"Again!" Remus barked, sending a volley of curses, jinxes, hexes and charms at Hermione, putting her through her paces.
They had been dueling for the last three hours in the chateau's huge ballroom. They were both tired, and that made their moves a little sloppy, but they kept each other on their toes. Remus said it was good practice for the war they knew was coming. Everyone would be tired, but if she could pace herself and keep her wits in the heat of battle, it would help keep her alive long enough for it to be over.
Hermione rolled out of the way of Remus's curse, moving easily in her spandex workout clothes. She finished the move on her feet, facing her opponent. She threw her own curse at him without missing a beat. It didn't hit her mark, but the charm she sent hard on it's heels did. Remus rose in the air and flipped end over end until Hermione took pity on her dueling partner.
After a few seconds of watching him with an amused expression, her breathing had slowed enough to ask, "Do you give?"
He sounded a little sick when he replied, "I suppose I have no choice."
Still flipping head over tail, Remus dropped his wand to show he was finished dueling and Hermione immediately ended the charm, quickly performing a cushioning charm to break his fall.
"Thanks." He said gratefully.
"No problem," Hermione replied. "I wanted to defeat you in a duel... not kill you."
Remus looked at his student with barely concealed pride in his eyes. "You've done remarkably well, Hermione. You know, I was the dueler of the Marauders." His smile was a bit sad for a moment, but he shook it off and smiled at Hermione.
Wanting to dispel the impending depression, Hermione teased him saying, "Yea, you're so big and bad! You must be letting me beat you 2 out of 5 times!"
His scowl turned into a wolfish grin and when she turned her back to him, still laughing, to get a drink of water, he hit her with a tickling charm. Unfortunately for him, one of the first things he had taught her from his mother's books was a personal shielding spell. That particular spell stopped most charms and curses... and rebounded them on their caster!
Also, unfortunately for him, the shield spell is a bit unstable! It had a nasty tendency to double or sometimes triple the effects of the original! Remus dissolved into a fit of laughter so intense that he could barely draw a breath!
Hermione whirled around and, seeing Remus's predicament, she did the counter charm quickly, not even trying to hide the smirk on her face. "That will teach you."
Gasping for breath to fill his aching lungs, Remus could only nod. When he had nearly regained control of his breathing, Hermione had the terrible urge to tickle him the old fashioned way!
'What's the matter with me?!' She thought, furious with herself. 'Remus doesn't want to be tickled! Why did I even think that?'
"Hermione?"
'Oh, GOD!' Hermione blushed to the roots of her hair. "What?"
Remus looked at the younger witch with confusion written all over his face. "Are you okay, Hermione?"
Still blushing, Hermione turned away from Remus and tried to make her voice sound even. "I'm fine. Do you want to duel again, or can we go eat dinner?"
Sighing, Remus said he was going to take a shower before dinner and was even more puzzled with her behavior when her cheeks once again flamed bright red. He was still wondering about it as he trudged wearily up the stairs to get cleaned up.
When he came down for dinner, he found Hermione and Maurice talking with each other in the kitchen. The way she listened so intently to what he had to say made him wonder what they were talking about. He watched for a few minutes, but could not make out what they were saying.
He walked through the door just in time to hear the tail end of the conversation.
"And then," Maurice said, waiving his hands to emphasize the point he was making, "the whole thing collapsed on itself with young master Lupin inside!"
Hermione dissolved into a fit of giggles and only managed to compose herself after she noticed Remus leaning against the wall. Her eyes sparkled with suppressed mirth and the look she gave him made Remus want to make her smile more often.
"I see Maurice has been regaling you with tales from my childhood."
Still stifling her laughter, she smiled and said, "Yes. He was telling me about the tree house you and the other Marauders built the summer after your second year!"
Remus winced, but remembering the music of her laughter couldn't be angry with his old friend for telling his 'secrets'. After all, several of them were too funny not to share.
"Why don't you join us for dinner, Maurice?" Remus glanced at Hermione to make sure she was alright with that. Seeing her smile, he continued, "I'm sure you have a few more stories to tell this lovely young lady about."
Maurice agreed to dine with them and they all had a wonderful evening full of stories about Remus's youth. The funniest ones naturally included the Marauders. Hermione laughed harder than she ever had before and as she trudged wearily up the stairs to her room, though her feet felt as heavy as lead, her heart was light. She fell asleep with a smile on her face.
Author's note:
Once again, I'd like to thank all the people who've written to me and told me what you thought about my story. I know it's going a little slow right now (okay, a lot slow) but it will pick up here very soon! Now that the Fall Semester is over, I can concentrate on some of my many projects I have laying around the house. My husband will be so pleased... maybe I'll even finish one or two!
Thanks for checking back here every so often. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Gotta go get the cat out of the Christmas tree now. Merry Christmas, a Blessed Yule and many happy returns!
AF Marauder