A/N: I like to imagine that Remus and Hermione would only be together if they were the same age. No, this is not a time-travel story, I'm just making the characters the same age, so their relationship isn't as weird.

Disclaimer: I could claim to own Harry Potter. I could claim that I am the Headmistress of Hogwarts, and I could claim to be the queen of England. I could claim to be the President of the United States. Alas, none of these are true.

Chapter One

Remus John Lupin was definitely going insane.

Hermione Granger.

The witch had been the only thing on Remus's mind since that fateful night when she had saved his life.

He couldn't seem to stop thinking about her.

Remus was young, only twenty-two, with sandy brown/ginger hair and hazelnut eyes. He was strikingly handsome, spare the long scar that ran across his face from a long-ago injury, and he was tall and slender. He had a bit of scruff on his face, and the slightest of mustaches could be seen above his lip. His had a lovely smile that lit up the room on the rare occasion that he did smile, and his teeth were a tad sharper than a normal witch or wizard's.

Not many people knew this, but Remus Lupin was a werewolf.

It was a horrible thing, and Remus was ashamed of his affliction. Everyone else- Harry, Ron, Sirius, Molly, Arthur, and Hermione... pretty much the whole Order- accepted him as he was, not caring that he could kill them if he wasn't careful. But Remus was still ashamed.

It was on the night of a full moon that Hermione Jean Granger saved his life.

He'd had a particularly bad transformation. He'd forgotten to drink the Wolfsbane potion, and he wasn't able to control his actions, and somehow, he'd managed to injure himself quite badly in a fight with a regular wolf. He'd stumbled around the forest- still in werewolf form- until he'd collapsed beside a small pond. He lay there, bleeding, and he'd slowly transformed back into a human.

Hermione had found him the next morning, unconscious.

From what she'd told him, Remus managed to piece together just what had happened...

~:~

Hermione Granger, twenty-one, walked through the Forbidden Forest, not really paying attention to where she was going. She was finished with school, and had come to visit with a few of her former teachers. Hagrid had asked her to fetch some sort of plant for his Care of Magical Creature's class, and she'd agreed.

She was beginning to think there was no such thing as the plant Hagrid had asked for when she tripped over a log that was lying on the ground by a nearby pond.

"Oof!" She cried as she fell on the ground.

She looked over at the log, scolding herself for not looking where she was going, only to realize it wasn't a log at all.

"Professor Lupin!" She practically screamed.

She scrambled over to him, and when she saw the blood coming from his right arm, shoulder, and leg, she paled. She reached out to check his pulse, and was immensely relieved when she found one. She noted how weak he looked. She shook him gently, not wanting to hurt him more.

"Professor!" She said again, and his eyelids fluttered open to reveal his bloodshot hazel eyes. "Professor Lupin? It's me, Hermione."

"Where am I?" He muttered.

He tried to lift himself off the ground, which was a bad idea. He cried out in pain, falling back onto the forest floor.

"Professor, you're hurt," Hermione said gently. "You need to get to Madame Pompfrey."

Remus barely managed to nod. Hermione slipped an arm under his shoulders and attempted to help him stand. After several tries, she managed to get the Professor on his feet, and she led him out of the forest.

"'Ermione!" Hagrid called with a grin when he saw her. He hadn't noticed Lupin. "'Ave ya found my tarkle root?"

"Sorry, Hagrid, I haven't!" She replied. "I've got to get Professor Lupin to the hospital wing!"

Hagrid finally saw the young man, and he paled and shouted,

"Do ya need any help?"

She shook her head, and with that, they continued on their way. She didn't dare try to apparate, for fear that Remus would be splinched. Anyways, it was impossible to apparate in and out of Hogwarts.

Hermione sighed in relief when they made it.

"Madame Pompfrey!" She called.

The grandmotherly school nurse came into the room with Minerva McGonagall at her side.

"Remus!" The Headmistress exclaimed when she saw the state her fellow Order member was in. "Miss Granger, what happened?"

"I found him in the forest," Hermione said as Poppy led Remus to a hospital bed.

She sat by him the entire time he was in the hospital wing.

~:~

Remus sat by the fireplace in his living room, mulling over the events of that day. Had it really only been a week ago that Hermione had saved his life? She'd been coming over to his small little cottage by the woods to check on him almost every day since she found him.

She'll probably be here soon, he thought, glancing at the grandfather clock hanging on the wall.

He gave a small smile as he heard the door open a second later.

"Professor Lupin?" Hermione's voice called out.

"In the living room!" He replied, and her footsteps became louder as she neared him. When she entered, he smiled at her from his seat by the fire, a book in his hands, and added politely, "How many do times do I have to ask, Hermione? Please, call me Remus."

The young woman shook her head and laughed, the sound causing Remus's heart to flutter. Oh, Hermione Granger would be the death of him.

"Sorry... Remus," she said, almost to herself. "I'm so used to hearing the students at Hogwarts call you 'Professor.' It's starting to rub off on me."

He chuckled and set his book aside.

"What were you reading?"

The question was simple enough; so why did it make Remus feel lightheaded with joy? And that's when he realized: he was falling in love with this woman.

He swallowed, suddenly nervous.

"I was reading a muggle novel, perhaps you've hear of it?" He managed to say. "It's called Moby Dick."

Hermione's eyes lit up at hearing the title of the book.

"Heard of it?" She asked, picking up his copy and fingering the spine gently, "It's only one of my favorite novels of all time."

He watched her carefully as she opened the cover, looking at the book with a strange fondness. He'd never seen anyone look at a book the way Hermione looked at this one. As her eyes roamed the thick novel, her breath hitched as she noticed the words written on the inside cover.

"This is a first edition book."

He smiled a small smile, and she stared at him in awe.

"Yes, it is."

He really didn't see why having a first edition copy of a famous novel was so important. He had several on his shelves.

"This must have cost a fortune," she whispered. "I'd never be able to afford this."

He shifted in his seat, uncomfortable. Remus had never been rich, some may even consider him poor. Money was something he'd learned not to take for granted, because there were some people out there who had it a lot worse than he did.

"It was my mother's," he murmured. "She gave it to me shortly before she died."

Hermione's eyes widened, and she gently placed the novel back on the stand. They sat in an awkward silence, and she stared at him for a moment, looking into his eyes. He stared back, and a sad smile crossed Hermione's lips. She grabbed her bag stood.

"So," she said. "Let's take a look at your wounds, shall we?"