A/N: I appreciate all the feedback for the past 5-10 chapters, and I know how anxious a lot of you are about a potential Remus/Hermione/Sirius pairing. As undeniably sexy as that would be (and I tantalizingly foreshadow a ménage a trios fic sometime soon), the Remus in my story would be a bit too possessive and I don't want to break up the beautiful Marauder friendship. I'll play with it, but not destroy it.

Anyway, thanks, and I hope you enjoy the next installment!

Chapter Eleven: Keeping Secrets and Making Decisions

Sirius didn't know whether or not to laugh at her observation. He rolled off her slowly, propping himself up on his side to look at her. She was quite an immodest picture of the ravished lover. Her hair haloed her head as the moonlight danced over her bare chest. Sirius let his fingers trail up her arm, drawing lazy circles on her shoulder.

"I don't think this has helped the situation, if that's what you mean," he said finally. "But still…I don't regret it."

He didn't ask if she did and uncharacteristically, she didn't volunteer an answer.

"I suppose it was bound to happen sometime," she said. "If not with you then maybe someone else. I haven't been running because the weather's been foul so it was only a matter of time before all the repressed sexual energy bubbled up to the surface."

She ran her hand absently over her chest, eyebrows knit, biting her lower lip in silent contemplation.

Sirius couldn't help but smile.

"I should have realized that even your pillow talk was academic," he said, running a finger down the center of her chest and over her stomach to her navel.

"Do try to be serious for a moment, and I mean the state of being, not the person," she said, smiling slightly as the clarification stopped what was inevitably a cheeky comment. "We honestly need to discuss this. If you remember, this wasn't supposed to happen."

He arched an eyebrow.

"I think this is the first time in my life that I'm going to say this, but I didn't start this and I actually tried to prevent it from happening," he said.

She smirked slightly.

"That's true."

They fell into an easy silence as his restless fingers circled her navel before dancing back up her body. She lay still, gazing at the ceiling but not really looking at it. Sirius could almost hear her brain humming with thought as she continued to bite her lip.

"Hermione," he finally said in a soothing tone as he raised himself up, looking down at her. "Don't worry about it so much. Everything's fine. If you want, we can pretend like nothing happened. We just…oh, I don't know…helped each other out, I suppose. You needed release and I needed…" He trailed off, looking down at the sheet before smiling back at her. "Well, I needed you. But I'm fine," he added as a look of concern crossed her face. "Don't worry about me."

"I honestly didn't want to use you, Sirius," she said sincerely. "When I thought that all you wanted was meaningless sex, then I was all for it, but when you said…well, what you said last night, I didn't want to…" She trailed off, and he understood her.

"It's just sex, Hermione," he said with a smile. "No emotions. I understand that. Hell, I'm the king of meaningless sex!"

She smirked.

"Don't worry about me," he whispered, leaning down and brushing his lips over her shoulder. "I heal easily."

She sighed, letting her eyes drift closed.

"You better rest up, Sirius," she said, feeling him lay back against the pillows. "I'm not nearly ready to walk out of that door."

He grinned to himself.

"Don't worry, love," he said arrogantly. "I'll make sure you leave nice and relaxed."

***

Remus paced in his rooms.

Well, in all honesty, the wolf within Lupin was forcing him to pace in his rooms. Mooney was enraged and Remus was trying his hardest not to let the wolf side of him crash into his conscience. He knew that he would undoubtedly do something stupid.

Like track Hermione down, cornering her in a quiet hallway.

Or confess his love for her and his undying devotion.

Or go to Sirius's room and tear the cocky son-of-a-bitch limb from limb.

While Mooney was willing to go rampaging through Hogwarts to appease both his lust and his rage, Remus knew that physically assaulting his best friend and scaring the living daylights out of the woman he loved was probably not the best way to go about things.

So he paced.

That night had been so restless that by three or four o'clock in the morning he had given up on sleep altogether and had pulled out an ancient, tattered book of children's stories written completely in ancient runes. He found that translating helped him focus his mind so that he could fall asleep quicker, but after an hour and a half of translating Beedle the Bard Goes to Prussia, he gave up on that too.

He paced and read for a few more hours before he felt the sun peek over the horizon. Feeling it appropriate to start moving outside his rooms, he bustled around making himself tea, stealing glances out at the lake. But he knew she wasn't going to be running. She hadn't run in weeks, and he was certain she was probably lying peacefully in Sirius's arms.

That thought made Mooney growl, and Remus turned his attention back to his tea.

