This chapter is for curlybean who gave me a kindly worded but well deserved smack on the nose for making everyone wait so long, lol. In my defense, I didn't even realize that it had been over a week since I last posted.
Big hugs to my favorite ER nurse! As a special thank you, the next chapter is chock full of Remus. (I promise it won't take as long :p)
************
The nervous fourteen year old boy hid shyly behind the large stacks of thick dusty books. He quietly and carefully pulled one aside and peered through the small triangular opening, searching for the object of his desire.
He saw her, just feet away, sitting at one of the small wooden tables. As usual, she was bent over a pile of heavy volumes, in rapt concentration, her dark hair spilling over her shoulder as she chewed the end of her quill. Feeling slightly guilty over his stalker-like behavior, he flushed slightly, but he didn't avert his gaze.
Had she always been this pretty? He had known her for quite some time already, but it had only been a recent development in his mind to take notice of her with any kind of real interest. Only lately had he realized that when she looked at him a certain way his heart beat a little faster.
It had become a habit of his to carefully steal furtive glances at her while she studied. She spent a lot of time in the library. No small wonder as he had always known how smart she was. In all honesty, it was safe to say that he had spent more time in the library this term than he had in the previous three years combined.
What exactly did that mean?
He watched as she rose from her seat to slip into another row of stacks, a small piece of parchment in her hand, a look of intense concentration on her face as she searched for another book. She frowned slightly as she had trouble locating the desired tome, her pert little nose wrinkling in frustration.
The enamored boy smiled broadly. It was the cutest thing he had ever seen.
He peeked his head around the corner of his stack to get a better look at her. Briefly, he entertained the idea of approaching her and offering to help search for the stubborn material. Any excuse to be near her without suspicion was welcome, but he noticed sadly that, after another minute of scanning the shelves, she saw what she had been looking for and pulled it away in triumph.
Oh well. Some other time.
He sighed and shifted slightly, resuming his perch behind the safety of the shielding volumes. He could have happily stayed there all afternoon, just watching her as she furiously scribbled notes. Of course, the most natural thing in the world would have been for him to just walk over and join her. She wouldn't have refused him, he knew. They were friends, after all. But, somehow, the idea frightened him and he took greater comfort in admiring her from afar in this way.
Unfortunately, luck was not shining on him today. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed, with dismay, the arrival of his best friend who had seen him immediately.
"Harry!" Ron called loudly, earning him a scathing glare from Madam Pince. The redhead flushed from the silent reprimand and strode over to Harry, who was extricating himself from his viewing spot, reluctantly accepting that his presence was outed. Ruefully, he stole a glance at Cho who had raised her head from her books at the sound of his name. She smiled at him, her beautiful eyes twinkling as he walked past her and towards his very loud mate.
Grinning stupidly, he gave her a little wave of acknowledgement and hurried next to Ron before the loud Weasley did something else to make their presence a little more obtrusive. As he reached Ron, Harry frowned in annoyance for a moment before reining in his agitation. It wasn't his friend's fault that Harry had decided to spy on the girl he didn't have the guts to speak to directly.
"Hey Ron," he greeted, as quietly as he could. "What are you doing here?"
Ron looked at him a little suspiciously. "I'm meeting Hermione, of course. What do you think I'm doing in the library?"
It was a fair question. The boys had never entered the room willingly on their own just for studying purposes the entire time they had been at school. Ron narrowed his eyes in concentration as he stared at Harry.
"What are you doing in here?"
Harry blushed at the question. He wasn't ready to tell anyone about his infatuation just yet.
"I..errr..I'm..Sirius is making me study here for a half hour every day until we have our Transfiguration exam," he lied uneasily, feeling a little guilty that he had to invoke his godfather's name as an excuse.
"Oh." If Ron noticed his friend's obvious discomfort, he didn't say anything. "Rotten luck, mate. Having your godfather as a professor. When it comes to studying, I mean."
Harry shrugged. "Yeah, well, it's okay. I have been getting better grades this term." It was true that he had. In an effort to please his godfather, Harry had been studying significantly more diligently than in previous years.
