CHAPTER NINE

"I'm so sorry I'm late Gin." Hermione said as she ran up to the red head just out side the bakery. Ginny looked highly amused at her disheveled state.

"I'll forgive you if you buy me a coffee and some eggs and bacon on toast." She said and Hermione agreed, leading the duo into the bakery and ordering their food.

"Okay spill. Who's your 'friend' and why do you look thoroughly shagged?" Ginny asked and Hermione laughed in spite of herself. Trust Ginny to get straight down to the point.

"His name is Remus and he owns the book shop down town. I spent the night at his place because I was practically falling asleep on his couch last night and it was too late to walk home in the dark. I look thoroughly shagged because... well..." She couldn't bring herself to say it out loud. It was too intimate a thing to share with her friend. She had never been one to share secrets or such before, but secrets of this kind were new to her as she had never really had any to share in the first place.

"You had sex. You sly dog. I didn't even know you had a boyfriend." The red head said, knowing that she always said she was going to be in a commited relationship before she had sex for the first time.

"I don't... well maybe I do. We haven't really defined what we are yet and we didn't have sex." She said and Ginny just raised her eyebrow at me, waiting for me to elaborate.

"God, If I knew you were going to want all the gory details I would have filmed it and made you a copy. Jezz, Gin, can't a girl have some privacy?" Hermione asked, exasperated.

"Okay fine. Don't tell me, but it's going to cost you a donut to go." Gin said as their food arrived. She sighed and relented. Today was going to be hard enough without Gin nagging her about it. It was her first day back at school since her father died and she was a little nervous at all the attention she was going to get.

"Don't look so nervous. It's only a week you missed and you were already ahead anyway so it shouldn't make much difference. If you have any trouble I'm sure Neville will help you. Or even one of Luna's friends. I could ask her for you if you want?" Gin asked, but she shook her head.

"I'll be fine, as you said."

The day went by slowly, and Hermione's mind kept on wonderig back to Remus. She went through her subjects (Biology, History, English and her research project time) not really paying much attention. She had already read ahead past this stuff anyway so she really didn't need to take notes. By the time the last bell went , the only productive thing Herminoe had done all day was compile a list of things she was going to ask Remus in the mock interview.

She smiled slightly as she walked home behind her friends, at the thought that it wasn't really a mock interview. He was really a werewolf, and she was going to be able to ask him any question she came up with.

She returned to the burrow and Mrs Weasley bombarded her with questions about the friend she stayed with the night before. This got attention from the rest of the Weasley boys, their curiousity piqued.

All the way up to the bedroom she shared with Ginny she was harrassed by the twins, wanting an update on her virginal status.

"Who's your new boe 'Mione?" Fred asked. Hermione ignored him.

"Come on, you can tell us, we won't tell another soul." George tried.

"But that means you could tell Percy because apparently he has no soul, and then instruct him to tell everyone else." She replied, cursing her non existant filter once again. The twin's eyes lit up at the idea and they leaned simultaneously kissing her on each cheek anf then ran off with a "Thanks Hermione."

"I bought you something at lunch time today." Ginny told her as she closed the door behind her, trying to will away the naesous feeling she had after being kissed by the twins.

"And what would that be exactly?" She asked the girl suspicously.

"Here. You're staying at Remus's again tonigth I take it?" The red head asked, handing her the box.

"I don't know, maybe. Depends." She said opening the box to see a beautiful set of cream lingerie in her size.

"I can't accept this Gin. It's too much." She said as she gave the box back to her friend.

"Just take it. It was on sale and when I saw it it screamed Hermione Granger at me so you have to take it. You'll look sexy as hell and he won't be able to keep his hand off you." Gin said with a wink and Hermione looked at the box again, the idea becomeing more and more tempting before finally she caved in.

"Good. Now, to pick an outfit." Ginny said and stalked towards the suitcase open in the corner.

"Ah here you go." She said picking out a pale blue skirt and a white blouse.

"Put those on and then I'll help you with your hair." She said. Hermione obed. She clasped on the lacy cream bra and slid on the underwear and garter belt. She rolled the white stockings up her legs and clasped the garter belt onto them before taking a look at herslef int he mirror. She had to admit that she felt extremely sexy in the out fit and she was smiling to herself as she reached over for the skirt.

She was about to pull it on when the door opened and Charlie came in, not knocking or announcing he was here. They both froze when they saw each other, hermione in her nickers and Charlie in awe of the goddess before him.

"I - uh- sorry I was just looking for my book." He stuttered, breaking his eyes away from her body as she started to feel queezy again. He grabbed the book from the bed closest to him and gave her one last lingering look before closing the door behind him.

