Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything related to it. I also don't own the song, 'Strawberry Wine', which is performed by Deana Carter.
Strawberry Wine
The magic of first love is our ignorance that it can never end.
-Benjamin Disraeli
He was working through college on my grandpa's farm
I was thirsting for knowledge and he had a car
I was caught somewhere between a woman and a child
When one restless summer we found love growing wild
On the banks of the river on a well beaten path
Funny how those memories they last
She walked down the dusty path, heading off the Weasley property. She strode past the wooden fence and stumbled into the forest. Making her way through the underbrush towards a place she had been before and in the upcoming months would be many times again. The river. Finally reaching her destination she stopped to look around. Sweat droplets appeared on the back of her neck from the July heat. It was completely silent.
She sat on a rock overlooking the peaceful stream. It was so calm. It wasn't affected by the upcoming war or the trials and tribulations of school. It was just water. It would always be there.
The stars twinkled above her. They too weren't influenced by mortal things either. They didn't have to worry about what they were going to have to do for the rest of their life. They didn't have to be concerned about even having the rest of their life.
A twig snapped behind her and she turned quickly, her brown hair billowing behind her.
"Merlin. You shouldn't sneak up on someone like that."
"Sorry. I saw you leave the house and followed you. The forest is dangerous you know." He wasn't accusing her just merely stating a fact.
"It can't be as dangerous as this year is going to be."
He sat beside her on the rock and looked heavenward.
"Ron and Harry won't let anything happen to you."
"It's not me I'm worried about, it's them," she answered.
They sat in silence for a few more minutes before he offered her a cup she hadn't noticed.
"What is it?"
"Strawberry wine. Freshly conjured."
"Are you trying to get me drunk?" she asked with a smile.
"No...I..." he faltered.
"I was just teasing."
"Oh, I knew that."
She leaned sideways so he was supporting her and took a deep drink.
"I'm scared. Something's going to happen this year. I can feel it. Everyone can. So can you."
"Yeah, it will. But it was always going to happen. Everyone knew that too. Why is it bothering you now?"
"Because it was going to happen. It wasn't happening," she replied simply.
He put his arm around her and tucked her hair behind her ear.
"Yeah, but it will be okay."
"How do you know?"
"Because it always is. Not everything can go wrong."
"I guess we'll see."
They didn't say another word to each other. Five minutes later she was asleep against his shoulder. She didn't wake up when a bit of wine spilled on her shirt. She didn't wake up when he picked her up and carried her back to the house. And most importantly she didn't wake up when he kissed her softly on the lips before going to his own room.
She went down to 'her' river for two more weeks. Sometimes he followed, sometimes he was already there. And he always had the wine ready for her. After sitting in silence for several minutes, conversation would pick up about the upcoming year. He was going to Mexico, she back to school.
Exactly two weeks from the first day they had met there, it happened.
"So then, he asked me if I wanted to marry him and he kissed me," she exclaimed at the end of her story.
"I'll kill him!" His eyes had flashed and his fists had tightened.
"Calm down. We were five," she said with a shocked face. "Why do you care?"
The trade-mark Weasley blush rose on his face. "I...uh...I...Oh, damn it all!" He grabbed her and turned her head towards him. He put his hand on her neck and pulled her to him, their lips meeting halfway between them.
It was soft and gentle but she could feel passion behind it. It ended all too soon.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have."
She put one finger to his lips and then replaced her finger with her own lips instigating her own kiss.
That night she was awake when he carried her back to her room and she was awake for the kiss he gave her. The first one she had felt for the last two weeks.
Like strawberry wine and seventeen
The hot July moon saw everything
My first taste of love oh bittersweet
Green on the vine
Like strawberry wine
Every night they went down to the river. He taught her to fly a broomstick. Or at least that's what it was supposed to be. And she had taught him how to keep his finances in order. Slightly ironic, considering whom he worked for. They had gotten side-tracked from that, too.
Every time they met he reminded her how much of an age difference there was. It made no difference to her. What she did care about a few numbers? Distance was what concerned her now. It was nearing the end of August. In just a few days they would part. He would go to his new job assignment and she would go to school.
I still remember when thirty was old
My biggest fear was September when he had to go
The night before September 1st. Their last night together.
"Where's my wine?"
"Right here."
"You know, it's funny. I never really had any affect from this wine. Maybe I'm immune to it," she said thoughtfully.
He sighed deeply. "No, I don't think that's it. You remember that first night, out here?"
"Of course, kind of hard to forget."
"Well you just seemed so down. Like you wanted a way to be someone different who didn't have to worry about the war."
