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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
- 2
- 3
- 4
Chapter
3: All I Want

Nearly
a week went by, the heat continued to dominate everyone's thoughts
and activities, energy was distinctly lacking from most people.
Tuesday morning at breakfast Arthur and Molly were bustling about
getting breakfast for everyone when Hermione followed Ron into the
kitchen. She had felt so awkward since she overheard Arthur's
conversation with Remus, but neither of Ron's parents seemed any
different towards her, so she had resigned herself to the possibility
that they were fine with the situation and had begun to relax again
now. Hermione took some toast as Ginny passed a plate loaded high
with it to her, it was Ginny's day off from work but they hadn't
talked about doing anything. Hermione had to admit that she was
itching to get out for the day and as if reading her thoughts Molly
appeared smiling brightly at the table.

'Who
would like to come to Diagon Alley with me today?'

'Ooh,
yes, definitely.' Hermione said, rather too eagerly. Ron looked at
her sideways, his mouth full of cereal, he frowned a little and she
gave him a satisfied smile.

'OK.'
He said, his mouth still full and Hermione rolled her eyes and
returned to her toast.

After
lunch at the Leaky Cauldron, Hermione, Ron and Ginny parted ways from
Molly to do a little shopping. The narrow, cobbled street was
bustling with people, many forgoing the traditional wizarding robes
in favour of cooler muggle apparel, some getting it most amusingly
wrong. Hermione tried not to stare at a witch in a somewhat dated
pink skirt, boob tube and flip-flops, while Ron openly gaped at a
wizard in tiny denim shorts that were much too tight. Those who could
afford them had thermo-adjusting robes, they looked the most content
and comfortable of all the people moving through the Alley. The trio
wound their way through the crowd, looking in shop windows as they
went and pointing out things they might buy.

As
they were here Hermione was keen to stop into Fred and George's shop
to say hello and probably spend some money.

'Well
I see them every lunch time anyway when Madame Malkin sends me out
for food.' Ginny shrugged at the idea. 'I'm going to check the
notices in the post office for second hand text books for sale.'

'OK.
We'll catch up with you in a bit then.' Hermione gave Ginny a brief
hug and turned with Ron towards Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.

A
shriek from Ginny a moment later stopped them in their tracks.
Hermione whirled around to see Ginny pushing through the crowd, in
fact the other people in Diagon Alley seemed just as interested in
whatever Ginny had seen. Hermione followed as quickly as she could,
Ginny hadn't got far, the crowds parted and Hermione caught sight of
Ginny tightly embracing someone, someone with dark, messy hair.

'Harry!'
Hermione cried and wrapped herself around him and Ginny. She felt a
jolt as Ron piled on to the hug and she grinned like she hadn't in
days. 'Welcome back!' Finally Harry wriggled out of the middle of the
group, also grinning broadly.

'Wow.
I wasn't exactly expecting that. What are you all doing here anyway?'

'Just
getting out for the day.' Ron replied, Hermione noticed how happy and
relieved Ron seemed, Harry's return obviously changed things for him
too. 'We were just about to go see Fred and George. Want to come?'
Harry nodded and the four friends set off back down the Alley,
drawing looks from the surrounding crowd, with Ginny clearly changing
her mind, her hand clamped firmly in Harry's all the way and an
ecstatic grin on her face.

Hermione
made sure to fall into step next to Harry, she linked arms with him
and grinned at him broadly.

'I'm
so glad you're back. How did you get on?' She asked in a low voice.
He shrugged.

'Well,
good I suppose. Just one more to find.' He didn't seem too happy and
Hermione got the feeling he had seen things that he wasn't ready to
talk about yet.

The
afternoon passed in a whirl of animated conversation and laughter.
Harry had already stopped into Grimmauld Place and seen Mrs Weasley
in the Leaky Cauldron, he agreed enthusiastically to have everyone
round that evening for a welcome back party. Hermione's relief at his
return was only heightened by this news and she looked forward to
having a night away from the Burrow with other people.

~#~#~#~

Hermione
stepped through the door into number 12 Grimmauld Place, there was no
shrieking, there was no covered portrait of the late Mrs Black.

