A/N: I know there is nothing I can say that will make up for the long lapse of postings, but I've been going through quite a bit of crap lately. Towards the beginning of this semester I started seeing a guy I've liked since around April. So I was spending all of my time with him and not writing. Well, we broke up and I haven't been feeling like writing, or reading, anything romantic, hence my large lapse of postings.

Another note for future postings is I only have about 3-4 more chapters about this size left. My thoughts are to finish the whole story so I can just put them all up right in a row for you all.

Again, I'm really sorry about the delay. I hope you will all forgive me


Hermione turned away from the stench of death and willed herself not to breathe. She could see Harry and Ron in the distance standing in front of several cloaked figures. It seemed none of them were moving; she now realized they were in dueling stances with their wands out, ready to fight. She turned away from them at the sound of a yell. She saw Remus fighting a short squatty man. Remus had let out the yell when he was hit by something and was holding his left arm to his chest. She stepped forward to help him, but she heard a twig snap behind her.

She quickly turned and saw another cloaked figure with shocks of blond hair sticking out. Before she could react the figure shouted something she couldn't understand, "Expelliarmus!" Hermione watched a wand fly out of her hands as her opponent raised their own. "You've been in my way far too long, Granger," the figure growled.

Hermione looked around quickly to find something to her advantage, but the cold laugh of the person stopped her.

"You won't find anything to help you. Say good-bye to your life." The figure raised her wand again and shouted, "Obliviate!"

Hermione sat up quickly in bed, immediately waking up Remus, who she'd been sleeping on again.

"Hermione?" he asked sleepily. Then he heard her short gasps of breath. "Hermione?" he asked more worriedly. "What's wrong?" he sat up and wrapped his arms around her.

Hermione waited until her breath calmed down before leaning into his embrace. "I had the dream again."

"Dream?" Remus asked.

Hermione looked up at him, but didn't move from her spot against him. "Before I came back I had the same dream every night. I didn't know anyone in it or what was going on. Now I just had it again, but I recognize some things now." She told him about her dream in detail.

"Wait, this person, the one at the end. Describe him again, "Remus said.

"Well, he wasn't very tall. I couldn't see his face, but this time I saw some blond hair sticking out."

"Blond?" Remus asked.

"Yes, bright blond." Hermione watched Remus go into his 'thinking look,' as she called it. "What is it?"

Remus broke from his thoughts and smiled down at her. "Nothing. I'll contact Harry tomorrow to have him look into it." Although I already suspect who it is, he thought. "Come back to bed," he said. They both settled back against each other, but neither were ready to fall back asleep very soon.

"I saw you in my dream," she said quietly.

"Did you?" he asked.

"I loved you then as well," she said.

Remus snorted. "That's doubtful. You still saw me as your old professor. How would you know anyway?"

"I felt it. When I heard you scream and saw you hurt, my chest hurt. That's why the person caught me off guard."

Remus didn't say anything for a while. "Are you sure it wasn't your feelings now reflecting in your dream?" he asked hesitantly.

"No, my feelings were the same then as they are now. I felt something even when I had this dream in the forest, before I met you again." She yawned widely.

Remus hugged her closer and urged, "Go to sleep."

"I don't' want to have that dream again," she said sleepily.

Remus held her tighter. "I'll be right here. Go to sleep."

"Love you," she said as she slipped off to sleep.

"Love you," Remus murmured. For some reason the declaration of Hermione's past love lifted a weight off his shoulders. Perhaps that was also why he was so hesitant to advance in his relationship with his mate. Say he marked her as his mate and he and Hermione did get married and have children. A part of him was afraid one day she would wake up with her memories and regret it. However with these feelings from the past, he knew they'd both be happy if she got her memories back.

=-=-=-=

The next morning Remus and Hermione entered the kitchen to find Harry and Sirius already eating breakfast. "Don't you have your own house and family to eat breakfast with?" Remus asked.

"I came over to see Sirius. I hardly get to see him," he said. "You too, Hermione," Harry flashed a grin in her direction.

"Well, I'm so glad you came over to my house not to see me," Remus grunted. "Anyway, what do you mean you don't see Sirius? He goes over to your place at least twice a week."

Sirius dropped his fork, causing it to clatter against his plate. His gaze was frozen on Harry, with almost a pleading look in his eyes.

Harry stared at his godfather confused, but said, "Yeah, I guess. It seems like less though." Luckily Remus and Hermione weren't paying attention to Sirius to notice the odd behavior. When Remus nodded in approval, Harry mouthed, You better explain later.

