Hey there everyone! Sorry it's been such a long time for this chapter, but I think you'll all enjoy it, and chapter eight is almost finished so it will be up soon.

I just wanted to thank everyone who reviewed chapter six; the feedback from all of you has been amazing. ^.^ I've really enjoyed writing this fic so far, so I hope you'll enjoy chapter seven as much as you've enjoyed the rest of the story. On another note, I've started an independent blog recently – there are more details, and links, available in my profile, so I hope you'll take a few minutes to check it out when you're done here.

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He laughed slightly, shaking his head at her, "by sleeping in my bed? Wasn't it enough that this whole hallway smells like you, did you have to come lay in my bed? Merlin, Hermione, do you even care what you're doing to me?"

"Of course I care," she answered, standing up and taking a step towards him, "Remus, please, this has all gotten out of control. I just want a chance to explain -"

"I've read your notes," he cut her off, "I don't need you to explain anything. I've read your notes," he repeated it more softly, looking away from her as he shook his head again, "I'll cut to the root of the matter, Hermione: you're a fool if you think you love me."

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His words hung in the air for several long minutes, as neither of them spoke or moved. Remus had expected his words would sting her, perhaps even make her cry, but she stood silently and simply looked at him, her eyes moving over him slowly from head to toe several times.

"I'm not a fool," she finally said, "and I'm not a child, either; you don't have to treat me like one."

"You're a child in a woman's body," he told her, his tone softening as he stepped closer to her and closed the distance between them, "you've been playing games with the wolf for two years, never knowing what you were doing. Even now you don't know what you do to me, how hard you have made it for me to function."

"So tell me," she said, looking him in the eye as he stood less than a hand's breadth from her. She could feel the heat emanating from his body and see the conflict clear in his eyes. "I had no idea this would happen," she continued when he remained silent.

For a long time he stood there, looking at her. He was physically exhausted, but adrenaline pumped through his blood and he could feel the tension in his body from being so close to her.

"Of course you had no idea. You presented yourself submissively to Moony for two years," he sighed heavily, reaching out to tuck her loose hair behind her ears. "He feels possessive of you," his fingers trailed lightly over her skin and he added softly, "Merlin, Hermione, I feel possessive of you."

Surprised by his statement, she looked up at him, taking in every detail of his face, every contour and scar, and met his eyes again slowly. There was an intensity, a passion in his eyes that she had never seen before, and the way he looked at her made her blood rush hot through her veins. With a deep blush, she looked down, asking him softly, "what if I want you to be possessive of me?"

Remus let out a long, frustrated groan, taking hold of her tightly by the upper arms as he tried to think through the exhaustion and the growing arousal clouding his mind.

"Hermione," he groaned at last, seizing hold of her around the waist and bringing her body flush against his own, "you make this very," he had pressed himself intimately against her so that she could feel his whole length swollen and throbbing in his pants, and he continued to whisper in her ear, "very hard, for me."

Lowering his mouth to her throat, he kissed her throbbing pulse, reaching down to take hold of her wrists so that he could hold them pinned to her sides.

"I wanted to deal with this in the morning," he growled, kissing his way back up to her ear and biting gently on her earlobe. With every kiss and nip of his teeth, she sighed and moaned softly, growing increasingly aroused from his attention.

"But you just had to be sleeping in my bed, and you say you aren't a fool while at the same time you practically beg for me to take you," he ceased to speak for several long minutes then as he took her mouth with his, kissing her possessively. Finally, when she was breathless and her eyes shone with arousal, he pulled away from her, leaving one last kiss on her slightly parted lips.

"You have no idea what you're asking for when you say those things to me," he shook his head when she opened her mouth to protest, releasing her wrists and covering her lips with his hand, "I mean it, Hermione. I am not just a possessive man."

"I know," she sighed, looking away from him, "you're a werewolf -"

"Yes," Remus held her by the shoulders as he spoke, "and there are things about my kind that you don't know, things you can't learn no matter how many nights you spend studying Moony."

"Then teach me," she responded, looking at him earnestly.

Remus groaned in frustration, shaking his head, "do you have any idea how Moony sees you?"

He didn't wait for her to respond before he continued, "he sees you as his mate, there is absolutely no middle ground. You think you love me, maybe you do, but you're young. For Merlin's sake, you've never even been with a man intimately, Hermione."

His statement made her flush a deep scarlet from her neck to her hairline.

"How can you possibly know that?"

He ran his hands down her arms, from her shoulders to her wrists and back again, drawing her closer to him. She couldn't bring herself to look him in the eye, or she would have seen the flickering shift of them from warm golden hazel to vibrant, glowing amber and back again.

"I can smell it," he whispered huskily, one arm wrapping around her waist as he trailed his hand down her back, "you've no idea how much it arouses me."

