Disclaimer: I'm not JK Rowling, therefore these characters are not mine. Of course, you'll see them doing things they definitely didn't do in her novels, so… well, those ideas are mine!

Chapter 13: Gratitude

The following night found all three research partners in a subdued mood. It was sobering to think that this was their second-to-last night. And they realized it was unlikely that they would reach the same heights of ecstasy they had reached the previous night. It would be impossible to recreate what had been a spontaneous transcendental moment. Even Sirius was at a loss for what to do next. Hermione and Remus pulled out their original lesson plan lists, and reviewed them, but it was true: they'd covered everything they had intended to try.

"We could get the chocolate sauce again," suggested Remus. "That was fun."

"Nah," said Hermione. "I'm not hungry."

"How about we just get back to where we were last night before we all got too tired. Shall we snuggle up together by the fire, and see what happens?" Sirius did love snuggling by the fire.

Remus and Hermione agreed that the fire sounded wonderful. They spread the blankets on the hearth rug to make the floor a bit softer, and cuddled up in the warmth and glow.

The fire was blazing, and they quickly became very warm. "I want to feel it on my skin," said Sirius, and he began to shed his clothing. Hermione loved the look of him in the dancing light cast by the flames. It almost made his tattoos look animated. She told him so, and he proudly turned 360 degrees to show them off most effectively.

Hermione and Remus applauded and laughed. Then Hermione nudged Remus. "How about you, next? That first night when I stumbled upon the two of you in the kitchen, you looked incredible in the firelight. Your chest looked as if it was made of gold, and your scars were pearly white. You were like a magnificent piece of art created out of precious materials. And your nipples… Sirius had been licking and sucking on them, and they were glistening. I'd love to see you that way again."

Naturally, after being described as a golden statue, Remus had no choice but to cooperate with her wishes. He, too, stripped down.

"Turn for us, babe," instructed Sirius. So he did. Sirius whistled appreciatively.

Hermione sighed contentedly. "Still beautiful, Remus."

Then they both looked at Hermione. "Well," Remus teased, "don't we get to see your skin in the firelight?"

She smiled. "I suppose I am getting a little too warm in these clothes." She disrobed as well, and when they insisted, she turned in a slow circle for Sirius and Remus.

"Lovely, sweetheart," Sirius said. "The shadows accentuate all your lovely curves and hollows. Even your belly button looks deeper and more mysterious."

She laughed, and they resettled themselves on the blankets. Sirius decided to go spelunking in Hermione's navel with his tongue. She found herself tracing Remus's scars with her fingers. Remus intertwined his legs with Sirius's.

"This is so cozy, Sirius," sighed Hermione. "The fire was a great idea."

"Mmmmm," he agreed, still exploring Hermione's belly.

"This whole arrangement has been very nice," added Remus. "I've had a great couple of weeks."

"Oh, me too," said Hermione, as if seconding a motion in Parliament.

"Mmmmm," said Sirius.

"I'm so glad I got to have this experience," she continued. "I've learned so much from you both, and not just about sex. I've actually learned a few things about myself along the way, too – like how rewarding it can be to give up control sometimes, and to trust my instincts. And I've learned so much about you both, as well."

"Like what, Hermione?" Sirius had raised his head to follow the conversation better.

"Well, when I first developed my crushes on you both, you had been like two-dimensional characters. I was attracted more to the idea of you than to your real selves, because I didn't really know you. I guess that's the nature of a crush, isn't it? But now I feel I do know you as whole people, complex and wonderful, and it's made me even more fond of you."

"I know what you mean, Hermione," Sirius said. "I have gotten to know you as so much more than Harry's smart and pretty friend. It's been eye-opening. I love how you do everything so wholeheartedly. As I told you the other night, I do feel more confident about the war, knowing you're on our side. And, although I was doubtful at first, I have actually appreciated your educational approach. It certainly did get us to stretch our boundaries and try things we might not have tried otherwise."

"I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks, after all," teased Remus. Then he became serious. "I'm thankful for the experience, too," he said. "I tend to think of myself as… well, not the best company, seeing as how I have the potential for such violence every month. Even with the wolfsbane potion, I know I'm not a lot of fun to be around for several days around the full moon. Sirius has put up with me for years, and I know he loves me. But it has been heartening to have someone else know me this intimately and not be repelled. I'll remember that forever."