Sirius just nodded in thanks, and picked his fork up to continue eating.

"Anyway, what are you two up to today?" Harry asked.

Remus swiped a piece of bacon of Sirius' plate. "I was thinking about taking Hermione out for a while. She doesn't have to work today."

"Do you want to come?" Hermione asked.

Remus' head quickly snapped in her direction. He was about to take back her innocent question when Harry answered, "I can't. I have to work."

"And I have half a shift. I should be back around one," Sirius said. He stood up with Harry and went to the fireplace.

Harry stopped next to Remus. "I'm still watching you," he hissed. "I'll stop again soon, 'Mione," he said pleasantly to his friend and kissed her on the cheek.

Remus growled at him for his rudeness and for touching his mate without approval. "He forgets who the pup is in our relationship," he said to Hermione.

Hermione tugged at his hand as she walked towards the kitchen table, where their food awaited. "Leave him be. He's just being protective."

Remus smiled and let her guide him to a chair. She was starting to sound more like the old Hermione everyday.

"So where are we going?" Hermione asked as they were getting ready to use the floo.

"I thought we'd go through Diagon Alley. I know you work there, but there are still lots of places you haven't seen yet. After that, I thought maybe we'd go to Hogsmeade," Remus said as he glanced at her.

Hermione smiled brightly, "Really? I've wanted to go there for ages!"

"Well, let's go then," Remus said and helped Hermione into the floo.

When they both came out at the Leaky Cauldron, Remus took Hermione's hand in his own. He was looking forward to walking around the main wizarding shopping center holding Hermione's hand. Hermione, however, seemed to be dragging him through the streets, not really taking time to look at anything around her. I guess I should have waited to tell her about Hogsmeade, he thought. "Why don't we go see George?" he asked.

His distraction obviously worked because her determined look softened into a smile, "Can we?"

Remus pulled her closer as he made his way to the shop. When they got there, his good mood shifted into worry. He pulled Hermione behind him and cautiously entered the shop. The usually always busy shop was completely empty and the lights were dimmed (even more so than usual). Even the other workers weren't there. "George?" Remus called out.

His voice echoed through the room. Once his echoing voice faded, they heard George's voice at the back of the shop. "Remus?" Suddenly a shock of red hair popped up from behind a shelf. "Quick, shut the door and get back here!"

Remus stared at him confused, but Hermione closed the door and dragged Remus behind the shelf where George was with a smile. "What's going on?" Remus asked as he crouched uncomfortably next to her.

"I have a stalker," George said. "There's this girl who keeps coming in here and won't leave me alone!"

"And you're complaining?" Hermione laughed.

Remus sighed and stood up straight as he realized there was no danger.

"Get Down!" George hissed. "She's right outside!"

"Really" Hermione asked.

"If she's right outside, she saw us come in here anyway," Remus said as Hermione moved to one of the front windows.

"Hermione, get away from the window!" George said frantically.

Hermione ignored him and studied the girl across the street. She had really curly, dark, reddish-brown hair, which she had tried stuffing under a baseball cap, but failed miserably. Hermione couldn't tell what color her eyes were due to the dark sunglasses adorning her face. Hermione knew she was George's stalker because the girl was staring directly at George's shop without a glance to the people walking by.

"She's pretty," Hermione commented. "Are you sure you don't want her to stalk you?" Hermione laughed as she glanced at George over her shoulder. When her friend just glared at her, she looked back out the window. "Oh," she said surprised, "it looks like she's coming to say hello."

Remus tensed, "Hermione, come back from the window."

Hermione looked at him. "Why?"

"Please, for my sanity of mind." Both he and Moony felt nervous about strangers being near their mate. Remus held out a hand, hoping to entice her.

Hermione quickly made her way to his side and hugged his arm, one hand tightly grasping the cuff of his sleeve.

George had frozen at the news of the girl coming closer but he was startled back to reality when the bells above the door rang.

The girl looked around, her jaw tensed. Her posture deflated, though, when she looked at Remus, who was protectively over Hermione, who was clinging to Remus' side. Remus lowered his head even more so his mouth was against her ear. "It seems she thought you were competition in her quest for George," he whispered.

Hermione laughed softly and called out to the girl. "I'm Hermione."

The girl finally relaxed completely and removed her sunglasses, revealing crystal-grey, almost white, eyes.

