A/N: Thank you so much for your reviews, favorites and follows after last chapter! Over halfway done with this one now :) Thank you to lanamarymack for alpha/beta reading this chapter!
It was so nice to be able to be completely open and honest with this Sirius. He didn't look at Remus with the disgust that his real friend surely would have when he explained how much he desired the young witch that lived in Grimmauld Place with them. This Sirius perfectly accepted that Remus was interested in the Princess and in fact he encouraged him to explore the connection that they obviously had.
But, Remus knew that connection wasn't one of attraction, but rather, just a reflection of the great friendship he'd managed to forge with Hermione. It was a friendship that he very much did not want to damage by complicating things with sex. Especially not sex that she was only obligated to have to get out of this blasted book.
He knew that eventually he would have to come to terms with the fact that a sexual act was likely the only way that they were getting out of the book, but for now, he was content to avoid it and her. He'd spent the day before desperately brainstorming alternatives to release them, but he knew that release was really the only option. Though, maybe they might be able to get by with something like mutual masturbation, which would hopefully be less traumatizing for her.
Furthermore Remus knew that Hermione would be annoyed to not be included in this sort of planning process. He knew that she wouldn't take kindly to him swanning in and telling her how it was going to go, without any discussion on her part.
It would be agonizing, but he knew that it was the best possible outcome. He would pine over her for a while, but he couldn't allow himself to become attached to someone as good as Hermione. She deserved someone better - someone younger and someone who wasn't a werewolf. He knew that she would say that it didn't matter if someone was a werewolf, that they still deserved love, but would she feel the same when it was her life that would be disrupted by lycanthropy?
He knew that it was wrong to drag this out longer than needed, but he couldn't help himself. When Sirius came by and invited him out hunting, he jumped at the chance to avoid the topic for a little while longer.
They didn't have any luck with their hunting - Remus had never shot a bow and arrow before and missed the target an embarrassing amount - and it devolved mostly into playful banter and ale drinking. To Remus's disappointment, the alcohol still had no effect on him and he felt a bit silly to go through the motions of drinking it.
Finally, though, Sirius finally called it quits, not seeming disappointed that they hadn't managed to catch a single thing. "If we push hard, we will probably still be able to grab a late lunch," he said, genially.
Remus sighed, nodding in agreement, ready to face his fate finally. He couldn't run from his problems forever. Besides, Hermione was probably hopping mad at being left alone in his room again, not that he blamed her.
They rode hard and got back to the city in record time. When they returned to his home, Remus made some excuse about heading to his room to freshen up, and Sirius just gave him a knowing look. He walked up the steps as if he was marching to his own funeral. He hesitated when he reached his door, only to push inside, expecting an immediate tirade.
Only, he was met with silence instead.
Looking around, Remus was surprised to find the room empty, with only the lingering scent of roses and bergamot to indicate that she had been there. "Hermione?" he called out anyway, wondering where she could have gotten to.
When he got no answer, he made his way back to the main feasting hall at the center of his home. He stopped one of the women who was working on clearing the table. "Excuse me, have you seen Hermione?" he asked, gruffly. Just where had she gotten off to?
The woman gave him a small smile. "The Princess left early this morning," she answered, serenely. "She said that she was going to go berry picking."
"Berry picking?" Remus muttered under his breath, wondering just what she'd been thinking, before realizing just how hypocritical it was, seeing as he'd been off all morning with Sirius. She'd probably been bored, looking for anything to pass the time.
Racking his brain, he tried to remember where there were berries in this false world. Fuzzy memories came into focus when he remembered that they had walked through some brambles on their way to the river the day prior. Immediately heading out, Remus headed in the direction of the little clearing, hoping that he would find her there.
The walk was short, but he was dismayed when he got to the raspberry brambles and was met with no sign of the fiery witch. He got an uneasy feeling in his stomach. He could distinctly tell that something wasn't right at all. It was too still, too quiet, too dull.
While it was clear that Hermione wasn't there anymore, he could tell that she had been there. Remus was able to pick up her scent, easily the most beautifully overwhelming thing in the book world. Briefly, he wondered where she could have wandered off to if she wasn't there, before realizing that was a silly thought. There was nowhere for her to wander off to, because they were in the book.
He stood there, confused as to where she would have gone, until he noticed a small basket laying on the ground, a glut of perfect raspberries spilling from it. Had Hermione dropped it? Why would she have had to leave so quickly that she would just drop her basket like this?
