Disclaimer: Anything you recognize from the HP books and/or movies is not mine.

A/N: Yay! Another chapter! Woo! I actually had a bit of fun typing this chapter… I dunno' why though. I suppose it was probably easier to write than the previous ones. Annnnnd! Because I put in a bit of romance/thought thingies in it where Remus and Hermione are contemplating their feelings or are being pressed about his/her feelings. Good stuff there. Also! A bit of Remus' history in here… not much though, but there's enough to get a general idea of his childhood. o: Anyways, thank you guys for the reviews. I'm not getting as many as I used to, but I suppose that's my fault for not updating as much and I probably lost a large part of my 'audience' but I suppose it doesn't matter. (: As long as someone besides me likes this story, I'm going to continue it. And so… I guess it's time to move on with the story!

Thanks The Insane Imortal Dragon, Angelic Bladez, little mimi, larthawyn, lianghwei, bluefire-elemental, Ivory Black aka Torri-Chiobie, genevieve, wally4ever, Angelraven, Aprila, and LunaLovegoss for the wonderful reviews!

Any questioned involving this story that you ask in your reviews will be replied to in emails due to the new rules of FF dot com

Poll for 'Should Hermione, Severus, and Lucius become the new Golden Trio?'

Yes: 9

No: 12

Alright, so, the pole has come to a close. Hermione, Severus, and Lucius will not become the new Golden Trio. Thank you guys for the votes! They really helped. Sorry for those who did vote yes, but the majority won the negative part of the poll.

Seasons Change

By: Min

a.k.a. xScenex

Inside of a large, circular room, a old, wizened man sat quietly behind an enormous desk with his fingers pressed together under his chin. With most of the students gone, the castle seemed much quieter, giving the man time to think.

The past year had been quite interesting, to say the least. Who would have thought that a child would be sent back in time to fulfill a prophecy and get rid of the Dark Lord? Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore hadn't.

But there she was, Hermione Jane Granger, sixth year student and former Prefect; born in the future but living in the past. She was a child full of knowledge and with a barely lived childhood. She seemed so full of secrets, yet she shared numerous amounts of information with him and the other Order members. Did all children twenty years into the future grow up before their time? Were they all filled with such knowledge that most adults didn't even wield?

The burden placed on the congenial teenager was astounding. What her and her friends had gone through was something that most adults hadn't even seen in this era. Times would be bad -- that much was for sure.

The Headmaster stood up and turned to his faithful phoenix, Fawkes. She stroke the fire bird's crimson feathers and asked aloud, "Is it right for me to take advantage of a child's knowledge and deprive them of the childhood they could have had?"

The bird thrilled softly and the old man smiled sadly. He couldn't afford losing the information that Mrs. Granger had because of the sudden ferocity of the Death Eater attacks and activity of the Dark Lord but he couldn't help but feel guilty of taking away the girls fun. She was finally somewhere where she could relax a bit and not constantly worry about the troubles of war.

But what would happen if he let her go? She was valuable to the Order and the light side, and he had already seen her trying to recruit groups of students. Even if he asked her to try and live the life she should, she would still continue working with the children of known Death Eaters. From what he could tell so far, she had already pulled half a dozen of the children away from Voldemort's grasp.

She was a brilliant which.

Albus turned towards one of the many windows in his office and stared out at the dully lit grounds of Hogwarts. He had to think about what he would do.

Several hundred miles away, in a small house secluded from prying eyes by a large forested area, a boy had finally awoken, having just had a rather pleasant dream involving a certain brown-eyed girl.

Sighing to himself, said boy sat up in bed, rubbing groggily at his eyes before pulling his covers off of his body, exposing himself to the cold mid-morning air. He hissed in displeasure as he swung his legs over the side of the bed and his feet touched to cold floor, but nonetheless, dutifully stood up and began to stumbled about the medium-sized room for a suitable outfit to wear for the day.

