AN: Almost 300 followers! WOW. Sorry if it's annoying how excited I get, but I seriously never expected this response. I'm so redundant lol.

Remember when I was excited about 20? I sure do.

WARNING: This chapter is why this fic was rated M. I don't typically right smut (like ever).

Disclaimer: Don't own anything!

Chapter Twenty-One: Birthday

Hermione had scowled when her and Lily had been brushing their teeth the muggle way next to each other that morning and Hermione had noticed the clear differences in their appearances. Lily had somehow evaded bed head while the bun on top of Hermione's head was the very definition of the phrase.

Hermione was wearing her pajama shorts and one of James's old Quidditch jerseys. Lily was wearing a fitted tank and plaid pants.

When they came downstairs and sat down for breakfast, all three boys had stopped mid-grape throw and stared at them. Remus's sensitive mind immediately went to the thought that girls always seemed to look more beautiful to him, Hermione specifically, in the morning when they were natural and messy. Sirius and James's mind went down a much darker path.

Charlus had looked between the girls and the boys in confusion, and Dorea had smiled knowingly.

James couldn't look away from Lily who was serenely buttering a slice of toast and doing a fine job of pretending like he didn't exist.

Sirius's eyes were glazed as he imagined Hermione wearing a jersey with, 'BLACK' on the back rather than, 'POTTER.'"

Remus was smiling dazedly to himself as he fixed Hermione's tea and the vision of Hermione walking in in a large Quidditch Jersey with her messy hair and bleary eyes played on replay in his brain.

"Good morning!" Lily said pleasantly. She primly put the cloth napkin in her lap and poured herself a cup of pumpkin juice. She smiled happily at Dorea and Charlus and said, "Thank you so much for having me in your home! It's lovely."

Dorea smiled approvingly at her. "Anytime, dear."

Hermione grumbled under her breath and blew one of her wayward curls from her eyes.

"Did you have fun last night, Lily?" Lily's eyes shot up to Charlus's genuinely innocent face and blushed madly.

"Yes, it was a lot of fun. Thank you for inviting me."

"Yes, well both of our children are quite taken with you."

Hermione smiled secretly and looked up at James who was still staring intently at Lily.

"Jamie, your food is getting cold."

Sirius snorted.

Lily left shortly after, but not before she told Hermione that kissing James on the cheek was a mistake because now he was never going to leave her alone.

Hermione had just smiled at her knowingly and pushed her into the floo.

A few days later Hermione spent the entire train ride asleep on Remus's shoulder, happier than she'd been in a long time.

Hermione had been reading a novel in bed when she felt the galleon she kept shrunken in a locket charm on her bracelet warm up.

Regulus. Hermione immediately set her novel aside and popped the charm open.

When she pulled out the galleon and returned it to its regular size she saw the small words inscribed on the coin.

Astronomy Tower.

Hermione didn't even bother with shoes or a cloak as she disillusioned herself and quickly made her way to where they had first talked before break. When she made it she found Regulus in the exact place he'd been last time.

Hermione removed the disillusionment charm and cast a Muffiato.

"Regulus?"

He slowly turned and looked at her. He took one look at her large jumper, pajama shorts, and fuzzy socks and raised his eyebrows.

"You're going to catch your death out here like that, Pet."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Not a pet, Regulus."

He smirked in a way that reminded her so much of Sirius that she had to physically take a step back. "You know, the nickname isn't going anywhere. You might as well get used to it."

Hermione sighed and stepped up to stand next to him close to the edge.

"You going to jump? We could do it together."

Hermione looked up at him with narrowed eyes, "I don't partake in dark humor."

"You wouldn't."

She looked him over. He was still in his uniform, and she noticed sadly that it hung limply on his form. He was wearing an expensive looking black cloak, and he had deep bags under his eyes.

"Now who isn't taking care of themself."

Regulus smiled sadly at her and said, "Yes, well, it seems we're both piss poor at that." The corners of her mouth twitched and she turned to look out over the grounds.

"What happened when you went home, Regulus?"

Instead of saying anything, Regulus held out his left arm and rolled his sleeve up. Hermione forced herself to stare at the dark mark that stood in stark contrast to his pale skin and started blinking rapidly. She let out a sob and reached up to pull his sleeve down.

