Work Text:
A Walk in the Park
Harry Dresden was out taking his customary nighttime walk with his dog, Mouse. It had already been fully dark for about an hour and the park had seemed to be completely empty when they had entered. This suited Harry perfectly, though, since he just wanted to be somewhere quiet. Plus, Mouse was also thrilled to have the place to himself so that he could run free and not have to obey the strict daytime “leash law” – as if he was just any old ordinary dog. Therefore, both man and beast were enjoying themselves when, all of a sudden, a slightly annoyed feminine voice carried through the air and the sound broke into their quiet solitude.
“Bloody hell! There’s another one in my hair!” exclaimed the lovely voice in what Harry considered to be a very pleasing British accent – even couched, as it was, in a considerable amount of irritation. “I didn’t know that Windy Lake pixies traveled in groups. We’re not even near the lake, you crazy buggers. Here, let me help you get back up into your tree. Oh, you’re nesting, aren’t you? I guess that explains it, then. See if you can stay up there, though, and out of my hair, please.”
Harry froze in his tracks. Windy Lake pixies were magical creatures. They were annoying, but essentially harmless. However, ordinary humans just could not see them. That meant the owner of the voice was something other than just ordinary herself. Even though he was curious, for just a minute, Harry debated not getting involved. After all, he was trying to enjoy a rare moment of peace and quiet. All of sudden, though, he realized that he did not have a choice about it anymore because Mouse had already taken off towards the sound. Harry sighed deeply and jogged after him as he muttered under his breath about a new dog skin rug for his hearth.
He found the dog just a moment later as the beast wallowed in the arms and attention of a pretty young woman who was probably in her mid 20s or so. She would have seemed normal to the ordinary passer-by. Nevertheless, Harry could see that her amazingly lively hair practically sparked with the force of her power.
No wonder the pixies had been attracted to it! he thought with no small amount of amazement. He also noticed that she had a wand stuck in her back pocket, as well. Therefore, this was no ordinary girl. No, she was something much more interesting. She was a witch!
Harry walked towards her silently, but saw her tense at his approach, anyway. Before he could blink, she had disengaged from Mouse, and had spun around to face him - wand in hand. Harry noticed this and took a defensive position himself, even while he marveled at her quick reflexes. However, before either of them could make the first move and throw a spell, Mouse ambled over between them as he wagged his tail. His message was clear to both of the humans.
We are all friends here!
“Oh,” remarked the young witch, “he belongs to you.” She relaxed visibly and lowered her wand before Mouse ran back over to her joyfully to continue to receive that attention that he felt was his due.
“Yes, he does.” Harry replied with relief after he had also determined that there was no immediate danger. “His name is Mouse, by the way.”
“Thank you…but I was talking to the dog,” the woman replied with such a mischievous grin that Harry had to struggle not to return it immediately. “He is a Tibetan Temple dog, and a Foo, as well, if I am not mistaken. Therefore, he obviously belongs to nobody but himself! However, he wouldn’t be associating with you if you were…”
Her words were interrupted here as the topic of their conversation then butted her legs to regain her attention. She looked down at him and saw that he had rolled over on his back, eager for a belly rub. She laughed as she knelt down beside him and complied with the unspoken request. She then looked up at the dog's companion, a man who was obviously a wizard, and asked with a good deal of humor in her voice, “Mouse, though, really? How did you come up with a name like that? He is almost as big as I am!”
Harry just shrugged. He was thoroughly surprised by the knowledgeable witch, but he did not want to give away too much information until he knew who she was – especially with his history with dark witches and wizards. If nothing else, experience had taught him to be cautious! Nevertheless, he could already tell that she was obviously not a threat to him…or Mouse would be on guard and not behaving like a frisky pup with her. Therefore, Harry did not even try to hide his next laugh - especially when Mouse pushed the witch over into a sitting position and crawled into her lap.
“Is this normally how you meet women?” she asked him, as she arched an attractive eyebrow at him while she tried to peer over the huge beast in her lap. “You have your dog batter them into submission with his impressive canine charms first?"
Harry laughed again and went to sit down next to them on the ground. “Not usually…However, that’s not a bad tactic - now that you mention it. It seems to be working rather well for me tonight, at any rate!” he replied playfully as he finally let his guard down. The woman was quite attractive, after all. Mouse then wiggled himself around until his front half was in the witch’s lap and his back end was draped over Harry.