"So you gave me wine?"
"I gave you juice, actually. Underage drinking from Miss Perfect seemed like it would be something different."
"There you go. You just ruined my dreams. I thought I finally found something bad, that I was good at."
He laughed. "Well at the time it seemed like a good idea."
"It was," she answered as she leaned back in his arms.
They sat there for another thirty minutes before he started to pick her up. She jumped out of his grasp.
"No, we can't go back. Once we do, the sun will rise and I'll leave and you'll leave and I can't do it."
"Hermione, don't. We knew this at the beginning. It has to end tonight. For now at least. We'll keep in touch. You'll see. I promise we'll see each other again." He sealed his promise with a kiss, lifted her over his shoulder and carried her back to the Burrow one last time.
A few cards and letters and one long distance call
We drifted away like the leaves in the fall
But year after year I come back to this place
Just to remember the taste
Dear Hermione,
I told you we would keep in touch. See I'm writing to you just like I said I would. How is school? The work out here is just great. You have no idea what some of the ancient wizards came up with out here. You would love it. You'll have to come visit soon.
The letter continued on like that for several paragraphs, filling a lot of space but not saying a lot, but signed love. It meant the world to her. The reply had been exactly the same, pointless things, but signed love. That had been two days after she had gotten his letter and five days since they had last seen each other.
The next letter came in mid-September. He apologized for not getting back to her. One-line letters followed that. He was okay but busy. They would talk soon. He had just signed his name. The love was conspicuously absent.
The very last letter (besides a Christmas card) asked her to give something to his sister, Ginny. Nothing was included for her.
Of strawberry wine and seventeen
The hot July moon saw everything
My first taste of love oh bittersweet
Green on the vine
Like strawberry wine
That Christmas he had sent her a bottle of his 'wine' and a bouquet of flowers, roses, with the cards. Apparently, he didn't know her favorite flower was violets.
The fields have grown over now
Years since they've seen a plow
Five years after their summer she made her way down the old dusty trail. She could barely see it anymore, grass and weeds had begun to take it over. Through the woods again, this time she had to make her own path.
It was dusk by the time she made it to their old spot and rain clouds threatened her overhead.
She sat on the same rock she had five years earlier. This time she had a box with her and after making herself comfortable began to go through it. She fingered the old Christmas card and set it aside. Then came the letters, she had memorized them by heart. A picture someone had taken, not realizing the significance of his arm on her shoulder. An old, flattened red rose. A twig from the end of his broomstick. Other mementos. Finally all that remained was a clean piece of paper and a bottle. They said wine got better with time. She would find out what would happen with juice. She took s swig. It was so sweet. He knew she would save it. He knew it would have time to get better. It was really wine.
There's nothing time hasn't touched
It didn't matter anymore. She turned her attention to the last remaining thing in the box. It read:
Join us in celebrating the union of
The Weasley and Delacour families!
Sunday, July 29
R.S.V.P. Immediately
She needn't worry about that. She had returned the owl quickly, it needed no thought. She couldn't go. His promise still lingered in her head. He would see her again but she couldn't let it be at his wedding when he said he loved someone else and kissed them right in front of her. She didn't love him that much anymore but that would just be opening an old wound.
They always said the first person you loved was one you never forget and they were right. He would always have a piece of her heart whether he like it or not.
Is it really him or the loss of my innocence
I've been missing so much
It was completely ridiculous. She had fallen in love with someone ten years her senior. Someone who would be moving away. Someone who now loved another.
Taking one last sip of the liquid, she replaced all the contents back in the box. Pouring the remaining wine over it all she flung the bottle back into the water. It rippled; no longer calm like it was before. She took out her wand and held it toward the box now settled on the rock.
"Incendio," she muttered. Fire sprang from the wand to the box and it caught flame instantly. She stared at it for a second, one solitary tear falling down her cheek.
She turned on her heel, walking away from the blazing box, away from the rock, back through the woods, back down the path, and past the fence. She was safe now. Her memories finally put to rest with the box by the river. The rain finally broke through the clouds and fell all around her. At least the fire would be extinguished and the daily reminders would be gone forever.
He had no idea how true his statement was about there being dangerous things in the forest.
She sniffed at the air. She smelled something sweet. Then she saw it. Vines wrapped around the fence she had just come through. Strawberries. So, maybe not completely gone forever. Even with the rain and her tears a big grin appeared on her face.
Like strawberry wine and seventeen
The hot July moon saw everything
My first taste of love oh bittersweet
Green on the vine
Like strawberry wine