Chapter 18: Saturday, December 30, 1979

"Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering 'It will be happier.'"

-Alfred, Lord Tennyson

It was half eight in the morning when a knock to the front door woke Hermione from sleep. She had only been asleep roughly four hours, and she groaned as she reluctantly pulled herself from her bed. She grabbed her housecoat, slipping it over her shoulders and holding it closed with her hand to cover herself. She wore only a cotton tee shirt, one that she had nicked from Harry years ago. It was enormous on her, hanging from her small frame and fell a few inches above the middle of her thighs, but anyone she had become friends with in the last two months were able to walk into her home. Her wards provided them that luxury, so she assumed whoever was at her front door wouldn't appreciate seeing her in her night shirt.

The banging on the door was persistent and Hermione huffed as she walked into the living room. "Okay! Okay! I'm coming!" She yelled at whoever stood on the other side.

As she opened the door, she shoved her hair out of her face, which she was sure looked like an unruly mop atop her head. She huffed in irritation as she pulled the strands out of her mouth and looked up to see Remus standing on the doorstep with a large basket in his hands.

Hermione stared at him for several long minutes, one hand still caught in her hair and the other, the one that had been holding her housecoat closed, dropped to her side. She tilted her head and blinked a few times as her sleep addled brain tried to process the sight in front of her. A gust of freezing air blew in, shifting the housecoat away from her legs and she watched as Remus' eyes dropped to her bare thighs.

She shook her head and pulled the coat closed, moving out of the door and motioning for Remus to enter.

"You know," Hermione began. "You don't have to knock. My wards will recognize you, you can just come in."

"I know," Remus said, "But I wasn't sure if you'd be awake."

"I wasn't."

Remus' face scrunched up and he frowned, "Shit. Sorry."

Hermione waved off the apology, grabbing the ties to the housecoat and tying it closed around her waist. She moved toward the kitchen and looked over her shoulder, raising her eyebrows expectantly, "Are you going to tell me why you're here before I've had my espresso, or am I going to have to beat it out of you?"

Remus chuckled and held the basket out to her, "I made you breakfast."

Hermione pulled her coffee press from the cabinet and set a small pot on the hob to heat the milk. As that worked, she padded over to where he stood in the doorway of the kitchen and looked over the basket.

It was practically spilling with baked goods. Bread, crumpets, scones, Chelsea Buns, an array of different types of biscuits… Hermione's jaw dropped when she realized the basket had an extension charm on it, her arm falling in near to her shoulder as she dug out baked good after baked good.

"Remus, this is-

"Fuck! It's not enough! I know." Remus interrupted, "But it's all I could do overnight. When I can… When I get more ingredients I can make you… Anything! Anything you like. I know it's not much, but I don't know how else I can make it up to you."

Hermione huffed an exasperated breath as she put the sweets back into the basket. She stepped over to the hob, adding chocolate to the milk and stirring it until it melted. Once the espresso was ready she poured two large mugs of half espresso, half hot chocolate, and sat at the table, setting a mug at the empty seat next to her.

"Are you going to sit down?" she asked, her lips ghosting against the rim of her mug.

"Erm… Yeah. Yeah, of course." Remus stepped fully into the kitchen, pulling out the chair and collapsing into it. He looked even more exhausted than he had the previous night, the purple rings under his eyes nearly black and his eyes drooping slightly as his hands wrapped around the mug in front of him.

"Remus, did you stay up all night doing this?"

He stared at her, his lips slightly parted. Slowly, he nodded his head, sniffing as he pulled the mug to his lips. He took a few sips and rested it back onto the table.

"Why?" Hermione asked.

"I told you that I... I would try to make it up to you," he mumbled. "I don't know what else to do and-

Hermione raised her hand, shifting in her chair and crossing her legs over at the knee. She leaned back against the tall back of the chair, "For starters, you can take care of yourself. You look exhausted."

"I'm always exhausted this close to… A holiday…" Remus said, his eyes shifting away from her.

Nice save, she mused to herself. "Yes, I know holidays can be… exhausting. I already told you last night that I accept your apology. You didn't need to stay up all night baking to prove you're sorry, Remus. I know you are."

