This story was actually inspired by a reader of my other story Perfection Does Not Exist. LittleFoot3 gave me the idea of a 7 year old Hermione running away from an abusive home only to be found and raised by Remus then told me to run with it. This is what I've come up with so far, I hope you like it but let me know what you think even if you don't!

Love,

Adrien

P.S. I forgot to mention three things: 1. I will be posting in this story at least once a week but not as frequently as Perfection Does Not Exist because chapters take a little longer to write. 2. Each chapter after this one will be a year of schooling until we reach either Hermione's third or fourth year, I haven't completely decided yet. 3. This will be a Fremione fic eventually just so you are warned.

P.S.S. This is the last thing, I promise: The M rating really doesn't come in until she is older so we've got quite a bit before we hit that yet but the rating is not just for safety.

Disclaimer: I do not own this sandbox that I like plying in so much. J. K. Rowling owns this particular sandbox and the parts underlined like this are directly quoted from Sorcerer's Stone and in no way belong to me.

Chpt. 1: The Daughter He Never Knew He Wanted

August 18th, 1986

A sweet scent flutters toward Remus, catching his wolf's attention. Jasmine and honey. A human. There weren't supposed to be humans around here, he'd checked for weeks before deciding on these woods and there hadn't been any sign of human activity. A scream breaks Remus away from his thoughts and the wolf is barreling in the direction of noise before Remus can even attempt to fight him off (even though that would be useless without wolf's bane).

His wolf bursts into a clearing, a growl ripping through his chest when he sees a fox cornering a young girl between himself and the tree. The fox freezes and turns toward him but he doesn't have time to run before Remus leaps at the creature. Must protect cub is the only thing going through the wolf's mind which surprises Remus more than anything. His wolf hadn't wanted to protect someone like this since the muggles had tried to keep him away from Harry after James and Lilly had been murdered.

His wolf didn't tear the fox apart like he normally would, he just bit the animal's neck until an audible snap sounded through the air before tossing the creature away from him and turning his full attention to the small girl. She was a tiny little thing, she'd barely come up to his waist in his human form and his wolf form towered over her small frame. There were twigs and grass lodged in her curly mahogany hair and her tattered clothes hung off of her skinny frame. Bruises littered her arms and stomach, the two distinctly shaped handprints on her neck telling Remus that the majority of her bruises hadn't come from being out in the woods. The wolf leaned forward and the girl cowered back against the tree, squeezing her eyes shut as though she was preparing herself for inexplicable pain.

Remus's wolf whines softly, nuzzling her cheek with his nose, and the young girl's eyes snap open. Her chocolate colored eyes watch him warily for a few moments before softening as she smiles at him, her hand shaking slightly as she reaches up to run her fingers through his fur. His wolf smiles down at her, his tongue lolling out of his mouth slightly as he does so, and a giggle escapes the small girl.

"Thank you for saving me," her voice is hoarse but her gaze is genuine.

Remus's wolf quickly licks her cheek before pulling away from her and smiling at her as he lays on the ground by the tree, content on protecting her for the rest of the night.

August 19th, 1986

Remus paces back and forth in the muggle police station. He couldn't believe he was doing this, he didn't know how to take care of a child. Hell, he couldn't believe these muggles had believed him. Padfoot and Prongs had always told him he was a shit liar. But these muggles had believed him when he told them that the small apartment he was living in was just temporary while he was getting his new business running which had been a complete lie… Well, it had been at first but after how politely these muggles were treating him, he was thinking that it might be easier living in the muggle world than it was for him to live in the magical world as a werewolf… Honestly, they probably believed those papers Lilly had had made for him before she died more than anything.

He had been their back up in case something went wrong. She'd had a feeling her and James wouldn't make it through the war and she wanted to make sure Harry would be taken care of by someone who loved him if neither of his godparents could for some reason so she had went into the muggle world and gotten the paperwork done so that Remus was a registered foster parent (knowing the wizarding world would never let a werewolf adopt a child). When Remus found out that Alice had been tortured to insanity and Sirius had betrayed the Potters, he had immediately gone to muggle office Lilly had made him memorize before she went into hiding but he was too late. Harry had already been legally placed with the Dursleys and there was nothing he could do about it… He couldn't even watch over Harry because wards had been placed round Privet Drive to keep out dark creatures.

