Spark

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter universe. I am not profiting from this work.


Chapter 1: One Strange Night



Hermione let the cool breeze play over her face. It tingled where the tracks
from her recent tears lay unwiped on her cheeks. She leaned her
shoulder against the stone door frame and looked up at the
orange-tinted night sky, her arms crossed over her chest. She could
hear traffic moving on the London streets somewhere beyond the
protected boundaries of 12 Grimmauld Place. It was Harry\'s birthday,
Molly had insisted on having a party at the Burrow, but no one was
exactly in the party mood. Harry had wanted to stay at Sirius\'s house
with Remus and despite objections from a concerned Molly, there was
no stopping him, as usual. Hermione felt she couldn\'t leave the two
of them alone, not on Harry\'s birthday, so when she decided to stay
with them Ron had also insisted on staying and it escalated from
there. Fred and George had stopped by that afternoon and managed by
their amazing powers of persuasion, to convince Harry to at least
have a few drinks to celebrate the day.



"Sirius wouldn\'t want you sitting on your arse on your birthday, mate."
Harry had stopped exploding on the mention of what his godfather
would or wouldn\'t want about a week ago. He just shrugged on this
occasion and gave in. Hermione suspected it was more out of knowing
that the people around him needed to let loose than actually
intending to enjoy himself. Most of the Order had turned up, with the
notable exceptions of any of the professors. They were busy helping
the Ministry clear up the mess after the revelation of the previous
month, they had a lot of work to do to ready the wizarding community
for the war. The party wasn\'t exactly jumping, everyone was sitting
around the kitchen table, butterbeer bottles in hand, some subdued
conversation and the occasional outburst from the twins. Hermione had
felt the prickle of tears and gone out into the small back yard for
some air.



She felt silly for crying, but she was scared. They were at war and she
was worried sick about her parents and everyone close to her. For
once she felt helpless, this was so much bigger than anything they
had dealt with before and she was at a loss as to what she could do
to help. Books weren\'t going to be much use and Dumbledore had made
it quite clear that none of the "youngsters" would be
involved in any fighting. Hermione rolled her eyes at the memory, she
stepped away from the door and walked to the end of the yard. It was
unkempt and messy, the small lawn was overgrown and covered in weeds,
there were bits of wood and scraps of plastic that had found their
way into the yard over the years of neglect. She was dragged from her
thoughts when the back door swung open, light spilling out into the
yard, a tall silhouette was framed in the doorway and Hermione
squinted to see who it was. The door closed and the figure walked out
a pace or two, she still couldn\'t tell who it was so stepped closer.



"Hermione?" A rough voice called gently. It was Remus.
She let out a shaky breath and moved over to him.

"I\'m here." She stopped a couple of feet from him and saw
a strange expression on his face, he looked strained, like he\'d been
holding together a smile for too long. She\'d noticed how tired he looked
these days, a profound sadness hung over him all hours of the day and
night. That was why she hadn\'t wanted to leave Harry alone with him,
the two of them together steeped in grief over Sirius\'s death was not
a good combination for either of them to recover. "How are you
doing Remus?" She asked softly, genuine concern on her lips. He
smiled at her, albeit a small one.

"Tired." She reached out and touched his arm. "Have you
been crying?" He asked her. She turned away and wiped her face.
She felt his hands on her shoulders, his breath on her hair. A fresh wave
of tears came over her and she let out an audible sob, he responded by
pulling her close and wrapping his arms around her.



"I\'m so scared." She blurted out.

"I know. I know." He stroked her arms, soothing her. But the tears
kept coming, she felt overwhelmed. She turned and wrapped her arms
around his waist, pressing her cheek against his chest, he put one
hand on her head, holding it to him and let out a long, low "shhhh".
She looked up at him, her big brown eyes glistening in the dim light,
tears fresh on her cheeks. Remus wiped one cheek with his thumb,
leaned down to her and kissed her lips, softly at first, but when she
reciprocated he deepened the kiss. She felt dizzy, like the world
were spinning around them. Tears were still falling down her face,
she felt desperate and she needed comfort in that moment. The moment
was cut short by a sudden shaft of light on them, they flew apart,
eyes on the intruder.



"I\'m sorry to interrupt," Came a familiar undulating voice,
undoubtedly with an obligatory sneer attached to his face, "You\'ve
both been missed. Dumbledore asked me to find you Lupin. He\'s waiting
in the kitchen." Snape turned and went back inside, leaving the
door open. Remus and Hermione looked at each other nervously, he ran
a hand through his hair, she wiped her face dry. He held his hand out
to indicate she go first and they silently made their way inside.



Hermione and Remus took empty seats at the large kitchen table, on opposite
sides at opposite ends. Snape stood by the door to the hall, behind
Remus, half in shadow, his arms crossed over his chest and a scowl
fixed on his face. As Hermione sat down next to Harry he turned to
look at her with some concern.

"What was that about?" He whispered.

"Hmm? Oh nothing." She shook her head and turned her attention to
Dumbledore as he cleared his throat for silence. He had important
news, a killing had been reported. It involved an attack on two
members of the Department of Mysteries, one of whom was killed,
another seriously injured, now being taken care of at St. Mungo\'s.
Hermione fought the prickling at her eyes while Dumbledore was
talking, when he was finished the table erupted with suggestions and
arguments, only three people were silent; herself, Remus and Snape.
She looked down the table, Remus was leaning back in his chair. He
looked troubled, but then, he always did. He was looking intensely at
the edge of the table, but he must have felt her eyes on him because
he looked up directly into them.



Snape watched the scene with mixed feelings, he tried to tune out the noise
around the room and focus on the lingering eye contact between his
student and his old enemy. Lupin was old enough to be her father, and
more to the point; he was a werewolf, she was just a child. But that
wasn\'t true any more, she was becoming a woman, she\'d been touched by
grief and it had changed her almost overnight. Something stirred
inside him, something that he hadn\'t felt in almost a decade. It was
jealousy. Jealousy of the intimacy he had inadvertently witnessed, it
felt an age since a woman looked at him that way. Things were looking
pretty bleak right now, the war had really begun and, though it
pained him to admit it to himself, he was worried. He wished he had
someone with which to share a moment like that, someone to lose
himself with, to forget the war and have a moment of humanity in his
terrifying existence.




AN: This is my new work. I hope you like it, please review.