"Hermione, wait!" Remus called out as she struggled to pull her coat on and simultaneously tie her shoes.

She gave a frustrated sigh as she accidentally dropped her coat, feeling a stab of nausea as she straightened up.
"Morning, I thought you were still sleeping. I didn't want to wake you." She said, placing a quick kiss onto his cheek.
He gave her a worried look as he tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, and let his thumb brush over her dry lips.
"You look ill. Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, don't worry about me, Remus." She said firmly, moving towards the door before he could continue questioning her.
He gently pulled at her sleeve before she could walk through the door and wrapped his arms around her waist, leaning down to so that he could capture her lips with his.
"Remus, I'm going to be late." She protested pathetically, but as usual, she soon relented.
However, as she much as she wanted to melt into his embrace, she felt herself disentangling herself from his hold and rushing to the bathroom. She retched as she gripped the toilet bowl and shuddered violently as her body convulsed.
"Hermione!" Remus exclaimed, dropping to his knees beside her.
"It's fine. I'm fine." She managed to gasp, her body relaxing ever so slightly as Remus' warm hand rubbed her back gently.
"Something I did?" Remus joked weakly.
She shook her head, and when she finally felt the nausea subside she leaned into him, her head resting on his shoulder.
"Maybe you should visit St. Mungo's" Remus suggested, his face twisted with worry.
"No, I swear I'm fine." She replied, stroking his cheek softly, then disentangled herself from his embrace and flushed the toilet.
"Hermione." He began, but she shrugged him off and went to the bathroom sink to rinse out her mouth.
"Remus, I am absolutely fine. All I ask is that you take care of Teddy and Sirius today, OK?"
He nodded reluctantly, then decided to let the matter of her sudden onslaught of sickness drop. Hermione was stubborn and he knew that trying to convince her to do something against her better judgment was hopeless.
"Why do I always have to be Sirius' babysitter?" He asked, successfully changing the subject and straightening her robes as she turned towards him. He was unsure of her casual attitude and felt that she was distancing herself from him.
Hermione could see the insecurity in his hazel eyes and she could see the cogs beginning to turn in his head.
"Did I hear my name?" A husky voice asked abruptly.
Hermione whirled around in fright and squawked in fury as she realized that it was Sirius who had startled her.
"Could all of you just stop-!" She began but decided that she was late enough as it was and didn't need to make matters worse by engaging in an argument with the notorious Sirius Black.
She brushed past the grinning man and made her way back to the front door, cursing loudly as Sirius' late mother started threatening her from the grim portrait hanging on the wall. She was just about to shut the door behind her when Remus stopped her.
"Hermione, I need to know. If you're in any way regretting starting this thing that's going on between us-"
She placed a finger on his grimacing mouth and let her eyes stare into his.
"This thing we have is called a relationship, Lupin, and I don't regret anything that has happened between us so far. I love you and that's all that matters." She said, feeling relieved as the stiff expression in his face thawed slightly.
"I love you too."
"Good, that makes me very happy." She murmured, letting her lips graze over his ear.
"Go to work already, Miss Granger. I'm bloody starving!" Sirius yelled from the hallway, his shout awakening Teddy, who howled unhappily as he realised he had yet to be fed.
"Have fun babysitting."

It was cold that morning and she wrapped her coat even tighter around her shivering torso. The sky was grey and a dense fog blanketed the town of London. Harry had left for work early that morning, seeing as an urgent owl had brought a note, demanding he arrive at his office two hours earlier than usual.
Lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice the dark figure trailing her. Even when she was forced to stop at a traffic light she didn't realise that the cloaked person was still standing close behind her.
She passed the bakery, that she often visited with Harry. But that morning she found the scent of pastries and coffee to sicken her, and she held her breath as she strode past the unobtrusive shopfront.
She felt tired and worn as she let her feet guide her along the familiar path to the Ministry, so tired that she was oblivious to the fact, that the person who had been following her was now walking right beside her. It had started to rain, but seeing as she was among several muggles she decided it would be too risky to cast any charms to keep the rain from drenching her.
