The short trip to the kitchen was tense and silent. Hermione planned to focus on her excitement on seeing Ron and his family. It sounded good in her head, but to actually do it was taking all of her concentration. She wanted to yell, demand an explanation, and tell Remus about her summer. In other words, she wanted to be friends again.

They finally reached the kitchen and Hermione was blessedly able to forget about Remus and instead devote her attention to everyone else in the room. The 'kitchen' was really indeed a very large kitchen but it had a big buffet-style dining table in the center of it making it the dining room as well. Ron, Ginny, Molly and Arthur Weasley were there, along with a few people Hermione didn't recognize, such as a thin, pixie looking woman with short and spiky purple hair and a disgusting looking old man. The 'real' Alastor Moody was there, and surprisingly Professor Snape as well.

Ginny, ever the observant one, saw her right away and smiled and called out to her.

"Hermione!"

It caught everyone's attention and right away she became the center of attention. It helped with ignoring Remus.

"Hermione dear!" Molly rushed towards her and engulfed her in one of her famous 'Molly Weasley Hugs' before she hustled her to the table and rushed around preparing a plate of snacks. She put the plate in front of Hermione and stood there until she took at least one bite. Hermione had to admit that the little sandwiches and small sausages were quite delicious.

Ginny plopped into a chair next to her, and presumed to fill her in on what was going on.

"So let me give you a rundown on everything there is to know," Ginny the ever blunt and right to the point one, "So as you know, Moody is part of the Order, and surprisingly enough Snape is an Order member too. That ugly looking old man over is Mundungus Fletcher. He's a wretched thing, and we all call him 'Dung'. He could care less. That...woman there with the horrid hair cut is Nymphadora Tonks. She prefers to be called Tonks, but I call her Nymphadora sometimes to annoy her. She's an Auror. Apparently, she's Lupin's ex, and the way they parted was very...bad."

That caught Hermione's attention. Remus and Tonks were in a relationship the last time she had spoken to him, but she never knew fate of it.

"What do you mean?"

"Ok, so from what I heard, they broke up because Tonks was jealous, or something, and Tonks got really horrid. We don't like her. She treats us condescendingly, as if we don't know anything. Fred and George are actually inventing pranks, just for her. Just wait, once you meet her face to face and try to have a conversation, you'll see why we don't like her."

By the time Hermione finished her snacks, Ginny and Ron had filled her in on everything about the goings on at Grimmauld place. Hermione felt a bit disappointed that she wouldn't be allowed to participate in the Order meetings, but what really worried her was what Ron called the 'Rule of Secrecy'. Apparently, they weren't allowed to even mention the Order in passing to Harry. They weren't allowed to tell him anything at all.

'He's going to find out. He always finds out. It's not right that we have to hide things from him.'

She didn't want to know how Harry would react, after all, he did have a temper.

Sirius and Dumbledore came into the room and with a pointed look at the three teens, sat at the head of the table. As they were filing out, Sirius put a hand on Hermione's wrist, stopping her.

"You know, I do have a quite interesting library here. You're welcome to poke around, it's on the first floor so it'll be easy to find," he winked. Hermione beamed in excitement and thanked him. He smiled back at her, with a peculiar smug look on his face before he turned away. Hermione went on to find the library.

OOO

'Mine! No one touches Mine! My scent, my female, MINE!'

Remus was left trying not to growl and snarl at his best friend. Or rip his throat out.

'Quit it Moony!'

'Mine.' He grumbled. Remus was worried about the implications of his...feelings. The Wolf inside him was turning out to be way too possessive of Hermione to be normal.

'Hermione.'

Even though it had been months since he had written to her, it was a different thing to see her in the flesh.

'Flesh...'

Hermione had grown so much into herself, and that was because she was only fifteen. When he first saw her in the foyer his body thrummed, his heart stuttered and began to thunder, and the wolf inside him growled. She had shown up in tight jeans and a very form-fitting pink t-shirt and trainers. She looked completely muggle and alluring, and he had to chastise himself for the thoughts she brought forth to his mind. Her hair had tamed into luscious natural curls, her face had slimmed and she had a confident look about her. Her scent, however, was still the same as ever. He was glad.

His heart continue to thunder while he also felt an incredible amount of guilt and sadness to the point the wolf whimpered as he walked beside her, leading her to the basement kitchen.

He knew why she was so curt and cold with him. It was what he did to her, last school year. He had chosen to stop writing to her, thinking that it was the right thing to do. He had basically broke off their friendship. She was angry at him, and it was understandable. While they had walked, Remus had resolved to speak to her at some point, to explain himself. She deserved at least that much. He was a mature adult. He could handle a conversation with her.

