A/N: By the way, everyone – I changed this story to sixth year. Nothing big, just a minor change.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Everything is Illuminated

Some days later, Remus stood at Hermione's bedside in a nervous sweat. Tonight was the full moon, and the first time in many years that he was without the Wolfsbane Potion. Dread gripped him. What if, despite all precautions, Hermione was unable to protect herself from him? The implications of that were too horrible to contemplate. 'I need to keep calm,' Remus thought. 'Panicking isn't going to help or change the situation.' "Hermione, it's time for you to seal me into the basement," he said.

Hermione had just received a blood tranfusion, so she was able to get up on her own. Shakily, she followed him down the stairs, feeling tense and worried. What if Remus injured himself? He could not go to the hospital, and Hermione's own knowledge of medical charms and healing spells was rather limited. What if he died from blood loss? She couldn't bear the thought.

Remus, as he reached the basement stair, turned. "Fawkes will be coming soon to watch over you while you sleep. Keep your wand handy, Hermione. Go right back upstairs after you seal me in there. And," he paused awkwardly, "Don't hesitate to kill me if I break out, however you can manage it."

"No," said Hermione firmly. "I'd sooner have Fawkes take me to Dumbledore's office and risk being caught."

"Hermione, please," he implored. "Please do as I say. Now, the full moon is almost here, get to it," he said, motioning to the doorway of the basement.

Hermione raised her wand and the door snapped shut with a click. She set the most powerful sealing spells that she knew on the door, and anxiously climbed up the stairs.

Hermione tossed and turned in her bed. She could hear Remus's crying and howling in the basement below. He had transformed. She could not shake the thought of him being harmed from her mind. After nearly an hour, not being able to take it anymore, she walked back down the stairs. She sat next to the door and leaned against it, her arms curled around her protectively. She could hear him prowling restlessly around the basement and growling.

Her heart beat fast in fear, but determinedly she stayed put. It was her fault he did not have the Wolfsbane potion. She would stay up and listen for any sign that he had hurt himself, so she could help him. After some time, and despite her efforts to stay awake, she fell asleep. Fawkes appeared and landed gracefully on the couch, keeping protective watch over Hermione's sleeping form.

The next morning arrived. Hermione felt stiff from sleeping on the floor, but she did not regret her decision. She blinked in the daylight, straining her ears for any sound from the room below.

The door snapped open behind her back, making her jump. Remus gave a start when he saw Hermione lying on the floor. "Hermione, what are you doing? Have you been there all night?"

"Yes," she admitted quietly, getting up shakily. The blood transfusion was wearing off and she felt weak.

"Why? I told you to go upstairs," he said, gritting his teeth, an angry edge to his voice.

She stepped forward so she was closer to him. "I was worried about you."

"What if I had gotten out and attacked you!"

"I'm not afraid of you, Remus."

"You should be," he said intently. He became aware of the way they were staring at each other, and he could feel heat creeping to his face.

"Remus, I'm sorry, it's just that I care about you so very much. I wanted to be there if you were hurt." Hermione's eyes begged him to understand. "It's my fault you didn't have the Wolfsbane potion!"

"I don't want you to get hurt, either, Hermione," he said softly. "Please don't feel guilty, this was my choice, like I've said before." Somehow he just could not tear his gaze away from her. He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her. "Are you all right? You're still shaking."

"I'm fine." She looked into his eyes expectantly. He was looking like he had the other night, after her first blood transfusion. She wished she knew what he was thinking. "Why are you looking at me like that?" she whispered, curious.

Remus stood there helplessly, wavering between his two contrary desires. His face flushed a bit. The world seemed to stand still for a moment. What was he going to do now? A selfish part of him wanted to live a little before he went to Azkaban. But, even if she liked him back, it would end in heartbreak, and he could not do that to her. It was not like he could just force his hand and walk out of her life, though. This was something he had to face. It killed him to think that they could never have a future together. Why could he not come to terms with that? "It's nothing," he said reluctantly.

"Are you sure?" prodded Hermione. He had every reason to feel bothered. He kept too much to himself. She wished he would open up to someone for once. "We're in this together, you know."

"Really," he insisted, forcing a smile. "It's nothing."

Hermione hugged him tighter and buried her head in his chest. He rocked her slowly back and forth, wondering what to do next. She shifted her arm, and he cringed as she pressed into one of his fresh cuts. She did not know it was there; it was hidden underneath his clothes. Hermione let go of him abruptly. "Does that hurt?"

"Yes," he said, his answer having a double meaning.

"You should take care of that," she admonished him.

