In a Lifetime

In A Lifetime
Chapter 18: The Price of Friendship

Disclaimer: I own nothing of what you’re about to read, with the possible exception of the plot, although I’m sure it’s been done before. The places, characters, etc. belong to JK Rowling. Thanks.

Ginny Weasley puttered about her rooms, glancing nervously at the clock on her wall. She had two hours. Would that be enough time? It had been so long for the pretty redhead. So long since she gave herself time for social activities. With a determined tilt of her chin, she tossed some powder on her hearth and called on Hermione Granger, hoping she was in her own quarters.

“Hi Ginny!” said Hermione brightly, as she noticed her fellow intern’s head in her hearth, “What’s up?”

“Can you come here for a few minutes?” asked Ginny, “I really need your help with something.”

“Absolutely,” replied Hermione, tossing a handful of Floo Powder on the fire and stepping through to Ginny’s rooms.

Hermione took in the mayhem that was Ginny’s rooms. Clothes were strewn about, shoes littered the floor. Ginny stood near the fire, wrapped in a towel, her hair wet and piled on her head.

“Is everything all right?” queried Hermione.

“Yes. No. I don’t know,” she said, “I’m to have dinner in Hogsmeade with Remus tonight.”

“A date?”

“That’s just it,” moaned Ginny, “I don’t know. I don’t know WHAT this is. Is it two friends catching up over steak and kidney pie at the Three Broomsticks or something more? Hermione, I just want to be prepared for either event. I need something to wear that is casual yet not necessarily mundane. Does that make sense?”

Hermione smiled at Ginny’s discomfort. Through the years Ginny had been the fashionable one. The one who knew how to deal with men. Now she was asking for Hermione’s assistance in matters of men.

“Why are you asking me?” said Hermione, smiling, “I mean, you did far more dating than I ever did.”

“Yes,” replied Ginny, “before we grew up. The last few years have been taken up by my studies. And Remus is older than anyone I’ve been with. He’s the same age as Severus. What do we have in common?”

“Indeed,” remarked Hermione acidly, “what could you possibly have in common?”

“Oh gods, Hermione, I’m sorry. I mean, you and Severus have loads in common. You both know and love the same subjects – potions, magic, literature, music…but Remus and I…what do WE have in common?”

“You’ll never know until you spend some time together,” stated Hermione, “how do you feel about him?”

“Intrigued,” admitted Ginny, picking up a simple robe and tossing it back down, dismissing it as “boring”, “he’s very nice looking. And he’s been though so much. There’s a lot of depth too him. Oh Hermione,” she wailed, throwing herself dramatically on the sofa, “I am so in over my head.”

Hermione laughed and tossed an elegant burgundy robe over Ginny’s prone body, “Nonsense,” she said, “consider this as merely having dinner with an old friend and see what happens. That’s what I did when I first had drinks with Severus.”

“And then what happened?” asked Ginny, peeking at Hermione from under the robes.

“Oh.”

“What ‘oh’?”

“Well…”

“Spill it Granger.”

“Um…”

“HERMIONE! You started this conversation. What happened when you had drinks with Severus?”

“I ended up on my back on a pool table in a pub in New York discovering that his tongue has more uses than merely snipping out sarcastic barbs,” she spilled out quickly, catching a glance of the shocked look on Ginny’s face, “then back at his hotel room where my whole world changed.”

Ginny nodded, remembering that Hermione had an affair with Severus that helped spell the end of her marriage to Harry. Not that she blamed Hermione. She was aware that Hermione and Harry had a comfortable marriage, but she never saw the great passion in it. Not the passion that she saw when Hermione was with Severus. Hermione was lost in thought, remembering that first night, laying in Severus’ arms, contemplating how different her world was about to become.

“Problem, Hermione?” asked Severus, lifting his head from her breasts.

“Not exactly,” she replied, “just wondering how I’m going to be able to go back to my life after this.”

“Just forget it happened,” he said matter-of-ly, ly, “I could always Obliviate you.”

“That’s the problem, Severus, I don’t want to forget that it happened. This is the best thing that has ever happened to me. In these past few hours, I feel more alive than I ever have. I don’t ever want to forget the way you made me feel,” she said, running her fingers over the soft dusting of hair across his chest.

“Our actions have consequences, Hermione,” he said, “and there will be repercussions to this night.”

Hermione truly hadn’t cared. At that moment, she knew she needed Severus in her life. She knew he was her great passion. He was the man she wanted. And now, he was as necessary to her as breathing. She shook herself out of her reverie and smiled at Ginny.