The boys ambled towards an empty table, not far from where Cho was still sitting, and waited for Hermione's arrival. It didn't take too long before the breathless brunette flew into the library and unloaded her bag and arms onto the table in a flurry of parchment and quills.
"I really love my Arithmency lessons!" she stated, for the millionth time, Harry thought.
He smiled a little at her enthusiasm and briefly wondered how much Cho liked Arithmency. He stole a furtive glance over at her and was surprised to see her looking at him. Embarrassed, he quickly turned away and flushed again for the umpteenth time that day. Ron had been watching him, so he looked over and saw what had caught Harry's attention. Turning back to his friend in confusion, he was startled to see Harry look so flustered.
"Harry, why is Cho Chang staring at you?" he asked innocently.
Harry's face went two shades of red deeper in color as he busied himself with one of Hermione's books. All of a sudden, the study of Ancient Runes seemed to be utterly fascinating to him.
"Uh..I..I don't know," he stammered. "Maybe she's looking at something behind me."
Ron didn't say anything to Harry to indicate that he didn't believe his answer, he just shrugged and went back to his Quidditch book. Hermione, however, gave Harry a thoughtful look before smiling briefly at him knowingly and returning to the essay she had begun to work on.
Harry watched Hermione for a moment and then chuckled softy at her intense concentration. "Merlin, Hermione. It's your birthday. Don't you think you deserve even one day off from your studies?" he teased, watching her blush, the traces of a small smile playing around the corners of her mouth.
"Well, as the two of you are making me celebrate it tonight, I have to study now. Professor Vector didn't care that I'm another year older today when he assigned us all of this homework," she said with an air of disdain although, inwardly, she was quite pleased with fuss her friends were making.
For the next half an hour, Harry and Cho silently, and somewhat unknowingly, flirted with each other across the room. Harry had absolutely no experience with the fairer sex other than his friendship with Hermione. He wasn't sure as to what exactly he was feeling, but it felt nice anyway, if a bit confusing and frustrating.
As for Cho, a pretty girl all her life, she was used to brash and confident boys approaching her and didn't know what to make of the shy Gryffindor. Harry was cute, famous, wealthy and a bit of an enigma. He was always nice, his bravery was legend and he didn't seem to realize how much the other students were awed by him. She found that she liked that last aspect about him the most. With his past and notoriety, it would have been so easy for him to have a big head, but he just didn't seem to.
Every now and then, Hermione would catch a glimpse of one of them staring at the other out of the corner of her eye. She smiled to herself. It would do Harry good to act like a normal teen for awhile and Cho seemed to be a nice girl. Hermione was well pleased for her friend. Now all she had to do was push him a little bit. Knowing Harry as well as she did, she doubted that he would act on his own.
Harry looked at his watch and noticed that it was getting late. He gathered his things and began packing them into his bag.
"I have to get going. I told Sirius I would be there by now."
He pulled on his robe and grabbed his bag. Bravely he shot one more glance over to Cho, who was once again looking his way and smiling. He ducked his head slightly and grinned back shyly as his bid his friends goodbye and sprinted towards the astronomy tower.
****************
Sirius was in a right state when his godson arrived to help put up a few colorful decorations for Hermione's small dinner party.
They had wanted to take her out of school to someplace fun for the evening, but McGonagall wouldn't allow it because it was a Monday. It was different when Sirius took Harry to London because his guardianship overruled the school rules, but for him to take Harry, Hermione and Ron out gallivanting during the school week was just not on.
Sirius had just returned from yet another meeting with the headmaster. Albus assured him that he had had a very stern chat with Alastor regarding his behavior. Sirius didn't need to be a Legilimens to know that there were several key parts of the conversation that he wasn't being informed of and he didn't like it one bit.
He had promised Albus that he would keep his temper in check if Alastor's behavior was curtailed via official school channels. But, having received no credible reassurance that the matter was well in hand, his mind was whirring with possible ideas of how to get to the bottom of matters himself. He had given Albus his word that he would not approach Alastor directly unless he felt that Harry or any of the other students or any of the faculty members were in immediate danger.
In hindsight, this was proving to be one of his poorer decisions, of which he had made many in his life.
