ic contact.

[brainiest]

"Hello, Hermione Granger here. I must be busy, so please leave a message. Thank you very much!"

ic contact for hermione granger at drift fleet.
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Comments

[grandstanding]

[After a long pause, where he ratchets back his first unpleasant response, he sighs.]

Maybe that's the case. But I think for now, I'd rather not speculate on their decisions to remain there. It's not something I'm going to change my stance on.

[brainiest]

[ She nods her head. ]

Then we'll just agree not to talk about it.

[grandstanding]

I think that would be best.

[The rest of it he can manage. This one issue, he refuses to budge. And yet he's reluctant to drag Hermione down further, feeling he's already proven what a rotten idea it is to try and befriend him. He sighs.] I'd rather not argue like that again.

[brainiest]

I don't like arguing with you.

[ She shifts, a little awkward, peeking her eyes up at him even as she tries to smile. ]

It doesn't feel right.

[grandstanding]

[He huffs, close to laughing. The fact that she thinks that only serves to illustrate how cordial they've been so far.]

Others would say you've had an abnormally good experience with me, to say something like that.

[With a bit more seriousness:]

I don't agree with a lot of things. I try not to let that get the better of me, these days.

[brainiest]

[ Hermione just smiles, tilting her head up. ]

Maybe I want to keep it that way. You're my friend, that means I don't want to fight with you if I can help it.

[ Her smile doesn't relent, and she just nods her head. ]

If you agree with everyone you make friends with then you'll never grow up and learn anything. Having people that have different thoughts and opinions around you is often a good thing, not a bad one.

[grandstanding]

[He wouldn't go that far, at least out loud. There's little reason for him to clash with Hermione, though.]

I doubt I'll have that problem.

[brainiest]

No. Maybe not.

[ Hermione turns her head to look at him, pausing for a moment. ]

... Thank you for - talking to me first. It would have taken me much longer, I'm sure of that.

[grandstanding]

[He shrugs slightly, looking over the balcony.]

I could have done the same. Not so long ago, I would have.

[brainiest]

But not now.

[ Hermione steps up to stand beside him. ]

I'm very stubborn. You're definitely not getting rid of me now.

[grandstanding]

[He watches her for a moment with an unreadable expression, assessing her. What she says is true, he knows. She had made her determination clear the first week he met her. "I didn't want to make connections here, originally" he had said to Charles only days ago. That had fallen by the wayside within a month.

He's out of practice at going his own way. It doesn't bother him. He quirks his lips a bit.]

How ominous.

[brainiest]

I've heard that before. [ She perks her head up, offering a smile. ] You'd be surprised how many people I've been this stubborn with.

[grandstanding]

[He turns in place, bracing his hands against the balcony rail and raising an eyebrow at her in mock disbelief.]

I don't know - you've already told some rather stubborn-sounding tales. And I daresay you needed to be with Charles at times.

[brainiest]

[ All she can do is give him a little, innocent smile, trying not to look too sheepish. ]

Oh, you have no idea. But sometimes he had to be the same to me, too. I think that's why we worked well together - we knew when to push and when to back off.

[grandstanding]

It's a valuable lesson to learn. [Erik has learned it, over years and years of errors. That he's managed to reach a decent plateau with Charles, where they know how to read each other's moods without flaring up in frustration and hurt feelings - it would have seemed impossible, to himself as a younger man.]

But determination is an important quality to have.

[brainiest]

Just a bit. I don't think I'd have been able to do half the things I did in the Drabwurld if it hadn't been for a bit of determination.

[ She'd never have made it as a Marchioness, and she'd never have survived all the times she almost died, all the wars she fought in... ]

It was... I was lucky to have Charles around. I just hope he realised.

[grandstanding]

Don't worry. He's not one to take his friendships lightly. [Not anymore.]

He would have known.

[brainiest]

Oh, he was in my mind all the time. I don't think there's any doubt about that.

[ Then she shifts, fiddling with the mix of necklaces and charms and dog tags around her neck. From the muddle she draws out the gear Erik had given her, so long ago, and holds it up. ]

I don't take mine lightly either.

[grandstanding]

[He shakes his head slightly, though his expression is light.]

If you make any more friends, you might keel over from the weight of all those.

[brainiest]

It's fine. They're all important - dog tags from my dad, your gear, the wedding ri - I mean.

[ Well. ]

They're all special.

[grandstanding]

[He raises an eyebrow at that.]

No doubt. But, a wedding ring?

[brainiest]

[ Is Erik going to be the first person she tells about this? Apparently. ]

There was... Someone, in the Drabwurld. He proposed to me more times than I'd like to remember and kept calling me his 'Queen' even when I told him not to. Utterly insufferable, really, he was a prat.

[grandstanding]

He does sound like it. [And also like someone who refused to take 'no' for an answer.] And yet, you have the ring.

[brainiest]

He was my friend. [ Hermione smiles, almost a little sheepish. ] And I loved him, in my own way.

[grandstanding]

But not the way he wanted.

[That much is evident.] I can't imagine how Charles would have reacted if I behaved that way towards him.