Remus awoke in the morning to find Hermione lying naked beside him. She was sound asleep, twisted and hogging the sheets, her hair shrouding most of her head. He smiled at her sleeping form.
Checking the time, he noticed that it was after ten, and they had missed breakfast in the Great Hall. He got out of bed and put some clothes on before moving into the other room and calling for a house elf.
"What can Dotty get you, Mister?" the little thing asked.
"I'll have some oatmeal, please, and, ah..." he trailed off, realizing that he ought to ask for something for Hermione. The problem was that he had no clue what she liked for breakfast. Luckily, her voice called from the bedroom, "I'll have the same as you," she said tiredly.
"Two servings of oatmeal, then," he said, smiling down at the elf.
"Right away, Mister," Dotty piped, disappearing with a crack.
Remus made his way back into the bedroom. Hermione was in bed, propped up on one elbow, watching him tiredly. The sheets were placed so that he could get a view of her shoulders and neck, with just a hint of unintentional cleavage. She looked like the picture of sexiness, wild hair and all. The wolf stirred within him, rowdy due to the upcoming full moon. Moony wanted her again.
Remus moved into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him to give her privacy to get dressed. The last thing he wanted to do was make her uncomfortable after everything had gone so well the previous night. He had fixed the awkwardness between them, and now he refused to let the monthly spike in his sex drive make her uncomfortable.
He was halfway through brushing his teeth when the door creaked open, and Hermione brushed inside the bathroom. She was dressed in a t-shirt and some sort of thin little shorts. Her hair was still wild with bed head. Remus tried to resist laughing at the storm of hair on her head.
"Are you laughing at me, Lupin?" she asked while picking up a brush and beginning to work her way through the mass on her head.
Remus smirked at her, "not you, just your hair."
"You know, I like think that my hair is a representation of myself," she murmured sappily, "so I'm a bit offended."
"Mmm," Remus quirked an eyebrow, "my apologies."
She chuckled and went back to brushing her hair. It was a few moments later that the elf popped back in with their food.
They decided to eat breakfast beside each other in bed. Hermione was too tired to get fully dressed, and when she asked if they could just stay in bed, he was happy to comply. Remus pulled out a stack of papers to grade, and Hermione produced a paper of her own to look over. It was apparently Ron's potions essay, which she had agreed to edit for him. According to Hermione, he was close to failing potions and desperately needed her help.
The silence between them was amicable as they ate. He was amused by the fact that every couple of seconds, Hermione would murmur something like "this doesn't make sense!" or "That's not even a proper sentence!" while glowering at Ron's essay.
After several moments of this, she looked up at him, a slight blush on her cheeks. He caught her eye and smiled.
"You know," he began, "I was thinking that we ought to figure out a way to get back at Malfoy and Parkinson."
She furrowed her brow, "'get back' at them?"
He nodded, "They shouldn't have gotten away with what they said while you got a detention."
"And what exactly were you thinking of doing about it?" she seemed suspicious, but intrigued.
He shrugged, "I think we'll have to think of something."
Hermione crossed her arms over her chest, "well, I think I'll have to leave you to your own devices on that. I'm afraid I shouldn't really be participating in your revenge schemes, you know, with me being Head Girl and all."
"Afraid of getting caught?" He taunted.
"No." Hermione huffed, jutting her lower lip out, "I'm simply more mature than that."
The wolf began to stir at her provocative pout. He really needed to get the full moon over with so his hormones could just get out of the bloody way.
"Whatever you say," he finally replied, putting on a nonchalant expression and returning to his grading.
She returned to Ron's essay, finishing it up in silence. After she was done, she turned to her bedmate again. "Remus?"
He picked his head up and looked at her.
"What are we going to do for the full moon?" She asked, cautious in her question.
His expression drooped a little. "Well, I expect that I'll go to the Shrieking Shack. You can stay here, and then I'll return in the morning."
Hermione nibbled her lower lip, nodding and tracing patterns in the sheets of the bed.
"Is something wrong?" He could see some sort of anxiety in her movements.
She looked up, caught off guard. "Oh… I suppose I'm just worried for you."
It was endearing to see her worry for him. Remus smiled lightly, "I'll be fine," he waved a hand, "I've been doing it every month for as long as I can remember
"Still," she exhaled, leaning back against the headboard of the bed, "is there anything I can do to make it easier for you?"
Oh, I can think of a few things you can do…
Images of Hermione sprawled out on his bed like she'd been the previous night filled his mind, but he shook them away. The wolf was getting too much of a grip on his thoughts. He usually didn't get this bad around the full moon, but it seemed that the wolf had taken a liking to her, and living in such close quarters probably didn't help the situation.
"Don't worry about it," he said coolly, "I'll be fine as long as I get my potion."
Hermione watched him steadily for a moment, before nodding and getting out of bed, "I better go find Ron and return this to him." She stuffed the essay in her bag and left the bedroom. A moment later, he heard the other door open and close as she exited into the corridor.
When the full moon finally came on Tuesday, Hermione was nervous the whole day. Remus had decided to go ahead and teach classes, despite his poor condition. She watched him with concerned eyes throughout DADA. He didn't do much of anything, just allowed the students to practice some shielding spells while he sat at his desk.
