later, they heard the front door slammed loudly.

Fred picked up the crumpled letter along with the picture. He broke out into loud guffaws, pounding his fist on the table. Harry took another look at the picture and chuckled loudly. They couldn't help it. The guy in the picture was a satyr with balding hair, pudgy-faced and looked about forty years old.

Ron and George read the contents of the crumpled letter, and both convulsed with laughter. George reread the letter, this time, aloud.

=======

Dear Ms. Ginny Weasley,

I saw your picture in the new member's list. It was love at first sight. Can we meet in person?

Your enamored admirer,

Stuart Goldrock

======

Hermione, still grinning, stared at Marc Elddir's picture which she was clutching in her hand. She sighed. He looked way too perfect.

"George, was it your fabulous idea?" she asked quietly.

George shook his head firmly. "Fred?"

"Uh-uh. Certainly not me. We only entered your name and that's it," Fred's voice was adamant.

Hermione scooped the letters and stood up.

"Herm, where are you going?" Harry called out to her just when she reached the kitchen's threshold.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to walk out. I'll just read this in the privacy of my room." With that she left without another word.

After they heard her going upstairs, Fred rounded on George. "Out with it old man."

George grinned. "Okay, I just thought it would be fun to tease Ginny into believing she was entered too."

Harry chuckled loudly, then he too stood up.

"Where ya going?" asked George.

"I'm going to test drive my newly bought broom, the ThunderStorm."

Ron stood up as well. "I'm going to look for Ginny before trouble finds her." He winked at George. "And don't worry, I won't give away your secret."

The two left the kitchen, leaving the twins behind.

~*~*~*~

She kept fidgeting in front of the mirror, looking skeptically at her reflection. Dressed in a velvet camisole and silk organza pants, she thought she looked fine, but she couldn't stop nitpicking at her appearance. It had been three days after the deluge of mails, and she had decided to owl the guy with the killer smile. The guy had owled back, asking they meet in person.

"You look nice."

She turned around. It was Harry. "Thanks." Giving him a small smile, she asked, "Where's everyone?"

"Fred and George are not home yet, " answered Harry. "Ron's out with Susan and Ginny's gone shopping with some of her friends."

She took her bag and headed for the door. "Wish me luck."

Harry lightly kissed the top her head, then whispered, "Have a great time."

She gave him a wave then started walking. Since both of them lived in a Muggle community, she decided it would be better to meet in a Muggle place. They decided to meet at Star Cafe, which was a few blocks away from where she lives. She was ten minutes earlier than their agreed time and chose to sit on the table nearest the door. I can make my escape easier if my date turned out to be Mr. Mental.

She took out her small compact mirror and carefully studied her reflection. To say she was nervous would be an understatement. She kept drumming her fingers across the table as she wait for her date to appear.

"Ms. Hermione Granger?"

She looked up, or rather looked down. Oh my ... he's ...

"Hi, I'm Keith. Can I have a seat?"

This is really embarrassing. She was flabbergasted, "Uh, sure... have a seat."

Somebody laughed out loud. She looked around to see who it was. She caught a flash of red. It must be Fred and George! But the twins were nowhere in sight. Hmm, maybe just my imagination.

She turned her attention to her date. "Uhm, I ordered apple pie and moccachino."

He shook his head. "Sorry, I'm a fruitarian."

At her blank look, he explained, "We only eat fruits that were hand-picked from a tree or had fallen by itself on the ground."

"What about baked fruits?"

"These fruits have been murdered and are not considered for eating."

"Oh..." So much for a romantic date.

It was eight in the evening when she finally returned home. The lights were on, which meant all of them were already home. She decided to get in by the back door, not wanting to discuss her not-so-wonderful date to them. The boys were in the living room watching a movie. She tiptoed upstairs, trying not to make the least noise as possible. She hadn't been inside her room for less than a minute when Ginny came barging in.

"Well...?" Ginny asked excitedly.

"He was nice and well-read. We had a long interesting talk."

"So does that mean you're going to see more of Keith?"