"I can't, it's on my back. Don't worry — I'll be fine. I've lived with this for years, Hermione."

"No," Hermione glared. "You've been taking care of me, and it's time I took care of you.

Now let me see it."

Remus grimaced as she pulled up the back of his shirt just enough to see how bad his cut was. He had not felt this embarrassed since he was forced to bathe Hermione, even with the Lustral charm. "Hermione, are you sure this is absolutely necessary?"

Hermione ignored him. "I'm going to get the first aid kit Ginny gave me," she announced. "I'll be right back."

"She got you a first aid kit?"

"Yes, I thought you'd need it," Hermione answered shrewdly. 'Wait, I can just summon it with magic.' "Accio Kit!" The kit zipped from her room and into her hands. She opened it and began cleaning and bandaging his cut. "Really, Remus, you shouldn't ignore cuts like these. You could get an infection, you know."

"Usually I don't have a concerned, clever young girl to watch over me," he teased. "I'm always too tired to do it myself, so it never gets done."

Hermione quietly finished her job and bossily sent him to his bedroom to rest. She struggled to the kitchen to make herself some breakfast. Harry's blood was slowly leaving her system, taking her strength and mobility with it. She would have to go back upstairs to her own bed soon, before her strength left entirely.

Neville Longbottom picked up a bottle of dragon blood from a desk. He had received detention for accidentally hexing Snape instead of his fellow student, like he was supposed to. For detention, he was supposed to clean up the Potions classroom. Snape had evidentally thought that would be more unpleasant than cleaning the Defense classroom. 'Which it is,' he thought glumly, scrubbing at a mold-like substance on the flask.

He reminisced about his former DADA teachers. Quirrell had treated him nicely enough, and Neville had thought him an all right bloke. That is, until he found out that Voldemort was living on the back of his head. Lockhart had been too full of himself to take notice of any of his students. Moody was decent, Umbridge insane, and Snape was just cruel. His favorite professor by far had been Professor Lupin, who had unfortunately resigned in his third year. Neville had been so let down. He had not seen Professor Lupin at all until the end of fifth year, when he had helped to rescue Harry, himself, and the others from the Death Eaters in the Department of Mysteries.

'I wonder what Lupin is up to now,' thought Neville. He had not heard a thing about his former teacher for quite a while. He hoped that nothing had happened to him during the full moon the night before. He wished Lupin were still his teacher. He would have been more understanding about today's incident.

Neville used a paper towel to sop up a potion spill on a desk, and as he threw it out, something in the garbage can caught his eye. It was the Daily Prophet. Neville rarely read the paper. Usually he was too busy trying to remember passwords and what homework he was assigned to be too bothered about the paper. Something made Neville pull it out for a look.

As his eyes scanned the front page, his heart nearly stopped for a moment at a headline: "WEREWOLF STEALS GIRL'S BODY FROM HOSPITAL!" His heart sank when he saw a picture of Lupin, and then one of Hermione. He stood there, staring into space, a dumbfounded expression on his face. This just was not possible. It couldn't be.

Neville read the article slowly, trying to understand how this could have possibly occurred. Lupin? How could Lupin have done this? This was not like Lupin at all. Really, this had to be some mistake, there had to be some logical explanation. But, his picture was still clearly printed on the paper. It was not a very nice picture, either. And the charges were outrageous! He could hardly imagine anyone doing what Lupin was accused of.

Yet the Daily Prophet would not lie, would it? Yet, it had with Harry… It had said that he was crazy, and Hermione had broken his heart, and all those other things. Now it was saying that Lupin was a criminal. A traitor! He had stolen Hermione's body, and did all those other horrid things to her, and the staff at the hospital. Neville felt so confused. Who was he to believe? Lupin was his hero, his friend. He surely could not be the evil man the paper portrayed him as. This had to be a joke. A very early April Fool's joke. Did Lupin really only care for himself, contrary to what Neville had previously thought? Was Neville a complete fool for being so fond of Lupin while he was his professor? Was he duped the whole time? Lied to?

Neville threw the paper angrily back into the trash bin. He continued mopping up the potion, lost in thought. He was shocked. That meant that all of his DADA teachers were now either crazy, suspects or complete criminals. With the exception of Snape, though Neville personally begged to differ. This mess was disgusting, enough to incriminate Snape in his own mind. Why did Dumbledore keep him on? Everyone hated him.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, Snape arrived and dismissed Neville from his detention with a sneer. Neville hurried to find Seamus to discuss what he had just found out about their former professor. It was not long before he bumped into him in the hallway.

