All characters depicter here belong to JK Rowling. I own nothing but the pleasure of writing this particular story.

The Midnight Surprise

We sat in the common room, waiting for everyone to go to bed. I was working on some homework for Defence Against the Dark Arts, and finding it very hard to concentrate, when Ginny elbowed me in the ribs. I glanced up in time to see Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas finally going up the staircase toward their dormitory. I looked around to be sure that we were the last ones up. I shot a grin at the others. My blood started to pound with excitement. Finally, I would get to find out what they were going to show me.

"I haven't snuck out of anywhere in about thirteen years, just so you know."

Hermione and Ginny both giggled. Harry pulled two Cloaks and an ancient bit of parchment out of his bag. He handed one to Hermione and touched his wand to the parchment.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

I could see black lines start to move across the parchment. I was about to try to get a better look when Harry slipped it into his pocket.

"Okay, I figure Ron and me under this one and the three of you under that one. You're smaller than we are, so it will be easier that way. Plus, I borrowed it from Sirius, so it's a bit bigger."

I gasped as Harry swung the Cloak around him and Ron. They disappeared from sight.

"Wow! What kind of a Cloak is that?"

"It's an Invisibility Cloak," came Harry's disembodied voice. "Well, come on then."

"Right," Hermione said. Ginny and I stepped closer to her and she swung the Cloak over us. "Can you see us?"

"Nope."

Hermione turned and led the way to the portrait hole.

"Wait," Ginny said. "Somebody should go out first to open it."

"Right," Hermione said again. She stepped out from under the Cloak and pushed open the portrait. We followed and glanced at the Fat Lady. She was fast asleep. Hermione slipped back under the Cloak. "Don't even have to go back in."

"How do you we get back in later?"

"Somebody will have to give her the password."

"Won't she tell Albus or somebody?"

"No, the Fat Lady is cool," Ginny said. We moved down the staircases, taking care not to step on the Cloak or on each other.

"Hermione?"

"What, Ron?"

"Stop moving!"

We stopped, Ginny on the stair above Hermione and I. She glanced around.

"What is it?" she hissed.

"Mrs Norris and Peeves!"

I held my breath, looking around for the creepy cat and for the nasty poltergeist. Finally the cat came round the corner at the bottom of the stairs. Hermione held her breath as well.

"Go away, you damn cat," Ginny growled under her breath. Hermione elbowed her.

Mrs Norris came slowly up the stairs, sniffing at a speck of something every other step. She turned her lamp like eyes toward us and I found myself wondering if she would be able to see through the Cloaks. Cats were strange like that.

I breathed a sigh of relief when she continued up the stairs past us. Hermione had just put her foot on the step below us when Mrs Norris came flying back down the stairs, hissing and spitting at something behind her. We turned to find Peeves shooting what appeared to be rubber bands at her. The poltergeist cackled with glee.

"Here kitty kitty kitty," he called. Mrs Norris skidded round the corner and out of sight. Peeves tore after her.

Ginny let out a snort. Hermione and I turned to find her shoulders shaking with laughter.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "It's just so nice to see that cat get picked on once in a while!"

Hermione and I both chuckled.

"Okay, it's clear, we can go now. Remus and Sirius have been waiting for us for five minutes already."

We started back down the stairs, a little faster this time, but still taking care to keep covered. Finally we reached the flat surface and ran as fast as we could toward the Entrance Hall while still managing to stay under the Cloaks. I nearly squealed with excitement when Remus and Sirius came into view.

"About time!" Sirius muttered as we came to a halt beside them. "We started to wonder if you were going to come or not."

"We ran into Mrs Norris and Peeves on the stairs," Hermione told them, breathing heavily.

"Ah, okay," Remus said. "Harry, are we clear?"

Harry didn't respond for a moment. I could hear something rustling as we waited for an answer.

"Yeah," he said a moment later. "Madam Pomfrey is pacing in her office and Dobby is…heading this way. We'd better go!"

Remus pulled open the doors and let the five of us under the Cloaks out first. He and Sirius followed. I glanced up to find a bright sky, full of stars. I found myself looking around for the moon, just to be sure. I knew it was still just over a week until the next full moon, but it had become habit.

