Chapter 3

Swimming in the lake with Remus

She quickly changed into her swimming stuff and threw on her robe and headed down to the lake. She knew for a fact, as it was a Friday, that after lessons everyone would just go straight to dinner and then hang out in the common rooms. She got down to the lake unaware of some else's presence. She went by her favourite tree and flung her bag and robe by it, not noticing that Remus was there. She ran to the lake and jumped in and started swimming.

"Miss Granger! Care to explain why you're not in your lessons?" Remus called out.

She spun around in the water and shrieked when she saw that he was by the tree.

"Professor! I'm so sorry; I didn't know you were here. The reason I'm not in lessons is because my timetable is different to everyone else's and I have the rest of the day off, so I thought I'd go swimming." She explained quickly blushing crimson.

"That's quite alright Hermione; I was just a bit concerned when I saw you out here. I thought you were skipping classes." He said smirking slightly.

"Remus Lupin! You know perfectly well, that I would never skip any of my classes. Its my birthday so I thought I'd just treat myself to a birthday swim."

He nodded at her and leaned back against the tree and looked at her while she did some more lengths.

She's so beautiful and an extremely good swimmer. Her eyes are so, NO, bad Remus! Must NOT be thinking THESE thoughts about HER! Bad, bad Remus!

Suddenly, he had an idea.

"Miss Granger, would you mind if I join you in a swim? Please?" he asked hopefully. She stared at him for a few seconds before replying,

"Yes, of course. Its not against the law. Where's your swimming stuff though?" she asked.

"I'm wearing it." He stated simply.

She looked at him with a confused look. He smiled at her and waved his wand at his clothes and they became a pair of swimming trunks, a towel and a change of clothing. Hermione simply stared at him trying to take her eyes of his chest.

Oh my god! He has a six-pack! Hermione shut up and look away! NOW!

She saw him looking at her and she quickly looked away blushing.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to."

"No harm done. Now, time for a swim."

He walked to the edge of the lake and jumped in. he jumped a fair distance and landed with a splash in the water, before coming up and shivering all over.

"Its freezing!" he said, teeth chattering while Hermione roared with laughter.

"I'll show you!" he tried to grab Hermione but missed.

"You're it! Come on, you're going to have to catch me sometime." She swam into the middle of the lake and stuck her tongue out at him. He slowly sank into the depths of the water and swam towards her while she splashed around. He came up behind her and grabbed her by the hips and lifted her up in the air.

"AHHHHHHHH! Remus Lupin, you put me down right now!"

"Certainly milady." He lifted her a little higher in the air, only just noticing what she was wearing. She was wearing a sky blue bikini that gave away her figure perfectly.

"No Remus not like that! Remus no, please." She begged and pouted.

"Sorry, no can do." Came the short reply and with that he dropped her in the water and swam off laughing. Hermione came up to the surface of the water and glared at the man ten meters away from her.

"You will pay for that Remus Lupin!" she screamed at him while he laughed his head off.

She raised an eyebrow at him and went underwater. Remus stopped laughing and looked around to find Hermione out of sight.

"Hermione? Where are you? HERMIONE!" he yelled.

Meanwhile, Hermione was by his feet underwater gathering up sand in her hands, smiling mischievously. She popped out of the water and looked at Remus.

He looks so cute when he's worried about something. Bad Hermione. Must stop thinking these thoughts about him. Pity, I always thought he would make quite a good boyfriend. But Hermione knew that the chances of that happening were probably below zero.

"Hermione, there you are! I was so worried when I couldn't find you. Don't do that again please, I was so scared." He said quickly and swam to her and hugged her tightly. She returned the embrace, wondering why he was so worried about her.

To her she was just the bookworm Gryffindor who studied none stop and couldn't care less about boys or romance or how worried people got over her. When Remus let go of her she realised how much his words had touched her. Suddenly, she started shivering and muttered to Remus that she was going to get out.

She swam to the shore and wrapped her towel around herself. The sun had now set beneath the trees and a crescent moon could be seen faintly in the sky. She sat back against the tree and stared up at the sky admiring its beauty, unaware that someone else was admiring her beauty. She looked around to find Remus staring at her like there was no tomorrow.

"Hello Remus? Are you home? I'm not going to carry on calling your name forever you know." She said laughing.

He shook his head and blushed a deep red before looking away.

"Yes well, anyway, I'm going to get changed so would you mind turning while I do so please." She ordered.

He would have said 'no' but just nodded and turned away. Checking that he was looking away, Hermione wrapped the towel around more tightly and uneasily put her clothes on.

"Okay, I'm done. I'll look away while you get changed as well I suppose." She said although very reluctantly. Remus noticed this reluctance in her voice and couldn't help but chuckle a bit. She turned around while Remus got changed, every part of her wanting to see what was under the towel that he was holding.

