Disclaimer: I do not own any Harry Potter related stuff, characters or anything else. I also do not own any Lord of the Rings stuff; it belongs to J. R. R. Tolkien. And even though 'Professor Natikoshi' is NOT 'Arya' from 'Eragon,' The 'Eragon' trilogy does not belong to me either. By the way, she is also NOT Arwen!
Smiles.
(A/N: Please, if you take the time to read my story, please spare just a few of your minutes to click the review button and send me your comments. Thanks! Smiles.)
Hermione's Troubles:
Chapter Fourteen:
The 14th of February dawned bright, sunny, with cloudless blue skies. Well, actually, the 14th of February dawned dark and stormy, with heavy grey clouds, violent winds, and even hail.
"Hermione, are you done yet?" Lily demanded impatiently from outside the bathroom.
"Nearly!" Hermione called. Grabbing her wand off the marble sink, she emerged form the bathroom. Lily's jaw dropped.
Hermione was wearing a beautiful elegant velvet red dress. The dress was perfect. It was a deep crimson, accentuating her hair and chocolate brown eyes. It pulled reasonably tight down to her waist, then draped beautifully, reaching her ankles. The arms reached her wrists, and the dress had a small v-neck. The wrists, hem, and neck of the dress was webbed in intricate embroideries. Her normally bushy hair had been tamed using various potions and was now sleek and shiny, cascading down her back in light brown ripples. Lily dropped her wand, and it hit the edge of a bed with a clatter, causing everyone else to look up.
"Wow." Angelica stated.
"You don't think I overdid it, do you?" Hermione asked worriedly, a slight frown creasing her forehead.
"No, no, you look perfect." Angelica breathed. "Utterly perfect. And the boots just add to it." Hermione was wearing beautiful chocolate brown velvet boots. She lifted her dress slightly so the group could see them better. They came to a petite point, had delicate gold embroidery along the sides, and chocolate velvet strips wound up around them, starting from the ankle and ending at the top of the boots. The boots reached about ¾ of the way up her shin, and had about 5cm high heels on them, which weren't that high, just high enough to be barely noticeable.
"Remus'd have to be completely insane not to love you after this." Lily said with a mischievous grin. "Although, being him, it'd matter, like, he'd not simply ignore all this," She continued, fumbling over her words, "But even if you were as ugly as a gargoyle today he'd still care about you." Hermione turned the same colour as her dress.
"Uh, thanks, I think." She said shyly.
"Hey, wait for me before you go down there, okay?" Lily asked, stooping to pick up her wand. She entered the bathroom and closed the door.
"Hermione, you look lovely." Vanessa reassured her friend, who was nervously twirling her wand in her fingers.
"'K." Hermione said softly. "Thanks." She smiled weakly, looking rather pale now she'd stopped blushing.
Fifteen minutes later Lily emerged from the bathroom and everyone was ready. Lily was wearing a stunning emerald green willowy dress, which contrasted well with her ruby hair, as well as the earrings and necklace James had given her for Christmas, but she still didn't look as good as Hermione.
"I wonder what is taking those girls so long?" Sirius grumbled.
"Yeah, those 20 roses won't have a chance to arrive if they don't emerge soon." James complained. Sirius snickered, and Remus hid a wry smile.
"I can't believe you actually bought Lily twenty roses." Gryffindors beater laughed.
"And this is from the one who wanted to send roses to the entire female school entity!" James retorted. Sirius stopped smirking, but Remus laughed.
"Hey, I bet they'll come down soo – whoa." Remus stated in shock, his jaw dropping to hit the flagstones. The other two guys spun around to face the staircase. James thought he'd never seen a prettier thing, the four girls walking one by one down the stairs, Lily, Hermione, Angelica, and Vanessa.
"Lily, you look radiant!" James exclaimed, running over to sweep Lily up. In his eyes, she was the most beautiful thing to ever walk the earth. At that moment Sirius considered Angelica, in her striking midnight blue, to be the most gorgeous thing on two legs.
But Remus had eyes only for Hermione.
"Uh, hi Remus." She said awkwardly as he met her at the bottom of the stairs.
"You look… wonderful." The werewolf said softly, at a loss for words.
"Thanks." She said shyly.
"I got you a present." She said shyly, passing his a bulky package wrapped in shiny blue paper.