"Remus! I could never be repelled by you. You'll always be one of my very favorite people!"

"And you probably recall," he continued, giving her a grateful squeeze to acknowledge the compliment, "that on that first night in Sirius's room I confessed that some small part of me was a bit nervous about our plan. I had only been with one woman before, so I wasn't entirely sure how I would feel. Also, I knew that Sirius had been with several women, and I was the littlest bit worried that he might not want me as much after he got a taste of girls again. But it all worked out fine. Better than fine, actually."

"Oh, Remus," Hermione sighed, "you were so brave to take what you saw as a risk to your relationship with Sirius. It's beautiful that you trusted him enough to do that."

"If anything, Moony, I think this holiday has strengthened us, don't you? I mean, Hermione's right – you did grant me a huge amount of trust. I love that you felt we were strong enough to include Hermione for this time and not let it disrupt what we have. And honestly, watching Hermione discover you was like discovering you again myself. I feel like I'm seeing you with fresh eyes, and I've fallen in love with you all over again."

Hermione scooted out of the way so that the two lovers could embrace. After a long kiss, they settled into their spoon position again, with Remus holding Sirius tight from behind, and Sirius caressing Remus's arms as they wrapped around him. Remus's amber eyes glittered in the firelight. She gazed at him with an odd expression, until he finally had to ask what was wrong.

"Nothing's wrong," she answered. "I love seeing the two of you together. You make such a great couple. It just seems like you two must have been together since the moment you met, but I know it wasn't until your seventh year that you became lovers, and now I hear that you were with a woman once. I couldn't help but wondering who the lucky girl was, but also pitying her because she lost you to Sirius."

"She didn't lose me to Sirius. She had already become involved with someone else by the time Sirius and I got together."

"Oh – I'm sorry, Remus. I hope she didn't break your heart."

"Not at all. We remained close friends for the rest of her life."

"Oh, she died... How sad, Remus. Was it someone I might have heard of? Someone from the Order, during the first war?"

"I can't say. I promised her it would be our little secret that we had ever been more than friends."

Sirius snuggled deeper into Remus, and hugged his arms tighter, as if to give him strength. "Go on, Moony, you told me, so you already broke that particular promise. Plus, just about everyone who would have cared is dead now. And you know from experience that Hermione can keep a secret from the one person still alive who might get upset about it."

Remus looked uncomfortable, but also as if he were trying to justify spilling his secret. Finally, his face set into an expression of determination, as he settled his internal debate. "It was Lily – Harry's mother."

A small gasp escaped Hermione's lips.

"We broke it off long before she and James started dating," Remus assured her. He looked enormously relieved to be unburdening himself. "I mean, he was head over heels in love with her, but they weren't a couple yet. He never found out. It only lasted for a couple of months, early in our sixth year. Neither of us meant for it to happen."

"I know you would never intentionally do something to hurt James. So how did it happen?"

"James used to really get on her nerves, wouldn't leave her alone, always pestering her for a date, or a kiss. She thought she could like him, but needed him to back off a bit so she could see how she felt when she wasn't being pressured. She needed someone to talk to about how confused he made her feel. Meanwhile, I was feeling dirty, contaminated by the werewolf bite, and had made myself into a bit of a loner. The only people I called my friends were the Marauders, and eventually Lily. She was so kind, somehow I never felt unworthy when she talked to me. I reveled in her attention – I almost felt as though I bloomed when we were together. We mistook our mutual need for caring and concern, and thought it was love. But it wasn't. Or maybe it was, but it wasn't the kind of passion she had later with James, and it wasn't the kind of passion Sirius and I had for each other when when we got together, and still have now." Sirius and Remus held each other even tighter.

"So by the end of seventh year, you were both happy for each other? No broken hearts?"

"Right, Hermione, no broken hearts." He smiled sadly. "Well, until she and James were killed – that broke a lot of hearts. I miss James terribly, of course – he was one of my very best mates. But Lily – losing her goodness and beauty and compassion was almost too much for me. No one could understand the depth of my grieving, because my relationship with her had been a secret. Even Sirius didn't know until after his escape from Azkaban. I never told anyone about it while she was still alive, and now you two are the only people who know. And you can't say anything about this to anyone, either, Hermione, least of all Harry."

