A/N: So as I said in my Tweets, I've been spending this week working on birthday fics. This one is for KaraSays...Happy Birthday!

As always, thanks to my amazing beta. Love ya, Amy!

R&R PLEASE!

Muggle Chewing Gum

*CRACK!*

Remus Lupin groaned slightly, closing his eyes and rubbing his face with a tired hand as the other gripped the neck of a slowly-dwindling bottle of Firewhiskey. He had escaped to the dusty, nearly-forgotten library of Grimmauld Place with the hopes of complete and utter solitude but clearly from the sound of muffled footsteps, someone else had different ideas.

The door opened and a figure walked in, slightly shadowed by the dim lights. He didn't need the light to know who it was, though. He knew that silhouette anywhere. Hermione Granger, the intellect of the illustrious 'Golden Trio,' had entered the library.

Hermione Granger, still wearing that infuriatingly conservative dress of soft champagne that had tortured him all night, even more than that ridiculous charade of a wedding they had both attended.

Hermione Granger, who walked with a confidence and an ease because she had no idea just how sexy she was and that in itself made him groan with a desire he had not felt in his entire life.

Hermione Granger, whose soft, silky honey-brown curls, large chocolate eyes, and slim, curvy figure seemed to call to his hands and his lips and…well, other decidedly male appendages.

She didn't seem to notice him as she walked passed, humming slightly to herself and going to a shelf that, he was relieved to know, was perfectly within his sightline. He watched as she skimmed the volumes, her fingers skittering over the worn leather and his nostrils flared as irrational jealousy toward the inanimate objects scorched through him.

What he wouldn't give for those dainty fingers skimming over him like that.

She bent down to look at the books on the bottom shelf and his grip on the forgotten bottle tightened as he felt a stirring in his lower body. Her arse was amazing. Round and tight and all of a sudden filthy images of just what he could do to her in that position started to cloud his mind. He bit his lip hard to avoid groaning loud enough for her to hear him.

He needed to stop drinking. It was starting to make him consider things that an old man shouldn't dream of considering with a former student twenty years his junior and…

She wasn't wearing a bra.

His groan left his lips before he could stop himself and Hermione looked up to see him once again running his free hand over his face, trying to will his blush away as he refused to meet her eyes for fear of revealing those dirty, dirty thoughts that had been racing through his brain ever since he had seen her that afternoon.

"Professor? I'm sorry…I didn't think anyone else was here…" she said, straightening up and walking over to him. Through the gaps in his fingers – as his hand was still over his eyes in a feeble attempt to hide himself – he saw her approaching him and he felt his heart beat faster as he saw the concern on her face.

"Professor Lupin? Are you alright?"

He groaned inwardly. Professor. She still called him professor. 'Get a grip, you randy werewolf!' his conscience silently shouted.

"I'm sorry, Hermione, I just came here for some solitude," he said, trying to keep the tremor out of his voice as he picked up her scent.

Fresh linen mixed with chocolate and book leather.

She nodded slightly.

"I understand," she said softly and he removed his hand from his eyes just in time to see a flash of sadness cross her face. He had almost forgotten that she must have been going through the exact same thing he was.

"It was an interesting wedding," he offered weakly, motioning for her to sit in the high-backed armchair that was facing him, pulling his wand out and pointing it at the empty grate in the fireplace. "Incendio!"

Hermione watched mildly as a fire sprang up among the ashes.

"I suppose it was," was all she said in reply.

Nymphadora Tonks and Ronald Weasley. They were the couple that had wedding guests scratching their heads in silent astonishment while the Weasley twins covertly invited people to join the betting pool on how long the marriage would last.

Remus was down for three months, three weeks, and three days.

"Bit cruel of Tonks to ask you to be in her wedding party," he commented as she gazed into the flames.

"Bit daft of me to accept, really," she replied, turning her eyes back to gaze at him.

"Why did you?" he asked.

She shrugged.

"Wanted to mend the bridges, I suppose. Didn't really work. She wasn't very kind to me. It seems she saw me as some sort of threat, or something."

Remus snorted.

"I would have hexed her into next week," he mumbled.

A small smile played on her lips.

"The thought occurred to me. But Ginny stopped me." Her grin grew slightly. "She told me not to worry about it, as her gift to them would more than make up for Tonks' awful treatment."

Remus arched an eyebrow.

"Oh? What did she give them?"

She shrugged again.