Although she answered Hermione, her eyes were glued to George, who had turned a light pink when she removed her sunglasses, "My name is Sophia Wilcox." Her voice was light and airy, not like Luna's dazed voice, but almost in a shy way. She fumbled with her sunglasses as she stumbled forward. "Please, be my boyfriend!" she said quickly.

Remus snorted, Hermione gasped, and George turned an even darker shade of red.

Sophia moved closer so the only thing separating them was the shelf he had been hiding behind earlier. "I've loved you since I first saw you. I knew that I would marry you one day!"

"M-Marry?!" George stuttered.

Remus released Hermione in order to contain his laughter, allowing Hermione to move closer. "Are you from around here?" she asked.

Sophia seemed hesitant to look away from George, but she did, and smiled shyly. "I'll be going into my last year of school at Hogwarts.

"Bloody Merlin," George muttered and walked away.

Sophia turned back to George. "I want to ask you to hold a job for me when I graduate. Please!"

George stared at her incredulously. "Why should I? I don't just hire anyone."

"George, be nice," Hermione scolded.

"It's alright," Sophia said. "I wouldn't expect any less from you. Although I am taking other classes, I hope to concentrate in Charms and Potions. I want to be the best compliment for my future husband."

"Well, I guess we'll leave you two to get more acquainted with each other," Remus said as he pulled Hermione away from Sophia.

"What?" You can't just leave," George said. "Hermione," he said looking at his friend for help.

Hermione paused between the door and George, obviously torn at who to listen to. Remus then decided to play his trump card. "Well, I did promise to take her to Hogsmeade, but I guess we could stay here," Remus trailed off and gave Hermione a look that said it was up to her.

Without hesitation Hermione walked past Remus and dragged him to the door, calling over her shoulder, "See you later, George!"

Remus allowed her to pull him onto the main street. He pulled her into his arms, making sure her eyes were closed before magically bringing them to Hogsmeade. As soon as she opened her eyes again, she was in awe. He let her drag him from shop to shop with a grin on his face. Her excitement could be compared to that of a third year who was visiting Hogsmeade for the first time. It was only when he noticed her pace begin to slow he suggested a visit to the Three Broomsticks for some butterbeer.

When they were just finishing their drinks a shadow fell over their table. They both looked up to see Pansy Parkinson sneering at them.

"Well, look what the werewolf dragged in?" she said mockingly.

Remus growled in warning, but Hermione just replied, "Parkinson." Remus looked at her curiously.

Pansy gave a look of disgust. "I don't know if I should feel honored or revolted that you remember me."

Remus growled again, more intimidating, but Pansy just laughed at him. "Stop purring, Wolfy. I'm not scared of you." She looked back to Hermione. "I heard from Draco. He wasn't very happy when you refused him."

"What do you want, Ms. Parkinson?" Remus asked.

"I just wanted to give you a friendly warning," she said with a fake smile. "Be mindful who your friends are and watch your back."

At those words Remus jumped up and snarled at her, "Leave."

Pansy laughed and left without a word.

Remus waited until her hair flipped from the door before sitting next to Hermione. He leaned in and discretely smelled her hair to calm Moony and himself. As Hermione waited for him to calm down, she held his hand while she finished her drink. "How did you know who she was?" he finally asked.

Hermione grinned. "On some of my breaks at work George shows me pictures of the people I should be cautious of and helps me remember their names. He thought it also might deter some of the rumors about my memory loss."

Remus snorted. "You really are clever." He kissed her cheek before finishing his own drink. "Let's go home. We can start dinner before Sirius gets home."

Remus was glad when they got home so he could finally put down the bags of items he had bought for Hermione. "So what should we have for lunch?" Remus asked as he opened the fridge.

Hermione jumped up on the countertop, letting her feet dangle.

"Well," she thought out loud, "We can always send Sirius a message to bring home take-out."

Remus grinned. "I knew you were the brightest witch."

Her smiled back and grabbed Remus' arm to pull him closer." Thank you for taking me out today."

"I should have a long time ago. As much as I want to, I can't keep you cooped up here all to myself." He leaned against the counter next to her.

"I don't mind when you do," she said with a smile. She leaned over to kiss his cheek. She only pulled back a little before kissing him fully on the lips.

Remus fully accepted the affection and leaned towards her more. It wasn't until he felt Hermione bite his lip and soothe it over with her tongue he realized he had moved even closer. He pulled back to regain his senses and realized he had moved between her dangling legs and was pressing her into the cupboards. When he finally regained thought, he asked, "Where did you learn to kiss like that?"

