Dinner at Grimmauld Place had been quite awkward, she thought. The twins returning from work had managed to lift the uncomfortable atmosphere until a slight feud broke out between Ron and Ginny, much to Mrs. Weasley's dismay. It resulted in, Ron receiving one of his younger sister's infamous bat-bogey hexes, usually this would have made her laugh, but it had proved itself not to be the greatest of entertainment at the dinner table.
She began to help Ginny with her Anicent Runes as promised, however found herself staring blankly at the textbook infront of them, before Ginny's question bought her back to reality, "Hermione? You know this one, right?" she asked, twirling her quill between her thumb and forefinger, almost impatiently, Hermione proceeded to explain the work to her but the younger girl still didn't manage to grasp it, and, Hermione ended up practically finishing the schoolwork for her, as she had done many times for Ron.
Relieved to have gotten her work out the way, the red-headed girl bounded off of her bed merrily and grabbed her bag, pulling out an assortment of treats among those, Fizzing Whizzbees, Sugar Quills and Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, to name a few, followed by a set of Exploding Snap cards, Hermione raised one eyebrow curiously, "I thought we could do with some entertainment if we're to stay up late!-" Ginny smiled, "It's the holiday's after all!"
While her intents were nice, Hermione couldn't help but feel irritated, if she were to stay up late she certainly wouldn't want to spend the time playing Exploding Snap, she was unsure herself how any girl could take delight in such an unendurable game, it didn't take her interest at all although she had realised, Ginny, growing up with 6 older brothers, shared many of their hobbies or interests, which clearly clashed with her own.
"I'm tired, Gin," she lied, "I'm sure we could tomorrow, however, but tonight I really should rest," she felt a twinge of guilt for lying to someone she felt so close to, but it couldn't be helped, she reasurred herself. The time soon flew by, and she ended up humouring Ginny in a game of exploding snap, which she lost unsuprisingly. By 11pm they were both relaxed on their beds, happily talking about things as they usually did, not noticing the time pass by. It wasn't long before Ginny fell into a deep sleep and Hermione wondered how to go about leaving the room, desperately wishing not to wake the sleeping Weasley, she let out a short gasp as she almost tripped over a shoe, she glanced across the room to the bed where she noticed the girl was still fast asleep, snoring softly and oblivious to all the shuffling around as Hermione left the room, she cursed at how messy Ginny had already let the bedroom get. Considering she had only been here for a few hours it wasn't to be expected, there were already clothes, school books and a couple of pairs of shoes carelessly scattered across the floor, it already looked as if Buckbeak had invaded her bag and flung the entire contents all over the place.
She was sure everyone would be in their beds by now, atleast she hoped, with the exception of Remus and Sirius of course, and approached the staircase, sliding her wand out the sleeve of her jumper, "Lumos" she muttered, with that a luminous blue light lit the dark stairwell, she took a deep breath and started taking gentle steps until she reached the hallway at the bottom.
Before she even had a chance to open or knock on the kitchen door, it had been pulled open for her by Remus, she saw Sirius seated at the far end of the table, leaning the chair he sat on back onto it's two legs. He grinned at her and patted the seat next to him. She smiled unsurely as she seated herself besides Sirius, Remus sitting opposite to them.
"'Mione..." Sirius purred, "I'm afraid we've got you here under some false pretences," she felt puzzled by his tone, unsure what to expect, "And what do you mean by that, Sirius?"
"Well, what Sirius is trying to suggest is," Remus was cut off by Sirius who was laughing, "That you are absolutely delicious and neither I nor Moony can resist you much longer." Remus glared at the laughing Marauder for a split second before continuing with a sigh. "Quite so, Hermione. If it is alright there is a question we intended to pose this evening," he paused, she picked up on the mysterious look gracing his amber eyes, a look which she had been all too familiar with before, "I would have always been against the idea, up until recently, considering how much you appear to have matured, I realise it's perfectly acceptable if, of course, you agree," the werewolf was looking into her eyes cautiously.
Hermione felt well and truly quite baffled, what possibly could the two of them be on about? Realising she was yet to respond, and the room remained silent bar the gentle sound of the fire crackling, "Pardon? What do you mean exactly?" She asked, "Wh-what is it you wish to ask me?" her brows furrowed. Remus looked over to Sirius, who seemed much more relaxed, Sirius nodded, indicating his friend to continue.
"Well Hermione, it's quite simple I suppose. After last night we both came to terms with the fact that you have grown into an exceptionally desirable young woman, and your personality also reflects that..." he smiled wearily, "Sirius and myself only have so much self control..."
