The Lost Passage "My perfectly lovely milady? Another... novel?" A red headed man with a ring of leaves around his head offered a perfectly lovely red leather bound novel on a silver platter. He gave a rogue smile and his hair fell into his freckled face ruggedly.
Hermione gave a most un-Hermione giggle while she picked the book up for her amusement.
"That would be perfectly lovely."
She luxuriously stretched out on her Greek-esque bed, reading her novel, while Ron fed her grapes. He whispered sweet nothings in her ear, any trace of his usual awkwardness gone.
He pulled the book away from her fingers, holding a grape to her lips, giving a small growl. Hermione smoothed her hands down her long white Greek robe-
Hermione woke up, still balancing her body on the couch cushions that Ron had provided the night before.
"Oh, bother," Hermione muttered, disappointed that her perfectly lovely dream was cut short. She started to wonder what it was that had awoken her.
At first she wondered if it was Ron's fingers, curled on the floor close to hers. Then she realized, somewhere in the Black house, there was music playing.
Her first instinct was to be frightened and she immediately started grinding her mind into "Let's fight!" mode. Then, her body started to cringe involuntarily as her ears processed the music. Hermione listened a bit harder only to realize that it was fantastically sappy music playing.
She calmed her frantically beating heart as she started to shake Ron's shoulder. She could practically see the sparks as she touched that one helluva man.
"Ron!" she hissed, once again masking her sexual emotions with her efficent urgency. She shook his shoulder over and over, reveling in her skin on his.
The image of Ron with leaves and a white robe on filled her mind. Oh, those leaves!
"No, no! This is important!" she told herself outloud.
"What? What's important?" Ron answered, unaware that Hermione had been talking to herself.
Hermione silenced him, placing a finger on her lips. She motioned upstairs and Ron heard the music, too.
"Do you think, I mean, could it be...?" Ron left his question unanswered as he roamed his eyes over to the area of the staircase.
"Well, I don't think anyone could have gotten in. But, wands out? Just in case, I mean," Hermione answered, her voice a smidgen higher than usual.
Ron nodded, his red hair shaking. Hermione could just imagine leaves caressing his locks. She blinked the image away as she gropped the floor for her wand. Her eyes fell to Harry's empty sleeping bag.
"Ron," Hermione started slowly. "You don't think it's Harry, do you?"
"You mean, someone has Harry and they are torturing him with this music? No, I doubt that. Kreacher maybe?" Ron wondered.
Hermione rolled her eyes at his sarcasm as she started to get up from the floor. Ron, catching the act of disdain, starting bickering with her as the two of them started up the staircase.
The bickering soon changed from the idea of Harry making the noise upstairs to Harry being mauled by sappy singers.
"So, you're telling me that it's completely impossible for Harry to be slowly forced into insanity due to this ruddy music?" Ron asked, utterly bemused.
Hermione sighed in exasperation.
"Yes. It is impossible, Ronald. Quite like you are."
"Oh, and you're just a peach the whole time. Anyway, do you think it could even be that old portrait of Sirius' mother? I mean, maybe she has a good singing voice when she's not screaming?"
Ron's question was never answered, for Hermione thought she found the source of the sappy music.
Wordlessly, she pointed to a door that bore Sirus's name on the front. The two of them listened for a moment, completely shocked.
Ron tore his large, staring eyes from the door to Hermione's equally shocked, and slightly fearful, face. They clutched each others' hands, both hoping that the other would say the question they were both thinking.
Finally, Ron swallowed, and took the initiative.
"Is, is that Harry singing?
"Erm, lovely tenor voice..."
"And I forgot
To tell you,
I love you.
And the night's
Too long
And cold here...
Without you...
I grieve in my condition
For I cannot find the strength to say I need you so!"
Harry was belting with all his heart and soul, dragging out each note, some of which broke halfway though due to extreme emotional pain.
The two friends stood dumbly, looking at the door.
"Blimely, when Harry said that there would be horrors beyond our imagination during this war, he wasn't kidding, was he?" Ron commented weakly.
Hermione, still unable to talk, only managed to nod clumsily. Then, realization hit her.
