Completed: (5/11/05) 3:50 PM
Posted: (5/11/05) 4:00 PM
A/N: Here it is. Sorry for the delay. Once again, thanks to everyone and hopefully this will lead to an equally well-loved sequel. But gimme a little vacation to catch my breath first :-P.
Sequel Notes: For those of you who are really interested in the sequel. Leave your e-mail in a review and the SECOND I sit down to start writing it you'll have a lovely little email on the way.
Update Notes: Also, if you'd like to be put on an update list I'm setting up – leave your e-mail and a note that you want to be updated, as well as for which stories or just in general. This update list may or may not be privy to story artwork and more – even perhaps a few sneak peaks? winkwink
Enjoy! And go out and read a book today – right now!
Hermione Granger hadn't left her home for an entire week.
Not even the children racing through the halls at dawn woke her until her standard rousing at a quarter 'til noon. Dressing gown always hanging off her shoulders, baring her slip of a nightgown, she'd morose around her bed chambers for hours until her own frizzed mop of curls frustrated her back into the warm tangle of her bed and into another half day of sleep.
On this particular evening in the third week of November, she'd ransacked her bed and taken on her disorganized wanderings the pale blue comforter from it. With it wrapped around her waist, she was sprawled alongside the grate in her floor waiting for the sounds of movement through the vents.
"Harry..." she ventured at half past three.
Shuffling and then the familiar sound of Harry's desk chair being dragged underneath the ceiling vent. "Hermione? Are you coming down to tea today?"
Hermione groaned, feeling the metal pressing into her cheek as she turned to her side. "I detest tea."
A snort. Then Harry's echoic voice. "You love tea, babe."
She sighed. "Well, I detest it today."
"You haven't come down all week."
Hermione's chest burned and her fingers curled in the tiny slots of the grate. "I...I miss them, Harry."
Her best friend was silent for a long time, but Hermione waited patiently for the words she heard every day. This wasn't the first time they'd exchanged these thoughts, but like a slat being wiped clean Hermione awoke each afternoon with renewed gloom and lackluster outlook.
"They had to go, Hermione," he told her, for what must have been the billionth time, and yet his voice was still sympathetic and kind.
"They could have stayed," she argued vehemently. She frowned at the grate as though it were the culprit. "I – We were here. Aren't we good enough?"
Harry chuckled and she automatically flushed. "You alone were reason enough for them to stay, much less Ron and I..."
"So you agree with me then?" This was a new twist to the tired conversation.
"Must I always remind you, my soul, you were the one who told them to go?"
Hermione rolled frustrated away from the vent and sat up with her back to the window. Her robe was falling down into the crooks of her elbows and the glass was freezing cold even through the thick downy layers of her blanket. Her silence had caused the young wizard in the room below hers to begin calling her name up through the vent, but for the moment she couldn't bring herself to move much less speak.
Fact: She had been purposefully secluding herself. Opinion: She was being dramatic. Fact: She wasn't. Theory: Being her best friend and accepted soul mate, no matter how often they repeated the scenario, Harry was supposed to be supportive and understanding each time. Complaint: Harry was being a meanie and totally dashing her logical theory.
Couldn't he see there was no reason for her to leave her bedroom, much less her home? Granted, her home was now exceedingly large and there wasn't much she needed that wasn't provided for her on some floor. There wasn't anything save for large zoo animals that she couldn't find within these sturdy walls, without ever having to venture out into the world.
Fudge, after a fair deal of influencing from Dumbledore, had handed over the deed to Malfoy Manor to Harry when presenting him with the awards and gifts of the wizarding world at graduation. Not only was it now their home, but it was also a wizarding shelter for witches, wizards and magical creatures to take refuge in for as long as they needed while the magical world underwent its post-war reconstruction.
Most had had their homes decimated during the raids and skirmishes. Others waylaid their quest for lost loved ones here to rest and regain their strength. All were in need of a decent mattress and a hot meal. Of course, she and the others did all that they could for each person and family; using their vast connections and personal pull to find jobs, homes, and even missing persons.