How much Hermione (That's what the muggles had told him the small girl's name was.) clearly trusted him probably helped his case as well, she hadn't even trusted the female police officer when she had tried to take Hermione's statement until Remus had told her that the officer just wanted to help her. He had been afraid the child would slip up and mention his furry little problem but she never did which surprised him more than anything and made his wolf yip happily in the back of his mind. His wolf already loved the little girl and wanted to protect her. Remus had actually had trouble restraining the wolf when they had heard the little girl's story.

Hermione's full name was actually Hermione Jean Granger and she had been missing for over a week. She was the daughter of local Dentists Emma and Dan Granger. Emma Granger had been murdered the week prior by her husband when he had returned home earlier than expected from their office and found Emma packing a bag for both herself and their daughter. Emma had reached her breaking point months earlier when she had seen her husband hit Hermione for the first (According to Hermione, her father had hit her before but her mother had never seen him do it before and hadn't wanted to believe that her husband would stood that low even though he had been abusing her for almost their entire relationship.) time and had been preparing for their escape ever since. Emma told Hermione to run and not look back while she distracted Dan and Hermione had followed her mother's instructions to a T… Only she'd gotten lost along the way. She'd been wandering the forest for days, not knowing how far from civilization she'd actually gotten, until Remus had found her last night. Dan was currently in holding for the murder of Emma Granger, domestic violence charges, child abuse, child neglect, and child endangerment.

Because neither Emma nor Dan Granger had any living relatives, Hermione was now a ward of the state. The officers had been planning on sending her to one of the local foster families until Remus had remembered the paperwork Lilly had went through the trouble of filing so that he could take in Harry. They had been surprised at how willing he was to look after the young girl and more than willing to help him push through the barriers so that he could take her home with him.

He wasn't having second thoughts about taking her in, his wolf would have made his life a living hell if he hadn't taken care of his cub and Remus had grown fond of the girl in the little time he'd spent with her as a human. She was so different from anyone he had ever met before and she had accepted his condition without question. He just didn't know how well he would do with a child. He didn't have any experience w—.

"Remus!" A much less hoarse voice tinkled through the air from his right and he had just enough time to turn around and catch her small frame as she hurtled into his arms.

He stood there awkwardly for a moment before pulling the small girl closer to him, a smile tugging at his lips as he hugs her back. "Hey there, cub. Are you ready to go home?"

September 15th, 1986

She was a witch. His little cub was a witch. Hermione was a witch. How could he not have realized it sooner?

"I'm sorry!" Her sobs break him away from his thoughts as the small girl wraps her arms around herself and backs away from him, her eyes fixated on the glass she had accidently broken when she had gotten frustrated with the math homework she had been working on. "I didn't mean to. I promise I won't do it again. Please don't make me leave. I love it here."

Remus quickly strides over to the young girl and pulls her shaking frame into his arms, rubbing her back in soothing circles. "Sh. It's alright. You're not going anywhere. This is nothing to be ashamed of."

"But I'm a freak!" She cries, her tiny hands clutching his shirt tightly.

Fury flares through Remus's body, his own magic humming in the air around him. Pulling away from his cub slightly, his gaze connects with hers. "You are not a freak." His voice is quiet but firm.

His cub stares at him for a long moment before she nods, her tears slowing to a stop. "You're not mad?"

"Of course not." Remus smiles down at her as he gently wipes away her tears before pulling away from her completely and holding out his left hand. "Come on, I want to show you something."

His cub nods as she places her tiny hand in his and lets him lead her back to kitchen table where she had been doing her homework.

Remus smiles at her once more before pulling his wand from where he kept it hidden up his sleeve and waving it over the broken glass.

His cub's eyes widen as the pieces put themselves back together until a whole glass once again sits on the table, the water still on the table being the only evidence that the glass had ever been broken. "How did you do it?"

"I'm a wizard." Remus gives her a wide grin before continuing, "And you, my little cub, are a witch."

September 19th, 1986

"Happy birthday, little cub!" Remus smiles widely at the young girl as he places the small cake in front of her, the eight candles twinkling waving happily at his cub as he does so. "Make a wish."

His cub closes her eyes before blowing out the candles but confusion flares through her gaze when the candles are still waving back at her…almost taunting her. A smile tugs at Remus's lips as he watches her blow out the candles once again and, once again, the flames flicker back to life seconds later. His cub lets out a frustrated huff, her curls rising slightly as her magic crackles around her, and glares at the candles still taunting her from her cake. Remus starts to move to help her put the trick candles out when he sees the determination flare across her whole face and her eyes narrow in concentration for a long moment before the candles go out on their own and a wide smile stretches across her lips. Her proud gaze meets his as she smiles widely up at him.

