~Chapter 2~

The torches on the walls flickered eerily as cool air rushed through deserted corridor, almost as if the castle was alive and breathing. I sighed, staring at the ornate handle which embellished the heavy oak door. The door that led to the hospital wing. I reached for it, but stopped when I realized my hands were shaking. I have been dreading this moment for the last two days. I had to face Ron, now that he was allowed visitors, but I couldn't let him see me like this.

The echo of footsteps rang sharply against the stone walls, alerting me that someone was approaching. I hastily dabbed at the pools of moisture that had clung to my lashes and tried to arrange my facial features to hide my inner turmoil.

To my surprise, Remus Lupin turned the corner.

"Good afternoon Hermione." my ex-professor's false cheer was unnerving, even if he meant well.

"Hello Professor Lupin, what are you doing here?" I asked, frowning at my poor word choice. "Excuse me, what brings you here?"

"You may call me Remus as I am no longer your professor, and I am here for two things actually. One is to visit Bill Weasley. He was bitten by Fenrir Greyback." At my sharp intake of breath, Remus must have realized that I hadn't been aware of Bill's injuries, "Do not fear, Miss Granger, the werewolf was not transformed when he attacked Bill. He will hardly be a complete werewolf, but it's hard to imagine that there wont be any adverse effects from the contact with someone infected with lycanthropy. I am here to... help him accept any changes to his being."

"Well that is very kind of you, I sure do hope that he will be okay." I said, a flood of relief coursing through my veins. Remus nodded in agreement. "You had said there were two reasons, though?" I added.

"Ah yes, not much slips past you, does it?" he said, with a small smile on his face. "Also werewolf related, I am here to take the Wolfsbane potion. I assume you are visiting friends?"

"Yes, just checking up on Ron mostly. I haven't seen him since before the battle..." I began to feel overwhelmed at the thought of my friend. 'You mean your boyfriend?' a small annoying voice in my head reminded me. Suddenly, I realized something.

" Snape-" I spat, "He was the one who brewed the Wolfsbane for you. What are you to do now that he is... now that his loyalties have been revealed?" I tried to keep the malice from my tone, but it was quite clear how I felt about my other former professor.

"I believe that our new Headmistress..." he paused, showing his sadness over the circumstances, "is reaching out to a few colleagues and contacts to see if she can locate a Master of Potions who is willing and capable of making the brew." he seemed thoughtful for a moment, "and trustworthy of course." He gave a weak smile, that wavered with uncertainty.

Wolfsbane was a very complicated brew, I hadn't ever came across it in any of my Advanced Potion's texts. I had, however, looked over the instructions and ingredients one of many afternoons that I had spent in the library. Complicated indeed.

"Well I do hope that you are able to find someone." I said, worried about what would happen to Remus if he had to go without the potion. We stood in a slightly awkward silence. I inwardly hoped that Remus didn't mistake my silence for pity, as that is the last thing he would want.

"Shall we?" Remus gestured towards the door, pulling me from my thoughts.

"Actually, I-..." I grimaced, a knowing look flitted across Remus' face.

"Hermione, I have a simple few words of advice from someone who is a bit older and more experienced with such matters, if you'll accept?"

"Sure, Professor?" I said, mentally kicking myself for calling him by his former title. How did he know about... surely he couldn't know... could he?

As if reading my thoughts, Remus gave a light chuckle and answered my question.

"Let's just say a certain mutual friend of ours isn't very good at keeping secrets. Luckily, I am. Now, as I was saying... the longer you wait to tell someone how you really feel, however that may be, the more hurt there is. On both sides. Irreparable damage may be done."

"I- thank you Remus." I stammered, still recovering from the shock of getting such direct and unexpected advice from a man who I once recall thinking of as my quiet and reserved Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor.

"You're welcome, it was very nice talking to you. Am I correct in assuming you will be attending the Order meeting tonight?" he asked.

