Married By Law

Chapter 18: Unnoticed Books

Hermione was sitting back on the couch, giggling to herself. Draco was still on the ground, trying to catch his breath from laughing. The Tickling Charm had finally wore off, and Draco wasn't very happy with her. Every time he heard her giggle, he would throw a menacing glare her way, but that would only make her giggle more.

After a few more minutes of heavy breathing he stood up. Hermione looked at him, innocently, and giggled again, which made Draco grin and start laughing too. He then remembered what had caused this whole fiasco.

"You have to wait here for a little while and then I'll come and get you," Draco said, slipping his shoes on.

"But why?" Hermione whined.

"I told you; it's a surprise. But it'll be worth it, I promise."

"It better be," Hermione huffed.

"I'll be as quick as I can," Draco said over his shoulder before closing the door behind him.

Hermione looked around the room. What was she going to do to pass some time? She glanced up at the television, but didn't feel like watching anything. She hadn't brought anything with her, she now realised, except for her wand. But she always had that with her. She glanced at the book on the coffee table she had read. Something about it looked familiar to her for some reason, ever since she had picked it up and started reading it. And then it clicked. It was the same book Hermione had been meaning to read a while ago.

It was amazing, except it was a series and that was only the first book. When Hermione had finished the book, the last page showed the next books and their order in the series. Hermione owned the whole series, but it was back at her apartment. If only the rest of the series was here.

Maybe it is, Hermione thought. Maybe if the first book is here then the rest of the series is here somewhere.

She stood up and wandered into the bedroom to start searching. All she had to do was take a few steps into it before she spotted something. There was a bookshelf standing beside the window that she hadn't noticed yet. She took a few tentative steps towards before stopping. Her caramel brown eyes widened.

It looked like her bookshelf at her apartment. It was made out of the same wood, the same shade of brown. Hermione took a few more slow steps forward. She looked closely and took a step back in shock. The books were the same. They were even organised in the same order. When you are as much of a passionate reader as Hermione, you remembered which books you owned and how you had organised them, where you had placed them on the shelves.

She stepped forward one more time and reached a hand out to gently touch the books to see of they were actually there or whether she was just hallucinating. When she could feel the spines of the books, displaying their titles, and her hand didn't go through them, she confirmed that they were indeed real.

This was the bookshelf holding all the books Hermione hadn't read yet. Including the one sitting on the coffee table that she had finished earlier. Hermione skimmed her eyes over the titles, searching for two particular ones. The other two that completed the books series she wanted to read so badly. She had to stand on tip-toe to read the titles on the first shelf. After the next few, she had to kneel down on the floor beneath her. She reached the last shelf. There they were. The books she needed to read to finish the series.

She sat down on the ground and crossed her legs. Hermione pulled out the last three books and gazed at the covers. The books sitting on the coffee table in the lounge room was definitely the first one of this series.

Hermione placed the first book back on the shelf and stood up with the other two in her hands before wandering back out into the lounge room and getting comfortable on the couch. She set the third book onto the coffee table in front of her, adjacent to the first book. Then she opened the second book to the first chapter after gazing at the cover for a couple of minutes. A smile formed on her lips as she immersed herself into the universe that was on the pages before her eyes. A whole universe resting in her hands. As she read, she could imagine the story scenes so clearly that it was like she was there with the characters.

Word after word. Sentence after sentence. Paragraph after paragraph. Page after page. Chapter after chapter. She read on and on and on, her mind devouring what she was reading. After a while, she looked up from the book and had to blink a few times to remember where she was in the real world. She searched around the room for a clock. It had been an hour. Hermione looked back down at the book to find that she had read half of the book. She hadn't realised it was that much.

She stood up after memorising the page number. She stretched her arms over her head and rolled her shoulders. Hermione sat back down and got comfortable again. She picked the book up again and turned the book back to page 215. Another hour passed.

Hermione read the last page: Adam and I intertwined our fingers, glanced at each other nervously, and jumped.

Hermione read the sentence two more times before closing the book. It ended on a cliff-hanger. She hated when books did that, but at the same time loved it. It meant that there was still more that she could read before the whole story was completed. Good thing she had the last book.

Hermione set the second book down and picked up the third one. She gazed at this cover for a couple minutes, too, just like the last time.

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Hey guys!

Turns out I finished writing this chapter tonight and got to publish, which is great. And it's a bit longer than the last couple, which is also great.

I think this is one of my favourite chapters, I guess because I got to express how I feel about books. I'm always shocked and surprised when people say that they don't read, or that they don't like reading, and don't think that I'll ever be able to grasp the fact that people don't like reading. It's my favourite thing to do!

As usual, don't forget to vote and let me know what you think down in the comments, as well as anything that I could improve on or any plot ideas that you might have.

Oh, one last thing. Are you guys excited for my other book "Embers"? Let me know in the comments.

Thank you guys!