Hermione sat on the couch in Lupin's private rooms and stared at the empty fireplace. Her trunk was next to her, unopened. She had shooed the boys out, but now she wished that they would come back. She felt incredibly lonely and what's more, she was feeling emotions that didn't belong to her.

It took a few minutes to realize that she was feeling Lupin's emotions through their bond. Ron told her that it would wear off after a few weeks, but since they had exchanged magic and energies, it was a side-effect.

It was a dizzying mix of nervousness, irritation, and a small stab of anger. As she sat there focusing on these feelings, she herself began to feel more depressed. Lupin wouldn't be feeling these things if it weren't for her. He wouldn't have to deal with the school, the outside world, or her. He'd have his own life, instead of having to cater to hers.

Feeling restless, Hermione stood up from the couch and opened her trunk. She didn't want to wear her school uniform anymore. Shoving books and random clothes aside, she searched for the shirt and jeans that Lupin had given her. For some reason, she wanted to be wrapped in his scent as she hid in his rooms.

Not bothering to go into the bedroom to change, she stripped down and pulled the worn clothing on. Immediately, she felt a sense of relief. She stuffed her school robes into the trunk without folding them and shut the lid.

The silence around her was deafening. Perhaps it was magnified because she was scared and alone. Trying to distract herself, she looked around the sitting room. It amazed her that she never really noticed it before, though she had been a little distracted at the time.

It was a very masculine room. The carpet was burgundy, as were the two chairs and sofa before the fireplace. Golden patterns were stitched meticulously into elaborate designs on the pillows and furniture backs.

She walked around barefoot, liking the plush carpet caressing her feet. Pictures were placed on the mantle, the occupants waving at her as she got close. She smiled when she saw one of the four Marauders.

They looked to be about fifteen or sixteen, all grinning goofily at the camera. Lupin was squeezed between James Potter and Sirius, his hair sticking up all over the place as though someone had ruffled it.

The next picture was of Lupin and Sirius. Hermione frowned. They were dancing slowly and in the background were Harry's Mum and Dad dancing also. It had to have been their wedding day, for they were wearing wedding robes. Lupin and Sirius were holding each other tight and Sirius was whispering into Lupin's ear. They almost looked…like lovers. Lupin had his eyes closed and was resting his head on Sirius's shoulder and looking like he never wanted to move again.

The last picture was taken last year. Hermione remembered. It was Christmas and Lupin and Sirius were giving each other presents. Fred had taken that picture. Sirius had a ridiculous Santa hat on his head and was laughing uproariously while Remus was grinning like a fool.

Where they…intimate? Hermione wondered. She thought back to everything she knew of them and found that it wasn't too much of a stretch. It wouldn't have surprised her, really.

She moved away from the sitting area over to the bookshelves that had been built into the walls. He didn't have much of a collection, though the books that he did have made her bookworm's heart skip a beat. They all seemed to be collector's editions or limited editions of some kind. He had works by both Muggle and Magical authors, novels and biographies. He had them all spaced out over the walls, for if he stacked them next to each other they would only take up one bookcase.

Huge windows overlooked the forests behind Hogwarts. They looked so peaceful. She smiled ruefully. Never judge a book by its cover. She sat on the window seat and almost sighed in pleasure. The dark, plushy material made her want to curl up and snooze like a cat.

A cat.

Crookshanks!

What was she going to do about Crookshanks? Would Lupin allow a cat into his rooms? Her pet was currently somewhere in Gryffindor Tower, probably wondering why his favorite blanket was missing. She'd have to talk to Lupin about that right when he got back.

Forcing herself from the comfy window seat, she meandered into the bedroom. Now, this room she remembered. Her cheeks began to heat as she looked at the king-sized bed, remembering all that had happened there. The red stain was gone. Had he seen it? Or had the house elves cleaned it before he could? She desperately hoped for the latter.

More large windows faced the forests, though there was no window seat in this room. Dark draperies were tied back on each side with gold ropes. A large fireplace faced the foot of the bed, and she could just see in her mind being curled up in the massive bed with a fire going. It sounded quite cozy.

She shuffled over the plush carpet, this time colored navy blue, and went to the closet. She felt slightly guilty looking at his clothes for some reason, but she told herself she had to see how much space there was for her own wardrobe. She was shocked to see that his clothes barely took up a forth of the huge closet. He didn't have much, and that made her feel angry. If only the world wasn't so prejudiced, then he could have a more normal life, with more nice clothes and square meals. A smile tugged at her lips as she saw shoes, mostly of the tennis variety, tossed into a pile below his hanging clothes.

She left the closet and moved on to what she thought would be the bathroom. The door opened silently and this time she did gasp out loud. The bathroom was huge, almost as large as the bedroom. Where the rest of the rooms had had a definite masculine feel, the bathroom did not. It was mostly white, with white tile floors and white draperies at the large bay windows. Her bare feet slapped against the floor as she wandered in further.

A huge bathtub was settled into the middle of the floor and could easily hold four people. Six taps were lined up on one side of the white tub, each a different color, and she couldn't wait to try them out. A glass-fronted shower was set into the far wall opposite the door. Black tile made up three of the walls with two silver shower-heads on opposite sides.