Hermione smiled, "Sirius."

In that instant, Remus felt his stomach drop and his entire body freeze. "What?"

Just then the floo activated and Sirius stepped out carrying several bags, "Hey, hope you haven't started making anything. I thought take-out sounded good," Sirius said without looking up. He set the food down on the table and dusted himself off as he turned to face them. He took in the scene of his best friend pushing Hermione against the cupboards and groaned, "Do you have to do that where we eat?"

Remus jumped off Hermione and easily pinned Sirius to the wall. "You touched Hermione," he snarled.

"I what?" Sirius choked out.

"Hermione said you kissed her," Remus said as he tightened his grip on his friend's throat.

Sirius' eyes widened and he looked to Hermione for help.

"Remus, I didn't say that. I said I learned it from Sirius, but because I saw him kissing his fiancée like that."

Remus' grip instantly slackened. "Fiancée?"

Sirius coughed. "I see you are incapable of keeping a secret," Sirius said as he rubbed his throat.

"You're engaged?" Remus asked.

Sirius slowly nodded.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"When I first met her, I didn't want to tell anyone. I've never met anyone like her, I've never liked anyone so much; you know how things were when we were younger. I never had a girlfriend longer than a week. Things with her are so much different, though. When things started to get more serious, you started getting sucked into finding Hermione." Sirius sighed. "I should have just told you, but," he sighed again and shrugged his shoulders.

Remus pulled back slightly. It was true he had been obsessed in finding Hermione for a while. He smiled and said, "Well, what's her name? When do I get to meet her?"

Sirius smiled and his body wilted as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. "Her name is Rose. I plan on introducing her to everyone at the next Weasley gathering."

"Everyone?" Remus asked. "I thought everyone knew."

"No, I haven't told anyone. The only person who knows is Hermione. I had made plans to go see Rosie when you asked me to watch her. I brought her along, thinking she could keep a secret," Sirius said the last part giving Hermione a dirty look.

Hermione smiled, "You were taking too long. I thought I would help you along." Remus and Sirius smiled. Before they could say anything, she skipped from the room, saying, "I'm going to go say hello to Tarak."

Remus helped Sirius start getting the food out when he decided to get some advice from his friend. "Hermione keeps having a reoccurring dream about the final battle."

"Oh?" Sirius asked.

"She says she had the dream every night when she was in the forest. At the end there is a person that approaches her and Obliviates her."

"So that finalizes what happened to her? What did he look like? The guy who approached her," Sirius clarified.

"Apparently she never saw his face before, that he had a cloak covering his face, but now she says he has blonde hair showing," Remus said.

Sirius looked up surprised. "Malfoy?"

Remus nodded. "I think so."

"Why is this surprising? We know my dear cousin's family is rotten through and through."

"Yes, but I'm worried about now. She never said if it was Lucius or Draco. If it's Draco, it make sense. Hermione was always besting him during school. Perhaps he thought he could get her out of the way without killing her. But now he's back trying to get close to her. He might be trying to finish the job."

"So we'll keep an eye on him; big deal," Sirius said.

"That's not all," Remus said. He told Sirius about meeting Pansy.

"'Be careful who your friends are'?" Sirius repeated. "What is that supposed to mean?" Sirius asked when Remus nodded.

"All I can think of is she's talking about Draco. He may not be a friend, but we accepted his change of face towards the end of the war," Remus said.

"That still doesn't explain why she's warming us," Sirius pointed out. "Why would she bother; it isn't like she exactly gets along with Hermione. How do we know her advice is valid?"

Remus sighed, "I don't know what to think. All I know is something is up. Hermione's become a target and is in danger."

"How can you tell?" Sirius asked.

"I can sense it. Whatever bond there is between werewolf and mate is telling me Hermione's in danger."

They could hear Hermione and Tarak coming down the hall, so Sirius said quietly, "We'll keep her safe."

Hermione and Tarak came into the kitchen, the former going straight to the food. Tarak stood in the doorway staring at Sirius and Remus questioningly, as if he had heard their conversation, which was quite possible. 'Pup tell Tarak later,' the voice said in Remus' head.

Remus looked at Sirius and Hermione, who showed no evidence of hearing Tarak, which told him Tarak spoke only to him. Remus looked back at Tarak and nodded once.

