His Smile

AUTHOR: Jazz E. Roisin

AUTHOR WRITTEN FOR: Shuna

PAIRING: Hermione Granger/ Remus Lupin

SUMMARY: Everything is falling apart. Her last task before turning her mind towards Harry was to erase her parents memories. With all the stress and worries in her life there is only one man's smile that can brighten her day.

Hermione Granger stood in the upper floor drawing room of her home attempting not to cry. She was kneeling by the window vigorously scrubbing away at the grime. She was so absorbed in the task she didn't hear the door open until someone had cleared their throat. She shot to her feet and turned to face the intruder, dropping the rag into the bucket of water with a splash. Standing in front of her was none other than Ron Weasley. If she admitted it to herself, she honestly did not want to deal with him right now. This day was not going at all the way she'd hoped, and he had a tendency to make things ten times worse.

"Hey, Mione," he said impersonally.

She didn't answer. He was beating around another accusation, another "your fault" she hadn't heard yesterday. He took her silence as his cue to offload on her everything he thought she hadn't done in the last few months.

"You haven't even tried helping Harry and I search for answers about the Horcruxes. All you've been doing is moping around this house, pining after someone you aren't ever going to get."

The words hit Hermione deep in her gut. Instead of saying the words that came to her mind, which included many long winded ramblings about him not knowing at all what she was going through, including but not limited to wiping her parents' memories, she just took out her wand and pointed it at him. The only good thing about this day was that she happened to be of age, and he was not.

"Get out," she said. She wasn't sure if it was the tone of her voice, or the fact that her hair was sticking out in all directions and she looked as if she'd fought a giant, but he acquiesced leaving the room with one more glare in her direction. After he left, she sank to the floor, burying her face in her arms.

* * *

It was in this position that Remus found her. At first, he thought she might be sleeping, but when he drew closer he realized she wasn't. He knelt down beside her gently laying a hand on her shoulder.

"Hermione, are you alright?" he asked.

She knew she must answer him. After all they were going out. She lifted her head looking into his eyes. Her tear-stained face was his only answer. He wiped the fresh tears from beneath her eyes and pulled her into a hug.

"What's wrong, Min?" He asked stroking her hair.

"Oh, Remus, I had to …," she sniffled. She pulled back so she could look into his eyes. "I had to wipe their memories and… and send them away!" The words brought a lump into her throat. Instead of choking it back she let a fresh wave of tears fall down her cheeks.

Remus stood silent for a few moments. He wasn't quite sure what he could say to soothe her pain. So, instead of talking about if further he held her at arms' length and said, "How about you take a rest from the cleaning and get gussied up… I think Ginny wants to take you out somewhere. But before you go, I have something for you." He took a thin box from his pocket. It was wrapped in gold paper with a quaint little bow.

Hermione took the box and walked over to the coffee table. She gently opened the wrappings so they didn't rip. The box was black with a gold insignia of three angels on it. She lifted the lid and her breath caught in her throat. Lying in the velvet interior was a platinum chain with a small rose-colored orb. When she looked at the orb closer she realized that the thin wrings around it were engraved with the initials of her loved one. When she really gazed at it she could see her parents, reclining on pool chairs reading books, or when her mind instantly strayed to Ginny, she could see a little scene of her down stairs yelling at Ron, with Harry standing in the background with a scowl on his face.

"Oh, Remus it's amazing," she said looking into his eyes.

He learned forward over the small table and said, "It's a seeing stone, but it's been made so that only you can look into it. If anyone else tries to they will only see a small rose-colored stone that has been finely polished. I thought it might help … to keep your worrying down."

He took it gently from the box and stood. Hermione did the same pulling her hair from around her shoulders, realizing that it desperately needed washing. When he clasped it around her neck she could feel a warmth cascade through her. She reached behind her to feel for the clasp but it had disappeared. "Where is the clasp?" she asked leaning back into his embrace.

"The necklace it specially made for a singular person, in this case you, so once it's put on the clasp disappears. The idea is it only responds to your touch or mine, so nobody else could put it on besides you."

Hermione found herself feeling less stressed, almost as if she could float. She hadn't felt like that in months. "Remus," she said turning around so she could look in his eyes. "Thank you! Can you go downstairs and tell Ginny I'll be down in ten?" She kissed him lightly, and as she ran out of the room her spirits lifted. She turned back to glimpse him and her heart fluttered when she saw his smile.

Hermione let the hot water flow over her shoulders, welcoming the release of tension. Her birthday had started off horribly, but after Remus' comforting hugs and the necklace, she felt as if things were looking up. She glanced down at the necklace thinking of Ginny, wondering what could be going on. The image she saw, although it was a bit foggy was that of Ginny yelling at the top of her lungs. As she stepped out of the shower, Hermione wondered what that could be about. She decided that it was one of those fights where Ginny was trying to convince Harry to let her go with them on their journey.

She toweled off her hair, surprised that it had dried so quickly, instead of being stubborn and holding the water as it usually did. She slipped into her violet tank top & the black jeans with yellow polka dots she'd received in the mail from Luna. She left the bathroom scampering towards the staircase that led to the lower floor drawing room. She paused on the landing, watching the proceedings below.

"It's true," Ron was saying through clenched teeth. "She hasn't done anything at all to help us this summer. She's stayed here moping around and cleaning."

There was silence before Ginny said, "Did you ever contact her? Did either of you," here her voice softened, when she turned toward Harry, "send her a letter telling her what you had come up with or what you wanted her to do?"

Harry spoke up, "No, I was trying to decide whether or not I should bother her. After all she did have to go through some tough stuff this summer, especially since she had to erase her parents' memories. I didn't think she'd want extra stress."

Hermione appreciated Harry's friendly consideration. But the feeling left as soon as Ron chimed in. "Does it really matter? I mean we've all had to make sacrifices, it's not like she had to give up everything. She still has us. Besides that can't be the only reason she was crying."

"No, it wasn't," another deeper voice chimed in. The tone to it was the kind, patient professor. It startled Hermione that Remus was interfering with this at all.

"What would you know about it?" Ron asked.

"Don't be rude," Ginny said. Hermione held her breath, expecting the younger witch to reveal the secret they had been keeping for a better part of a year. "If you paid any attention to what Mum and Dumbledore said you'd remember they assigned Remus as one of the Aurors to tail you as you go on this journey of yours."

"Well what's the reason then?"

From the corner he was standing in Harry snorted. This earned him a confused look from Ron. Seeing as nobody else was explaining it, Remus said, "She didn't complete the full process for erasing her parents memories until yesterday. And," he added ,"today is her birthday."

At first no one spoke but then Ginny got the last of her anger out in one long breath, "What kind of IDIOT are you? You forgot her birthday?"

Ron seemed to flounder for a bit. Hermione watched him with growing anger. Honestly, they had been friends for six years now and he handn't remembered. At this point Hermione stood up making sure her footfalls were loud enough to catch everyone's attention. She stopped nearest to Ginny and said, "Ginny! I heard you wanted to go somewhere? Is it all right if Remus comes, we can make it a double."

The shock dawning on Ron's face was priceless. Smiling to herself, Hermione let Ginny take her hand. Once the four of them were outside Ginny said, "I thought the guys could go golfing while we get pampered at the spa! Then we can all go to the musical and out for dinner."

Hermione nodded. "That sounds like fun." With those words all four of them walked toward the Apparation point free from worries for the time being. Hermione glanced at Remus from the corner of her eye. There was a grin on his face, where jus t minutes before had been a frown. She thought to herself, 'If I could see that smile more often life would see less dark.'