AN: Due to the absolutely unbelievable reception this story has received I am definitely continuing it! Thank you so much to all of the people who reviewed…All of your comments have been so encouraging and very flattering.

I would seriously hug every single one of you if I could! So thanks again.

P.S: A very special thanks to Kimarya for her own unique style of support. (Now put down the tomato!)

Chapter 3

Remus and the Headmaster shook hands as did he and Sirius. "Good luck,"

"And to you," Dumbledore smiled warmly as two of his more memorable ex-students disappeared with a faint pop. "You're going to need it...,"

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Hermione had practically dragged Ron and Harry up to the girls' dormitory with her. When she arrived in the common room she had been unsurprised to find them all still asleep. Ron and Harry had been promptly woken however when Hermione grabbed their sleeves and yanked them out of their chairs.

"'Mione, what's this all about?" Ron mumbled sleepily. Neither of the boys had quite realized were they were just yet, but it soon dawned on them.

"Aaaaand why are we in the girls dormitory?" Harry asked, stepping back a little.

"Because I need to pack...Actually so do you two, go pack," Hermione said as she threw various books, clothes and potion ingredients into a deceivingly small case.

"Pack, why?" Ron asked, looking around in wonder.

"We're going to Grimmauld place," Hermione said shortly, kneeling down and looking under her bed.

"Again...Why?" Ron demanded, now eyeing Hermione curiously.

"I'll explain later, let's just pack,"

"No explain now," Harry said impatiently and Hermione sighed, throwing a pair of ripped jeans to the ground.

"Fine, sit down," She said, plopping down on the end of her bed and waited as Ron and Harry did the same. Unsure of exactly where to start Hermione took her own advice and told them everything from the moment she had bumped into Dumbledore in the corridor.

Even as she went over everything the Headmaster had told her in her own words, Hermione still had trouble really digesting the whole concept. Everything about it seemed so far fetched and ridiculous. If it had been anyone other than Dumbledore who had told her, she would have suggested they pay a visit to St. Mungos, but Dumbledore didn't make assumptions and she knew all too well that he wouldn't have said anything to her if he wasn't absolutely certain.

Harry and Ron both had similar reactions to Hermione, but looked more angry than confused or worried. To their credit neither interrupted or said a single thing as Hermione explained. When she had finished there was a moment of tense silence between the three friends that was only broken when Harry came to grips with situation ahead of them.

"We should get packing then," He nudged Ron and both boys hurried off to their own dorms to get ready. Hermione was silently thankful that neither pressed her with questions that she was sure she wouldn't have the answers to. All three of them were packed and ready within the hour and met in the common room where Neville was still snoozing.

"Got everything?" Hermione whispered.

"Think so," Harry motioned to his trunk and looked at Ron. "You?"

"Yep," Ron looked sadly down at his chipped and faded case. "Where do we go?"

"Dumbledore's office," Hermione led her two best friends out of the portrait hole and they all tried to ignore the peculiar looks they received for wheeling their heavy school trunks down the hall and up the stairs to the Headmasters office.

"Everyone is going to think we got expelled," Harry laughed as a group of whispering Ravenclaw girls stared after them.

"Really? Brilliant!" Ron cheered.

"Why is that brilliant?" Hermione sighed, knowing she was not about to get a sensible or reasonable answer.

"We'll look like rebels, girls love rebels," Ron said as though it was so obvious. Hermione swallowed an incredulous laugh.

"Do we?" she asked, holding her voice steady.

"Well yeah, that whole bad boy image thing," Ron said a little less confident now. Harry just shook his head he was used to Ron putting his foot into his mouth after watching him do it for so long.

"Of course Ron," Hermione threw her hand to her head mockingly. "I forgot what an expert you are on girls," Ron wisely fell silent for the rest of the walk to the stone gargoyle. After they wrestled their trunks on the platform Harry, Hermione and Ron waited, feeling a whole mixture of emotions, for the door to the Headmasters office to come into view. When it did Hermione felt the knot in her stomach tighten. Harry and Ron walked in front of her, but stopped as soon as they realized she was glued to the spot.

"Hermione?" Harry cooed. He dropped his chest and walked over to his best friend. His heart lurched as he saw tears appearing behind her warm eyes. "Hey, hey it'll be alright," he soothed, pulling her close.