"Okay Hermione, you can turn around but I don't want you to open your eyes yet, okay?" Remus said quietly.

"Yes okay. What are you doing by the way?" she replied curiously.

"Don't worry I'm not going to hurt you."

She just nodded in return and turned around, her face bathed in the moonlight that shone upon the lake.

"Put your hands out in front of you. I do hope you're not peeking Miss Granger." He said smiling slightly.

"I can assure you that I would do no such thing." She said as she placed her hands out in front of her wondering what he was going to do. She felt a small package being laid down beneath her small palms.

"Okay, you can open now Hermione." Remus's soft voice said, making Hermione's spine shiver.

She opened her eyes and looked down at the package. She sat down, leaning against the tree and opened it. Inside the wrapping was a small, navy blue, velvet box. She opened the box and gasped; inside was the most beautiful necklace she had ever seen in her entire life. The chain itself was thin and gold, holding a gold heart shaped locket. She opened the locket to find a picture of herself, Remus and Sirius all laughing together.

"Remus its gorgeous. I can't thank you enough. When was this picture taken by the way?"

"When you, Sirius and I were having a water fight in my back garden." Came the soft reply.

Hermione gazed at it for a few more seconds before putting it on her. After doing so, she heard a faint sob behind her. She twirled around and saw Remus leaning against the tree crying. Hermione had never seen him cry before and she was unsure of what to do.

"Its all my fault. Sirius and everyone else who died, is because of me." He said openly sobbing his heart out.

Hermione crawled towards him and put a hand on his shoulder making him jump slightly. He didn't dare look at her; he didn't want her thinking that he was some kind of pathetic idiot crying over something that happened in the past.

"Remus, I know what you're thinking and I would never think of you as a pathetic idiot. That's never going to happen. You just need someone to help you through this." She said sighing slightly before also leaning back against the tree and gazing up at the stars.

"I just didn't want you to see me crying openly, especially on your birthday. I've ruined your day now, I'm sorry." He said between hiccups.

"You haven't ruined my day at all Remus. All I was saying is that you need someone to help you through this. I remember when I found out that my little brother had died because of a hit and run incident. Only happened a few years ago," she sighed once more before continuing, "It was the saddest day of my life but I thought, no, I'm not going to carry on like this. I'm going to pull through this and I did. In fact it only happened before I started my third year." She stated looking over at her professor.

"I'm so sorry. I had know idea that you had a little brother." Remus said after coming away from the shocking news he had just heard.

"Its nothing special and nothing to be proud of but I am making a very valid point towards you Remus, all I am saying is don't give up all hope. You have plenty of friends around you who will help you through this and you know that I am here for whenever you need to speak to me." She finished by holding his hand in hers and squeezing tightly.

He looked into her eyes and nodded a silent 'thank you' but unfortunately he felt the tears come upon him once more. Hermione saw this and immediately reacted. She pulled him into an embrace and hugged him tightly, both of them hoping that this would never end.

After a few minutes, Remus pulled away and wiped his eyes.

"I'm sorry Hermione. I didn't mean to start crying all over you. At this point of life, I'm crying all over the place." He said croakily to her.

"Its no problem. I said that I would be here for you and here I am. Doing my job and being a good friend."

Although, god knows how many times I've wanted it to be more than just a solid friendship.

She looked back up at him, not realising that they were drawing closer and closer each second, until their lips touched briefly. They pulled away, both blushing shades of red, not looking at each other.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to do that Hermione. I guess after everything I've been through tonight I ju…" he was cut short by Hermione's lips having met his again, although more passionately than before. He returned the kiss while putting his arms around her middle and drawing her nearer to him. She responded by wrapping her arms around his neck and playing with his hair. After awhile, they pulled away in need of oxygen and smiled at each other.

"Hermione are you sure you're alright with this?" Remus asked gently; he didn't want to push her into doing anything she didn't want to.

"I'm sure. God knows how long I've fancied you."

"You have no idea."

They kissed again and again not wanting to end the moment. Then Hermione felt Remus tongue brush softly against her bottom lip, begging for entrance. She obliged and granted his wish, feeling his tongue explore her mouth. They sat there at the edge of the bank kissing for sometime until Remus pulled away.

"I'm sorry to end this so soon Hermione but I do believe that it is past curfew and should be escorting you back to your common room."

"Yes and thank you. You have truly made my birthday today one that I won't forget." She said smiling at him before standing on tiptoes and kissing him once again.

"You still sure aren't you?" Remus said.

"Yes, more than I've ever been in my entire life." She replied.

They gathered up their stuff and walked along the bank hand in hand towards the Gryffindor common room.

"Goodnight Remus. I love you."

"I love you too." Remus replied as Hermione kissed him once more before heading into the common room and upstairs to bed, thinking that she was going to have good dreams tonight.