Hermione stood there for a moment and breathed, willing away the sick feeling she got and then pulled on her skirt and the her top, tucking it in. She left her hair the way it was, knowing that Ginny wouldn't change it because it looked nice and pulled on a pair of black and white slip ons. She grabbed her bag, that had a tooth brush stored in it just in case, and headed out the door.

Fred and George saw her pass down the stairs and whistled their appreciation for her, she felt the sickness stir in her again. She went into the kitchent to tell Mrs Weasley she was going out and would be home until late, and she felt Charlie and Bill both staring at her, the sick feeling got even worse. When went out the door and ran into Ron, Harry and Ginny, who all complimented her on her clothing she felt it get even worse. Once she had gotten away from everyone and was hidden by the walking track in the woods she bent over and threw up in a bush.

She resigned herself to ask Remus if it was a side effect of being his mate and being marked by him. She grabbed a tissue out of her bag and wiped her mouth out, not liking the taste lingering and then threw it in the first bin she came across. As she walked, she chewed on a peice of gum, wanting the flavour of sick out of her mouth.

BY the time she reached Remus's shop she felt a lot better. She spat the gum out into the bin a little way away and then entered the shop to see Sirius, serving customers as Remus stocked the shelves.

"Isn't that a little dangerous, having him serve people when he just broke out of prison." Hermione said and Remus jumped in surprise and turned to her with a smile on his face.

"A witch gave us a glamour. Only people who know who he is, see the real him." He said and her eye's widened in shock at the knowledge that there were actually witches.

"I'm just kidding Hermione. Witches aren't real. Shape shifters are however and my daft friend over there just so happends to be one of them. He can change his appearance enough so that you recognise him but others won't. He's not very good at human shifting, you have to be a certain kind of shifter for that. He's better at turning into animals, dogs are his specialty." Remus explained and she nodded along, watching the man and noticing the subtle differences. His nose was longer, and his hair lighter, his eyes were the same colour as mine instead of the stormy grey they were last night. He was shorter, and a bit chubby as well.

"Right well then. What else is real?" She asked Remus and he laughed.

"Unfortunately a lot of things. There are three catergories you can fall under. Shifter, which includes were's and shape shifters, fae, which are humans with abilities you could say, like vampires and sirens and incubus's and the third are creatures which are goblins, faries, sprites, nymphs and the like." He said, sounding a lot like a teacher as he explained it to her.

"Right, well that'll help me sleep at night." Hermione said and Remus laughed pulling her into a hug, and pressing his lips to her forehead.

"Well if you sleep in my bed, you won't be getting much sleep anyway so it won't matter." He said his voice husky and deep.

"Who said that was going to happen again anytime soon?" She asked him with a cheeky grin and skipped away when he tried to pull her back to him.

"What time does the store close today Rem?" She asked him as she hid behind Sirius and the counter when he chased her.

"Five thirty. We have another hour or so before we can go upstairs." He said with a smile. Hermione took the chance to run out from behind Sirius and make for the non-fiction section but Remus was too fast and caught her around the waist, lifting her into his arms and spinning her around in triumph.

"Fine you caught me. You win." She said around her giggles. The patrons of the shop were looking on at the young couple fondly. Remus put her down and leaned to whisper in her ear.

"What's my prize?" He asked her and she shivered pleasantly and what his tone of voice suggested.

"What do you suggest?" She asked him, her flirting coming from a place within her that she didn't even know existed.

"Can I have your skirt?" He asked, pulling at the offending material with a smirk.

"Maybe later." She said and pulled out of his arms and giving him a wink as she grabbed her bag from where she dropped it in front of the counter. She made sure to beg over just so, and she could feel Remus's heated gaze on her arse as her underwear were bared to him along with her stockings and garter.

A smug smile crossed her face as Sirius rasied an eyebrow at her. She moved around the counter and shoved him out of the seat, pulling it over out of the way so that she could pull out some work to do while she waited for the shop to close.

"Do you want him to pounce on you and rip your clothes off?" Sirius asked as he handed a young lady her books. She blushed as she over heard their conversation but Sirius only winked at her and then looked back at Hermione waiting for an answer.

"Because he will if you keep on teasing him like that." He continued.

"I don't think it's any of your business." She said to him. He smiled kindly at her.

"Honey, I have the very unique ability to tell when someone is a virgin and I know you are. So if you want your first time to be special I'd dial it down a notch, other wise he's going to be ripping your nickers of and fucking you against the door like he almost did the other day when I walked in." He said and Hermione's face tinged pink.