'Harry?'
She walked in, staring open mouthed at the narrow hallway. The old,
stained wallpaper was gone, a fresh coat of mint green paint lined
the walls, lightening the place up and making it feel far less
confined. The floorboards had been sanded and polished and the stairs
leading up had had the same treatment. There was the faint smell of
cooking drifting up from the kitchen and the sound of a wireless and
someone singing along. Hermione smiled, Molly was obviously already
here. They went downstairs into the large kitchen, where Molly was
hard at work making party food, the huge table in the centre of the
room already covered in plates full of mourish nibbles. Arthur was
pottering about, trying to be useful but mostly getting in the way.

'Ah
hello!' He cried out on catching sight of the four friends. 'Harry,
so glad to have you back.' Hermione's shock at seeing the house
transformed finally kicked her into gear.

'Harry,
what happened upstairs? Did you have something to do with the
redecorating?' Harry turned and looked at her, beaming.

'Yeah,
it's great isn't it. I only saw it this morning, but before I left
last time I asked Mrs Weasley to take extra steps to get all the dark
magic out. She went a bit further than I thought though.' Molly
hadn't appeared to have heard, still bustling about, taking food out
of the oven.

'Mum?'
Ron exclaimed. 'Is this what you've been doing all summer?' She
stopped fussing over the food and looked at the group.

'Well,
yes. But not alone, I mean, Harry said it would be OK, so I hired
some help.' Ron's jaw dropped.

'Please
don't tell me you brought in a Cleaner?' Hermione snorted with
laughter, imagining Molly letting a hired cleaner loose on any house
she thought of as a home for a loved one was ridiculous.

'It's
not funny.' Ginny whispered, tugging Hermione's arm. 'Cleaners are
the worst sort to get mixed up with.' Hermione blinked at her friend,
it wasn't often that she was completely lost in a conversation like
this.

'Come
on, I'll show you the rest.' Harry took hold of Hermione's arm and
lead her up the stairs to the hall. 'They're experts in getting rid
of negative energy.'

'Exorcists
then? I knew they were real, but I've never heard them called
Cleaners before.' Harry shrugged.

'I
suppose most magical families don't talk about them much.' Hermione
frowned, she had read about Exorcists before, very close to darkness
themselves, most often employed by the Ministry to clean up after
mistakes and to de-charm items found in the ownership of dark
wizards. But some of them put themselves out there for private hire,
they were very expensive and of dubious reputation. The term
'cleaner' certainly made a lot of sense, it was less ominous than
'exorcist', she could also see why people would be uncomfortable
talking about them or hiring them, given the fine line they were
believed to tread.

'So,
you told Mrs Weasley to use your money to hire one?' She dearly hoped
that the Weasley's hadn't forked out themselves.

'Yeah.
I wanted to come back to a place that, well, could be home. I'm never
going back to the Dursley's and can't exactly live at the Burrow, I
own this place, it's home.' He wrinkled his nose and Hermione pulled
him into a hug.

'No,
no it's not.' She whispered, 'But maybe it can be.'

They
walked around the house, each room lighter, fresher and free of dark
objects and charms. The library looked especially stunning, once dark
and dreary, with disturbing objects in locked cabinets, now light
poured in through the large windows and the shelves that lined the
walls from floor to ceiling were covered in recently dusted volumes.
Hermione looked longingly at the books, many of them undoubtedly
containing dubious magical information, but they were each appealing
despite of that. She was a great believer in not keeping the dark
secrets of the magical world hidden, that only bred an atmosphere of
fear and suspicion, it was better that people had access to the
information so that curiosity may be satisfied and fear dispelled.
The library here wasn't big, smaller than the classrooms at Hogwarts,
but there was enough literature here to keep even her busy, never
mind most people. New antique chaise longues had been brought in,
rich green the pair of them, scattered with forest green, velvet
cushions. The floor, as all over the house had been sanded and in
here it had been stained mahogany to match the shelves and a green
and cream rug covered a large section of the floor. It was beautiful
and Hermione longed to spend time in here. Reluctantly she followed
Harry out.

'If
you like, you can stay here.' Harry said softly as they climbed the
stairs. 'If you need to, you know, get some space.' He had such a
knowing tone in his voice and Hermione gave him a thankful smile. He
opened a door to their right on the second floor and showed her
inside. It was decked out with a double bed, dressed in beautiful
navy blue sheets with stacks of pillows, all of the wood was pine and
a round fawn coloured rug covered the floor on one side of the bed.
'I thought you'd like this room.' Harry grinned. She grinned back.

'It's
wonderful. Thank you Harry. I will definitely move my stuff here
tomorrow.' She gave him a gentle shove and laughed with relief. Ron
would understand, and quite frankly, if he didn't she didn't care
right now.

