Yay! Another chapter! Three cheers for me! This was a last minute change I made to the plot of my story, and I hope everyone likes it. Once again, I cannot thank everyone enough for staying with me all this way.

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling.

Remus

Remus Lupin strode into the Great Hall of Hogwarts, his footsteps echoing clearly around the empty hall. Professor Dumbledore had extended him an invitation to spend Christmas at Hogwarts and Remus was happily thinking about how he would spend his time with Harry, Ron and Hermione. He briefly registered the fairies fluttering on the Christmas trees, frost spreading from wherever their tiny feet landed, and disappearing again when they took flight. Remus appreciated the twinkling effect of the frost on the trees, it was beauty beyond compare. The Great Hall was empty except for two figures sitting at the far end of the Gryffindor table. Their heads looked up in unison as Remus approached. Genuine smiles of welcome bloomed on Harry and Ron's faces as the travel-wearied man approached them.

"Professor! You're early!" Harry held him in a bear hug that would rival one given by Hagrid. Remus returned the hug just as enthusiastically. Since the incident at the Department of Mysteries, Harry had looked to him as some sort of surrogate godfather. Remus considered himself fortunate to experience the same level of trust that Harry had placed in Sirius. A faint memory of a drunken pact he had made with Sirius surfaced in his mind: They had been talking about Sirius' godson and Remus had drunkenly joked that he wouldn't mind being Harry's guardian should anything happen to Sirius. His friend had laughed and promptly volunteered to jump off the Astronomy Towers at Hogwarts. Remus felt strange that the memory chose to resurface now; he had always replayed that particular memory with a mixture of guilt and happiness. He missed Sirius even more keenly now; he should have been here celebrating Christmas with them.

He finally broke free from Harry's embrace and turned to shake hands with Ron. Noticing the absence of the third member of the trio, Remus commented lightly, "Where is Hermione? Couldn't you two have dragged her away from the library?" He had meant it as a joke, but he supposed it must be less funny than he thought, judging from the non-existent response from the two boys.

Harry and Ron shared a knowing look. "Didn't you know, Professor?" Harry said quietly, "Hermione's gone. She had an accident with a flight of stairs and now she's stuck somewhere in the past."

Remus frowned at the seriousness of the situation. "And what did Dumbledore and Severus say about this?"

Harry shrugged and replied, "Dumbledore doesn't know when she'll return, and Snape (Remus heard the young man's voice turned cold) acts like nothing's happened." He scowled. "In fact, I would say the bastard's pretty happy he's gotten rid of Hermione so easily."

To his side, Ron nodded sagely. "He's taken less points off Gryffindor than ever, he must be in a good mood and…professor?"

Remus had stopped listening to the two boys; his mind was running over the implications of their words. He broke away from his reverie to hear Ron calling his name; the redheaded boy was looking at him with a hint of curiosity on his freckled face. Abruptly, he said, "I'm going to see Dumbledore and after that, Severus. Excuse me, boys, I'll talk to you later."

Remus exited the Headmaster's office half an hour later, feeling angrier with Severus than he had ever been in his life. Dumbledore had told him a similar story to the one he gave Harry and Ron, with the added information that her argument with Severus had been the cause of it all. It seemed to Remus that bad things always befell the women associated with Severus Snape. He had not blamed him for what happened to the first one; Severus had been just as devastated as he was when Mel was gone, but he'll be damned if he did not say anything about Severus' treatment of Hermione before and after her disappearance.

He found the Potions Professor on his way to the Potions lab. "Snape," he snarled. "We need to talk." Severus arched an eyebrow at him in a sneer. "My pleasure, I'm sure." Remus glowered at his back as he followed the taller man into the lab.

"Now, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company, Lupin?"

"Hermione," replied Remus shortly. "Dammit, Snape, your wife's gone and you act like nothing's happened! You know she married you for the protection you could provide for her, and what have you done?" He took a deep, angry breath and waited for Severus to speak.

"Not very original, Lupin. I've heard that whole you-could-have-done-something tirade from somewhere before."

Remus narrowed his eyes at the other man. "I'm sorry that the man she chose to marry would be the one to disregard her safety and wellbeing; to let her down."

Severus smirked, "Is that your way of saying you want my wife too, Lupin?"

Remus shook his head in disbelief. "So, we've come to the root of the problem. This isn't about Hermione anymore, is it? It's Mel all over again." He took the other man's silence as a yes and laughed depreciatingly. "She has never felt anything other than friendship for me, Severus. We both know that."

"She worshipped you!" Severus hissed between clenched teeth.

Remus retorted just as fiercely, "She worshipped me the way a twelve year old would worship her older brother's best friend! But you!" Lupin broke off for a moment and turned his head to stare straight into Severus' eyes. "You she loved the way a woman loves a man. Look into my eyes, Severus, and tell me you would rather be in my shoes." He stopped to let Severus absorb his words before continuing, "And while we are still on this subject, let me tell you what Mel would have thought of your behaviour towards Hermione. Mel had so much compassion for others; she would have hated you for what you did to your wife. You know that, too, don't you? She loved you so much she would have wanted you to be happy with Hermione, Severus, she would have allowed you that."

The following silence rapidly thickened around the Potions lab. Both men were oblivious to anything but the tension between them. Finally, Severus stirred and moved swiftly towards the door. And as he passed Lupin, the werewolf could hear his mutter two tortured words, "I know."

