Chapter 21

Hermione refused to scream but let out a loud sigh as the pain finally disappeared. She lay panting on the floor, too sore and tired to move. Tom brushed a few soft curls from her face, but Hermione's entire body was still aching otherwise she might have seen the strange...almost caring look in his eyes.

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Tom slipped a hand under Hermione's neck and lifted her lips to his. Pictures of Remus swam through Hermione's mind as she felt a warm pair of lips make contact with hers. With the image of Remus's kind, smiling face in front of her, Hermione kissed back. Tom was a little surprised at first, but soon realized that Hermione was in a daze and probably didn't know what she was doing. Her lips slowly parted for him as their tongues gently danced together. Hermione raised a delicate hand and ran it through Tom's shiny black hair as Tom put his hand behind Hermione, pulling her up onto his lap, his grip strong and possessive. Hermione placed her hand on a broad, muscular shoulder as a strong hand pulled her closer to a warm body. She let out a soft moan as the lips left her mouth and trailed down her neck to her shoulder. Tom planned on taking full advantage of Hermione's temporarily disorientated state. Warm tingles went through his body wherever she touched him. She lolled her head to one side, letting Tom (who she thought was Remus) kiss further up her neck.

"Remus," Hermione breathed lightly. The name made Tom stop and let out a low growl. The sound seemed to snap Hermione out of her daze; she blinked several times and quickly realized whose arms she was in. Hermione tried to free herself of Tom's grip, but he held her on his lap.

"His name's Remus is it?" Tom asked dangerously. Hermione didn't answer she just continued to struggle in Tom's arms, much to his amusement. "Finally a name to go with the muzzle," Hermione glared at him. Tom just continued to smile, enjoying the sensation of having Hermione in his arms.

"Let me go," Hermione finally said. Tom cocked an eyebrow.

"You didn't have a problem with me holding you a few minutes ago,"

"That's because I thought you were Remus," she spat.

"Well if that works for you...," Tom smirked, grabbing Hermione's forearm and bringing her closer. She put her hand on his chest and pushed away, Tom chuckled. "Why fight this?"

"Just let me go,"

"Whatever you want," Tom slowly released Hermione and she stood up quickly, moving away from Tom.

"Please open the door," she said not looking at him.

"Of course," The doors creaked open with a wave of Tom's hand. Hermione walked straight for them, but was stopped by an arm blocking the doorway. She looked up at Tom, who advanced quickly, trapping Hermione against the wall. His other arm stopped her from moving away and he leant in close, his lips lightly brushing her ear.

"But soon you will stop resisting, you'll give into temptation and join me," he whispered deeply, sending shivers down Hermione's spine.

"Never," she hissed.

"Oh Hermione," Tom brushed a few of her curls form her shoulder and laughed quietly. "You're going to fold, you won't be able to resist my call. You are going to give in to me and...You will be mine," Hermione gasped and stared at Tom for a few seconds before ducking under his arm and running down the hall. Tom watched her, smiling.

Hermione ran into her room and dropped onto the soft bed. She pulled her knees to her chest and tried to make sense of the millions of thoughts racing through her mind.

Join him? What did he mean by join him? Resist his call? I have got to get out of here! Hermione thought, fiddling with a lock of her hair. It was then she realized she hadn't seen Remus yet. She jumped up and ran out of her room and to the pine door next to it. She turned the handle and was surprised to find it was unlocked. Hermione slowly pushed the door open, stepped in and closed the door behind her. She walked quickly up to Remus and started down at his peaceful face. She smiled and ran her hand down his face gently, he slowly shifted and his eyes fluttered open. Hermione gasped and she rested her warm hand on his face.

"Hey," she whispered. Remus smiled and very shakily raised his hand to Hermione's.

"Hi...What are you doing here?" Remus asked, taking Hermione's hand from his face and holding it firmly in his.

"I just wanted to...to make sure you were alright," Hermione fought back tears looking at his battered state. Remus must have noticed.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm so sorry," A few tears spilt free.

"For what?" Remus held Hermione's hand tighter, holding her gaze.

"You're only here because of me," she whispered, her eyes pleading for forgiveness.

