A/N: Okay, I have a major warning! Intense snogging that you may not agree with will be included, but it will still not decide who our lovable Hermione will end up with. So, if you don't mind descriptive snogging and sexy professors then... I suppose you shouldn't worry.
Chapter X
The holidays approached on such a fast degree that Hermione felt like she had fallen asleep and woken up five days later, on Christmas Eve.
The mood of the house was rather spontaneous, Ron, Harry, and Ginny seemed to be a bit more quiet, walking around and giving small pleading looks toward Hermione, silently begging for forgiveness.
Hermione, decked out in a black dress, the chest of it laced up with a thin red rope, and her thin hair flipped out from her face, deep brown eyes outlined with a thick amount of black shadow and eyeliner, practically ran down the stairs, skipping two steps once in a while, feeling the best she had ever felt. Fred (she was able to tell the twins apart after much concentration and mind games) stood at the bottom of the stairs, grinning devilishly, she returned it with a beautiful smile and put an arm over his shoulders.
"Mum's on a murderous rampage, claiming that me and George were supposedly sneaking canary creams into the dough she was mixing," he rolled his eyes playfully.
"What else could be expected of her?" Hermione inquired, a thin, light brown eyebrow raised.
"Hermione!" George greeted, holding a crate under his left arm. There was a 'danger' label on the side.
"George, Fred was just telling me about the incredulous accusation of your mother," Hermione giggled.
"Absolutely heinous is what I call it," George retorted before going upstairs, the crate under his arm shaking slightly.
"So, is there going to be a party tonight?" Hermione asked her closest companion.
"Yup. Tonks, Lupin, Moody, Kingsley, Mundungus, and even Snape will be here," Fred made a face.
"Oh, your just jealous, Fred Weasley," Hermione teased as he lead her down to the kitchen.
"Hardly," Fred snorted, kicking the kitchen door open and allowing Hermione through first.
The kitchen smelled of many different types of food, all delicious and irresistible. Fred pulled out a chair for Hermione, who thanked him and sat down.
Mrs. Weasley, Bill, and Mr. Weasley were the only others in the kitchen. Molly was bustling about the room preparing a variety of food, Bill and his father were both having a conversation about goblins over two steaming cups of coffee.
Hermione began on her food, thin black hair falling occasionally into her face, the grin on her features glowing in brilliance although the room was faintly lit.
VVVVVVVVVV
The originally depressing, sullen, dark house was alive with as much Christmas spirit as Santa's beard, suit, hat, and knickers.
Everyone joined in on the supposedly traditional "last-minute-decoration-of-the-Christmas-tree", while singing some merry Yuletide carols. Nothing could really compare to the way Sirius lit up the house, but no one really wanted to discuss the long gone mischievous and glittering gray eyes or the stupid grin that always seemed to find a way onto his face.
Hermione, herself, had a smile on the whole time, surprising all of the guests (who had witnessed the attack), as she hung out with the twins (another surprise, seeing as everyone had thought she disliked the two pranksters) and danced around to the music that was currently playing out of the Wireless Radio. Everyone had gotten a bit tired after the third Christmas carol.
George came up behind the beauty and tapped her on the shoulder, and with a swish of short and straight thin hair, she faced her newest best friend.
"Time to put the star at the top of the tree," his smile became mischievous.
"George," she warned, as he gave her a delicate glass star, it was so warm but looked as if it was carved from ice.
Before she could continue Fred came up behind her, grabbing the young woman from around the waist and lifted her up, causing a squeak of surprise to pass from her red lips.
(Uh-oh, stupid moment)
Everyone turned from what they were doing and looked up at the angel that seemed to have taken Hermione's place, laughing in Fred's arms as she slowly lifted the star. Her black hair glowed with a faint blue tint, warm brown eyes twinkling with a joy that had replaced hollowness, her long black dress swished lightly around her ankles, as her boot clad feet dangled a foot from the ground.
The smile she wore was so angelic, so beautiful that no one could possibly not just gaze at her.
