I suddenly remembered what I wanted at the end of last chapter. Whoops. Oh well.

James and Remus decided that they had either very good luck, or very bad luck. The very bad luck could be decided by them having gotten caught by Hermione and Ginny during the Prank War, and thus being caught by Filch, and then having to serve detention. The very good luck could be decided by Hagrid giving them the detention, and going into the Forbidden Forest for their detention, and then meeting Hermione during this. The very bad luck could be decided that Hermione appeared to have gone insane.

They'd found her in a small clearing, head bent slightly and eyes closed, hands away from her body and looking as though they were wrapped around something. When they got close enough for their footsteps to be heard, her eyes opened and she blinked before turning to them, grinning brightly.

"Hey," she called out before tilting her head and smiling slightly, "Detention?"

"Yeah," they answered slowly, sharing glances and curious expressions.

"Serves you right," she smirked before she took a few steps and hopped up, making them gape as she seemingly floated as she picked one leg over and sat down with her hands placed in front of her. At their flabbergasted faces, she pursed her lips and thought before it suddenly dawned on her. She gave a sheepish grin and moved her hands so that she began to float towards them. "This is a creature called a thestral. They can only be seen by someone who has witnessed death. I'm not crazy, I promise."

"Oh," they sighed, James running a hand through his hair as Remus stepped closer and looked up at her.

"There are actually about five in this clearing," she informed them before smiling brightly, "Want to ride one?"

"Alright," James said brightly as Remus grimaced and shook his head.

"I'm fine right where I am, thank you," he grinned.

She shrugged, hopping off and grabbing James's arm, instructing him on how to get on the thestral. Remus thought this looked rather comical, but kept his mouth shut, arching an eyebrow as James grinned brightly at him while Hermione chuckled.

"You're on backwards," she stated, making him blanch before he quickly righted himself. "Her neck is here; wrap your arms around it." She watched as he did as he was instructed, smiling as Remus bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. "Oh, and I should tell you."

"What?" James asked.

"Thestrals can fly. Have fun!"

"Wait, what?" James asked before he was cut off by his own screams, as the thestral seemed to have taken off, James getting farther and farther away as Remus gaped after him before he turned to Hermione, who was grimacing and waving to something in the clearing.

"I should probably go get him," she hummed as she hopped on another thestral, "Considering I'm his teacher and everything."

"You forgot, didn't you?" Remus grinned.

"Possibly," she said before flashing him a bright smile and going off after James.

"Hah," a booming voice broke through, causing Remus to jump and blink back at Hagrid before grinning. "He deserves it, I bet."

"It's James," Remus snorted, "Of course he does."

"Well," Hagrid hummed lightly, watching as James popped up every now and again with screams for help before he dived once again behind the cover of the trees. "Seems like you don' hate Hermione anymore."

Remus winced and ducked his head, grimacing and feeling guilt wash over him once again, "Yeah. I really wish I hadn't in the first place."

"She's a good girl," Hagrid said before shrugging, "Stubborn, yeah, but she's go' a good sense of humor, and wit. She's no' dull."

"Hagrid," Remus said slowly, and rather suspiciously, frowning at him a little, "Where are you going with this?"

"Well, I'm jus' sayin'," he shrugged again, "It's best tah be warned 'fore yah plunge in head firs'."

"Have you been talking to Sirius?" he asked loudly, getting his answer when he chuckled a little. "I'm going to murder him! There's absolutely nothing between Hermione and I."

"Don' mean there won' be," Hagrid sniffed before waving his hand at James, as Hermione was holding on to his shirt collar and laughing extremely hard, "When James touches ground, yer done. Tell Hermione I said thanks – and tah keep you lot out of any mo' trouble."

"Alright," Remus mumbled, watching Hermione and James' progress for a few moments before checking back behind him and seeing that Fang was sitting there, head tilted at him, and that Hagrid was already gone. "You don't think…?" he began to the dog, before snorting at himself and shaking his head, "No, it's stupid."

"Alright, it's funny, aha-ha-ha, now stop laughing," James said grumpily as Hermione leaned against a thestral and continued to laugh, doubled over and with a large grin splitting her face. "Word to the wise – don't get on a thestral."

"Why do you think I stayed?" Remus asked cheekily before James scowled at him. "Hagrid says we're done."

"Oh thank Merlin," he said, heading back towards Hogwarts, "I feel like I need a shower – I can't see them, but they sure do stink."

"Lovely, James," Hermione managed before she giggled when he shot a glare at her. She looked over at Remus before she winked, moving the thestral to another part of a clearing. Remus watched her for a few moments before he realized he was grinning, wiping it off of his face and shaking his head as he moved to leave. "Oy, wait up! I'll walk with you!" Hermione called. She jogged up to his side and shot him a smile, patting Fang on the head and walking with him through the Forest. They were silent for a while, content to walk in each other's company as Hermione absentmindedly thought about her classes, Remus casting curious glances to Hermione every time he thought she wasn't paying attention.