"I figured the less I knew, the better. Although, I'm led to believe it involves undergarments of some kind."

Remus laughed and shook his head, wondering with malicious glee at what the youngest Weasley child had planned for the happy couple. He sneered slightly at the term. 'Happy couple' indeed.

The bittersweet taste of victory over Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters had thrown unlikely people together while they all picked up the pieces of their losses. Tonks and Remus, who had danced around a mild flirtation for years, decided to make things official and started dating. Ron and Hermione, who had been another set of subjects for Weasley twins' betting pools, had also started dating officially, though it was of little shock to anyone.

They had all been blissfully happy. That was, until four months earlier, when Tonks had come to the door of Remus's flat in the middle of the night, dressed in nothing but bright pink lace, demanding that Remus ravish her. Being male and sex-starved for longer than he cared to admit, he acquiesced without complaint, though he did put a silent contraceptive charm over her without her knowledge.

That had been her undoing.

A month later, Tonks had squealed happily, grinning broadly as she told Remus that she was pregnant. He knew immediately that she was cheating on him. They had slept together only once – she hadn't seemed too keen after that first time, which he admitted gave him a bit of a complex – and he knew they had been protected.

When he had calmly asked her – with more restraint than he thought he possessed – who the father was, he saw the fear flicker in her eyes. He knew then that she had come to his house that night in that outfit after being with another man.

Pink was suddenly the most revolting color in the world to him.

Hermione, of course, had been devastated. Yes, she and Ron had had a row and yes, that night she had kicked him out of the flat they shared but under no circumstances did she expect him to rush into Tonks' willing arms. When the two had sheepishly confronted her with the terrible truth of their sordid affair, she had swallowed her pride and simply nodded. She handed Ron back the engagement ring he had slipped on her finger only weeks prior and she had moved out of the flat by nightfall, taken in by Harry and Ginny in Grimmauld Place.

Remus was almost certain that Molly Weasley would have killed her youngest son had Arthur not held her back by her wand hand the night Ron confessed his infidelity and his need to marry Tonks before the baby was born. She had used words Remus was sure Ron had never heard from his mother's lips before Molly had stalked off to find Hermione.

Three months later and four months pregnant, Nymphadora Tonks and Ronald Weasley had married in front of their friends and family while the two spurned lovers watched, one silently pining and the other noticing for the first time just how big of a fool Ronald Weasley really was.

"A sickle for your thoughts, professor," Hermione's voice interrupted his silent mental slideshow and Remus refocused on her, admiring the way her full lips were upturned in a small smile.

"Hermione, how long is it going to take for you to call me by my first name? I haven't been your professor for five years and we've definitely been through enough together that there's really no need for formalities."

She chuckled.

"I know. I suppose its silly of me, but I can't shake myself out of the academic mindset."

He grinned slightly.

"You've been out of school for over a year now and you're still in the academic mindset? Merlin, Hermione, you really are the little bookworm, aren't you?"

She stuck her tongue out at him and a thrill shot down his spine. Images of what she could do with that tongue flashed dangerously through his mind.

They sat in silence for a moment before Remus heard the sound of rustling plastic. Turning to her, he saw what looked to be a foil package in her hand and he frowned as she popped something into her mouth.

"What's that?" he asked.

"Bubble gum," she replied.

His brow furrowed.

"Bubble gum?"

"Yes. It's a Muggle blowing gum."

"Like Droobles?"

"A little. But the bubbles burst fairly quickly when you blow them."

He frowned.

"Why would you want to chew that?"

She chuckled.

"I'm trying to break the habit of chewing on my lower lip. My mother finds it a rather disgusting substitute but I suppose that comes from being a dentist and seeing what all that sugar can do to children's teeth."

"Well, if you know what it can do, why do you chew it?"

She smiled slightly and showed him the package.

"Sugar-free," she said, a touch of pride at her quick loophole.

He rolled his eyes.

"You think of everything. Brainy little swot," he said, though he smiled slightly.

She tilted her head and looked at him oddly, but said nothing after a moment and continued to gaze into the fire.

*POP!*

Remus jumped and looked at Hermione. She grinned slightly, rolling the gum around in her mouth before biting down on it.

*POP!*

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Popping my gum."

"Well…stop."

"Why?"

"It's a bit annoying and if you didn't notice, it's close to the full moon and my senses are keener and you popping that gum is like a gunshot to me."

She grinned, rolling the gum around again and popping the gum.

