Shout outs to new readers Wolfwarriorgirl, LauRawrCait, BookloverAF, Bucklerbri, Alice Hathaway, kk1999, fieryxgirl and immyownsuperman! And big big big big HUGE thank you's to Charlie McKay, Lady Wesker, Alice Hathaway, and SaikaHan for reviews! (As well as cookies and milk)

Ok, so like a silly person I was using the lunar calendar from 2003-2004 instead of 1993-1994. I'm a dumb-dumb but it's too late to change now. I just thought I would tell everyone that I did realize my mistake and then chose to ignore it. lol.

And I'm sorry my updates haven't been as frequent this week. I started my summer term at the community college but I'm settling into my schedule and I know when I have time to write. At least I gave you the first taste of some serious Remus/Hermione stuff, and I hope everyone liked it. =D

Here's some more!

Read, review, enjoy! =)

Disclaimer: Like every other fanfic writer, I bow to the genius that is J.K. Rowling

Chapter Fourteen - New Year's

Hermione, though still lonely because of her stupid guy friends, was doing much better now that she had Professor Lupin to talk to. But she knew that she wouldn't be able to sit and talk with him in the same manner once term started again, and that was disappointment looming on the horizon. At the same time, once term started there would be more people around for her to associate with, and would hopefully lessen her loneliness.

New Year's Eve dinner was a spectacular event. The single table was burdened with tons of noise makers and confetti crackers, even though there were only six students to enjoy them. Dinner also had many more sugary treats to be used to stay up until midnight and then crash into bed by 2am. Hermione always hated the feeling of waking up after crashing to a sugar high.

She also was not looking forward to dinner with Harry and Ron, having been avoiding them at all other meals since their fight on Christmas Day, but she had to go. She purposely chose a seat as far away from them as she could, though that also meant that she was far away from Professor Lupin too. She watched as he chatted with Harry and Ron and hoped he wasn't saying anything about her. Neither Harry nor Ron looked at her at all, so she assumed she was safe. Ugh, they're probably talking about quidditch...

Hermione ate quickly, but couldn't think of an excuse to leave when Dumbledore was trying so hard to make the evening festive. So she sat, feeling lonely and miserable because the year was ending badly, and (since Harry and Ron still weren't talking to her) it looked like the new year wasn't about to get any better any time soon.

The meal was over with by 9pm, and Dumbledore had everyone stand up so he could banish the table up against the wall to clear the floor for games and dancing. The students went for the games while most of the professors danced. Hermione was asked to dance by Professor Dumbledore who tried to get her to smile by spinning her until she was dizzy and asked to sit down. He chuckled at her and then went to liberate Professor McGonagall from Professor Lupin's arms, as the only dance Minerva every consented to was the waltz. Meanwhile, Professor Flitwick was dancing with Professor Sprout, and Professor Snape had disappeared from the room.

Harry and Ron were playing some of the games with the other Gryffindor boy, but at some point the three of them had changed to stalking the Slytherin 5th year and blasting him with the confetti crackers. Hermione contemplated sneaking out like Snape had done, but was distracted when Professor Lupin approached.

"Hi, Hermione. Having fun?" Lupin asked her with a smile.

"Not really. I think I'll go to bed," she said as she stood and started to leave. She was stopped by a confetti cracker exploding over her head, the confetti settling into her bushy brown hair. Turning around she saw Lupin pretending to look innocent. Despite her melancholy feelings, she was forced to smile. She grabbed a confetti cracker for herself and aimed it at Professor Lupin, where it exploded all over the front of his robes.

He looked down at the front of his robes, and then back up at Hermione who smirked at him. He grinned evilly and let out a little chuckle. "This means war, you know," he teased.

Hermione held up her hands in surrender. "How about a truce instead?"

"Deal," Lupin chuckled as he wiped the front of his robes.

Hermione started trying to get the confetti out of her hair, but such an endeavor appeared to be a waste of effort. She gave up and scowled at Professor Lupin for the inconvenience. He just chuckled again and asked her to dance.

"Don't think a dance will make me forgive you. The confetti's going to be a nightmare to remove," she said as she let Lupin lead her in slow and easy two-step (with no outrageous spinning).

"I can vanish it all for you before you go to bed," he said, keeping her at arms length, only holding her hands for guidance around the room.

"Really? Thank you."

"Of course."

A few moments later, Professors Flitwick and Sprout came over and everyone switched partners again, so Hermione was dancing with Flitwick (even though he was nearly a full head shorter than her). It was fun though as he tried to show her some 'moves' and ended up falling over. Hermione was never one to laugh at people's misfortunes though, and simply apologized (even though it wasn't her fault) and helped him to his feet.

Lupin finally came back her rescue. Flitwick went to dance with McGonagall while Dumbledore danced with Sprout.

"Having fun now?" Lupin asked as they moved over to play Exploding Snap.

"Maybe just a little," Hermione said.

"Looking forward to term resuming?"

"Yes and no."

"More yes than no?"

"Yes because classes will be back in session and everyone else will be here, and no because I'll be too busy to - " Hermione broke off her sentence to keep her from saying something potentially embarrassing. " - to think about anything besides my homework," she finished. She had been about to say, 'too busy to spend time with you' and realized just how bad that sounded.

Either Professor Lupin was reading her mind, or he was just being honest, Hermione couldn't tell. He said, "We'll both be busy, and I'll miss our afternoon chats. I've grown quite fond of them." He smiled at her kindly. "Perhaps you can still drop by for tea in the evenings, or perhaps I'll find you asleep in another empty classroom using another of your essays as a pillow," Lupin said with a teasing smirk.

Hermione laughed. "It's very possible," she conceded.

After a brief pause - a hesitation - Professor Lupin said, "Just don't be too disappointed if I'm not available at various times throughout the month. Things get a bit hectic during term." It was the most he could say about his three day absences without drawing attention to them, though he tried to keep his tone light.

Hermione nodded and said, "I understand." She understood more than he knew. To keep her face from revealing her thoughts, she laid down her cards with a grin. "I win."

oOoOo

The rest of the evening passed quickly with Professor Lupin spending the remaining hour or so playing games with Hermione. She stomped him at Exploding Snap, lost at wizarding chess (which she had never been very good at because she had only ever played a few times), and refused to touch the gobstone set. (((A/N I always imagined Gobstones to be like Mancala)))

Lupin patiently taught Hermione a bit more about chess, but she still wasn't very good at formulating more than one plan at a time and really didn't have any adaptability. She said that maybe if she read the rules and looked up famous strategies that it would help her, and Lupin replied that chess wasn't just one piece or another; it was the whole set working together as a whole. He told her to think of it like a battle during a war. Hermione cringed. She didn't think she could ever look at the chessboard in the same way again.

At ten minutes til midnight, Dumbledore had everyone run and grab cloaks before leading them out to the clock tower courtyard. It was a beautifully clear night with glistening frost spread all across the grounds. As the clock began to strike midnight, Dumbledore and the other professors all contributed to a magical "fireworks" display. After the clock finished chiming, Dumbledore asked Professor Lupin to lead the four Gryffindors back to their dormitory.

Lupin let Harry and Ron run ahead while the first year trailed along behind him and Hermione. Hermione was eagerly discussing the "fireworks". Lupin explained that the teachers were merely emitting sparks from their wands, and while a witch or wizard can learn how to change the color consciously, each wand will produce a certain color naturally without conscious thought. Lupin's base color was a golden-brown color that matched Hermione's eyes.

The rest of the walk back to the portrait of Sir Cadogan was uneventful, and Hermione went straight to bed. This time she fell asleep on a pillow free from tear stains.