His head bobbed a few times before he took another sip from the steaming mug, "I just… I still feel like absolute shit about it."

They fell into silence, sipping at their beverages. Hermione stifled a yawn, covering her face and shaking her head slightly, she could feel her hair move around of its own volition and she grumbled to herself, pushing the curls behind her ears.

"You don't like your hair?" Remus asked, suddenly.

Hermione chewed on the inside of her lip a moment before sighing, "It's not that I don't like it, but you see it right now. It's a monstrosity! I have to use three different charms on it and a few other products to get it to look halfway decent, and even then, it has a mind of its own half the time. But Merlin, if you think this is bad, you should've seen it when I was younger!" She chuckled, "It was four times the size and so bushy I was afraid an owl might mistake it for its home! Not to mention my name being impossible to pronounce. I think my parents were determined to make adolescence difficult for me!"

"I don't," Remus said.

"Sorry?"

"You said if I think it's bad," he clarified. "I-I don't think it's bad. I like your hair, it suits you."

Hermione chuckled, "Does it?"

Remus nodded, humming a bit. "Yeah, I think so. And your name is very nice, too. Hermione… Shakespeare, Winter's Tale."

Hermione nodded, "You know Shakespeare?"

"Chide me, dear stone! that I may say indeed. Thou art Hermione; or rather thou art she. In thy not chiding, for she was as tender. As infancy and grace." Remus quoted the phrase from the book which she was named after, as if it laid in front of him, "I read a lot of Shakespeare growing up. My mum loves his works."

She took in a breath, smiling as she tapped her fingers against the table. "You have it memorized?"

Remus shrugged, "I have a good memory for that sort of thing," he said. "Plus, I've read it probably a hundred times. Have you read it?"

"Of course!" Hermione said, "My mum loved it, that's exactly how she got the name. I never loved it in the way she did, I've always preferred texts I can learn from."

"You can learn from any book," Remus said. "It just depends on what you're trying to learn."

They talked another hour, finishing their chocolate espresso and moving into the living room. Hermione curled up on the end of the sofa and felt a strange disappointment when Remus took the chair instead of the space next to her on the sofa. She watched him as he talked, telling her about his favorite books and songs. He listened when she explained that he was absolutely wrong about which Beatles album was the best and why Shakespeare was actually overrated, despite it being what she was named after.

Hermione had finally decided to get dressed for the day and walk over to James and Lily's with Remus to talk about everything that had happened the night before. When she emerged from her room, her hair in a braid and fully clothed, she smiled at the sight of Remus snoring softly in the arm chair. She cast a charm to enlarge the chair and pulled a blanket off the back of the sofa to cover him. She scribbled a quick note, letting him know she had gone to James and Lily's and quietly, she snuck from the house. She smiled to herself at the thought of Remus Lupin curled up in her armchair, comfortable enough with his surroundings to get what looked to be at least a little bit of peaceful rest.

Monday, December 31, 1979

Hermione rubbed circles into Lily's back between her shoulders, holding her red locks back as Lily proceeded to retch into the loo. She could hear the music coming from the charmed wireless in the living room and wondered when Lily had started drinking. She had only seen her with one glass, but she supposed she could have refilled it without her noticing.

Hermione looked up as the door creaked open, James stepped halfway into the bathroom, his brows knit together in concern, "All right?"

Hermione nodded, "She'll be fine. Maybe lay off the wine, though."

James smirked and nodded, "Want me to take over?"

"I'm fine, James!" Lily called out, reaching up to flush the sick down the toilet.

"Okay, okay! If you need-

"I said I'm fine!" Lily said, accepting the glass of water Hermione conjured for her. "Hermione's taking care of me. Go enjoy the party."

"Thanks," James said, giving a half-hearted smile to Hermione before closing the door.

"He's been unbearable lately," Lily laughed. "Honestly, like he's never seen someone get sick! Have you met Sirius?! Our entire seventh year he spent vomiting in loos from too much Firewhiskey!"

"He's just worried," Hermione said.

"Well he should worry about himself, he's driving me mad."

Hermione chuckled and helped Lily to her feet. She didn't seem overly intoxicated, but that wasn't saying much. She knew from experience that Harry could do a number of things while properly pissed, and not even seem it. She had always assumed he had gotten that trait from James, but apparently she had been wrong.