"I think I do," she said softly, her cheeks burning red. Oh yes, she had a very good idea how aroused he was, pressed as closely together as they were. She could feel his heart beating, the warmth of his arms and chest radiating outwards as his blood coursed hot through his veins.

Remus had felt Moony stirring within him, but he remained in control of himself, his heart hammering in his chest as his cock ached in his pants. "This isn't how it should be for you," he reached up to take hold of her chin again, raising her eyes to his, "I can't do this, Hermione."

"I love you, Remus," she wasn't sure how she managed to say it, but they were the only words she could think of as she looked at him. "I have for years," once the words started, Hermione found herself unable to stop and she pushed forward with Gryffindor courage, "that's why I haven't been with anyone. There was no one I ever wanted but you."

Remus stared at her mutely. Reading her confession of love was one thing, even when it was written in her elegant script at the foot of a page. Hearing her say it was something else entirely, and he found himself unable to speak for several long moments. His body was exhausted and torn between arousal and fatigue, aching in more ways than one.

Leaning down, he kissed her again, this time quite gently, tenderly and passionately.

"Not like this, Hermione," he whispered raggedly when he pulled away, "I can't take you like this, it isn't right."

She could read the conflict clearly in his eyes, though, and she reached up to wrap her arms around his neck, drawing his mouth back down to hers. Every kiss from him sent a new thrill coursing through her body, and she pressed herself closer into his warmth as they kissed. Remus could only groan, unable to resist her initially. The ardent touch of her tongue against his, tracing the contours of his mouth, made him growl softly as his arousal intensified.

The wolf within him stirred more strongly, and he kissed her more aggressively, drawing her tightly, almost painfully against him. He ground his hips forward, reaching down with one hand to press her intimately against him as he bit gently on her lips. Laying kisses and love-bites over her jaw and down the side of her neck, he turned and pressed her backward toward the bed. When her knees collided with the mattress, he laid her out upon it, following her so closely that their bodies never stopped touching.

"Remus," she gasped as he bit her slightly too hard at the curve of her neck, and immediately he soothed her with a long kiss, his hand drifting down over her abdomen to slide up beneath her shirt. The touch of his palm, warm and smooth against her bare skin, sent a wave of energy coursing through her, and she visibly jerked from the intensity of it. No one had ever touched her like that, and now of all people it was Remus, literally the man of her dreams. It was complete sensory overload, but she tensed when he began to push her shirt up, baring her skin to him.

"You think this is what you want?" he growled, and his mouth descended on the skin of her abdomen, "you imagine you can handle my unbridled passion, satiate my carnal desire for you?"

Remus' teeth and tongue were unrelenting, and he pulled her shirt roughly over her head, discarding it to reveal her breasts to him, clad in a simple black bra. She was supple and soft, he wished to taste her, to claim her and find the release he so badly desired, buried between her willing thighs; but her pants and soft moans were turning into quiet gasps of pain, and Remus reigned himself in forcibly, his breathing hard and ragged.

"You have to stop this," he growled, and the near feral tone of his voice made Hermione's eyes snap up to his; but Remus was in control, and he stared down into her eyes as his weight held her pinned to the bed. He leaned down, kissing her gently before pulling away again, "you're not ready for me. I would only hurt you in this state."

Pulling himself away from her, Remus sat at the edge of the bed for a moment before standing, "you need to go, Hermione," he reached out and took her gently by the hand, summoning her shirt and giving it to her as she sat on the edge of the bed.

Putting her shirt back on, she looked up at him, realizing how close she had pushed him to losing control. Licking her lips she found them to be slightly swollen, tender from his love-bites.

"Will you stay here?" she asked, indicating the whole of Grimmauld Place.

Remus pulled her up gently, drawing her into his arms. It required no small amount of self-control to hold her so close and not finish what he had started; he smoothed her hair down, tucking it behind her ears. "It is my room," he answered wryly, and a brief smile flitted across her mouth as he leaned down to kiss her once more before saying, "go before I change my mind. This isn't the time or place for us."

Us… a word she never thought she would hear from him. Hermione looked at him with shining eyes, leaning up to kiss him a final time. "I love you," she whispered, "I'll see you tomorrow."

And with that she left, slipping quietly through his door and into the dark, silent hall beyond. It was good that she left, Remus finally collapsed on his bed, exhausted, his body thrumming with tension and repressed energy. His hands trembled for several minutes as he laid still, eyes closed, regulating his breathing and steadying his rapid heartbeat.

'Merlin,' he groaned softly, waving his hand in annoyance to extinguish the lights that bothered him. 'Us?' he asked himself, reflecting on the last thing he'd said to her. 'What 'us'? What am I thinking?' he brought his hand to his mouth, still able to taste her on his tongue. Her scent permeated his pillow and bedroom, a reminder of the reality of the situation he was in.