He heard someone fumbling at the door and thought it was Harry. He was surprised to see Remus enter, carrying a large armload of parcels and bags. He was still looking a little pale as it was only a couple of days since the full moon. He rushed over to relieve the tired man of his colorful burdens and set them all on the couch.
"I didn't think you were coming back, Moony," he exclaimed, surprised but pleased. Remus had just left yesterday afternoon after accompanying Sirius, Harry and Ron to Hogsmeade and had stated his intention to take a couple of days to himself in the sweet little house that Sirius had built for him on the grounds of Celestial Court. "What changed your mind?"
That had been another row between them. Sirius knew how much Remus liked his privacy. He was a quiet homebody by nature, but Sirius couldn't stand the idea of his best friend being too far away so he had commissioned the stone cottage within a short walk of the main house as a gift for Remus. Remus' own small house was literally falling down around his ears no matter how much he tried to maintain it. It was desperately overdue for a decent renovation and Sirius had finally strong-armed him into allowing it. Just last week, the wary werewolf had moved some of his things over to the new residence and this was to be his first time staying there. Obviously he had changed his mind.
Remus opened his mouth to answer the question, when Harry burst through the door.
"Sorry, I'm late!" he called to his godfather as he dashed into his room and threw his things on his bed. He happily pealed off his uniform and donned his favorite T shirt and well worn jeans. Harry hated his scratchy school jumpers with a passion.
Sirius looked expectantly at Remus who only shook his head and shifted his eyes towards Harry's bedroom. Later, he mouthed silently.
"I decided that I didn't want to miss the festivities," he answered loudly and cheerfully as the boy bounded back into the main room, a large brightly wrapped package in his hands.
Harry placed his gift on the small table that Sirius had set up for just such a use. There were already packages from Sirius and Remus waiting there.
"What can I do?" Harry asked, happier than his godfather had seen him for some time.
Sirius smiled at him, pleased that Harry seemed to be in such a good mood. Lately, especially after their argument over the Imperious curse, Harry had been a bit broody and short tempered. Sirius, sure of his actions but still upset over the necessity, had overlooked more than a few instances of surliness and cheek from his godson just to avoid getting into another row that would not end up happily for either of them. Some things were just not worth the battle when it came to moody teenagers.
"Why don't you hang the streamers, Harry," he answered, his eyes twinkling.
Harry nodded his agreement and proceeded to unpack the bag with the party decorations. Within moments, he was using the spells that his godfather and Remus had taught him over the weekend just for this occasion, and the room began to fill with colorful crepe.
A half hour later, Dobby appeared and began to summon large platters of food and sweets onto the dining table. Part of Sirius' gift to Hermione was hiring Dobby for the evening instead of letting the one of the unpaid Hogwarts house elves cater the dinner. Even though she was not making great strides in promoting S.P.E.W. to the rest of the student body or faculty, Sirius always took pains to be respectful of her views and helpful when he could be.
Just before six o'clock, when Ron and the birthday girl were due to arrive, Sirius sent Harry to change into a nicer set of clothes. Really, the boy would live in T shirts and jeans if his godfather would let him. Harry had grimaced and postured for a minute before obeying reluctantly. Honestly, Hermione had seen him dressed casually for years. He didn't see the necessity of dressing up just for dinner and cake.
At promptly six o'clock, there was a knock at the door and it opened to reveal a very pink faced birthday girl with a grinning redhead standing behind her. Amid cries of Happy Birthday and cheers all around, she was led to the place of honor at the table. Sirius, beaming like maniac, popped an enchanted paper and crytal tiara on her head that continuously shape shifted into different designs and jewel tones.
The boys, forever waiting in anxiety for their next meal, stared covetously at the laden platters until Sirius took pity on them and allowed them to start feasting. Only after the birthday girl had been served, of course. They ate merrily and chatted noisily, only taking a break to cut into the sparkling pink cake and singing off key. Hermione laughed hysterically, even though the singing was making her head hurt. She appreciated the effort.
