My Definition of Love
Chapter 2... The Last Supper
By: Mikairi Disclaimer: I do not own the wonderful world that JKR has amazingly created... Harry Potter, of course, belongs to her and this story is non-profit.
A/N: compared to chapter one, I must quote Monty Python when I describe this one:
"And now for something completely different." (lol, gotta love them Brits :) )
"FRED AND GEORGE WEASLEY! You are nineteen years old, when are you going to start acting it?!" Mrs. Weasley bellowed upon entering the kitchen with a pitcher of pumpkin juice.
Though many a parent would agree that she had good reason to be yelling, as her two sons had just enchanted the kitchen furniture and the many entrées to perform a complicated song and dance routine to Beethoven's fifth symphony.
"Ah, but mother, what's dinner without a bit of culture?" Fred asked as the butter dish waltzed overhead with the roast beef.
Mrs. Weasley opened her mouth but quickly closed it, she looked like she was trying hard not to smile.
Hermione was trying her best to stifle her laughter, unlike Ginny, who was in fits of giggles because a potpie had propelled, and splattered, into the back of Ron's head. Hermione gave up and giggled softly, Ron's expression was just too hilarious. It was times like these that she really cherished, when everyone was in a good mood and the house was permeated with laughter. Days like these were complete contrasts to what life at 12 Grimmauld place usually was. She stopped giggling as she thought about how tense and worrisome everyone had been, like they were waiting for a bomb to detonate at any time.
Ron was pelted by a barrage of peas, and Hermione shook her head. Now was not the time to be worrying.
She glanced around the room and was glad to see that Harry was laughing softly, which for the past year, had been a rare occurrence.
A door closed behind her, she turned to see Mr. Weasley and Lupin. Lupin, who was looking paler than usual, was watching the scene with apprehensive amusement.
"All right, boys, that's enough now." Mr. Weasley said laughing but stopped as a large, double-pronged fork cartwheeled straight at his head. He ducked just in time, pulled his wand out, and in moments, calm and order was restored to the kitchen.
Hermione chose a seat between Ginny and Harry, who were all grinning, as Ron sat across the table attempting to pull the gooey vegetables from his hair.
Hermione stared around the table, Fred and George were sitting across the table on Ron's left side. Mr. Weasley was helping Mrs. Weasley pour juice into the goblets, all the while whispering quietly. Mundungus Fletcher was snoring loudly in his chair next to Lupin. She looked up into his pale face and smiled before turning away.
Mrs. Weasley stood and looked expectantly around the room. Her eye caught on Mundungus, who was now not only snoring but mumbling in his sleep. Lupin noticed this and nudged him, though this only caused Mundungus to slide off his chair and disappear under the table. When he did not reappear, Mrs. Weasley just rolled her eyes and gently tapped her spoon against her goblet.
Everyone stopped talking as she began to speak, "I think a toast is in order," she began, "for Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who are graduating this year. To the new Head Boy and Girl." She said fondly. Hermione beamed, she'd been hoping for this since her first day at Hogwarts. She looked at Harry and smiled, he looked pleased as well.
"And to Ron, the new Gryffindor Quidditch Captain." Mrs. Weasley announced looking beside herself with pride.
Ron stopped trying to wipe the gravy off his hands, his ears were burned red, yet he couldn't stop grinning.
"Drink up." Mrs. Weasley said before taking a sip from her goblet.
"Cheers!" Came a slurred and muffled voice from beneath the table. A few seconds later Mundungus reappeared, his hand clutched around his goblet, which sloshed and spilled as he staggered to his feet and flopped back onto his chair.
Hermione heard Ginny snort into her goblet and she couldn't help but smile.
Mrs. Weasley sat back down, dabbing the corner of her eye with a handkerchief, and chatter began to fill the room once more. As Hermione reached for the dish of mashed potatoes, she felt someone's eyes on her. For a moment she thought it was Kreacher, but as she glanced around she noticed Lupin looking at her out of the corner of his eye. Though, the moment she saw him he glanced back at his plate.
"This is very good." Lupin said kindly to Mrs. Weasley.
"Why thank you, Remus, go ahead help yourself." Mrs. Weasley urged.
"I would, honestly, Molly, except I'm not feeling very well this week." Lupin said quietly, his eyes dropping back to his plate.
Hermione watched Mrs. Weasley's face soften, "I'm sorry I forgot it's almost..." she trailed off as she glanced out the window. It was true Lupin looked much paler today, though the faint candlelight probably didn't help, and his face looked older, more weary... he looked downright miserable.
Dinner was a very quiet affair after that, mostly because everyone was too busy with their food. Hermione had just laid her spoon down when the clock chimed eight thirty.