They exited the bathroom and walked into the sitting room and Hermione couldn't help but laugh. Sirius and James were wrestling one another on the floor, James' glasses nearly sideways on his face as Peter laughed and egged them on. Remus sat in an armchair, an amused expression on his face as he occasionally looked up from the book he was reading.

Hermione and Lily sat on the sofa, rolling their eyes as Sirius and James continued to beat the hell out of one another for fun.

"Why are men always so determined to injure themselves?" Lily asked, a small smile on her face.

"SIRIUS YOU GIT! YOU BROKE MY GLASSES!" James yelled, pulling the shattered lenses off his face and tossing them aside.

"Rule number one, Prongs, impair your opponent as quickly as possible! Let's see you land a punch now that you're- Ow!"

"I can still hit you, you bloody idiot!" James said, raining his fists down onto Sirius.

"Fuck! Okay! Okay! Truce! Truce!"

"Pen pedyn…" Remus mumbled, shaking his head. "Twmffats…"

"Hey!" James said, reaching over to smack Remus' leg, "That's rude! You can't call us names and not take a hit!"

"James, leave Remus alone! It's too close to… He doesn't like to wrestle with you like Sirius, and you know it." Lily said, quickly correcting herself and arching an eyebrow at James.

Hermione pretended not to notice the correction, instead turning her attention to the words Remus had mumbled, "What's it mean?" she asked, "What'd you call them?"

"He called us Dickheads and idiots!" Sirius said, laughing at Hermione's expression. He shoved James off of him and stood walking over to Remus and grabbing his chin, making kissing faces at him. "Moony isn't as innocent as he seems, don't let this handsome face fool you!"

"Get off me, Pads." Remus said, shoving Sirius' hand away from him. "If you stopped acting like idiots and dickheads, I'd stop calling you that."

Hermione laughed loudly and Remus' eyes landed on her, his expression brightening and a smirk pulling his mouth to the side. She didn't miss the way his eyes shifted to gold as he looked at her, before swirling back to green.

"He's got a point, you know…" Hermione said, chuckling as she sipped at the bottle of Butterbeer James handed her.

"Oi! You two can't be ganging up on me, that isn't fair!" Sirius said, ruffling Remus' hair and laughing as Remus swatted him away, mumbling obscenities at him.

As the night wore on, Hermione found herself enjoying the small gathering. Even Peter seemed to grate against her nerves less than he had on Christmas Eve, but she assumed that was due to the four Butterbeers she had drank. At half past eleven, she sat on the sofa with Sirius, listening to him talk about his time at Hogwarts. Hearing him talk about it brought back a pang of nostalgia for the man she had known in her own time. The Sirius in front of her was so clean, as if he were bright, shiny, and new. He had only a few tattoos, none of which were prison numbers or runes etched into his skin by Azkaban guards. He was rugged and handsome, but not worn or tired. He was excited for the future, and full of more life than she had ever seen Sirius in her own time.

Hermione found herself absorbed by his words, listening with rapt attention as he laughed about some ridiculous prank they had all pulled on the Slytherin Quidditch team their sixth year.

"You played Quidditch?" Hermione asked, surprised by this. She had never heard him talk about it, only that James had been the most brilliant Chaser that the Gryffindor team had ever seen. Although, she was sure Ginny could give him a run for his money.

"Beater," Sirius confirmed. "Came on my third year. James of course played his second year, first years never make the cut."

"There was a first year on the team when I went," Hermione mumbled, eyeing the room to make sure Peter was out of earshot.

"You're lying!"

Hermione shook her head, biting back a smile, "I'm not. I don't care much about Quidditch, but he was brilliant. A natural flyer according to Head- Professor McGonagall, and Gryffindor won nearly every match because of it."

"No way!" Sirius said, slapping the tops of his thighs in excitement. "What position did he play?"

"Seeker," Hermione said.

"Wow! A Seeker that good? That's almost unheard of! It's hard to be a good Seeker, that damned snitch is so small! I could never-

"Made a bloody good Beater though!" James said, falling onto the sofa next to Sirius.

Sirius beamed, a smile that seemed so unlike him, from the praise. "Yeah, I was fair. Would've been better if Moony was my partner."

