A/N: Thank you to lanamarymack for alpha/beta reading this chapter! Please let me know what you thought of chapter fifteen and be on the lookout for chapter sixteen next week!
When they got back to her room, Harry helped Hermione into her bed before laying next to her. He stroked her hair softly for ten minutes while she cried, until she calmed down enough to talk to him . He felt horrible that they'd teased her so much about her reading selection, because maybe if they'd respected her privacy, she wouldn't be so heartbroken now.
"I've had a crush on Remus since I was a third year," Hermione revealed, her cheeks going pink in embarrassment.
"I had no idea," Harry answered surprised. He didn't know that she'd harbored feelings for the brooding werewolf for that long. Had he really been such a terrible friend that he couldn't even tell?
"But it wasn't serious until after the war," she added, wanting him to know this wasn't just a school girl crush.
Of course, Harry had recognized the growing — and mutual, he'd thought — attraction that Hermione had for Remus after the war. It was one of the reasons that he'd ultimately invited her to move into Grimmauld Place. He thought that it would be good for them - that they would be good for each other.
"I've seen the way that you look at him, when you think no one is watching you," Harry admitted, realizing that she'd once told him something similar about Ginny, back when they were in Hogwarts together.
If Hermione minded, she didn't say anything. "I don't know why I thought that...that the book was going to change anything," Hermione murmured softly, wiping at her cheeks furiously to remove the evidence of her tears. She let her head drop to her shoulders. "It just seemed like he was finally showing me that he might be interested in me, too. That we were connecting with each other on a different level, deeper than friendship. I had no doubts that we would make a go of it, once we got out of the book. But then this morning, he looked so horrified when he saw me."
Harry, sensing that she needed a bit of a laugh, couldn't help but goad her a bit. "Was the sex at least good?" he teased.
"Harry!" she said with a giggle, smacking him on the chest playfully. He could practically feel the blush on her cheeks before her face was transformed by a mischievous grin. "Yes, it was actually fabulous," she said with a sigh, thinking back on it.
Now it was Harry's turn to blush. Merlin, he didn't actually expect to hear the details of Hermione's sex life - she was too much like a sister to him. Still, if it made her laugh for even a few seconds, he knew that he could grin and bear it.
Ultimately, her good mood was quickly squashed when she remembered Remus's rejection. "It was silly of me to think that he'd want me outside of the book. Why would he want to date a bushy-haired, skinny, know-it-all like me?" she asked, feeling sorry for herself. "He probably still sees me as a child with giant teeth."
Harry wiped away the new tears beading in the corners of her eyes, not wanting his friend to cry anymore. Even though their relationship was platonic, he knew that Hermione was a beautiful girl, even though she'd never been oozing with self-confidence about her appearance like Ginny or some of the other witches they knew. "Hush, Hermione. You are beautiful. And your hair certainly isn't bushy," he said, giving her a smile. "And if Remus can't see what a wonderful witch you've grown into, then that is his problem. Not yours."
Hermione gave him a half hearted nod, before relaxing into the warmth of his embrace. There was just something about him being her best friend that made him so comforting. She couldn't imagine having this conversation with anyone but Harry. Even though it hurt to say the words out loud, it was easy to spill the secrets she'd been keeping for years.
Just when she thought that she was going to drift off to sleep, she was startled by a very tentative knock on the door. "Come in," she called, even though she felt like she had no energy.
To her surprise, it was Remus on the other side of the door. He cautiously stepped into her bedroom, even though his eyes narrowed when he saw Harry on the bed with her, holding her. Hermione wanted to roll her eyes, thinking that he had absolutely no room to care who she was snuggled up with. She was glad when he apparently set his irrational feelings aside so they could talk.
"Harry, would you mind if I spoke to Hermione alone for a moment?" he asked, cautiously.
Harry was fully glaring at his housemate and it seemed like he was going to say something that he would likely regret in a day or two. Hermione sighed, hating that she was going to be the bigger person in this situation. "It's okay, Harry, I will be fine," she told him, giving his hand a squeeze. She smiled, glad to know that he had her back in the end, but encouraged him to leave her alone around the man who'd just stomped all over her feelings only a few hours prior.
Once Harry pulled himself from around her, Hermione sat up in bed. Her fingers pulled through her hair, suddenly feeling very self conscious about her tear streaked face and messy hair. There was no hiding how upset she was over him.
Remus closed the door once Harry had left the room, before setting a silencing charm.
Hermione grew annoyed when he didn't immediately begin to speak, wondering why he was trying to draw out the inevitable. If he was going to tell her that they shouldn't be together, she wasn't going to give him the comfort of drawing it out. "Well, what did you want to speak to me about?" she demanded, cringing at the edge in her voice.
The werewolf gestured towards her bed - the only available seating in her room, Hermione noted with dismay. "May I sit?" he asked. Once she nodded in agreement, he sat down next to her, keeping a respectful distance between them. He looked down at his hands in his lap. "I'm very sorry for the way that I left this morning. It wasn't fair to you," he told her guiltily.