We waited until we were just out of sight from the castle before pulling the Invisibility Cloaks off. Remus grabbed my hand as soon as I was visible, pulling me toward him. As he did, both Hermione and Ginny let out shrieks of surprise as large amounts of snow suddenly rained down on their heads.

"I saw them pick up the snow," Remus said in response to my curious look. I laughed as Ron, Harry and Sirius each stooped to pick up more snow. Ron drew his arm back and threw the snowball toward Hermione, but she flung out her wand.

"Retroago!" she cried. The snowball stopped in midair and then flew back toward Ron. It hit him square in the face. I let out a shriek of laughter as he spit out a mouthful of snow.

"Serves you right!" Ginny laughed. Harry grinned at her and started to run at her. She laughed again and ran ahead, bewitching snow to fly at him as she passed. Ron took off after them, calling to Harry that he had him covered.

I couldn't help but smile as I watched them. They were usually so serious and it was nice to see them let go and behave like kids once in a while. I rested my head on Remus' shoulder as we walked. We both let out a shout as a large snowball exploded against us. We spun around and found Sirius standing there with a mischievous grin on his face.

"Oh, now you are gonna get it!" Remus growled. He bent to scoop up a snowball. Sirius let out a bark of laughter and raced in the direction Harry, Ginny and Ron had gone. Remus tore after him. I hung back, watching, laughing as Remus tackled Sirius and drove him face first into a snow bank.

"They're as bad as children," Hermione said with a laugh, coming to stand beside me. She linked her arm through mine as we walked after them.

"It's nice to see, though. They're all too serious and it's good to see them having some fun," I replied, glancing in Hermione's direction. She was looking up at the sky and I wasn't too surprised to see tears in her eyes.

"Are you alright, Hermione?"

She nodded silently, swiping at her eyes quickly. She sniffled and then turned to give me a half hearted smile.

"It's hard sometimes. It's hard to not let myself grieve, but I swore that I would bring him down before I mourned my father, but…well, at times like these, I remember doing this with Dad and…it hurts."

"I know."

She nodded. I took her hands in mine.

"You can grieve while you avenge him."

She shook her head. "I want to keep my head clear and if I think of him, my head will be clouded with emotions. I don't want to be driven by emotion."

"You're already being driven by emotion. Allow yourself to grieve your father, Hermione. Revenge won't take away the pain. I know that you're angry, and you have a right to that anger, but you need to grieve."

She opened her mouth to say something.

"Hermione, what would your father have wanted?" I interrupted. She stopped and pulled her hands away from mine.

"What do you know about it?" she asked angrily. "You didn't know him."

"I know I didn't know him, but you did. What would he have wanted?"

Tears started from her eyes. I took her hands again.

"He wouldn't want me to be angry. He would want me to live every day. He would want me to be happy, but Jules, I can't be happy. They stole my father from me! They tortured him and tortured him until he finally died to get away; to make the pain stop. I have to make them pay for that, don't you understand?"

"I understand your need for revenge. I understand that you want to hurt them as bad as they've hurt you and your family. And we will, Hermione, oh we will. But we need to concentrate and do it properly. We can't do anything rash."

Hermione nodded and we started walking again.

"I miss him, Jules. I just want my dad back. I would give anything and everything I own just to be able to say…something to him. Anything."

I didn't say anything, just wrapped an arm around Hermione's shoulder. She seemed to know where we were headed, so I just went in the direction she chose.

"Remus loves you so much," she said suddenly. She grinned up at me. "I hope Ron feels even half of the same way about me as Remus feels about you."

I flushed slightly. "I'm sure he does."

"When Remus came with me to…when I went to my house, he kept talking about how well you were doing, and how well we were doing in teaching you. He's so proud of you."

I wasn't sure what to say. I smiled at Hermione.

"You are doing incredible, Jules. If I hadn't seen how well you were doing, I wouldn't believe it. Even Sirius is impressed. And Ron told me that you got your Patronus on the third or fourth try!"