'I need to sleep,' he groaned again, rolling onto his side, and cast his arm towards the window, using a wandless spell to open it and allow the fresh, cool air to flow into his room. His body and mind both needed rest, and Remus finally fell into a deep, exhausted sleep.

It was a long night for Hermione, as well. Safely back in her room, she had stripped her shirt off and examined her collarbone and breasts where Remus had nipped and bitten her. In a few places there were still the faint marks of his teeth, and she realized that he was right when he said she was unprepared for him.

'I shouldn't push him so far,' she thought as she lay with her eyes closed, waiting for sleep to claim her. In the dark and the silence, she was acutely aware of Remus' presence just a floor away. Never had she dreamed that her love for him would be returned, and her desire for him left a tight coil of tension in her belly, unsatisfied. Remus' words repeated in her head, "You imagine you can handle my unbridled passion?"

'No,' she rolled onto her side, hugging her pillow as she tried to sleep, 'I'm not ready for that.'

At last sleep claimed her, and in dreams she would forget when she awoke, she found herself with Remus, ensconced in his warm embrace. If he held her like that, just so, she would stay with him forever.

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It was midafternoon when he awoke. His room was cool from the open window, and Remus stayed tucked under the covers for a long time, thinking through the events of the previous night. He'd been exhausted, barely able to think straight, and he sighed deeply as he thought of how rough he'd been with Hermione the night before. He hadn't intended to hurt her, however slightly, but it had been hard. She tried his patience and pushed his self-control to the limits.

The scent of her still lingered in his room, and he opened his eyes to stare at the walls of his room, lit by the grey light filtering through his window at an angle. The London sky was grey and dark, and it had rained at some point during the night or in the early morning. Remus relished the scent of the fresh air, inhaling deeply.

After a shower, he emerged quietly from his room. The hall was silent, and Hermione's lab was closed, he heard nothing beyond the locked door. Indeed, the entire house seemed oddly quiet, and he paused at the stairs but detected no sound from her room or Sirius'.

'This isn't right…' he thought, moving down the stairs. Everything was eerily quiet, but as he neared the bottom of the stairs, Remus was relieved to smell the aroma of fresh black tea. Approaching the kitchen, he heard Hermione laughing softly, and he pushed the door open.

Sirius and Hermione were sitting at the prep table in the middle of the kitchen, enjoying an afternoon cup of tea with the old Black china. They looked over to him when he entered, each of them pleased to see him, and Sirius grinned jovially at his friend.

"'Morning Moony," he greeted him, meeting his eyes with a look that asked, 'are you okay?'

"Afternoon, actually," Hermione corrected with a soft smile, and motioning to the remaining barstool she asked Remus, "would you like a cup of tea?"

Remus stood still near the door for another moment, looking at his best friend and the young woman who had so recently been in his bed with him. It was clear to look at them that they were comfortable with each other, and he wondered why he hadn't noticed that Hermione had become friends with Sirius over the last few years.

"No tea, thank you," he answered politely, though he came over and took the seat equidistance from Sirius and Hermione, "what were you two discussing, then?"

"A mutual friend," Sirius answered casually, and Hermione looked down, blushing lightly.

Remus cocked one eyebrow at them, shaking his head as he asked, "and would I happen to know that mutual friend of yours?"

"That you would," Hermione acknowledged with a small grin, "truth be told, Sirius was just telling me a bit about what it was like for all of you back during your school days."

Remus nodded, watching silently for a moment as she took another sip of her tea. He could see the liquid steaming as it swirled in her cup, a light milky color; she took her tea with cream and a cube of sugar, just a touch of sweetness to balance the strength of the black tea. After sipping, her tongue darted out, soft and pink across her lips, swiping away the remaining droplets of tea.

"I hope he isn't boring you with tales of his many conquests," Remus said wryly.

Sirius glared at him, returning in good humour, "I wouldn't consider that a boring topic," he winked playfully at Hermione, "but actually I was just telling her about how we each became an animagus. Those were good years, before everything happened."

Sirius had the tact to dismiss himself after a few minutes, finishing his tea and leaving the cup in the sink before bidding his friends a good afternoon. Remus didn't even try to stop him from going, relieved as he was to have an opportunity to speak privately to Hermione.

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That's all for now, folks, but stay tuned soon for chapter eight; it's already been started and I'm almost finished with it. For those of you who are also following my newest fic Déjà Vu, chapter three is partially written and I will be working on it later this week as well.

In other news, I have recently started an independent blog where my fanfiction stories are being posted, as well as news and updates regarding my original work. I hope you'll take a few minutes to check out my profile for links and more information. I'm also on Twitter now, so feel free to follow me for updates. Thanks again to everyone who has reviewed so far, I look forward to hearing what you thought of this chapter. ^.^