Molly and Arthur both wore faint smiles, evidently feeling so happy that the girl was finally cured of her horrid depression. Tonks nudged Kingsley, apparently reminding him that it was a special moment with a big grin on her face, although said man was already watching. Ginny leaned her head on Harry's shoulder, both of their eyes still held the remorse that had been there for so long, but smiles could not be suppressed. Moody and Mundungus both seemed pleased by the girl's lightened mood.
George was staring at her, looking quite proud of himself. Remus was gazing at Hermione, an unusual smile gracing his lips, most unlike the family fondness that some of the others had. Snape stood in the shadows, the sneer gone from his features, face just impassive, yet a weird look in his eyes as well.
Fred was looking at Hermione, looking proud of himself as well, but he wore a plainly evident look of fascination. Ron had his arms folded, glaring enviously at his older brother, his mood had apparently been dampened.
(The moment didn't really happen in slow motion, heh, but you just have to know the facial reactions of our comrades)
She placed the star atop the tree, then was set back down on the floor by her friend, unaware of all the stares she was receiving. The music seemed to appear from out of nowhere, everyone had apparently ignored it from the moment Hermione was picked up by Fred.
The girl in question began to dance, pulling Fred with her as she bounced to a fast song that was playing on the radio, no one had really noticed some of the "punch" Hermione had tried (who was unaware of the fact that it was actually wine).
It got late as Hermione continued to dance with Fred, who was growing quite drowsy. Everyone soon drifted off to their beds or apparated from the house.
Hermione walked through the dark and messy living room, tripping occasionally and muttering incoherent words while giggling like a maniac. She let herself fall back onto the couch, her hair becoming a mess, and her dress quite wrinkled. She tried to muffle her laughing, but someone had heard her anyhow. The lights were turned on and a sleep-deprived Remus Lupin stood in the doorway, eyelids heavy and threatening to close.
He looked at the girl that was spread out on the sofa, giggling, and playing with the already immodestly lifted skirt of her dress. Blushing at seeing his ex-student in this state, Remus moved forward, knowing that it would be good to get her back to her room.
Hermione turned toward him, a stupid grin plastered on her pretty face.
"'Ello Professssor," she slurred, her giggles immediately began again.
"I remind you, once again, that I am not your Professor," Remus replied on instinct, although his tone was halfhearted.
"That'sss good, because then we can shag," she broke out into hysterical laughter, apparently amused by her little joke.
"You don't know what your saying Hermione," his voice came out in a grunt, as he tried in vain to lift her from the couch, but she just demolished his efforts.
"Of course I do, Remusss! You are quite an attractive male, and any woman would be lucky to have you," she gave a cheeky grin.
Remus blushed despite his attempts to make his face remain impassive.
"Come along, before you tell me whether your a virgin or not," Remus muttered, before slapping his forehead.
Great reply, Remus, a person your age should really be saying stuff like that to a drunken teenage girl, his conscience sarcastically chided.
"Don't worry, sssir! I am as innocent as buttered bread," Hermione boldly announced, her voice quite loud, amused by her own childish remarks.
Remus quickly set a silencing charm on the girl before the whole house woke up.
"What did you drink?"
The question was meant to be an unanswered one, but she just opened her mouth and began on her detailed explanation, seemingly oblivious to the charm placed upon her.
He tried to pull her up, but her head just jerked back toward the couch. He laid her back down and kneeled beside her head, trying to figure out what the problem was. Remus nodded in understanding, a strand of her hair was twisted rather badly around the thin leg of a table that stood right beside the couch. He didn't even want to know how that had happened.
He began his work on the knot, determined to untangle it and get the girl up to bed as soon as possible. Remus gave a whispered "hooray" when he got it undone and sat back down in the position he had earlier.
Hermione was staring at him and immediately captured his amber eyes with her glazed brown eyes. She grinned impishly and moved a lazy hand forward to touch the scar that ran down his left cheek. After tracing it, she sat up on the couch, leaving Remus looking up at her from his seat on the floor. She cupped his cheek, that damned smile still gracing her features. He unknowingly took the spell off of her.