"Yes, I will be there." I confirmed.

"See you then, Hermione." Remus disappeared through the heavy oak door, it closed behind him with a dull thud.

xxx

An hour later, I sat beside the Great Lake. A good portion of my concentration was focused on trying as hard as I could to ignore the group of wizards setting up chairs and tents on the lawn for the funeral the next morning. I couldn't bring myself to think of who the funeral was for.

A cool breeze was coming off of the fiery lake, set ablaze by the setting sun. It felt remarkably refreshing, the tear tracks on my face stung as the cold air attacked my senses. My thoughts kept flitting back and forth between the kiss, various conversations between Harry and I, my conversation with Remus, and the conversation that I should have had with Ron earlier.

I nearly laughed, I truly was pathetic.

The Wizarding World was in an immeasurable amount of danger due to the fact that Voldemort and his Death Eaters were at large, my best friend had to somehow kill aforementioned maniac while trying to not get killed himself, random and strategic attacks were tearing wizarding and muggle families apart, and here I am worried about my bloody love life? Really? I shook my head at the situation, never would I have thought that I would be so selfish and shallow. People have lost their lives...

I sighed, and threw the smooth stone I had been palming into the lake. A smile crossed my face when one extremely large tentacle darted out of the water to catch the fragment. The Great Squid threw the stone back onto the shore by my feet with a wave of it's enormous appendage.

A figure down the shore caught my eye. I squinted to make out the familiar shape of Harry, who seemed to be heading in my direction. I couldn't help but smile as the Great Squid antagonized him while he was walking towards the stretch of pebbly shore I was sitting on, splashing him several times. He threw up his hands in exasperation, as if saying 'I give up, you win'.

The look on his face was menacing as he took a seat next to me, I laughed.

"Damn Squid." he said, "I've been looking for you. I thought you were going to see Ron?" he raised his eyebrows in a silent question.

"I was going to, but then I ran into Remus," a guilty look crossed my friends face "I just felt like I needed more time to think... Have you seen him? Ron, that is." I asked, staring at the beautiful display of colors that were splashed across the sky.

"Yeah, I just left the hospital wing. He was wondering where you were, but I told him that you would be up later because you were helping organize the library." It wasn't technically a lie, it was what I had been doing before my encounter with Remus. Harry attempted to skip a rock, sighing when it sank instead. "He didn't seem to mind. He looks good though, seems to have came around with no serious issues. He should be out tomorrow morning."

"Thanks." I said, watching as the sun began it's descent behind the horizon.

Suddenly, I was overcome with anger. I couldn't believe my cowardice, what in the bloody hell was so hard about going to see Ron? After all, he is my friend regardless of our relationship status, and I should have been up there long ago to make certain that he really was okay. He could have died during the battle. What in the God's names was I so afraid of?

"Look at me, Hermione." Harry said simply, but his voice held and edge of command that I couldn't defy. "What are you thinking about?"

"How to escape being eaten alive by guilt and confusion." I said bluntly, "Without losing any friends."

"No matter what happens, Hermione, I'd never turn my back on you. You should know that." His deep green eyes were so intense, I had to look away.

"I know, Harry. You're not the person I'm worried about." I said, blowing out an aggravated breath.

"Ron has always came around before." he scooted closer to me, I could feel the heat radiating from his body. "Eventually." he added.

"But what if he hates me for what I've done with his heart? He'll probably think I was just playing with him or something. What if he thinks that I've left him for you?" My eyes went wide, I hadn't really intended to say that. The silence stretched on as Harry stared off into space with a pensive look on his face.

"Is that what you want?" He asked, I could hear the nervousness in his voice. Our eyes locked, and my heart sped up considerably.

"Eventually?" I offered, searching his eyes desperately for some type of reassurance.

"Eventually." He agreed.

xxx

A/N: Reviews are always welcome, thanks for reading. Story will be getting a bit more exciting soon.