"Bloody Gryffindors," Regulus said softly.

"I'm sorry. I should've gotten you out of there. I should've forced you to come with me to the Potter's."

"You could've tried, but there was nothing you could've done that would've worked."

Hermione looked up at him and choked on her tears when she whispered, "I'm going to help you." He looked down at her intensely.

"How?"

Hermione wiped her eyes and pulled away. "I don't know yet."

Regulus laughed humorlessly at her and pulled away. He took a few deep breaths and when he turned to look at her again she could see the poorly masked rage in his expression.

"How do I know you aren't working for them? That this isn't some messed up ploy from the Dark Lord! That he isn't testing my loyalty?"

"I'm not!"

"How do I know!"

The paranoid and mad boy from before break was there. He looked scared and anxious. His eyes drifted down to her left arm like he could see a Dark Mark through the fabric. She glared at him and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I'm not working for him, and I may not be sure how to get you out, but what I am sure of, is what it takes to kill Voldemort. And that is my plan."

Regulus's eyes widened and he shook his head. "You can't." He gestured to her, "You're just a sixteen year old girl who doesn't eat and befriends outcasts! Don't look me in the eye like that and tell me you can take down one of the darkest wizards of all time!" He stepped close to her and his eyes looked dark and dangerous. "Don't insult me like this. I don't even know why I am bothering to talk to you."

He started to walk away when Hermione said, "Ever heard of Horcruxes, Regulus?"

He froze, and she could see all the muscles in his body tense like he was preparing for an attack.

"I'm sure you have. I've seen the library at Grimmauld Place, and I have read the books in there. Two in particular stand out in my memory. Did you read Magick Moste Evile? What about Secrets of the Darkest Art?"

Regulus spun and gave her a maddened look that made him look more like he belonged in the Black family than he ever had before. "How have you been in Grimmauld Place? It's warded against-"

"Mudbloods?" Hermione finished for him with a sneer.

She stepped up to him until they were only a foot away.

"Voldemort made six. I have two so far. I know what the other four are, and where they are. I have the means to destroy them, so you need to stop insulting me."

Regulus stared at her with an unidentifiable look in his eye. Her scowl dropped and the same devastated expression from before returned.

"I can't get you out now." He seemed to slowly deflate at that. "What I can do is end this war."

When he looked back into her eyes this time, she could tell that he believed her.

"That's where you come in, Regulus."

He frowned down at her and said quietly, "So I go from being used by the Dark Lord to being used by you? No thanks, Pet. I'll suffer alone."

"I'm not using you," she insisted. He gave her an incredulous look, so she continued, "If you choose to continue on alone, you will force yourself into isolation. The only being you'll ever feel close to again will be your house-elf, Kreacher. You'll do everything your Dark Lord says, until one day he asks for use of your elf. Kreacher will return delirious and nearly dead, and that's when you'll discover that Voldemort used him to test his protective measures on one of the Horcruxes. You'll do your own research, find out what truly has to happen to split your soul and be sickened. You won't be content anymore in silently taking his orders, and you'll decide to go after it on your own. You'll die."

Regulus was shocked into silence by her words. He had grown more and more pale with every word that came out of her mouth. She wasn't supposed to know these things. She was just supposed to be an annoying Gryffindor bleeding heart. He'd had his suspicions about the odd witch who had appeared out of nowhere one day, but this took it to an entirely new level.

"I won't be using you. I have all the information I need, I can do it alone." Hermione paused and blinked a few times before saying strongly, "But I don't want to do it alone. And I don't want you to die, Regulus Black."

Regulus sounded tortured when he asked quietly, "Why wouldn't you want me to die, Hermione? You have no idea what I have done." He pointed at his arm. "You have no idea what I had to do to please my parents. What I had to do to get this burned into my arm." Hermione thought of the raid in the Muggle village that had been splashed across the Prophet.

She shook her head. "I know that you didn't want to do those things. I know that you have been forced into this terrible situation where you felt you had no choice. I am giving you a choice." She smiled up at him, "And I don't want you to die because I'm a bloody Gryffindor, and I'd like to think we're friends."

He smiled then. "I don't have friends."

Hermione cocked her head to the side. "Acquaintances?"