Remus unconsciously shivered, closing his eyes in worry.
"Don't worry, Remusss," Hermione purred, although her speech was still a lazy drawl from all the alcohol in her system.
Before he could even think, he felt two moist lips press against his own. His eyes shot open in surprise, his conscience now on a murderous rampage, much like Molly's.
His hormones and body were in control, waving off his brain as an unnecessary distraction, and he found himself opening his mouth when she flicked her tongue at his upper lip expertly.
Never, never, had Remus Lupin ever shared a beyond friendly and sensual kiss. Having spent his life staying away from any relationship with a woman, guilt of his disease always strong on his mind.
Never had he thought that he'd have that first kiss with his ex-student, his best friend's son's best friend, and someone that was currently in a drunken state. Yes, life is full of surprises.
He soon found himself lying on the hard wooden floor, passionately snogging Hermione Granger, her lying on top of him. She was running her finger through his hair as his hands slowly moved to the zipper of her dress that was set conveniently on her back.
He had to stop. This was wrong. He had to stop!
Remus broke the kiss immediately, shaking his head and lightly touching his swollen and bruised lips with a shaky finger. Hermione rolled off of him, crawled a few feet away, and promptly threw up. Remus was quite thankful that he had stopped their "little session" at the moment he did.
But what really pissed him off was how his hormones could take control like that. All of this was wrong, it should have never happened. And he should have never taken advantage of her, she was Harry's best friend, dammit.
Remus quickly stood, looking intensely flustered and uncomfortable, not noticing the woman that had just passed out on his left, her final words being, "Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!"
He knew Hermione would not remember this by morning, and it was possibly best. This thought wasn't fully helping him because he wasn't really an expert on what happens to those who are drunk.
With a sigh, Remus kneeled down to lift the ruffled and unconscious form, that was Hermione, and took her back to her bedroom. He had a feeling that all this stress could possibly be the cause of his next strand of gray hair.
He delicately laid her on the bed, conjuring a handkerchief and cleaning up the vile around her mouth before tucking her in and leaving the room.
VVVVVVVVVVV
The pain was brilliant.
It seemed to be like a bomb, awaiting until she woke up to finally explode. With a groan, a string of incoherent cursing, and a few tosses of her head, Hermione found herself rolling off the bed.
She landed quite gracelessly on the floor, confused by the state she was in. Her mouth tasted of vomit, and some other taste that she didn't find familiar. Cinnamon mixed with... she stared at the ceiling before her, still lying on the wooden floor... eggnog, yes, cinnamon and eggnog.
Hermione didn't remember having those things, but she shrugged it off anyway, too busy trying to figure out why she was awake in her bed (which she had no knowledge of returning to), why her mouth tasted of vomit, cinnamon, and eggnog, and why she was still wearing her dress.
A wave of pain hit her immediately, as if trying to remind her that she was currently suffering from a fatal headache.
She looked over to the mirror which was tutting at her.
"What?" Hermione groaned, trying to sound indignant but not succeeding because of the hammers hitting her head persistently.
"I suppose you don't remember?" the mirror questioned, sounding (quite frighteningly) like Molly Weasley.
"No, and please stop shouting," Hermione spat back, voice bitter.
"What did you drink last night?" the mirror inquired.
"Some punch," Hermione muttered.
"Where did you get it from?"
"Leave me alone! I only got it from a bottle..."
The silence following afterwards would have been quite comical.
Doe eyes widened considerably, a hand went to her mouth, which was surrounded by quite an amount of smeared lipstick, and a gasp escaped her throat, followed by a grunt as she remembered how much pain she was in.
"What happened? How late did I get to bed?" Hermione questioned, new to the fact that she could hardly remembering anything. Well, she sort of remembered another pair of lips on hers. She touched her mouth absently.
"You didn't go to bed on your own," the mirror chided.
"I slept with someone?!"
"No!" the mirror gave a sigh.
"Then... what?"
