17. Friendship Is a Part Of Human Happiness
"Mom, get up! Mommy!” Charlie shouted as he ran into Hermione's bedroom and then crawled into the covers with her.
The brunette yawned and slowly opened her eyes. "Good morning Charlie," she greeted him with a smile and pulled him into a hug before starting to place kisses all over his face.
"Mommy!" he giggled as he struggled to get out of her arms to escape her kiss attack. "That's enough."
"Okay," Hermione laughed and stopped petting him. "How did you sleep?"
"Good, I'm hungly," he informed her.
“I guess I should go make you some breakfast, what do you say, champ?” she asked more of a rhetorical question, sitting up to do a quick bun before climbing out of bed.
“Um, can we go see the trains?” he asked, giving her that puppy dog look he'd inherited from Blaise. Unfortunately for Hermione, they both knew very well that she wouldn't refuse them after that look.
“We can go to the station before we go to Grandma Charlotte's. You're sleeping at her place today, remember? You agreed that way last time we were at her place for dinner," she reminded him. Where her son got such a passion for trains was a mystery to her, but she wasn't going to stop him.
Charlie nodded and then his attention shifted to the window. “Owl!” he shouted excitedly, quickly getting out of bed to run for the mail.
Meanwhile, Hermione also got out of bed, put on her robe, and waited for Charlie to run back to her. And when that happened, he handed her the envelope and kept the Daily Prophet himself. Although he could not read, he liked to watch moving pictures.
"Thank you," she muttered as she read who the letter was from with a slight frown. Sighing, she tore open the envelope and pulled out a paper with a short note in which Tom invited her to dinner tonight.
"Mommy, come on," Charlie grunted, tugging at her robe sleeve.
"I'm coming," she assured him, running a hand through his curls before taking his hand.
Together they entered the kitchen, where a small surprise awaited them in the form of a gift basket full of chocolate muffins. The younger, of the Zabinis was completely thrilled, while Hermione was more confused than pleased.
"Cakes!" the two-year-old squealed with joy and was already clawing at the chair to reach the table where the basket was.
The brunette reacted quickly, walking over to the table and taking the basket in her hand. Charlie protested, of course, but she didn't care. She placed the basket on the kitchen counter where it was out of his reach and took out a card with her name on it. She already knew from the writing who the gift was from, and it really pissed her off. She knew full well that their so-called lunch wasn't as purely friendly as Draco had told her.
Her gaze fell on the invitation from Tom, which she still held in her other hand. When she first read his invitation, she was determined to decline it, but now she was beginning to reconsider her decision. She wasn't going to date Tom, but maybe she should show Draco that just as he stood by his decision, she stood by hers.
"Mommy," Charlie reminded her impatiently, so Hermione dropped both notes on the counter and set about making breakfast.
Hermione couldn't believe her luck, more like bad luck in this case. Merlin must have gotten his revenge on her, otherwise, she couldn't explain how she could find herself in the situation she was in right now. Tom had taken her to a nice restaurant and was just now telling her something with interest, but she had no idea what it was because her mind was a few tables over where, to her greatest surprise, the Slytherin trio were. She didn't even know Theo was in London!
“Is everything alright?” the black-haired man asked with concern when he noticed that his companion wasn't listening to him at all.
“Huh?” she muttered, giving him a look.
"I asked if everything was alright."
The brunette bit her lip nervously, wondering what she should say to him. She could have lied to him and told him everything was more than fine, but she had had enough of the lying. She didn't want to fall into another vicious circle. "I probably should have asked a lot sooner, but did Ginny tell you about this not being a date?"
Tom's face flashed with surprise for a brief moment, giving her her answer, but before she could apologize, he smiled and shook his head. “I've already noticed that Ginny likes to leave out important information. Look, I like you a lot, and I enjoyed it last time, but honestly, I don't know if I'd be ready for the responsibility that comes with you," he confided to her, hoping she'd understand that he was referring to her son.
"It's alright," she assured him.
"However, if you'd like, I'd like to get to know you better. I think we could become good friends," he suggested to her with a smile.
"I'd love to," she agreed, and she smiled too, but only for a few seconds because there was still that other problem.
"I can see in your eyes that's not all that's bothering you tonight," Tom said, giving her a chance to confide in him.
Hermione sighed. "I don't know if you've noticed, but my ex-husband is sitting not far from us with his friends," she said reluctantly, though in a way she was immensely relieved.
Tom nodded. "I thought so. It would explain why everyone keeps staring at me. Malfoy has the least control.”
It didn't surprise her that out of the trio, she mainly knew the blond, who had just been a tight spot in her life these past days. "He's always had trouble controlling himself," she mumbled.
"You'd almost think he was your ex-husband," he joked.
“Well, how could I say this... It's been almost three months since we got drunk and slept together,” Tom's chin dropped, “And as if that wasn't bad enough, it happened a few more times, and he's now fixated on the idea that there could be something more between us," she explained unhappily, the biggest rock in the world falling from her heart.
"Wow, that's just like a soap opera," he stated, surprising her as she had no idea he knew such a Muggle term. "I assume you still love your ex-husband. What was his name?"
"Blaise, and yes, I do love him, and I really can't imagine a day going by that I won't so I didn't want Ginny setting me up on any dates," she explained. "Do you want to reevaluate our friendship?"
Tom smirked. "Not by chance, but I have an idea. How about we get out of here?"
Hermione thought it was completely crazy when they had ordered food, but she wanted to at least enjoy herself a little bit tonight, which she wouldn't be able to do if she stayed in the same restaurant as the three Slytherins mentioned, so she nodded and a smile slowly started to appear on her face.
"Great! Wait here for me, I'm just going to pay, and no excuses," he sort of instructed her as she breathed a sigh of protest.
So she just smiled at him and stayed in her seat while he went to the bar to pay. Fortunately, it barely took him a minute, so she didn't even have time to start thinking about the other table again.
"For you," he said with a bright smile and handed her a bag of pralines.
"You didn't have to," she argued, but when she looked at exactly what he bought, she gave him a grateful look. "These are my favorites," she informed him as she opened the bag and immediately popped one into her mouth.
Tom reached out to take one as well, but Hermione was faster and flinched away. "No, they're mine!" she protested.
The Quidditch player laughed and put his hands up to show her he surrendered. “Tell me, is your son greedy too?” he asked jokingly.
"No, Charlie knows he's always supposed to share with everyone," she mumbled sheepishly and offered him.
"I was just kidding, keep them if you like them so much," he assured her, leaning in. "You want to give them a reason to stare?" he whispered, but before she could ask what he meant, he straightened up and offered her his hand.
Hermione didn't want to play with anyone's feelings. She didn't want to give them a reason to be jealous or to stare. She simply wanted to enjoy herself and not think about what others would think. So she accepted his offered hand and let him pull her up from her sitting position. She let him spin her around and let him grab her around the waist as they walked away.
And she didn't do it because of Blaise. Not because of Draco either. She did it purely for herself and thoroughly enjoyed it.