"HERMIONE JANE GRANGER! IF YOU DON'T COME DOWNSTAIRS THIS INSTANT I'LL NEVER SPEAK TO YOU AGAIN!"
Hermione rolled her eyes. Harry could be such a drama wizard some times.
"That's like a whole...two flights of stairs," she grimaced; calling down into the vent like a petulant child.
A husky chuckle and then, "It's rude for a hostess not to great her friends."
That was not Harry's voice.
Comforter abandoned, Hermione was already tearing out of her bedroom and nearly falling down the stairs in her night clothes. A couple smiled knowingly at her as she sprinted past them, her bare feet slapping against the wood floors, and a trio of girls playing dolls giggled as she took the final five steps of the staircase in a wild leap.
She'd almost made it to Harry's bedroom when the door opened and the group inside began to exit. She attacked the first one out with a near-tackling hug, but he grabbed her around the waist mid-jump and spun her joyously around.
"You're back!" Hermione exclaimed happily, wrapping her arms around his neck as if she'd never let go.
"Crikey, pigeon," Sirius teased. "We've only been gone a few weeks."
"Oh right – only just after we all almost died. That's not nerve-wracking," she complained as she was set back down on the solid floor.
"That was months ago, you crazy bird." James opened his arms as Hermione gave a gleeful cry and the two friends embraced. "Ugh! You're a mess, Hermione. Though it's understandable you'd fall to pieces without me here..."
Hermione punched him hard on the shoulder, proving that she hadn't lost her strong right hook after the war's end. While Sirius openly mocked his whimpering best mate, Hermione was met by Lily. They kissed one another's cheeks and hugged tightly before Harry squeezed his arms around the both of them and the triumvirate stumbled around in a bubbly bout of laughter and smiling faces.
"How was it?" Hermione asked. "Did you get any time to work on the wedding plans?"
"Merlin's beard no!" The redhead exclaimed when they all parted. "Dumbledore would use his occulumency to bring more of our memories to the forefront, then Hestia Jones would come and give us history lessons over everything that's happened since the 70s, then we'd give some demos for the DADA classes, and then Dumbledore would meet with us again to discuss anything we remembered over the course of the day. Oh, it was so exhausting."
Hermione frowned. "I still say you could have learned all that here. Three weeks was such a long time for you to be gone."
"I believe you were the one who said we'd be able to focus better if we undertook our acclimation to the future away from home."
Lily winked knowingly as Hermione's face lit up and she spun around. Remus was leaning against the frame of Harry's bedroom door, smiling. She looked ridiculous in her shabby robe with rumpled hair and nightgown, but still she attempted to frown at him.
"Why does everybody start listening to me now? I am not the voice of reason here," she exclaimed; hands on hips.
"So I don't ever have to listen to you again?" The lycan grinned, baring two rows of perfect white teeth.
It was enough to send Hermione running into his arms, and the couple stumbled around holding one another with a delirious sort of happiness and the simple contact between them seemed to totally restore Hermione from her earlier moping mindset.
"Let's go have some tea and let Ron know you've all returned." Hermione's announcement was readily answered by sounds of eager agreement , but as she moved to join the group headed towards the kitchen, Remus held her back.
Only Sirius noticed she wasn't with them, and he stopped to look back. Feeling the warm hand clasping her own, Hermione felt surely her face was glowing like a silly school girl as she blew Sirius a kiss and motioned for him to go on without her. His return smile was a bit hesitant, but he bowed gallantly to her request and turned down the hall.
Gentle hands turned her face back and her lips met with Remus' in a kiss that left her mouth burning and tasting of chocolate and honey. He held both her hands with interlocked fingers, but it wasn't his hold that kept Hermione's body pressed against his.
"You know...I didn't think it was possible for someone to miss another person as much as I missed you this last month," he whispered against her forehead. "Then I saw you--"
"Yes, yes," Hermione grumbled. "I know I look frightful. I would have taken a bath if I'd known you were coming back today."
He chuckled; a rumble that ran through his chest and through her thin nightclothes. "We wanted to...surprise you."
"I am surprised," she insisted.
"Good," he murmured, and brushed back a russet curl with their joined hands.