"One of the Order members... Remus Lupin, yes, that's it!" the mirror seemed to applaud itself. "He came in, carrying you, and placed you in the bed. He really cares for you, you know. And then he cleaned that vile from your mouth and tucked you in."
"Weren't you made to just critique people's clothing," Hermione stood up and headed to her dresser that she had conveniently filled with her "new" clothes.
The mirror gave an incredulous scoff, but did not say anything else.
Hermione's brain was going crazy. Not just with pain, but with thoughts and confusement. She had to remember everything, she just had to. Her eyes lit up when she remembered a spell for hangovers, which she had (of course) memorized, although, at the time, she had labeled it useless.
Hermione prodded her temple with the wand she had picked up from the top of the wardrobe and muttered the incantation. A new wave of relief spread through her body, aching, nausea, and headache completely gone.
Chiding herself as she put on a black V-neck sweater and a knee-length black skirt, Hermione tried to divert her thoughts from those scary words:
What happened last night?
She probably made a fool of herself, probably looked like one of those destructive teens that don't do anything but "party".
Hermione sighed, this was just too much. Everything was like a roller coaster, first she was depressed, then happy, then depressed, then happy, then depressed and scared, then happy.
Gods, why did she have to suffer the usual female hormones and mood swings?
She combed out her hair, then used her wand to straighten it, giving her reflection a half smile. Suddenly the door to the room sprung open and the twins stood before her, fingers pointed at Hermione, shocked looks evident on their freckled faces.
"Why did you do that Hermione?!" Fred gasped.
"That's just sick!" George agreed.
"It was just a bit of wine!" Hermione protested, blushing like crazy.
Fred and George gave her identical looks of confusion.
"We were joking-" George began.
"-But if there's something you would like to tell us, Miss Granger, please don't keep us waiting."
Fred grinned, the action followed immediately by George.
Hermione's blush grew.
"It-it's nothing. Why are you up so early anyway?" she put her hands on her hips.
"Christmas!" George shouted, Hermione was sure that she heard a few colorful words coming from Ginny in a nearby room.
"What?" Hermione was taken aback, her mind had been too focused on the fact of her having kissed someone last night and not remembering who.
"Christmas, now get downstairs and open those damned presents!" Fred commanded, walking toward a protesting Hermione and lifting her up, setting the girl over his shoulder. He winced slightly as her kicking feet made painful contact with his chest.
"Yeah, yeah," Fred rolled his eyes, ignoring the indignant orders from Hermione.
An hour later, everyone was in the living room, either sitting on the couch, standing, or were seated by the Christmas tree, opening presents with giddy looks on their faces.
Fred was passing presents to Hermione, giving her a wink once in a while, grinning like a maniac, or telling her little jokes that would make her giggle, muffling her own laughter with her hand. Remus Lupin was the last to enter the room, he looked quite pale and there were bags under his eyes.
Hermione didn't have a chance to glance at him before another present was shoved into her hands.
Harry looked up at Remus, his own eyebrow raised at the man's fragile appearance, something was clearly wrong.
"Remus," Harry called him over, wanting to know what was wrong. He was not going to continue to be the heartless jerk that he had been with Hermione, he already felt terrible about that.
Remus looked at where Harry was seated. The young man had left open a seat right beside the table that stood by the couch's armrest, quite a familiar place for Remus. He bit his lip and slowly shook his head. To say that Remus Lupin was extremely uncomfortable would have been an offending understatement.
Hermione looked up from the present she had opened from Tonks and looked toward him, she wondered what could possibly have brought her ex-professor down like that.
The time passed inconspicuously in her eyes, as she opened presents (very surprisingly) from Harry, Ginny, and Ron and played around with Fred. She laughed hysterically as she put one of the bows in his hair, which he responded with by putting two bows in her hair. It was a fun time for her, but some other thoughts continued to linger on her mind.
A/N: Okay, that was the first time I have EVER written a snogging scene... and that is the first time I have ever written a scene about a hangover. Seeing as I have no experience in neither so some of you may not be that pleased with it, but oh well. Please review. Thanks to those who have reviewed and if your interested in Slytherin fanfictions PLEASE read and review mine. It's sort of depressing that mine has been ignored, especially sense its my favorite and I was so excited when I uploaded it.
