Parade of the Sun - Dramione

PART FOUR.

March 8; 12:21pm

"Harry, if you didn't get it out of me yesterday morning, you're not going to get it out of me today."

"We aren't supposed to keep secrets," Ron somehow got out around a chunk of chicken in his mouth.

"It's not a secret. It's an assign--"

"If it wasn't a secret, then you could tell us," Harry argued.

"A secret assignment. What, are you...uh...Harry?" Ron waved his hand in the air and took a gulp of his butterbeer.

"James Bond."

"James Bond, right."

Hermione rolled her eyes and forked another bite of her fish. "It's not that big of a deal. I just have to investigate something, and I'm not supposed to tell anyone."

"Huh. Supposed to and allowed to are two different things."

"That's drawing a thin line, Ron." Hermione, unlike Ron, waited until she swallowed before saying this.

"I'm an Auror. I'm sure you can tell me without it being a big deal." Harry tried the same angle again, and she knew the next step would be guilt-tripping.

"And I won't tell my new best friends, or anything." Ron got to it before Harry. "Like anyone could replace us," Harry snorted, stealing an olive from Hermione's salad.

"Aren't you cocky. And obviously too busy for old school chums. Sleep? Work? Girlfriend? My new mates don't give a toss when it comes to--"

"Do you exchange manly hugs, and alcohol-ridden tears on each other's shoulders? Are you all perpetually trapped between becoming an adult and pretending you're still in school? Oh, God, Ron - please don't tell me you're that weird group of older guys who make inappropriate comments to schoolgirls--"

"'Mione...you..." Ron narrowed his eyes at her, making very threatening gestures with his fork. "There are no tears or inappropriate comments, and I would have only graduated last year! I would hardly cross into Filch territory if I did! We're all very manly, and adult, and we don't ignore one another for things like work."

"Ron, you work in a joke shop." Hermione quickly traded her drink for further explanation at the look on Ron's face. "It's a great business, and it's doing very well, and I know you and George work hard. But if you come into work hungover and an hour late, it doesn't matter. We can't do that."

"Though I would love to, really," Harry added. "How about this weekend? We'll all go out, yeah? You can introduce us to these new mates, and we can prove how much better friends we are than them."

Hermione shoved a chip in her mouth to stop herself from replying right away. She didn't want to give up too much time when she had to be out looking for Astherbey and the plant. But if she refused to go out, they would only get more curious, and Ron would go back to being angry.

"Besides," Hermione said before she could over think it, "I'm the only one who gets to be the shoulder for your alcohol-ridden tears."

Ron groaned, throwing his head back and looking imploringly at the sky as Hermione and Harry laughed. She could see the smile that turned up Ron's mouth, though, and figured she'd made the better choice. Hopefully. "One time, Hermione. One time!"

3:57pm

People were acting very oddly. Hermione had gotten more accustomed to people staring at her. It came with the end of the war and being Harry Potter's best friend. She didn't like it, but she dealt with it. What she was not accustomed to, were the long side-glances and hushed whispers. People moved away from her like she were contaminated - it was disturbing, to say the least. She had checked her reflection in windows a dozen times, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary with her appearance. She was wearing Muggle clothes, she didn't have anything on her face, and she never really radiated a mugger or serial killer vibe.