"I might be able to believe you if you could actually stand to look at me," she snapped at him.
His head snapped up at her ire, his green eyes immediately focused on her so quickly that she gasped. His eyes were pleading with her to understand something, but she couldn't quite identify it.
"I'm sorry," he said again, earnestly. "I overreacted and you were right. We should be able to discuss...what happened like sensible adults."
Hermione breathed a sigh of relief, hearing that he actually did see her as an adult - as an equal. "Apology accepted," she told him, lips tight. She wasn't sure how to bring up telling him that she wanted to try a relationship with him when she was still a bit angry over the way he'd treated her. Taking a deep breath, she decided that she would just speak from the heart.
"Remus," she started, setting her hand on his leg. He flinched at the unexpected contact. "I...enjoyed what happened in the book. That is to say, I liked having sex...with you. We obviously have a physical connection and I wouldn't mind seeing where this leads us."
He looked at her like a kicked puppy, clearly distressed at her words. "We can't do that, Hermione!" he told her vehemently.
At first, she thought that he just didn't want her, but then she began to deduce the problem. Clearly he wanted more...but maybe he wasn't interested in a relationship, just sex.
"Why not?" she asked him matter-of-factly. Seeing his withering look, she elaborated. "Explain it to me. Help me understand your thought process."
"Well, you are so young..." he started.
Hermione scoffed and cut him off. "Please, Remus. We agree to discuss this like adults so don't tell me I'm too young. We both know that I'm not too young for a relationship."
He sighed. She couldn't tell if he wanted to reach out and kiss her or if he wanted to run away in fear. He swallowed thickly, considering his next words. "You just...you deserve more than a shabby, old werewolf like me. I can't give you what you deserve, Hermione," he pleaded, desperate for her to understand why he thought they couldn't be together.
The hope that he might want something more was exhilarating and agonizing for Hermione. He had obviously convinced himself that he just wasn't good enough for her. "I don't care!" she said, petulantly. "Look, Remus - do you want something more with me or don't you?" she demanded, bluntly. She needed to get to the bottom of this just as much as he did.
"Well, yes," he admitted to her, fearing for his heart. It would hurt if she rejected him, once she realized that she wanted more than him...
"Then what does it matter if I am a bit younger than you?" she asked him. "I don't care that you are a werewolf - it certainly hasn't stopped me from having a crush on you for years!" she revealed, before throwing her hand over her mouth, embarrassed to have blurted it out like that.
"You fancy me?" he asked, sounding genuinely perplexed. "You've fancied me for years?"
"Well, since third year, actually," she said, a blush on her cheeks. Seeing a new protestation forming on his lips, she cut him off before he could speak. "But that was, of course, a school girl crush. It went away, but...after the war, it's been a completely different kind of attraction," she said, with a small smirk. "A very adult attraction.
"Well," Remus said, wearing a matching blush on his cheeks.
Hermione could practically hear her heart pounding in the silence of the room. Merlin, she wished that he would just say something else. But he didn't - too caught up in his own head. "Well, Remus. What are we going to do about this?" she asked, finally, unwilling to remain in limbo any longer.
"You really want to try out a...a relationship with me?" she asked her, finally meeting her eyes once again. She could see the hope reflected in them.
She rolled her eyes at him. "Yes, but I don't want you to agree to it if you don't want to," she said. "If you aren't...attracted to me as well."
He grinned at her then, looking rather naughty. "Oh, I am absolutely attracted to you, Hermione. These past few months - living here with you - have been maddening," he told her. He swallowed. "I haven't been able to think about much else other than how to take you for my own, actually."
Hermione was shocked. His confession was enough to send molten desire through her veins. She pressed her legs together. She leaned closer to him, her focus dropping to his lips once again. Oh, how she wanted nothing more than to kiss him again.
"Alright," he said.
"Alright?" she asked breathlessly, feeling perplexed.
"Alright, let's give it a shot," he said with a smile. "But promise me that you will let me know the instant you get sick of me," he added, before leaning in to give her the kiss she so desired.
Hermione turned away from him at the last second.
"What?" he asked, confused.
"While I am glad that we are...dating now," she said, a goofy smile on her face," I think that you need to show me - prove to me - just how sorry you are for the way that you treated me this morning," she said barely able to keep a straight face.
He blanched, suddenly very nervous at her change of mood. "Just tell me what to do, Hermione," he begged. "I behaved like a prat and I am truly sorry," he added.
She gave him a devilish smirk in return, one that should really have worried him. But then she pushed him flat on his back and crawled atop him, one leg on either side of his waist. Her greedy fingers found their way up under his jumper. "I have a few ideas," she said, rotating her hips until he moaned at the contact.
"I really hope your ideas don't involve leaving this room for the rest of the day," he quipped.
Hermione laughed, before leaning over to press her lips against his once again.