"Yes, haven't you heard, Neville? Lupin's become a Death Eater," Seamus said.

Neville stared at him. He could not believe that Lupin could turn so evil overnight.

"You're joking, right?"

"No, the Ministry has started an official search for him. He's to be sent to Azkaban on sight! Quite a horrible scandal!"

"No kidding," said Neville blankly. "Thanks, Seamus, I have to go. Potions homework, you know." He turned and wandered his way to the portrait that hid the entrance of the Gryffindor common room. When he reached the Fat Lady, he sighed in frustration. He had forgotten the password again. He sat down by the portrait and stared at the stairs, hoping that someone would come soon and tell him the password.

Colin Creevey soon appeared. Neville stood up. "What's the password?" he asked.

"Fidelius," said Colin brightly.

"Thanks," said Neville, as they gained admittance.

He studiously settled into his Potions homework, his latest discovery whirling in his mind. A Death Eater sounded really extreme. The Daily Prophet sounded even less believable now. He would have to keep a close eye on the paper from now on, to see happened to Lupin, and see if the paper could be trusted. He sure would love to know what really was going on.

Replies to Reviewers:

SpikesDreamer: Yes, of course, I am a big fan of this pairing. I'm also a huge Harry/Hermione fan. I like writing Remus/Hermione better though, because it's more interesting to write. To me, Harry and Hermione are so much of a pair already that there won't be much of a journey for them to get together. Not the case with Remus and Hermione, making endless possibilities for stories. Anyway. Oh, thanks for the compliment! If it seems good, a great deal of credit should go to Le Grimoire. I should probably put her down as co-author. Yeah, time travel fanfictions are common, but quite fun to write, the Marauders rock. I might do another Time Travel one sometime. Thanks for reviewing!

Radingsouls4u: If I told you, it would spoil the story. :) I'll just say, you'll find out the answer to your first question in chapter 20– ish, and the answer to the second one in chapter 17. (I'm on 19) Thank you for reviewing!

MoonyNZ: Yeah, I thought of that parallel as I was writing it. I meant the "same fate" to mean, that they were both supposed to go to Azkaban, and end up dying there. Yes, I definitely hope JKR doesn't kill Remus off, or Harry or Hermione...unfortunately, I could easily see Remus or Harry dying. I love all the characters, but those are my favorite. I also have a strong liking for Dobby, he's funny. Thanks for reviewing, Moony!

AmberHermione: Wow, artful? Thanks for the compliment! Yeah, my beta reader is pretty good about correcting chapters quickly so I can post them. Poor girl, I've been bombarding her with e-mails lately, LOL. I appreciate your help. Thank you for your review!

Zeldon: Glad you found it interesting. Yes, I'll keep the updates coming. :) Thanks so much for reviewing, I always appreciate it!

Rane2920072: Thank you! Cheers. :) So far, being busy has turned out ok, LOL.

JinxTwix: Hmmm, Harry jealousy. I did that in Memory Split, which I see is on your favorites list, thanks. :) Usually I'm quite tempted to make it that way (being a Harry/Hermione fan) but in this story, he's quite busy doing other things, so I was able to resist the urge, LOL. In future stories it might be a bit that way, though. I'm so glad you're loving it! I love your name, by the way. I really appreciated your review.

Dancing in Rain: I'm glad you liked that! Yeah, I figured that since full moon was soon, and he probably did have some frustration bubbling under the surface, it had to reach some sort of climax. I love it when people name exactly what they like about what I write, and you did that, thanks so much!

LupinLover99: Hello my faithful reviewer. :) Thanks, I got the idea for that after I decided that having a limp, inactive Hermione for most of the story would be boring. Glad you thought it was good! Yes, Remus is so cute, I love writing him! We'll see if they get it together...not going to give any plot secrets away, LOL! Great to hear from you, as always.

Morena-Forever: Yeah, I'm quite into fanfiction as well...obviously, LOL! Been into it on and off for two years, when I first discovered it. Thanks so much for reviewing!

JTBJAB: Yes, poor Remus! He's sure gotten the short end of the stick in this story. Actually, in every story I've written, he's gotten the short end of the stick, poor guy. Thanks, always great to hear from you!

Preview of next chapter: 'I must stop thinking about such things. I still have time. I must cherish the time I have left,' he berated himself. He quickly finished up the pancakes, and was about to head upstairs when he heard yelling. Someone was shouting just outside the front door of Number 12, Grimmauld Place. 'That's impossible,' thought Remus. 'Only the Ministry would be able to figure out how to undo the Fidelius Charm, and they don't even know where this is, and Dumbledore wouldn't have told.'