"Nope."

Ginny looked shock at the bluntness of her answer. "Why?"

"Sorry to disappoint you but any romantic notion went out of the window the moment we stood side by side."

"I don't get it."

"Okay, to put it bluntly, the guy's diminutive."

"Huh?" Ginny looked confused. "Which part?"

"Now I believe that size does matter," said Hermione, giggling. "He had conveniently forgot to mention his hei-"

Hermione wasn't able to finish what she was saying because the door opened, and Fred, George, Ron, and Harry all fell on the floor with a crash.

Fred extricated himself from the tangle of legs and stood up. He said in a mock serious tone, "I'm sorry you're date turned out to be a midget."

"Believe me, it was hilarious to see Hermione bending to look at her date eye to eye!" said George, who was completely in stitches. "Fred and I went to see for ourselves how good-looking her date was. We couldn't believe our eyes when we saw he was barely half her size!"

"Ouch!"

Hermione jabbed George with her elbow. "George, just shut up!" She glared at the twins. "No wonder, I thought I heard someone laughing. It was you two."

"How come I didn't see any of you inside the coffee shop?" She turned around to face George.

"We borrowed Harry's Invincibility Cloak," confessed George with glee.

"More like stolen it," Harry said drily.

"Don't worry Herm, there's still candidate number two, Marc Elddir to reconsider." Fred flashed her a brilliant smile. "I was wondering why you didn't chose Marc in the first place. He's gorgeous, you said so yourself."

"If you don't date him, I will." Ginny threatened, a mischievous glint on her face. "Why are you hesitating? The guy's perfect for you."

"Oh, I don't know. He seemed so perfect. I just don't know. Maybe I just didn't want to be disappointed." Hermione flopped on her bed and hugged her throw pillow, a thoughtful expression on her face. "Keith was really nice. Too bad, his height made it impossible for us to be seeing on a regular basis."

This time, even Hermione couldn't manage a straight face and burst out laughing. When she told the group about Keith's being a fruitarian, they all howled with laughter.

Thirty minutes later, all of them were on the carpeted floor and looking at the piles of letters Hermione had received throughout this week. They decided to help Hermione select at least five candidates.

"Here's one. Derek Pearson , he looked kinda cute." Ginny waved a picture and Hermione looked at it. The guy on the picture resembled a young Remus Lupin, with sandy brown hair and a nice smile.

Hermione wrote down the name Derek Pearson on the list. Next was George's choice, Xander Anderson, an Australian blond who reminded Hermione of a Muggle Actor in the movie First Knight. Third on the list was hand-picked by Ron. Josh Bagman, nephew of Ludo Bagman, and according to Ron, despite being related to Ludo, was quite cool. She placed Harry's pick, Hans Goshawk fourth on the list, no relation to Miranda Goshawk the author and last Marc Elddir.

"Oh, I didn't knew Lupin is Herm's type," George commented upon seeing Derek's name on the top of the list.

"If he turned out to be half as nice and intelligent as Lupin then I don't need to look for anybody else," Hermione declared hotly.

"Then why not date Lupin, he's still available," teased Fred.

"Excuse me, Lupin is twenty years older than Hermione. He may be the coolest guy but he's totally too old for Hermione. More like a father or an uncle," retorted Ginny.

"That's comforting to hear. I shudder to think if my best friend goes out with Lupin or Sirius," Harry commented seriously. "I'll definitely put my foot down."

"Thanks, Harry. I didn't know you cared," Ron said in a syrupy voice.

"I meant that for Hermione, you prat!" Harry glared at Ron.

There was a knock on the door. They all stopped talking.

"That must be Susan!" Ron ran out of the room faster than you can say Riddikulus.

"MERLIN'S BEARD!"

Harry and the twins scrambled down the stairs to see why Ron sounded so shocked.

Ginny and Hermione went down to check who was the mysterious visitor to cause such a reaction.

"Hermione?"

Hermione could only stare back at the face in front of her.

~*~*~*~

(to be continued)