A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews, favorites and follows after last chapter! I am sorry I haven't gotten through reviewer responses yet, but my computer is officially bricked and it takes me a little longer to do them on the phone. I will get to them, though, I promise! You can follow me on tumblr (nauticalparamour) where I post sneak peeks, story updates and answer questions.
Please let me know what you thought of chapter twenty-three and be on the lookout for chapter twenty-four soon!
Hermione had made up Harry and Ron's poor behavior to Theo by spending the rest of the afternoon wrapped up in his arms in his bedroom. She could kiss him for hours, it felt like, completely wrapped in his warm embrace. He was so strong, and she got a little thrill knowing that he could do whatever he wanted with her. She let him leave love bites up and down her neck, knowing that he was doing it as some kind of way to show that she belonged to him, loving the way that the red marks contrasted with her pale skin.
But, no matter how hard she clung to his strong shoulders, or rocked her center against his firm thigh, Theo seemed to have the self control of a saint, never letting things go further. Hermione was desperate for him to just touch her down there, her center aching, wanting to know what those long fingers would feel like against her wetness. And she longed to see what he looked like, completely bare.
"You know I don't care about what Ron said," Hermione whispered to him one evening when they were tucked under the covers together, her head pressed against his bare chest. "I don't want you to control yourself around me. I...I would tell you if things were going too fast."
"It's not about that, Hermione," he'd murmured in return, before pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "We'll talk about it soon, but I can't handle it...not so close to the full moon."
She sighed in understanding, knowing that he was still learning how to cope with things. His emotions were always close to the surface, his wolf possessive and demanding, during his time of the months. "What will you and Remus do?" Hermione asked, wondering how things would work with two werewolves in such close proximity. There had been wolfsbane, barely enough for the two of them to split, but enough to get them through another month.
"He thinks we should spend it outside the cottage for the auror's safety," Theo said, his fingers running up her spine gently. "And, he figures that I might enjoy the freedom. I've never had a transformation where I could run around."
"That sounds nice," Hermione agreed, even though a small part of her knew that she would miss having him with her during the full moon. She always felt comforted to know that he was only a few rooms away while they had been at Hogwarts. But, even she preferred to be with him during his change, taking comfort from the knowledge that he was wrapped up beside her.
"I guess so," Theo said, his voice a low rumble in his chest. "But, if I am honest, I will probably just spend the whole night sitting beneath your window."
Hermione felt her breath catch in her throat, feeling her heart swell with the knowledge that, given the choice, he would want to be with her, too. Their relationship seemed a bit like a foregone conclusion at sometimes...after all, they were magically drawn together by Theo's werewolf biology. But, at the same time, there was so much left unsaid between the two of them, about what their relationship meant to one another. In her case, her crush had grown wildly out of control, the flames fanned higher with each kiss and touch, and she knew that she was coming to care deeply for him. She wanted to tell him how much he meant to her, but something was always holding her back. He said that he had liked her before the change, but just how much of his feelings were only caused by her being his mate?
Instead of opening up to him, Hermione let the soft feel of his fingertips against her skin help her drift off into sleep.
When the morning came, Hermione woke up before Theo did. Looking down at his face, she could see the telltale dark circles forming under his eyes like they always did this close to the moon. He was tired, needing all the rest that he could get, and so Hermione let him sleep. Slipping out of the bed and into a robe, she tiptoed out of the room, hoping not to wake him.
Remus was waiting for her in the kitchen, staring into a half-drunk cup of tea, looking rather unlike himself. "Good morning, Remus," she greeted him softly, before pouring herself a cup and sitting in the chair across from him.
"Hermione," he said, his green eyes lingering on the fresh set of marks on her neck. "Sleep well?"
She blushed at the implication and pressed a hand to her neck, covering them even though he had already seen them. "He gets very...demonstrative this close to the moon," she said quietly, wondering why she was trying to explain it to the other werewolf. He should be well aware of it himself. "It's instinctual, for him to broadcast his claim on me."
He didn't bother hiding his frown from her. "It's not just the moon, Hermione," he said, shaking his head. "It's a combination of things. The fact that he hasn't claimed you yet probably weighs heavily on his wolf."
"I don't - it isn't as if we are waiting for any particular time," she babbled. Theo had never brought up what claiming her, mating her would entail, even though he knew the method now. She never brought it up, either, a small part of her worried that he was putting off tying himself to her for the rest of their lives as long as possible. After all, they weren't even eighteen yet, and well, what if he didn't fancy being with her forever? It seemed a painful possibility.
"I'm glad that he hasn't tried to pressure you into it," Remus answered, not looking happy about it. "It's not something that you should take lightly. Just because you are his mate doesn't mean that you need to submit to him, Hermione. It's smart for Theo to be cautious and not push you into something that you'll regret."