*POP!*

"Hermione, act your age, not your shoe size," he heard himself say, to which her grin only broadened.

"Sorry, professor," she said.

A few more minutes passed in comfortable silence before Remus felt himself getting more and more distracted by the tiny piece of pink sticky substance rolling around in her pretty little mouth. Despite the occasional bite, Remus couldn't help but find it an extremely erotic sight. The way her tongue – that wicked little kitten tongue – wrapped around the gum to blow the bubble was doing things to him that were entirely inappropriate but he simply couldn't look away.

*POP!*

"Pop that gum one more time and I will forcibly remove it from your mouth," he growled, his eyes darkening as she licked her lips. He watched the lips lift into a self-satisfied smirk.

*POP!*

He was on his feet and in front of her in two steps.

She didn't seem frightened – although he was sure he was a sight for anyone who didn't know him well. The lust in his mind and body had clouded his eyes, and he was sure that she noticed they were no longer the dancing silver-blue, but instead a stormy gray. Instead of cowering at his tall, looming figure, she met his gaze. She lifted an eyebrow, daring him to go through with his threat.

His lips were on hers before either of them knew what was happening.

His tongue darted into her open mouth, feeling around for the gum and hoping he hadn't shocked her enough to have swallowed it accidentally. Luckily, he found it tucked in the inside of her cheek, and he probed at it before bringing it into his own mouth.

He pulled away and spit it into the fire.

Looking at her, he saw her chocolate eyes wide with surprise but she did not look as though she was completely disgusted by the whole experience. Instead, she tilted her head and looked at him oddly again, her brow furrowing as she searched his eyes.

"What?" he finally asked.

She shook her head slightly.

"I'm just trying to decide if Sirius has somehow possessed your body."

Remus arched an eyebrow.

"Why?"

She smirked.

"That was a very Sirius-like move."

He gave her a sexy – or what he hoped was sexy – half-smirk, leaning in to her ear.

"Where do you think he learned it all from?"

She arched her eyebrow as he turned back to his chair, settling himself comfortably and gazing back at the fire.

"Are you telling me that the Hogwarts playboy extraordinaire owes his womanizing prowess to the quiet, unassuming fourth of the Marauder quartet?" she asked.

"It wouldn't be gentlemanly of me to say," he replied, causing her to roll her eyes.

A few more seconds of comfortable silence passed between them before Remus heard the rustling of plastic once more. He looked over at Hermione and sent her a hard glare as he watched her take out another piece of chewing gum and pop it into her mouth.

She sent him a dazzling smile.

"Since you took my other piece," she explained needlessly, smirking as he gave her a withering look.

*POP!*

"Hermione!" he shouted, his eyes wide with frustration.

"What?" she asked mildly, though the gleam in her eyes belied her innocent look.

"What did I tell you about popping your chewing gum? Honestly, it's annoying," he said, feeling his body start to react as her smirk never left her face.

"My apologies once again, professor," she said again, this time the lilt in her voice as she exaggerated the last word sending a thrill straight to his groin.

After a few moments of complete silence - without any popping - Remus thought it safe to ask what she was looking for in the library.

"A book on sleeping draughts," she replied, unfurling her legs and standing. "Harry was telling me tonight that he's still having trouble sleeping."

"Is he okay?" Remus asked worriedly.

"Yes. It's just the nightmares. Snape, mainly. He still feels guilty, even though it's been almost a year now."

"I think we all feel some measure of guilt for that," he admitted, his eyes dancing over her body as she walked back over to the shelf she had been perusing.

*POP!*

Remus jumped and was about to yell at her when he saw her bent over again, her tight, firm arse facing him once more. His nostrils flared as he battled with the wolf to avoid stalking over and taking full, inappropriate advantage of the position.

"Hermione," he managed to say fairly calmly. "You're popping your gum again."

A part of him felt ridiculous - she was a witch of above-average intelligence and she definitely knew that the popping annoyed him. He also had a sneaking suspicion, however, that she also knew exactly what his body was going through in her presence and the fact that she had not pulled away in complete disgust when he had all but kissed her moments before was enough to prove to him that she was doing it all on purpose.

"Really, Remus, you have to lighten up. You know I'm only doing it to get a rise out of you, don't you?"