"I'll be sure to take your vulger advice into consideration the next time I pick up my bag." She said and he laughed.

"I've only known you a day and I already like you." He said and she couldn't help but smile.

The store closed soon after that and they all made their way up to Remus's fat. Sirius went about making something for dinner while she and Remus settled comfortably on the couch.

"How was your day?" Remus asked and she snorted.

"God it was boring. I can't wait to be done with school. It's hardly challenging at all. All the work they give out is extremely easy." She said and Remus started playing with her hair.

"Why don't you wear your hair down more often?" He asked her.

"Because it's wild. And frizzy." She said as she scrunched up her nose in distaste.

"I think that it's beautiful. Wild suits you." He said and she nudged him in the rips playfully.

"Hey, something weird happened to me today and I was wondering if it was to do with my being your mate and all." She said and Remus stopped playing with her hair and looked down at her.

"I suppose I have a lot to fill in in that regard." He said and she nodded in agreement.

"I kind of threw up after a couple of people checked me out." She said and Rmeus raised an eyebrow as if asking me to elaborate.

"I got sick after... well... one of Ron's older brothers, Charlie, walked in on me getting changed this afternoon and he clearly looked at me. I felt sick while he did it. Then when i was walking down stairs the twins wolf whistled at me and I felt sick again, but worse than the first time. And then in the kitchen, Charlie and Bill both gave me the eye. On my way out of the house I ran into Ron, Harry and Ginny and after they were gone I threw up in a bush." She finished and looked up at Remus to see his eyes were gold. He growled before placing his hands on her cheeks and capturing her lips in a bruising kiss that got her all hot and bothered. He broke it of sooner than she would have liked and leaned his forehead against hers gathering his breath.

"You're mine." He said and she could only nod as he stared into her eyes. The gold faded eventually and she kissed him one more time before pulling back.

"It's because of the mark. I claimed you and now it's telling you that you can't have anyone else. The feeling will fade after a while, it's just intense now because it's fresh. After a month or so, it'll become just an uncomfortable feeling." He said and she nodded as she settled back against him and took his hand in hers, studying it.

For the first time she noticed that he had scars running over his skin. She traced them with her fingers as she wondered if they were from the transformation.

"They're all over my body." He said and she just smiled and brought his hand up to her mouth and kissed it softly.

"I look forward to exploring them." She said and then leaned in to whisper in his ear, "With my tongue." She finished and she heard Remus groan and shift himself on the couch. She smirked when she saw that he was hard.

"You know I think I should tell you something before we go any further here." She said suddenly and Remus looked at her curiously.

"And what would that be Love?" He asked.

"I've never... I'm a virgin." She whispered into his ear again, aware that Sirius was in the room. Remus stiffened next to her and she studied his face for a reaction.

"With the way you've been teasing me today, I wouldn't have expected that." He said and looked down at her. She smiled sheepishly up at him and he chuckled.

"I know. I feel right with you. I know I haven't known you very long but I feel like I've known you forever. It's strange really. I always thought I had to be in a long term committed relationship before I even thought about sex, and now, with you it's like I want it all the time and I don't even know what it is that I'm wanting." She said in a rush.

"Well, I'm not going anywhere. Werewolves mate for life. You can consider that mark on your neck like an engagement ring. The wedding ring goes in," He paused and ran a hand up her thigh, "more intimate places." He finished with a grin and her heart melted.

"On my thigh?" She asked slightly confused.

"On the inside of your thigh," He said moving his hand so that it was under my skirt and ran it up so that it sliped inbetween my legs and grabbed hold of the flesh that he was refering to. It was so close to my core that I felt his hand brush over my already wet nickers.

"Right here." He said and his eyes turned gold again as he inhaled deeply.

"Gods, I can smell you." He said as he kissed me again, but only lightly before he stood up and made his way into the kitchen leaving her there practically panting on the couch as she stared at the place he just left. She wasn't the only one doing the teasing it would seem. She calmed herself down, thinking about Harry and Ron and even Malfoy of all people until she felt sick again and the arousal went away. She let out a deep breath as she stood up and went the kitchen, sitting down at the table and watching the two men work around each other.

"You didn't say that it worked on thoughts too. The sick thing I mean." She said and both Remus and Sirius turned to look at her.

"Why are you thinking about other men like that for?" Sirius asked as Remus just stared at me.

"So I could calm down and prevent myself from jumping on Remus and tearing his clothes off." Hermione said and Remus smirked in triumph and Sirius just shook his head, clearly amused.

"Well now you know." Remus said and turned around as well. They moved around the kitchen with ease and she wondered how long they had been friends for, to know each other so well that they predicted their next moves