Please read disclaimer in the first 3 chapters.
A couple of days had passed since Remus and Hermione's last interaction. Both of them had been busy because of the upcoming coming holiday. They only saw each other in the Great Hall during breakfast and dinner. Now, even lunch had taken their time too since Hermione was in the library to study for her NEWTs while Remus had been given the Head of the House duties for the coming break.
"Really Hermione, it's Friday. Could you at least take a break? I haven't seen you at lunch these past few days." Ginny whined to her friend as they were on their way to breakfast.
"Gin, I have to prepare for NEWTs. Actually, scratch that, we have to prepare for our NEWTs. The holidays will make us forget all the lessons we've learned so we might as well study even more during Christmas break." Hermione said as she balanced her books on her arms.
Ginny dropped the topic since she didn't want to be dragged into the kind of studying Hermione did. She'd study when she was in the mood, thank you very much.
When they reached the Gryffindor table, Hermione placed all her books beside her while taking a peek at the Head's table. A few teachers were there except for McGonagall, Hagrid and Remus.
Her inspection was cut off by her redheaded friend interjecting, "Hey, Hermione, what else did you write for the Potions homework? About Polyjuice Potion?" Ginny asked while rummaging through Hermione's bag to look for her essay.
"To be extremely careful when adding samples to the potion; like being sure that that the hair or other DNA samples are really far from the person you want to be for a while." Hermione said, handing her essay over while she remembered the trio's second year when she accidentally got Millicent Bulstrode's cat's hair instead of the hair of Millicent herself.
"Oh, looks like you've read a lot about this certain potion, huh?" Ginny observed while comparing how long her essay was to Hermione's.
She was about to respond when owls came soaring above them. The girls looked up and saw Errol and Pig flying towards them. When both owls delivered their mail, they stayed on the table while the girls opened their mail. Both letters were from Mrs. Weasley.
Ginny scanned her letter and said, "Mum wants you for Christmas. She said to invite you for the whole duration of Christmas break. She said Harry'll be there too."
"Yeah, she said so here, but she didn't mention Harry. I think she'd only like you to know that." She thought. "Though I don't know yet. I still have to talk about this to Remus, you know? I don't want him spending our first Christmas alone." She said pocketing the letter before proceeding to feed the two owls that were waiting for them. They both flew off after a few crackers and an affectionate bite to Hermione's finger.
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Potions ended quickly since Slughorn was already in the Christmas spirit even though it was still days away.
Hermione took this as an opportunity to go to the library and finish all of that week's homework so she could enjoy the weekend with a few books and maybe Remus.
The library was semi-crowded when she entered. It was unusual, but she thought it was because some of the students were cramming to finish their school works before the holidays.
On her way to her usual spot beside the window that overlooked the Black Lake, she saw a newspaper on the floor. Being a model student, she picked it up and was about to scold anyone who was near about littering when she read the front page.
Nothing interesting was published in the paper these days since Voldemort was defeated. All the pages were filled with gossips. Some were even about her, Harry and Ron. Most were rubbish, though.
As she looked at the moving photos, one particular picture caught her eye. It was a photo of a boy aged five or six with blue eyes and beautiful blonde hair. The caption said that he had been missing since the 21st. Brows furrowed, Hermione checked the date of the paper and found out it was published on the 25th of November.
"Poor boy. Wish he had been found by now." She shook her head slowly while folding the paper, putting it in the nearest trash bin as she proceeded to sit on her usual spot and read.
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The next day, Hermione went looking for Remus. He wasn't in breakfast again so she was getting worried. She was about to go to his room to check on him when she bumped into someone.
"Oops. Sorry," an all too familiar voice said. She looked up and saw messy jet-black hair.
"Harry!" She shouted excitedly while she jumped to hug him.
"Oh, Hermione. It was you! I'm really sorry about that." He said hugging back, laughing at her excitement. "By the way, Ron and I were looking everywhere for you. I'm surprised we didn't find you in the library, though." He teased.
"Hey, I'm not always in the library, you know." She huffed and crossed her arms, childishly.
Harry laughed at her. "Yeah, I know. I'm just teasing. Come on, they're outside." He said leading her to the grounds.
"Who? And where are you taking me?" She said as Harry mostly pulled her.
"You'll see. Ginny said you were studying all the time and asked us for our help. She'd been worried you know – worried that you might spend more energy than what was expected of you." He smirked while she blushed scarlet, knowing what he said was true.
When they got outside, the grounds were covered with pure white snow. The only things that weren't white were the four redheads sitting on a rock.
"Oi!" Harry shouted at them.
A flash of red was seen as Ron, Ginny, Fred and George all turned their heads to look at them at the same time.
"Finally!" Ron exclaimed.
"The NEWTs girl's here." Ginny joked as the two approached.
"Took you long enough, mate." Fred said, patting Harry's shoulder and winking at Hermione as they stopped near them.
"We thought you were gonna ditch us." George said as he ruffled Harry's hair, making it even messier.
Harry stepped back. "Knock it off, won't you?"
"Come on, guys. I want to play already." Ron, as impatient as ever, said.
"Wait, what are we supposed to do?" Hermione asked, confused at her friends.
They were all walking away from her. She noticed Ginny and the twins walked in the other direction while Ron and Harry briskly walking towards a rock.
"Excuse me? Will someone – " Her sentence was cut off when a snowball hit her in the back.
She screamed as the cold stayed on her clothes. She looked in the other direction and saw the three redheads hiding and laughing.
"If that's what you want, then game on!" She shouted and ran quickly to the rock where Harry and Ron were.
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The whole day they played outside like kids. Hermione even forgot her main agenda because she was having so much fun, the first time since God knows when.
They even made snow angels and skated on the Black Lake. Other students went down too and joined them. Even the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs found the game amusing. A few Slytherins didn't mind them but made themselves some skates too.
Hermione was enjoying herself – thankful to her friends for making her experience this much fun.
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Meanwhile, Remus was in his quarters. He was looking at the fireplace lost in thought. His mind was somewhere else – somewhere far away. He had been like this since yesterday.
A book couldn't rest his thoughts. He was worried – worried about the talk he'd had with the headmistress yesterday. He thought it was his business but she didn't think so. Instead, she said that he should rest and enjoy the next few days off and the holidays. He couldn't think of anything else since then.
A/N: For all the past chapters to this, I have Ruby Casablanca to thank for, for she has been the best Beta and the most patient one with me. Cheers!