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Dizzy In The Heat	By : DivineAngel Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Remus/Hermione Views: 16130 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Chapter
1: In-Between Days

Hermione brushed a loose lock of hair away from her face, it tickled. She
turned the pages of the large volume in front of her, scanning the
scrawling text for a reference, finding it she scribbled footnote
number twelve at the end of the lengthy parchment. This essay for
Defence Against the Dark Arts was taking longer than she thought it
was going to and the library was growing darker and quieter around
her. Suddenly she was drawn back to her location and she looked up
for the first time in an hour, he was still there, sitting opposite
her also hard at work.

This
was almost the last essay they would have to write at Hogwarts, she
had one more for Arithmancy and he had one for Transfiguration, one
she'd already finished. Then it would be exam time, revision would
increase to fill the gaps left by lessons, which would cease two
weeks prior to the exam period. They hardly saw each other these
days, when they did it was usually like this, each hard at work with
barely a word exchanged.

With
a sad smile she went back to work, she had to stay focussed right
now, sorting out the problems in their relationship would have to
wait until the end of term.

~#~#~#~

The
cheer rang out across the grounds, the very last exam was over. But
there was a tinge of sadness on its crest, it marked the end of the
seventh year for Hermione and her classmates, the end of life at
Hogwarts. After this one last summer holiday Hermione was going
travelling. She wanted to see other cultures, both muggle and magical
especially in the east. Japan was her first stop, followed by
Thailand. She was excited, nervous and painfully aware that she
hadn't told him yet.

It
was a glorious day and the seventh years had been quick to get out
into the sunshine from the stuffy Great Hall where their exams had
been held. She spotted the familiar head of red hair bobbing towards
her through the small crowd assembled just outside the main entrance
to the castle, still taller than most other students.

With
a big grin, Ron reached her and threw his arms around her, she smiled
and hugged him back, the feeling of discomfort she had grown all too
accustomed to settling in the pit of her stomach yet again. Ron broke
the hug and moved to kiss her, Hermione was caught a little off
guard, they hadn't kissed in a few days, and before that it had been
days longer, kisses were growing few and far between. She made sure
it was only a peck and pulled away with what she hoped was a cheerful
smile and squeezed his hand before moving away looking for another
friendly face. She saw the disappointment in his face and it pained
her. She was going to have to talk to him, and soon.

~#~#~#~

Hermione
sat staring out of the window over the dusty fields. It was the
hottest summer she'd known, bone dry and the countryside was paying
the price. There wasn't the faintest breeze as Ron, Ginny, Fred and
George lazily tossed a quaffle between each other, hovering low on
their brooms, just drifting enough to generate a bit of cool air
movement around themselves.

The
Burrow was quiet, Harry was still away, they hadn't seen him in
several long weeks, since before the end of term, but he'd been
writing often enough to keep them updated on his horcrux hunt. Most
of the other Weasleys were at work or otherwise away, Percy had never
moved back home after the arguments a few years previously and Bill
was living in France with Fleur. Charlie had popped by for dinner but
he and his parents were rarely around during the first week of the
holidays. Fred and George stopped by in the evenings to keep them
company and to get some time out on their brooms, there wasn't
exactly a space for such things in London, where they now lived. They
did see Remus once a week or so, he made a point of checking in on
the youngsters for Molly and Arthur when neither of them were able to
get back. Hermione itched to know what Molly was doing, Arthur was
obviously busy at the Ministry, but she couldn't think what Molly was
involved with, she suspected it might have something to do with
Grimmauld Place and still hadn't stopped wondering why her and Ron
weren't staying there this summer.

Hermione
had tried to get out of staying with Ron, she felt sick and awkward
and that feeling was only made infinitely worse by sharing Ron's bed.
Molly almost certainly wouldn't approve, but Ron had convinced
Hermione on the grounds that his parents were hardly ever there so
wouldn't know and even if they did they had no place to interfere
with their now grown up son's sex life.

She
loved Ron very much, they had started going out after Harry left the
first time, a year previously and it had been wonderful to begin
with, after so much anticipation over the years. Among the growing
tension following Dumbledore's death, it was important to have
someone and she had Ron. With Harry in and out, distracted by his
quest, and Ginny distant in his absence, the couple had spent almost
all of their time together, studying to keep her happy and trying to
have as much fun as possible to keep them both sane. The sex had been
clumsy at first, like any couple just trying to work it all out, but
as they grew more confident and comfortable with each other and their
new relationship they learned which buttons to push and it had been
loving and exciting for a while.

However,
the year grew darker, bleaker and the reality of their final year
began to descend around them. Hermione became much more focussed on
school work, as did Ron and they both tried their hardest not to
think and worry too much about Harry.

