"Remus, can you please straighten up those books. Severus will be here any minute," nagged Hermione.
Remus was sitting sulkily in a chair. He folded his arms not intending to do what Hermione asked, but quickly jumped up when he saw the look on her face. He picked up the books and put them away haphazardly on the shelf.
"Remus, do it right," she scolded.
Grumbling all the while, he made sure the spines of each book were lined up with the edge of the bookshelf, just like Hermione liked it. "Happy," he said under his breath so she couldn't hear him.
"Yes," she said coming up behind him.
Remus jumped. He didn't realize she was so close. "Uhh…," he mumbled.
She kissed the back of his neck. "You're so grumpy. I don't know how I'm going to punish you."
Remus turned toward his wife with a smile. "I could think of a few…" Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Remus' face immediately clouded over.
"Behave," mouthed Hermione. She moved around him and went to open the door. "Hi Severus," she said. "Come on in."
"Thank you," said Snape. He entered the house and lowered his hood, before coming face to face with Remus. "What is he doing here?" he asked angrily. "This wasn't part of the deal, Granger."
"Don't take that tone with my wife," snapped Remus, taking a step toward Snape.
"Wife?"
"Yes, Severus," interrupted Hermione, casually stepping between the two men. "I trust you remember Remus, my husband."
"I remember Lupin," said Snape, "but not as your husband."
"We were married a few days ago," explained Hermione. "We live here together now, so all three of us are going to have to make the best of our situation."
"It's a real shame, Granger. I thought you were smarter than this," said Snape.
"What's that supposed to mean," said Remus, advancing. Hermione put her hand on his chest and stopped his forward motion.
"I just can't believe she's tied herself to a werewolf for life. She's just accepted near banishment from our society."
"All right, that's enough," said Hermione angrily. "The two of you are off to a very bad start. Severus, Remus is my husband and my loyalty lies with him, before the Order, before Dumbledore, before everything. If you understand that, we won't have any problems. Remus, whether you like it or not, the Order needs Severus. Please don't let old school grudges stand in the way of that. Now, can we at least sit down and relax?"
"Sure," said Remus. "Whatever you want, Hermione."
"I've committed to do this, and I don't break my word," said Snape.
"Thank you," she said taking a deep breath. She turned and addressed Snape. "Are you hungry? Dinner's on the table."
"Umm, no," hesitated Snape.
"It's okay," said Hermione. "Remus cooked. I only helped a little," she said with a smile.
"In that case," replied Snape.
Hermione laughed. "My cooking hasn't been that bad," she protested.
"If you say so," said Severus dryly.
Remus watched the easy interaction between the two with growing unrest. They were acting almost like friends. He realized that for several months Hermione's only company had been Snape and Dumbledore, but he thought that their relationship would have been a bit more business like rather than a genuine friendship.
Hermione led Severus to the table. "Sit down. Remus and I will get dinner."
Hermione went to the kitchen and Remus followed her. "Hermione," he began once they were out of ear shot of Snape.
"Remus," she interrupted. "You promised to behave."
He rolled his eyes. "I'm not a child, Hermione. I don't need to be told to behave."
"Obviously you do," she whispered. "Severus is a guest in our home and you're treating him as if he was unwanted."
"He is unwanted," mumbled Remus. He was more than a little resentful of the fact that Severus had arrived in the middle of what should have been their honeymoon. He wanted his wife to himself.
"We need him," scolded Hermione. "The information he brings is saving the lives of Order members and all good wizards and witches everywhere."
"I know, I know," said Remus. "I understand and I'll put up with him. But I'm not going to pretend that I like it." Without another word, he turned and walked out of the kitchen.
Hermione sighed deeply and followed him, not wanting to leave the two boys alone for any length of time. They all had a quiet and polite dinner. "So," said Hermione, once everyone had finished. "How long are you staying this time, Severus?"
Snape eyed Remus before answering. "As short a time as possible," he said.
"We'll be sorry to see you go," replied Remus.
Hermione sighed in annoyance. "Care to be more specific?" she asked.
"A couple of days," answered Severus. "I'm not expected back until Friday."
"That's it?" questioned Hermione. "Last time you stayed a week."
"A week," exclaimed Remus. "You were alone with him for a week?"
"I stayed ten days the time before that," goaded Snape.
"Severus," shouted Hermione in anger.
Remus glared at him, stood up and left the room.
Hermione watched him leave before returning her attention to Snape. "You just had to add that, didn't you?" she accused.
Severus rolled his eyes and sat back in his chair. "I can't control your jealous husband."
"No, but you can control yourself," she said. "He's not happy having you here. And I meant what I said before, nothing comes before Remus."
"You would really throw away all our work for him?"
Hermione stood and looked Snape directly in the eye. "In a second." She pushed back her chair and went to find her husband. He was in their bedroom.
"Remus," she began. "I'm sorry about Severus. He was out of line."
"Forget it, Hermione," said Remus quietly. "It doesn't matter."
She moved toward him and put her arms around his waist. "It matters to me," she said. "Remus you're better than this. You're a better man than he is. You shouldn't let anything he says affect you. Yes, we've spent a lot of time alone here, but there wasn't a second of that time that I wished you were with me instead of him."
"And all the while I was lying in my little bed, safe and sound," he said bitterly.
"Remus look at me," said Hermione forcefully. He turned and their eyes met. "What's going on in your head?" she asked, brushing a lock of hair off his cheek. "What's bothering you really?"
"Nothing," he said, trying to turn away.
"Remus talk to me, please."
"It's just," he began. "I hate it so much that you've been out here, alone and in danger while I was safe at home."
