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Chapter Seven: Werewolf with a Tan

When Hermione Granger arrived in her new quarters at Hogwarts bright and early the day before she was supposed to start her apprenticeship, the last thing she expected to find was one Ginny Weasley stretched out on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. "Ginny?" she exclaimed, startled, as she pulled her shrunken belongings out of her cloak pocket. "Ginny, what's wrong?"

Ginny didn't move, didn't twitch, didn't even blink so far as the older girl could tell.

Gingerly, Hermione went over to the bed and sat next to her friend. "Ginny?" she whispered.

"I kissed him," the redhead said suddenly.

Hermione blinked owlishly. "Kissed who?" she asked stupidly.

"REMUS!"

She couldn't help it, she started giggling. After glaring at her for a moment, Ginny started, too. The bushy haired girl help her sit up and they embraced fondly. "When did you kiss him?"

"Last night," she murmured into her best friend's shoulder.

"And?"

"He recoiled."

"He WHAT!"

"He recoiled," Ginny repeated dully. "He was kissing me back, and then all of a sudden, he stumbled away. I could see it, though, Mione, I could see the wolf in his eyes, and I think that was what he was afraid of."

They sat next to each other on the large bed, not really looking at each other, simply being together. "Was he a good kisser?" Hermione wanted to know after a moment.

"Once he unfroze, oh my god, yes," Ginny answered with a laugh. Then she sighed. "I shouldn't have done it."

"He kissed you back!"

"Yes, but the things we'd been talking about, and it was just…and then he…and then it just…I shouldn't have done it," she finished.

Hermione regarded her friend thoughtfully, her brown eyes considering. The wheels were turning, and she let them, willing to see where they would go. The idea her brain came up with was pure genius. "We're going to the lake," she announced.

"We're what?"

"We're going to the lake. Dumbledore told me last night that the giant squid is visiting a friend, and the mer-people and grindylows don't come up to the surface."

"All right," Ginny agreed slowly, wondering what had brought that up.

"And what's more, we're taking Callum with us." Hermione had of course met the child at the Burrow, and learned about the bite over dinner, but she wanted to get to know him a little bit. More importantly, she wanted to see how he and Ginny got along; it could be instrumental to the plan slowly forming in the back of her mind.

"We're doing what?"

"Honestly, Ginny, aren't you listening? The child has been stuck in Remus' chambers for almost a month. This will be good for him, and you could use a break, too. Severus told me-"

"Severus?" Ginny interrupted. "Since when did he become Severus?" She goggled at the hint of a blush on Hermione's cheeks.

"Well, I'm hardly his student anymore, and we both agreed that it would be asinine for me to call him Master Snape, so he told me to call him Severus."

"All right," Ginny conceded, knowing there was more to it but willing to leave it at that. For the moment. "I'll go get a suit and find something for Callum, and then we'll meet you down at the lake."

"Sounds like a plan."

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The girls laughed as Callum raced down to the water, throwing himself into the lake with gleeful abandon. "It's cold!" he yelled, and they only laughed harder. They spread out the large blanket they'd brought with them and set their things down on top of it. Hermione, dressed in a modest black one-piece, didn't have much intention of going in the water, and had brought with her several of the books the Potions Master had asked her to look over before their first day.

Ginny had also brought books with her, some of her standard healing books and even a muggle one about human anatomy. She shrugged at Hermione's questioning look. "I'll probably go into the water for a bit, but I would feel bad about not getting some studying done. I would feel like I was blowing off Poppy."

Hermione nodded and looked back at Callum, hiding a smile. Ginny, always the more adventurous of the two girls, had chosen a mint green bikini that showed very clearly that she was no longer a little girl. She'd thrown a pair of faded blue cut-offs over the bottoms, and tied her long hair back in a loose braid. "Study, then swim?" she asked.

"Swim when it's hotter," the other girl agreed, opening her first book.

Callum felt no such restraint. Even with no one else there, he frolicked and splashed and made a great deal of noise, constantly causing the girls to look up and smile. When his aching body reminded him of the trials of the past few days, he simply stretched out on his back, floating underneath the blue sky and burning sun.

Dobby brought them lunch a little after noon, and the three feasted in time-honored tradition; burgers, hot dogs, fries, and popsicles. It was a favorite of Hermione's American cousin, one the girl had been only too glad to embrace and spread to her friends.

"Can I go back in the water now?" Callum asked when they'd finished.

"Not yet," Ginny answered with genuine regret. "We have to wait half an hour for the food to settle. Besides, sitting in some shade will do you good for a little while. You're turning rather pink." She conjured a shade over their blanket and scooted to create a place for him to sit down. "Here, let me get some sunscreen on you."

"You didn't do that back in Remus' chambers?" Hermione was startled.

"We didn't stay there very long," Callum told her. "We didn't want to wake him up."

She glared at the faintly blushing redhead. "Coward," she mouthed, but Ginny ignored her and applied herself to the task of protecting the boy from further sun.

"How about we take a nap, while waiting for the food to settle?" Hermione suggested, giving her friend a meaningful look. "That way we won't have to head in as early."