Sirius butted in yet again, "Oh Merlin... How I wanted you last night, but as I was reminded, it wasn't right considering the circumstances," leaning even further back in his chair, seemingly relieved after his confession.
"The circumstances being?" She asked, his face twitched into a mischevious half smile, "Whilst you were drunk, or just a bit tipsy as you called it. But I knew it would be wrong, and quite frankly Moony would have killed me before I was to so much as lay a finger on you," he grinned over to Remus who, looked much more relaxed than he previously had, although she still had great trouble reading his facial expression, she found herself staring at them wide-eyed, a loss for words. While she had lusted them, yes both of them, she would never consider the possibility they would return such feelings. Remus broke the silence, "Of course, we would only wish to pursue this if you were completely willing, and sober, that is."
"Not to mention it is almost the full moon, and Remus is, well the way I would put it is he's doing an exceptionally well job of keeping himself as composed as he has, especially around you. But it would never harm to give into the wolfish desires, would it now, Moony?"
Remus smiled guiltily, "Well no, Sirius, that's right, it wouldn't..." Hermione saw his Adam's apple bob in his throat as he swallowed.
Hermione couldn't completely believe what she had been hearing, it was half expected of Sirius' anyway, she was used to how flirtatious he was, by nature. Although the two of them argued occasionally, there had been a lot of playful banter between her and the older man, she assumed he meant nothing by it, though she enjoyed it all the same. Of course she never did expect to receive an... Offer, should she call it, off of a man so handsome, she knew that he would hardly hesitate to cross any lines. But Remus, it did seem totally out of character, she has always viewed him as friendly yet shy, slighly withdrawn even, and around the full moon she had often witnessed him become short-tempered and even a bit aggressive, but had not known him to be much like Sirius in other respects, believing he merely viewed her as his previous student. However the coming full moon was probably partially to blame. She felt stuck for a response, she had never been at such a loss for words.
"I- Well, Sirius what about Harry?" She asked, hoping to change the topic.
Smiling almost sadly, his eyes lowered to the wooden flooring below him before they flashed up again, Remus answered her question "Personally, I do believe Harry has more to worry about right now."
"I suppose you are right, Moony. Besides, what Harry doesn't know shan't hurt him, right?" Sirius asked, wanting reasurrance.
"Not that this should hurt him at all, Padfoot, I do highly doubt he would be concerned about it, let alone hurt."
Hermione smiled awkwardly, feeling uncomfortable, "I'm not sure." She sighed, "I just don't think it's a good idea, certainly not under these conditions," she shifted in her seat, "If, I was a few years older, then maybe, but-"
"We're too old?!," Sirius laughed, shaking his head.
"No! It isn't like that, not at all. You're neither too old," she smiled, "It's just, I suppose I feel too young..."
"Hermione Granger, too young? You definitely don't act it!" Sirius teased, "Or look it, actually." Remus added with a heartily smile.
"Well no..." She blushed, "as flattered as I am, I should probably tell you, I'm a virgin," she swallowed, feeling more than awkward as both men gazed at her with interest, almost shocked, "I jus-"
"What?! Could have fooled me!" Exclaimed Sirius.
She frowned, "Are you trying to imply that you think I'm a slut? Because if you are, you are most mistaken!" She snapped, suddenly feeling hot-headed and a fair amount of anger towards the dark haired man sitting next to her.
"Of course not!" He tried to place his hand on hers which was resting on the wooden dining table, almost calmingly, but she pulled her hand from his, annoyed. He sighed at the rejected gesture and continued "I just happened to notice, that you get on with the, er, male variety, awfully well and... Like we have already stated you are most desirable, any man would have trouble resisting especially when you-" he tried to defend himself, he stopped when he had realised he was only digging a bigger hole for himself, causing the witch to have even more reason to be infuriated with him.
Remus sighed, "Ignore Sirius, as you probably know far too well, he tends to be clumsy with his words. It was just partially unexpected that's all, taking into account how you have grown up. We should have realised, that's all. Granted, if we had knew we wouldn't have asked..."
"Mm... I suppose you are saving yourself, until you find someone you love dearly?" Sirius teased, his sparkling grey eyes meeting hers.
"No! Actually, I'm not. Will you stop assuming things, you are becoming almost as bad as Ron," she huffed.
He grinned at her response, wide-eyed, "So, what is it then?"