“Ugh, I always get the bad end of the deal!” the man exclaimed with quite a bit of snark as he found himself promptly beaten in the face with Mouse’s happy and enthusiastic tail wagging.
The witch laughed at the sight of the wizard with his mouth full of fluffy dog tail. “I’m Hermione, by the way,” she finally introduced herself, since she was also completely at ease due to the antics of both man and beast.
Hermione, Harry thought. That’s an interesting name… but it suits her. “Harry,” he replied in turn. “It’s nice to meet you. I would shake your hand, but Mouse seems to have both of mine pinned down at the moment.
Hermione laughed merrily at that statement and Harry smiled at the lovely sound. “Harry?” she replied once she caught her breath. Her smile intensified at the sound of the familiar name. “I like that! My best friend back home is also named Harry.”
All of a sudden, the puzzle pieces started to click into place for the wizard. She’s a young English witch with the unusual name of Hermione...her best friend is named Harry…and she has some of the fastest fighting reflexes that I have ever seen. “You’re Hermione Granger!” he exclaimed with some surprise. No wonder Mouse had been instantly smitten with her! After all, she was one of the main players on the side of the Light during the British Wizarding War a few years back – even though she had apparently been just a school girl at the time.
“Oh no! Is it that obvious?” she asked and her brilliant smile faded into a small frown.
~~~~~
Hermione had only been in Chicago for a few weeks and had managed to avoid most of the magical community so far – with the exception of the Goblins, of course. She had really enjoyed the relative anonymity of her situation here in the States – especially with the occasional portkey visits from her friends back home to keep her from becoming too lonely. It made a nice contrast to her life in the public eye back in England. In fact, the search for some peace was one of her main reasons for applying for the curse-breaking position here at the Chicago branch of Gringott’s. She realized that this was the step that she wanted to take as soon as Bill had brought her attention to the fact that a transfer position was available. She and Bill had been work partners, as well as good friends, for the past several years. However, he – as well as the rest of the Weasley clan and her Harry - knew that she needed something different.
She had never been able to get comfortable in her post-war role as a celebrity as easily as Harry, Ron, and the others had. Therefore, they all helped her to inconspicuously leave the country when the time came. It had turned out to be a very good move for her, too. After all, she was much happier in the States than she had been in England and her life had better balance, as well. Her days were full of the constant excitement and challenge of her curse-breaking work while her weekends and evenings were spent relaxing and exploring the city. She especially enjoyed the peace and quiet she had found while walking in the little park near her flat in the evenings. At least, she normally did, when the pixies were not intent on dive bombing her hair, at least! At any rate, her thoughts had come back, full circle, to the wizard in front of her. Therefore, she just sighed and continued.
“I've been trying to keep a low profile. How did you know?” she asked the Harry in front of her - the first person in Chicago to realize who she really was.
“Well, some of us still pay attention to the important stuff happening across the pond, you know - especially if it involves a war that bleeds over into our part of the world.” Harry replied in a lighthearted voice that was also quite deadly serious at the same time.
“What do you mean?” she asked and suspicion crept into her voice. “What bled over?” She started to tense up and, almost unconsciously, reached for her wand as she remembered the rumors that some of Voldemort’s uncaptured followers had fled to America. Before they had disappeared, though, they had vowed revenge – especially on the Golden Trio.
“Death Eaters?” she whispered and wondered if she would always have to watch her back - even on another continent. Well, she had always kept herself prepared, just in case the day ever came where she had to face them again. Therefore, she was ready!
Harry noted her actions and the steely look of determination, along with a tiny bit of fear, that crept into her eyes. He could also practically see her magic as it built up. In fact, her hair sparked with the force of it again as she obviously prepared her psyche for battle. Harry was amazed at the simple display of latent power.
She is magnificent! he thought admiringly. I can only imagine how incredible she is when she is not holding it back! However, he knew he could set her mind at ease - on that particular note, at least. After all, the Council had decided that the regular rules did not apply to those who had already proven that they were willing to mass murder their own kind...much less those without magic.
“Not anymore!” he told her with grim satisfaction. “I was part of the task force against the Dark wizards once they started to recruit here. You don’t have to worry about them. They have been permanently disbanded.” This was all said with a strong feeling of guilt-free disgust as he remembered the death and destruction that the handful of rogue wizards had left in their wake. Yet…somehow…the fascinating young witch in front of him had faced down an entire army of them – and lived to tell the tale!
