Leopards have Rosettes.
The war was upon them, she knew.
Yet here, in the dappled sunlight of her parents' garden, it seemed like a faraway dark cloud, one that would dissipate long before it would obscure the sun. Harry was safe for the moment at Privet Drive, his scar hadn't hurt since the showdown at the Ministry, and, although they all grieved at the loss of Sirius, this summer seemed to be a time of recuperation and rest.
A fly buzzed contentedly that late summer evening, its droning hover lending substance to the image that would illustrate that particular moment as 'peaceful' in Hermione Granger's organized brain. She knew that moments such as this would be rare in the future, and therefore were to be treasured and savored as they occurred. She opted to turn over on her belly as she strung out each moment, trying to form one delicious memory, taking in her surroundings with renewed perception in order to do this task well. Miss Granger was, in many ways, a very thorough girl.
She carefully noted the warmth of the sun as she lay on a towel on the soft grass, the smell of the carefully maintained herbaceous borders as they drooped slightly in the sun, and the artless prattling of her Muggle friend. Through the open French window she could hear Delia Smith's restrained rhapsodies over summer vegetables and her mother's good natured gossiping on the 'phone. It was all wondrously normal, especially because none save she seemed aware of the fragility of this state. Everybody else was oblivious to her need to bottle this normality and transience into a penseive experience: a whole silver strand strung out whole and pliant, to be perused at leisure, when her bones ached with age and the sun shone less brightly.
"Hermioneee!"
Her friend's insistent voice invaded her somnolent brain, and she squinted into the bright azure of the sky.
"Sorry, Katie. Got a bit lost," she apologized easily to her childhood friend, who came over almost everyday now that Hermione was down from her boarding school for 'specially skilled children.'
Her friends and relatives had hardly been surprised by the fact that she had been selected to go to such an establishment, knowing as they did Hermione's extraordinary mental capacity even as a child.
Katie, for example, dark-haired and tall, though by no means as bright, had accompanied Hermione to enough science fairs and math Olympiads as a young child as to have no doubt whatsoever that her childhood friend would win a Nobel Prize before she turned thirty.
But she still 'hmmphed' in feigned displeasure " Here I am telling you about the new exciting man - the very love of my life - and you go ahead and snore your head off!"
"I was not snoring…just closed my eyes against the glare!" Hermione protested.
"Whatever! Anyway, as a penalty you have to come out with me tomorrow when I go to see him. To London. We're going clubbing."
"To London? I don't know if my parents will let me…" Hermione trailed off, knowing that her parents were particularly protective of their gifted child. And London? Well, to them, London was the hotbed of sin, the cesspool of depravity from which innocent sixteen year olds were to be zealously protected.
"NaaaaH! That's all sorted. My mum's going to London and she'll drop us off at my cousin Daphne's apartment. She thinks Manda and I are only going shopping, and it's my birthday treat. And I know you can convince your mum to let you go up for a day's shopping, and we can take the train back the next day! Come on! It'll be fun. Besides, we're both almost sixteen, … unless you want me to meet an almost stranger in a strange city all on my own?" she asked with an almost mock seriousness. Katie did offend virtue very well indeed.
"Whatever! Hermione scoffed. "How on earth are you going to convince Daphne to let you go clubbing, when you are ostensibly going shopping? And wouldn't your mum mind if I tagged along?"
"Oh! That's the thing! See, Daphne's going to Paris with her boyfriend, who happens to be much-married and therefore an ogre in my aunt's eyes. It's a mutual back rubbing thing. So Daphne was muchly pleased when I said I would bring Manda along so I wouldn't be all alone at her place, and she'll be more that pleased to know that you'll be coming too! As will my mum—they all know you're the responsible one!"
"Little do they know that you have corrupted me. Thoroughly," Hermione said, as she yawned and stretched.
"Hah! You're as naughty as they come Miss Granger. Need I remind you of poor Mrs. Wrangle in primary school?" Katie shook her finger sternly at her friend.
"Well, I had an impulse control problem. I haven't poured glue on any more chairs since then, I assure you," she answered primly. "OK, I'll ask mum tonight. You want more lemonade?" she asked as she lazily got up and wandered towards the open French doors.
Now it was Katie who was sprawled out on her towel with her eyes closed. 'Lemonade…good! Come back soon and I'll tell you all about my manly hunk of blonde-y goodness… mmm…'
Hermione smiled and made her way into the cool shadow of the kitchen, shaking her head at her friend's larger than life romantic escapades.