"I feel like I've missed a lot though. You all know so much more than I do. I wish I could have started before so I could take the History of Magic and the Potions and all of those courses. Here I am, thirty, and I know nothing about who I am. Being a witch…it's something I've always dreamed about, and here it is, reality…and I don't even know if I'm going to be alive long enough to get to enjoy it."

"Why wouldn't you be?" Hermione stopped walking again and turned to stare at me.

"Because…" I wasn't sure how much I should tell her. "Well, because I am the Saviour."

"I know that."

"Then you know that I might have to die in order for you all to live."

Hermione closed her eyes. She shook her head.

"I didn't. Oh, Jules, I am so sorry."

"No, don't be. It's something that has to be accepted. Yes, I might not survive, but at the same time…the whole wizarding world might be given the chance to face life without Voldemort in it. My life is somewhat insignificant compared to that. And if that's what must happen, then it will." I took a deep breath and smiled. "Besides…Remus saved me so many times. I told him that I owed him my life and I meant it. If I have to die for him to live, then so be it. I love him, Hermione."

We both gasped as a hand grasped each of our shoulders. Hermione whipped her wand out and we both spun, arms raised. Sirius stood before us, dripping wet, blinking rapidly. There was a large dog behind him. Hermione dropped to give the dog a hug and the dog nearly knocked her backwards into the snow. His body wiggled with excitement and he gave several loud barks before Hermione managed to silence him. I looked back at Sirius and he gave a watery smile. Hermione stood.

"I couldn't help but overhear…" he said slowly. He wrapped an arm around each of our shoulders and steered us toward the dark forest. "Jules, you should have been a Marauder."

I stared at him and knew that finally, finally, he had given me all of his trust.

We met up with Harry, Ron, Ginny and Remus at the edge of the forest. They were all soaking wet, out of breath and were waiting for us.

"What took you so long?" Ron panted.

"We decided to take the grown up way here," Hermione said with a grin. "Who brought Fang out?"

"I did," Sirius answered.

"We're not going into the forest?" I demanded finally, looking into the dark and forbidding trees.

"No, not all of us, Miss Jules, but we have to get closer," Remus said breathlessly, moving over beside me. "I am too old to be playing in the snow."

"How bad did you get Sirius?" I asked with a laugh. Sirius scoffed.

"Get me? Just the once, my dear, just the once."

"Once?" Remus demanded, narrowing his eyes. "Padfoot, old friend, I got you six times, if I remember correctly."
"Ah, yes, but you're old, remember? You just said so yourself."

Remus glared at Sirius while the rest of us chuckled. He took my hand and started to lead me closer to the forest. I resisted.

"You're serious? We're really going closer? At midnight?"

"She really does have a fear of midnight?" Harry asked incredulously.

"I always have," I answered. "I'm not sure what it stems from, but bad things happen at midnight."

"You met me at midnight," Remus pointed out.

"Well there's proof right there," Sirius said. Remus pointed his wand at Sirius.

"Funny man, Padfoot, funny man. But you're not laughing."

"Oh no you don't!" Sirius yelped, bringing his own wand up too late.

"Rictusempra!" Remus bellowed. Sirius gasped and sank to his knees, his hands over his stomach, trying to control the laughter that suddenly bubbled up.

I stared at him and then up at Remus, who was chuckling to himself.

"What did you do to him?"

"Put a Tickling Charm on him," Hermione answered. "He'll be alright."

He was. I saw him pick up his wand and point it at Remus.

"Tarantallegra!"

The spell that Albus had cast on me hit Remus and his feet started to dance on their own. He started twitching and jerking, his legs doing their own thing.

Harry and Ron were rolling on the ground, breathless with mirth. Ginny hadn't quite lost control yet, but was howling with laughter all the same. Hermione sighed and shook her head at me.

I knew that neither one of them would ever do anything to hurt the other, but still…it was a little disconcerting.

"Oh for heaven's sake," Hermione finally said. Both men looked at her, Remus still dancing and Sirius still laughing. They'd sent a couple more hexes at each other and Sirius' nose was slowly growing, while Remus had sprouted cucumbers from his ears. I took one look at him and burst out laughing.