Chapter X
The holidays approached on such a fast degree that Hermione felt like she had fallen asleep and woken up five days later, on Christmas Eve.
The mood of the house was rather spontaneous, Ron, Harry, and Ginny seemed to be a bit more quiet, walking around and giving small pleading looks toward Hermione, silently begging for forgiveness.
Hermione, decked out in a black dress, the chest of it laced up with a thin red rope, and her thin hair flipped out from her face, deep brown eyes outlined with a thick amount of black shadow and eyeliner, practically ran down the stairs, skipping two steps once in a while, feeling the best she had ever felt. Fred (she was able to tell the twins apart after much concentration and mind games) stood at the bottom of the stairs, grinning devilishly, she returned it with a beautiful smile and put an arm over his shoulders.
"Mum's on a murderous rampage, claiming that me and George were supposedly sneaking canary creams into the dough she was mixing," he rolled his eyes playfully.
"What else could be expected of her?" Hermione inquired, a thin, light brown eyebrow raised.
"Hermione!" George greeted, holding a crate under his left arm. There was a 'danger' label on the side.
"George, Fred was just telling me about the incredulous accusation of your mother," Hermione giggled.
"Absolutely heinous is what I call it," George retorted before going upstairs, the crate under his arm shaking slightly.
"So, is there going to be a party tonight?" Hermione asked her closest companion.
"Yup. Tonks, Lupin, Moody, Kingsley, Mundungus, and even Snape will be here," Fred made a face.
"Oh, your just jealous, Fred Weasley," Hermione teased as he lead her down to the kitchen.
"Hardly," Fred snorted, kicking the kitchen door open and allowing Hermione through first.
The kitchen smelled of many different types of food, all delicious and irresistible. Fred pulled out a chair for Hermione, who thanked him and sat down.
Mrs. Weasley, Bill, and Mr. Weasley were the only others in the kitchen. Molly was bustling about the room preparing a variety of food, Bill and his father were both having a conversation about goblins over two steaming cups of coffee.
Hermione began on her food, thin black hair falling occasionally into her face, the grin on her features glowing in brilliance although the room was faintly lit.
VVVVVVVVVV
The originally depressing, sullen, dark house was alive with as much Christmas spirit as Santa's beard, suit, hat, and knickers.
Everyone joined in on the supposedly traditional "last-minute-decoration-of-the-Christmas-tree", while singing some merry Yuletide carols. Nothing could really compare to the way Sirius lit up the house, but no one really wanted to discuss the long gone mischievous and glittering gray eyes or the stupid grin that always seemed to find a way onto his face.
Hermione, herself, had a smile on the whole time, surprising all of the guests (who had witnessed the attack), as she hung out with the twins (another surprise, seeing as everyone had thought she disliked the two pranksters) and danced around to the music that was currently playing out of the Wireless Radio. Everyone had gotten a bit tired after the third Christmas carol.
George came up behind the beauty and tapped her on the shoulder, and with a swish of short and straight thin hair, she faced her newest best friend.
"Time to put the star at the top of the tree," his smile became mischievous.
"George," she warned, as he gave her a delicate glass star, it was so warm but looked as if it was carved from ice.
Before she could continue Fred came up behind her, grabbing the young woman from around the waist and lifted her up, causing a squeak of surprise to pass from her red lips.
(Uh-oh, stupid moment)
Everyone turned from what they were doing and looked up at the angel that seemed to have taken Hermione's place, laughing in Fred's arms as she slowly lifted the star. Her black hair glowed with a faint blue tint, warm brown eyes twinkling with a joy that had replaced hollowness, her long black dress swished lightly around her ankles, as her boot clad feet dangled a foot from the ground.
The smile she wore was so angelic, so beautiful that no one could possibly not just gaze at her.
