"Behind Closed Doors" By Kross
A/n: I don't own Harry Potter…I simply enjoy using the characters conjured up J.K. Rowling for my own sweet pleasure.
Pairing: Hermione/Ron and Hermione/Mystery man (okay, the cat's outta the bag. It's Remus.)
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He pressed his face against the glass, nose smudging the dull and uneven panes. He looked out onto the grounds, over the peeling old fence to the road. The young muggle boy was just dropping the newspaper from London onto the front path. Remus shook his head, not wanting to ever read another newspaper, muggle or magic, for the remainder of his years. Yesterday's paper had, tucked away in the back pages, a brief announcement of the marriage between two young lovers from the city.
The paper read "Weasley-Granger Wedding", and it broke Remus's heart. He knew the day would come one day, but he had thought that seven years would be too soon. An eternity was too soon for Remus's tastes.
"I really should give them a ring," he said breathlessly to himself as he unstuck his nose from the window. "If only I knew their number...or address, I could send them an owl."
"Who're you talking about, Lupin?"
Remus turned at the voice. A young, dark-haired, Scottish witch emerged from the only bedroom in his little cottage by the sea. She was rubbing her forehead and brushing her unruly tendrils back from her blue eyes. It had been those piercing, crystalline blue eyes that had lured him to her in the pub, how could he had forgotten her so quickly? All it took was one thought of Hermione and all other thoughts went fleeting.
"No one, Madeline." He murmured, almost angered. "Don't you think you should be heading out now?"
They'd slept together nearly every night this month, since his last full-moon incident. He'd let loose seven years of sexual frustration into her hungry body and yet he wished to cast her off so easily. Even now, there was no one who could soothe his aching soul or wash away his sense of tremendous guilt. Not a day has passed where his heart didn't the feel searing pain of his loss. He wondered if Hermione had ever forgiven him, or if she was waiting for the day to call him out for vanishing in her greatest time of need.
He felt like a coward for running away in the face of prolonged pain. He couldn't bear the idea of having to face Hermione's father and admit that it was he, a man just a few years older than both of Hermione's parents, who took from his daughter her innocence and left her to clean up their mess. He knew deep down that Hermione had not been a virgin that night. The tension between Harry and Ron gave it away, there was a burning rivalry that reflected in their eyes each time they shared a room.
"I don't want to leave, Remus." Madeline grumbled from the couch. "Isn't it about time you let me stay past noon? I getting really tired of getting kicked out every day 'round this time."
"Sorry, love, but I'm leaving this time. You can stay, if it pleases you." He stood from his peeling, old chair and moved to the kitchen. He used the small hand pump to fill his mug with water and rinse his ceramic plate. He wet his fingers and used the moisture to flatten his long beard hairs.
"Where are you going, eh?" She whispered.
"London." He pushed the pine door to his room open. He emerged a few moments later with a rucksack filled with a few spare pieces of clothing and his wand poking out of his pocket.
"You're serious?" She said, hopping up from the couch.
"Yes. I've business to attend to...you know you're really welcome to stay. I just won't be here for a few days. You could look after my dogs, Maddy. Keep the place in order? Play wife-y." He joked, knowing she'd rather die than be someone's wife.
"I'm not your old lady, Remus." She smirked. "I get the hint, doll. Just stop by when you get back into town, alright?" He nodded as he walked out the front door. A moment later he peaked his head back in through the door.
"Lock up when you leave, okay?"
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Hermione awoke, skin too warm to sleep. She and Ron lay next to the dying fire in their den, skin still burning from the love they'd made only a few hours before. She'd never really enjoyed Ron as much as she did now. They'd never really forged a deep connection before they'd had these moments alone. Her parents had forced them to marry shortly after she's miscarried, even though they no longer had to. They felt it was the right thing to do, and both Ron and the entirety of the Weasley clan agreed.
She felt as though someone had clipped her wings that day. Swallowed in the quicksand of propriety. It had been a quiet courthouse wedding with no frills and only a dozen guests. Hermione refused to call it a "wedding", she'd only signed a paper and they'd been declared husband and wife. Hermione Weasley was born that day. Ron promised her from that day on that they'd truly marry when they'd left Hogwarts and had saved a little money.
They'd scrimped and saved enough just to have the little ceremony they had in only seven years.
Ron wanted it announced in the paper so his relative across the UK could hear if they hadn't known. Hermione wanted Remus to read it and seek her out, stake his claim. She knew it wasn't a realistic dream, but dream of it she did. She imagined it was Remus who made love to her each night and who awoke her in the morning with gentle loving kisses.
If only she knew her dream would be coming true soon than even she'd imagined...
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Okay, I know it's short and doesn't offer much Hermione POV.I was in a Remus mood.
Please R&R. More will come soon. How do you all feel about marital infidelity?
Meg