Remus stares at the young girl in shock for a long moment, her smile starting to fade slightly, before a grin breaks out across his face and he pulls her into a tight hug. "That was amazing!" He'd never seen a child focus their magical energy without a wand before.

October 31st, 1986

Remus's fingers trace the smiling faces of his bespectacled best friend and the redhead who his furry little problem never phased her for a moment before freezing at the sight of the familiar head of dark hair that had betrayed them all though they hadn't known it in that moment. None of them had known he was taking the picture, they were too transfixed by small human in the redhead's arms whose bright emerald eyes were staring straight at Remus as he smiled widely at the werewolf.

A soft hand brushing against his cheek breaks him away from the picture as his cub wipes the tears from his cheeks that he hadn't even realized he was shedding. "Who're they?" Her voice is quiet as she sits beside him on his bed, her wide eyes staring into his sad gaze with genuine curiosity.

"They were my best friends." Remus smiles sadly at his cub before pointing toward the first man in the picture. "This is James. He was my first friend, he and… Sirius, that's this man here… sat in my compartment the first time I rode the Hogwarts Express. James saw that I was sitting by myself when he and Sirius walked by and invited himself into my compartment. He didn't let me stop talking the entire ride to Hogwarts and when we were placed into Gryffindor together, our friendship just continued. Though we did add another member to our little trio, his name was Peter but he's not in this picture. He was busy taking care of his sick aunt when this picture was taken. The four of us were inseparable and when the three of them found out my furry little problem, they became animagii so that they could run with me during the full moon. James was a stag so we called him Prongs, Sirius was a dog so we called him Padfoot, and Peter was a rat so we called Wormtail. The three of them called me Mooney for obvious reasons. We called ourselves the Marauders… The woman's name was Lilly, she and James got married right out of Hogwarts. She was one of the kindest people I have ever met and brilliant to boot. I would not have fancied being at the other end of her wand. You actually remind me a lot of her… And this is Harry. He is Lilly and James's son. He's a little bit younger than you. You'll be going to Hogwarts together… Five years ago today, Lilly and James were murdered by a very bad man and the only reason that man was able to find them was because Sirius led him right to their location. He's now in prison for the rest of his life."

His cub wrapped her arms around him tightly but didn't say anything for a long time. "I'm sorry about your friends, Daddy."

December 9th, 1986

The store's windows were coated in dirt so thickly that he couldn't see outside even after he had swiped his hand across the glass. Dust tornadoes swirled across the room every time he took a step, his foot leaving a perfect imprint with every step he took. He would definitely need to do a lot of cleaning before he could even think about moving in but everything looked stable and there were more than enough shelves for the books he had managed to collect over the past month.

Remus rounds the counter, surveying the nearly empty and equally dusty back room before cautiously climbing the steep stars leading up to the flat that resided over the top of the small shop.

The little living room was just as empty as the store room but the appliances in the kitchen looked fine, a little outdated but they looked like they would work fine after they had been cleaned up a bit. Three doors resided in the hallway between the kitchen and the living room, the bathroom was on his left and one bedroom was on his right. The room at the end of the hallway is where he found his cub who was sitting on a bay window he hadn't known the building possessed, silently watching the muggles milling around outside through surprisingly clean glass.

"What do you think?" His cub jumps, stumbling slightly as she spins to face his.

"I love it." She grins up at him.

"Then we'll get it." He grins back and she lunges at him, hugging him tightly. "What do you think we should call it?"

His cub pulls pack, mischief twinkling in her eyes. "Wolf's Books."

August 18th, 1987

"Little cub?" Remus calls as he walks down the stairs from the flat to the shop, a set of papers in his hands.

"Over here!" His cub's voice rings from one of the farther shelves in the shop and Remus quickly follows the sound of her voice. He pauses when he sees her standing in the middle of the aisle, his wand in her hand as she carefully levitates a new shipment of books into their places among the nearly bursting shelves. When had she snagged his wand? The last of the books settle on the self and she skips over to Remus, grinning up at him as she hands him his wand. "What are those?" She points to the papers in his hand.

"These are actually what I wanted to talk to you about," Remus tells her as he leads the young girl over to one of the many reading nooks they had set up around the shop. "You know, it's a year today that I found you and—."

The smile had been wiped from his cub's face and tears were shining brightly in her eyes. "And those are papers telling me where my new home will be because you don't want me anymore."