Once they had finished eating Hermione said she wanted to look at the books she had gotten during that day. Remus followed her, naturally, and became her headrest as she got comfortable on the couch. Remus kept one arm around her while he held a book up to his face with the other. Sirius and Tarak both followed them into the living room where Sirius became absorbed in a magazine and Tarak curled up on the floor next to Remus and Hermione.

It was much later when the clock announced a late hour did anyone rouse from their reading. Sirius jerked up at the clock's sound, for he had fallen asleep, and groaned at his stiff neck. He looked over at Remus and Hermione and smiled. Hermione had also long fallen asleep, but remained curled up against Remus. Remus was still reading his book and didn't seem to notice any of his companions had fallen asleep.

"Remus," Sirius said softly.

Remus started. He looked down to see Hermione's steady breathing before looking up at his friend. He set his book aside as he brushed Hermione's hair away from her face to see she had fallen asleep. "I never even noticed she wasn't awake anymore," he said softly.

"You didn't seem to notice any of us had fallen asleep," Sirius said as he sat up fully. "What were you reading, anyways?"

Remus froze before shaking himself from his paralysis to busy himself in making Hermione comfortable. Sirius didn't miss the reddish tint to his friend's face.

"Remus?" Sirius asked.

"It's nothing," Remus said as he tucked the small book he had been reading into the couch cushion.

Sirius smirked. "Alright, I won't push. You better get her to bed soon."

Remus agreed with a nod and eased himself from under Hermione to stand up. He reached back down for her and cradled her in his arms. "Good-night Remus. Congratulations again about your engagement," Remus said.

Sirius smiled in thanks and picked up his magazine to read again. As soon as Remus shimmied out the door with Hermione in tow Sirius jumped across the room and dug in the couch cushions until his fingertips brushed against the hard spine of Remus' "nothing" book. Grinning like a fool, Sirius pulled the small book out, read the title, and burst into laughter.

Wiping tears of laughter from his eyes, Sirius tossed A Werewolf's Mate onto the couch and headed to bed.

=-=-=-=

Hermione slowly came from dreamland when Remus set her down on their bed. She made a humming sound before asking, "Remus?"

"I'm here," Remus said softly as he sat next to her on the bed. "You fell asleep in the living room and now you're in bed," he said and pushed her mangy hair back from her forehead.

Hermione cracked her eyes open. "What time is it?"

"Late. Go back to sleep," Remus said. He leaned down and kissed her goodnight. However, when he went to sit back up, he found Hermione had a death grip on his shirt-front. "Hermione?"

"I was just taking a nap earlier. I'm awake now," she said before latching her lips to his jaw.

"'Mione?" he asked hesitantly. One of her hands that was clutching his shirt loosened and smoothed to his side. As she ran her hand down his side he felt one of her legs caress his hip. "Hermione, stop," Remus said.

"We were interrupted in the kitchen earlier. Don't you want to finish?" Hermione asked and she pulled him closer.

"Hermione!" Remus said more harshly. "I said stop." When she didn't listen to him again, he snarled and gripped each of her wrists with his and pinned them to the bed at each side of her head. "I said stop," Remus said again slowly.

"I'm sorry. I read in A Werewolf's Mate that Moony would urge you to mate soon. I didn't mean to push you into anything you didn't want."

Remus softened his grip on her arms and stretched out next to her on the bed, holding her close. "Don't doubt I want to mate with you. There is a reason I've been holding off." Remus paused to focus his thoughts. "While it's true once we are mated completely it will be like we are married, however that bond isn't recognized in either the wizarding or muggle world. Call me old fashioned, but I would like us to be married in all societies before we're fully mated."

"You want to get married?" Hermione asked and Remus immediately tensed, thinking she didn't want to. Before he could voice his fears, Hermione pounced on him laughing, "Yes!" After giving him the biggest kiss, she asked him, "When?"

Remus smiled, "When would you like to become Mrs. Lupin?"

"Does the end of this week sound good?" Hermione asked.

Slightly shocked, Remus could only stare at her. "The only thing I can think of better is tomorrow, but I think we should give our friends some warning."

Hermione lay across his chest with a satisfied smile. "So by this time next week, we'll be married."

Remus tucked her hair behind her ear. "It seems so," he said.


A/N: *sigh* if any of you find a good guy like Remus, send him my way...

And if I don't get another one posted before then, have a very Merry Christmas!

Hope all is well. :)