'So,
things not going too well with Ron?' Harry asked, his remarkable eyes
scanning the room and avoiding Hermione's. She knew this must be
difficult for him, being such good friends with both of them and the
last thing she wanted was to put Harry in the middle of all this.

'Oh
Harry.' She sighed and leaned against the wall. 'I love him very
much, that hasn't changed. But it's just not right, we were much
better off as friends. I just hope we can find a way to be friends
again. I'm not naïve though, Harry, I know things will never be
like they were before.' He watched her and Hermione felt her eyes
begin to prickle. She shook her head and smiled, stepping away from
the wall and grabbing Harry's hand. 'So, you. Come downstairs and
tell us about your travels.' She set off out of the room, dragging
Harry along.

'Hermione,
it's not like I've been sightseeing. I haven't just got back from
backpacking around Europe!' They laughed as they made their way down
the stairs. Approaching the kitchen there was a lot of noise, chatter
reached them as they reached the hall and Hermione looked back over
her shoulder at Harry with a wide smile.

'Sounds
like some more people have arrived.' She opened the kitchen door and
it was filled with people. Fred and George had arrived and brought
with them a great many people who cheered when they caught sight of
Harry. The party was mainly made up of Order members, including
Remus, Hermione noticed and she felt herself gulp on seeing him.

'Wow.'
Harry stood in the door way grinning for a few seconds before being
grappled by one of the twins and pulled into the crowded kitchen.
Hermione smiled warmly at having her dear friend back safe and sound,
although she had a feeling he wouldn't be there for long, still
having more work to do to bring down Voldemort, one more horcrux left
to find. She shoved that thought forcefully to one side and squeezed
past the twins to the large table laden with food. A few people had
begun tucking in and she didn't want to miss Molly's sausage rolls.
She picked up a plate and began making her way slowly around the
table picking up nibbles.

'Hello.'
A low voice caught her ear and she looked to see Remus also
gathering food next to her, they were pressed close due to the large
volume of people around them and Hermione felt herself blush at the
close contact.

'Hi.
How are you?' She asked, her eyes caught up in his. She broke the
contact and leaned over for slice of quiche.

'I'm
alright, getting back to normal after, you know.' His voice was a
little odd, she noticed and gave a nod in reply. They continued
filling their plates for a minute, Remus keeping pace with her around
the table.

'This
is great!' Ron shouted, bounding over to Hermione and pushing in
between her and Remus to grab a handful of crisps. He gave her a grin
and a smacker of a kiss on her cheek before bounding away again,
leaving Hermione sucking on her lips and frowning with embarrassment.
She glanced up into Remus' face and tried to smile, but was jostled
up against the table nearly spilling her plate of food. Remus caught
her elbow with his free hand and gave her a sympathetic smile.

'Shall
we find somewhere to sit and eat?' He asked, his eyebrow cocked a
little and casting a sideways glance at the crowd.

'Yeah.
Good idea.' She replied, relieved and strangely nervous at the same
time. He turned and headed carefully through the party, Hermione
followed casting nervous glances around to see if anyone was watching
them leave. Once out of the kitchen Hermione took a deep breath, she
hadn't realised how claustrophobic she had been feeling, and followed
Remus up the stairs to the library. She paused in the doorway, loathe
to eat around those scores of volumes, but settled for the
reassurance that they wouldn't be eating near the shelves and went on
in, taking a seat opposite Remus on one of the beautiful chaise
longues.

They
ate in silence for a minute, occasionally catching each other
glancing up at one another and sharing small smiles.

'So,
when are you leaving for Japan?' Remus finally spoke. They had talked
a bit about her travel plans, but not in any detail and Hermione
relished the thought of being able to enthuse about it with someone.
Her eyes lit up as she quickly swallowed a mouthful of food.

'Hmm!
Two months, September the eighth.' She beamed. 'I'm actually going
the muggle way, by plane.' His eyes grew wide.

'Really?
That's a long way. You could just apparate.'

'I
know. But, can I tell you something? It's a bit of a secret.' She
paused, a little surprised at herself. She was about to divulge a
feeling that she hadn't shared with anyone other than her parents,
and they had been somewhat taken aback by it themselves.

'Of
course, Hermione, you can tell me anything.' She felt her cheeks grow
warm again and looked down at her plate, hoping he hadn't noticed her
blushing.