The side of the room opposite the windows was one long counter-top with two sinks and a large mirror. Lupin had all this to himself? Lucky man.

Now lucky me as well, Hermione thought with a grin. No more sharing one small bathroom with four other girls who hogged the mirror and shower time.

At home with her parents, she had her own bathroom.

Oh, no. Her parents! Her parents didn't know she was married! She hurried out of the bathroom, through the bedroom, and into the sitting area. She couldn't tell her Mum and Dad in person, but at least she could write a letter. Hopefully during the holidays, she'd be able to go see them and hopefully they will understand.

Remus trudged up to his rooms after the last class of the day. He was exhausted. Who knew that keeping your emotions hidden was such hard work? After lunch he'd had the third years. He ended up taking about ten points from each house because no one was paying attention. They were whispering and pointing, sitting up in their seats to see his ring. It was a nightmare. The seventh years had been worse. He got smirks and giggles and knowing glances. He knew what they were all thinking. He never said a word about his marriage, however. He wouldn't rise to the bait.

He didn't even bother to look at the portrait to his rooms as he said, "Open." The painting swung open and he stepped in, though immediately stopped. He wasn't sure what he had expected to find when he got back to his rooms. Would Hermione have changed anything? Would there be frills and bows everywhere now? It didn't sound like her, but then you never really know for sure. Would she have changed the colors from a comfortable dark theme to pink?

Everything looked exactly the same as it usually did with only one difference. His usual empty rooms now held the small form of a young female asleep on his sofa. Her trunk was next to the coffee table with its lid open.

He walked closer and saw that she was wearing the clothes he had given her. She was curled on her side with one hand under her head and the other by her chin. He was going to go straight to his room to change, but halted when her eyes opened and settled on him.

She gave him a sleepy smile and sat up.

"What time is it?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.

"Everyone's at dinner," he replied, removing his outer robes.

"Oh!" she stood up and grabbed an envelope off the coffee table. "I need to mail this while no one will see me."

"What is it?" he asked while pulling off his tie.

"A letter to my parents," she replied. "I want them to know what happened, and that I'm married. They'll be terribly disappointed they weren't here, but I explained everything. I wanted to mail it while everyone was distracted so that I could escape any questions."

"I'll go with you if you like," he offered. She looked at him curiously.

"Why?"

"Well, I've been having to deal with everyone all by myself all day," he replied. She looked guilty, causing him to continue. "It's not your fault, Hermione. I'm just saying that people might leave you alone and not ask questions if I'm there with you."

She nodded and smiled shyly before looking at the floor. He changed out of his teaching robes into more comfortable jeans and a grey sweatshirt and walked beside her as they made their way to the owlry.

"Do you think they'll be angry?" he asked as they moved past empty classrooms.

"Not angry, no," Hermione replied. "Confused, maybe hurt because I didn't invite them, but not angry. They'll be happy that you did this for me."

"Will they really?"

"I'm an only child," she said with a sad smile. "They'd be alright with anything to see me safe."

They fell into a companionable silence as they walked through the deserted corridors. She was walking rather fast, no doubt hoping to get the errand done before anyone could see her. Unfortunately, luck was not with them. Students were finishing up with dinner and had started to make their ways to their dormitories.

At first, it was just a random student here and there who gave Remus and Hermione gobsmacked looks as they passed. As time progressed, however, more and more students were becoming visible. Whispers followed them down the halls, but none of the students tried to talk to them.

Hermione kept her head held high, though Remus could feel her tension. She ignored everyone around them, even when it got to the point that it was difficult to get through the hallway because people were stopping to watch them.

Remus's irritations spiked. Without a word, he grabbed Hermione's arm and literally pushed people aside. Moving quickly so that no one would see what he was doing, he pulled her around the corner and tapped a brick in the wall of an empty corridor. Knowing that people were right behind them, he pulled her into the newly-revealed doorway of a secret passage and closed the entrance behind him.

"What -"

He pressed a finger to her lips for silence and listened.

"Where did they go?"

The voice was muffled from the other side of the wall, but the words were distinguishable.

"Dunno," someone replied. "He probably pulled her into a broom closet for a quickie."

Hermione stiffened against him, but made no noise.

"Oh, get a life, all of you," came the clear voice of Ginny Weasley. "What they do and where they do it has nothing to do with you. Now go on, move along, you're all blocking the hallway."

Remus smiled in the darkness. God bless Ginevra Weasley. Remus lit his wand silently and gestured for her to follow him into the passageway. If he remembered right, it would take them to the fourth floor near the Arithmancy classroom. No dorms were around there, so hopefully there wouldn't be many people to gawk at them.

It became clear in the trip to the owlry that privacy was going to be a rare gift for him and Hermione. Even with the shortcut and trying to make their way from people-populated areas, they were still bombarded with stares, whispers, smirks, and giggles. When they finally made it to the owlry, Remus warded to the door to make sure no one could enter the room with them still in it.

"This is a nightmare," Hermione groaned, pulling the envelope from her pocket and moving to one of the school owls.