She was out of breath, even though she hadn't been walking for long and suddenly her knees gave out and her feet slipped on the wet pavement. Before she knew what was happening she was falling towards the ground. However, she never felt her body collide with the solid stone, instead, she felt a vice-like grip on her upper arm and before she could protest she was being dragged to her feet.
She steadied herself and was midway into thanking the stranger who had stopped her from falling when something sharp and solid was suddenly pressing into her back.
"Not a word, Mudblood." A familiar voice hissed.
She froze, unsure of what to do. How had he found her? Why was he there? Did she have time to grab her wand from her back pocket, or would he curse her if she moved even the slightest bit?
"Let me go." She said, her voice hoarse with panic.
He didn't reply, instead, he hauled her along beside him, until they reached a secluded telephone box. His movements were unforgiving and violent as he shoved her inside the narrow interior of the red box. He pushed in beside her and shut the door, casting several silencing and muggle-repelling charms.
"I thought you were beyond hiding from muggles." She spat, unable to bite her tongue even in a situation as dangerous as this one.
"Shut it, Granger, and listen very carefully." Lucius Malfoy seethed, the tip of his wand now poking painfully into her temple.
History seemed to be repeating itself.
"What do you want?" She snarled, tears pooling in her eyes as fear flooded her entire being.
"Ah, I thought you'd never ask." He teased, his eyes gleaming with fury.
She shook her head weakly, as he twisted his wand viciously, causing the tender skin of her temple to break. She could feel the blood already streaming down her forehead.
"I want you dead." He hissed into her ear, his body pressing painfully against hers.
"Why?" Was all she managed to ask, her body trembling.
"It's nothing personal, all I want is the boy. I want him to suffer." He said, sounding unhinged as he spat those last words.
"You'll never break him. Voldemort didn't manage to kill him and neither will you. You vile, pathetic-" She began, fury repressing every ounce of rationality in her body when she was abruptly cut off by the sudden cruciatus curse he inflicted upon her.
Her limbs buckled and she threw her head back, a desperate scream ripping from her throat. His face was contorted with insanity and his lips curled back, revealing his familiar sneer.
"You don't have to make this any worse than it already is." He snarled, his hand gripping her throat as he continued to torture her.
She could barely hear him, her screeches filling the claustrophobic space.
"Shut up and let me kill you the way you deserve to be killed, you filthy mudblood."
"Please, just let me go. Merlin, please, let me go." She managed to gasp.
"I'm afraid your begging won't do you any good. No-one can hear you. Not even that dirty werewolf or that foul dog. Not even the 'chosen one' can save you now." He growled, delighting in her cries for help and the violent sobs that shook her body.
"I'm going to kill you and nothing you do can stop me. Just imagine all of the people outside of this filthy box, oblivious to your screams."
She shook her head mindlessly, no longer aware of what she was saying and no longer in control of her flailing body.
"Any last words?" He asked, lifting his wand above his head and pointing it directly at her forehead.
She gritted her teeth, finally realising that she was trapped and there was nothing she could do to stop Malfoy from murdering her. Her hands were trapped behind her and her wand had clattered to the floor when he had forced her inside of the telephone box. She was done for.
"Fuck you, Malfoy."
"Very poetic, Granger." He said, a twisted smile stretching across his pale face.
She shut her eyes, desperately trying to imagine that she was back at Grimmauld Place with Teddy in her arms and Remus close behind her, his arms protecting her from harm. But even that harmonious image didn't keep her body from flinching as she waited for Lucius to cast her into oblivion. She was beyond caring if she lived or died, all that she wanted was for him to relieve her from the unimaginable pain coursing through her being.
"Avada Keda-"
But before he could finish uttering the incantation, she felt herself falling to her knees as her body was relieved of the torture she had been enduring, and her head slumping against the cool metal of the telephone box. Ere she could attempt to open her eyes to see what had happened, she felt herself falling.
Falling into unconsciousness, unable to reach the surface.