He walked over to it and spotted a flash of dark red. Blood, perhaps? His blood ran cold when he thought of the possibility that Hermione might be injured. Kneeling down to inspect, he steeled himself for the worst. No, not blood; he quickly determined that it was raspberry mush. The brambles looked worse for wear, handfuls of leaves torn from their branches.
It hit him suddenly.
Hermione hadn't wandered off - she'd clearly been taken against her will, and put up quite the fight if he wasn't mistaken. He couldn't imagine the pain she would have experienced from being torn away from the brambles. In the dirt he could see signs of a struggle as well as a trail headed towards the forest. Hermione must have been dragged off.
Whoever had taken Hermione, she clearly did not want to go with.
He resisted the urge to run off after her immediately - just barely. No, that was a reckless decision that could be disastrous for both of them. He didn't think that anything fatal could happen to them in this blasted book, but he wasn't certain. These books were not well regulated and had fallen out of fashion quickly, so he was not going to chance anything.
Instead, he took off in the direction of his home. He needed to have a plan, one that didn't involve running off blindly into the forest. The side characters were here to help and he intended to use them if he could. He just hoped that Hermione's scent wouldn't have completely faded by the time that he'd gathered what he needed.
He was so focused on the task at hand that he nearly ran into Sirius. "Hells!" the black haired man said, grabbing him by the shoulders to stop a fall. "What's the rush, Remus?"
"It's Hermione," he said, gravely. "Someone has taken her away from me."
Sirius's eyes widened in surprise. "Are you sure that she didn't go off on her own?" he hedged carefully. "She is quite resourceful and you've been leaving her alone a lot. Maybe she decided to get back to her mother on her own."
"No, she wouldn't," Remus said, shaking his head. Even if Hermione was annoyed with him for leaving her alone, there was no way that she would have abandoned him. She would have understood that their best chance for getting out of the book was to work together. Besides, he could clearly tell from the struggle in the clearing that she hadn't wanted to be taken. "There was clearly a struggle. She was kidnapped."
"Did you forget that we kidnapped her, too?" Sirius asked, looking at him skeptically.
"I-I know," Remus acknowledged, not wanting to go into the details that he and Hermione really did know one another. He didn't know how far the Charms could stretch. "But like you said, there is a connection between the Princess and I. And, I know that she didn't willingly leave me."
Sirius gave him a small smile. "Of course," he agreed.
"Now, I am going to get her back and you can either come with me or not, but it's not going to change my plans," Remus said, before calling for a fresh horse to be brought around from the stables.
"I wouldn't dream of not going with you, Remus," Sirius answered honestly. "We are brothers. And if someone stole the woman that you love, I'm not going to sit idly by." Then, he started barking out orders of what they would need to recapture the Princess. Everyone snapped to attention, rushing into action.
"The tracks were heading south from the river," Remus told Sirius. "Who do you think would have her?"
"Mate, I think we both know the only person who would dare to steal away your woman," Sirius said, as though Remus was being purposefully obtuse. "Alright, I see that you are going to make me spell it out for you. Who else would dare to cross you other than Fenrir?"
For the second time that day, it felt as if the ground had fallen out from underneath Remus. Fenrir Greyback? Merlin, he couldn't think of anyone worse to have taken Hermione, even if he was only a projection of a memory onto an otherwise faceless character. When he thought of what Fenrir might be doing to Hermione, he realized that he was growling low in his throat.
Sirius looked at him warily. "Don't worry, we will get her back," he swore. It made Remus feel marginally better, assuaging some of the guilt that he felt for ignoring her for so long, and only for his own discomfort at the situation they'd found themselves in. Oh, if only he hadn't been so selfish!
Just at that moment, Remus heard the whinny of the horse that had been brought to him. "Sorry, Sirius, if Fenrir has her, I can't wait another moment," he said, rushing out the doors and swinging up into the saddle. "I have to go after her. You come as quickly as you can manage."
"Don't be reckless!" his friend shouted at him.
But, Remus was already too far gone to change his mind at this point. He was going to save Hermione from the evil werewolf's clutches and then he was going to get them out of this damned book.
And who knows? Maybe if he was lucky, she would see him in a different light after he was her knight in shining armor. Only, that was a silly thought and he shouldn't let himself get too far ahead of himself. He needed to find Hermione first.
When he made his way back into the clearing, he was pleased to find that her scent still lingered as did the tracks leading into the dark forest. Remus followed the trail carefully, heading into the thick foliage. To his dismay, the tracks stopped there, suggesting that Hermione and her captor had left on horseback. At least he still had his nose to rely on.
Taking off in the direction that her scent led, Remus hoped that nothing too terrible would happen to his witch. "Don't worry, Hermione," he whispered to himself. "I'm coming for you."