Figuring that either fatigue or fornication would keep Hermione away from breakfast, he decided to go down to the Great Hall to eat. He had been accurate in his assessment, as very few students had braved the chill of the castle so soon after scurrying into the warm arms of exhaustion. Remus ate his toast in peace, finding he didn't have much of an appetite for anything. He was grateful to Dumbledore, who pretended that nothing was amiss as he questioned Professor Sprout about her newest Herbology projects.

After breakfast, Mooney's restlessness returned with a vengeance. Deciding against going back to his rooms as he knew it would just make the wolf more anxious, Remus headed out to the grounds. He figured the fresh air and exercise would help him focus on how he was going to face both Sirius and Hermione that night at dinner.

"Hello, professor!"

Remus turned around to see Ron and Harry, exceptionally bright-eyed for that hour of the morning, loping towards him with their brooms over their shoulders. Remus paused, letting the two young men catch up with him as they walked towards the Quidditch field.

"What brings you boys out so early?" Remus asked.

"Quidditch practice," Harry replied with a grin, nodding to his broom as if it were obvious.

"You're getting an early start. Your next match isn't for another three months."

"Yeah, well, Harry's almost as bad as Oliver Wood and Angelina Johnson put together," Ron grumbled, for though he was alert and aware Remus was certain that he would have preferred a few more hours of sleep to recover from his antics the night before.

"I don't know why you're complaining. You collapsed as soon as your head hit the pillow and you had a good eight hours of sleep. I don't understand why you're so tired," Harry replied, slightly put off by Ron's comparison of him to the two tyrannical former Gryffindor Quidditch captains.

Ron mumbled something that sounded like "busy night," but didn't elaborate any further.

Remus and Harry chatted a bit about the night before, chuckling together at the dramatic nature of Bill, Kingsley, Dean, Seamus, and Lavender's duel. They even shared a hearty laugh at Snape's expense, as the idea of him on bended knee begging for Harry's help was laughable in the ease of hindsight.

"So what are you doing out here so early, professor?" Ron asked as Harry ducked into the changing rooms to prepare for practice. "When Tonks and I finally walked back towards the castle, you two had taken off. What happened?"

"Nothing," Remus lied. "We just figured that after midnight, Snape was no longer a threat and you were both old enough to get yourselves back to your own rooms."

"Yeah, I guess," Ron said contemplatively. "Still, I honestly thought you two might…you know…talk things over."

Remus looked at him sharply.

"What do you mean?"

For the first time in all the years Remus had known the young redhead, Ron rolled his eyes at him.

"Look, I know you're trying to be noble and everything, but quite honestly, we've all been wondering when you're just going to put aside your issues and just go for it, mate. I mean…" He lowered his voice even though Remus was certain no one was around to hear them. "It's not like she's underage, and it's not like we're not expecting it, and it's not like either of you are the type to really flaunt it about, you know?"

"Ron, I really don't know…"

"Look," Ron interrupted, sounding so stern that Remus almost thought of Arthur. "She's one of my best mates, alright? I know how she feels about you. And you may say that it's a schoolgirl crush, or a child's fancy, or whatever excuses you've been telling yourself, but at some point you gotta admit to yourself that she's not a child, nor is she your average schoolgirl. Plus, you should know her well enough to know that when she does decide to pursue someone, it's not without a lot of prior planning and research. She doesn't fall easily, but when she does, she does it generously, with her heart open, and with all of the risks and problems firmly planted in that ridiculously large brain of hers."

Remus just looked at the young man, who seemed to realize what he had said and to whom, as his ears started to burn red. Mumbling his good-byes, he made a quick dive for the changing rooms, leaving Remus alone by the Quidditch field.

Starting back up to the castle, Remus had to admit that he had never expected such an impassioned lecture from Ron Weasley. Perhaps from Harry, but never from Ron. He supposed that the time they had spent during their extra lessons had emboldened Ron more than anything else.

His mind quickly flew to what Ron had said. Could he dare to hope that her feelings were as strong as his? He knew she wanted to be with him – she had made that abundantly clear the night before. But he had assumed…well…what had he assumed? He knew she would have never sought him out for something frivolous. She had Sirius for that. And like Ron said, he knew her well enough to know that she wasn't going to overlook the problems that might arise should they decide to start a relationship.

So what was he waiting for?

"Professor!"

For the second time, Remus turned at the sound of his title. A short, bouncing head of long red hair was weaving its way through a crowd of Ravenclaw first-years and it took a few seconds for him to register that it was Ginny Weasley.