After everyone was left sated at the table, groaning in discomfort from the mass consumption, Sirius clapped his hands excitedly and levitated the presents table over to where Hermione was perched in her chair making a huge effort to remain in a ladylike position despite feeling absolutely enormous from food.
"Mine first! Mine first!" Sirius happily cried out. He could be such a child during times like this. Of course it was part natural joie de vivre and part desire to act as silly as possible to make the kids laugh at his antics. He used his wand to propel a breadbox shaped parcel to land directly in front of her.
Blushing furiously from the unused to attention, she carefully tore through the glittering paper to find a nondescript brown box. Frowning, but amused, she lifted the lid, only to be rewarded with a loud bang! and a large black cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared, her eyes were wide in shock from the unexpected commotion, but that gave way quickly to peals of laughter as she clapped her hand over her mouth, coming dangerously close to snorting in amusement over the condition of her dinner companions.
Seated at the head of the table, the birthday girl now found herself surrounded by four males who had unbelievably sprouted cat faces. Grinning as sheepishly as a cat face could, Sirius ignored the cries of protest from the other party goers and gave his attention to the giggling girl.
"Just a little love note from Zonko's. After Harry told me what happened with the polyjuice potion in your second year, I thought it was only fitting that you should see what everyone else looks like when attacked with pussycat magic."
Hermione removed her hand long enough to choke out an answer. "You all look brilliant, Sirius! I knew Ron was a cat person," she teased, glancing over at Ron who was looking surprisingly like Crookshanks, smashed face and all.
"It will wear off in just a moment," Sirius assured them.
Harry was shooting daggers at his godfather from a black and while cat face with a little white lightening bolt running down his forehead. Remus, used to being the target of such pranks from his long suffering years as a Marauder, just sat back in his chair smiling serenely, absolutely nonplussed with the whole situation.
Sirius, regaining his composure as the spell slowly lifted, leaned over and handed Hermione a small rectangular box. "This is your real present, my dear."
Hermione recovered herself enough to remove the wrapping, uncovering a black velvet case. Opening it gingerly, her eyes widened with pleasure as she extracted an exsquisite hair comb studded with small sparkling sapphires.
"Oh," she breathed quietly. "It's gorgeous, Sirius."
"Your birthstone," the suddenly calm man replied, his gray eyes twinkling madly. "It's an antique. It belonged to my aunt. I'm sure you will do it far more justice than she ever did."
Hermione frowned and hurriedly placed the comb back into the box. "I can't accept this, Sirius. It should stay in your family."
Sirius reached over and pulled in back out, gently entwining it into her hair. Somewhat fashionably, he was pleased to realize. "Nonsense, Hermione. Harry loves you like a sister. You already are in our family."
Hermione ducked her head shyly amidst Sirius' sincere declaration and Harry's enthusiastic nod agreeing to his godfather's assessment. "Thank you, then. I love it," she whispered quietly as she gently ran her fingers over the intricate scroll work.
Remus clapped his hands together loudly, shocking them all back into the party spirit. "Alright, then. My turn."
With a flick of his wand, a chubby square box sailed over the table and floated gracefully in front of the still blushing girl.
"Not precious antique jewels or jokes, but I hope you like it anyway, Hermione," he teased.
She smirked and proceeded to rip off the purple tissue paper sprinkled with stars. Popping open the top of another plain brown box (carefully this time, just in case Remus had also shopped at Zonko's), she peered inside and squealed at the contents. Mad with glee, she began to unload the various sized bottles and flasks onto the table, reading out the labels that had been painstakingly written.
"Oh, my."
Remus smiled at her with the pleasure of a teacher watching his favorite student enjoying their studies. "All from my own garden. You won't find most of these easily at any apothecary."
Ron leaned over, curiosity high at Hermione's obvious pleasure. "What are they?"
"Herbs," Sirius answered for his friend, cocking an approving eyebrow at Remus. "Very rare herbs, from the look of it. Even Snape would be jealous himself to get his hands on a few of these, I would wager."
Remus grinned like a boy. "Oh, I help him out with some from time to time. Professional courtesy, you know, for my Wolfsbane. You are such a promising Potions student, Hermione. I thought you might like to really test out your skills with some of these. Assuming, of course, that you promise to use them cautiously and carefully," he said with a pointed look at the often mischievous trio.