Now,
here she was, watching her boyfriend from a distance, wondering how
on earth she was going to end this, if that's what she really wanted.
She did still love him and part of her wanted to push forward and see
if they could get through this. When she told him about her plans to
travel he had been visibly disappointed, but told her he was excited
for her. Whenever she brought it up he avoided talking about it,
except to reassure her that when she got back they would see about
getting a place to live together. Hermione's stomach had lurched at
that, she nodded and smiled but felt a pang of sickness.

She
turned away from the window and looked about the room, it was a lot
more tidy now than it had been within a day of them getting back. Two
half unpacked trunks had cluttered the small space up very easily but
she had managed to influence the situation and restore order, she'd
got Ron to unpack properly and put his belongings away. It had been
quite difficult to sort through school things, memories were fresh
and the period of adjustment to the idea of never going back to
Hogwarts was still in its early days. But they had managed to find
cupboard space for all of Ron's things, Hermione's remained in her
trunk, but neatly folded and ordered, it was a reminder of where she
was in life, in between school and adulthood, between being in love
and not. She let out a frustrated huff and moved towards the door,
stopping in her tracks at the sound of a few distant pops.

'Hello?'
It was Molly calling out in her sing-song voice, Hermione heard Ron
call out from the garden and the quaffle thunked to the floor. There
was bustling conversation coming from the kitchen so she resigned
herself to joining them, making a great effort to brush off her
concerns.

She
reached the kitchen and was greeted by the cheerful faces of the
Weasleys and Remus, who was holding a large paper bag that appeared
to be overflowing with vegetables.

'Ah.
Hermione dear, there you are.' Molly pushed past George to give her a
warm hug, but Hermione's eyes were firmly fixed on Remus, a bemused
smile on her lips. She caught his eye as Molly released her and
brushed away, attempting to straighten Fred's t-shirt as she passed
him. Remus looked between Hermione and the bag and grinned as he put
it down on the kitchen table. The bag toppled over and potatoes and
onions rolled out. Hermione rushed forward to catch some; her hands
brushing his as he did likewise. A strangely awkward moment settled
between them and Remus smiled stiffly.

'From
my garden, I've started growing things.' He patted the cluster of
vegetables before him and smiled again.

'In
this heat?' Hermione said, unbelieving. 'Have you been helping the
process along?' She scolded with a smirk.

'Not
at all, I'll have you know these are naturally grown, helped only by
TLC and liberal doses of enriched water.' He replied in his best
mock-offended tone. Hermione giggled and helped herself to a chopping
board and peeler, sitting down she got to work. The boys were joking
about and poking through their mum's shopping, currently strewn
across the floor as she tried to put it away. Arthur was busy putting
away his work things and Ginny set about helping her mum put shopping
away and start dinner. Remus sat down beside Hermione and chopped as
she finished peeling. They laughed a little and talked quietly about
nothing in particular; Hogwarts, muggle concerns about the
environment, possible magical solutions. Hermione enjoyed Remus's
company very much, she felt at ease with him and he was the one
person she could talk to about muggle news.

He
told her all about his new home, a small cottage in a village in
Yorkshire. Some time the previous year Arthur had managed to divert a
small proportion of funds from his department to pay Remus for the
work he was doing for the order. Hermione had overheard Arthur
justifying this to a modest Remus, who despised being a charity case,
the way many of the Order saw it was that Remus was in a position to
help the Ministry through his role, but the Ministry would never
employ a werewolf. It was the least Arthur could do in his position
and Remus had eventually accepted the offer. Now he had a modest
salary and his own place to live, paying rent to muggles in cash
changed at Gringotts.

'I'd
love to see it, your garden.' Hermione said, half by accident. She
looked up tentatively, Remus was looking at her carefully. He
swallowed and nodded his head once, apparently unsure of what to say.

'Sure.
I'd be happy to show you around some time.'

Hermione
lay awake that night, she had eaten lightly, unable to stomach much
food in this heat. Ron was snoring lightly behind her, one arm thrown
casually over her, weighing heavily on her hot and clammy body. She
was restless, frustrated and for some reason felt hyper-aware of the
fact that Remus was sleeping in his house on his own right now. She
drifted into a fitful sleep, full of strange dreams in which Remus
was smoking a cigar and she was on board the Hogwarts Express
speeding through the northern countryside and rocketing through
tunnels.

~#~#~#~

AN:
This story has been up here for a while, but I have made edits to the
first two chapters. Chapter 3 is on its way. Please feed the author,
reviews are very tasty.
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Dizzy In The Heat