Be Silently Drawn || Remus Lupin & Hermione Granger

Chapter 27

Hermione shivered as she stepped out of the castle with Ginny and into the bitter chill of the winter. It was mid-December and the school grounds were covered in snow.

"You're really going to practice in this weather?" she asked the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain incredulously, readjusting her scarf and pulling her cloak more tightly around herself to keep the bite of cold at bay.

"We practice snow or shine," Ginny replied, a blazing look of determination on her face. "We need to train harder now more than ever if we want to make sure we win the Quidditch Cup this year. And we have to win, even if that means upping the number of practices per week. Maybe adding a couple more morning training sessions would do us good — the team won't like that, but we need to do whatever it takes to get the Cup."

"You're starting to sound like Oliver Wood."

"Thanks. I hear he's doing well playing for Puddlemere United."

They started across the grounds, making a new trail in the snow. Ginny gazed out thoughtfully at the pale gray and white horizon before looking back at Hermione. "You'll be coming to my house for Christmas, won't you?"

"I don't know. My parents really want me to spend the holidays with them."

"They're always welcome at the Burrow, too. You should all come."

"Thanks, but we're going to be staying with some relatives. You know, catching up with some family we haven't seen since I modified my parents' memories and sent them to Australia."

"Do you think you could maybe join us just for Christmas Eve and spend the rest of the holiday with your family? Mum invited some people over to celebrate with us: Luna and her dad, Hagrid, Lupin..." Ginny smiled as Hermione glanced at her with heightened interest. "Things seem to be going well between you two. You're always in a happy mood whenever you come back from disappearing to his office and doing whatever it is that you do when you get together."

"We discuss the Defense Club and prepare for the next meeting, you know that."

"Hmmm...are all those meetings between you two really necessary? Or is it just his clever excuse to see you alone outside of class?"

Hermione smiled, knowing Ginny was just trying to keep her optimistic. But the truth was that everything really was going well with Remus. The spark of hope that had renewed in her after talking with Ginny about everything that had transpired between her and Remus in the past had gotten stronger in the few weeks since that conversation, stronger with the more time she spent with Remus preparing for Defense Club. She was only sad that tonight's meeting with him would be the final one before the holidays.

"Anyway," Ginny continued, "if he comes to our house for Christmas Eve, don't you think it'd be a good opportunity for you to spend some quality time with him outside the school environment?"

Hermione considered this wonderful prospect but refused to commit herself just yet. Instead she said, "And Harry will be there, too, right? I assume you two are planning to spend every minute that you can together while you're home from school."

"Yeah. Of course."

Hermione frowned slightly, finding Ginny's tone strange. Neither of them had seen Harry since her birthday, so she was surprised by her friend's lack of enthusiasm. "I thought you'd be more excited than that."

Ginny readjusted the bag of Quidditch gear hanging from her shoulder. "I'm more nervous than anything else, to be honest."

"Why?"

"Because we haven't seen each other in months and I'm afraid things might feel weird between us. I'm afraid he might realize his feelings for me have changed."