"Thank you." Remus replied shyly, leading her over to the only unoccupied couch in the room, since Sirius and Angelica were cuddled up in the other one, James and Lily were curled up together in an armchair, and Vanessa was quietly sitting in the only other chair, staring out at the stormy weather. Opening the heavy package, it opened on to a series of 7 books. 'Defense Against the Dark Arts – Advanced by Shamanique Erable.' Remus's face lit up. "Thank you!" He said, smiling pleasurably. "I've wanted these books for ages! How did you know!"
"When we were in Hogsmeade I saw you looking wistfully at these books for ages." Hermione said, smiling, glad her gift had brought his happiness.
"I've got something for you." He replied quietly, standing and lifting her to her feet. "But not here."
Smiling shyly, he led her out of the Common Room. Walking through the halls, hand in hand, he led her into the Library. "Astronomy Tower was too crowded, and the Hufflepuffs needed their Common Room." He joked. Walking over to where Hermione knew his secret alcove was, she vaguely remembered to act surprised. "Moony." He muttered, and the shelves slid open a crack, just big enough for them to slide through. "Dumbledore gave me permission to create this place." He explained.
"Ah, k. Cool!" Hermione replied, smiling shyly at his excitement.
"Now, I have something for you." Remus repeated, leading Hermione over to sit on the window seat, and sitting down beside her.
Reaching in to the pocket of his rather shabby cloak, he pulled out a rose, and two small packages wrapped in vivid orange wrapping paper. Remus wrinkled his nose at the sight of the tissue paper. "I tried to get red." He apologized lightheartedly, "But orange was the only colour left." He smiled wryly, the corner of his mouth twitching.
"It's fine. It's… unique." Hermione smiled, conjuring a vase and water for the rose, and placing it on a small coffee table. "Thank you." He looked at her uncertainly, and Hermione leant forward and hugged him. "Which one should I open first?" She whispered, feeling tingles run across her body.
"That one." Remus pointed to the smaller of the two packages. Slowly, Hermione tore open the wrapping paper, revealing a small, red velvet cube. "Open it." Remus urged, holding one of her hands. Hermione lifted open the top of the box, and saw a beautiful, delicate golden butterfly, around the size of a tennis-ball including its wingspan. It sparkled, and the wings opened and closed of their own accord.
"It – it's beautiful!" Hermione gasped, setting the butterfly in her hand.
"It goes in your hair." Remus explained. "May I?" Hermione nodded, and Remus picked up the butterfly and stood up, walking around to sit behind her. With gentle hands, he swept up the front sides of Hermione's hair, leaving just a few locks framing her face, and pulled it high on the back of her head. Then he fastened it there, so the waves pulled back tumbled down to join the rest of her hair as it flowed down her neck.
"Remus, thank you!" Hermione breathed, almost inaudibly.
"Open the other one." He compelled her, sitting back around infront of her. Trembling, Hermione slowly opened the wrapping paper, smiling at the brightness of the orange, which was like the colour road crews used to be distinguished better. Seeing a round, sapphire blue coloured jewelry box, her heart fluttered. Staring into Remus's grey silver eyes, which were whirling, she slowly creaked open the box. Inside, on a bed of sapphire blue velvet, was the Evenstar necklace. The exact identical copy of the necklace Aragorn was given by Arwen, perfect in every detail. Its shining, ornate, delicate silver and diamond pendant seemed to glow with a steady silvery white light, lighting up the little space.
"Remus..." Hermione gasped in shock. "This is, this is…" She stared at him.
"Do you like them?" He asked cautiously, anxiety playing across his pale features.
"Yes!" Hermione replied emphatically, nodding. "They're… beautiful." She whispered. Remus lifted the necklace out of the case, its silver chain pooling like liquid in has hand. Shifting behind her, he lifted her hair and did up the clasp, then shifted back around infront of Hermione.
"It's perfect." He stated, staring into her eyes, which were like swirling pools of melted chocolate. "I hoped you'd like it, since you told Professor Natikoshi that you adored Lord of the Rings." He smiled gently.
"They're… amazing, Remus. Thank you." She whispered. She leant closer to him, until they were only millimeters away. Slowly, Remus shifted the loose locks of hair around her face, and set them behind her ears. Then, ever so slowly, he leant forward and kissed her gently.
(A/N! Aw, their first kiss! Like? Review! I'm sorry to announce that there will probably be only about 3 (unlikely) to seven (more likely) chapters until the conclusion to this story. I'm sorry this chapter was so short, but I just felt this was how I wanted it to be.
Ciao till the next chapter!)