After Ron had chased her out of the boys' dormitories, Hermione had gone down to the common room and stayed there, pretending to read a book, until finally the last students dragged their feet and climbed the stairs to their respective dormitories. Hermione tiptoed up the steps to the fifth years' chambers and slowly opened the door. Lily and her friends were all asleep, or at least appeared to be, much to Hermione's relief. As far as first impressions went, Hermione did not like Lily or her friends at all, but made a mental note not to mention it. After all, she supposed that after the girl grew up, she would become at least a bit more understanding. Everyone had always spoken highly of Harry's parents, and despite what Harry claimed to have seen in the Pensieve, James could not be all that bad. And although she had not been as close to Sirius as Harry had, it was still good to have at least a semblance of him back. Smiling to herself, she drifted into a deep sleep.

Hermione woke abruptly to moans and the shifting of bedsprings. She herself sat up and saw the other four girls all looking at her, their eyes still groggy with sleep.

"Erm…hello. I--I don't believe we've met." Hermione swallowed, glancing at Lily. "Formally, that is."

To Hermione's great relief, Lily smiled. "Yes, I'm really sorry for yesterday, Hermione. I do tend to lose my temper when Potter is involved. You have no idea what he's like. Oh. This is," she pointed to a girl with frizzy black hair and blue eyes, "Emberlynn Lirampla. Also, Ayanna Wintorko, and Rosa Rendante." Rosa had been absent-mindedly gazing into space, her chocolate brown eyes glazed over, and snapped back to attention at the sound of her name, glasses nearly falling off. She smiled weakly and waved at Hermione before appearing to go off in her own reverie.

The girls walked down to breakfast together, and entered the Great Hall. Hermione took her place next to Harry, who looked to be in deep conversation with Ron. Remus looked up and greeted her, to whom Hermione responded with a smile, but he appeared to be the only one of the Marauders who had noticed her arrival. Hermione felt quite left out, as she was most certain the foursome were plotting something, and the four girls next to her were deep in conversation and appeared to have forgotten about her. She occupied herself by spearing some sausages with her fork and chewed them thoughtfully, not even looking up when the owls delivering students' mail came in. She, of course, would have no letters in this day and time. She looked up as someone tapped her on the shoulder and handed her a course schedule. Scanning the list quickly, she saw that she would be having Transfiguration first, then double Potions with the Slytherins. Later, they would have Charms and Herbology with the Hufflepuffs. Hermione wasn't too worried about the schoolwork, however, as she had gotten 'O's on all of her O.W.L.s, and redoing fifth year could not be hard at all.

Upon entering the Transfiguration classroom, she sat down next to Ron and Harry, who only now proceeded to notice her.

"Hello, Hermione." Harry said in a suspiciously innocent voice. "Didn't see you at breakfast this morning. Were you busy upstairs reading all our books for this year? Or had you forgotten that we've already taken--"

"Shut up!" Hermione hissed. "Do you want someone to hear us? And for your information, I was sitting right next to you, thanks for noticing."

Harry and Ron gave her reproachful glances before turning their attention on Professor McGonagall, who had just entered the room. Hermione tried to tell herself that it wasn't their fault and that she should not be taking her bad mood out on them, but for the first time, she wondered why she had agreed to come in the first place. If everyone was going to ignore her, she would rather have spent her summer with her parents, who were now on vacation in Sweden. Harry had every reason to be here, getting away from his aunt and uncle, on top of that seeing his parents, but--no, she had agreed to come, and this was interesting. Interesting enough, anyways.

"Today, class, we will be vanishing snails," McGonagall began. Hermione gaped. Did the woman even change her lesson plans throughout the years? She recalled the same lesson on her first day back in Hogwarts in her own fifth year. Realizing what she was doing, she quickly snapped her mouth shut, then glanced sideways and saw that Ron and Harry were following suit.

McGonagall showed the class the Vanishing Spell, and set them to practice. Hermione got it on first try, which was not unusual even had she not known the spell beforehand, earning ten points for Gryffindor. Harry and Ron, however, got it on their first try, and Hermione glared at them, but they didn't notice. If they got every spell correct on first try, all three of them, it would draw suspicion to them like nails to a giant magnet. Luckily, she remembered what good students James, Sirius, Remus and Lily were, and they more or less got it in the first few tries, and the trio's accomplishments were forgotten.

On their way to Potions, to Hermione's disgust, the Gryffindors ran into the Slytherins. Namely, Severus Snape and Lucius Malfoy. Snape was greasy haired and disgusting as ever, and Malfoy had a smug aura that his son must have gotten from him.

"Well, well, well." Sirius mused in a sardonic voice, "If it isn't Snivellus Snape. How perfectly charming to see you. I see you haven't discovered shampoo yet. Tsk, tsk. What a shame, it really is a lovely invention. Oh, and don't even get me started on soap."

