Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Tour Appearance

Remus found himself walking to Hermione's room, and he knocking on her door.

"Come in, Remus," he heard her say.

He opened the door, and was surprised by a beaming Hermione, who was sitting up in her bed. "Good morning," she said cheerfully.

"Good morning," he returned, sitting down beside her. He gazed at her thoughtfully for a moment. "Hermione, I was wondering if you wanted to return to Lond —"

"No!" she exclaimed, and then her expression turned into an affectionate smile. "I want to stay with you, Remus. Forever."

Remus was overjoyed. He pulled her close, and then —"

Remus awoke to a noise. Someone was pounding on the door. 'Why does Linda have to be so loud?' he wondered. 'She interrupted a really nice dream! I was just about to kiss her!' He peeked out the window. 'It's not even dawn. When does the lady sleep?' He shuffled to the door and reluctantly opened it.

"Good morning!" said Linda brightly.

Remus forced a smile and tried to look perky as well. "Good morning, Linda. Come on in," he invited.

Linda entered the trailer, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "I found a good horse for Hermione! His name is Cricket. I was hoping to get an early start to record where she's currently at with her mobility, if you don't mind. Is she awake?"

"I can check," Remus offered. He rubbed his eyes wearily and walked to Hermione's room. He had given her the bed, while he slept on the couch. He entered the only bedroom of the trailer and stepped into her line of vision. "Hermione, are you awake?"

Hermione's eyes fluttered open. She frowned a bit in puzzlement as she focused in on Remus. He appeared to be tired and a trifle irritated.

"Linda is here, she wants to start the hippotherapy," he explained, before smiling wryly. "Do all Muggles wake up at such ungodly hours?"

Hermione's mouth twitched into a smile. She knew horse and farm people were famous for being early risers, but certainly not all Muggles were. She indicated "no," her eyes laughing at him.

Remus returned the smile good-naturedly. It was just his luck to be stuck with a Muggle who liked to get up early. "What should I tell Linda? Would you like having a bit of breakfast and then start?"

Hermione agreed. Remus left the room and related that to Linda.

"Great! Well, I've already had mine, so do you mind me waiting here until you're ready?" Linda requested.

"Go ahead," agreed Remus without thinking. He stopped in his tracks on the way to the kitchen. He wouldn't be able to use magic, or would have quite of job of explaining it away. That would pose significant problems, as he had never cooked without magic before. "You can wait in the living room, if you like," he added hopefully. She would not be able to see much of what he did from there.

"Sure," she said, plopping down on the couch. She started doing stretches before proceeding to redo her ponytail.

Remus smiled in relief began making pancakes with magic. He was just about to flip them over when Linda entered the kitchen.

"You know, I've been thinking —" she started, and then raised her eyebrows at the sight she saw. Remus had a bunch of pancake batter on a cutting board, and the batter was bubbling incessantly. "My goodness!"

"I — well —" began Remus nervously. He could tell, by her expression, that cutting boards weren't normally used to make pancakes. Perhaps they had to heat it manually or something. Remus had just used a heating spell. "It's a new invention. I agreed to — try it out. You know, it was part of my old job. When I worked for the government. Yes, that's it," he stuttered.

She curiously stepped forward, seeming to buy his explanation. "How does it heat?" she asked.

"I'm not sure. Internal plugs or batteries, maybe?" he speculated. He knew that Muggles used plugs and batteries to power things. Mr. Weasley had shown off his plug and battery collection to him on numerous occasions. He held his breath. If he were lucky, Linda would not be suspicious.

"Really? That's brilliant. I can't wait until this comes out on the market. Pat would love to see this," commented Linda, causing Remus to cringe inwardly. The last thing he needed was for more Muggles to see this. "You'd better flip your pancakes or they'll burn!" she urged.

Remus had no idea how Muggles normally flipped pancakes. He scrambled around the kitchen, looking for a likely object. Linda strode over to a drawer and held up a flat looking metal contraption. "Here's the spatula!" she said triumphantly, handing it to him.

"Thanks," he said matter-of-factly. He wished Linda would leave the room so he could use magic. He did not see why Mr. Weasley liked Muggle ways so much, they were much more difficult and confusing than using magic. He flipped the pancakes, which were rather dark and brown by now.

"You know, I never did get to the riding part of level one with you," she said thoughtfully. "We'll have to do that, maybe after I'm done with Hermione, if I have time."

"Wonderful," responded Remus, feeling rather distracted with everything on his mind. He wondered what the Ministry was up to, as well as the Order. He wondered how he was going to get through the next full moon. What was going to happen with Hermione? How long would he be able to keep the secret that he was a wizard, and not only that, a werewolf and convict, from Linda and her friends? He sure wished he had paid more attention in his classes about Muggles in his younger years at Hogwarts. It would make his problems so much easier to handle.

