As the end of the year approached with an astounding quickness, James and Lily's relationship did not improve. In fact, one would say it got worse because they just refused to speak to each other at all. That made it especially difficult for the rest of the sixth year Gryffindor's to have a good time.
Sirius was especially pissy about it.
"Come on Prongs, you're killing me. I need Marlene to be able to hang out with us and that can't happen when you and Lily aren't speaking!" James threw a book at him.
Even Alice had even tried to no success.
"Lily, honey, would you please just speak to him. He's just acting like this because he fancies you." Lily slammed the dormitory door.
Not good.
They had all been trying to study together just so they could survive their exams but had to do it in shifts. Hermione had been spending half her time in the library with Lily and the girls and the other half by the tree with the boys. She, Lily, and Remus were also pulling study sessions in the common room.
It was a wonder that she was getting to the Room of Requirement at all but she was.
To no such luck.
Honestly, it was a miracle that she was getting anything done at all.
"One more week and then we are out of here," Peter declared at dinner, apparently unable to continue looking at his herbology notes any longer.
"Almost there, Wormtail!" Sirius said slapping him on the back. Hermione wasn't listening. She hadn't been listening for that past week. Her head was so far buried in her texts that she almost forgot that other people existed.
"And then the end of the year ball! I'm so excited!" Alice declared. It was all that the other students could talk about. Hermione just wanted to quiz her classmates on their texts but that didn't go over well in any timeline.
The ball had been a touchy subject and it didn't get better the day of. The students had all finished their exams with flair. The seventh years had all but rioted after their last N.E.W.T. and the fifth years looked just a harassed.
The sixth year Gryffindors were in different stages of recovery.
"I feel like I translated that one rune incorrectly! I am so mad at myself!" Hermione told Lily.
"At least you didn't write down the wrong number of stirs on your potions! I'm not going to get into the Healer Academy for sure."
"You two make me want to jump from the astronomy tower!" Marlene yelled at them suddenly. "We've already done the exam there is no need to relive it! We are going to go to this dance tonight, pack, tomorrow, and have one hell of a summer. Is that understood?" Everyone mumbled their 'yes ma'ams' before retreating to whatever it was they were doing.
"I'm sure you did fine, honey," Remus told her for the fiftieth time, pulling her to his side. "Can you try to forget it and enjoy tonight. I am going to be without you for a whole summer."
Hermione hadn't really thought about that. After they had initially got together it had been a roller coaster of studying, refereeing their friends, and exams. There hadn't been much alone time lately and didn't look like there would be before they were separated for the summer. She looked up and then at the time. They had just enough time to sneak off somewhere before the girls would kidnap her to get ready.
"Come somewhere with me." The words made him smile and remind him of their first not-date. They threw goodbyes at their friends and Hermione led him up to the Room of Requirement. She didn't need the room for its typical purpose. She just needed it to make him happy.
"You're bringing me to a bathroom?" he asked, when they reached the blank stretch of stone. She laughed a little and ran her thumb over the back of his hand.
"Do I know something about the castle that the infamous Marauders don't?" His incredulous smile could have brought her to her knees if she wasn't ready for it.
"Try me, babe." She moved to stand in front of him and had him shut his eyes.
"Tell me about your favorite place in the whole wide world. Where could you be if you had your pick?" he snuck his eyes open and grabbed her as she walked by. She didn't protest when he pressed a sweet kiss to her lips. He tasted like chocolate as usual. His arms were so strong around her that she felt like nothing on heaven, hell, or earth could pull her from that moment.
"I would pick right here," he whispered after a few breathless seconds. She wanted to kiss him again, memorize every single thing about his face, the way his neck moved when he kissed her deeper but she had a job to do.
"Any place other than here. When you're not at Hogwarts, where are you most at peace?" he seemed to really think about it this time.
"At the house we lived in when I was little. We lived near the ocean. My mother always made the most delicious food." Hermione had stepped back and walked while he was talking. When Remus opened his eyes, there was a door in front of him.
"Go in," Hermione encouraged. He gave her a skeptical look but when he saw the door, eyebrows raised just a little, but he moved forward to open it. His mouth dropped when he saw what was inside.
"It's… it's my home." The room was exactly as he described it. Hermione could almost smell the saltwater as he moved to touch the worn kitchen table that sat in the middle of the room. She was surprised when he turned and saw tears in his eyes. "We moved from here after I got bit. I loved this place."
Hermione didn't mean to make him so emotional. She also had never heard from him about how he got bit. All she knew was that it was his father's punishment for something. Remus was five when Greyback turned him. "I didn't mean to bring up bad memories for you."