"Mary did a fine job!" James said, "Surprisingly good aim, that girl."

"Except for when she was knocking bludgers into my broom!"

"Come now, Sirius," Lily said, a smile twitching her lips upward. "We know she did it on purpose. If you'd learn to keep your trousers on and not hit on every witch that looked your way, you would've had far fewer injuries that year."

Hermione laughed with James and Lily as Sirius rolled his eyes, grumbling under his breath about "fair play" and getting up to get another drink.

"So he's apologized?" Lily asked, once James moved to join Sirius in the kitchen.

"Not exactly, but I think we have an understanding."

"James wants him to verbally say the words," Lily said. "And I don't disagree with that. You deserve a proper apology."

"We're over it!" Sirius said, handing Remus, Peter, and Hermione a glass with a shot of Firewhiskey in it. "Aren't we, Kitten?"

"Kitten?" Hermione asked, grimacing at the pet name. "If you keep calling me that, we will not be over it."

"Apologize for what?" Peter asked, taking Lily's hand and helping her off the sofa. "No midnight shot for you, Lils?"

Lily shook her head, "I've had enough. Sirius was rude to her."

"Lily, I promise, we're over it." Hermione confirmed, smiling at Remus as he joined the small crowd, his glass in his hand.

Remus stood close, his elbow nearly touching Hermione's and she wondered if he would kiss her at midnight. Her stomach fluttered at the thought and she realized that she wanted Remus to kiss her at midnight.

At 11:58 James cleared his throat, "Right. Well, I think this is the proper time to tell you…"

"Tell us what?" Peter asked, a nervous look flitting over his face before his eyes settled on James.

"You see, it wasn't planned exactly, but we think it'll be a good thing and-

The music stopped on the wireless and a countdown to midnight took its place, Hermione knit her brows together as she stared at James as he fumbled through whatever he was trying to tell them.

"...and you know, it'll be a change and-

"What are you talking about, Prongs?" Remus asked.

"Well, it's just-

"I'm pregnant!" Lily said.

"...Ten...Nine...Eight…"

The seconds ticked by as everyone stared at Lily, eyes wide.

"...Four… Three.."

"PREGNANT?!" Sirius shouted, absolute elation in his voice. "Oh my god! You're-

"...One! Happy New Year!"

As the clock struck midnight, James leaned into Lily, smiling as he pressed a sweet kiss to her lips. Hermione stood still, watching them in total shock. How had she not seen it coming? Of course, Lily was pregnant! She hadn't even thought about the fact that Lily would get pregnant and give birth to Harry during her time here. She suddenly felt dizzy, but needed to do something. Anything. She knocked back the shot of Firewhiskey and tried to calm her rapidly beating heart. Remus was standing so close to her, she wondered if his heightened senses could hear it.

Before she could move to say anything or process what was happening, she felt Sirius' hands wrap around her upper arms, pulling her to him. He leaned down, pressing his lips to hers in an excited and forceful kiss, his lips moving against hers happily. When he pulled away she stood still, her eyes wide as saucers.

"See! Told you, no bad blood here!" Sirius laughed.

"I- er… I… Pregnant?" Hermione said the word, blinking a few times.

It was while she was still trying to process that information bomb, did she realize that Remus suddenly seemed extremely irritated. He knocked back his Firewhiskey and set his glass on the coffee table with more force than necessary. Quickly, he shoved past Sirius, his shoulder knocking into him and moved into the back of the house.

Hermione startled when she heard his bedroom door slam shut. She stared down the hall, her mind blank as she tried to work out everything that had just happened in the last three minutes. Lily was pregnant with… With Harry. She pulled her eyes from the empty hallway and stared at Lily, watching as Sirius pulled her into a tight hug, kissing her face over and over while Peter and James hugged.

"I'm going to go check on Remus," Hermione mumbled.

As she exited the room she heard Peter's voice, "What's wrong with Remus? Is it because of the moon, you think?"

"No, It's because he fancies Hermione and Sirius knows that!" Lily said, her voice low and scolding.

Fancies? Hermione thought, as she pulled her brows together. She gave her head a gentle shake and knocked on Remus' door.

