Title: Sparkle Me
Author: </a></b></a>lokiyan
Characters/Pairing: Edward/Hermione
Rating: PG-13, I guess? For language maybe?
Genre: General/a bit o' fluff...?
Disclaimer: I will probably never actually own anything
Summary: A baby fic that's been a long time coming. A bit of a sequel to Reunion. The two of them talk.


She shook her head hard enough for her shoulder length curls to fly around her, as though the exaggerated movement would lessen his persuasion as he glanced behind his crouched back at her. "No way. Absolutely not."

How amusing was it that a witch who had been through as much as she had would be so terrified of a little trek? It tickled Edward even more that she was genuinely more afraid of heights and speed than she was about spending alone time with a vampire who could easily suck her dry. Perhaps she would be the only person who, from the day she was born and he held her in his arms to the day she died, would trust him with an unwavering loyalty. "I promise nothing will happen to you. I wouldn't let anything happen to you."

'No one can promise that' he heard her mind's whisper in the wind. He straightened up and turned to face her fully. Her hands were small, soft and warm in his. "This isn't a war, Hermione. It's just you and me. Trust me."

Her dark eyes flickered from left to right before meeting his gaze. Her plump peach lips trembled with indecision. The color was drained from her face at the prospect of a mode of transportation that would undoubtedly be even more terrifying than riding on Buckbeak's back in third year. His eyes though, held the question with such a vulnerability that it might have actually hurt her to turn him down. After a moment, she clenched her jaw, held his stare, and nodded once. The left corner of his mouth curved up in response.

He put an arm under her knee and another around her back, Carlisle's voice whispering "mind her head" re-emerging from his memory of years past. He tucked her under his chin and felt her burrow her head against his chest, the vibrations of his laugh drawing a pout from her lips. With Bella, he had carried her on his back for agility, but he felt that with Hermione, he would always hold her like this, where his heart would be. It felt right, her warmth on his fingertips, her smell drifting strong into his nostrils. "You ready?" At the tense nod, he took off.

He heard her whimper twice and he propelled his body forward to double his speed while cradling her closer to him. The sigh of relief that emitted when he set her down blew against his ear and he felt his knees weaken for the first time in decades. She was too busy catching her breath to notice. Once she caught her nerves, she took a look around. "A meadow? You made me go through all that for a meadow?"

He shrugged. "Some girls like it." He could practically hear her rolling her eyes. "I was joking. People don't usually come around places like this and I can just bask in the sun." A raised eyebrow. "Shouldn't you of all people know that I wouldn't burst into ashes?" 

"You vampires are sneaky. Even a know-it-all like myself don't know what happens when you guys are in sunlight." He could picture her now, surrounded by books in stacks taller than herself, dust flying from the old books and frustrated at the lack of information she was getting from them. "Well? Don't just stand there and smile at yourself like an idiot. Go! I want to see what happens." He flat out chuckled when he felt her push against his back, her palms flat against her and her full weight came forward with a tiny grunt.

"All right, all right. Don't strain yourself." With his hands up in a surrender motion, he took five steps forward into the sun. He heard her jaw drop and slowly turned to take in her reaction.

"You sparkle? Are you kidding me?" For the first time in a long time, he felt both corners of his lips crack open to a wide smile, teeth gleaming in the light. "I don't see you in however many years and now I find out that you're bright and shiny. Honestly, as if being ridiculously good-looking isn't enough, you bloody sparkle in the sun? Thank you for the lifetime supply of security issues!" She stomped toward him and promptly sat down at his feet, legs stretched out and her back towards him. "I can't even look at you."

She could tell him that she wasn't a child a million times, but there were still signs that made him want to wrap his arms around her and pull her close. "You're really gonna be like that?" She glared up at him with her arms crossed, eyes and mind clearly conveying I said I didn't want to look at you right now. His hair blew into his eyes as he shook his head. Still stubborn as ever. Nice to see some things never change. He sat himself down, an elbow on his bent knee and his back against hers, melting into her familiar warmth.

They spent minutes, perhaps hours, sitting like that. Her hair against his neck and her shoulder against his. Finally, he turned his head toward her. "It's not my fault I sparkle, you know-"

"Shut up." There was an edge in her voice that made him worry, not to mention her language. She let out a shaky breath and he could almost taste the tears on his tongue. They used to drop for spilled ice cream cones and ruined books, but now he didn't know if he could fix her like he used to. Still, he had to try. He turned around, a leg on each side and held her back against his chest. Her head fell back, her cheek next to his. He brought his hand to her skin, soft as he remembered, and caught the traced the wet trails. He would never get used to someone crying for him. "You could have died." The harsh whisper was choked in her tears.

He kissed her hair and buried her nose in it. "I'm kind of hard to kill-""I woul

"I said shut up." He obeyed. "You do not just run into a battlefield like that. He could have killed you like he killed everyone else. What would I have done if... I wouldn't know what to... I wouldn't have been able to say goodbye."

He took a breath just to breathe her in. "I would do it a thousand times over to that bastard for hurting you." 

"That's not the point!"

"That is the point, Hermione! You will always be the point to me." He held her tighter, the memory of her being lifted into the air by that psycho still haunting his eyes. "I should have ripped him to pieces myself."

The soft pads of her fingertips brushed against his clenched fists and relaxed his muscles. "You couldn't have anyway. Harry was the only one who could. Nice try though. Scared the crap out of a whole bunch of people when you literally ripped Dolohov's face off. " He felt her dimple against his face as she smirked.

That name brought up more images that he didn't want to think about. The things that man thought of his little girl, young woman, whatever... As if he would ever let him near her again. "Sit like a lady, will you? Close your legs and why are your shorts so short?" She scoffed in her mind and it echoed to him loud and clear. The creep was dead, but it didn't mean that he wouldn't take precautions. He wanted to hide her from the world and keep her all to himself.

"I'm going to ignore those misogynistic comments and continue on how my friends then told me to be careful when I'm around you because who knows? One day you might get hungry... In fact, I'm sure Ronald would pop a vein if he saw us right now." He was still thinking about Dolohov and how that man thought that he could put his hands on his little princess. So much in thought was he that he was caught completely by surprise when he felt her shove him to the ground. He looked up at him, a confused look written all over his face, a slight shake of the head at her in a question of what the hell do you think you're doing? "Ugh, you're still sparkly." With that, she got up and walked off with his eyes on her.

Finally, he managed to call after her. "It's not glitter, you know! It doesn't just come off!" She threw her a smirk over her shoulder and within seconds, he caught up to her.

"I can already tell that this whole superhuman speed thing is going to get annoying. So what is it, Edward? Are you going to sparkle at me some more?" He wasn't sure what made him do it. His mind knew it was a bad idea, but that was blown out of the water when his lips met hers. He took her gasp in and the scent of her breath ran through his body and he fought to cork it in forever. Her hands rested on either side of his face and along with her lips, his face felt as if it were on fire, melting him to the core.

She opened her eyes slowly when they broke apart, his nose to hers, his hands in her hair and her swollen lips still teasingly parted. "I've been waiting for that my whole life, you know," she said breathlessly. "Sparkle me some more." She pulled him back to her. He could hear her say it over and over again, even if it's just in her mind. Those words that she's been saying in her head for years but he couldn't actually believe. Now he echoed it back with every kiss, every ounce of his being, every moment of his immortality...

I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you...