"Finite Incantatem," Hermione growled. Sirius stopped laughing and his nose slowly shrank back to normal. Remus stopped dancing. "Really! We don't have time for this, you know. If we get caught, we'll be in big trouble!"

"What?" Remus hollered. We looked at him. He was still growing cucumbers from his ears. Hermione finally started to laugh.

"It serves you right, you know," she giggled.

"What?" he bellowed again. That set Ron and Harry off again. Sirius winced as he waved his wand. The cucumbers shrivelled up and fell from Remus' ears. The dog, Fang, sniffed at them.

"Gross!" Ginny cried.

Remus and I both helped Sirius get to his feet. He rubbed his stomach gently.

"Oh, that hurts," he groaned. "I haven't laughed so hard in a long time."

"Well, are you going to go get them or not?" Ginny demanded suddenly, looking at Hermione.

"I'm not going in by myself I told you," she said. "Grawp is in there and he scares me!"

"I told you I'd go with you," Sirius said, still gingerly rubbing his stomach and ribs. "Just give me a moment."

"They won't come to me if you're there," Hermione pointed out.

"What won't?" I asked. Hermione smiled but didn't answer.

"Ah, Padfoot won't bother them," Sirius grinned. He disappeared and the great black dog was standing in his place. The dog whined a couple times and then started sniffing around the bottom of Remus' robes.

"Don't even think about it," Remus warned. Harry laughed as Padfoot seemed to grin up at Remus. "Do you want to be neutered?"

Padfoot barked and turned away, following Hermione into the forest. Fang gave a bark and loped in after.

"Will she be alright?" I asked anxiously.

"Sirius is in there with her. He knows his way around. And none of the creatures will harm them so long as Fang is with them."

"What are they looking for?"

"You'll see," Harry answered with a grin. "It's a surprise for you. You'll love it, trust me."

We waited for what seemed like forever. Remus stayed absolutely still and seemed to be listening for something. His eyes were alert and never left the trees.

"You're sure they'll be alright?" I asked again. He nodded without looking at me.

"They found one. Here they come." He grinned and glanced around. "You two might want to back away. They don't like men remember."

Harry and Ron both backed away. Remus kissed me quickly, surprising me, and then retreated as well. Ginny grinned at me and moved to stand beside me. Her eyes were fixed on the forest as well, so I looked in the same direction.

I couldn't see a thing at first and then I heard Hermione talking quietly.

"Shh, it's alright. Nobody will hurt you. It's okay. Someone wants to meet you."

I watched in the direction of her voice and gasped as she came into my line of sight, an enormous white beast walking along next to her. I felt my heart swell and I nearly burst into tears.

A unicorn. A real, live unicorn!

Ginny gripped my hand suddenly when I started forward.

"Let him come to you," she warned quietly. "If you startle him, he might hurt Hermione."

"Right," I said. "Are they skittish like horses?"

"Sort of," Ginny agreed. We watched as they came ever closer, my whole body trembling in anticipation.

"Calm down, Jules," Hermione said quietly, in the same soothing voice she'd been using on the unicorn. "He can sense your excitement. It's making him a little over excited."

I stared at her and took a few deep, calming breaths. The unicorn tossed its head as they moved closer.

"Can Muggles see unicorns?" I asked.

Hermione grinned at me while leading the unicorn forward.

"Of course. Where do you think all the stories come from?"

"Who would believe you if you told people you'd seen a unicorn?" Ginny said with a grin.

Hermione brought the unicorn to a halt in front of me. I stood there, staring up at it, wishing that I had my camera with me.

"He's so beautiful," I whispered, bringing my hand up slowly. He watched me warily and sniffed at me. I carefully ran my fingers over the soft, velvety hair on its muzzle.

"Do you like your surprise?" Remus asked quietly. I nodded, my throat tight.

"It's better than Christmas, Remus," I answered with a soft laugh, moving my hand slowly up the unicorn's muzzle to its forehead. "I wish Nannie were here to see him."

