Epilogue

It was a normal, dreadfully boring breakfast on a normal, dreadfully boring day and Draco Malfoy was his normal, dreadfully-bored self.

"Pass the jam, please," someone said a few seats to his left and from the right, a jar approached. He snatched it before it reached its destination and spread a few generous spoons full on his toast before thrusting the jar into the waiting hand of Blaise Zabini.

He allowed his mind to wander to the boredom that was lying ahead of him until suddenly his head snapped up. Hadn't that been Granger screaming 'No' on the top of her lungs? His eyes scanned the Gryffindor table quickly, finally resting on the so-called 'Golden Trio'. The brunette witch was writhing and wiggling between Potter and Weasley. Her voice echoed through the entire hall as she tried to evade their touch, bouncing off the walls and the ceiling; shrieks of panic, gasped and breathless 'No's and 'Stop's. What the hell was going on there?

Curiously, Draco craned his neck to get a better look and suddenly as Hermione's gasps and shrieks changed, he realized what was happening.

They were tickling her. Potter and Weasly were tickling her.

Draco felt the corners of his lips tug upwards as the melodious laughter of Hermione Granger wrapped around him. For some reason, he suddenly wished he'd been invited to join in on the fun.


Grimauld Place Number 12, 2 years earlier

The Order of the Phoenix was having dinner in the dark and foreboding dining room of the Black family. Harry Potter sat next to his godfather, who was currently staring off into space; at least it seemed so if you were farther away. If you sat right next to Sirius Black, however, you couldn't possibly miss the way he was looking at Hermione and Ginny, who were sitting somewhat in the middle of the table, across from Tonks, laughing at the funny faces the metamorphmagus conjured.

Sirius shook his head. "It's a shame," he muttered more to himself and returned his gaze to his food. "What's a shame?" Harry inquired carefully, keeping an eye on his two friends.

"That she doesn't laugh more often – she has such a beautiful laugh," Sirius said. "You know," he continued, pointing his fork at Hermione for emphasis, "sometimes I just want to grab Hermione and tickle her senseless. She's way too serious for my taste and someone with a laugh like that shouldn't be allowed to hide it."

"Grab her and tickle her senseless?" Harry echoed, looking at Hermione with wonder. "Yeah. Grab her and tickle her senseless," Sirius answered. Harry grinned. "You know, one day I might just do that," he said. Sirius returned the grin. "I hope you'll remember to invite me when you do," the older man said, his grin slowly fading into a smile.


Author's Note:

There- no need to call me sick and twisted after all, huh? Told ya it would pay off to finish reading this.

Writing the first part made me crack up laughing most of the time, but writing the epilogue (especially the flashback with Sirius) makes it somewhat bittersweet (How could she just kill off my favorite good guy!). Still I like it. I hope you did too and that it made you laugh at some point.

Insanely yours,

Pace