As the Gryffindors sniggered and the Slytherins glared, Snape started to pull out his wand, then stopped as the door to the dungeons opened and the Potions professor stepped out, beckoning the class in. Hermione had expected a creepy old man, but to her surprise, he was quite normal looking for the head of Slytherin House. Professor Hopnill, Hermione recalled his name from her course schedule, had black hair and nearly black eyes. Aside from the eyes and the slight scowl he wore on his face, he really did not look like such a bad guy. Hermione quickly followed the class in, and as there was seating for only two to a table, she found herself sitting next to the last person on earth she'd have wanted to be near. Lucius Malfoy.

"Gropet, is it?" He raised an eyebrow at Hermione, but didn't wait for a response. "I do hope you're pureblood. I wouldn't want to risk be tainted by a filthy Mudblood. Well?"

"Umm." Hermione didn't respond.

"You are, aren't you?" Malfoy raised his hand.

"Yes, Mr. Malfoy?" Professor Hopnill inquired.

"I happen to be sitting next to a Mudblood, Professor," Malfoy continued, ignoring the hisses of outrage from the Gryffindors, "and I would ask to be moved, please, lest my robes become soiled." At this point, Ron stood up, but Hermione quickly motioned him down. He sat down, reluctantly. Hermione couldn't believe that Malfoy would say this to a teacher. Surely, he could at least have points taken off for that.

"Dear me," Hopnill said, to Hermione's horror, in a falsely sweet voice, "I had no idea that my dungeons were plagued by a Mudblood. Miss Gropet, I'm afraid you'll have to use the floor at the back of the room. I wouldn't want you poisoning the other students with your filthy hands. Go on, now. And to all of you," he turned back to the Gryffindors. "Fifty points from Gryffindor for not informing me of this, and ten more to you, Mr. Weasel, for rising from your seat without permission. Now, it's time to make a Polyjuice Potion." Apparently he did not realize that Lily was Muggle-born as well, but Hermione decided not to inform him of this. After all, Lily had apologized, and she did not think she could put anyone other than Malfoy, or perhaps Snape, under this treatment. Not to mention she would have to explain exactly how she knew that Lily was not a pureblood.

Needless to say, Hermione's opinion changed from her first impression. Professor Hopnill had been most displeased when her own Polyjuice Potion turned out perfectly, and only scowled and told her to scrub the cauldron extra hard. Fuming on the way out of class, she ignored the Gryffindors' offers of sympathy and stormed up to the library. She would show Hopnill. She would write a perfect essay on the uses of Truth Potions, which they would be making next.

Reaching over for the book she needed, she gave a small gasp, quickly suppressed as her hand ran into something hard. Looking up, she saw it was Remus's arm. Blushing, she glanced upward at him.

"I'm sorry, Hermione." Remus said, a sparkle of mirth in his blue eyes. "It appears we're the only ones who have decided to actually study."

He should not be allowed to smile like that, Hermione thought to herself as she practically melted, only realizing how handsome Remus was now. I wonder if being a werewolf makes him stronger when he's in human form? She mused giddily, then realized what she was doing and snapped back to attention.

"That's how it always is with Ron and Harry," she smiled ruefully and grabbed the book, walking over to the nearest table. Remus followed her, and sat down next to her. "I'm usually the one that ends up studying, and when they write their essays, I end up correcting the whole thing for them anyways." She did not just even have the most remote thought that Remus was good-looking.

Remus laughed. "Yes, that's how it is with me as well. You don't mind sharing, do you?" he pointed to the book. "It's the only copy this library has that's not already checked out."

"Of course not."

Hermione pulled out parchment, a quill and a bottle of ink and watched Remus do the same. Their hands touched as they both went to open the book at the same time, and Hermione blushed, then fiercely fought it down. She withdrew her hand as if she had been burned, but Remus appeared not to notice and opened the book to the appropriate page. Hermione tried to concentrate on her essay, but she was too busy mentally berating herself for the way she was behaving around Remus. He, on the other hand, appeared to be having no trouble at all, and was scribbling away with the usual vigor that Hermione had. Hermione hurriedly scrawled out a paragraph she knew she'd have to redo if she wanted to impress Professor Hopnill, then stood up suddenly, nearly knocking over the chair behind her. Remus looked up suddenly, startled.

"What is it?" he asked thickly, for he had been very absorbed in his work.

"Umm…I need to go talk to Ron and Harry. If you want to finish your essay--" she gestured toward the book, motioning that he could keep on, but he closed it and stood up.

"That's ok, we can work on it together later. And then remind the others that they too have to pass to graduate," he said with a wink.

Hermione grinned weakly and followed Remus to the portrait of the Fat Lady. "Nicholas Flamel." The portrait swung open and Hermione smiled as she remembered how much that name had meant in her first year at Hogwarts. They climbed through the hole in the wall and entered to an empty common room. Hermione had never felt more awkward. If she turned around, that'd look like she didn't want to be alone with Remus, but if she kept on walking, she wouldn't know what to say. Hermione settled for walking slowly over to the couch in front of the fireplace, letting a stray strand of hair fall into her eyes so she could look over at Remus. To her horror, he sat down next to her and looked at her expectantly. Hermione blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"So. You like to read too?" No! I'm such an idiot, what kind of a question is that? Of course he likes to read! Did he not just say so himself?

