A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews, favorites and follows! I am still working on review responses for chapter two, but I wanted to get this out tonight, so apologies! To make up for it, there is a big helping of Fenrir in this chapter. You can follow me on tumblr (nauticalparamour) where I post sneak peeks, story updates and answer questions.

Please let me know what you thought of chapter three and be on the lookout for chapter four soon!


"Come on, Hermione, please. I am begging you." The pink haired woman pleaded to Hermione across the table in the library. Nymphadora Tonks, or Tonks as she preferred to be called, was a senior in Hermione's advanced quantitative methods class. Tonks was a criminal justice major who had waited until the very last year to take her statistics requirement, and was miserable during it. Still, Hermione was happy to help out and had formed a friendship with the girl.

Still, despite being friends, Tonks was asking her too much this time. She wanted Hermione to accompany her to the animal behavior lab so that she could talk to Professor Remus Lupin. Normally, she would have agreed readily, because seeing Tonks transform into a blushing clutz in front of the man was hilarious.

But...Hermione couldn't go to the animal behavior lab, not when she was fastidiously avoiding running into one Professor Fenrir Greyback. She'd been doing so well, not thinking about him so far. "No way, Tonks. It's Friday." Hermione said, hoping to sound calm and not to raise suspicion.

"Exactly, it's Friday, and I know you have nothing going on for the rest of the afternoon." Tonks said raising her eyebrow. "Please, just this one time Hermione. I can't talk to Professor Lupin by myself."

Hermione looked over at her friend and sighed, knowing that she was going to give in. Besides, she recalled that Lupin and Fenrir didn't get along. There was a good chance that she wouldn't even see him if she went there. "Okay, but you owe me." Hermione said, before packing up her books and following the girl from the library.

They walked along the path that Fenrir had escorted her not long ago, and Hermione remembered just how excited she'd been to have him walking next to him, constantly on the edge of fear. It was exhilarating and a bit sexy, and let her block out the gushing praise that Tonks seemed to heap on Professor Lupin. She did find Tonks' crush to be a bit sweet, even if she didn't really understand the appeal. Professor Lupin was a nice man of course, but he didn't exactly make Hermione feel alive. He seemed like the kind of person who would...offer you a hot chocolate or something.

Before she knew it, they were at the doors of the animal behavior lab, and waited outside of the classroom that Lupin was lecturing in. By the time that the students were packing up their bags, Tonks was bouncing on her heels, making Hermione snort in amusement. "Why don't you just take one of his classes if you want to see him so badly?"

"Because then I wouldn't be able to snog him." Tonks fired back, annoyed.

"I don't know if he'll snog you even if you aren't his student." Hermione said with a smirk. "He seems far too honorable for that kind of behavior." Her mind immediately conjured a memory of Fenrir pressing her back against her door. That certainly wasn't honorable.

Before they could argue anymore, Professor Lupin was waiting for them at the door, greeting them in that quiet way of his. Hermione looked at his face, and noticed he had a few faint scars on his face, not unlike the one that Bill wore. That was odd, she thought, and wondered what it could possibly be from.

She basically tuned out while Tonks was chatting with the Professor, though she soon was startled when he asked her a question. "Miss Granger, would you like to accompany us back to my office to continue this conversation?" One look in Tonks's eyes, glaring at her to make the right decision, told her that she would absolutely not be going back to his office.

"Oh, no thank you, Professor. I am afraid I have some homework to get back to." Hermione said, nodding to them both and wishing them a pleasant weekend. It was only after they'd disappeared down the hallway that Hermione realized she had absolutely no idea how to get out of the building. They were on the upper floors where the hallways were winding and narrow, confusing.

Sighing, she wandered around, looking for a map or a sign telling her how to get out the building. It wasn't long before she came upon a room that was filled with cages, and in those cages were tiny wolf puppies. Hermione liked to think of herself as a level headed girl, but even she couldn't contain the squeal of joy at seeing them.

She tried the knob and found the door opened easily enough. She walked inside and the wolves began yipping excitedly. They were so little still, she thought, with floppy ears and bright eyes. Hermione stuck her fingers through the bars letting the pups smell her hand and lick her hand. She gasped, feeling their tiny little puppy teeth gnaw at her fingers.

"They haven't learned yet not to bite." A deep voice said behind her, causing her to spin around, pressing a hand to her heart.

"Merlin, you frightened me." Hermione said, taking in the form of Fenrir Greyback. Though she was no longer scared, her heartbeat would not return to normal. Today, he was wearing a red checkered shirt, with rolled up sleeves, showing off smooth expanses of tan skin stretched over straining muscle.

"I'm sorry." He said with a smirk that belied any apology he gave. "They like you though, which is a bit unusual. These are a part of an experiment, and they are usually unfriendly to humans. Must be the same reason that I like you."

Hermione felt her eyelashes flutter while she processed his words. "And why is that?" She asked, hating the breathless way her voice sounded.

"Because you taste so sweet." He told her, blue eyes meeting hers unflinchingly.

Needing to get a better grasp of the situation, Hermione pushed the conversation off of herself. "What kind of an experiment?" She asked, thinking that working with wolf puppies would be a rather fun experiment to take part of.

He looked amused at her, and she wondered if he knew just how much he affected her. "Testing nature versus nurture, I hope. I've been breeding the more feral wolves with other feral wolves and the more docile ones with dociles ones. The docile ones are starting to look more like dogs, but not these ones. These are third generation feral." He told her.