This was definitely not how he thought this would go. Maybe he'd been wrong and this wasn't something she wanted. "No! It's quite the opposite actually. I love you, Hermione, and I'd like to adopt you. These papers will let me do that… If that's something you're ok with."

"Yes!" His cub jumps at him, crushing him in a surprisingly strong hug for such a small person. "I love you too, Daddy."

March 21st, 1989

Picking up his pace so that he could finish his patrol and get back to his cub, Remus tried to ignore the knot in his stomach telling him the something was wrong. The familiar scent of death and fire burns his nose and a growl rips through his chest. Another werewolf was in the area… And not just any werewolf but the one who had made him what he was.

He'd be damned if he let Fenrir take his cub away from him.

Her scream pierces through the air and Remus pushes himself faster than he thought possible, bursting into the clearing Hermione had set up camp in just in time to see Fenrir's teeth did into his daughter's side. Both Remus and his wolf tackle Fenrir to the ground, ripping the other wolf away from their cub. Their teeth dig into his neck, their claws rip through the flesh of his side, and they don't let up until Fenrir is running out of the clearing. The wolf would have followed to finish the job but, for once, the wolf listens to Remus when the human tells him to stay with Hermione.

The wolf whines, nuzzling his cub's neck in an attempt to comfort her as she cries. He nudges the young girl's hands away from where they were trying to stop her side from bleeding and gently licks the wound. Remus watches in surprise as her wounds seal shut and his cub's tears stop falling, the pained expression leaving her face as she wraps her arms around his neck.

June 6th, 1990

"DAD!" His cub's voice echoes through the entire store from their flat upstairs and Remus can't help but grin and he hears her stomping across the floorboards upstairs. She storms into the room, her unruly curls sparking with power as she stalks toward him.

"Yes, cub?" Remus responds as innocently as possible while biting back his laughter as he calmly takes a book from the stack cradled in his arms and places it on the shelf where it is supposed to go. He could have the job done in minutes with magic but he'd always preferred to do things by hand when possible.

"Don't you 'Yes, cub' me like you weren't the one who did it. Only two of us live in this house and I sure as hell didn't put popping fireworks under the toilet seat." She tries to keep the smile off her face but he can see it tugging at her lip as she tries to keep up her angry mask.

"I've got no idea what you're talking about but you really should watch your language, cub. Ten-year-olds shouldn't be using that type of language."

"You're right…" His cub pauses, mischief shining brightly in her eyes as she grins up at him, before continuing, "I wonder what Mrs. Tonks would say if she found out that I learned it from you."

Remus felt all the blood drain from his face. Andromeda was the only magical person he kept in contact with and that was only because she had stumbled across his shop when she and her husband were window shopping in town. She'd taken an immediate liking to his cub and when she had found out that Hermione was his daughter, she had immediately invited the two of them over for dinner. It had been strange at first talking to another magical person after so long but Andromeda was almost as detached from that society as he had become so he didn't have to worry about the news of him having a daughter spreading too far. It wasn't long before Andromeda became the motherly role his cub needed and if she found out that he was the one his cub had picked up that kind of language from, she would have his head.

"You wouldn't."

"You're right, I wouldn't." His cub smiles sweetly at him before turning around, almost skipping as she makes her way back down the aisle. "But I will get you back for that."

Remus couldn't help the chuckle that rumbled through his chest, glad that he'd taken her mind off the irritation that always came from the full moon.

September 19th, 1990

"Dad! Dad! Daddy, look!" Remus groggily sat up, his bed shaking underneath him as his cub jumped up and down next to him. The bed stopped shaking as she collapsed on the bed beside him, shoving a letter in his direction.

Dear Miss Lupin,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

Remus turns the page so that he can read the supplies list:

UNIFORM

First-year students will require:

1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)

2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear

3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

4. One winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings)

Please note that all pupil's clothes should carry name tags.

COURSE BOOKS

All students should have a copy of each of the following:

The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk

A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot

Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling

A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch

One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore

Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander

The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble

OTHER EQUIPMENT

1 wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set glass or crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set brass scales

Students may also bring and owl OR a cat OR a toad.

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS

"Congratulations, cub!" Remus looks up from the letter and grins at his cubas he tugs her into a hug. "Happy birthday!"

"Can we get my things from Diagon Alley today?" His cub asks as she pulls away, her warm eyes brightened with excitement.

"Everything but your robes because you'll grow before you go to school next year. You can get some extra books too considering you've got all the ones on your list already. And we're going to pick up your birthday present while we're there as well."