Severus could feel Mel's barely contained excitement on the morning Lupin was scheduled to arrive; she obviously thought that the Wolfsbane Potion would work. She was talking louder and faster than usual, not caring that Severus or anyone else did not always understood her rapid change of topics. Severus was glad that he had made amends the day following the incident in his Potions lab by accepting Mel's suggestion to add salamander scales to the potion. She had smiled profusely then, and expressed her confidence in the success of the potion. Severus was still sceptical, but was relieved that Mel had forgiven him.

Lupin arrived during dinner, and Mel rushed forward to introduce herself. Severus saw her chattering excitedly as she dragged a bemused Lupin towards the High Table. She had wanted to interrupt their dinner to go down to the lab immediately, but Dumbledore intervened and told her to finish her dinner like a good little witch. She pouted, but gave in embarrassedly when the Headmaster pointed out that Lupin would want some dinner too.

Later, Mel cramped the three of them in Severus' Potions lab and made Lupin drink the potion. Then, saying that she had some business to attend to, Mel left the two men, promising to return before Lupin retired for the night. As soon as the door closed with a click behind her, the hostility that Severus had always felt towards Lupin re-emerged in full force.

"I hope the potion does not work, werewolf. I would hate to think that you hadn't managed to kill me before it tamed you."

Lupin smiled mildly, "Mel's a nice girl. Where did you get her? What potion did you use?"

"I did not get her from anywhere," Severus hissed. "The Headmaster dumped her on me."

"So, you hate her," Lupin replied, shrugging. "Oh well, your loss, Snivellus."

Hermione returned to the lab later to discover Severus and Remus with their wands out, eyeing each other with speculation. Instinctively, she took her own wand out and approached them cautiously.

"What's going on here?" she said and saw that their heads whipped around at her voice. Slowly, as if they were finally coming to their senses, they lowered their wand arms.

"Well now," Hermione said, trying very hard to pretend that nothing had happened. "I've prepared a room for you, Remus. It is a very special room. We can actually see you from behind the closed door, and you'll see us too. That way, we can observe your behaviour when you have transformed. We will know whether the potion worked or not. And…" Hermione did some quick calculating on her fingers, "We should go now, it's almost time."

She turned to leave the lab and lead the two of them towards the Room of Requirements. She had wanted Remus to stay inside the castle tonight because she had never liked the idea of him staying at the Shrieking Shack; she thought it was a cold and lonely place. She did not like the muggle zoo-like concept of the room for Remus either, but it was the only thing she could come up with. She hoped he wouldn't mind.

They reached the room and Hermione turned to the two men. "Here you are, Remus, I hope you'll be comfortable here." She stopped to consider her next words carefully, "And I'll get rid of this glass pane and replace it with solid wall after we've seen your reaction to the potion, Remus. I'm really sorry, but that's the only way I can come up with to do this safely."

Remus nodded tightly and entered the room and Severus locked the transparent door. The three of them sat down and waited for the moon to rise. Hermione noticed that they were still glaring daggers at each other while she performed desperate soliloquy to try and direct their attention away from each other. Just as she was about to give up, Remus went very still, the transformation had begun.

It was fortunate the Hermione had seen Professor Lupin transform once in her third year, it prepared her for the moans of pain issued from Remus' throat as his body stiffened and lengthened. She longed to run in and soothe the poor man, telling him that everything would be all right. Remus gave a last howl of pain and went quiet; Hermione thought that it was all over before it had actually begun. She leaned forward eagerly. "Remus? Can you hear me?"

The werewolf blinked and looked back at her, confused for a second. Then, it gradually widened its mouth into what Hermione took to be a grin. Clapping her hands in delight, Hermione removed the spell from the door and ran inside before Severus had a chance to stop her. She flung herself at the werewolf and laughed happily, babbling away.

Severus approached more cautiously and tapped Hermione on the shoulder. She turned to look at him. "Come, Mel. We need to go, we don't know how long the potion lasts for."

Hermione had wanted to spend a few more minutes with Remus, but there was wisdom in what Severus was saying. She nodded in agreement and turned back to Lupin. "Remus, we'll go now. Tell me everything tomorrow, okay?" The werewolf nodded and licked her face. Hermione giggled and carefully kissed her friend on the head. "Good night, Remus."

Severus walked as briskly as he could without actually breaking into a run. Mel was still talking non-stop about the success of the Wolfsbane Potion, and how she just knew that the salamander scales would do the trick. Severus barely heard her; he was still too irked by Lupin's earlier words to even register the full implication of what they had done for the wizarding world. He had been furious that Lupin had told him, in words unspoken, that he knew what Severus thought of Mel. He did not like to think that the other man could read him like an open book; it could make things very uncomfortable for him. He was also starting to worry that Lupin would show an interest in Mel.

It seemed that Mel finally realised his reluctance to bask in the joy of their achievement when she suddenly asked, "Severus, are you all right? You've been off all evening."

Severus mumbled an excuse about needing to go to bed. Mel nodded thoughtfully. "Of course, Severus. You've been working too hard."

"So did you, Mel, it's late now." He gave her the courtesy of a standard, polite reply, but noticed that Mel had stopped walking, her face set in an expression of doom. "But where will I sleep tonight? I gave Remus my room! What will I do?"

Severus stared at her incredulously. That was her room? She had allowed Lupin into her room? What about him? He suddenly felt very, very jealous of Lupin and barely realised that Mel was speaking to him again, "You have a spare room next yours, don't you?"

He nodded numbly.

"Great! Can I sleep there tonight?"

Severus vaguely remembered that he had nodded. Everything else was forgotten as Mel gave him a crushing hug.