Molly and Arthur both wore faint smiles, evidently feeling so happy that the girl was finally cured of her horrid depression. Tonks nudged Kingsley, apparently reminding him that it was a special moment with a big grin on her face, although said man was already watching. Ginny leaned her head on Harry's shoulder, both of their eyes still held the remorse that had been there for so long, but smiles could not be suppressed. Moody and Mundungus both seemed pleased by the girl's lightened mood.
George was staring at her, looking quite proud of himself. Remus was gazing at Hermione, an unusual smile gracing his lips, most unlike the family fondness that some of the others had. Snape stood in the shadows, the sneer gone from his features, face just impassive, yet a weird look in his eyes as well.
Fred was looking at Hermione, looking proud of himself as well, but he wore a plainly evident look of fascination. Ron had his arms folded, glaring enviously at his older brother, his mood had apparently been dampened.
(The moment didn't really happen in slow motion, heh, but you just have to know the facial reactions of our comrades)
She placed the star atop the tree, then was set back down on the floor by her friend, unaware of all the stares she was receiving. The music seemed to appear from out of nowhere, everyone had apparently ignored it from the moment Hermione was picked up by Fred.
The girl in question began to dance, pulling Fred with her as she bounced to a fast song that was playing on the radio, no one had really noticed some of the "punch" Hermione had tried (who was unaware of the fact that it was actually wine).
It got late as Hermione continued to dance with Fred, who was growing quite drowsy. Everyone soon drifted off to their beds or apparated from the house.
Hermione walked through the dark and messy living room, tripping occasionally and muttering incoherent words while giggling like a maniac. She let herself fall back onto the couch, her hair becoming a mess, and her dress quite wrinkled. She tried to muffle her laughing, but someone had heard her anyhow. The lights were turned on and a sleep-deprived Remus Lupin stood in the doorway, eyelids heavy and threatening to close.
He looked at the girl that was spread out on the sofa, giggling, and playing with the already immodestly lifted skirt of her dress. Blushing at seeing his ex-student in this state, Remus moved forward, knowing that it would be good to get her back to her room.
Hermione turned toward him, a stupid grin plastered on her pretty face.
"'Ello Professssor," she slurred, her giggles immediately began again.
"I remind you, once again, that I am not your Professor," Remus replied on instinct, although his tone was halfhearted.
"That'sss good, because then we can shag," she broke out into hysterical laughter, apparently amused by her little joke.
"You don't know what your saying Hermione," his voice came out in a grunt, as he tried in vain to lift her from the couch, but she just demolished his efforts.
"Of course I do, Remusss! You are quite an attractive male, and any woman would be lucky to have you," she gave a cheeky grin.
Remus blushed despite his attempts to make his face remain impassive.
"Come along, before you tell me whether your a virgin or not," Remus muttered, before slapping his forehead.
Great reply, Remus, a person your age should really be saying stuff like that to a drunken teenage girl, his conscience sarcastically chided.
"Don't worry, sssir! I am as innocent as buttered bread," Hermione boldly announced, her voice quite loud, amused by her own childish remarks.
Remus quickly set a silencing charm on the girl before the whole house woke up.
"What did you drink?"
The question was meant to be an unanswered one, but she just opened her mouth and began on her detailed explanation, seemingly oblivious to the charm placed upon her.
He tried to pull her up, but her head just jerked back toward the couch. He laid her back down and kneeled beside her head, trying to figure out what the problem was. Remus nodded in understanding, a strand of her hair was twisted rather badly around the thin leg of a table that stood right beside the couch. He didn't even want to know how that had happened.
He began his work on the knot, determined to untangle it and get the girl up to bed as soon as possible. Remus gave a whispered "hooray" when he got it undone and sat back down in the position he had earlier.
Hermione was staring at him and immediately captured his amber eyes with her glazed brown eyes. She grinned impishly and moved a lazy hand forward to touch the scar that ran down his left cheek. After tracing it, she sat up on the couch, leaving Remus looking up at her from his seat on the floor. She cupped his cheek, that damned smile still gracing her features. He unknowingly took the spell off of her.
Remus unconsciously shivered, closing his eyes in worry.
