A/N – Hello again! I noticed a lot of your reviews held concerns that I was stopping the story because it took me so long to update. Sorry. I have no plans of stopping this story until its finished. I do however have a very busy schedule as I have a job, college, four disabled people to look out for, and am currently remodeling my house. This leaves little time to work on my story. So I apologize if it takes a while to update, but keep in mind that unless I mark the story as discontinued your stuck with me. Now heres the moment you've all been waiting for...the next chapter of APWATW!
Special shout out – Thanks to all of you who reviewed I really love hearing what you think! However, a very special shout out goes to a few of you. Ogis and kleines Ich-bin-Ich, thank you so much for helping to correct my French. It is much appreciated! I need all the help I can get!
Disclaimer – Fine! Okay, I'll admit it! I don't own anything...now excuse me while I go cry over my shattered dreams....
Chapter 6 - Reunited?
"Bonsoir, 'Ermione. Comment allez-vous?"
Hermione walked up to Fleur and gave her a large hug, which Fleur returned full heartedly. Both pulled back a little in order to see each others face. Hermione flashed a crooked smile.
"Grand! Comment sont vous et votre famille?"
"Zey are fine and 'appy zat I am back."
"Its good to see you, Fleur."
"You as well, mon ami."
They just stood there for a few seconds, just looking at each other, soaking in the others presence. Their smiles grew wider with every second that passed. Then a discreetly cleared throat caught Hermione's attention. She turned around to see Harry standing there with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. She slowly flushed under his gaze.
"Sooo...you think you could introduce me, eh Hermione?"
"Uh, right...Harry this is Fleur Delacour. Fleur, this is Harry Potter, one of my best friends I told you about."
Harry smiled as he reached out to shake her hand.
"Only half of its true, I swear! Pleasure to meet you, Fleur."
Fleur smiled weakly at him, trying to tell herself that the burning feeling she was feeling inside wasn't jealousy. Nope, she wasn't jealous of him taking Hermione to the premier. Nope, not at all.
"Nice to meet you as well, 'arry."
Hermione turned back to Fleur again, a full blown smile on her face. Suddenly, Fleur didn't really mind Harry being there.
"So, Fleur, why are you here? I would think that you would be spending this time with you family."
Fleur chuckled wryly and shrugged her shoulders elegantly.
"I would be, except for ze fact zat zey 'aven't left me out of zheir sight for ze whole week." Again the shrug. "I 'ad to get out of ze house for a while. Zen Bill suggested zis, and I, amazingly, decided to listen to him."
Hermione smiled at her mischievously, getting a slightly devilish look in her eyes.
"So, then, what your saying is that its all your agents fault again."
They both laughed, while Harry looked on bemused. Suddenly, Hermione looked incredibly shy. She glanced at her feet before looking back up at Fleur with a small blush on her face.
"Well, not everything that happened last time was so bad...I hope anyway..."
Fleur smiled gently, her chest swelling with emotion at the look on her face. Hermione could be so cute sometimes!
"Non, not every'zing was bad. In fact, some of it was amazingly good."
Hermione's blush deepened slightly, before she could control it. Meanwhile, Harry was watching the exchange with confused amusement, glancing quickly back and forth between the two women. Deciding that he had been left out of the conversation long enough he decided to cut in. Turning to Hermione, he voiced a question that had been on his mind since this conversation began.
"So, when did you meet Fleur?"
"Oh, it was while I was on vacation."
Harry drew in a breath to respond, when his mind paused and kicked into reverse. On vacation. Wait wasn't she...
"Wait a second...what...weren't you in Alaska somewhere?"
Hermione sheepishly rubbed the back of her head and grinned up at Harry through her eyelashes.
"Well, yeah...I guess you could say that she just sort of dropped in unexpectedly..."
Fleur couldn't help the laughter that bubbled in her throat at that drastic understatement. Hermione was drawn into Fleur's infectious laughter, while Harry was once again lost to the punch line. They, eventually ended up leaning against each other as they tried to catch their breath. Every time they looked in each others eyes, though, they cracked up again.
They were oblivious to the amount of attention they were attracting. Finally, They managed to get themselves together and stood up straight again. They both sighed as they let go of each other, wishing that they could never let go.
"It is unfortunate, but I really 'ave to go socialize and mingle with everyone else."
Sighing in disappointment, Hermione nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, me too...Hey, Fleur, do you think we could get together for lunch tomorrow?"