Regulus paused and took a moment to sort out his own mind. He didn't know why, she had presented no evidence, but for some reason, he believed every word that came from her mouth. There was something about Hermione that just fostered blind faith.

But Regulus didn't do blind faith. He didn't do faith, period. He made decisions based on research, facts, and deep-seated loyalty. He'd thought loyalty to his family, the Great and Noble House of Black, would serve him well, and now he had a great shame burned into his skin forever. He looked down at the small witch in front of him and surprised himself when he found he trusted her to be loyal to him. He trusted her to save him from this dark and twisted path his familial loyalty had taken him down. But most importantly, he trusted her to never betray him.

It was with that unsettling feeling on his mind that he asked the next question.

"How does partners sound, pet?"

Hermione, indeed, caught her death by meeting Regulus in the Astronomy Tower in the middle of the night in the form of a muggle cold. She spent all week sneezing, achy, and extremely irritable much to the concern of the Marauders and Lily.

Regulus had sent her a package of tissues through the school owls with a note that said:

Told you so, Pet.

She'd responded by transfiguring the Galleon to say:

Not friends my arse.

After that they hardly spoke.

January and February passed in a blur which Hermione happily spent studying for OWLs. Something she had seriously neglected to do all year.

On the night of Remus's birthday, March 10, Sirius, James, and Peter decided to throw a party in the Gryffindor common room where every member of the house older than a Fourth Year, save Remus, Hermione, and Lily, got royally pissed. Remus, Lily, and Hermione had opted out based on the fact that Remus's birthday fell on a Wednesday, and Hermione suspected that Remus was still feeling ill after the Full Moon the previous weekend.

Once the festivities began to die down, and James had proposed to Lily thrice, the Gryffindors began to slowly stumble up to their beds.

Once it was just Remus and Hermione in the common room, she had looked over at him and smiled nervously.

"I have a surprise for you, Remus."

Remus had spent the past two weeks begging his friends not to get him presents, and, of course, none of the Marauders had listened. Remus now had a stack of new books, a new cloak, and a truly gigantic pile of sweets to his name.

Remus glanced at her with a small smile on his face. He gently took hold of her elbows and pulled her so that she was on his lap on the couch. He tucked her hair behind her ears, and gave her a questioning look.

"I didn't want to give it to you in front of everyone." She chewed on her bottom lip anxiously, and he responded by doing what he always did and carefully pulled her lip out with his thumb.

"Why are you so nervous, love?"

Hermione glanced around the common room before jumping to her feet and pulling him with her. Remus could feel his heart pounding erratically in his chest as she led him to her room and quickly shut the door behind her. He sat down on the bed and watched her as she took a few steps to stand in front of him.

She'd been working on this since the beginning of the year and had perfected it at the beginning of the semester, but had been waiting for the perfect time to show him.

She gave him a shy smile before shutting her eyes, concentrating, and shifting into a Lynx right in front of him.

Remus's eyes widened before he broke into the biggest grin she had seen from him since New Years.

He laughed joyfully when the small wildcat jumped on the bed and did a few circles before sitting down right next to him. The Lynx was beautiful. It had sandy brown fur with dark spots like a leopard and large pointy ears, but the eyes, they were Hermione's deep chocolate brown.

He reached out and touched her soft ears lightly and the large cat purred into his hand.

"Hermione… you're bloody brilliant." He ran a hand down the spine of the cat, and smiled even bigger somehow when the animal shivered. "This is why I love you," he said without thinking. As soon as the words left his mouth the Lynx's sharp eyes looked up at him and Remus's widened. He squeezed his shut as tight as he could and held his breath.

He'd known he'd loved her since New Years Eve. He'd suspected before then, but then he'd seen her in that dress and watched her with those kids, and he just knew. He'd wanted to tell her right then, but he'd been scared. Then she'd gone off with Lily and gotten drunk on champagne and for two months after that everytime she did anything that made him think about how much he loved her, he'd decided that the moment wasn't right. The moment had to be perfect because Hermione was perfect. And now here he was saying it to the small wild cat in front of him and not the human form of his girlfriend. He let out a breath and dropped his head in his hands.