He noticed that her magic had settled back down with his explanation, but she still looked to be a little on edge. Therefore, he continued to explain. “Dolohov was the last one, and probably the worst of the bunch, but I took care of that problem myself after I caught him in the act of torturing some unfortunate tourists who just happened to cross his path.”
“Antonin Dolohov?” she whispered the name and the absolute relief in her tone made him look at her sharply.
“Yes! You knew him?” he asked carefully. Then he watched curiously as she gently pushed Mouse off of her in order to roll up her shirt in response to his question. His jaw then clenched in anger, however, when he saw the huge angry purple slash of a scar that diagonally bisected her abdomen. It looked as if someone had tried to disembowel the witch!
“You could say that,” she replied in a low tone. “I was sixteen at the time.”
Harry just looked at the witch next to him as he realized that he now understood that little glimmer of fear that he had caught a glimpse of in her eyes earlier. The wizard knew that he had been the cause of quite a few deaths throughout his life and career. He even regretted many of them. However, he now knew without the tiniest bit of doubt that Dolohov’s death would never be one of those that he felt remorse over! In fact, when the woman raised her eyes to meet his, he felt an overwhelming urge to reassure her. Therefore, with a little bit of effort, he was able to pull his hand out from under Mouse and reached over to grab one of hers.
“I can assure you that the bastard will never hurt anyone else ever again!” he exclaimed with feeling.
“Good!” she answered with grim satisfaction and squeezed his hand in return. Then she smiled brightly at the wizard as his identity finally occurred to her. “Harry Dresden, Chicago’s Only Professional Wizard,” she said, gesturing with air quotes while stating his advertised title. Then she paused to return his look of pleased surprise with a saucy one of her own that said, I know stuff, too! “There is no way that I can thank you for all you have done, but would you and Mouse like to come up to my flat…I mean… apartment…for some dinner? It’s right around the corner and there are some nice takeaway places between here and there.”
Harry did not even have to think about it – especially since he could not remember a time when he was lucky enough to be in the presence of a funny, intelligent, powerful, and lovely single witch. It was even more incredible that said witch was one who had been preapproved by Mouse and, therefore, could be deemed as completely trustworthy. In fact, the whole thing was really an unheard of situation for him!
This could get very interesting, he thought, as he looked into the witch’s soft golden brown eyes…and he nodded with agreement as he quickly looked away again before he accidentally initiated a soul gaze between them. He then finished shoving Mouse off of his lap and stood up as he held out his hand to help up Hermione, as well.
A lovely smile bloomed across her face as she took his hand again. She had just gone through a similar thought process to his and had reached the same conclusions. Therefore, she continued to smile as she brushed off her jeans. Then she looked over at the huge canine as a thought occurred to her. “I will have to disillusion Mouse until we get inside, though, if you two don’t mind. Big dogs aren’t allowed in my building, but I know that he will behave himself. Does he get along with cats, by the way?” At that point, Mouse barked happily and wagged his tail frantically. “Well, I guess that answers that question,” Hermione replied laughingly as she reached down to scratch behind his ears. “Crookshanks is half-Kneazle, anyway, so I suspect that you two will get along fabulously!”
In fact, she thought to herself as she continued to smile up at the intriguing wizard in front of her, this could all get very interesting!
~~~~~~
Their mutual prediction turned out to be correct. Mouse and Crookshanks got along that night almost as well as Harry and Hermione did (and those two stayed up most of the night as they drank wine, laughed, shared stories, and compared scars). Also, surprisingly, the usually standoffish feline was as affectionate with Harry as Mouse was with Hermione. That only made the witch even more certain of her initial impression of the wizard – especially since everyone knew Kneazles were excellent judges of character.
Consequently, additional plans were made for the next night at Harry’s place, so that Crookshanks could meet Mister - Harry’s huge and unusually intelligent, but essentially nonmagical cat. After an initial standoff, which was broken up by a playful Mouse, the two felines decided to become friends, as well. In fact, it was only a few nights later that Mouse, Mister, and Crookshanks were all curled up together in front of the fireplace while their wizard and witch were curled up together in bed...after they had finally shared a soul gaze which told them everything that they needed to know about each other.
Things had gotten very interesting, indeed – and all of that magic had stemmed from a walk in the park!