"Hermione," Remus's voice had a kind honestly to it. "If there was ever anything worth suffering and fighting this hard for...it's you," Hermione beamed at Remus. He slowly sat himself up in the bed and motioned for Hermione to sit with him. She sat next to him on the bed and her entire body tingled warmly as a gentle, yet strong arm wrapped around her waist. Hermione sighed, she suddenly felt safer than she ever had. She leant back a little and rested against Remus's firm chest.

"I'm going to get you out of here Hermione...I promise," Remus purred in her ear.

"I know you will," Hermione turned just enough so that she was facing Remus. He put his free hand behind her neck and slowly leant closer. Remus looked into Hermione's cinnamon brown eyes and smiled. His soft lips reached Hermione's. Her whole body shivered, not with repulsion and fear like she did with Tom, but with something else...something warmer. She smiled against his lips and relaxed into his body, letting him wrap his arm tighter around her as he ran his tongue along her soft lip. Almost nervously, Hermione parted her lips and Remus's tongue gently caressed her own. She let out a light moan as he pulled her closer to his scarred, muscular body. They both reluctantly pulled away and Hermione looked down, almost shyly. Remus smiled, he couldn't believe how beautiful she was and how perfectly she fit into his arms.

"I'm sleepy," Remus muttered.

"Oh of course," Hermione said quickly. "I'll go," She went to stand up.

"Don't you dare," Remus laughed, pulling Hermione back onto the bed. She laughed and just let him hold her.

"Well how are you going to sleep?" Hermione giggled.

"With you next to me," he whispered. Hermione blushed and Remus laughed. He moved across as Hermione lay next to him. They both laid on their sides, facing each other. Remus placed a hand on Hermione's hip and rested the other just above her head as he played with her hair lovingly. Hermione left a hand on Remus's side and the other on his muscular chest. They just started into each other's eyes, smiling. Finally Remus pulled her closer and she rested her head on his chest. Remus kissed the top of her head and ran his fingers up and down her side softly.

"Want to hear something weird?" she asked quietly.

"Always,"

"Even though we are in this place, with Voldemort just down that hall...I've never been happier,"

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Sirius came tumbling out of the fireplace in Professor Dumbledore's office, much to the shock of the headmaster and James. It took a minute for James to realize that the coughing ball of soot was his best friend.

"Sirius!" James dropped beside his friend and embraced him like a brother.

"James! You got out alive!" Sirius said, laughing.

"Of course I did," James said, faking insult. Sirius grinned as his messy haired friend helped him to his feet. Dumbledore was also on his feet, smiling down at the boy. He performed a quick charm and cleaned the black dirt from Sirius's face and robes.

"Thanks sir," Sirius said as he sat in the chair facing Dumbledore's desk. The headmaster poured a glass of water and handed it to Sirius, who drank it in one gulp. Dumbledore smiled and refilled it.

"How...how...," James stuttered, sitting next to Sirius. Sirius put the glass down abruptly, anger surging through his veins. James jumped a little and put a hand on his friends shoulder.

"Sirius," Dumbledore said gently. Sirius looked up and the old man knew immediately that he was furious. "What happened?"

"That bastard," Sirius seethed, jumping up suddenly, pacing wildly. "How could he? What was he thinking?"

"What...who?" James watched his ranting friend.

"That git!"

"What git?"

"REMUS!" Sirius bellowed, making James freeze as Dumbledore just watched him calmly.

"R-R-R-Remus?" James finally stumbled.

"Yes," Sirius hissed.

"What about Mr. Lupin, Sirius?" Dumbledore purred, soothing Sirius's nerves with his soft, wise voice. Sirius stopped his wild pacing and just stood still, running a hand roughly through his hair.

"He just...he...how could he?" Sirius ranted again.

"Please sit," Dumbledore motioned to the chair in front of him. Sirius huffed and plunked down in the chair. "Have a drink," Dumbledore pushed the water glass towards him. Sirius drank and could feel himself calming. "Now please...tell us what happened,"

"I was asleep...We had just been attacked by Death Eaters and so Remus told me to sleep and he would stay awake to warn me if they came back. Serves me right for listening to him. Last thing I remember was climbing into bed and the next thing I know I'm floating in the middle of the air," Sirius said, going over the whole thing in his mind.