"I'm sure she's watching," Ginny said, smiling at me. She moved over to pet the unicorn as well.

I laughed. "Knowing Nannie, she has been watching me all along. I bet it just killed her to keep a secret like this from me. She never could keep secrets."

"I hope she wasn't watching all the time," Remus commented, wincing.

I stared at him over my shoulder, my face heating up. Hermione and Ginny looked at each other.

"Eww," they cried together. I chuckled, twisting my fingers gently through the unicorn's mane. It was as soft as silk.

"Really nice, Moony," Sirius said suddenly, as he transformed back into a man. "Traumatise everyone."

"I meant that I hoped she wasn't watching while Jules is in the bath and everything, you prat," Remus sniffed.

"Uh huh," Ron and Harry said together, laughing. I just smiled to myself as I stroked down the unicorn's neck and over his withers.

"How did you find him, Hermione?" Ginny asked. "I thought you'd be a lot longer than you actually were."

"He was just standing there, like he was waiting for me. Maybe he knows Fang and thought Hagrid was coming to see him."

"Maybe," Ginny agreed.

The unicorn had turned his head and was watching me as I ran my hands slowly down over his back. I smiled at it and made my way back up to his head. I ran my hands up his neck and scratched his ears. His whole coat just felt like velvet. He was softer than any horse I'd ever seen.

"He's so absolutely perfect," I cried. "I don't even want one, he's so perfect."

Hermione laughed. "How does that work?"

I grinned at her, turning slightly. "I would hate to see him be anybody's pet. He's so…free. Just look at him. He's free and he's magi-oh!"

While I'd been talking to Hermione, trying to explain, I'd taken my hands away from the unicorn. I usually find that I speak better when I can use my hands. The unicorn had stretched his neck out and given me a nudge with his head. I turned and looked at him, a little surprised. He dipped his head up and down a couple times before nudging me again.

"I think he wants you to keep touching him," Sirius said incredulously. "Have you ever seen that before, Moony?"

"No, Padfoot, in my…ah…extensive work with unicorns, I have never seen anything like that."

"Well…" I said slowly. "Horses have always liked me…so maybe unicorns will too?"

Both Remus and Sirius shrugged.

"We should get back up to the castle," Hermione said a while later. "Jules, do you want to take him back into the forest with me?"

Sirius transformed back into Padfoot as I nodded. I clicked my tongue at the unicorn and he followed as Hermione and I led the way into the forest.

"Lumos," Hermione muttered. The tip of her wand lit.

"Thank you so much, Hermione," I said as we entered the trees. "You have no idea how much that meant to me."

She smiled and nodded, but said nothing. I continued to run my hands over the unicorn as we walked. Finally, after a time, Hermione stopped. I looked around

"I found him just here."

The unicorn gave me one last nudge before turning and disappearing into the trees.

"I think he likes you," Hermione whispered, giggling slightly.

"Just a touch," Sirius said dryly, making both of us jump. "What? We're not searching for a unicorn any longer, so I don't have to stay in Animagi form."

"You just startled us is all," I said with a laugh. We headed back out of the forest. Sirius lit his wand as well.

As soon as we left the shelter of the forest, I walked straight up to Remus and kissed him. We broke apart when Sirius coughed. Remus cleared his throat and shook his head slightly.

"I would have settled for thank you," he admitted with a laugh.

"Thank you, Remus," I said with a grin. "And Sirius and all of you. Thank you."

Remus took my hand and we led the way back up to the castle.

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Hello everyone…I hope you enjoyed the chapter…as I said, it was a little fluffier than the others, so it was much easier to write…if I could, I would make them all like that, but I don't think there will be another fluffy chapter. Hopefully there will be fluffy moments though. There's always hope of that.

Somebody mentioned about the last chapter that they did not feel that Hermione would react with violence to her father's death. I disagree, especially toward Malfoy. I feel that, of them all, Hermione's reaction to something like that would be the most dangerous. But that is my opinion, of course, and you do not have to share it. What a boring place the world would be if everyone had the same opinion. =)

As always, enjoy the chapter. And as always, let me know what you think!!