You told me that you'd wait forever
Oh and when you held my hand
I knew that it was now or never
Those were the best days of my life
Hermione and her new friends made only one journey back to Hogwarts after their induction into the Order and that was to attend their graduation and leaving party. Hermione was not graduating with the rest, it had been agreed that her life experience more than made up for any number of certificates. Instead she watched the ceremony from the back of the hall taking as many pictures of all of them as she could, forcing them all into one huge group photograph.
That night a party was held in the Gryffindor tower, the wildest and by far the least inhibited party Hermione had ever attended. It was as though they all sensed that the world was about to get a lot darker, the next few years would be uncertain at best and some of them would never meet again. There was an unspoken need to draw every last second out for as long as they possibly could. A need to drink, to taste, to feel until they could take no more, a few of them would never see the summer sun again. So they danced until their feet gave out and sang at the top of their voices and stretched every moment to breaking point.
Hermione watched from the edges in a pale pink dress she had borrowed from Lily and marvelled at the spectacle. She almost wished she and Harry and Ron had done this too, had one night in which nothing was left unfinished so that none of them would die with anything left unsaid. Then it occurred to her that in her present there was no danger to any of them anymore, only she found herself in a room full of dead men walking. The helplessness of it all overwhelmed her for a moment and she allowed herself a single tear before gulping back some fire whiskey and wincing as it singed her throat. She watched Lily being whirled around the floor by James, so beautiful with her delicate features and fiery hair that she reminded Hermione of a titian painting.
"Come along Miss Granger" Sirius grinned, suddenly appearing at her elbow "don't be a wall-flower. Come and dance"
He didn't leave her any time to argue, he just seized her hand in an iron grip and pulled her into the centre of the crowd of cavorting bodies. Hermione couldn't help laughing, Sirius' preferred style of dancing seemed to be to hold her in a very formal ballroom pose and then run at high speed in any direction he pleased, dragging her behind him. Every now and then, just to break things up a little bit he would spin her at high speed or dip her so low that her hair brushed the floor. She had hiccoughs from laughing so hard by the time the song had finished.
Remus sat on a settee watching the others dance and marvelling at it all. The entire party was such an assault on every sense that it knocked you back a little. To feel so much was exhausting, almost painful.
It wasn't long before the others began to feel the effects. By the time midnight struck Sirius had snuck away with his latest girlfriend and Peter had passed out in an armchair.
Hermione was stood by the window staring out at the lake. Remus watched as the breeze through the window ruffled her curls. There was no denying that she was not conventionally beautiful, he thought, her curls were too wild, her nose not straight enough, and her lips not full enough. Yet neither was he and she had a beauty that was hard to put into words. It was the little things that made her lovely, the sparkle in her eyes when she knew she was right, the tilt of her head as she listened attentively, the flush of her cheek when she was embarrassed, the curl of her lips as she tried not to laugh.
He had been watching too attentively he realised, stumbling backwards as she turned to look at him. Lily and James broke the moment by staggering tipsily across the common room and loudly proclaiming that they were going for a walk round the lake if anyone else wanted to come.
"I wouldn't mind the fresh air" Hermione whispered, pulling her wrap more closely around her shoulders
"Me neither" Remus said just as quietly and took her hand to help her pick her way through the debris of the common room floor.
The night was pleasantly cool after the heat of the common room and there was not a cloud in sight. The number of stars they could see as they walked was almost breath-taking. Lily and James ran off as soon as they got outside. Hermione and Remus walked slowly around the banks of the lake. In this weather the surface was like glass and Remus could see the crescent moon reflected softly in the water. He shuddered.
Hermione noticed and handed him her bottle of butterbeer, "It'll help" she said softly. He had never seen her to serene and calm. As he took a gulp of the warm liquid she took off her shoes and spun on the spot, her eyes closed and a faint smile on her lips.
"You had a good night then?" he smiled, handing the bottle back to her
She nodded and took another swig of the bottle; he could tell she was not exactly sober by the fact that she had inexplicably decided to walk on tiptoe as though she was walking a tightrope. "It's been nice to have fun and not worry about anything or anyone. It's been so long since I've been able to"
A very sobering thought hit him then "Is the war really going to be that terrible?"
She stopped dancing and looked at him very intently, noticing the fear in his eyes. She moved closer to him and gently stroked his cheek "It's not going to be easy" she whispered "But I won't let anything happen to you if I can possibly help it. I promise."
Remus couldn't say exactly what made him do it. He was probably just caught up in the moment but something about those bright eyes shining up at him and the moonlight made him do it. He leant down to kiss her, when he was within and hair's breadth of her lips she suddenly jumped backwards.
"Please don't" her eyes were full of tears "I know you're just caught up with the excitement of everything and the alcohol but believe me it's a bad idea. It's far better that you don't"
He had never felt more embarrassed in his life and she looked as though she might dissolve into tears at any second. Fortunately James and Lily appeared at that moment.
"It's so nice and quiet out here" Lily said, snuggling into James' shoulder
"It was a good party though wasn't it?" James grinned "Although I don't think I could go to too many of those"
"Parties like that are good as a once in a while thing. Too many and it just becomes overkill" Lily halted suddenly, the colour had drained from Hermione's face
"I have to go" she said, and bolted back up to the castle without a backward glance.
As Hermione ran she could think of nothing else but the epiphany she had just had. It was though someone had just lit a flair inside her head. The strength of her realisation was such that she didn't notice the stitch in her side or the fact that she was muttering about 'veils' 'spells' and 'overkill'. She didn't even realise as she sprinted through the common room to collect her books that someone was listening to every word.
A/N: The last chapter had such an amazing response that I have actually paused, mid essay, to upload another one (I wasn't even slightly motivated by the fact that it's the mostly deathly boring essay I've ever written). I liked this chapter anyway for the interaction between Remus and Hermione but I don't know whether it was a little too soon or not, let me know what you think, I really really appreciate any feedback!
Also, like last time I'm going to let you see a little of the next chapter in advance, just to make sure you don't get bored and abandon me before it gets interesting, so here you are:
"She glanced over her shoulder as they rounded the corner and gasped again as she noticed the words that had been scratched into the frame, presumably with the point of a dagger 'no more talking'."