Harry looked at Hermione oddly for a second. Then he stepped in.
"Uh, 'Mione, you have that business lunch meeting tomorrow. You won't be able to do that..."
It was very unlike Hermione to forget her schedule and she flushed slightly as she realized Harry was right. What was she thinking? Maybe she was thinking about too blue eyes and endless legs and...She shook herself out of those thought and refocused on the conversation.
"Oh, yeah, I have that job to do. I completely forgot...sorry Fleur."
"It is okay, 'Ermione, I 'ave a modeling job to go to anyway. I'll call you?"
"Yeah okay."
They both smiled at each other brightly again. They moved in and hugged each other tightly, like their lives would end if they let go.
"Later, Fleur."
"Goodbye, mon chéri"
Hermione watched as Fleur walked away, slightly in shock. My darling. She couldn't help the hope that bloomed in her chest and she couldn't keep the grin off her face. She turned to Harry and smirked.
"So, ready to go feed the vultures?"
"As ready as I'll ever be. Shall we?"
Harry held out his arm to Hermione. They smiled at each other before walking arm in arm into the crowd.
Hermione walked into the restaurant and was quickly taken to her parties table. She was wearing a black pant suit with a tight red shirt underneath. It managed to give the impression of casual and professional all at once. She sighed as she caught sight of her table. She really would have preferred having lunch with Fleur. Just then, a man sitting at the table noticed her and stood. She smiled in response.
"Ah Hermione my friend, how good to see you."
"Hello, Jack, it has been too long."
Jack was a freelance project manager that specialized in advertising. Many large companies hired him to oversee advertising projects. Jack gave her a hug and then pulled out a chair for her. She thanked him and sat down, while glancing around the table. There were two other people at the table and she didn't recognize either of them. She turned to Jack.
"So Jack, why don't you introduce me to everyone? Then we can get down to why you called me."
He nodded and then gestured toward the woman sitting across from her.
"This is Alexis Gilliard. She owns a large cosmetic company, and has hired me to oversee the creation of a few large billboards advertising a new product."
Hermione smiled and shook Alexis outstretched hand. She was a fairly attractive woman with dark hair and eyes. As their hands touched Alexis smiled even more. After the handshake, Hermione turned her attention to the man next to Alexis.
"And this is Charlie O'Neill. He is my lead carpenter and electronics manager. He is in charge of the crew that builds the backgrounds and sets up the lighting."
He smiled a slightly crooked smile and outstretched his hand. Hermione smiled and shook it. He was a ruggedly attractive man with perpetually messy red hair and green eyes.
"It is a pleasure Hermione. I've heard a lot about you."
"Very nice to meet you both. Now, lets get down to business, shall we?"
"Alright. Here is the deal. I called you because I need a photographer. Mine split last week and I am suppose to start shooting tomorrow."
Hermione looked at Jack in disbelief. She shook her head no. Jack knew she didn't do these types of jobs very often. She picked her own jobs, because companies rarely gave her creative control.
"Now before you say no, just here me out. Please, you owe me this."
Hermione sighed in exasperation. Well, fine, if he was going to pull the friend card on her she might as well listen. She nodded in agreement. Jack smiled brightly.
"Okay, Alexis, why don't you tell Hermione about the product?"
"It is a new type of lotion. We want to target young to middle aged women and draw them in as customers. The billboards need to be attention grabbing and bold. The catch line that we came up with is Softer than silk."
"As you can see, the job is interesting, right? Now I promise to give you full creative control, as long as you work on the basis of the catch line. You don't even have to worry about budget. The job is only going to take about two weeks. What do you think?"
Hermione thought about it as she ate. They had ordered right after introductions were over. Really, the job didn't sound that hard and it was relatively short. Plus, she did owe Jack and he promised to give her creative freedom. She shot a glance around the table, and finally turned her attention to Jack.
"Alright, I'll do it."
"Great! Thanks 'Mione! After we finish eating we will take you over to the studio. That way you can look around and meet the models. We told them all to show up today. I need you to be there to start shooting tomorrow at 8:00am."
Hermione just nodded on agreement. God, what had she gotten herself into?
A/N – And thus ends another chapter of APWATW! I hope you enjoyed it. I'll try to get the next chapter out within two months. I hope you enjoyed it!
Here are the translations:
Comment allez-vous? - How are you?
Grand! Comment sont vous et votre famille – Great! How are you and your family?
Again, anyone who spots a mistake, please let me know. Thanks!