"Don't say anything," he begged. Then he groaned in frustration and added, "I mean you can't because you're a bloody cat right now, but when you turn back don't say anything." He sighed and looked at Hermione, who still hadn't transformed back to a human and continued, "I meant it, okay? I love you, but I wanted to say it to you in a perfect way. Maybe on an actual date or maybe not a night where you've shown me this bloody amazing thing you've done to aid the monster on full moons." He growled out. "You don't have to love me back. I figured you don't, but I do love you, Hermione. I'm not expecting anything truly, I just…"

Before he could keep rambling and make even more of a mess of himself, Hermione climbed into his lap and transformed back into a human.

When she was herself again she was straddling him, and staring right at him with her big, warm, tear-filled, eyes and holding on to him like she never planned on letting go.

"Of course, I love you," she breathed out to him.

He stared at her in shock before pulling her so that she was pressed so close to him that nothing could come between.

"You mean it?" He asked in a timid voice. Before she could answer he whispered, "Because I am completely in love with you, and weak, and my heart wouldn't be able to take it if you said that to me and didn't mean it."

Hermione pressed a kiss behind his ear before speaking against it so that every word caused her lips to feather across the skin there, "I mean it with every part of me, Remus John Lupin."

He let out a breath of air and with it left all the anxieties he'd had about the strength of his own feelings, and when he breathed back in he could feel that same heart-wrenching, pounding feeling he always got around his witch.

Without words he carefully maneuvered them, so that they were laying on the bed with Remus on top of her. He took a moment to just look at her.

"I love you," he whispered before leaning down and capturing her lips in the most searing kiss he'd ever had in his life.

He pulled away and said again, "I love you," before pressing an open mouthed kiss to her jaw.

"I love you," he moved lower and pressed a kiss on the side of her neck and Hermione gasped and arched into him.

He said it over and over as he kissed down to the neckline of her sweater. He reached for the hem and looked at her in a silent question. She nodded smally at him, and he began to pull it up at a torturous pace. His knuckles skimmed over the skin of her torso, leaving a trail of goosebumps in their wake. Once it was off completely he looked down at her and could see the nervousness in her eyes. It was the first time he would be seeing the white criss crossed scars across her abdomen from dark curses.

"The scars… they're-"

"Beautiful," he interrupted. He slid down her body and began to kiss every one of the scars littering her skin with faithful attention, and her eyes began to water.

"I love you, Remus." She choked out.

That seemed to be too much for him and he pulled up to look at her. His hands moved up her ribs and stopped at the edge of her white lace bra.

"Say it again, Hermione."

She smiled at him when she whispered, "I love you."

His lips crashed onto hers and his hands moved so that they were carefully cupping her breasts through the fabric. Her fingers found the hem of his shirt and she started tugging it up. Remus pulled away to allow her to pull it off.

When her fingers traced the scars on him and she said, "Yours are beautiful too, Remus," he felt his last bit of restraint snap. He reached around for the clasp of her bra, the whole time his lips refused to leave hers. Her legs wrapped around his hips, and she pulled him down closer. When his arousal rubbed against her center she moaned into his mouth and he pulled back to look at her.

"Hermione, are you…"

"I'm sure," she said breathlessly.

She reached for her wand on her bedside table as Remus unclasped her bra and took one of her nipples in his mouth. She cried out at the sensation and then quickly cast the contraceptive charm that Marlene had forced Lily and Hermione to learn a couple months ago. She also locked and silenced the room before her hands went down to the button of his trousers, and she tugged them undone.

She used her feet to push them down his legs before Remus broke away to kick them off. When they got stuck around one of his ankles, Hermione covered her mouth with her hand and giggled.

He finally got them off and turned back to her with that mischievous expression of his that always left no doubt in her mind that he was a Marauder.

"You'll pay for that, witch."

Hermione raised an eyebrow, but her expression changed completely when he reached down and pulled her trousers and knickers off in one go, and suddenly he was touching her in a place that she had never even dared to touch herself before. She bucked against his hand and gasped out, "Oh, Merlin!"

Remus had never even kissed a girl until Hermione. He was going purely on what his instincts were telling him and Hermione's reactions.

He smiled against her neck before beginning to suck on the skin there.

Hermione could hardly breathe with all the feelings rushing through her. She could feel this tension coiling in her stomach as Remus slowly pushed one finger into her and rubbed circles with his thumb against her most sensitive spot. She was sure she was close to release when she reached up and tugged Remus's boxers off quickly and her small fingers wrapped around his length. Remus groaned, and Hermione felt the vibrations through her body. She experimentally moved her hand up and down and when Remus's hips shot forward, she assumed she must be doing something right.

