A Dance Through Thyme (Harry Potter)

Sonnenuntergang

Sorry for the lack of updates, but I've been working a little backwards with the story, and I have plenty of the ending done, but nothing of this middle bit! But good news for you guys is that once we move past this section, the chapters are already done for the end, so I can update very quickly :)

Sunset

"Close your eyes," whispered Remus as he held onto Hermione's hand. "Just imagine everything that I am describing to you. Imagine it being right in front of you."

Hermione did as she was bid, but she opened her eyes after only a second.

"Please, Remus. Why do we have to do this? We wouldn't have to if you would just let me go outside."

Remus chuckled a little, before placing his hands on her shoulders by way of calming her.

"You know that you're not allowed outside, and it kills me to not be able to give you what you want, but we have to respect Dumbledore's wishes. If he doesn't want you outside, then I don't either. Just close your eyes and relax..."

Closing her eyes, Hermione attempted to follow his instructions to relax. She felt Remus' hands exude a small amount of pressure from where they had remained on the tops of her shoulders.

"Take a few steps forward...no, one more...ok, I'm going to turn you around and get you to sit on the edge of this seat..."

Remus made sure that Hermione was relatively comfortable before pulling a piece of paper from the back pocket of his trousers. It was very scrunched, and even torn in some places where the nib of his quill had been pushed through the paper in frustration. If Hermione had her eyes open, she could have seen many black lines scored across the page as entire paragraphs had been scratched out and re-written.

Remus' voice was quiet, but clear in Hermione's ear.

"Imagine yourself walking along a peaceful, old country road. The sun is warm on your back and the birds are singing. The air around is calm and fragrant with the scent of Spring. Soon, you come across an old gate. It creaks as you open it and go through."

"You keep walking along the pathway, and soon find yourself in an overgrown garden. Flowers in every colour are growing where the seeds happen to have been scattered by the wind. There is a fallen tree off to the side, covered in vines. The grass is soft under your bare feet, and you can smell its sweetness as it is gently crushed by your feet."

"Listen to the birds, and the songs they are singing for you. Hear the insects as they make their home amongst the foliage. Feel the gentle breeze against your skin as you come to a stream. The water is clean and clear as it tumbles over the rocks...now, slowly, open your eyes."

Hermione carefully lifted her eyelids, and was simply astounded at what she could see.

The room had transformed itself. Everything that was now in front of her was everything that she had been visualising, exactly as Remus had described it. To say that her bottom jaw had dropped off her body and hit the floor would have been an understatement. Hermione was almost completely lost for words.

"This can't be real!"

At Hermione's response, Remus let out a small chuckle.

"Of course, it's not actually real. Once James explained a little about how he thought the Room worked, I couldn't help but wonder what we could do with it... so I thought we might give this a shot instead. You can't go outside, so I brought the outside in to you."

Hermione felt herself smiling and grinning more than she ever had whilst she had been with the Marauder's. Standing up on the tips of her toes to reach, Hermione put her arms around Remus' neck in an embrace.

"Thank you," she whispered into his ear as she pulled him closer to her. Pressing a chaste kiss to his cheek, she turned herself back around to survey the room once more.

"It really is amazing. Isn't it?"

"Not as amazing as you," replied Remus with a wink, before turning to give Hermione a kiss of his own. Not stopping there, he continued to kiss along her cheek until he reached the corner of her mouth. He stopped there, waiting so that he could gauge Hermione's reaction before continuing.

She turned her body around so that was facing him completely. She lifted her hand, and gently traced along the scars that remained from his bullying episode. He had not yet spoken to Hermione of what happened with Rowle. Hermione had encouraged him to seek help from the staff about the incident.

In Hermione's mind this was not a little bit of schoolyard taunting. This barely constituted bullying. It was a downright vicious attack, and the scars that were left on Remus' face, in her opinion, only prove her point further.

Allowing her fingers to trace the white line above his eyebrow, she allowed her eyes to roam across the rest of his face. Here, in the pale light produced by a conjured sun, she could just about make out other faint lines, and what looked like scratches criss-crossed against the pale skin. She watched as Remus closed his eyes, seemingly enjoying her touch.

Her hands drifted down his face, accompanied by her eyes. Together they moved down to his arms. Although Remus was slim, he was still rather toned and Hermione took a moment to place her hands on his forearms, feeling his muscles twitch underneath them in excitement. Moving her hands further along, she yet again noticed the same criss-cross pattern of old scratches smattering his arms where the sleeves of his shirt had been folded up. Thinking that they were nothing more than old battle-scars from a certain bully she grasped his hands in her own, and placed a brief kiss against his lips.

It was such a simple gesture, yet it meant the world to each of them.

Before either of them could get too excited and deepen the kiss, Hermione pulled away, forcing Remus to open his eyes.

Lifting herself up onto the tips of her toes, she leaned in a little closer so that she was able to whisper into Remus' ear.

"Let's enjoy our time here, and we can get back to that later."

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

A picnic basket sat to the side of a tartan rug, almost empty save for a small bunch of grapes and about three bites of a turkey sandwich.

Remus had sat himself on the rug cross-legged, creating a small crevice with his legs where Hermione was able to rest her head as he fed her grapes one by one, admiring the way her plump, pink lips created a delicious contrast to the pale green of the fruit as they wrapped around it, sucking it into her mouth.

It was driving Remus absolutely crazy. For the first time since he had met Hermione, she had actually allowed herself to properly relax and enjoy the moment. He wished that every moment with Hermione could be as carefree as this, but he knew that there would be an expiration date to whatever this was that he was doing with her. She would stop being Dumbledore's guest, and go back to wherever she came from. He thought that he would perhaps meet her again by chance, or that there might be a likelihood that they could continue with whatever this was that they were doing here.

Occasionally, Remus would get enough courage to secure a grape between his own teeth, and Hermione would receive not only the fruit as her prize, but the brief teasing of Remus' lips against her own as he pushed the grape into her mouth with his tongue.

"It's so peaceful and perfect here. Can we stay in this moment forever?" Remus finally asked Hermione; however, he regretted it almost immediately when he saw her face fall slightly at his words.

"If only we could make time stand still...but I suppose that it can be a special place in our memories we can go to whenever we need a little reminder of the good parts of life."

Out of the corner of her eye Hermione saw Remus put the leftover grapes into a small saucer before feeling his body shift and move to lie beside her. Putting one arm over her torso, he pulled her closer into his chest, and together they watched the sun dip below the tips of the tree tops as it set.