"Fuck off, Sirius. I'm tired," Remus grumbled from the otherside.

Hermione sighed and turned the knob.

"Sirius, I said- Oh. Erm.. Hi, Hermione." Remus said, setting down the pillow that was in his hand.

Hermione bit back a smile, assuming the pillow was going to be his weapon of choice to beat Sirius with, should it have been him on the other side of the door and not her.

Remus sighed and sat on the bed, "Sorry," he said. "I'm just feeling tired."

"I believe that," she said. "But I think you're also lying just a little. Your best friends just announced that they're having a baby and you stormed away…"

"I'm happy for them," he said, a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes on his face. "Really, I'm just feeling exhausted. All the liquor, probably."

"Yeah," Hermione said, "The liquor."

Hermione stood awkwardly in the center of the room, staring at him with her mouth twisted down to the side as she tried to figure out a better reason for being there than escaping the thought of Lily being pregnant with her best friend. She pulled her eyes up from Remus and looked around the room.

It wasn't very big, but it was extremely tidy, not that she would have expected anything less. The wall to the left was covered with two large bookshelves, nearly sagging from the weight of the books. A few small trinkets adorned the shelves and she noticed the bottom right shelf was nothing but vinyl records. On the top of his dresser was a record player, another stack of books and a framed muggle picture of a man with dark hair and brown eyes wearing a dark cardigan, and a woman, at least half a foot shorter than him, with the same sandy blonde hair as Remus and the same mossy green eyes. The woman had her hand on a small boy's shoulder, who had a very large smile on his face.

"Are these your parents?" Hermione asked, pointing to the picture as she moved to get a closer look.

"Yeah, and me," Remus said.

"You were a very cute kid," Hermione chuckled, picking up the frame to get a closer look.

"Most kids are cute kids," Remus said.

Hermione laughed and shook her head, "I wasn't."

"I find that hard to believe."

"Believe it," Hermione said, setting the picture back down. "Remember how I told you my hair was ten times worse when I was a kid? My teeth were awful too, big buck teeth that nearly always protruded from my mouth. I had them charmed when I was fifteen, so they would look better."

"Why?"

"Got tired of getting made fun of for them," she whispered. "A boy I went to school with hit me with a jinx that made them grow and grow. I looked like a walrus! When I went to the hospital wing to have them fixed, I asked Madam Pomfrey if she could adjust them for me."

"That's awful," Remus mumbled. "What a terrible thing to do! It's not like it was your fault you had large teeth!"

Hermione shrugged, "They look a lot better now, I'm glad they were charmed, honestly."

"Hermione-

"Remus-

They both chuckled as they spoke at the same time. Hermione took a few steps closer to him and looked him over. He really did look exhausted, although she knew he had exited the room because of Sirius' kiss.

"Go ahead," Remus said, urging her to speak first.

"I just wanted to let you know that Sirius kissing me… That didn't mean anything. I think he was trying to prove a point, that we're okay with one another now."

"You can kiss whoever you like," Remus said. "It's none of my business."

Hermione bit into her lip and nodded, "Well, any rate. I thought you should know that wasn't the kiss I was hoping for, to ring in the new year."

Remus' eyes dragged up to Hermione's and she swore they lingered on her lips before reaching her eyes. "Like I said, it doesn't matter. You can kiss whoever you want," he yawned and then looked back down at his feet. "I should get some sleep."

Hermione nodded, "Okay." She turned and stepped toward the door, her hand resting on the knob a moment before looking over her shoulder, "Remus?"

"Yeah?"

"Happy New Year."

Remus' eyes softened as he gave her a small smile, "Happy New Year, Hermione."

.

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a/n: Hey everyone! Thanks for reading! I really hope you liked this chapter! I was kind of obsessed with the basket of sweets, so I hope that gave you a chuckle. You should leave a review and tell me if it did!

I know we're all thirsty for some Remione action, sooo my Alpha Mayghaen17 is putting out a new story for October called Bad Moon, and it's AMAZING already! You should check it out, if I know her the way I think I do, it'll have some real spicy smut in it, if you're finding yourself in need of something to hold you over lol

Anyway, thanks for reading! come join me on FB at Mimifreed Writing :)

xo

mimi