"Er, Mrs. Weasley, I was wondering, do you think you could sign my permission form for Hogsmeade?" Harry asked hopefully. Hermione felt sympathy for him. She remembered that he had not been allowed to leave the Hogwarts Grounds their previous year, instead, while Ron and herself went shopping and visited the Three Broomsticks for a butterbeer, Harry had practiced Occlumency with Dumbledore himself.
Mrs. Weasley's face faltered for a moment but she quickly recovered, "Of course, Harry, but this year I want you three-you four-," she corrected, eyeing Ginny, "to stick to Hogsmeade, goodness knows how many times you've ended up in that forest." She sighed exasperatedly, "Agreed?"
Hermione cast Harry and Ron an anxious look, visiting Grawp in the Forbidden Forest was something they had been doing for a long time now. She turned her face back towards her pudding, knowing that her promise could not be kept, she nodded her head slightly and soon felt guilt ridden.
"Now mother, the forest isn't that dangerous, Fred and I have been in there loads of times and nothing bad has ever happened." George said conversationally, "Though I must admit, that one time when that mad Veela snuck up on us..."
Fred's face lightened to an expression of dreamy content, "She was quite a looker, had she not been in a homicidal rage, I believe I might have asked her to accompany me to the Three Broomsticks..."
Mrs. Weasley glared darkly at them, she bit out firmly, "It's dangerous and I will not have them wondering about in there."
Mr. Weasley nodded in agreement, "I expect the Forest to be even more dangerous now than ever, Dumbledore said himself this year he's taken precautions to keep students out."
"What kind of precautions?" Ron asked his eyebrows raised.
"Nothing that you'll need to worry about." Mrs. Weasley said sharply.
Hermione wondered what "precautions" Dumbeldore would take, certainly not the Dementors, she cringed at the mere thought of them, besides they worked for Voldemort now... Perhaps some creatures of Hagrid's or maybe, maybe even Grawp. Grawp was much more tame than the first time Hermione had met him back in her fifth year, and having a Giant patrolling the forest would surely be a great security.
Hermione leaned back in her chair, her eyelids felt very heavy. A sleepy lull in the conversation fell over the table, the only sounds were of the crackling fire, which by now was slowly dying, and the steady tick of the clock that stood against the far wall. She felt something brush against her leg, she glanced over at Ron, who grinned back and raised a suggestive eyebrow. She rolled her eyes and discreetly kicked him back under the table.
She turned her gaze back to the fire thinking about it, again. She had been going out with Ron on and off since their fifth year. Hermione cared deeply for him, yet she could never really say it was love. Though she knew for a fact that he loved her, even before Ginny had told her. He had always been there for her and was always by her side, even in the most difficult and dangerous situations. And yet, when they were together it seemed all they did was fight, and it was at then when doubt would creep in and settle around her mind, followed by uncertainty, and then finally, heavy guilt. Guilt for her uncertainty.
"Arthur, I don't suppose you've seen Kreacher lately, have you?" Mrs. Weasley inquired, disrupting Hermione from her thoughts.
Mr. Weasley frowned, "No, not at all actually. It's been bothering me as well, he's been missing for too long."
"Do you think he's gone to the Malfoys?" Harry asked.
Lupin, who had been massaging his temples looked up, "It's possible he could just be lurking around somewhere, I think it's safe to say we aren't his favorite company. I think I'll go and look for him after dinner."
Hermione had noticed for the past few days that Lupin had seemed worried about something, was the disappearance of Kreacher the reason? Maybe it was just because the full moon was merely three days away... It could have just been her imagination, but she thought she had caught him staring at her all through dinner, or maybe he had just been staring in her general direction. Whatever the reason, no one else seemed to notice his silent distress...
"I think it's time you all went to bed." Mrs. Weasley said as she checked the clock, "We have to get up early tomorrow, and we cannot be late."
Nobody objected they, like Hermione, had been looking forward to a good night's sleep.
"Hold on!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed as they all reluctantly stood from their chairs. Mrs. Weasley bustled to one of the cabinets and extracted three small leather bound books. She turned and smiled fondly at them, "These are for you three," she said, addressing Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "They're photo albums, pictures from all your years at Hogwarts."
"Thanks, Mrs. Weasley," Harry said as he thumbed through the pages.
"Yeah, Mum, this is brilliant." Ron replied happily as he held up a picture of two pajama clad girls, who's hair was sticking up in places and both were yawning hugely, but looking very happy, as they eyed the pile of presents at the foot of their beds. Hermione looked closer, it was her and Ginny on Christmas morning of last year.
"Ron!!!" She rushed over to him and shut his book, blushing furiously.
"Who took that picture?" Hermione asked Ginny quietly as everyone laughed softly at their red faces.