After classes, Hermione spoke to Harry and Ron about the full moon. She told them how she was worried about him, and that it would be strange being alone in his rooms.
"We could always stop by," Harry offered, "instead of hanging around the Common Room."
Hermione beamed, "Of course! Oh, that would be so much better than having to be there alone."
True to their word, Harry and Ron walked to Remus' and her rooms after dinner, bringing Ginny along as well. Remus was there when they arrived, but in too bad of a condition to be able to have any real conversation. Harry and Ron just glanced at him awkwardly while Ginny smirked.
"I should go," he said, glancing out the window. They had about a half hour until sunset.
"Did you get your potion?" Hermione asked, standing up from the couch, where Harry, Ron, and Ginny were.
He nodded, smiling lightly at her while he shrugged his cloak on. Hermione glanced behind her quickly. Harry and Ron were focused on their homework, but Ginny was slyly watching Hermione, a grin on her face. That girl was too smug for her own good.
She turned back to Remus and hugged him quickly. He picked his arms up to squeeze her briefly before backing away. "Bye," he murmured, nodding to her as he left, then at the others.
"Bye." She said, watching him slip outside and close the door.
She turned back to her friends. Ginny was grinning widely, "you two seem to be getting along a lot better now."
Hermione blushed and sat down in one of the chairs, "I'm just worried about him," she said gingerly, focusing on her work.
Conversation dissolved into discussion over the upcoming Quidditch match, the first of the season. Hermione didn't mind them talking about Quidditch, she was just glad to have her friends with her. The room didn't seem so lonely with the three of them. Plus, they seemed to love having the space, as opposed to the crowded Common Room.
Eventually, Harry, Ginny, and Ron had to leave. Hermione bid them goodbye before collapsed into bed. She felt tired, but her mind wasn't quite ready to go to sleep. There was a clear view of the Forbidden Forest out Remus' bedroom window. She imagined him bounding through the woods in his wolf form, free and happy as he played. In reality, he was probably still going through quite a bit of pain, and locked up in the Shrieking Shack. It was at least an hour before Hermione was able to fall asleep.
In the morning, she skipped out on breakfast, instead deciding to rush down to the hospital wing before class. Remus had informed her that Pomfrey usually had him come to the hospital wing for a few hours after he woke up post-transformation. She found him sitting up in a bed in a curtained off area in the back of the hospital wing.
"How are you?" she asked, taking in his weary look. There were bags under his eyes, and he looked a little pale, but other than that, not too terrible.
"Tired," he replied simply.
She sat down in the chair beside his bed, "did you get any sleep?"
He shook his head, "I usually don't, but that's what today's for." His voice was hoarse from overuse.
Just then, Madam Pomfrey bustled in, handing Remus a potion and raising an eyebrow at Hermione's presence at his bedside. Hermione just smiled sweetly at the Matron, hoping to not get kicked out. Technically, students weren't supposed to visit at this time in the morning.
"Alright, Remus, I think you'll be able to go back to your rooms now," Pomfrey said running a few strange diagnostic spells over him before nodding. Hermione recognized a few of them, but the rest were too complex.
"I'll walk with you," she offered as Remus slowly started to get out of bed. He seemed wary at the thought of them walking together, but obviously waved it off, too tired to care at this point.
He got out of bed slowly, wincing as he went. "Are you sure you're okay?" she questioned.
He nodded, "It's not that far to our rooms anyway."
Hermione nodded tentatively before setting herself in stride beside him. He went slowly, so it was easy for her to keep up. Aside from his tired appearance, he didn't really look like he'd just gone through a full moon.
As they exited the hospital wing, they encountered many students who were leaving the great hall, heading to their first classes of the day. Many blatantly stared as she walked past with Remus. She could hear some whispers among them, pointing out that she was the girl who had married Professor Lupin.
"So how was your night?" he asked, ignoring the audience around them.
"It was alright," she murmured, not wanting to admit that she had a fair amount of trouble sleeping. "Yours?"
He exhaled, "terrible, as always, but I'm better now."
She smiled up at him gently. Some students around them were watching the interaction as if it was some sort of scandal, but she ignored them. It really didn't matter anymore what people thought of them. The news of their marriage had caused quite a stir, but things were dying down, and it didn't seem that people cared all that much anymore, except for now. Nevertheless, the student body would get over it soon.
Remus seemed very glad to have arrived back to their rooms. Hermione watched him retreat into the bedroom and fall onto the mattress ungracefully. He groaned, sinking into the bed and muttering something about how uncomfortable the hospital wing beds were. She watched him from the doorway, her bag slung over her shoulder and a small smile on her face.
"You should head to class," he said, eyeing her pointedly. He tried to be stern, but she couldn't quite take him seriously when he was so ungracefully sprawled across the bed.
Hermione steeled herself and nodded. "You'll be alright?" she tried to not look too concerned, but some of her worry escaped.
"I'll be fine," he replied, his voice still hoarse.
She watched him for another second, nodded, and then left.
Coming up next: A moment between Hermione and Remus that I think you all will enjoy very much :)