"Yeah," Ron walked up and placed a heartening hand on her shoulder. "You've got me here,"

"How is that helping?" Harry hissed jokingly. Hermione couldn't help but giggle and let go of Harry, wiping her eyes. It was true that Hermione was exceptionally terrified at that moment; everything in her life had become pleasantly routine of late. That wonderfully familiar routine had just been shattered and replaced with a confusing confession and secret mission. In Hermione's mind it was not exactly a fair swap, but it wasn't like she had a say in it. Part of her was curious to find out what this power was Dumbledore kept mentioning, but most of her just wanted to wake up.

"I'm fine," she sniffed finally. "Just a little nervous I guess," Harry nodded understandingly and he and Ron pulled her trunk between them with a snoozing Hermes resting on top. They entered the warm office and saw Dumbledore moving away from his pensive, slipping his wand back into his robes.

"Ah good to see you all packed," he said happily. "Harry, Ron I assume Miss Granger has filled you in?"

"Yes, sir," Harry nodded, snickering at the irritated hiss from Hermes as he and Ron dropped the trunk. Hermione scooped up the irritated kitten who quickly calmed down in her arms.

"I must say that I appreciate the two of you agreeing to stay with Hermione," Dumbledore said, eyes sparkling intensely.

"How could we not?" Ron shrugged.

"Yeah, besides it gives us a chance to see Sirius and Remus again," Harry agreed.

"Speaking of which, I believe they are expecting you," Dumbledore threw another handful of cloudy powder into the crackling flames and motioned for the three Gryffindor students to step closer. "Throw your cases through first; otherwise there is a good chance they will land on you,"

"Good advice," Ron mused and he and Harry swung the three trunks through the fire and heard them clunk loudly on the other side.

"Now us," Harry sighed, moving aside for Hermione. "Ladies first," Hermione found herself blushing a little and smiled at Harry as she stepped in front of the blaze.

"Thank you, Professor," she said softly. "Thank you for looking out for me,"

"It is the least I can do Hermione, please be safe," Dumbledore said, his eyes looking indescribably sad.

"I'll do my best," she offered a weak grin and stepped into the warm flames. Even after all of her flooing experience Hermione still felt a twinge of nervousness as she felt the fire lick over her body and a flood of relief when she landed, unburned, on the other side. Her landing still wasn't perfected and she was glad that Remus was there to catch her before she hit the floor. Remus had wrapped a sturdy arm around Hermione's waist as she came stumbling into Grimauld place and nearly fell flat on her face.

"You okay?" Sirius snickered as Hermione straightened her shirt and brushed the soot off her pants.

"Yeah, still trying to work that entrance bit out," Hermione said, quickly stepping away from the grate as Ron came tumbling out, followed and knocked down by Harry. Sirius was unable to help the boys up as he was shaking in laughter so Hermione and Remus pulled the embarrassed Gryffindors to their feet.

"I tripped over that stupid trunk," Ron huffed, kicking his pale luggage that was to the very far left of the fireplace.

"Come on, have a drink and Topper will take your things up," Sirius said as a small, light green house elf popped into view.

"Take the trunks to the guest rooms please Topper," Remus said politely and the little creature bowed without a word and levitated the trunks up the old, creaky stairs. "Strange little thing," Remus mused as they all made their way to the kitchen.

"How so?" Hermione frowned, taking her seat between Harry and Ron.

"Never says a word," Sirius shrugged sounding bored. "We've had her for two years now and she hasn't said a thing,"

"Is she alright?" Hermione peered around the corner, but the house elf wasn't in sight.

"Oh yes she is always smiling, just not a big conversationalist," Remus said, bringing in glasses of icy pumpkin juice. "And she does a good job so we don't press the point,"

"And I like the peace," Sirius butt in. Ron nearly spat out his drink and Hermione just sighed. She had long since given up her equal rights for house elves campaign, but still had a soft spot for the little creatures. There was a weird little silence between all five of them. Hermione knew exactly why, they were trying to think of something to say that didn't involve her being an Angel.

"We can talk about it," she said, unable to stop a laugh from escaping. Remus looked up at her with kind, welcoming eyes.

"I just wasn't sure if you were ready...," he said, almost apologetically.

"It's the whole reason we're here right now Remus," Hermione couldn't wipe the smile off her face for some reason. "I think that makes it a little unavoidable,"

"Yeah Remus, tact is overrated," Sirius winked.

"Or in your case, unknown," Remus muttered into his glass.

"Oh this is gonna be interesting," Hermione mused as Ron and Harry stifled snickers.

"To say the least," Harry whispered back.

"Stop gossiping you two," Sirius said, narrowing his eyes in feigned suspicion.

