One Last Try [HP Jamione fanfic]

42. Girl at Home

A/N: Hope people like this one!

5th November 1977

James and Hermione walked together down towards Hogsmeade, glove-wrapped hands clasped together. The November wind whipped round them as they traversed the path, at the head of the pack of students making their way into Hogsmeade on the first weekend of the school year - James had to lead as part of his head boy responsibilities.

They explored the village comfortably together for a while, hands still interlocked, talking about anything and everything except the escalating and scary news currently dominating the Prophet.

Hermione appreciated the distraction from the plans she'd been trying to find time to make with Regulus and Severus. She had been finding it very tough to hide her preoccupation so far this year given that hardly anyone knew her plans or involvement in the fight against Voldemort, especially when Fab and Gid kept sending her information and supplies. It wasn't easy to keep secrets from her friends or boyfriend, especially the reason they were sending her supplies so often. It was all well and good to say it was for NEWTS revision, but she couldn't then share the books with her friends when they revised, and that was bound to make them suspicious at some point.

For now though, she was going to stop concentrating on anxious thoughts of the future and Horcruxes and instead focus on the large bag of sweets James had just handed her, and the affection the gesture stirred in her. "Thank you." A true smile crossed her face, pressed against his lips when he kissed her briefly after they stepped out of Honeydukes.

"Can I take you to this place we discovered recently?" He asked as they walked down the centre of the street, hands entwined and swinging between them. Hermione was surprisingly joyful as they headed towards the Three Broomsticks, like the weight of the world had been lifted from her shoulders, even if for a short amount of time.

"Where?" Hermione asked, intrigued. She thought she'd most likely seen everywhere there was to discover around Hogsmeade - but so had the Marauders at this point, so if it was somewhere new they'd discovered only recently maybe she hadn't.

"It's a surprise." James said with a grin, pulling her along by the hand encased in his down the small path that led towards the Shrieking Shack. The path was already dusted with a light layer of snow from the early November snowfall - unfortunately Scotland (especially the Hebrides) got snow early very often.

"Where are you taking me?" She asked with a laugh as he led her down the path and past the Shrieking Shack. James just laughed in return, and pulled her closer, wrapping his arm around her waist as they trekked down the path towards a small clearing in the woods that started at the edge of Hogsmeade.

"Here." He said when they reached the clearing, pulling Hermione with him over towards a small basket already sitting innocuously in the clearing. Said clearing was beautiful, the light layer of snow covering the thick grass beneath their feet glittered in the winter sun that shone against the surprisingly blue sky showing through the gaps in the trees above them. She stood looking around, amazed she'd never found this place in her two times at Hogwarts.

"It's beautiful here, James." She said with awe, "How did you find it?"

"Pads found it." He said with a grin and a shrug, fetching the basket. As he spoke he cleared an area of the ground of snow with a localised heating charm, and then laid down a blanket he pulled from the basket. "He said he brought Lily here and she loved it. He suggested I bring you here."

"Well, I'll have to thank Sirius." She said with a large smile, something warm rising in her chest as she took a seat on the blanket, shivering a little until she put up a powerful heating charm around their small area.