"What's wrong?" she asked suddenly, making him blink and see that she was looking at him dully, eyebrow arched.

"Nothing," he said, shaking his head. She gave a slight hum before he stopped and tilted his head, looking at her questioningly as she looked at him curiously. "You hear that?"

"Yeah, it sounds like…" Hermione's eyes widened and she reached out to grab his arm, "Oh, shit, run!"

"And you were out late because…?" Sirius questioned, holding on to his mug and staring curiously at Hermione and Remus.

"Centaurs," they answered.

"And leaves and sticks are in your hair because…?"

"We fell," they chorused.

"Hmm," Sirius hummed, sipping his tea quietly as he appraised their tattered appearances. "Hermione, you can use my shower, just transfigure whatever clean clothes you find lying in my room."

"Thank you," she sighed, moving into his room and shutting the door behind her as Sirius set down his tea and crossed his arms over his chest, a small smile quirking up as Remus started to take off his jacket.

"What?" he asked once he saw the small grin, stopped in the process of taking off his jumper.

"So if you and Hermione did something in the woods, would you tell me?" he asked, chuckling when his jumper smacked him in the face.

"You can just shove off," he huffed, walking into his room with a moody pout, "I have never and will never think of her like that."

"Yeah right," he snorted as Remus dug through his closet to find clean clothes, leaning against the door frame with a very wide grin on his face, "I give you a month, two months tops."

He shot him a very nasty look before going back to look through his clothes.

"I only say two because I know you're wonderfully stubborn when it comes to her."

"Sirius," he said in a very dark tone, gripping the closet door and glaring into it, "Get the fuck out of my room."

"I made you cuss!" he said delightfully, "Hermione, Moony said 'fuck!'"

"That's nice, Sirius," she called out, much like a mother would do to her bothersome child, "By the way, you have no clean clothes."

"Oh, my definition of 'clean' is just whatever smells or looks the cleanest," he said to the door.

"It's extremely annoying," Remus sighed loudly, smiling a little when he heard her laugh. He saw Sirius smirking and promptly shut the door in his face with a flick of his wand.

"But Mooonnyyyy," Sirius whined through the door, "I only want the best for yooouuuu!"

"Yeah, well the best for me is to have you keep your nose out of my personal, private business!" he called back.

"That's what you said when you were thirteen and we were trying to figure out what happened to you every month! And you can see how well that works!"

Remus groaned and thunked his head against the wall, glaring at the door for a few more moments, "Go find James and bug him."

"James is my next target!"

"Who the hell are you – Cupid?" he asked curiously.

"Boys, no fighting!" Hermione called.

He heard Sirius sigh loudly, "Yes, Mum."

With a roll of his eyes, Remus grabbed the clean clothes from off of his bed and walked into his bathroom, shutting the door to take a shower. When he walked out after getting dressed, he found Hermione sitting on the couch, hair wet and dripping and wearing a dark burgundy t-shirt, watching a mug of tea on her stomach move as she breathed, hands positioned to catch it the moment it tilted. He arched an eyebrow down at her and asked with amusement, "What're you doing?"

"I have no idea," she said slowly, watching the tea and making a noise of complaint as Remus grabbed the mug and took a sip, grinning as she glared. "I hope you catch something from my spit. That was gingerbread tea too."

"Yeah, and now I see why you like it," he said before handing it back to her.

"I don't want it now," she said with a huff as she sat up to pour it out, "You've gotten your werewolf germs all over it."

Remus froze and grimaced at her back, making her turn back around to blink at him after she'd poured out the tea before she grimaced too.

"I was joking," she stated with very wide eyes, "Remus, you know I didn't mean it like that."

"Yeah," he said, trying to smile a little, but seeing that she didn't buy it.

"Remus, honestly, I could care less," she insisted, leaning a little against the counter, "Ginny takes my stuff and drinks from it and I say she's gotten 'ginger germs' all over it. Harry takes my stuff and I say he's given me his awkwardness around women. I only joked about it because I thought you were alright with it, like you were okay with it being a joking matter, but I – "

"Hermione," he stopped her little rant with a small grin, "James, Sirius and Peter have joked about it plenty of times, I am certainly alright with it being the topic of a joke. I just thought you were serious for a minute."

"Oh," she deflated slightly, blinking a little, "Well, I wasn't."

"I know," he nodded with a grin, walking past and ruffling her wet hair with a grin, "That's why you're brilliant." He then made a face and wiped his hand off on her shirt, "Eww, Granger germs!"

"Oy!" she called out with a grin, punching his arm as he laughed.

Hi! Sorry it's taken me forever to update – I have rehearsals every week, and then schoolwork, and it just takes up a lot of time. But the last day of school (and the day of my mother's surgery – yipe!) is the 24th, so I should have some time after that.