Beams of sunlight illuminated the room as her eyes fluttered open.
She mumbled incoherently, turning onto her side and draping her arm over Remus' unmoving form. His breathing was shallow, and she realised that his face was unusually pale.
Worry tugged her out of the afterglow of their encounter last night, and she ignored the ache in her thighs, reminding her of the way Remus Lupin had made love to her in the moonlight.
In the moonlight.
She realised with a jolt that it was close to the full moon, and her gaze drifted back to Remus' restless body. How had he managed to be so gentle with her last night? She had read many books on lycanthropy over the years, even though she had blushed uncomfortably whilst reading chapter after chapter on the heightened bloodlust of a werewolf as well as the close to unbearable desire to mate. She couldn't begin to understand how Remus had been able to contain himself, but she felt a swell of emotion as she remembered his careful touches and loving embraces.
She blushed. She sounded like a lovesick adolescent and she quickly tried to come up with less pathetic thoughts.
Absentmindedly her hands brushed over the variety of scars on his chest, some looked fresh whilst others were barely visible in the sunlight. Even in his sleeping state, he managed to catch her hand and pull them away from the evidence of his 'disease'. She ignored his silent request and trailed her finger over a particularly angry looking gash in his abdomen.
"Hermione-" He groaned sleepily. She shushed him impatiently and let her hand wander over to his shoulder, where she found a silvery wound, barely bigger than her thumb.
"Please, you don't have to touch them. I know it's repelling, there's no need-" he began again, but this time she clamped her hand over his mouth and scowled into his barely open eyes. God, he looked adorable when waking up.
Not a schoolgirl, she reminded herself sternly.
"Remus Lupin, I'm going to touch your scars as much as I bloody want to. I don't care if you think they make you look hideous or threatening. When I said that I wanted you, I meant it. Now let me touch you and relax. If I remember correctly you weren't complaining last night." She said, her voice laced with frustration.
He gave a defeated grunt and rotated onto his stomach, allowing her to explore his back.
"I love you here." She said, placing a quick kiss onto a different scar.
"And here," She added, her lips ghosting across yet another tear in his skin.
"And here."
Before she could place her mouth on yet another mark, he caught her chin with his hand and leant forward, rolling onto his back, so that he could capture her lips in a gentle kiss.
"You're ridiculous." He managed to murmur before she climbed on top of him and continued examining the rest of his body in the bright morning light.
"You're bloody beautiful, Remus, you know that?" She exclaimed when she had finished her exploring.
"Not as beautiful as you." Was all he said, before drifting back off to sleep.
She decided to let him rest, deciding that he would need it for the troublesome night ahead.

She closed the bedroom door behind her with a discreet click. However, she hesitated for a few moments, her hand still resting on the doorknob, as she listened to Remus' faint snores.
"Whatcha doing?" Harry's amused voice piped up from behind her, and she whirled around with a terrified squeal.
She scowled when she saw that it was her best friend who had startled her.
"Would the men in this house please stop sneaking up on me all the time!" She hissed quietly, noticing that Teddy was still sleeping soundly in his room.
He shrugged innocently then eyed her curiously.
"So you and Remus, eh?" He asked in a voice so casual, one could think he was asking her about the weather.
She cleared her throat, her anger instantly followed by embarrassment.
"I-I guess." She managed to mutter, her eyes drifting to the dusty floor. She really needed to organize a cleaning day with her roommates, the mess was getting unacceptable.
Harry smiled warmly and walked towards her wrapping his arms around her, in that comfortingly familiar way of his.
"Great, I'm so happy for the two of you." He breathed into her frizzy hair.
Her mane was untameable in the morning.
She leaned into the hug and when he finally pulled away from her, she realised that her eyes were wet once more. Merlin, she needed to get her emotions under control.
"You don't know what that means to me." She muttered, wiping her eyes quickly.
He smirked, then let his fingers brush through her tangled curls.
"Yeah, my blessing for a relationship between to smart, consenting adults is essential." He said sarcastically, rolling his emerald green eyes. She swatted his arm playfully, then sashayed past him, her spirits lifting once more now that the elephant, well werewolf, in the room had been addressed.
"You go get Teddy and wake Sirius up, whilst I get started on breakfast." She declared loftily, walking towards the staircase.
"Your wish, my command, Professor Granger." He replied, giving an exaggerated bow.
She laughed lightly, and stuck her tongue out as she began her descent down the rickety staircase, her elegance, however, was quickly diminished as she stumbled on the last three steps. She could hear Harry chortling loudly as she entered the kitchen.
She sighed forlornly, as she realised that her clumsiness wouldn't improve the maturer she got, in fact, it seemed to be getting worse the more years went by.
With a flick of her wand, she retrieved an assortment of pots and pans, the stove already crackling as she started on the bacon. A full English breakfast seemed to be in order,
after all, she had burned a lot of calories the previous night.

"For Christ's sake, which one of you twats was in my room last night?" Sirius barked angrily as he finally emerged for breakfast.
The three of them had nearly finished the feast Hermione had so carefully prepared, and Sirius' entrance was a bit of a mood kill, to say the least.
His hair was still damp from a rushed shower, and his shirt was partially unbuttoned.
"What? Sirius calm down." Remus growled, massaging his temples in an attempt to calm his accelerating heartbeat.
"No, Moony, I won't calm down. My favourite shampoo is gone and I this morning I had to wash my hair with that disgusting bar of soap you and Harry use!" He snarled heatedly.
Hermione reddened immediately, and Sirius' interrogating glower settled on her.
"Hermione?" He asked menacingly.
She waved her hands up in surrender, cowering under his piercing stare.
"Merlin, I'm sorry Sirius, but mine was empty and I didn't realise-" She began but he cut her off with an impatient wave of his hand.
"You used up the entire bloody bottle?" He asked disbelievingly.
"Sirius," Remus growled, his hand settling protectively on her arm.
"Oh, Merlin's beard, Remus, just because you've started shagging like bunnies, does not mean that I'm suddenly going to tolerate thievery in my own house!" He retaliated just as viciously.
A dangerous, guttural noise ripped from Remus' throat and she wrapped her arms around his waist as he sprang up from his chair.
"Remus, no!" She yelped, frowning at Sirius, now was really not the time to aggravate the werewolf.
Sirius backed off instantly, realising that it was the wolf reacting and not his oldest friend.
"Sorry, sorry. It's fine. I don't care about the shampoo. Your soap smells fantastic and I enjoyed using it immensely." He rambled tensely, sitting down at the table, his movements deliberate and cautious.
Remus continued to snarl at him through his clenched teeth.
"These beans are incredible!" Harry muttered through a mouthful of baked beans and toast.
She smiled indulgently at her friend, his change of the subject was in no way subtle but it did the job, and soon enough Remus' body thawed beside her and an easy smile spread across Sirius' face.
They fell into an awkward silence.
"Your quite sensitive this morning, Moony, is it that time of the month again?" Sirius quipped after a while.
Hermione stiffened beside him, waiting for Remus to finally flip, but thankfully all he did was nick Sirius' bacon and continued to glower at him for the rest of the morning.
He left the house after lunch, to retrieve his wolfbane potion from the local apothecary.

Sometimes it was extremely difficult having to live in a house with a werewolf, an animagus and the chosen one.