She was far from being like Lavender, or any other girl from school who would frequently boast of their sexual conquests, resulting in being branded as sluts. Despite this, she couldn't help but be ashamed of her lack of experience, "I'm yet to recieve a decent offer," after admitting that she realised what she had said, luckily neither of them were the type to be offended, infact they seemed more amused.
"And we're not a decent offer, Hermione?!" Sirius laughed
"You're a great offer," she smiled humbly, "but I can't help but feel it would be awfully wrong of me."
"Hate to brag but I'm sure I could make you change your mind," he winked, and turned to Remus who seemed engulfed by ther conversation intrigued by how the two of them interacted, he didn't fail to notice how uncomfortable Hermione had seemed though, and decided to step in, "I think you have pestered the poor girl enough for tonight, Padfoot," he smiled, "Hermione, what exactly has Ron assumed?" he asked, looking interested.
She blushed, "I- Oh it's nothing really," she remembered what Ron had said and wondered how it could be true, she, as a rule was very observant, it did seem unlikely Ron could notice something which, she has failed to, but she laughed inwardly at the thought of the two of them, Remus and Sirius, as a couple. Surely they couldn't be, both men noticed her strange expression and seemed curious to learn more, "You can tell us, Hermione," Remus said gently.
"Well, you are going to laugh I'm sure but he made an awfully peculiar suggestion this morning that, Professor Lupin and Sirius were, in a way romantically involved," before she had finished the sentence, Sirius' bark like laughter echoed the kitchen, and Remus was laughing also. Sirius stopped, flushed slightly from his laughter, "Damn Molly's percpetive eye, I do hope he's the only one to inherit it!"
"W-wait, so you are?" She asked, shocked, they both seemed pleasantly amused by the suggestion, still fighting back laughter.
"Not quite," Remus smiled, "Although he was right to notice something, as last night when you fell asleep in the library it appears him and Harry decided to venture downstairs to the kitchen, Ron managed to stumble into the umbrella stand-"
"The bloody klutz," Sirius laughed fondly.
"And as you can imagine, he woke Mrs. Black, her usual nonsense unfolded and Sirius went to check everything was ok, I popped out the room briefly to see what was happening and I suppose Ron's suspicions had arose from that event. Not helped by Sirius' usual eye contact with me, at the table the next morning,"
She laughed with them, "Well that makes a fair amount of sense, but I was meaning to ask you, how did I end up in my bed this morning?"
"Well clearly, we weren't planning on just leaving you in the library, we did contemplate on waking you but decided on simply returning you to your room," he answered, "Remus had to carry you actually," he laughed.
The three continued to talk into the small hours of the morning, the original conversation seemed long forgotten and she was soon enjoying both their company, feeling safe and assured by them.
Before she went to bed, Remus offered to make her hot chocolate again, she accepted politely and drank it at the table, she couldn't imagine Ron would ever bother so much to make her or even his current girlfriend Lavender a drink, but neither would many of the boy's at Hogwarts. It was one of the things she appreciated most about the werewolf was that, he was thoughtful, she appreciated the small things he did, and since being at her own home for a very short period of time over the Summer, she couldn't imagine the last time she had felt so looked after.
"Accio chess set" Remus muttered, summoning the Wizard's Chess set that sat on a cabinet besides the dining table just before she went to bed. Finding it odd of them to consider playing chess this late she joked, "Do you ever sleep?!"
Remus' reply came out quite seriously, "Not really, no, atleast not on the nights leading up the full moon, when the wolf is exceedingly restless, it's unpleasant to say the least," he sighed as he watched the chess pieces arrange themselves.
"Oh. I'm sorry, Remus..." she apologised.
"No bother, Hermione," he replied, smiling. "And do remember the offer is always there," Remus assured her.
"Indeed it is, 'Mione, just avoid giving anyone reason to suspect anything, although I know how nosy the Weasley's and my Godson can be," Sirius grinned cheekily, his grey eyes twinkling, one from behind a strand of dark hair.
She felt elated but still confused about the strange offer she had received, not knowing if they had simply been winding her up or not. It didn't seem likely they would but it didn't stop her from questioning it. It was also unlikely she would be getting a wink of sleep, for she merely lay in her bed tossing and turning, going over the situation in her head.
A/N: Mmm... Am I dragging this on too much? I don't want to rush anything, but I have a few good ideas coming along.
I have a fair few follows on this story now, which I appreciate, but I'd appreciate it even more if you left a review, whether it's constructive critiscm, a suggestion, anything :)