“Wear the burgundy robes, Gin. And let dinner go where it will. Remus has been out of the loop, so to speak, for a very long time. I’m sure whatever this is, he will want to take it slowly.”

Ginny stood up, holding the burgundy robes up to his lithe form, “You’re right, Hermione. Besides, I’m not exactly looking for some serious relationship at this time. I have this internship to finish, and then I’ve been offered a permanent position after the internship. You were, too, right?”

“Yes.”

“Will you take it?”

“Of course,” said Hermione with a smile, “I’ve done my ten years away from Hogwarts. I always knew that I would come back someday.”

“And now you have an even bigger reason…”

“Yes, Severus has been promoted to Deputy Headmaster, along with Minerva. There will be a quite large first year class next autumn. He’s not going anywhere and wherever he is, I will be. Ginny, I have never been this much in love with anyone.”

“I can tell,” smiled Ginny, slipping the burgundy robes over a simple black dress, “you never smiled like this with Harry. I know you loved him, but it’s clear you weren’t IN love with him. Not like you are with Severus. I’m glad you’re getting past the past and moving on as friends.”

“I am too,” nodded Hermione, throwing herself into a wing chair, “that looks good. What are you doing with your hair?”

“What should I do?” asked Ginny, perusing her face in the mirror.

“I think down would be lovely. Casual and non threatening.”

“Down it is then,” said Ginny with a smile, as she took down her hair and cast a drying spell on it. With a deft wave of her wand, Ginny applied a simple makeup charm and grinned at her reflection, “you’re right. Casual and non-threatening. I don’t want to scare Remus off if all he wants is friendship, nor scare him away if he wants more.”

Hermione summoned tea and the two friends chatted away about the future, killing time before Ginny’s dinner with Remus.

* * * * * *

“Am I being foolish?” asked the sandy haired man to the scowling dark haired man.

“Yes,” was the terse reply.

“So I should cancel my dinner with Miss Weasley?”

“Matters not to me,” murmured the Potions Master as he peered into his simmering cauldron.

“Severus, I have not been alone with a woman in well over ten years. I didn’t date much before I was taken by Death Eaters and I certainly didn’t date after I escaped.”

“Do not be so dramatic Lupin. I don’t think merely walking away from an empty flat in Muggle London counts as escaping.”

“Well, there was a dog outside. And someone busking.”

“So you escaped from a starved mongrel and a mime. I shall take that secret to the grave with me. I suggest you do the same.”

“He wasn’t a mime. He was a tap dancer.”

“Oh, so much more threatening.”

“Have you seen the bottoms of tap shoes?”

Severus rolled his eyes as he stirred his potion thirteen times before replying, “Is there a point to this entire conversation, Lupin, or are you some sort of test of my newfound patience?”

“I’m just not sure how to behave around Miss Weasley.”

“Try not howling, snuffling, or barking.”

“You are such an asshole.”

“Yes, aren’t I? Look Remus,” said Severus, bottling up his potion and looking the other man in the eye, “She’s a smart and lovely woman. Just be yourself and the rest will follow. What do you expect of this…date?”

“I’m not sure it IS a date.”

“Then just let it be what it will be. And for Merlin’s sake, don’t talk about your daring escape past the tap dancing mongrels of Muggle London.”

“Why do I come to you for advice?” asked Remus, shaking his head.

“Because the only other options are Albus or Hagrid?”

“That would be it,” agreed Remus.

“You’ll be fine. Just remember that you will be seeing Miss Weasley on a daily basis, so try to keep the embarrassing moments to a minimum.”

“Thank you ever so much Severus.”

“My pleasure,” replied Severus sarcastically.

With a small chuckle, Remus looked himself over, ran a hand across his hair and headed to the hospital wing to pick up Ginny Weasley for dinner in Hogsmeade, passing by Hermione on his way as she entered the potions lab.

“He looked nervous,” said Hermione, “he didn’t even say hello.”

“I would say that he is a little unsure of himself.”

“So is Ginny. I’ve just come from there.”

Severus wrapped his arms around Hermione and pulled her close, “I am so glad not to have to worry about such things anymore. You are my certainty, Hermione.”

“I always despised dating,” said Hermione, snuggling into Severus’ chest.

“Hermione?” asked Severus, his voice ativative.

“Mmm, yes my love?”

“Should we contemplate a wedding date?”

“I would think it would be a good time to do so,” nodded Hermione.

“When do you wish to marry?”

“New Year’s Eve? Midnight?”

Severus smiled, “The start of a new year and a new life as a married couple. I admire the symbolism.”

“As do I my dear.”

“New Year’s Eve it is, then.”