Hermione was surprised to learn that. Of course, they seemed like regular wolves to her, but maybe they were not so usually well behaved. "They are beautiful puppies." She said quietly, unsure of what to say.

"We call them cubs, actually. Sounds more scientific." He teased her. "I was about to teach these ones to learn to howl, if you want to stay." He opened the door of the cage and grabbed one of the cubs by the scruff of its neck, pulling it out and into his arms.

She could barely stop the groan from leaving her throat, seeing him thusly. He looked so broad and strong, taller than seemed possible, but holding such a tiny animal made him seem approachable and...well, the wolf didn't seem to have any trouble with him either, she thought. He was definitely a natural with them.

He sat in a chair, holding the cub in his massive hands. Hermione pulled a chair next to him and couldn't resist giving a little scratch behind it's ears, the reddish-grey fur. "How do you teach it to howl?" She asked, curious. Didn't they just learn how to howl on their own? Wasn't it instinctual?

Fenrir looked at the dog before he himself began to howl, a low and nearly mournful sound. As soon as he began, Hermione felt a bolt of fear in her belly. She knew that sound...that unnatural howl. It was the same as the one just outside of her window. What did this mean exactly, she wondered? Things were beginning to get odder and odder with Fenrir.

Before she could ponder it much longer, the tiny cub began to howl as well, throwing his head back towards the ceiling. It sounded so little, high pitched and squeaky that Hermione couldn't help but giggle. Oh, but it was perhaps the most adorable things she'd ever seen in her life. Then to her joy, the rest of the tiny cubs began howling as well, a miniature cacophony. When she saw these little babies, she wondered how anyone could be frightened of a wolf.

"Would you like to hold him?" Fenrir offered, holding out the little wolf to Hermione's waiting arms.

She couldn't help a giggle when the cub struggled in her arms so that it sound look at her face. Tiny little licks from his tongue tickled her face, and the wolf gave happy little yips at having found a new playmate. It made her miss her old cat, Crookshanks, who had died the year before. The pup gave her a nip on the nose with his teeth, that didn't break skin, but it still hurt. "Ouch! He nipped me."

Fenrir took the cub from her arms, and growled at him, causing him to whine. Hermione felt tendril of fear coil in her stomach hearing that noise. It sounded so feral, so wild, but mostly, it sounded so realistic. "Sorry, they still need to learn not to use their teeth." He apologized before putting the little one back in his cage.

When he took his seat again, he looked at her, heat in his eyes. "Let me make it up to you. Join me for dinner tomorrow evening. Eight o'clock."

Hermione nibbled on her lower lip, thinking about his words. She was so intensely curious about Fenrir Greyback. He didn't seem dangerous...well, most of the time. She couldn't deny that he did do some things that were...odd to say the least.

Perhaps sensing her waffling about her decision, Fenrir grabbed her off of her chair, before settling her back on his lap. She could feel the heat rolling off his body, and she couldn't deny that it felt lovely to be wrapped up in him. He was staring at her lips, before he dipped his head, their lips meeting passionately.

Hermione didn't hesitate in opening her lips, letting his tongue slip against hers, trying to hide a little moan that sounded wanton even to her ears. She was dizzy with pleasure, loving the feeling and wondering why she ever decided to avoid him when he made her feel so good. His arm was tight around her waist, keeping her from tumbling off her lap.

Fenrir broke the kiss, before purposefully setting his hand on her bare leg, looking at her with a smirk on his handsome face. She cursed herself for wearing a skirt that day, but couldn't keep her eyes off of the sight his large hand made, moving its way up her inner thigh. Hermione trembled in anticipation, but just as his fingers creeped underneath the fabric, they were interrupted.

"Miss Granger? What are you doing?" A voice called from the doorway.

Hermione scrambled off of the large man, nearly stumbling, except for his steadying hand around her waist. "Professor Lupin." Hermione said, surprised, trying to think of a good excuse. "I...I was just…"

"It's none of your business, Lupin." Fenrir said, through gritted teeth.

It couldn't be denied that Professor Lupin's eyes narrowed at that. "Well, I was just about to walk Nymphadora out, if you'd like to join me." He said, keeping his gaze on the hand around Hermione's waist.

"Yes, I should be going." Hermione said, finally feeling like her legs weren't absolute jelly, but still embarrassed by the wetness that had formed between them. "Professor Greyback, thank you for showing me the cubs." She said politely.

"Anytime." He said, his focus now returning to her. "Don't forget - eight o'clock tomorrow. I'll pick you up - I know where you live, after all." She wondered if that was some kind of threat, because on its face it sounded like one, but she couldn't pretend like she wasn't looking forward to her date with him, even though she'd never actually agreed to it.

Tonks was glaring at her, for perhaps keeping a secret from her, but she didn't say anything about it on their walk out of the building. Professor Lupin stopped Hermione before she could walk out the front door. "Be careful, Miss Granger. Professor Greyback is...a difficult character at best." He said, tersely.

Hermione nodded, wondering why this was the second warning she'd gotten about Fenrir. It did give her pause, to say the least.

Once the two girl were alone, Tonks rounded at her, so she could read Hermione's face. "What the hell? Were you ever going to tell me about the hunky reason why you were avoiding the animal behavior lab?" She asked.

The brunette snorted. "That depends. Are you going to let me call you Nymphadora?" She teased, knowing that Lupin had called her friend by her given name without reproach. The girls dissolved into a fit of giggles, before Hermione focused on asking questions about what Tonks had talked about with him. Anything to keep the conversation off of Fenrir Greyback.