Chapter 1

"Laid it on a little thick, mate?" Sirius joked with Remus, who looked like he was having a mental breakdown.

'I knew no one would want an old werewolf like me, but to faint? Am I really that ugly?' Remus thought, significantly lowering his self confidence.

"Calm down, Moony. It was just a joke. To lighten the mood?" Sirius explained as he noticed how distraught his best friend looked.

Remus shot him a glare, and Sirius took that as his cue to leave him alone to his thoughts.

Sirius padded over to where Mrs. Weasley was hovering over Hermione, franticly dabbing her forehead with a cool cloth. She looked fairly flustered, and Sirius wondered if she had tried 'rennervate' on Hermione yet. Sirius pointed his wand at Hermione's face and muttered the spell. Her eyes immediately sprang open and Sirius was looking quite smug.

Hermione saw Mrs. Weasley running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

"Mrs. Weasley what are you doing?" asked Hermione out of sheer curiosity.

Mrs. Weasley looked at her like a deer in Muggle headlights.

"Oh! You've woken up!"

Hermione felt very deja vu-ish. 'Hadn't this happened that very morning,' she mused. Hermione was laughing to herself until she remembered what had happened earlier. Her expression changed from humorous to ashen faster than Harry could catch a snitch.

Hermione felt horrible. She knew Lupin would be thinking that she fainted because of his condition. She had really fainted out of shock, a common thing for her. She swung her legs off of the sofa and she slowly walked over to where Lupin was sitting with his face in his hands. Hermione wordlessly sat down beside him and he looked up. She put her hand on his knee and they sat like that in silence for at least 10 minutes, which felt like hours to both of them.

Hermione finally spoke, breaking the silence with her voice "I just wanted to say thank you and I'm sorry. You didn't have to do this for me and I feel terrible for putting you in this position."

Lupin looked surprised. "Why are you thanking me? I've just ruined your life. You'll be an outcast for being seen with me."

"You listen here, you're doing me a favor and I'm eternally grateful that it's you and not some Death Eater or Snape," she shuddered but continued "we're already friends, just friends that get to live with each other."

Lupin's face lightened considerably, and he smiled at Hermione. She smiled back and pulled him in for a very unexpected hug. He was still as stone until he realized what she was doing. He hesitantly wrapped his arms around her back, feeling quite awkward.

All of the Order members were watching with stupid smiles on their faces. Well, all but one.

"What are you looking at?" Ron exclaimed angrily to the hoard of people.

Sirius smirked and whispered something about being jealous to Harry, who laughed but still looked fairly squirmy.

Lupin and Hermione broke apart and looked up at everyone, feeling embarrassed and exposed. Hermione smiled a bit and got up to join Ginny who had just gone upstairs.

Hermione jumped up the stairs, taking two at a time and clicked open the door to the bedroom she and Ginny had shared for the past 3 years. She spotted Ginny sitting on her bed and plopped down directly across from her.

"Talk," was all Hermione said, but Ginny seemed to understand by the curious look on her face.

"Harry and I had a row," Ginny explained.

"And," assisted Hermione.

"That's all. People fight."

Hermione knew she wasn't getting anything from Ginny and slowly backed out of the room and hopped over to Sirius.

"You seem to know about everything that goes on in here. Spill about Ginny and Harry," Hermione demanded.

Sirius got a mischievous smile on his face and said "Harry offered himself to marry you instead of Remus, but Ginny wouldn't have it. She pulled the 'forever and always' card and hexed Harry pretty bad."

Hermione cringed. Ginny's Bat-Bogey hexes were not fun to receive. "I can't blame her, really. She's been pining over Harry for years now, since she was ten and now she's got him, I doubt she would want to give him up," Hermione reasoned.

Sirius cocked an eyebrow and muttered something about women and never understand while he walked away.

Hermione giggled. 'Isn't he supposed to be a womanizer? You can't attract women without learning how their minds work,' she mused.

She spotted Snape standing in the corner. 'Why is he always so lonely? Maybe I'll attempt to talk with him,' she thought.

Hermione strode over to the corner that housed her Potions Master.

"Hello," she started, but stopped when he opened his mouth to say something.

"Congratulations on your engagement," he said with a smirk, as if he thought it was for his personal entertainment.

Hermione huffed and continued speaking "Do you know why the Death Eaters can request my marriage? I was under the impression that they were all pureblooded."

"Ms. Granger, you should remember that the Dark Lord himself is a half-blood as well," he explained gravely.

Hermione's eyes bulged and her mouth dropped open slightly in shock.

"Ms. Granger I would advise you to close your mouth unless you want to the Weasley twins to test out their newest product on you," he drawled.

Hermione ignored him and started talking again "But I'm a Muggleborn! He wouldn't even want to touch me!"

"Very few understand the Dark Lord's mind, and I am fortunately not one of them. I would assume he wants you for your brains and beauty." he replied.

"Was that a compliment, Sir?" Hermione smirked.

"Fact," he responded and swept away, his robes billowing behind him.

"Drama queen," Hermione muttered as she went to join Mrs. Weasley in the kitchen. On her way she passed Harry and Ginny snogging. 'I guess they made up,' she thought to herself, smiling inwardly.

As soon as she stepped into the kitchen she was ambushed by the female members of the Order.

"When's the wedding going to be?"

"The real question is WHERE is the wedding going to be?"

"At Hogwarts, of course!"

"We have so little time for planning!"

"How about your dress?"

And for the second time that day, Hermione Granger fainted.