Linda squinted her eyes thoughtfully as she gazed at Remus. Something seemed to be on his mind. Perhaps he was worried about how Hermione. Or maybe he was nervous because he had never ridden before. Or maybe it was something else entirely, something that was none of her business. 'Speaking of Hermione, though, I wonder how he feeds her. Maybe he won't mind if I ask.'

"Can I ask you a question?"

Remus glanced at her doubtfully. He wanted to say no, but then, that would definitely make her suspicious. "Yes," he agreed reluctantly.

"I was wondering how you feed Hermione. Does she eat normally? Do you use a feeding tube, or something else?"

Remus opened and closed his mouth a couple times. What was he supposed to do, lie to her? 'Maybe I can just give her an evasive answer, and somehow find a way to keep her from watching.' "It goes through her system normally." There. That was close enough.

Linda frowned. His answer had been rather strange. He did not seem to keen on the subject, so she did not press the matter. Whatever he was doing seemed to be fine. Hermione looked quite healthy.

Remus finished the pancakes and frantically tried to think of a way to get rid of Linda. He needed to feed Hermione, himself, and undo the heating charm, all things he could not do without magic. "Do you have to get Cricket ready for Hermione? Doesn't he need to be groomed, or something?"

"Oh yes, that's right. I should go do that. Just come to the arena when you're ready," Linda said, and then exited the trailer.

Remus heaved a big sigh of relief once Linda had left. She was a nice enough person, but trying to keep all those secrets and act like a Muggle, which he knew next to nothing about, was rather nerve-wracking. He quickly fed Hermione, ate breakfast, and cleaned the place up with some quick spells.

"Wonderful, we're ready. Come on, Hermione," he said, picking her up and heading for the arena.

After a few minutes of walking, they arrived. Linda was holding a black, white, and brown paint quarter horse next to an odd looking vehicle. She beckoned them closer and motioned Remus to set Hermione down on the vehicle.

Remus studied the contraption after setting Hermione down in it. It had wheels, a secure seat, a steering wheel, and stop and go pedals. He turned to get a good look at the horse. He appeared to be just less than five feet tall, and a mischievous look twinkled in his eyes. He eyed Remus with a plotting, calculating look. 'I'll have to keep an eye on him,' Remus decided.

Linda was busy talking to Hermione, not paying attention to what Cricket was doing. The horse inched closer and closer to Remus, innocently reaching out and sniffing the man's shirt with his nose. He encountered a stick underneath the man's shirt. Cricket nibbled at it a bit with his lips, looking for a way to get a hold of it. He finally encountered a bit of it sticking out from underneath Remus's shirt. Remus kept a close eye on him the whole time. The horse only appeared to be curious, not meaning any harm, so he made no move to ward him off.

Suddenly Cricket grabbed hold of his wand and ripped it out from underneath his shirt. The horse realized how irritated the man was at this, laughed with his eyes and began twisting his head every which way, avoiding Remus's frantic attempts retrieve the stick.

Linda turned around, and, seeing Remus's situation, clapped a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing. She coughed a bit, and then managed to pull a straight face together. "Do you remember what I said about approach and retreat the other day? Don't go for what you want directly, you have to outsmart him. He might be faster, bigger, and stronger, but you're smarter. Here, grab hold of the lead rope."

Remus followed her directions, and, after a few nerve-wracking minutes, managed to retrieve his wand with it still intact. Even better, Linda did not ask what the object was, she just commented, "We don't use that kind of stick on horses around here." That was all. Remus stuck it underneath his shirt again. He certainly would not let any man or beast touch it after this.

He took several steps away from Cricket and watched what Linda was doing with Hermione. Hermione was propped up in the seat of what she called a "go-cart." Linda was just finishing an explanation of what she planned to do. "Something I'm going to cover later on, that really might help you, is the concept of raising and lowering your 'life.' For instance, when you're running, you have much more life energy than when you're walking." She paused a moment, turning to Cricket. "Now, let's start," she said. "Can you hold this lead rope?"

Hermione twitched her hands determinedly. However, she was unable to close her hands around the rope.

"That's all right," said Linda. "I'll help you. Can you wiggle your finger at Cricket? Get a firm look on your face."

Hermione did so, and to her surprise, the horse began backing up. She smiled brightly. At last, something she could do on her own! The rest of the session preceded much like that, with Hermione being able to get the horse to do things, despite her very limited mobility. Linda helped her out a bit, but tried to let Hermione do everything whenever possible. She also rode double with Linda, who held her up and encouraged her to try to do things on her own. By the end of the session, Hermione was in good spirits. This was quite fun!

Then it was Remus's turn. He had never ridden a horse in his life. Linda decided that he would ride Cricket, since he was out anyway. As a Gryffindor, riding did not scare him at all. He soon found that the horse had an annoying trick of stopping out of the blue, whenever Remus was least expecting it. This would nearly pitch the man over his head. Linda taught him how to get the horse to stop doing that. By the end of the session, he had almost achieved level one.

"I think you need to work on giving him more rein, and your phases of firmness. Those 'predator' instincts of grabbing seem especially strong in you, but that's okay! It makes the journey more interesting," commented Linda thoughtfully.