Hermione nodded her consent enthusiastically as the boys looked away in mock discomfort. It was no secret who the usual ringmaster for trouble was. His neck and ears red from the not-so-veiled comment, said ringmaster slid over a large flat package in front of the distracted brunette.
"Erm, mine next I guess," Harry muttered as his godfather threw him an indulgent and affectionate smile.
Hermione grinned at his obvious discomfort. Putting her friend out of the misery of being teased, she tore off the paper and drew in an excited breath.
"Harry! How wonderful!"
In her hands lay a large book, The Encyclopedia of Encyclopedias. Eagerly, she popped it open and began to thumb through the pages, only to find them all blank except for a gold embossed letter on each. She lifted her confused face up to the blushing black haired boy and wordlessly asked for assistance.
"You're meant to write down what you are looking for on the appropriate letter page," Harry explained quickly. "Then the book will tell you exactly which books you need to find the answers and where exactly to find the books."
Hermione squealed again in delight and immediately tested the theory. As she sampled the information, the two men at the table nodded in approval at the wonderful piece of magic the book was.
"Well done, Harry," Remus remarked in admiration. Harry felt his face burn with embarrassment over the praise and he fidgeted a little in his chair.
Hermione was so consumed with Harry's gift that they all almost forgot that she had one more to open. Fortunately, Sirius knew what was coming and he had saved the best for last. Gently pulling the encyclopedia away from the engaged girl, he slid over a small flat box, expertly wrapped and breathtaking in its beauty.
"One more, Hermione," he whispered serenely.
Brought back to reality, she shot an apologetic look over to Ron and exhaled sharply over the pretty little package.
"I almost don't want to open it," she remarked, earning a hurt look from the redhead. "I mean, it's so beautiful just the way it is," she soothed, and Ron quickly brightened.
She pushed a fingernail under the ribbons, snapping them open, and then pulled off the lid. As she peered inside, she didn't say anything as two fat tears slid slowly down her cheeks. Ron's face fell and he looked positively crushed to see her cry. Sirius, assessing the situation far more expertly than the hormonal and fairly clueless boy, threw Ron an encouraging stare, jerking his head over to where Hermione was sitting.
Ron's eyes snapped open as he got the hint and and he stood up to make his way over to her. He reached into the box and slowly pulled out the shimmering silver bracelet, its delicate links almost imperceptibly clinking together, the four tiny charms jiggling slightly from the motion. With more care than any of them thought he could possess, he wrapped it around Hermione's trembling wrist and tenderly fastened the clasp.
Uncomfortable in the silence that had engulfed the room, Ron began to speak in a rapid and jerky manner, just to take the tension out of the room.
"I didn't know how many charms to get for you, but...I thought...maybe..you know...one for each year," he stammered as his lifted them in turn for her to see.
"I wasn't so sure about this one. It's not exactly pretty," he apologized, wrinkling his nose as he presented the gray lacquered miniature troll with the glittering green eyes. "But it seemed right to include one that reminded me of the day we all first became friends."
Hermione smiled through her tears and Harry snorted in amusement. It certainly was appropriate. Enboldened, Ron rushed to explain the rest.
"Polyjuice potion, second year," he grinned, holding the small onyx cauldron with the sparkling mist that changed color in the light. "And, time turner, of course," as he described the small gold orb with the tiny rings around it. Across the table, Sirius threw them all an appreciate smile, dramatically wiping the back of his hand across his forehead and mouthing 'Whew!'
"And..and this, well, you know," Ron said nervously as he smoothed his finger over the intricately carved coral seashell.
She did know and she sniffed happily in place of the words that refused to come. Sirius knew, too and his eyes twinkled madly as he watched them as well as Remus who had helped Sirius retrieve the troublesome little shell out of the grove during that miserable week after Harry's birthday party.
Only Harry didn't get the significance, although he could clearly tell that the others did. Feeling like an unwanted guest, he frowned, hurt by the exclusion of his friends and family as he watched the others fawn over Ron's beautiful and unexpected gift.