Callum nodded; he was still awfully tired from the full moon. He hoped, despite Remus' words, that he was only so drained because it was his first, but there was no sense in pushing himself too hard. Laying out on the blanket, he quickly fell asleep, his head finding its way into Ginny's lap.

Hermione waited a few minutes before pouncing on her prey; she had no desire for Callum to actually be awake and hear any of this. "You told me you let Remus know where Callum was going to be," she accused.

"I left a note," Ginny shrugged. "That's letting someone know, right?"

"Coward," Hermione said again.

"Mione, he pushed me away," the redhead said seriously. "Even if it was only because of the wolf, which it wasn't, he still pushed me away. Besides, he still thinks of me as nothing more than the Littlest Weasley, as reminded me last night?"

"How did he do that?"

"He twitched at my nightgown."

Hermione giggled, knowing exactly what she was talking about. "Did he like it?"

"He asked me 'since when did the Littlest Weasley were a nightgown like that'."

"He didn't."

"He did."

Closing her eyes, the older girl shook her head in amazement. Men. They were all stupid. All of them. "Don't give up, Ginny," she said instead, reaching out to take her friend's hand. "You two are meant to be together. I mean, you've had a crush on him since you met him."

"And I had a crush on Harry for how many years?" Ginny reminded. "Longevity does not necessarily indicate a favorable outcome. I shouldn't have kissed him."

"Well, maybe that's what he needs to see that you're more than just the Littlest Weasley."

"He once told Dumbledore that he loves me like a niece."

"Things change," Hermione told her firmly. "No regrets. You are not allowed to have any regrets."

Smiling, Ginny surrendered. "All right," she laughed. "No regrets. Kissing him was a stupid thing to do, but no regrets."

"I'll let you have that for now." They both laughed, and Hermione watched Ginny absently stroke Callum's wet curls, brushing them back away from his slightly burnt face. "He's a sweet kid, isn't he?"

"He is," she agreed. "Horrible nightmares, though."

"Remus once told us it came with the territory."

"Doesn't make them any better, nor any easier to handle," she returned darkly.

Hermione cocked her head to one side, regarding her friend with interest. "You would know, wouldn't you?"

"What?"

"Ginny, I shared a bedroom with you at Headquarters, remember? I know you still have nightmares."

"I don't really want to talk about it right now, Mione," she whispered. When the other girl protested, she held up her hand. "We…I talked about it last night. I just don't want to go through it all again so soon."

Hermione nodded; Ginny was far more complicated than the boys. Far more patience was required. Being a Gryffindor, patience wasn't something she had in abundance, but she could certainly try.

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Remus finished questioning Madam Pomfrey and went back out into the hallway, seriously starting to worry. There was no sign of Callum. He'd scoured their chambers, looked in the library, in the Great Hall, in Ginny's rooms (well, he'd questioned the statue guarding her door, anyway), and even the hospital wing, and there was absolutely no sign of him. He went towards a window and opened it, needing the fresh air to clear his panicked thoughts. Laughter floated on the wind to catch his attention, and he stared out, refusing to believe that it could be that simple. By the lake, was that…YES!

He sprinted down three sets of stairs, through two hallways, and out the front doors, feeling his breath start to hitch as he made the final stretch to the lake. "CALLUM!" he yelled, and the noise stopped.

Three sets of eyes stared at him from the water, very startled, and the little boy sank down until he was invisible up to his nose. "Good to see you, too, Remus," Hermione greeted dryly, having been convinced to play in the lake with the other two.

"Hermione?" he asked, momentarily distracted from his mission. "What are you doing here?"

"I have an apprenticeship with Severus, remember?"

"When did he become Severus?"

Hermione rolled her eyes at Ginny, who stifled a giggle. "Men," she mouthed, and the other girl nodded.

"Callum, is this where you've been?" Remus sighed as the boy nodded, still hiding up to his nose. "Callum, I'm sorry I yelled, but I was worried. I didn't know where you were."

The head came up a little, revealing his face to the chin. "We left a note," he murmured sourly.

"You did?"

"Right on your nightstand."

Now that he thought about it, he could vaguely recall seeing a piece of parchment lying there, but his first thought had been to check and make sure the child was okay, he hadn't stopped to read it. He realized that he'd made rather a fool of himself, and cast about desperately for anything that would deny the girls the chance to torture him with it. His eyes fell on Callum. "You turned pink," he said stupidly, and cursed himself silently.

He really should have learned by now not to open his mouth when he was flustered. He inevitably stuck his foot in it, and he was getting highly sick of the frequency with which he seemed to be doing it these days.

"Do you want to, or shall I?" Hermione asked, and Ginny bowed towards her, sweeping her hand across the surface of the water. The former Head Girl turned back to the professor. "Yes, Remus, he turned pink. That tends to happen when pale people go out into this thing called sunshine."

"Thanks ever so," he managed. He couldn't help but notice that Ginny still hadn't said anything, simply standing waist deep in the water watching everything going on. He also couldn't help but notice that she looked really good in that swimsuit. "I thought you said you had lessons," he noted.