"The thought had crossed my mind," he mumbled, unable to take his eyes off her body as she stood up, turning to him and leaning against the bookshelves. He found something erotic about the sight of her there, leaning back with her body clad in that soft champagne fabric. An image of a classic Muggle movie star came to mind, clad in conservative yet dazzling dresses and gazing at the camera with soft but sensual eyes.

*POP!*

Before he could let his brain process his actions, Remus was in front of her, his hands on either side of her head, effectively trapping her between him and the bookcase as he looked down at her. There was a glint in her eyes that made his cock stand at attention and she licked her lips in anticipation of his assault.

His lips crashed upon hers, taking his time to find the gum as he allowed himself to melt in the softness of her delicious mouth. His tongue probed for the gum, and she relinquished it willingly. He only took a minute to pull back and spit it out, uncaring as to the direction it fell, before his lips were upon hers again, this time in a softer, more sensual kiss.

Her lips moved gently with his, parting slightly to allow him a small taste of the real delights within. His hands moved from the bookshelf to her shoulders, sliding down her arms and savoring the smooth texture of her skin. He delighted as he felt goose bumps form under his touch, hinting at the responsiveness of the rest of her body. The thought made him groan, and he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to him.

She deepened the kiss after a few moments of soft enjoyment. Her tongue darted into his mouth, and he was sure she could taste the firewhiskey that he had been consuming. She was bold, dueling with him with a fiery passion he had never felt before from any witch - and certainly not from Tonks. Hermione was all fire and heat, scorching him yet soothing him at the same time in an odd mélange of sensations.

Moving a hand from her waist to her face, he caressed her cheek before burying his fingers in her wild curls, drawing her head closer, holding her to him as he drank from her eager lips. He needed this. He needed this badly and the fact that she was twenty years younger or the fact that she was his former pupil or even the fact that she was recently off of a very bad break-up did not faze him as her small hands skittered up his torso, pushing his outer robes from his shoulders.

Of their own accord, his hands slid behind her body and slowly unzipped the back of her dress. He pulled away to look into her eyes for any indication that the action was going too far or too fast for her, but he growled from the back of his throat as he saw the lust that reflected his own in her eyes. She smirked slightly, her gaze unblinking on his as she nimbly unbuttoned the front of his dress shirt.

Within seconds, that, too, lay discarded on the floor.

"My my, professor," she breathed, taking in his broad, strong shoulders and his toned, muscular chest. "Who knew you had all this hiding under those robes."

His lips crashed upon hers once more as he brought the straps of the dress down her arms, feeling the front dip dangerously low. Uncoiling her arms from around his neck, she slid them through the straps, letting the dress fall from her body. He could feel the pebbled hardness of her nipples pressing against his body, and he shuddered slightly at the feeling of hot skin against his.

He ran his hands up her torso, taking in the velvety softness and feeling an odd hunger as she responded by arching into him. Cupping her breasts with his hands, he ran his thumbs over her nipples and delighted as she pulled away from his lips to throw her head back in unbridled appreciation.

Feeling encouraged, he kissed down her tender ivory neck towards the beautiful fullness of flesh against his hands. She hissed as he took a nipple into his mouth, sucking on the rosy bud and flicking his tongue across it to heighten the sensation. Her hands pressed against his head, pulling him closer to her as she enjoyed his ministrations with loud, breathy moans.

He allowed a hand to travel slowly down her body again, running across the flat stomach to the edge of her simple cotton underwear. He tried to push from his mind how much of a thrill it gave him to see her in simple white cotton undies, and instead decided to dispense with them as quickly as possible to avoid his mind wandering back to all the reasons he shouldn't ravish this witch against the bookshelves of the hallowed Grimmauld Place library.

He switched his attentions to her other breast, allowing his other hand the opportunity to travel down to meet its twin. Together they rolled the underwear down her hips, letting it drop to the floor. He hadn't been sure if she had noticed the action until she quickly stepped out of the cloth and kicked them to the side hastily.

Remus couldn't help the smirk on his face as he smelled the strength of her desire.

"You're so wet, Hermione," he growled, pulling away from her breast and kissing up her neck to her ear, nipping slightly at the lobe as his fingers played with the soft brown hair at her apex, coming dangerously close to where she wanted him but not touching her. "Is this what you want?"

"Fuck, Remus," she whispered, the breathy expletive shooting desire straight to his loins. "Do you think I'd be in this situation if I didn't want this?"

He chuckled, kissing her gently as he slid a finger within her, his body immediately registering just how tight she was going to be as his thumb grazed her throbbing nub.