Remus, obviously realizing that he had came across the wrong way, nearly ran across the room to crush her to him. She fisted her hands in the back of his shirt just as fiercely.
"Thank you. This is amazing. I missed this. How did you do it?" she let go and like him, took a seat at the table across from him. He ran his hands along it like he couldn't believe it was real.
"This is the Room of Requirement. If you think about something or someplace that you want or need and walk by it three times, then it turns into that room." He looked at her suddenly.
"What if you really needed a bathroom?" Her eyes were shining. He wasn't the first person to ask that.
"Then you're in luck." He nodded, things starting to make sense to him but also bringing up more questions. He wanted to ask her what kind of room that she wanted. Why did she come up here? He also didn't want to ruin the moment because it was nearly perfect.
The walk around the table was short but it took him much too long to get to her. Hermione let him put her up on the top and she let her legs fall apart so that he could stand in between them. She was still half a foot shorter than him. He made sure that there was no space between them at all when he stepped up and lined their chests up against each other.
His hands started at her waist, moving up to her neck like he was trying to memorize everything about her. She just watched him, loving all the different color blues that his eyes turned the closer her got to kissing her. He put one hand to her face and ran the pad of his thumb along her mouth. Hermione felt her breath hitch in her throat and she reached out to steady herself, grabbing the sides of his dress shirt in her hands.
"Where did you come from?" he asked breathlessly. Thankfully, it seemed that he didn't really want an answer because then he was kissing her. Hermione responded to him forcefully, pulling him closer. He didn't take much persuading, almost falling against her as he tangled his fingers in her hair and tightened his grip. The noise he made in the back of his throat would have given the werewolf in him away if Hermione didn't already know.
"Remus," Hermione said in a low sort of voice that she didn't know she had when he kissed down her neck. He kissed her possessively, leaving a mark that she knew she would have to cover up later. Her legs, without any permission of her own, came up to wrap around his waist as he pressed her further into the table.
Hermione had never been this … hot before. She felt like she was burning up, like she needed to take off layers of clothing – someone's immediately. With shaking fingers, she reached between them and undid the buttons of his shirt. It took a few tries but she managed to get them all, tugging the bottom ones out of the waistband of his pants.
"Fuck, Hermione," he ground out through his teeth. With her help, he shrugged out of his dress shirt and pulled off his under shirt in one movement.
Hermione sucked in a breath. It should have made him self-conscious, her staring. He knew what he looked like but he was too far gone, thinking with only one body part to care.
Her fingers came up to trace all the scars on his chest and stomach. His body was rock solid, crisscrossed with white lines that could have been a map to the heavens. He let her touch him, closing his eyes and dropping his head to her shoulder.
"You're beautiful," she whispered. He grabbed the sides of her face and kissed her again. Hermione's hands explored the naked skin of his chest and back, loving the way he responded to her. He let his hands trail down to her sides, her legs. He found the bare skin of her thigh just under her skirt and squeezed. She made some sort of high-pitched sound that she had never heard before that made him smile against her mouth.
He was just about to do it again when he heard it.
"Moony! Moony! Answer me! It's getting violent in here!"
"No," Remus whined against Hermione's mouth. Hermione pulled away, panting (not that she would ever admit it), and furrowed her eyebrows at him.
"Why do I hear Sirius right now?" Remus didn't remove his hands from her thighs, rubbing his thumbs on the inside, right on the other side of indecent. She fidgeting against him, fully aware that he could probably tell just how he was affecting her.
"Because he likes to ruin every good thing I have," Remus groaned.
"I resent that," Sirius said from wherever he was. Remus reached down into his pocket and placed a square face down on the table. "Why is it all black?"
"Because I don't want to look at you." Hermione suddenly realized that it was a two way – or rather probably four way – mirror.
"Why? I'm gorgeous."
"What do you want, Sirius?" Remus asked. Hermione didn't know if she wanted him to move his hands or not. It was very, very distracting.
"Is Hermione with you? The girls are looking for her and are being very threatening. They said that they need to get ready." Remus was not listening, leaning forward to press more kisses on her neck. Hermione was trying very hard to stay quiet, digging her fingers into the back of his arms. They were not very pliant under her hands, corded and hard. She was almost dizzy. "Moony? Are you still there?"
"What?" he said, against her skin. Sirius didn't say anything for a minute, Hermione could almost hear him smirking.
"Ah, I get it. Tell Hermione I said hello and that the girls are looking for her. She apparently needs to come get ready. Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"
He was gone then but the moment seemed to be over.
"He ruins everything," Remus declared suddenly. Hermione pulled back to kiss him with a smile.
"He sure does but we better go." It took them a minute to get dressed and another minute to stop kissing before they were finally about to get themselves back to their friends.