Someone coughed loudly behind her. Hermione turned to see Fred and George, who winked cheekily back at them.
Ginny laughed and rolled her eyes, "Should have known."
Hermione thanked Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and opened the cover. She received quite a surprise when the book jolted, and the spine doubled in thickness. She wondered what kind of charm Mrs. Weasley had put on it...
The first picture was of her, Ron, and Harry from their very first year. She couldn't believe how little she looked, as her picture-self smiled meekly back. Harry was grinning broadly, dressed in his Gryffindor Quidditch robes, holding his old Nimbus Two Thousand against his shoulder, and looking rather disheveled. Ron was on the end, grinning as well, and occasionally giving Harry a congratulatory nudge. The picture must have been taken right after a victorious quidditch game for Gryffindor, Hermione wondered which one...
Ron snorted with laughter, "Look, this one must have been during our third year, Hermione, you look as if your about to curse me."
Hermione looked at the picture Ron was pointing too, and laughed as well, true, her picture-self kept shooting Ron nasty looks as she clung firmly to a squealing and hissing Crookshanks.
"I'm glad you all like them." Mr. Weasley said, as he looked over Harry's shoulder at the book.
"All right now, you can take them upstairs but you need to go to sleep early, it's almost nine." Mrs. Weasley said as she waved her wand and began to clean the table.
"Can't argue with that." Ron said through a stifled yawn.
Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and Lupin stayed behind to clear up the dishes. Lupin sighed as he lifted the large silver platter of extra roast beef that had been left uneaten, from the table. "Hermione, do you think you could do something for me?" he called.
Hermione turned and walked back to the table, "sure."
"Well, would you take this upstairs and give it to Buckbeak?" Lupin asked, "I'd do it myself but he never has had a particular liking for me."
Mr. Weasley looked over the pile of plates he was stacking, "Oh, don't worry about that, Harry said he'd take it up tomorrow, said he wanted to say good-bye to Buckbeak before he left."
"Oh I don't mind, it'd only take a second." Hermione replied dismissively, and she slipped her photo album into her robe pocket for safe keeping.
Lupin smiled gratefully, "Thank you, last time I got too close to a magical creature I almost had my arm taken off."
Hermione laughed, "Right, I don't think you'd want that." She took the platter carefully and walked out of the kitchen, and down the hall. up the stairs, she walked slowly, taking her time trying hard not to drop any meat or spill any of the juice on herself. She panted as she kicked Buckbeak's door with her foot and leaned it open. The room was dark, but she thought she saw the Hippogriff lying against the far wall.
She needed a light, where was that gas lamp? She took a few steps inside, though as soon as she did, the door slammed shut. She was enclosed in darkness, and it was unusually quiet, was Buckbeak asleep? She carefully balanced the platter on her knee and reached her hand out for the wall. The clock chimed at that precise moment, she shrieked in surprise, and the platter fell to the ground with a large clang.
"Damn clock." She swore under her breath as she heard the meat splatter to the floor and she felt the gravy soak through her robes. She bent down and felt for the platter and picked it up. She whirled around as she heard a loud shuddering breath only feet behind her.
"Kreacher wonders why the meddlesome mudblood is here." A voice wheezed, sounding furious.
Hermione squinted her eyes, but she couldn't see a thing. Her heart was pounding, she was trapped in a dark room with a murderous house elf, who at the moment, sounded very angry. Yes, she was very scared right then.
The clock continued to chime loudly from the wall, the platter she was holding was shaking terribly, though she thought it was because of her tight grip on it. She gasped as it began to glow blue in her hands, the light filled the room and the last thing Hermione saw was Kreacher charging at her in fury, as he limped madly towards her.
"Filthy mudblood!" He shrieked, "how dare you interfere with Kreacher's masters plans, how dare you!" Hermione felt the sensation of being grabbed around the stomach and pulled backwards, before she was blinded by light and violently speeding colors. The light soon faded away and Hermione felt herself falling, she cried out, trying to grab something-anything-before she fell. Her head was the first thing to hit the floor and as the shadowy room faded to black, she heard the silver platter crash beside her, where it rolled like a rogue hub cap and clanged to a stop at the foot of the bed...
A/N: Yes, I know what an evil cliffie, hmm, anyone else get the feeling something really bad has happened?
lol, I'd like to take this time to say thank you to my wonderful reviewers, who had nothing but good things to say about my very first chapters :) lol, to my reviewers, Thank You!
To be honest I don't mind criticism at all, it can be helpful sometimes. Although, flames, cringe I'm not too crazy about them, but it's the readers opinions... I guess... : P
Oh, and I have to give major props to my sis Lunetta, mostly because I said I would, lol :D
third chapter is under way, :) see you then!
R E V I E W! please?
-:- Mikairi -:-