Life as it is lived 2
At the same time as Harry was fighting with the living room, Hermione Granger was in the library of the great house, attempting to sort through the mass of books, cleaning the shelves, walls and ceiling as she went. Truly she was in her element, even though some of the titles and write ups about the books required a strong stomach to read.
She was right now sorting through a shelf of very old books, most of which were beyond salvaging, even through magical means. Pages turned to dust as she touched them, spines crumbling as the books were removed from the shelf. It appeared that the only thing holding a lot of them together was the fact that they were all pressed together on the shelf.
Dividing them into piles of keep, hide or throw was a lengthy and difficult process, as there were thousands of books in the room. Some were of such a nature that having them in the library was either dangerous, or too repulsive. However, as a slave to books for so long, unless they were beyond saving, simply throwing them away or destroying them was just not in her nature. The hide pile was growing rapidly, and she was suddenly under no illusion of what sort of people the Black family had been. She almost understood how Bellatrix had turned out the way she had.
Having finished with that shelf, she was about to turn her attention to the one underneath it when a knock came on the library door. She looked up just as Harry came in, wiping grime off of his hands. "How about a break hey Hermione", he said, walking over to her and taking the cloth out of her hand, placing it on the table. "It's 6 o'clock already; we should really have some supper and relax, then get back to these jobs tomorrow."
Nodding her head Hermione said, "Oh yes we really should, my hands are starting to hurt anyway, you don't half have to scrub hard at these shelves. They are coming up lovely with the waxing and polishing, but the elbow grease required is killing me."
Smiling slightly Harry lead the way out of the room and down the corridor. As he went towards the top of the staircase, he banged on certain doors down the corridor shouting, "Supper guys! We're done for today, get your arses downstairs!" Heads poked out of the rooms to say they'd be down in a second so Harry and Hermione continued their trip down the stairs. Getting to the bottom and stepping into the large hall, Hermione detoured down the corridor to the right, going a short distance until she reached a door. "Professor," she shouted, banging a hand on the heavy oak door loudly, "We're having supper now, come up when you're ready please." All reply she got was a muffled affirmation that she had been heard and her shouted instructions were being followed the other side of the door, so she turned on her heel and walked back towards the hall.
Entering the kitchen, Hermione found Harry getting 2 baking trays out of a cupboard and placing foil on them all. Understanding what he was doing, Hermione made her way to the fridge and pulled out 5 part baked baguettes and placed them on the foiled trays. Meanwhile, Harry opened the oven door to check that the pot he'd put in their earlier in the day was still there, and upon seeing it was sitting in there he turned the knob for the fan oven to the on position to warm up the large stainless steel pot sitting in it.
The kitchen had been one of the first places to be renovated in the house, with 9 adults in residence a working and functional kitchen was a necessity, especially with either 5 or 6 men. The fitted kitchen had been Hermione's idea, her input to the house that was to be her new home. Even though she could have moved back to her childhood home, living in the wizarding world was important to her.
As the muggle oven got to temperature, the other residents of the house started to trickle in. Most went straight to the kitchen sink to give themselves a good wash up after toiling all morning in their respective areas cleaning and polishing. One by one they sat around the large table, some groaning as their over worked muscles relaxed and their joints clicked and cracked into comfort.
Just as the last of the occupants wondered in, harry put the baguette trays in to the oven and glanced at the clock, "Ten minutes guys and it'll be ready". There was very little reaction from the people sitting around the table, as a lot of them had their head rested against the table top on their arms.
Shaking her head, Hermione laughed as exhaustion was quite clearly evident in everyone, not just herself. Hermione went to the fridge and pulled out 7 bottles of Magners cider, nicely chilled and ready to serve to the men at the table, as well as one for herself.
Pulling the bottle opener out of the cutlery draw she opened them and carried 5 of them over to the table, placing one infront of each guy's folded arms. Looking up at the sound of glass on the table top they all immediately reached for the bottle and took a large gulp of the cold apple cider before relaxing back into the wooden chairs.
At that moment the oven made a ping noise, and Harry grabbed the oven gloves and pulled the large pot out of the heat, placing it on to the top of the oven. Taking the large spoon that was sitting on the kitchen surface next to him; he took the large glass lid off of the pot and stirred the casserole inside. Deciding it was cooked through he grabbed the pot's handles with the oven gloves again and walked it over to the table and placed it in the middle on a place mat to protect the nicely polished wood from the heat. The pot was followed by Hermione with a large basket of bread and rolls, which she placed on the table within reach of everyone.
...
An hour later, after a good meal and a nice cold drink, everyone was feeling much more alive and 'with it'. Taking the evening off the group all trooped upstairs to change their dirty and slightly dust smelling clothes into their clean "comfies", including cotton tracksuit bottoms, t-shirts and jumpers. After cleaning themselves up with hot showers and the clothing changes they all came back downstairs to grab glasses, more drinks and ice from the fridge freezer to tide them over for the evening.
Balancing items in their arms, they all walked into the den, a smaller room than the living room with no chairs or sofa's, but a lot of blankets, large cushions and bean bags. This was the only other renovated room, what they called their 'Revive Room'. It had a large 42 inch LED TV installed on the wall, surround sound speaker turrets in the 5 corners of the room, a large free standing fridge that was always topped up with drinks and a snack cupboard in a corner. One wall was taken up with a desk that housed a desktop computer for the use of the residents of the house, and another wall had a large book case on it. However, in this room at least, it did not house books, but at least 120 DVD's of varying types.