"Before we get into anything, would you three like to see where you'll be staying?" Remus asked politely. It always amused Harry how opposite his Godfather and ex-Professor were considering they were best friends. Sirius was rash, outspoken, and a joker and Remus was quiet, responsible, honest and polite. This was a perfect example of that, Sirius insults them and Remus makes up for it with a polite suggestion.

"Love to," Hermione's voice snapped Harry back to Earth. "Lead the way," They all left the kitchen and made their way up the dangerously dipping stairs to the dark hallway that had obviously been cleaned recently.

"You two follow me," Sirius pushed Ron and Harry down the hall in front of him.

"And if you would follow me," Remus said and motioned down the other end of the hall. He led Hermione to one of the less scratched, flaky doors and opened it to reveal an unexpectedly neat room. It was painfully obvious that Remus or Sirius had rearranged and refurnished the room to suit Hermione. There was a small wooden bookcase in corner next to the en suite door and was filled with old spell books and published wizard journals. There was a four poster bed against the far wall, not unlike the ones in the Gryffindor dorms that had a beautiful red satin blanket covering it. There was new wooden desk with a small cauldron resting on a shelf above it.

"Wow," Hermione breathed, very flattered by the effort Remus and Sirius had obviously put into giving her a nice place to stay.

"Expecting a bomb site?" Remus mused, enjoying Hermione's obvious shock.

"No…no nothing that fancy," she grinned. Remus laughed and jumped a little as something soft suddenly brushed around his ankles. He looked down to see a very small, patchy kitten.

"You have a visitor," He bent down and scooped up the tiny feline easily in one hand.

"Hermes, oh Merlin I forgot about him," Hermione said feeling a sudden rush of guilt. She took her pet from Remus and kissed him affectionately on the top of the head, relieved he was unharmed.

"It's very small," Remus said, looking at the size of his hand compared to the animal Hermione was cradling. "Why did you pick the runt?"

"I didn't...Harry gave him to me for Christmas," Hermione all of a sudden realized that it was Christmas, although it really didn't feel like it.

"Something the matter?" Remus pried gently, noticing the change in her expression.

"It just kind of dawned on me that it's Christmas. It's usually not this...," Hermione trailed off trying to think of the right word.

"Dramatic? Miserable?" Remus offered with a sympathetic gaze.

"How about all of the above?" Hermione scoffed. "I really appreciate you and Sirius letting us stay here and I don't want to seem ungrateful," she added quickly realizing how impolite that last comment sounded.

"Don't worry Hermione, after what you've been through today, you are more than entitled to have a bit of a whinge," Remus assured her.

"And I may need to," Hermione admitted. Before she really thought about it Hermione set Hermes down and hugged Remus tightly. Even more surprisingly he didn't hesitate to put his arms around the young girl.

"We'll get you through this Hermione," He whispered, leaning down to get closer to her ear. "No matter what it takes,"

"I feel safe here, safer even than when I was at Hogwarts," Hermione said softly, unsure of why she was saying it. As her head was leaning against Remus' chest she could hear his heart. Even his heart beat was soft and calm.

"You should, nothing will get you here,"

"I know I shouldn't really just believe that...But I do," Hermione laughed as she moved away from Remus, who was smiling benevolently down at her.

"Good," he said softly and turned to the door as it opened and Sirius sauntered in. "Boys settled in?"

"They were choosing beds when I left," Sirius shrugged.

"You're an amazing host," Hermione quipped and Sirius imitated the bow of a house elf and backed out the door.

"You'd be surprised how much he does that," Remus sighed.

"Do you ever wish he'd just take a footstep too far and fall down the steps?" Hermione snickered.

"Constantly,"

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The rest of the day actually did feel like Christmas to Hermione and the boys. Remus and Sirius scattered a few decorations about the place, several of which exploded on cue when Sirius cracked a joke. Remus conjured up a rather spectacular dinner for just five people and even found a few crackers that had been stored away in a cupboard somewhere.

Ron's good mood was dampened momentarily when the cracker he broke with Harry contained a small, but very angry replica of a dragon that was fond of biting the tips of his fingers. Naturally everyone else thought this was a very entertaining prize and thoroughly enjoyed watching Ron trying the flick the fluorescent blue dragon from his sleeve. Hermione had found a tiara that changed her hair colour every ten minutes, Harry had a disposable quill that wrote in mid air, Sirius received a ring that stained anyone who he came in contact with an odd green colour and Remus had a miniature broom that brought him drinks on command.