"Don't worry, Remusss," Hermione purred, although her speech was still a lazy drawl from all the alcohol in her system.
Before he could even think, he felt two moist lips press against his own. His eyes shot open in surprise, his conscience now on a murderous rampage, much like Molly's.
His hormones and body were in control, waving off his brain as an unnecessary distraction, and he found himself opening his mouth when she flicked her tongue at his upper lip expertly.
Never, never, had Remus Lupin ever shared a beyond friendly and sensual kiss. Having spent his life staying away from any relationship with a woman, guilt of his disease always strong on his mind.
Never had he thought that he'd have that first kiss with his ex-student, his best friend's son's best friend, and someone that was currently in a drunken state. Yes, life is full of surprises.
He soon found himself lying on the hard wooden floor, passionately snogging Hermione Granger, her lying on top of him. She was running her finger through his hair as his hands slowly moved to the zipper of her dress that was set conveniently on her back.
He had to stop. This was wrong. He had to stop!
Remus broke the kiss immediately, shaking his head and lightly touching his swollen and bruised lips with a shaky finger. Hermione rolled off of him, crawled a few feet away, and promptly threw up. Remus was quite thankful that he had stopped their "little session" at the moment he did.
But what really pissed him off was how his hormones could take control like that. All of this was wrong, it should have never happened. And he should have never taken advantage of her, she was Harry's best friend, dammit.
Remus quickly stood, looking intensely flustered and uncomfortable, not noticing the woman that had just passed out on his left, her final words being, "Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!"
He knew Hermione would not remember this by morning, and it was possibly best. This thought wasn't fully helping him because he wasn't really an expert on what happens to those who are drunk.
With a sigh, Remus kneeled down to lift the ruffled and unconscious form, that was Hermione, and took her back to her bedroom. He had a feeling that all this stress could possibly be the cause of his next strand of gray hair.
He delicately laid her on the bed, conjuring a handkerchief and cleaning up the vile around her mouth before tucking her in and leaving the room.
VVVVVVVVVVV
The pain was brilliant.
It seemed to be like a bomb, awaiting until she woke up to finally explode. With a groan, a string of incoherent cursing, and a few tosses of her head, Hermione found herself rolling off the bed.
She landed quite gracelessly on the floor, confused by the state she was in. Her mouth tasted of vomit, and some other taste that she didn't find familiar. Cinnamon mixed with... she stared at the ceiling before her, still lying on the wooden floor... eggnog, yes, cinnamon and eggnog.
Hermione didn't remember having those things, but she shrugged it off anyway, too busy trying to figure out why she was awake in her bed (which she had no knowledge of returning to), why her mouth tasted of vomit, cinnamon, and eggnog, and why she was still wearing her dress.
A wave of pain hit her immediately, as if trying to remind her that she was currently suffering from a fatal headache.
She looked over to the mirror which was tutting at her.
"What?" Hermione groaned, trying to sound indignant but not succeeding because of the hammers hitting her head persistently.
"I suppose you don't remember?" the mirror questioned, sounding (quite frighteningly) like Molly Weasley.
"No, and please stop shouting," Hermione spat back, voice bitter.
"What did you drink last night?" the mirror inquired.
"Some punch," Hermione muttered.
"Where did you get it from?"
"Leave me alone! I only got it from a bottle..."
The silence following afterwards would have been quite comical.
Doe eyes widened considerably, a hand went to her mouth, which was surrounded by quite an amount of smeared lipstick, and a gasp escaped her throat, followed by a grunt as she remembered how much pain she was in.
"What happened? How late did I get to bed?" Hermione questioned, new to the fact that she could hardly remembering anything. Well, she sort of remembered another pair of lips on hers. She touched her mouth absently.
"You didn't go to bed on your own," the mirror chided.
"I slept with someone?!"
"No!" the mirror gave a sigh.
"Then... what?"
"One of the Order members... Remus Lupin, yes, that's it!" the mirror seemed to applaud itself. "He came in, carrying you, and placed you in the bed. He really cares for you, you know. And then he cleaned that vile from your mouth and tucked you in."