Harry and Hermione were the first to enter the room, closely followed by Draco Malfoy, who very quickly jumped on the comfiest seat there was, claiming it as his own as he snuggled into it. His father followed, rolling his eyes at his son's behaviour, but quickly claimed the cushion next to him. Draco's mother unfortunately was not with them in the house. Finding out that her husband had been a turncoat well before their son was born had been one thing, but finding out that Draco's personality was a coached act from his father had pushed her over the edge. She died during the battle beside her sister, cackling along with her and just as deranged.
Next in were Albus and Minerva Dumbledore. Together finally, after 20 years of hiding their true relationship, it had come out that they were married and were now enjoying their retirement. Having both been too tired to return to teaching after the battle, they had turned the school over to the younger generation, determined to now enjoy life. They settled on the floor, their backs leaning against a padded wall, Albus holding Minerva loosely around the waist. After their first visit to the local supermarket during the previous summer, and the pointing, laughing and suspicious looks from the public, Albus had trimmed his beard and his hair to a normal length and himself and Minerva now looked like the grandparents of the group.
The two of them were followed by the other couple in the house, Remus and Dora Lupin. After her wedding Nymphadora had asked people to stop calling her Tonks as it was no longer her name, and now it was Dora. The two of them settled into one of the corners, Dora settling herself between Remus's spread legs. Her stomach was slightly distended being 5 months pregnant, and being comfortable was beginning to become a slight problem in certain circumstances. Leaning against something, namely Remus most of the time was the only way in which she could be comfortable. Sighing as the muscles in her back and abdomen relaxed, she burrowed her way into Remus's jumper.
And last but by no means least, there was Severus Snape. Long black shiny hair that now reached to the middle of his shoulder blades, a now magically fixed straight nose and teeth and a chilled out expression meant that he was only slightly recognisable from who he used to be. If anyone had looked at him now, a glass of Magners in his hand, black cotton tracksuit bottoms on and a blue t-shirt with the words, "I don't discriminate. I hate EVERYONE!" on it they'd have pled insanity and run screaming. As it was, everyone in the house now knew him as the person he had become, a funny but snarky man who's sense of humour was grey at best, but who secretly enjoyed having people around him after years of forced solitude.
As Severus was the last person to take a seat on a bean bag behind Hermione's cushion, Harry said, "So, can anyone remember whose tern it is to pick the movie because I'm not sure I can myself?" Hermione's eyebrows furrowed in concentration, and then her face lit up, "It's me! It's my turn I remember now!" and she jumped up from her place on the floor to peruse the shelves, quickly plucking one out for them. "Please don't let this be a chick flick Mione, after Minerva's last pick of Notting Hill then Dora's Four Weddings I really don't think I can cope with another one!" Scowling Hermione opened the DVD case hiding the front from everyone's view.
Scowling at him Hermione said, "And I suppose that your pick of Star Wars was the highlight of everyone's evening last Friday! And the 2 days following that when you couldn't resist talking to everyone through your hands, and making breathing noises that sounded like a 999 call was necessary!" Everyone except Harry sniggered and he ducked his head, his black hair that was now in a style reminiscent of David Beckham in the 90's, falling over his eyes as his face started to turn a bright crimson colour. Hermione sniggered and mock swore at him with her middle finger then put the DVD on the tray and pressed the eject button again for it to close.
The DVD player whirred into action and Hermione picked up the remote control to play it. As the film started and the opening credits started, almost everyone in the room looked somewhat confused. Severus was the one to speak up first,"Hermione, why on earth does this film start with the Bayeux Tapestry? What sort of film is this?" Looking extremely confused at the start of the film, Harry looked over at Severus, "The what tapestry?" his brows furrowed.
Severus rolled his eyes at the confused faces in the room, "The Bayeux Tapestry is a 224 ft long embroidered cloth, it is not actually a tapestry despite its name, which shows the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England in 1066, and the events of the invasion itself." Almost everyone save for Lucius was staring at him like he had grown another head. Hermione could tell he was becoming a tad uncomfortable with all eyes on him so she said, "The tapestry is annotated in Latin and despite its age you can still see it on display in a special museum in Bayeux, Normandy called Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux."
Severus looked up at her with a thankful expression and she smiled, "Well after your impromptu history lesson, let's get back to the film as it's starting now", and with that she sat herself in front of Severus on her cushion to watch her film choice. However, just as the silence settled it was disrupted by Harry once again. "I thought you said this movie was about an English invasion, that just said Jerusalem, and that guy's accent is American!"
Rolling her eyes Hermione steeled herself for an explanation, "Harry, the film is called Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. It is about an outlaw in Nottingham called Robin Hood who was famous for robbing from the rich in society and giving what he stole to the local poor to help them. His wife was called Maid Marion and she helped him to do what he did. This film is how it all started. And about the American accent, that is because he's Kevin Costner, and", at that point she stopped because Dora swooned very loudly. "Oh Kevin Costner, one sexy sexy man! Even if he made no attempt in this film to hide the fact that he is American."
Grinning Hermione looked from Dora to Remus, who was giving the top of his wife's head a mock glare, "Calm down Remus, I can feel your eyes on me. Chill out man, I'm married to you." Remus gave her a squeeze and everyone settled down to watch Hermione's movie in peace, the only noise came from the occasional rustling of a snack packet or the fizz of a bottle being opened.