She moaned, throwing her head back and hitting some of the books. He grinned, watching the gentle flush appear on her face as he played her, moving his fingers slowly in and out of her as his thumb made lazy circles around her clit. Her hips bucked gently against him and his trousers were becoming even more uncomfortable as he watched her lips part and a small cry of ecstasy escape, causing him to unconsciously speed up his movements.

Her eyes flew open and they burned molten hot as his name burst from her lips as she quaked in orgasm.

Bringing his fingers from her body, he saw her eyes darken as he brought his fingers to his lips, sucking her juices off them and groaning at the sweet ambrosia.

"Remus," she whispered softly a few moments later, after she had caught her breath. "You are wearing entirely too much clothing."

Her eyes never left his as she started to sink to her knees.

His breath hitched at the sight of her naked body in such a submissive position, despite the fact that her hands and attention were nowhere near where he wanted them to be. She had gone to his shoes, slowly untying them and urging him to slip out of them before moving to his socks. Though he did feel a slight relief at the fact that he could now wiggle his toes with relative ease, those tiny ten appendages were not the ones he was worried about at the moment.

She seemed to sense this, as her hands ran up his strong legs to caress the large bulge at the front of his dress pants. He groaned as she unbuttoned them, her eyes flicking up to his as a small grin crossed her face. His nostrils flared as he watched her move forward and lower the zipper with her teeth.

"Sweet Merlin, Hermione," he muttered as she pulled the pants and his boxers down with a single tug. He kicked them aside, trying to ignore the insistent throbbing that thrummed through his body as his cock stood in front of him.

And then, all of the fantasies he had entertained about her mouth within the past 30 minutes were blown completely from his mind by the reality of having her hot, wet mouth engulfing his cock.

"Shit!" he shouted, his eyes closing as his hand buried itself in her curls, holding her as he willed his hips into stillness, wanting nothing more than to thrust himself into that hot orifice over and over again.

It had been so long since anyone had done this for him. He couldn't remember the last time he had had anyone halfway decent anywhere near that particular appendage, but there she was, Hermione-fucking-Granger, her mouth sliding deftly up and down his member. Despite the intense pleasure he took from the image, however, he knew that the place he wanted to be most was not in her mouth, but inside her tight, pert body, and so with all the strength he could muster he pulled back slightly.

He swallowed hard as he watched his cock pop out of her mouth, leaving her lips red and swollen.

"What's wrong?" she asked, her big hazel eyes looking up at him with a mixture of womanly-desire and innocence that was making it more and more difficult to control the wolf inside him.

"I want to be inside you," he said, pulling her up and with one fluid motion, lifted her into his arms, and pressed her against the bookshelves.

"Well, that's a relief," she whispered in his ear as he wrapped his arm securely around her waist. "Because I've been imagining you inside me since you used my gum as an excuse for kissing me."

He growled and caught her lips in a rough, passionate kiss as he thrust deeply into her. She gasped against his mouth, gripping his shoulders with her hands as he stretched her. He pulled away from her lips, letting his head fall onto her shoulder. He held still for a moment, his head spinning slightly at the tightness around him. They were both breathing deeply, trying to come to terms with the initial bolt that ran through them at their coupling.

His body was slowly starting to disintegrate into the mass of nerve endings and he was trying to fight the feelings that would have caused the wolf within him to rear and thrust wildly when she finally spoke:

"Fuck me," she whispered in his ear, a tiny nip at his earlobe an acknowledgment of the excruciating seconds of stillness. "Fuck me hard."

He didn't need to be asked twice.

Gripping her arms and pinning them above her head, Remus caught her lips and started to rock his hips against her, loving the tension in her thighs as she wrapped her legs around him. Their movements were messy, filled with need and desire as he drove into her harder and faster, hearing the hitch in her voice as he hit the elusive bundle of nerves within her.

They seemed to know each other's signals so well, and he obliged her gentle urgings by silently surrendering his self-control and speeding up his thrusts while attempting to plunge deeper and deeper into her.

"Oh shit…right there," she breathed, starting to struggle against her bonds.

Remus felt as if all of the oxygen had been sucked from the room for one second before gloriously filling his lungs with some nirvana-inducing replacement. His body conformed to hers so perfectly that it seemed they fit like the last piece in a jigsaw puzzle; so perfectly into that final picture. She tilted her head forward, gazing into his eyes and he started to rock his hips even harder, kissing her neck as the fast, frenzied rhythm raced through their bodies.