She pointed over to the stack of books on their lounging blanket. "Poppy told me I could do bookwork today, so I studied through the morning."

"Ah." They stared at each other, the previous night etched clearly in their minds, neither wanting to mention it.

"Would you like to join us?" Hermione asked, catching the tension and purposefully moving to destroy it.

"Ah, no thank you, Hermione," he answered carefully, trying to avoid the thought of him in swimming trunks. His side still hadn't healed, especially not after two repeat nights of the wounding, and he didn't want Callum to know about it.

Ginny seemed to catch on, because she shook her head at her best friend. "Come on, Mione, he's a teacher; he has a certain dignity that he has to maintain."

"Thank you, Ginny," he said gratefully, and the older girl nodded in disappointment.

"Besides, have you ever seen a werewolf with a tan? We might get blinded by the reflection."

"HEY!"

Hermione doubled over laughing, forgetting for a moment that she was chest high in the water. When she'd stopped choking on water and could breathe again, she continued laughing at Remus' indignation.

Ginny turned to Remus, arching a single eyebrow. "Well?"

And, sadly enough, he really couldn't deny it.

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Despite not going in the water, Remus stayed down by the lake with them the rest of the day, trying to remember the last time he'd felt so completely relaxed. By unspoken agreement, neither he nor Ginny mentioned the previous night, and it thrilled his heart to see Callum acting like a normal eight year old. He had been absolutely astounded when Ginny and Hermione got into a splashing contest, and he smirked smugly when Ginny won. Hermione may have been best friends with the Boy-Who-Lived-To-Get-Into-All-Kinds-Of-Dangerous-Situations, more affectionately known as Harry, but Ginny had grown up with six brothers; you didn't survive if you didn't know how to fight dirty.

When night fell, three thoroughly pruny young people climbed out of the lake, and Remus built a huge bonfire on the bank. Recruiting Dobby's assistance once more, they introduced Callum to the fine art of making s'mores. Their eyes stung from the smoke, but they laughed at the boy's determination to toast the perfect marshmallow. They each had a preference, they'd found; Remus liked his hot but still white, Ginny liked hers lightly golden, and Hermione surprised them all by liking it black and crisped. Ginny had once Switched the finished marshmallow for a piece of coal, and Hermione hadn't noticed until it was almost too late. Callum made the resolution to try them all before he chose his favorite.

Ginny gently took the long toasting stick from his hands when he fell asleep sprawled in her lap, settling him into a more comfortable position. From the corner of her eye, she saw Hermione yawning hugely and gave her a dirty look, a clear warning. The 'subtlety' would be lost on Remus, as he was a Gryffindor, as well, but Ginny had always prided herself on having just enough Slytherin tendencies to notice when someone was putting her on. Or setting her up.

"Well, my long hours of doing potions dirty work begins tomorrow," Hermione mentioned casually. "I'd better turn in. Ginny, I'll take your books up for you."

"You're too kind."

Remus wondered briefly at the frostiness to her voice, but decided that it was likely his imagination. He felt almost giddy from the rather large amount of chocolate floating through his system, and inclined to be optimistic.

After Hermione's departure, the pair stayed seated on the grass, staring into the flames. The fire was starting to die down, the embers glowing deep red rather than the bright orange it had been. They were seated across from each other, another machination of Hermione's, but neither looked at the other. The moon overhead shone brightly, starting to wane, but still close enough to full that it made Remus uncomfortable to look at. Ginny loved it. When she'd been younger, her bedroom window at the Burrow had always looked directly at the moon, and Ginny loved it no matter what phase it was in. She said nothing, however; she was in the presence of two werewolves, never mind that one of them was asleep, and she knew that her sentiment would not be reciprocated.

And there seemed to be a lot of that going on nowadays. She sighed and closed her eyes, tilting her head back to ease the tightness in her neck.

Remus stared at her through the dying flames, the moonlight casting a silver glow against the pale column of her neck. It smoothed out the pink of spending an entire day in the summer sun, leeched the color out of her hair until it was almost black. Despite the very cold shower, his dreams last night had still been haunted with her. Each time he turned away, the beast within presented some new detail, some new memory. He'd finally taken a potion just so he could get some sleep. He knew they would have to talk about…well, it, whatever it was. He wasn't really sure, but he did know that it was not a conversation he was looking forward to.

Callum stirred slightly in his sleep, burrowing closer to Ginny, his small arms slipping around her neck. She looked down at him and smiled softly, kissing his forehead gently.

The loud croak of a bullfrog startled them both and they jumped. Glancing at each other, they laughed quietly, feeling rather silly. Ginny shivered slightly. "Are you cold?" Remus asked.

"A little," she admitted, pushing down her nausea at the queer sense of déjà vu. "Somewhat damp two piece, and all."

Coming around the fire, he sat next to her and draped his arm about her shoulders. Neither said anything, and neither moved. For the moment, it simply felt right.

The bullfrog croaked again, and Callum woke up, staring sleepily at the faces of his protectors, his friends. His eyes slid just past them, and a small smile tugged at his lips. "The moon's pretty tonight," he murmured. "Funny."