I wonder how many of you people hate me now because of last chapter….Hmm….

"That's terrible!" James hissed to the two girls as they winced at each other, "Did you think that maybe that guy might actually like Hermione? Or that Hermione might like him? And what about Remus, hmm? Did you think about him? Merlin, I can't believe you two!"

"But, James, if Remus gets jealous, then he'll ask her out, right?" Emmeline asked sheepishly.

"You obviously don't know Remus," James snorted, rolling his eyes, "He'll believe that he isn't good enough and blah-blah blabbity blah-blah blah. This is like a punch to the gut for him, girls. And if either of them ever found out what you did – ohh, boy, I feel sorry for you two there." He frowned at them as they winced at each other again, "Why'd you do it, anyway?"

"The bet," Alice groaned, running her hands through her short brown hair.

"What bet?" James questioned sternly.

"We can't tell you!"

"Why not?"

"It's part of the bet," Emmeline spoke up.

"Who's the bet with?" James asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Lily," they answered.

"Look, James, we can't do anything right now, it's out of our hands," Emmeline began, "But you and Sirius and even Peter could – "

"No," he interrupted harshly.

"But why?" Alice asked.

He shook his head, "We want Hermione to be happy too. If Gil makes her happy, then we'll stay out of it. We'll just have to cheer up Remus in the meantime."

"Don't get him over her though!" Alice said hurriedly, "We're still working on this!"

"And it's going so well, isn't it?" James asked drily, glaring at the two before sighing, running his hand over his face, "Whatever. I just don't even care anymore. Fix it, work on it, whatever, I don't care, just don't hurt my friends anymore, alright? That goes for Hermione too."

"We totally screwed up," Alice sighed as James walked out of the empty classroom.

"Your idea," Emmeline shrugged, making her glare at her.

"Good afternoon, Kitten," Sirius teased as he walked next to Hermione, making her sigh and smile at him slightly.

"Hullo, Sirius."

"Now Kitten," Sirius admonished, "We're close now. Call me Padfoot."

"Fine, Padfoot," she grinned, "What can I help you with?"

"What? Can't I just walk with you?" he asked innocently.

"I guess, but you don't do it often unless the others are around," she smirked, "Spill it."

"What's with you and Swimmy?" he questioned with a frown.

"Me and who?" she blinked before frowning, "Sirius, his name is Gil, and he's very nice."

"Yeah, yeah," he said dismissively, "But what's with you two? Is it incredibly awkward? Is it weird? Have you snogged yet? Do you even hold hands? Why isn't he walking with you? I mean, you've been 'dating' for a few weeks now, and not once have I seen him walk with you to any class or anything."

"Why do you care?" she asked, stopping in the hallway and crossing her arms over her chest, glaring at him.

"I want you to be happy, Hermione, I really do, but something is just off here," he told her earnestly, "Don't you think so?"

She bit her lip, looking down at the floor, "I don't know. I've never really…so I don't know."

He shook his head, smiling at her softly, "So what're you doing for the holidays?" They started walking again, making Hermione appreciate the topic change.

"I'm just staying here," she shrugged, "Nowhere to really go, right?"

"You could come to the Potters," he smiled, "That's where I'm going. They'll take anybody in, and I think Missus Potter would appreciate some other girl there."

She shook her head, grimacing, "Nah, that'd be kind of awkward, I think."

"Yeah," he shrugged, "Good point. So you're just going to stay here and do…what? Lily, Emmeline and Alice are all going home, I hear, and the only ones left are going to be Moony and what's-her-face, and you two have never really talked, right?"

She winced, "Well, yeah, but I've never really done anything to make her hate me, so…maybe we'll be friends."

"Hermione, there's a bigger likelihood of me becoming friends with a Slytherin," Sirius pointed out dully before wrapping his arm around her shoulder and squeezing her into him, "Hey, Moony'll watch out for you, if you need it."

She smiled and nodded, "Yeah, I know. Moony's good."

He smiled a little bit wider, "Yes he is, Kitten."

She groaned at the nickname and tried to pull away from him, but he only chuckled and hugged her closer.

Hermione frowned at their cauldron, tying her hair back as she did so, "This isn't working. Why isn't it working?"

Remus watched as her fingers slipped through her hair and the rubber band, finding her curls fascinating before blinking, realizing she'd said something, "Ahh, I don't know."

"Maybe more rosemary or thyme…" she turned to their book and pages, running her hand across the words as she frowned at it, "What do you think?"

"Umm…thyme," he blinked again, as he'd been tilting his head and resisting the urge to brush a wayward curl out of her face. Stupid lycanthropy, enhancing the senses and other such nonsense. "I think we're close though."

"Hmm," she hummed, picking out a few more lemon leaves and dropping them in, smiling as she pulled away from the purple fumes, "Think that's it?"

He edged away from the potion, "Yup. Now put the lid on it."

"Why?" she asked innocently.

He only grinned at her, "You forget."

"Forget wha – oh," she blushed a little, wincing as she put the lid on the cauldron, "Sorry."

"It's alright," he shrugged.

Slughorn stopped by their desk and smiled at them, "Any luck, you two?"

"I think we're done," Hermione waved her hand to their cauldron.

"Excellent!" he waved his wand, the lid popping open as a vial got some of the potion and zoomed to his desk to label itself. "You two are a few of my best students."

"Thank you, Professor," Remus answered for them.

"I hear that you're both staying at Hogwarts over the holidays?"

"Yes, sir," Hermione bit her lip, trying not to wince.

"Excellent!" he brightened, "You can come to the annual ball I hold!"

Hermione and Remus glanced between each other and winced before trying to speak up, but Slughorn ignored them.

"I'll look forward to seeing you there!" he said, walking away as Hermione sighed and plunked her head on their desk.

"Oh, I hate those," she muttered into the wood.

"We can always skip out," Remus grinned as she picked her head up, interested, "Make an appearance, talk to him for a few minutes, then run like mad."

"Oh, you're brilliant," she beamed at him, making him grin back.

*headlaptop*hjksksjkdfhfd

I need to stop. I really do. Arrgghhhh. What's wrong with me? Why do I keep doing this? Why? Why? Why?

Love,

Ava