Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Author's Note: Ah…nope, I've got nothing to say.

Chapter Three

Professor Remus Lupin sat at his desk in his private office, he didn't want to face his classes, so as far as Professor Dumbledore knew, he was still in the hospital wing with Hermione. In from of him lay an open photo album, filled with pictures of him from his days at Hogwarts. The one he was staring at now was of him, Sirius, and James in the common room. He remembered that day so well; James and Sirius had been trying to convince him to ask Mary Elizabeth from Ravenclaw to go with him to Hogsmeade. Finally, he had relented and asked her, they had had a good time too. That is until she found out that he was a werewolf, after that, she had refused to even speak to him.

He flipped to another picture, this one of Remus, Peter, Lily, James, Sirius, and Sirius's new girlfriend at the Three Broomsticks. They all looked so happy, everyone but him; he just looked like his normal sickly self. Yet here he was, alive, while they had all died. Well, all expect for Peter, but then he didn't count. The next picture was of him holding a baby Harry while James and Lily looked on. He remembered staring at his picture hundreds of times, jealous that the child wasn't his and that he would never have what Lily and James had.

He thought back to Hermione and everything she had said. Her reasons were true enough, though her accusation was incorrect. He did like her, in fact, he liked her entirely too much. She was beautiful and intelligent, but absolutely too young. She was just a teenage, he was middle-aged, and no matter what she said, he knew that sooner or later she would leave him for someone else. That was what frightened him the most, not what other people would say or think. What if he did give into his feelings, but then she left? He didn't know if he could take the pain. Losing someone to death was hard enough, but losing someone because they didn't love you anymore would be much worse.

Remus was too wrapped into his thoughts to notice the arrival of Professor Dumbledore in his office. Before he knew it, Dumbledore stood in front him and snapped the book shut. That got his attention, hastily, he stood and said, "I'm sorry, Professor. I should have told you when I left the hospital wing. It was some time ago, Miss Granger didn't want me there any longer."

"And why didn't she?" the old man asked, the twinkle in his eye visible.

"She wanted to be left alone to think, sir."

Dumbledore shook his head. "You're lying. You must realize that I know everything that goes on in this school, Remus. I knew when you left the hospital wing and I also know why, which is why I chose to continue as your substitute instead of forcing you to teach."

"If you know, why do you ask me?"

"Simply to see if you are willing to tell me. Now, normally, I would stay out of a thing such as this, but I feel it is my responsibility to act," he stated.

"This is my personal life, Albus," Remus replied.

The headmaster nodded. "Yes, and seeing as you don't manage it properly, I find it upon me to do so."

"You don't understand."

"What don't I understand, Remus?"

"She's twenty years younger than me!" he answered.

"And? Love has no age, Remus, just like it has no money or species."

"How could we live? Neither of us would have any money, since neither of us would have jobs."

"I would be more than happy to have you stay here. You would remain the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and Miss Granger could become the Muggle Studies teacher, Ms. Derwood has been hoping to move on for some time," Dumbledore suggested.

"What about children?"

"Don't you want children, Remus? I think it would do you some good to have a little five year-old hanging on to your leg as you try to walk around and teach."

Remus sighed, "Albus, I'm old enough to be her father. She has planned her entire life out, and I don't think her plans included a family that would be rejected wherever they went. I would be sixty by the time any child of ours graduated from Hogwarts, I should be a grandfather by then."

"Well, perhaps if your child is very irresponsible and handsome, you will be," Dumbledore grinned.

"Albus, I'm serious. Hermione doesn't know what she's getting into to, it would be best if I just ignored her until she came to her senses."

"The only thing that will come of you ignoring her is a very hurt young lady. We all know that Miss Granger is not the most confident of the young ladies here, it must have taken a great deal of courage to talk to your about her feelings. Where is your courage?"

"I'm supposed to be the logical one, not the brave one," he answered.

Dumbledore smiled kindly and asked, "Why don't you be the one that listens to his heart?"


Hermione was at dinner that night, and apparently, she had told Ginny of her condition, for she was openly plugging her nose without any questions from those directly around her. Other students at the table and surround tables were looking at her strangely, yet all her friends seemed to go on as if it were a normal day. Remus noticed all of this, along with how she would cringe at times, a sign that her hearing had improved, and that she seemed to be eating very little. It only took one glance from Dumbledore to move Remus from his seat at the teacher's table to a position next to her.

Ron was the first to notice his change, asking, "Something we can do for you, Professor Lupin?"

Remus offered the teenage boy a smile and said, "Actually, I wanted to speak with Hermione."

"Really? What about?" she asked, sounding as though she had the flu.

"I'm guessing you told Ginny about your little problem?"

Hermione nodded. "Of course, she's my best girl mate. Not as though I have anything in common with Lavender or Parvati."