"Oh God…" she whispered, closing her eyes and arching her body towards his, rolling her hips to meet his thrusts.

"Hermione…" he breathed, catching her lips in a fiery kiss, hoping to scorch her soul with the passion that burned within him.

"Remus…oh Jesus…" she moaned, pulling away from his lips, arching her back and closing her eyes as her body started to tremble. Remus watched her, his muscles aching with need of release. Sex had never been so intense before, and he didn't know whether he would be able to let her go once she came to her senses and realized who she had just fucked.

But as her walls tensed around him, he didn't give a flying fuck about anything else but the feeling of her around him.

"You feel so good…oh God…" he groaned, burying his head in her neck as his muscles tensed, and he gripped her wrists tightly as he fought with his self-control, pushing himself.

"Don't stop…I'm so close…" she gasped, and he continued to thrust hard against the place within her that had been rarely touched by a man.

He groaned, feeling her body tensing as her orgasm approached. He gripped her leg with his free hand, holding it high against his body as he thrust. She moaned, the new sensation causing her to lose what little grip she seemed to have on her control.

"Oh…Fuck!" she cried, her back arching as she came hard. Her voice seemed to betray her body as she cried out in her orgasm, ignoring the fact that neither had thought to put up silencing charms in their frenzy of sexual passion.

Feeling the tightness surrounding him, Remus let go of her hands so he could grip one of the shelves. Her hands immediately flew to his back and he groaned as her nails dug into his flesh, sliding down his back from the sweat that had built between them.

Remus didn't know if it was the tightness around him or from the pain her nails caused that finally did him in, but he groaned, arching his back as his pleasure hit him. He thrust hard, his hips jerking as he came within her, his eyes clenched shut, his jaw locked and his muscles taut.

It was a phenomenal feeling, being buried within the witch of his fantasies mid-way through the most amazing orgasm of his life.

She groaned as he gave small thrusts, her body trembling and jerking as goose bumps formed on her skin. He could feel his energy drain from him and with a final groan, he collapsed on top of her.

They were both shaking as they stood there, wrapped in each others arms, trying to calm down from the intense highs they had both experienced. Their bodies were wet with their sweat, and their hair was plastered against their skin. He looked into her eyes, and he saw something there that he didn't expect to see. There were deep emotions running through her, and the thought that he was the cause of those emotions scared him somewhat. This was a woman that he couldn't have imagined in his wildest dreams would be the willing lover he now held in his arms.

"I can't believe we didn't do this sooner," was all she said with a coy smile, kissing him deeply and rolling her head back, closing her eyes as she let her body settle.

Remus looked at her, his brow furrowing.

"You…what?"

She opened an eye.

"I dare you to tell me you weren't thinking about this through that entire sham of a wedding we were made to witness tonight."

He blushed slightly.

"I…well…um…"

"You're a horrible liar, Remus. Your emotions read all over your face. I know you were looking at me this afternoon, and so I followed you here, wanting to give you the opportunity."

"I…but…"

"Remus," she said softly, putting her hands on his cheeks. "You are an extraordinary man. Did you think no one would be able to see that? Especially after Tonks did what she did to you?"

He looked away, not wanting to think about his ex-girlfriend at the moment.

"What about Ron?" he forced himself to ask, though he wasn't sure he wanted to hear the answer.

"What about him?" she asked calmly.

He looked into her eyes.

"Hermione…you two just ended three months ago. After being together for a year…and engaged!"

"And?" she prompted.

"And…well…we just…"

A slow smile appeared on her face.

"Remus," she said softly. "Right now, it's you and me. And something as amazing as the sex we just had should have happened a long time ago."

He smiled slightly, heaving a deep sigh as he gazed into her eyes, running his hand over her cheek.

"Do you regret it?" he whispered.

She smiled.

"Not one minute. Do you?"

"No fucking way."

He caught her lips and lowered them to the floor, transfiguring their robes into thick blankets. Lying back with her head on his chest, Remus looked up at the ceiling. She lazily traced the scars on his body, and they lay silent for a few moments before she glanced up at him.

"Harry and Ginny'll be back soon."

"Probably."

"We should move."

"They're not likely to come in here."

She sat up slightly, looking down at him and smiling at the expression on his face.

"What's going through that brain of yours, Remus Lupin?" she asked.

He smirked.

"Got any more chewing gum?"