'Well,
part of why I want to go travelling is to, well, do a bit of growing
up in the muggle world. Not many witches and wizards understand this,
but I miss the cinema and other things. I just sort of want to
experience muggle life a bit, I've grown so used to the magical world
and those mundane old muggle activities seem so exotic.' She broke
into laughter as she finished and to her relief he chuckled along
with her.

'No,
I understand. I've actually bought a television for my house.
Fascinating contraption.' He grinned and Hermione's laughter rang out
loudly.

'Anyway,'
She went on when her laughter subsided. 'I spend a month in Japan,
some in Tokyo and some travelling the country. Then I'm flying to
Thailand and hiking down to Cambodia in October. From there, I don't
know. That's as far as I've planned, I'll see how it's going and
decide if I want to come home or stay away longer.' Remus nodded
slowly, listening intently to everything she said. She didn't find it
as difficult as she thought she would, talking to him like this after
overhearing his conversation with Arthur the previous week. Although
she was picking up an unusual vibe from him, but didn't understand
what it was exactly. He seemed a little reserved, but attentive and
she got the feeling that he really wanted to be in her company, where
before it had been incidental with no particular interest on his
part.

'How
does Ron feel about it?' He asked hesitantly. She tilted her head and
sighed. She wasn't sure how honest she wanted to be about her
relationship with Ron, she felt that she ought to talk about their
problems with him before anyone else, but doing that was so very
difficult.

'He
doesn't really want to talk about it. I think he would rather I
didn't go, at least not for so long, but he doesn't want to stop me
doing something so important to me either. So I think he's resigned
himself to me going and is focusing on when I get back.' Remus wet
his lips and put his almost empty plate aside.

'I
see.' He said slowly and she tried to read his expression. He seemed
disappointed but she couldn't think why. What was going on with him?
Gently she went on, unsure why she felt the need to share this. 'But,
I think we have very different ideas about what will happen when I
get back.' She watched his face for a sign of peeked interest or
curiosity. She got what she wanted.

'Oh?'
He looked up from the floor, one eyebrow cocked.

'He's
talking about moving in together, but, really I don't think I want
that. Maybe being away will change my mind about what I want, but
right now I'm not all that sure that I like where this is going.' She
finished, bravely. Inside she chided herself for being so open. What
if he told Molly or Arthur how she was feeling? Somehow she knew he
wouldn't though and for some reason she wanted him to know that she
wasn't happy with Ron.

'Oh.'
There was a glimmer of something in his eyes. Was it satisfaction?
Hermione found herself hoping it was.

'Anyway.'
She perked up, trying to change the subject before the atmosphere got
awkward. 'Mrs Weasley got Cleaners into this place.' She indicated
their surroundings and Remus leaned back, looking around
appreciatively.

'Really?
Wow.'

'Do
you know much about them?'

'Well,
as much as most I suppose. Interesting profession. Someone I was at
school with is a Cleaner now. He was an odd teenager, fascinated with
the dark arts. I would have pegged him for a Death Eater, personally.
Maybe he is.' He smiled ruefully.

'The
Ministry employs some, doesn't it?' Hermione asked, finishing her
food.

'Yes,
they work in the Department of Mysteries mostly. Arthur has
occasional dealings with them when he finds suspect items.' Silence
fell between them and Hermione's mind raced with questions about what
it was that was happening between them, something had certainly
changed in their relationship and she fought to make sense of it. How
much of this was down to the failings in her relationship with Ron?
How much was genuine interest in her old professor? Funny, she didn't
think of him that way any more and hadn't for at least a year, if not
longer. In fact, the considerable age difference between them had
barely registered in her brain in a long time, she regarded him as a
dear friend whose company she greatly enjoyed. Over the summer though
that had changed quite suddenly and unexpectedly. She could no longer
deny that she was developing feelings for him and suspected, or
perhaps hoped, that he returned those feelings.

'We
should probably get back to the party.' She finally said, somewhat
reluctantly. He nodded and they both stood to leave. As they got to
the door she stopped and took gentle hold of his arm. 'Actually,
Remus, I'll be staying here for the near future.' He looked at her
quizzically. 'Just in case you wanted to meet up or anything.' She
didn't wait for a response, overtaking him and jogging down the
stairs. She didn't hear him follow and smiled at the thought of him
wanting to mull that thought over.

AN:
Thanks for the great reviews! I'm a total review whore, I check
daily, so make me happy and let me know what you make of chapter 3!
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Dizzy In The Heat