Remus knew she was referring to their earlier conversation, but decided to ignore it. "I'm glad to see that you're out of the infirmary, Hermione."

"Yes, well, Madam Pomfrey decided that there was nothing else she could do. She healed the wound, fed me a Pepper-up potion, and let me leave," Hermione stated.

It was obvious by their faces that the others wondered why Hermione was being so cold to her favourite teacher, but let it pass for the moment. Remus removed Hermione's hand from her nose and placed it at her side, causing her to sneeze repeatedly. Calmly, he advised, "Hermione, breathe through your mouth, until you are able to control your senses, it will lessen the effects of surrounding smells. And try to focus on one person at a time while blocking out the other noises, that should prevent you from going deaf."

Hermione did as he said was glad to see that she stopped sneezing, though it was a bit awkward to breathe through her mouth. "Thank you," she breathed.

He nodded and began to fill up her plate with food, something that gathered even more people's attention. Lowly, he said, "You need to eat, there will be times when you are tired and you will most likely lose some weight. You will need all the energy you can get." Once the plate looked like Ron's, he placed it in front of Hermione again.

"Thank you, Father," she growled sarcastically.

Remus winced, but murmured, "Ah, yes. Father. Let's see what we can do about that." Then he bent down and gave her a soft peck on the lips, before saying, "At least now, you will have one happy memory of today. Good evening, Miss Granger." After that, he left to return to his seat at the table.

Every set of eyes darted between the pair, and even Hermione was too shocked to remember to breathe through her mouth, inducing another sneezing fit, to which Ginny said, "All right, that's it I'm not wearing perfume anymore if it's going to make you sneeze so much."

It was quiet enough in the great hall so that everyone could hear Ginny's outburst, though only few laughed, most just turned back to their plates in silence and wondered if the stories about their professor and head girl were true. Hermione nodded at Remus with a smile while he just raised his goblet in response.

Harry asked, "What was that all about?"

"Harry, how would you feel if I was dating Remus?" she replied, picking at the food in front of her.

Harry spit out the contents of his mouth, which unfortunately, were sprayed all over Ginny. She frowned and wiped away at the excess liquid, commenting, "Wonderful, most guys get their girlfriends jewelry, mine just spits all over me."

"Hermione, he's practically my uncle and is old enough to be our father," Harry answered, ignoring Ginny's comment.

"Harry, I didn't say I was dating him. I just wanted to know what you would think if I started to date him," Hermione stated.

"So he's admitted that he fancies you?" Ron inquired. It was natural that he be curious, Hermione and Ron had gone on a few dates over the summer, but had given up on the idea of a romance with each other, they were just too much like brother and sister.

"Yes…no…I don't know," Hermione replied honestly. "Yesterday, after you went chasing Harry about, we got into an argument about why we could or couldn't work."

Ginny let out a large squeal, attracting everyone's attention and making Hermione cover her ears in pain. Ginny grinned, "Did you win? You always win at arguments with my family."

Hermione grabbed the girl's shoulders, saying, "Ginny, never do that again. I would like to be able to hear when I'm twenty."

"Sorry," the redhead replied sheepishly.

"What did you say, Hermione? Could you actually go out with someone your father's age?" Ron questioned.

"I'm not going out with him, he doesn't want to. Why does everyone keep on bringing up our ages? I'm eighteen, I know what I want in a guy, and I know I have nothing in common with any of the guys around my age. The only thing they care about is Quidditch, and I can't bloody stand the sport."

"We care about other things," Ron protested.

"Like what? Name something besides the war, your family, and your girlfriends."

Neither of the boys said a word. "Exactly."

"Well, what do you care about besides your family, Professor Lupin, and school?" Ron asked smugly.

"I care about books and reading, along with the treatment of magical creatures."

"I don't like this. Hermione, you're setting yourself up for heartbreak, Remus doesn't let anyone near him, you're only getting your hopes up at thinking that he'll ever agree to date you," Harry cut in.

Hermione's eyes flashed anger. "Well, that would be my business then. I know you mean well, Harry, but I'm a big girl, and I don't need someone to stand over me."

Harry sighed. "Mione, he's thirty-eight and your teacher, what are people going to say? I know what they're going to say, they're going to say that he's tricking you, that he's just using you. At worst they might say he forced you, said that for you to get a good grade, you'd have to bed him. You honestly want your name run through the mud like that? And what about your parents? What are they going to think?"

"Ginny, what are you thinking right now?" Hermione questioned.

"I'm thinking Harry's got a death wish, personally," the girl challenged.

Ron shook his head and advised, "Harry, don't in between a girl and her romance, it won't end well."

Harry glared at his supposed mate, but said nothing. Now was not the time to be attacking each other, that would come later.