"Weren't you made to just critique people's clothing," Hermione stood up and headed to her dresser that she had conveniently filled with her "new" clothes.
The mirror gave an incredulous scoff, but did not say anything else.
Hermione's brain was going crazy. Not just with pain, but with thoughts and confusement. She had to remember everything, she just had to. Her eyes lit up when she remembered a spell for hangovers, which she had (of course) memorized, although, at the time, she had labeled it useless.
Hermione prodded her temple with the wand she had picked up from the top of the wardrobe and muttered the incantation. A new wave of relief spread through her body, aching, nausea, and headache completely gone.
Chiding herself as she put on a black V-neck sweater and a knee-length black skirt, Hermione tried to divert her thoughts from those scary words:
What happened last night?
She probably made a fool of herself, probably looked like one of those destructive teens that don't do anything but "party".
Hermione sighed, this was just too much. Everything was like a roller coaster, first she was depressed, then happy, then depressed, then happy, then depressed and scared, then happy.
Gods, why did she have to suffer the usual female hormones and mood swings?
She combed out her hair, then used her wand to straighten it, giving her reflection a half smile. Suddenly the door to the room sprung open and the twins stood before her, fingers pointed at Hermione, shocked looks evident on their freckled faces.
"Why did you do that Hermione?!" Fred gasped.
"That's just sick!" George agreed.
"It was just a bit of wine!" Hermione protested, blushing like crazy.
Fred and George gave her identical looks of confusion.
"We were joking-" George began.
"-But if there's something you would like to tell us, Miss Granger, please don't keep us waiting."
Fred grinned, the action followed immediately by George.
Hermione's blush grew.
"It-it's nothing. Why are you up so early anyway?" she put her hands on her hips.
"Christmas!" George shouted, Hermione was sure that she heard a few colorful words coming from Ginny in a nearby room.
"What?" Hermione was taken aback, her mind had been too focused on the fact of her having kissed someone last night and not remembering who.
"Christmas, now get downstairs and open those damned presents!" Fred commanded, walking toward a protesting Hermione and lifting her up, setting the girl over his shoulder. He winced slightly as her kicking feet made painful contact with his chest.
"Yeah, yeah," Fred rolled his eyes, ignoring the indignant orders from Hermione.
An hour later, everyone was in the living room, either sitting on the couch, standing, or were seated by the Christmas tree, opening presents with giddy looks on their faces.
Fred was passing presents to Hermione, giving her a wink once in a while, grinning like a maniac, or telling her little jokes that would make her giggle, muffling her own laughter with her hand. Remus Lupin was the last to enter the room, he looked quite pale and there were bags under his eyes.
Hermione didn't have a chance to glance at him before another present was shoved into her hands.
Harry looked up at Remus, his own eyebrow raised at the man's fragile appearance, something was clearly wrong.
"Remus," Harry called him over, wanting to know what was wrong. He was not going to continue to be the heartless jerk that he had been with Hermione, he already felt terrible about that.
Remus looked at where Harry was seated. The young man had left open a seat right beside the table that stood by the couch's armrest, quite a familiar place for Remus. He bit his lip and slowly shook his head. To say that Remus Lupin was extremely uncomfortable would have been an offending understatement.
Hermione looked up from the present she had opened from Tonks and looked toward him, she wondered what could possibly have brought her ex-professor down like that.
The time passed inconspicuously in her eyes, as she opened presents (very surprisingly) from Harry, Ginny, and Ron and played around with Fred. She laughed hysterically as she put one of the bows in his hair, which he responded with by putting two bows in her hair. It was a fun time for her, but some other thoughts continued to linger on her mind.
A/N: Okay, that was the first time I have EVER written a snogging scene... and that is the first time I have ever written a scene about a hangover. Seeing as I have no experience in neither so some of you may not be that pleased with it, but oh well. Please review. Thanks to those who have reviewed and if your interested in Slytherin fanfictions PLEASE read and review mine. It's sort of depressing that mine has been ignored, especially sense its my favorite and I was so excited when I uploaded it.