"Ron, Ron!" she said, excited. "I know this song!"
Ron looked at her quizzically, urging her to continue.
"It's a muggle song, Sarah McLachlan. My mum is rather fond of her," Hermione said, breathlessly.
"Muggles haven't got the best taste, do they?"
Hermione was about to tell Ron that he didn't know the half of it. He had never, of course, heard "Careless Whisper" by Wham. Or any 80's song, for that matter. But then the name of the song surfaced to her mind.
"I Love You!" she exclaimed. (Ron made a noise not unlike a dying animal while a goofy grin appeared on his face.) "That's the name of the song!" she continued, oblivious to the appearence and departure of Ron's elated expression.
Excited, she opened the door only to be frightened beyond words at the sight.
Harry was standing in the middle of what appeared to be the bedroom of a teenage Sirius Black. He was the very picture of teenage angst. His clothes seemed to hang off him in a depressed way. His glasses were foggy from the heat of his tears, tears that ran unashamed down his skinny face. His posture seemed to sag downward with each word that flew out of the nearby radio.
Hermione, unable to bear the sight of this pathetic lifeform, looked around at the rest of the room to find some sort of comforting object to stare at. She was not rewarded with that view. Instead, she saw many pictures from Sirius' youth. However, instead of the faces Sirius would have been familiar with, Hermione saw Ginny's face pasted onto the face of every other person in the pictures. The original bodies remained, but it was Ginny's smile that gleamed, Ginny's eyes that blinked.
Suddenly, Hermione's attention was drawn back to Harry, who seemed to be unaware of his two new visitors.
"GIIIIINNNNYYYYY!" he cried, sinking to the floor on his knees. Ginny's name was drawn out, much like the notes of the song had been. His arms stretched out to the Heavens as he sobbed openly.
As Harry continued to make loud weeping noises, another voice came from the corner.
"Master"
Hermione and Ron jumped slightly as they realized that Harry was not, in fact, alone in his misery. An extremely disgruntled Kreacher was sitting crosslegged on the floor, next to the radio. Apparently, he was obligated to stay there under Harry's orders.
"Master, should Kreacher turn this music off?" he started. "Nasty, mudblood music as it is. Oh, if Mistress could hear this! How she would scream..." he muttered under his breath.
"No!" Harry said, his grief angering his voice. "You will play the music again. And louder. I want it to be louder than the sound of my traitorious heart beating! No one in the world understands one tenth of the emptiness that is now my life!"
Harry's face contorted with his agonizing lonliness as the sound of the Sarah McLachlan music played louder in the small bedroom. With one last anguished "Ginny!" Harry sucumbed to his torment, falling back into his sobs.
With a last look at Harry, crumbled on the floor, and Kreacher, muttering about his mistress, Ron and Hermione slowly closed the door to allow some privacy.
Hermione felt numb all over, having witnessed this sort of emotion. It had been passionate, naked, and more than just slightly disturbing.
Ron seemed to have the same reaction as she, as he placed a protective arm around her shoulders.
"Less than a few manly tears, eh?" he remarked to her, shakily.
Hermione gave a dry laugh and the two of them lapsed into a silence. Hermione's heart pounded in her ears. She and Ron both needed a moment to regain the strength to move from their stance in the hallway.
After several moments of contemplating memory charms, Hermione felt as though she could carry on with her life and proceed to the simpler tasks in life. Such as defeating Voldemort.
In an attempt to distract both herself and Ron, she started up a new topic.
"Ron, have you ever considered wearing leaves in your hair?"
THE END
This was created as a result of a very long car ride with my cousin, Nikki. We had been innocently discussing Harry Potter when the conversation took a turn down the alley of sappy songs and the well placed "GIIIINNNY!" We still crack up when we say it. Passionately, of course.
Anyway, many songs were considered before we chose this particular sappy song ("I Love You" by Sarah McLachlan) for the story. It seemed to fit the time frame better than the 80's songs we were thinking of. Had it not been for the time frame, we would have choosen "Careless Whisper" by Wham. You all should check out that song asap. Try YouTube. :)
Well, I hope you had a laugh. Please review!