Hermione bristled at his tone, understanding that Remus was not happy with her and Theo's relationship. Did Remus think that Theo was a traitor or a spy like Harry and Ron seemed to? "He isn't pressuring me to do anything," she insisted. "If anything, I'm the one who is always charging full steam ahead."
"Please be smart about this, Hermione," he pleaded with her. "I know that right now things are serious, but you need to look at the bigger picture. Harry needs all of our help and Theo is an unneeded complication."
"Theo is not a complication, Remus," she said sternly, surprised that he of all people would be suggesting something like that. "There is no reason why he can't come with me when I go with Harry."
He shook his head. "You aren't thinking clearly, Hermione," he scolded. "Theo is a very young werewolf, and that means everything is so much closer to the surface. His emotions will be much more difficult to control. I am worried about what could happen with such high tensions. You saw how he reacted when we had the boys over to talk things through."
"I saw Theo showing remarkable control while Ron maligned him!" she countered, raising her voice in frustration. Remus of all people should have been able to understand where Theo was coming from, especially when Ron suggested that he was just using his condition to try and trick her into something nefarious.
"I'm not saying that he hasn't been put in a difficult situation-"
"Then what exactly are you trying to say, Remus?" she demanded, feeling very annoyed with the older man. She always felt a connection with her former professor, seeing as he had been the intelligent bookworm of his friend group as well. She was finding it difficult to reconcile that he couldn't see things her way.
"Maybe you shouldn't go with Harry, Hermione. You might be asking too much of Theo by dragging him along with you," Remus said, his shoulders drooping when he finally got the words out. "I am trying to say that it isn't the smartest decision to bring a brand new werewolf into a high pressure situation like that."
Hermione stopped for a minute and let his words sink in. She knew that he was trying to be helpful, but she doubted that Theo would appreciate it being suggested that he couldn't do everything that he could before, especially when there was no evidence to back up the claim. And, in any case, it was pointless to ask because she couldn't just abandon Harry now. "You said it before, Remus. Harry needs our help. I can't let him and Ron go off on their own."
"I'm not asking you to," he said, his eyes shifting guiltily. "Let me go in your place, Hermione. Let me go with Harry and help him with whatever he needs. I have more experience than you do anyway. You and Theo can stay here and help."
She stared at him dumbfounded. "Remus...you can't possibly be suggesting that you would leave Tonks here without you?" she asked, anger on the other woman's behalf bubbling up inside of her. "She's your wife! She's going to have your baby. She needs you."
To his disappointment, Remus's cheeks colored pink, revealing that he had been planning on abandoning Tonks and their unborn child. "She doesn't need me, Hermione. Nymphadora and the baby are better off without me with them. I'm a werewolf...the stigma alone would be astronomical."
Hermione stood up suddenly, nostrils flaring in fury. "How can you even say that, Remus?" she demanded, knowing that he was being irrational. "You know that Tonks doesn't care about those things. She would rather have you than anyone else. She chose you."
Remus had no response to that, instead just stared into his tea mug looking guilty and embarrassed. "I think it would be better if I left and went with Harry-"
"And Harry!" Hermione continued her tirade. "If you even think that he would let you come with and leave your child behind because you think they are better off without you. Harry would be furious, Remus. Harry knows what it's like to grow up without a family and to hear that you would willingly leave them behind would be...nothing short of betrayal in his eyes."
He pressed his hands against his face, but he still had nothing to say for himself.
She stared at him, someone that she looked up to, and was struck with the knowledge that sometimes the people who are supposed to have the answers still make mistakes. But she would be damned if she was going to let Remus walk away from Tonks when she needed him most. Knowing that she couldn't spend another minute with him without saying something that might seriously damage their friendship with him, she banished her cup to the sink.
"Thank you for the advice about, Theo," she said tersely. "I think that he has made many improvements and will be able to keep his volatile emotions in check. But I will still think on your concerns." With that, she turned and left to return to the room that she shared with Theo.
When she found him, he was pulling on a pair of jeans - a rare muggle invention that he had come to love since moving in with Remus at the beginning of the summer - he turned to face her. Seeing him bare-chested, all lean muscle and smooth skin save for a set of parallel scars under his ribcage on the right side, nearly made her forget her anger. "Is everything alright? I couldn't hear your discussion, but it was clear that you were unhappy," he said, pulling her into a hug, needing to keep his mate happy.
"Let's go for a walk," Hermione said, knowing that she needed to put some space between between her and Remus. "He is just throwing himself a pity party...he is nervous about being a dad and being generally unreasonable." A bit of fresh air would do them both good.