Remus grabbed her wrist and said huskily, "I won't last if you keep that up, love."

Hermione moved her legs to wrap around his hips again and slowly guided his tip against her entrance with her hand.

Remus's fingers were bruising on her hips when he lifted his head to look at her.

"Are you sure?"

She smiled up at him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I love you, Remus. I'm sure."

He couldn't take it anymore and he quickly thrust into her.

Hermione cried out in a mixture of pain and something else, and Remus pressed gentle kisses along her jaw and up her cheek where a few tears had leaked out.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Hermione."

Hermione gave herself a moment to adjust before she rocked her hips experimentally and tightened her legs around him. Remus moaned before pressing his lips against the corner of her mouth.

"I love you," he whispered.

Hermione rocked her hips again and said quietly, "Move, Remus."

He needed no further urging and slowly began to move inside of her. She was tightening painfully around him, and Remus knew he wouldn't last very much longer. One of his hands left her hip and moved back to that sweet spot that had her gasping earlier.

She moaned and gasped out, "Remus," and he swore it was the sweetest noise he'd ever heard. She smelled like she had on New Year's Eve, and she looked so beautiful beneath him, and she loved him. When her fingernails dug into the skin at his shoulder blades and she cried out his name before quivering around him, Remus followed her over the edge and thrust into her one more time.

They were both breathing heavily when she gentled her touch and ghosted her fingers across his spine. He pulled out and collapsed beside her before pulling her body close to his and pressing kisses all over her face. She giggled against his chin, and he pulled away to look at her.

"You're perfect," he sighed against her cheek before collapsing on his back in exhaustion.

She wrapped one arm across his torso and lay her cheek against his chest right before Remus reached over and pulled the thick comforter over the both of them.

"That was perfect, Remus."

He took a moment to smile smugly to himself before he realized something. "You can never tell your brother, Hermione. He would kill me."

Remus felt her laugh reverberate through his body and he smiled down at the top of her messy curls.

"If you want this to keep happening, you have to agree to never bring up Jamie when I am in bed with you."

Remus's eyes widened and he pulled her tighter against him. "Okay. Never again. Promise." She pressed a kiss against the skin right above his heart, and Remus wondered if she could hear how fast his heart was still beating.

She sighed dreamily and he listened devotedly to the sounds of her breath slowly evening out as she fell asleep.

Remus drifted off sometime later trying to imagine if it was in any way possible for him to have a better birthday than this.

He seriously doubted it.

Hermione's eyes blinked open slowly.

Remus could feel her lashes butterflying against his bare chest. His hand went to her curls, and he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. She stretched her body against his and he groaned.

"Hermione, you can't do that."

She looked up at him blearily and blushed. When she bit her lip and smiled, Remus didn't think he could ever be as happy as he was in that moment. "I suppose I should go back to my room before they wake up and realize I'm not there."

She crossed her arms across his chest and rested her chin on her hands. She looked into Remus's spring green eyes and smiled secretively.

"I love you, Remus."

That would be the fifth time she'd said she loved him, and he still couldn't believe it. He was keeping count in his mind.

"I love you too," he whispered.

Just then there was a knock on the door and before Hermione could say anything a very flustered Lily flew into the room with a stack of notes.

"Hermione, I'm freaking out about the History of Magic exam today, I don't know what…"

She trailed off when she finally looked up to a blushing Remus with Hermione hiding under the covers on top of him.

"Oh my god!"

Lily dropped her notes all over the floor and put her hand over her mouth. She giggled behind her hand and Remus turned even more red.

Lily pointed at Remus and then pointed at the lump that she guessed was Hermione. Remus wasn't wearing a shirt, and she could see discarded clothes on the floor including a pair of forest green boxers and one of Hermione's white lace bra.

When she finally looked back at the mortified Remus it was to Hermione slowly emerging from the blanket with a nervous look. She had love-bites on her neck and her hair was all over the place.

"Hey, Lils…"

Lily giggled again and pointed between the two of them before raising her eyebrows.

"Happy birthday, Remus, am I right?"

AN: Regulus's story always makes me so sad.