"Remus," said Hermione incredulously. "You hardly had any choice in the matter. You were hurt. My God, I almost lost you. Do you know how close you came to… God, I don't even want to say it." She started to tear up and Remus pulled her close to him.
"I'm sorry," he said. "Please don't cry. I swore I'd never make you cry."
"I'm not crying," she sniffled and then she started laughing. Remus laughed too. It felt good.
"What are we fighting about?" he asked.
She draped her arms around his neck. "Were we fighting?" she asked, pulling him down for a kiss. They kissed and their bodies came closer and closer together until there was no space. Just when Remus thought he was going to go into sensory overload, Hermione pulled away. He groaned and tried to bring her back.
"I'll be right back," she said.
"No, don't go," moaned Remus.
"Right back," she promised, quickly escaping from their room. She checked on Snape who was still sitting at the table. "Hey," she said. "Umm, we're kind of tired," she said with a small blush on her cheeks. "We're going to turn in early tonight. Make yourself comfortable and just pull out the couch when you're ready for bed. You know where everything is. Goodnight." She hurried back to her room hearing Snape behind her, but not stopping.
"Don't forget the silencing charm," he said rudely.
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
The next morning the sun seemed to be shining just a little brighter, at least it did to Remus and Hermione. Snape thought there was a bit too much sun and Remus and Hermione's cheerful mood was just a bit too much to take.
Longbeforethey strolled out of bed, Snape had already had breakfast, read the Prophet from front to back, and taken a walk around the house, checking to make sure everything was secure.
By the time the three of them sat to discuss the movements of the Death Eaters, he was very annoyed, not that Hermione or Remus noticed.
"I think you should know," he said, his voice dripping with irritation, "that The Dark Lord is making finding Pettigrew a priority."
"Really?" said Hermione in surprise. "Peter's insignificant. Why would he focus his energy on him?"
"Peter's a traitor," said Snape. "The Dark Lord wants to make an example of him, a very painful, very public example."
"Well, you don't have to worry about him," said Hermione. "The only person who knows anything about Peter is James and he wouldn't say anything. Not even Dumbledore knows where Peter's hiding."
"Sirius will know," interrupted Remus.
Hermione shook her head. "Sirius thinks Peter's on his way to Azkaban. We had to tell him that to keep him from killing Peter. I don't even want to think about what would happen if he knew James was actually protecting Peter."
"Are you sure?" asked Snape.
"Of course," said Hermione. "Why?"
"It may be nothing, but there someone is giving The Dark Lord the impression that they're close to finding Peter."
"They're lying to him, then. I told you, no one, not even me, knows where Peter is."
Snape shrugged, willing to let the topic drop. They continued discussing the Death Eater's movements for the next several hours until they were all so tired they couldn't think. Snape was watching Remus very closely. He had a kind of half smile on his face.
"What is it you find so amusing, Lupin?" asked Snape.
Remus seemed to snap out of his reverie. "Huh? Oh, nothing."
"Obviously something is amusing you," insisted Snape.
"Well if you must know," said Remus. "I was thinking back to our days at Hogwarts."
Snape's face instantly soured.
"What about?" asked Hermione curiously.
"I was rememberingthis oneHalloween when James and Sirius convinced some of the ghosts to make a huge disturbance during the feast so we could all sneak out without getting caught."
"I knew that was you guys," said Snape. "It lacked any kind of subtlety. Loud noises and huge disturbances were always Potter and Black's trade marks."
"What made you think of that?" interrupted Hermione, shooting a look at Snape.
Remus pointed over Hermione's head at a calendar. "Halloween was two weeks ago. The time is flying by."
Hermione looked shocked by this. "It's already November?" she questioned.
Remus nodded.
Not believing him, she stood up and strode over to the calendar on the wall and took it down. She carried it into their bedroom and closed the door.
"Your wife has very odd habits," commented Snape. "She does that a lot."
"What?" questioned Remus, not really paying attention to Snape, but staring at the closed bedroom door.
"She leaves the room in the middle of a thought, like she's suddenly found the answer to one of life's great mysteries and she must consult one of her books."
Remus looked back at Snape and then stood and followed Hermione's path to the bedroom.
Snape rolled his eyes. "Apparently, it's catching."
Hermione was sitting on the bed, flipping through the calendar. "It can't be," she was muttering.
"What's the matter, honey?" asked Remus.
She looked up at him, her face pale. "I've completely lost track of time," she said. "I had no idea it was November."
"So what," said Remus. "What's so special about November?"
Hermione stood and began pacing around the room. "We have to go home," she said, without bothering to offer any explanation.
"What are you talking about?" asked Remus in shock. "You just spent the past couple of days going on and on about how important this mission was to the Order. For God's sake, Snape is sitting in our living room."
"I know what I said," said Hermione in annoyance. "But that doesn't matter now."
"Why? Honey, please sit down. You're making me dizzy and you're not making any sense."
"Remus, I lost track of time. We have to go home. I have to make sure everything's okay."
"Why?" he asked again, then he paused. "Wait a minute. This is about the future, isn't it? What's supposed to happen in November? Is it bad?"
Hermione immediately felt bad. She could see the beginning of panic in Remus' eyes. "No, nothing bad happens in November, quite the contrary."
"Then what?" asked Remus.
Hermione gave him a small smile. "Lily's pregnant."
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
A/N: Grumbling all the while, he made sure the spines of each book were lined up with the edge of the bookshelf, just like Hermione liked it.
I have to confess, this is the way I must have my books. I couldn't resist including it in the story.
Okay, I know this is an unforgivably short chapter, especially considering how long I made you wait for it, but here it is and hopefully the last line made the wait worth it.