Hermione reached out a hand and stroked Remus's back. He was clinging to Sirius fiercely, and his voice had become choked with emotion. "Of course not, Remus. I promise I won't. And as much as I hate keeping secrets from him, Harry can't ever know about this adventure we've had together. I'm not sure which of us he'd be angrier with, and goodness knows he's been angry enough lately. Although I don't believe our relationship has anything to do with him, I feel certain he would take it as a personal betrayal."

Sirius and Remus nodded solemnly, guilty expressions on their faces.

"Speaking of Harry, and of his parents," said Sirius, in a brighter tone, "as his godfather, of course, I'm the closest thing he's got to parents now, whatever Molly might think to the contrary. And just as you've become a young woman, Hermione, he's becoming a young man. I heard he recently had his first kiss, with a certain raven-haired Ravenclaw. Do you think I need to have a man-to-man talk with him about sex?"

"You know, Sirius," she said, considering the question carefully, "though it might embarrass him terribly, I still think it would be a wonderful thing to do. For one thing, yes, he probably needs information. For another, I'm sure it would really touch him to have you do something so very parental for him. If I might make a suggestion, however…"

"Yes?"

"You might want to make that sex talk fairly broad in scope. Just in case, you know, it's not a girl that he ends up in a relationship with."

Remus, whose face was still buried in Sirius's neck, looked up in surprise. "What? You think Harry might be gay? I thought he was kissing girls!"

"Well, look at Sirius, Remus. He was kissing a lot of girls when he was Harry's age, right? I'm just saying – and you guys were the first ones to bring this up – that maybe Harry might swing a bit both ways, or at least be curious enough to try something with a bloke one day. When you said that in your experience everyone's bisexual until proven otherwise, I thought about that for a while. And there's a particular boy I've noticed he seems to be rather passionate about. Right now their relationship is passionately antagonistic, but I get the sense that could turn into something else fairly easily. There's a thin line, as they say, between love and hate."

"Merlin's Pants, Hermione, you're not talking about Draco Malfoy," protested Remus.

"I am," she replied. "I don't like him either – he's said some pretty awful things about me in the past, and – until this holiday break – punching him in the nose had been one of the most satisfying experiences of my life. But I can't deny that Harry seems a bit obsessed with him. He watches him across the dining hall more intently and more frequently than is strictly necessary, and he seems incapable of keeping Draco from getting under his skin. I don't think anything is going on right now, but I don't think it would take much. An insult leading to a fist fight, which deteriorates into a wrestling match, which becomes a snogfest, for instance, all hot and bothered, and hands down each other's pants, jerking each other off frantically, cursing wildly the whole time…"

"Okay, point taken, Hermione," said Sirius, raising a hand to make her stop. "I'll keep the sex talk broad enough to include potential boy-on-boy action. Happy?"

"I could be happier."

Sirius frowned at her. "How?"

"I could be watching some hot boy-on-boy action, instead of just talking about it, for one."

"Hermione, you're a pervert."

"Thank you, Remus," she smiled serenely.

A/N: The very first fanfic I ever read was Irresistible Poison by Rhysenn, which is a Draco/Harry story, extremely well done. My first thought was "Draco and Harry? But they HATE each other!" But Rhysenn makes it entirely plausible and even beautiful. I don't think the entire story is up here on this site, but if you google the author's name, you'll find the story on the author's own site. Irresistible Poison comes from a position of the two boys hating each other, but then a love potion gone wrong makes things really complicated. If you like that pairing and you haven't read IP yet, I highly recommend it. Very romantic and extremely angsty. PG13 rating. Oh, and Hermione plays a critical role, entirely in character, if you're fond of her doing her usual brilliant thing.

I actually think there's a bit of canon evidence that Harry & Draco could be rather obsessed with each other - I'm not sure it would require a love potion to get them into each other's pants. It's not that I think they LIKE each other, just that I think they're fascinated with each other. But then, that's not the focus of this story, is it?

So: Harry/Draco, Remus/Lily, I'm throwing all kinds of stuff into this chapter! Hmmm... where will I go next?! Suggestions? (Reviews?)