AN1: I love the rain. Don't you?

Disclaimer: (Sighs) No. Why bother even asking? HP is not mine nor will it ever be.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hermione Granger sighed as she looked out the window. The sky that day was so beautifully cloudy and she wished so much that it would rain. That would make her day. It was only her third period and she was already tired of teaching today.

"Umm, professor?" Little second year Ava McMillan asked Hermione, "Are you okay?" Hermione snapped back into reality.

"Yes, I'm fine Ms. McMillan, thank you for asking. Did you have a question about the assignment?"

"No, professor." Hermione nodded and went back to gazing out the window. About a minute before the bell rang, Hermione addressed her class.

"Your homework is to finish those problems that you were assigned as class work and to complete your outline for your essay that is due next week." The bell rang. "You're dismissed." Her class scurried out and headed off to whatever they had next. In her brief moments of down time, Hermione walked over to the window and gazed up at the clouds in a pensive manner. All too soon, the bell rang, signaling the beginning of the next class.

As her fifth years breezed in, Hermione wrote their class work on the board. Yes, today was a boring day for them, but they had expected that. On the first rainy day like this—or the first day that appeared as though it should rain—Hermione always assigned class work as opposed to lecturing the students. She couldn't focus on teaching if it was the first rainy day of the season; she was too distracted and flighty.

Halfway through the class, thunder boomed and there was a flash of lightning. Startled, Hermione looked up from grading papers and rushed to the window. When she saw the rain begin to fall, a bright smile lit up her face. Now normally, Hermione would just open the window and let some of the rain in but continue with class normally. Today however, was different. With a huge grin on her face she turned to the very bored fifth years.

"Would you guys like to do something fun?" There was a simultaneous chorus of yeses throughout the class. Their professor was rarely this animated when it wasn't raining, so they took advantage of what they could get of her excited demeanor.

"Let's go outside! I'll cut the assignment down so that you'll have less to do and that way we can spend some time outside just enjoying the rain. How about it?"

The class nodded and as their professor rushed out the door, they eagerly followed her. Granted, going outside wasn't the most exciting thing ever, but it sure was better than Muggle Studies bookwork. By the time the entire class was outside, it has started to rain harder, and there were brief flashes of lightning in the sky. With every boom of thunder, Hermione's smile widened.

Never before had any of her students seen her as excited about anything; she was running around in small circles with her head tilted up and her tongue out as if to catch raindrops. They observed their normally reserved professor in amusement before deciding to have their own fun in the rain. If there was someone watching from a distance, they would have indeed seen a strange sight. At least twenty kids—all about fifteen years old—running around and dancing in the rain with a woman who looked to be about twenty-six. Four of the students, Nicole, Taylor, Amelia and Olivia, broke away from the rest of the group and stood in a circle by on their own and watched their professor let loose.

But almost as soon as Hermione had begun to dance outside, she stopped. She looked almost imploringly in all directions around her and a sad little smile replaced the large grin she had previously been sporting. Now she simply stood still. Not dancing, not trying to catch rain, she just stood there. The four females were the only ones paying any attention to their teacher, and they were confused. What had caused the sudden change in her? It seemed like she was looking for someone.

As they discussed the possibilities of that, a loud pop was heard from behind them. They whipped their heads around and the sight that greeted them put a smile on each of their faces. Hermione was no longer standing alone. Standing beside her was a tall and handsome man whom they assumed was, at the least, her boyfriend. He bent down to whisper something in her ear. They couldn't hear the conversation, but saw that she responded back. Not even a minute later, their professor and the man were engaged in a passionate embrace.

"Aww, that's so sweet, they're kissing in the rain!" Olivia said as a wistful smile crept onto her face. "If I had a boyfriend, and it was raining, that's the first thing I'd want to do!"

"But you don't have a boyfriend." Taylor said matter-of-factly. Olivia hit her.

"Shut up! If I did then I wouldn't be talking to you guys right now would I? Geez Taylor, thanks so much! You dream ruiner...you ruin peoples' dreams!" Olivia splashed Taylor, but missed and got Nicole wet instead. That started a full on water fight and they all laughed crazily and tried to splash each other. While that was going on among her friends, Olivia slipped away unnoticed and glanced again at her professor who was still locked in a passionate embrace with the man. She sighed in wistful jealousy before running off to join her friends.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

AN2: Wow, that was way different than my original plan!! But nonetheless, I still liked this one!

So...I'm thinking about writing a companion piece to this...except focusing on Hermione. You know, zooming in on her thoughts. What do you think, should I?

lovelove, Amanda