Hermione swayed against him with a sly smile and he shuffled his feet after a chuckle and all too soon they were waltzing smoothly around the wide hall. They needed no music or rhythm because holding to one another was enough to glide them back and forth in their less than ball-worthy apparel.
"You know," Hermione grinned. "The last time we danced like this we didn't part exactly the way I'd hoped."
Remus smiled softly; the look that thrilled her all the way down to her toes knowing it was just for her and made her give up on fighting her lovesickness. "Remind me to rectify that at the end of our dance."
She blushed despite her better judgment and looked down with eyes aglow. Being equal heights, Hermione could rest her chin easily on his shoulder and as she did so, Remus matched her position and began to whisper into her ear sweet promises and verses that brought her so much joy she closed her eyes and let them wash over her.
When the warm-breathed words lulled, Hermione was so filled with his heart-racing sentiments that she couldn't contain her own any longer and the heavy words were spoken just as quietly as his whispers in her ear; their verses were private and personal, lines only for one another's ears.
"I'm so happy you stayed..."
One hot droplet hit his neck and then other and that was it. There would be no more tears from Hermione Granger as they danced. Remus pressed a kiss to her temple and rubbed her back. "The four of us were given another chance at life. You gave us that chance. The timeline is still the same as always, so there's no reason for us to go back."
His grip on her tightened causing her to look up at him curiously through the loose curls of her ponytail. He smiled at her. "But there are so many reasons for us to stay. You're mine."
Hermione had no answer to that because she could not find the words. She laid her cheek against his shoulder and was lulled into an easy, relaxed state by the thrumming of his heart against her breast and the warm musky scent she could almost taste on his throat.
"You're Sirius' reason too."
Remus almost stopped their brilliant dance, but Hermione kept them going with a shake of her head into his neck where she'd now buried her face. "No...he stays because of James. Because you stayed. The three of you are inseparable—"
"Hermione. You can't argue with me – I'm 'Truth', remember?" Remus sighed; a rustling of her tangled curls. "Besides. Lily's already confirmed it. Sirius stayed because he still loves you."
Hermione felt so warm and safe in these arms and she knew they would only perfectly fit around her. Here, she was more at home than walking the halls of the Manor. She didn't want to think about such things, such complications to this perfect moment. The faintest movement of the hairs on the back of Remus' neck was the only disturbance that belied Hermione's soft sigh.
"I know..." she whispered.
He stopped their swaying and not one of her subtle nudges could restart them again. His hand hovered briefly over the locket she still wore clasped around her neck and then he looked down at their remaining joined hands. "You might not have believed me before, but really...I want you to do whatever makes you happy."
Hermione kissed his cheek and goaded him into raising his head with more kisses along his jaw and under his chin. "There wasn't a moment you were gone," she said throatily. "That I wasn't thinking about you. And if that's not love then I don't care because I'm not letting you go."
She met his gaze with firm eyes while her hands moved to grip his arms. "I'll keep you until you walk away," she swore. "And even then I'll never stop trying to get you back."
This was the moment. Both outgoing in friends, but introverted in love, the earth had had to go full circle to bring them to this point of openness and hope. Their trust was implicit, their loyalty proven, but it was their emotions over which they struggled to gain control of now. The pair was long graduated and crossed into adulthood, but for all their intellect not a single scenario they'd theorized in their heads could have accurately foreshadowed this moment.
"I believe you," he answered in his even tone. "And I'm not going anywhere."
Hermione let out a short cry as her elation overflowed and she threw herself exuberantly into Remus' perfect arms. They were both laughing with too much happiness to make long of the kisses, but that didn't stop either of them from trying as they staggered around the hall; Remus folding his arms beneath her bottom and hers wrapped around his neck as she dropped kisses across his jaw and lips from her advantageous height.
They had one another and their combined strength would keep them both going as they figured out exactly what 'love' meant, and if that was what they felt or if it was something greater. They had their friends, shelter, and a purpose; an abundance of laughter, life, and an undeniable feeling that was perhaps this thing the movies called 'love'.
The world was far from being perfect, but to Hermione and Remus it was getting pretty close.