To her great relief, Remus did not give the semblance of having noticed her discomfort and replied, "Yes. In fact, I believe I must be the only one who has read Hogwarts, A History."

"I've read that too!" Hermione blurted out. "Honestly, if more people would read that, maybe they'd actually understand that you can't Disapparate on Hogwarts grounds!" She then felt crimson rise yet again as she though of how stupid a statement that was.

Remus burst out laughing. "That's what I tell everyone! No one ever believes me, either."

The two went on for some time, until Hermione felt as if she had known Remus all her life. She had also not realized how close they had gotten during their discussion until she saw that if she moved an inch further, she would be sitting in his lap. At that second, the room seemed to explode as all the male fifth year Gryffindors walked in, laughing hysterically. They stopped dead on seeing Hermione and Remus, and this time even Remus blushed.

"Hermione! Remus!" Harry shouted in disbelief, "You've missed Charms and Herbology! I wondered where you two were, never did I imagine I'd find you like this!" He then smirked and gave Ron a knowing glance, which infuriated Hermione. She forgot all about missing the classes, and stood and started yelling at them.

"This is not what you think it is! Remus and I were just--!"

"Didn't know you had it in you, Moony old boy!"

"Score, Remus!"

"Nice job, I must say!"

"Hermione and I were just discussing our Truth Potion essays and lost track of time," Hermione marveled at how calmly Remus spoke as he gestured towards the book and the quills.

"Didn't get very far, did you now?" Ron spoke smugly, though the sneers on the other boys' faces faded slightly.

"Unlike you, Ron, Hermione and I would like to pass our O.W.L.s with more than an 'A', and felt the need to discuss the paper more in depth than scribbling down a few notes."

This time, all the boys' grins faded completely. Harry and Ron knew Hermione all too well to know that this could be true, and apparently James, Sirius and Peter knew the same of Remus. Remus just grinned and turned to Hermione.

"Perhaps we should head down to the Great Hall, My Lady?" He gave a mock bow, blue eyes twinkling. Hermione laughed along with the others, perhaps a bit forcefully, but no one noticed as they all headed down to the feast.

****************************************************

That night, Hermione lay awake in bed, staring into space, thinking about Remus. She couldn't get the picture of him out of his mind, his blue eyes like deep pools of water, his shaggy brown hair that she could just run her hands through, his muscular arms, sensual lips,--but no, she shouldn't be thinking that way. He had been, after all, her Professor. Perhaps in the distant future, but nonetheless, she could still not get the picture of the fully grown up Remus out of her mind.

Knowing she had to get some sleep if she was ever going to make up what she missed in her classes, Hermione turned over and jerked roughly into a sleep filled with dreams of Remus.

***************************************************

Remus sat up suddenly in sweat-soaked sheets, stiff as a board. He had just had a dream that he was with Hermione. They were out for a moonlit stroll, walking barefoot through the grass. He tickled her and she had fallen over laughing. Right before she hit the ground, he scooped her up in his arms and leaned in to kiss her, when suddenly he looked up at the moon that the clouds had been obscuring so that it had only shone through in beams. It was the full moon. He watched Hermione's face grow terrified as he dropped her, his body becoming rigid, and he started to transform. She tried to run away, but it was too late. As a werewolf, he attacked her and just as his jaws had clenched around her arm, he woke up. Breathing heavily, he reminded himself that it had only been a dream, in reality Madame Pomfrey would already have taken him through the passageway into the Shrieking Shack if there was to be a full moon. Nonetheless, the dream had been so…vivid.

Knowing he wouldn't get any more sleep, he stood up and began to pace his room. He could not be thinking about Hermione like that, because he knew she wasn't interested in him. He had seen her blush every time there was even the slightest insinuation that they should hook up, and if she had any real intentions, she most certainly would not have turned red at every mention of it. He hoped he had not been too obvious about his feelings for her, because she would likely be horrified at the very thought. Remus loved making her laugh, though. They were so much alike in their relationships with their friends that it was almost comical. Every time he saw her chestnut brown eyes light up in delight, he knew he wanted nothing other than to be with her. Only he could not have her. He sighed, because every time he saw her, he'd want to touch her, to kiss her, to--but it would do no good thinking about it, and he'd be much better off forgetting about the whole situation.

Remus decided to head down to the empty common room and softly opened the door, which slightly creaked. He winced, but all his friends were breathing the even breaths of those in deep sleep. He stepped as lightly as he could down the stairs and went to sit in an armchair next to the fireplace, which had long since died out. Taking out his wand, he relit the fire, and turned to watch the dancing flames--only to see them waltz across the startled face of Hermione.

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Yay!

Let it flame, let it flame, let it flame!

I wonder why I haven't gotten any flames so far…*ponders this*…

Hmmm well I'm really cold, so I could use a nice fire :)………

Nonetheless, I still hope you enjoyed it….

Do I use …'s too much? ……….

*Sammy-Jo*