After their festive prizes wore out the group sat in the lounge room, just relaxing after a very eventful Christmas day. Remus had his feet up and was just staring into the fire, while Harry, Ron and Sirius had pulled their chairs closer together as they played with Harry's new snitch. Hermione was lying across a chair with her legs draped over the arm and her Hogwarts: A History book resting on her lap. She had given up trying to read a while ago. Despite wanting to read Hermione found her mind wandering off far away from the subject of Hogwarts and its many mysteries. She was so entranced in her thoughts that Hermione didn't even notice as Remus moved his chair next to hers.

"Care to join us back on planet Earth?" Remus' soft voice brought Hermione gently out of her reverie.

"Sorry Remus, got a little lost I guess," Hermione sighed, shifting in her chair.

"Anything you want to talk about?"

"You knew about Isira didn't you?" Hermione asked lazily. Remus looked a little stunned by the sudden question, but answered her nevertheless.

"Yes, Albus told me about his suspicions when I worked at the school,"

"What about Sirius?"

"I told him,"

"And you both knew he thought I may be related to Isira?"

"Yes...," Remus now saw where this line of questioning was going. "We couldn't tell you Hermione,"

"I'm sure there's a reason," Hermione heaved a sigh.

"We couldn't tell you in case we were wrong and Voldemort got wind of it," Remus said kindly. He could tell just how confused and scared Hermione really was and he didn't blame her. He remembered exactly how he felt when he realized he was going to be werewolf for the rest of his life.

"Yeah," Hermione breathed. "I understand,"

"You don't want to though do you?" Remus started to grin. Hermione looked up at his friendly, oddly knowing face and smiled back.

"Not really no," she laughed a little.

"Feel like blaming someone?"

"Pretty much," Hermione started to laugh, hearing just how petty that sounded out loud.

"I know the feeling, except in my case I actually had someone to blame," Remus liked that Hermione was amused, even if it wasn't out of just contentment.

"Unfortunately I don't have my own Fenrir Greyback," Hermione said, only just comprehending how much Remus could really relate to what she was going through and how much that thought calmed her.

"You could always blame Salazar Slytherin," Remus shrugged. "If he hadn't tried to capture Isira none of this would be a problem,"

"Hmmm...That's true," Hermione nodded still smirking. "It's his fault,"

"Good girl,"

"Blaming someone shouldn't help that much," Hermione laughed at her own pettiness.

"Whatever helps is worth it right now Hermione," Remus said growing more serious now. "Just hold on to whatever you can...Even if it seems ridiculous,"

"Good advice, I think," Hermione nodded, snuggling into the chair. She stretched out and yawned. As the snitch flew over Harry's head, Sirius looked up and saw Hermione stretching in her chair. He had known for some time that she was no longer a bookish, rather plain looking young girl but an intelligent and astonishingly beautiful young woman. Yet something about that moment made Sirius realize just how much Hermione had matured.

Get your eyes off her you git. Sirius scolded himself, turning his attention back to the snitch that was flying rapidly around Ron's head.

"I think I'm ready for bed," Hermione sighed, slipping her legs off the chair. Remus stood up with Hermione and smiled as she allowed him to slip his arms around her in a friendly hug.

"Have a good sleep Hermione," Remus whispered. "Big day tomorrow,"

"I will, thanks for taking me in Remus...I don't know how to thank you," Hermione said, leaning back and smiling at Remus, who was considerably taller than she was.

"No thanks needed, it's what you do for the people you care about," Remus kissed Hermione on the forehead and watched with warm eyes as she said goodnight to Harry and Ron.

"I'll take you up to your room, just in case Topper is around," Sirius said, walking Hermione up the stairs.

"Topper?" Hermione frowned.

"She's a good elf, but gets a bit edgy around strangers," Sirius smirked and Hermione looked around uncertainly. They reached Hermione's door and she hugged Sirius goodnight. He felt a little uncomfortable as her body pressed against his and her soft hair brushed under his chin. Sirius held Hermione and savoured the strawberry scent of her hair, once again kicking himself mentally for doing so.

"Goodnight Sirius, thank you for everything," Hermione said genially, stepping away.

"It's nothing Hermione, I'd do...We'd do anything for you, Remus and I would," Sirius rambled. Hermione frowned slightly with a good-natured smile and opened her door.

"Well...Thanks," she said and slipped into her room.

Oh yeah, brilliant really smooth you TOOL Sirius hit himself in the head and made his way back downstairs.