"Hello Miss Weasley," he said with a kind, yet slightly puzzled smile. He had spent a lot of time with Harry and Hermione due to his duty as the unofficial yet infinitely less impetuous godfather to the former, and his literary and intellectual commonality, not to mention passionate attraction, to the latter. While pleasant enough company, Remus had never found common ground with any of the Weasleys, Ginny included.

"Really, professor, I think you've spent enough time with me to call me Ginny," she said in a way that reminded Remus of Molly.

"Alright, Ginny. What can I do for you this morning?"

"Well, I need to talk to you about Harry."

Remus immediately frowned worriedly.

"Is he alright? I just saw him and he seemed fine…"

She brushed his comment away.

"He's fine now. I'm talking about last night, when he was dueling Snape."

"Professor Snape," Remus found himself saying automatically.

She rolled her eyes unblushingly, and he had to smile at her bravado. He supposed, growing up the youngest of seven and the only girl, she needed to have a bit of everything in order to survive amongst a family of such unique personalities.

"Look, he would kill me for telling you this, but he's having a lot of trouble with Snape. And I don't just mean with the duel last night. Snape's behavior to Harry both in class and out has escalated to a level that is absolutely ridiculous. And then last night…"

She paused, and he knew that she was debating whether or not to betray a trust.

"Harry…saw some things. From Snape's memory. And it haunted him. I mean, we left the ball after the duels simply because he was so disturbed by it." She took a deep breath before saying, "What do you know about Snape and Harry's mother?"

Remus opened his mouth to say something vague, but closed it quickly. He had known, better than anyone, about Snape's unrequited love for Lily Evans. It had been one of the only places he had common ground with the sullen, greasy-haired student. It had been one of the reasons why he never questioned Dumbledore's motives of inviting Snape into the Order of the Phoenix. Snape wanted justice for Lily Evans almost as much as Harry.

"It's…complicated," Remus finally said to the increasingly-impatient redhead. "There are a lot of emotions involved that I'm not really at liberty…"

"If Snape and Harry's mother were involved, I think Harry has a right to know," Ginny said. "After all, he's been absolutely revolting toward Harry ever since he got here and I for one am getting sick of watching the blatant injustice…"

"Ginny," Remus interrupted kindly, seeing her cheeks start to pink, once again reminding him of Molly, especially when she was yelling at the twins. "If you have a problem with how Professor Snape interacts with Harry, why don't you talk to Professor Snape?"

She scoffed.

"Do you think I would give him that kind of ammunition against Harry? 'Mr. Potter can't seem to fight his own battles. His girlfriend came down to speak with me…' Oh yeah, I can see that going remarkably well for him."

Remus chuckled.

"Well, in all honesty, I think Severus's problem lies less with Harry and more in what Harry stands for."

Ginny frowned.

"What do you mean?"

Remus smiled sadly.

"Harry looks a lot like James, and while Harry is not really like his father, there is enough of a similarity for Severus to make a reasonable comparison. And as you might or might not know, James and Severus did not get along."

"But that's no reason for him to…"

"I know," he interrupted again as the color flew back to her cheeks. "But some emotions are beyond the realm of human endurance."

She looked up at him and she could see the question in her eyes. He steeled himself, wondering if she heard the conflict in his voice.

"Some emotions don't need to be repressed, professor," she said softly.

Remus silently cursed his own vulnerability.

"I appreciate the sentiment, Ginny, but I assure you that what you're talking about really doesn't concern anyone other than me and Hermione."

"It does, actually," she said. "Hermione is one of my best friends, and I care about her, but if you keep playing around with her emotions, she's going to run off with someone else. And as much as I'd love to see her happy in anyone's arms, I think we all know whose arms we'd rather see her in." She put a caring hand on his forearm. "And she's not the only one we're thinking about, Remus. We'd love to see you happy too, and we know she's the one…"

Unlike Ron, she had the good grace to let the sentence trail off.

"Anyway, I'm late for Quidditch practice. Promise me, though, that if there's something Harry ought to know about Snape and his mother, you'll tell him?"

He smiled slightly.

"You know I can't promise that, Ginny."

She sighed.

"Alright. Have a good day, professor."

Remus watched her as she disappeared out of the Entrance Hall. He couldn't help but smile at the thought that both Arthur and Molly had unintentionally surfaced in the forms of their two youngest children.

Renewed, Remus started back towards his rooms. Consequences be damned. He would deal with Sirius later if he had to. Tonight would be the night that all those unspoken thoughts would come to light. Tonight, Hermione would be his.