"Floating?" James interrupted.

"Yeah, Remus was standing in the window, levitating me towards the Keeper's Shed," Sirius said, a touch of anger creeping back into his voice.

"And then what, Mr. Black?" Dumbledore said quietly.

"He sent me through the shed window and the spell was lifted. I knew if I went back inside they would probably kill me so I came here," Sirius finished. "How could he?"

"What do you mean?" James cried. "He saved your life,"

"Mr. Potter...," Dumbledore started.

"No!" James said, jumping to his feet. "How dare you sit here and bad mouth Remus when he just saved your life?"

"For god sake James!" Sirius yelled also getting to his feet. "You know him just as well as I do, figure it out!"

"Oh right I get it, he stopped you from being tortured and murdered by a bunch of Death Eaters! What a prick!"

"That's not why I'm mad and you know it!"

"No I don't know it! What right do you have to be mad?" James yelled back. Meanwhile Dumbledore just watched the argument unfold between the two friends.

"Think about it!" Sirius screamed.

"I am! I don't get it!" James said, almost pleading now. "Why are you so angry?!"

"What do you think Riddle and his minions are going to do when they realize I'm gone? Huh?!" Sirius demanded.

"I...," James started, but Sirius cut him off.

"Do you think they're just going to say 'Oh one of them escaped that's a laugh?' NO! They are going to know at the very least Remus helped me!"

"I'm sure he knew that before he did it," James said his tone still angry, but softer.

"EXACTLY!" Sirius bellowed making James shake a little.

"Sirius...I don't...I don't understand," James said now talking quieter.

"The git set himself up to be killed!" Sirius paused as his own words sunk in. His voice was quiet and shaking as tears welled up in his worried eyes. "He's going to die,"

"N-n-no...he can't," James stuttered, finally realizing why Sirius was mad. In order to save Sirius, Remus had sacrificed his own life.

"He won't," Dumbledore's voice washed over the two broken boys.

"He won't?" Sirius repeated, frowning.

"No," Dumbledore stood up and grabbed a green and blue traveling cloak from a hook and slipped it on. James and Sirius just watched as he grabbed his wand and turned back to them. "I'm going to check on Severus and Lucius and then I need a word with a few people, I will return by morning," He said, waving his wand to make two red sleeping bags appear. "You may stay here tonight," He bowed to them both and left in a swirl of green, blue and silver robes. James and Sirius said nothing as they transfigured their robes into pajamas and climbed into the matching bags.

"James?" Sirius's voice broke the silence.

"Yeah?"

"Do you remember our first trip to platform nine and three quarters?"

"Yeah, how could I forget?" James laughed. "It's when we all first met,"

"Do you remember how we met?"

"You and I met because I ran into you coming through the barrier," James giggled.

"So we decided to find a compartment together," Sirius continued the story. "But there were no empty ones so we decided to share one with a skinny kid who was reading,"

"We didn't even see his face for about two hours into the trip,"

"Then a little fat kid joined us, said no one else would let him in their compartments," Sirius laughed at the memory of the young, rejected Peter Pettigrew.

"Then we got bored and so we started playing the dare game," James rolled over to face Sirius. "And I bet Peter he couldn't grab a leaf from one of the trees we were passing,"

"So the idiot tried," Sirius cackled.

"And he got stuck in the window...and neither of us could get him out," James was nearly in tears from laughing. They both laughed together for a few minutes. When they finally stopped, needing to catch their breath, a strange looked passed over Sirius's face.

"So we asked the skinny kid to help us...," He said with a small smile.

"He just looked up, laughed, flicked his wand at Peter and he popped out of the window and back into his seat," James finished, thinking of the day they first met Remus Lupin.

"He's always been the one who fixed whatever we broke, righted our wrongs," Sirius laughed weakly.

"Our guardian wizard in a way," James whispered. Neither boy spoke for a while as they were both lost in their own thoughts and memories of the pale, thin, quiet, kind-faced boy they respected and came to love so much.

"Sirius?"

"Yeah?"

"If Remus dies...,"

"Hell will freeze over first,"