The train ride the following morning was eventful. James and Lily spoke quietly to each other. Lily occasionally giggling at something James said. He would run his fingers through her long red hair, making Hermione smile. Sirius and Peter were playing Wizard's Chess and bickering back and forth...all in good fun of course. Remus sat across from Hermione reading Hogwarts, A History. Hermione had picked up a journal in Diagon Alley the day before and was currently writing in it. Occasionally, she would look up and find herself staring into the gray eyes of Remus. They would both blush and turn back to their respective books. After about an hour of writing (consistently about Remus and how attracted she was to him), she decided to take a walk around the train. As she got up, she felt eyes on her; she turned back and saw Remus staring, again. She smiled.

"I'm going to take a walk. Would you like to join me?"

Remus smiled back and closed his book.

He stood up, "I definitely would."

Together, they began touring the train. She was amazed once again on how things didn't seem to change. They walked in silence for a few moments. Right as Hermione was about to make a joke about uncomfortable silences, Remus took her hand in his. She looked at him and smiled. His hand was large and warm and made her feel something she couldn't explain. Something she'd never felt before. Hand in hand, they walked until something caught Hermione's eye. In a compartment, there sat two very blond teens. The male was much younger than she remembered but there was no doubting who he was...Lucious Malfoy. That would make the girl Narcissa Malfoy. But no, she wasn't a Malfoy yet.

"Mione? You okay?"

Hermione turned away from the compartment and looked up at Remus' concerned face. She smiled slightly and squeezed his hand.

"Yes. I'm fine. Who are those two? They remind me of some people I know from home."

Remus glanced in, "That's Lucius Malfoy and his girlfriend, Narcissa Black. Sitting across from them is Bellatrix Black, Narcissa's sister. Cissy and Bea, as they are more known as, are Sirius' cousins. Though, if you asked them, they would just deny it."

Hermione shrugged then smiled.

"Eh. I'd deny it to if I had to live with Sirius' exploits."

Remus was about to argue but her laugh interrupted him.

"I was just kidding, Remus."

He smiled down at her and looked like he was about to say something when the compartment door opened.

"What the hell are you doing here, Lupin?"

Remus smirked and Hermione turned around to see Lucius standing there. Behind him was Narcissa.

"Just passing by, Malfoy. Hermione Granger, this is Lucius Malfoy, his girlfriend Narcissa and her sister Bellatrix. Ladies, gent, this is Hermione Granger."

Hermione cringed inside but held out her hand.

"Nice to meet you."

Lucious looked down at her hand in disgust then back up at her.

"Granger? Never heard of that particular family. Where'd you say you were from?"

Hermione kept the smile on her face but screamed inside. She put her hand back down to her side.

"I didn't, Mr. Malfoy. But if you must know, I've been going to Beauxbatons for the last six years. My parents are Dameon and Jaeda."

"Pureblood?"

She was about to say "no" but then remember something Dumbledore had said. She was a Snape and she was a pureblood.

"Is it that important?"

Lucious raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"I don't surround myself with mudbloods."

It was Hermione's turn to raise an eyebrow.

"Don't surround yourself with mudbloods? You're missing out on some interesting people. Kind of pathetic to be such a...bigot...don't you think?" She was about to turn away but then stopped herself and looked him straight in the eye.

"And just so you know, Mr. Malfoy, I am a pureblood. Have a nice day."

Hermione turned to Remus, "We should go back."

Remus was too stunned to do anything but nod. She grabbed his hand again and they walked off. Hermione heard Bea mumble something and Lucius just told her to shut up. Remus finally regained his speech and looked down at her.

"That. Was. Amazing. You are just...unbelievable Hermione Granger. You made him speechless. I've never seen Malfoy speechless. Wait till I tell everyone this."

Hermione just laughed. The whole incident reminded her slightly of the time she had smacked Draco during their third year. Those familiar yearnings came back and she quenched them again, hoping Remus didn't see her flinch.

"Hermione? Remus? What's this I hear about you two fighting with Malfoy?"

They turned around and saw James leaning against a door and Lily standing across from him.

Hermione shook her head, "A fight? No, it was more like a discussion. It's nice to know the rumor mill doesn't change though."

Lily walked over to her and took her free hand.

"Can we talk?"

Hermione nodded, smiled and gave Remus' hand a squeeze and then let go to so that Lily could lead her away. As soon as they got out of earshot of the boys, Lily stopped. She turned back to Hermione with a worried look on her face.

"Mione, I like you a lot. We've known each other for a day and I feel like I've known you forever. I'm a pretty good judge of character and I truly believe you are a good person so you wouldn't intentionally hurt anyone."

At this point, Hermione never felt more confused in her entire life. If Lily had been speaking Giant, there would have been a chance Hermione would have understood what was coming out of her friend's mouth.

"Lily, what are you talking about?"

Lily sighed, "I saw you holding hands with Remus. I just wanted to know what your intentions were."

"My intentions?"

She nodded, "Yeah. You know. Do you like him like that?"

Okay. Now she understood. They were worried about Remus getting hurt. But, Hermione wasn't exactly sure why.

"Lily. It's a little early for me to be thinking about liking him...like that. I am attracted to him and in the span of one day, I've felt flutterier around him then I've felt around anyone. I'm not sure what this means but I'm willing to find out. He's practically an adult. Why are you so worried about him?"

Lily looked thoughtful for a moment before answering her.

"Remus is normally very shy. Girls...girls just don't flock to him like they do to Sirius and James. Um. I've never, in my entire seven years of knowing him, have seen him act the way he did when he met you for the first time. And I have definitely never seen him hold hands with a girl in public, let alone with a girl he met the day before. Something is happening with him and it's very exciting but then again, we are all a little nervous about it. Remus is one of the sweetest men you'll ever meet. His heart is made of gold. We don't want to see him hurt."

If Hermione hadn't been biting the inside of her cheek all through Lily's speech, she would have been sobbing like a fool by now. Instead, she took in a deep breath and took Lily's hand.

"Lily, never in my entire 16 years, have I felt this way around a guy. I like to think of myself as a levelheaded person but when I saw Remus for the first time, it was like...I don't know...the only way I can think of describing it is as love at first sight. It's silly but it's how I feel. I will do everything with in my power not to hurt him. I have plenty of things to think about and right now, holding his hand is about as far as we will go."

Lily smiled and hugged her.

"You two are really cute together."

Hermione laughed, "I could say the same about you and James. You'll make a beautiful baby someday."

Lily shook her head.

"How about we just try to make it through our first year as boyfriend and girlfriend before you start giving us kids, okay?"

Hermione laughed again, "Okay. But, if you have a daughter first, Hermione is a good, strong name."