Even though they were no longer friends, it apparently didn't stop the jealous feelings that rose up inside him when he saw Sirius grasp her wrist and wink at her. The nerve. Sirius could flirt with whomever he wanted, except for her. Hermione was off limits, and he'd make sure that Sirius knew that.

He couldn't wait to talk to her. He could skip this one meeting intentionally, just this once.

He rose from his seat and headed towards the library. Sure enough, she was there, already halfway through a thick tome. He walked closer and drew in a breath so that he could let her know he was there, but he didn't need to.

"Yes? Is the meeting over?" Hermione looked up at him and the light in her eyes dimmed.

"Oh, it's you. Don't you have a top secret meeting to be at?"

Hermione continued to read and ignored him.

Rems sighed and pulled up a chair and sat in front of her. He looked at her for a few minutes, observed her. Her brow was furrowed, and her heart was pounding. So she wasn't as unaffected as he thought.

"Hermione, could we please talk?" He asked with slight exasperation. She looked up at him,

"Oh, so now you want to talk?" she bit out. "No thank you."

"Please Hermione. Just hear me out, and then, if you still...dislike me, then I'll leave you alone. I promise."

"...I don't dislike you. I just really dislike what you did to me. I'm very angry. Why did you do it, Remus?"

Her statement surprised him. Shouldn't she dislike him?

How could he explain the way he was feeling when he made the decision and have her understand?

'I guess I should start from the beginning.'

"Tonks was jealous of you, you know. She thought our...friendship was unnatural and inappropriate. You should have had some idea from the little I told you in my letters. She and I met during your third year, when I went Christmas shopping to get you a gift. Our attraction was instant, and we had an interlude and went our separate ways. Needless to say, I was quite surprised that she was the 'bodyguard' assigned to me by Dumbledore. Anyway, over time our relationship began to disintegrate. We wanted and liked different things. It all came to a head and we had a major row. Afterward, I began reflecting, and I felt so alone Hermione. I felt like I had nothing but the work that Dumbldore had for me, so I resolved to bury myself in it, and nothing else. Any letters you sent me, I got rid of, but it was so hard to do so. I wanted to write you so many times, but I felt scared. I'm no good for you, Hermione. I never have been. If I'm honest with myself, I'm not good for anybody."

Her reaction was not what he expected. It still wasn't a good reaction though. During his tale, he hadn't been looking at her, instead looking at his hands in his lap. He felt a sting on his cheek. Moony reacted before he could stop him, and he stood up and growled at her, warning her, trying to make her submit. It worked. She lost her defensive stance, but the angry fire in her eyes did not abate.

"Remus John Lupin, how many times do you have to be told that you're worth it before you believe it! You are so incredibly stupid! For one, you were never alone, you had me! You've always had me! Second, trash the idea that you're not good for anybody right this instant!" she deflated a bit, her tone softening, "Remus, you know you can come to me with anything. I'll be honest with you, I don't understand how you could feel alone, when you had me, but I do understand that that's how you felt." She sighed and went to him and embraced him.

"Please, Remus, don't shut me out again. Can we be friends again?" She looked up at him.

He couldn't deny her anything, and he really wanted to be her friend again. He wanted to feel her arms around him for the rest of his life; those arms felt so right.

"I would love that," he smiled gently at her.

They stayed in eachother's arms, smiling at eachother until a throat clearing brought them back to Earth. They jumped apart and looked to the source of the noise. There in the doorway, stood a smirking Sirius.

"Dinner's ready. Come and get it before the Weasleys eat it all," he winked.

Hermione hurried out of the room, but as Remus tried to walk out the door, Sirius stopped him.

"What was that that I just saw, mate?"

Remus only shrugged.

"Don't hurt her."

Remus shot a look at him.

"What exactly do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said. Don't think I didn't notice the tension when she first arrived. Dumbledore told me that the year you taught at Hogwarts, you both became more than a student and teacher. I don't know what happened between the pair of you, but I won't be intervening for you all again, so, don't hurt her."

Remus glared at his friend.

"One, I'm not going to hurt her, not again. Secondly, keep your paws off her."

Sirius looked a him for a moment before he barked out a laugh, clapped Remus on the shoulder, and took off towards the basement, leaving Remus to follow.


A/N: PLEASE PLEASE FORGIVE MY LATE UPDATE! RL HAS BEEN A BITCH. I APOLOGIZE TO THOSE OF YOU WHO I PROMISED AN UPDATE YESTERDAY :( SOMETHING CAME UP, SO I WAS NOT ABLE TO.

HEY, GUESS WHOSE BIRTHDAY WAS ON THE DAY OF THE ROYAL WEDDING? MINE! AM I COOL OR AM I COOL?