||Now It's Just Us||

Chapter 33 ||Flashback||

It was a blustery afternoon. Sunlight streamed in through the windows, illuminating every part of the room with its golden rays. Little specks of ever present dust danced about, and when the sunlight caught them they formed swirling patterns.

"Oi Hermione, lighten up," Parvati nudged Hermione. She looked up from her book and threw such a fierce glare at her that she backed away.

The others were all drinking. Hermione didn't get what was fun about that. Was it really fun to loose control over your actions? No, it was not. It was not the least bit amusing. They weren't drunk enough yet to start running around the neighborhood shouting that they were going to the beach, but they were getting there.

Hermione was reading.

Dean, Alicia, Parvati, Harry and Ron were sat across the room, sporting bottles and glasses, and in Alicia's case, two bottles. In spite of having gone through one already, Alicia made her way through them easily.

"Where did you say Oliver was?" Harry asked to nobody in particular as he downed his glass. Dean made a sound of approval and tried to drown his glass as well, but missed his mouth by a few inches and ended up pouring it on the carpet instead. Hermione winced.

"Gone for the tryouts of the Wimbourne Wasps," Alicia waved a hand through the air.

"'Mione!"

Hermione snapped her book shut irritatedly. Why was it that people assumed you were 'doing nothing' when you were clearly reading a book? Hermione stood with a huff and made her way to the kitchen.

Pansy, Ginny, Blaise and Luna were all bustling about.

"Yes, Ginny?" Hermione walked over to stand next to Ginny.

"Heads up, Granger!"

Hermione barely had time to duck her head to dodge the stack of dirty plates that had come zooming her way. They landed neatly on the sink.

"A bit of a warning next time, Parkinson," Hermione shook her head as she laughed. Pansy mock bowed as she continued mincing carrots at lightning speed, her dangly earrings swaying and tinkling.

"I got you a pair," Luna traipsed over. Hermione smiled warily, not knowing what would come next.

Luna placed a pair of Spectrespecs on Hermione's nose. Instantly, her normal vision was overlayered by swirling pink and blue patterns. It made her head swirl at first, but once her eyes had adjusted, it wasn't that bad.

"Thanks Luna," Hermione said, now genuinely smiling.

"We should all take a picture wearing those before me and Luna leave," Blaise suggested. He was elongating the table to accomodate all of them before moving it to the garden.

"Oh, yes, great idea," Pansy muttered.

"Oh, maybe we should even get the silver robes we bought the other day!" Blaise called over his shoulder to an excited Luna, "you know, add a bit more jazz-"

"The Spectrespecs are fine," Pansy said pointedly. Blaise chuckled and left through the back door with the table levitating behind him.

"I really don't know what I'm feeling, actually," Luna said airily, as she strung a necklace of butterbeer corks around Pansy's neck, "I can't wait to get started on the expedition, at the same time I don't want to leave England."

"Loony, we're wizards, you can come and go at any time," Pansy rolled her eyes and passed Hermione the flagon of stew. Hermione took it carefully so as not to slosh stew down her front.

"Am I supposed to keep it on the table outside?" Hermione called back.

"No, no, dump the entire thing over your head, it'll be a great look," Pansy shouted back, stabbing a piece of pumpkin pie with the knife.