'Maybe I'm having a hard time because I'm a werewolf,' speculated Remus. He did not care that much, though, he was just riding to humor Linda and keep his job. Brooms were so much easier; they did not have any brains or feelings to worry about.

Hermione's first appearance at the tour that afternoon went quite well. They kept it short and simple. Remus introduced Hermione to the crowd with a short speech about her condition. People applauded a lot, and some took pictures. Afterwards, Pat and Linda seemed quite pleased with how it turned out, so they planned a program with her for the rest of their tour stops. Remus readily agreed to it. The longer he kept his job with them, the more money he would have, the better. 'Besides, it would keep Hermione around longer,' he thought to himself, a little selfishly. 'That's the biggest bonus.'

Replies to Reviewers:

MoonyNZ: You're very close! Good guesses! Thanks for the great review, as always. :)

Amber Hermione: I did read and review your story. No offense, but it's not really my cup of tea, I like Remus/Hermione and Harry/Hermione stories mainly. It has some good ideas though, and it made me think of a new idea for a Remus/Hermione story. :) I'm really sorry, nothing personal! Thanks for reviewing!

Rane2920072: I love your peppy attitude! Unfortunately, fanfiction net edited out most of the exclamation points, LOL! Cheers! (lots of exclamation points after that! ;)) Thank you so much for reviewing!

The Owner of Two Pianoes: Thanks! I do try to get a mix of everything, maybe a bit of humor, mystery, angst, adventure, personal journeys and a lot of romance. :) Thanks for letting me know about characterization, I like it when people let me know about that kind of thing. Yes, Hermione was a bit hard to do in this one, it is hard to know how she'd react. Thanks again, I really appreciated your review!

Morena-Forever: Yeah, horses are cool, I own one! Very proud of that. :) I re-read OotP, and unfortunately found out that Hermione doesn't like horses. Oops. Well, I'm going to make her like them, LOL! Thanks for reviewing!

LupinLover99: Cool! I haven't watched Black Beauty in awhile, I'll have to rent it now. :) Always glad to hear from you. :)

JTBJAB: Yeah, gotta be careful about those muggles, LOL! You brought up some pretty good points. I probably should have elaborated on them a bit more. I felt that Linda would think that it's a bit of a sensitive subject, like how Hermione was fed, so would just let it drop. Thank you so much for your review!

Oddballout: This story is going to end at about Chapter 20. Yes, after this one, I do plan on writing another one. I don't know if you've visited my profile page, I've written two other Remus/Hermione stories too. Anyway, my next one that I probably will do is going to be titled "A Wolf for Your Scar." It will be Remus/Hermione. The summary is in my profile. I'm not 100 that that is the one I'm going to do, but it looks like it right now. Great to hear from you again, thanks!

SpikesDreamer: Yes, we'll find out about that in the next chapter. :) I like Neville too! Thanks a million for reviewing!

Radingsouls4u: Hey, that's ok, I appreciate input like that. It gets me thinking about new possibilities. :) Good to hear from you, thanks!

ArcticAngelzTX: Very glad to hear you love this story. :) There's nothing more encouraging than that, thank you for reviewing!

JinxTwix: That's ok. My parents don't want me to give out that kind of information on the internet. Sorry.

BlackPaintedWhite: Wow, four reviews! I'm deeply gratified! Yay, celery. Do you mean the Celine Dion song? Yes, I like Celine Dion. I like songs in pretty much any genre, 90's and on, but I do like a few oldies. I can't imagine him as a Death Eater either, ever. Yay, cheese! I love cheese. Worked at a pizza place for three years, then quit because I didn't get enough hours. A hedge maze sounds really fun! You could put a silver cup in the middle and hope it doesn't take you to a graveyard, LOL! Cool, what kind of horses? I own one, described in this chapter. :) And now I will shamelessly plug Parelli Natural Horsemanship...I'm 10000 satisfied with it, I got the outstanding results that he said I would, the way he said I would, if you were looking for something fun to do with the horses that you might get. It teaches you everything you need and want to know. Totally rocks, I want to become a professional. Can you tell I'm a fan? LOL! Oooo, a cookie! Yum! Is it chocolate chip, my favorite? Glad you like the horsey insertion, it's a bit AU so I was uncertain about it, although I liked it very much, of course. :) A big, big, thank you, and a large piece of cake, (you choose what kind) for reviewing four times!

Preview of next chapter: At first, Judge gave him an exasperated look, and was about to get up and leave because, clearly, he was not getting anywhere; but when he saw the picture, his expression changed dramatically. There sat the Mudblood, riding double with some blonde Muggle. After reading the article, he had Caton click another link to check the dates and locations of the tour, quickly finding the information he needed. 'All I have to do is get some Ministry officials, a portkey, and my job will be done!' Michael thought jubiliantly. He shook, or more like crushed, the boy's hand, and hurriedly exited the library. He had a mission to fulfill.