"I know, I got to teach it today," Remus replied, moving to stand next to her.

"I could feel you," she said absently. The old grey owl she was tying her letter to watched her in bored nonchalance.

"Feel me?" he asked curiously.

"I could feel your emotions," she clarified. "Nervousness, irritation, anger. I could feel it."

"How strange," he said. "This morning I could feel you as well, when Malfoy was harassing you."

She finished tying the letter to the owl and it swept out one of the glassless windows. They watched the bird until he was nothing but a speck in the sky.

"I wonder what they'll say," she said quietly.

"I wouldn't worry about it," he replied, putting his arm around her. "If it bothers them, we can set up a time to go see them and take some Order members."

She smiled up at him and his heart clenched. She looked so sad, so unhappy. Her life had been changed like his, if not more so.

"Stop looking so depressed," he chided, squeezing her a little.

"I can't help it," she sighed. "This is all so…odd."

"I'm afraid we'll just have to get used to things," he said.

"Um, by the way," she said hesitantly, gripping the hem of her shirt tightly.

"Yes?" he asked uncertainly.

"I kind of have a cat," she mumbled. "I can probably give him to Ginny, if you don't want him in your rooms, but I thought I'd ask first."

His heart sank. He hated cats. "That ugly orange thing, right?"

"He's not ugly!" she said defensively. "He's just slightly off-looking."

Remus snorted. "Is he well-tempered?"

"He just likes to sleep really," Hermione replied. "He only gets up for food."

"Well, I don't think it'll be a problem," Remus said with false cheer. He was really tempted to just say no, but Hermione was upset as it was and it was only a cat. Albeit a really ugly one.

Her face lit up and for the moment he didn't regret his decision at all.

Lupin went with her to Gryffindor Tower. She told him it wasn't necessary, but he waved off her protests.

"They'll converge on you," he'd said on the way. "At least with me there they'll have the good sense to keep their mouths shut."

In the Gryffindor common room, she'd been the first through the portrait hole. Her dorm mates hadn't seen her husband right behind her, otherwise they wouldn't have questioned her like they did.

"What is going on?"

"Does he eat raw meat?"

"Does he snore?"

"Is it true he has a tattoo on his back?"

Hermione stared around all the teenagers surrounding her, bombarding her with questions, in total confusion. She tried to move past them, but they held her fast, tossing out ridiculous questions and trying to get her attention on them. Suddenly, everything was quiet as they looked over her shoulder.

"I don't eat raw meat, I don't think I snore, and the tattoo isn't on my back," Lupin said mildly.

A few of the students smiled sheepishly while the rest backed away slowly. Hermione glanced back at Lupin and saw that he looked slightly amused. He had a tattoo? Where?

"I'll just go find him," she said awkwardly.

"So where's your tattoo, then?" someone asked as she bounded up the stairs.

After a quick search of her dorm room, she found Crookshanks curled up under her bed. When she stuck her head under and saw him, her gave her a kitty-glare and refused to budge.

"Come on, darling," she said. "I'm taking you to our new home."

Crookshanks was unmoved. She stretched out her hand but he was too far back. He looked at her hand as though it carried the plague and curled in further on himself.

"Oh, don't be like that," she huffed. Crookshanks yawned dramatically and laid his head upon his paws and regarded her sulkily. "I know I took everything out of here and forgot you, and I'm sorry, but I've been really distracted. I'll make it up to you, I promise."

Again, Crookshanks was unmoved. He took her forgetfulness as a personal insult and refused to budge. She used all kinds of endearments, ranging from 'darling' to 'sweetheart', but her cat was unimpressed.

"Problems?"

Hermione banged her head on the side her bed in her haste to pull backwards. She whimpered in pain and touched her hand to the crown of head. Before she knew it, Lupin was on his knees next to her and gently touching what looked to be an impressive bump.

"Are you okay?" he asked in concern. "How bad is it?"

"'M fine," she mumbled. "I'd be better if I had longer arms so that I could force my errant cat from his hiding place."

She looked into Lupin's eyes and saw the mirth there. She scowled.

"Where is he?" he asked gently.

"Under the bed in the corner," she grumbled.

To her great astonishment, Lupin lowered himself down and peered under her bed. Wondering how her snotty cat would react, Hermione bent down to look.

Crookshanks was eyeing Lupin warily, wondering what he wanted. Crookshanks probably remembered Lupin from Grimmauld, but Hermione wasn't sure.

Lupin didn't say a word as he extended his much longer arm and lightly grasped Crookshanks' tail. Lupin pulled slowly and her cat began to slide on the wooden floor. Crookshanks glared at them over his fluffy shoulder but didn't try to dig his claws in the floor or protest in any other way. He looked resigned and when he was fully out from under the bed, Hermione picked him up in her arms.

"Thank you," she said with a bright smile. Lupin smirked and stood up.

"Let's go before I have to answer more questions from your nosy house," he said warmly.

Crookshanks, being truly miffed that he had been sunken so low as to have been pulled along by his tail, sat grumpily in Hermione's arms as they made their way out of the tower. Everyone watched them closely as they left but Hermione made sure no to look at anyone.