After buttoning his shirt up but leaving two buttons unfastened, the boy walked out of his nearly empty room to a bathroom that was located across the hall to refresh himself.

As he stood in front of the sink, he looked up into the slightly cracked mirror that hung languidly on the wall, slightly tilted to the side. Sparkling blue eyes stared back at him from behind a curtain of russet hair. His face was slightly pale, the full moon having been only the week before and he was still feeling the slight effects of his monthly transformation on his body. It wasn't easy being a werewolf.

Remus John Lupin, sixth-year prefect, werewolf, and fellow Marauder, splashed a large amount of cold water on his face to fully wake himself up.

After drying his face with a hand-towel, he left the bathroom and padded down the small, carpeted hall until he reached a kitchen where a middle-aged woman was bustling about with cooking materials. She was shorter than Remus, and had light brown hair and a gentle face. Her eyes were a cinnamon brown, reflecting happiness and love.

"Morning, Mum," Remus smiled at the woman, who turned to look at him as he entered.

"Good Morning, dear. Did you sleep well?"

"Very well, Mum, thanks."

Remus' mum smiled gently down at him, "Are you hungry?"

"Famished," said the boy, giving the woman a small grin.

"I'd think you were, after that train ride yesterday. I never did like the train rides -- too long in my opinion. I remember when…"

The werewolf was well aware of these random rants, and tuned his mother out slightly, nodding and smiling at her when she stared expectantly at him. It wasn't that he didn't respect her or anything; it was just that he'd heard enough train ride stories to last him a life-time.

"And then your father, God bless his soul, came into the compartment all flustered. I asked him, 'Jared! What happened to you?" and he looked at me with his gorgeous blue eyes and said…"

Remus smiled at his mother again. Whenever she got onto the subject of his father, he didn't have the heart to hurt her feelings by seeming uninterested.

Remus' father, Jared Romulus Lupin, had died three years ago from a muggle cancer when he was in his third year, right before summer break had come. Remus had left for home a bit earlier than the rest of the school to attend the mans funeral; and that was one of the worst memories that he would ever recall.

He could remember his father -- a nice, carefree and cheery man that reminded him so much of Sirius, though not so rambunctious. Maybe that was why Remus had begun to think so highly of his friends after that happened; they seemed to have attitudes that rivaled his fathers. But there was also the fact that that was the very same year that they learned about his monthly problem and their reactions had been pretty much the same as his father's.

The boy wished that his father was happy wherever he was, though he couldn't help but feel a pang of regret every time he thought about his old man. He hadn't spent much time with him, seeing that he had been at school most of the time during his chemotherapy.

"I will always remember that day…" his mother finally trailed off, her eyes overly bright. "Oh, how I miss him."

Sighing lightly, Remus patted his mothers forearm gently, "Never lose the memories you have of him, and he'll always live on in our hearts. You know that, Mum."

"Of course I do, Remy dear," she replied tearfully. "I just miss him."

"As do I."

The woman leaned over and enveloped the unprepared boy in her arms, hugging him tightly. She spoke, her voice wavering, "At least I still have you, Remus."

The boy smiled gently, thinking the same about his own mother. She was pretty much the most important person in his life, thus far, and he knew it would kill him to lose her too. When his father passed away, his heart had been shattered to pieces, along with his mothers own.

Lupin Senior had been Remus' 'hero' as he'd grown up, especially after the unfortunate even when he had been bitten by a werewolf. His father stayed by his side the whole time, reassuring him that it wouldn't be so bad and that it would have some advantages. He swore to Remus that no matter what happened, he would always be his son and nothing could change that. Just thinking about the conversation they had brought tears to his eyes.

"Remus, my boy! You're looking much healthier today. Feeling any better?"

"I am, Dad."

"That's great! Here, I snuck you something you might like."

"What is it?"

"Take a look,"

"Chocolate? Thanks, Dad!"

"Just don't tell your mother… Ah hah, don't give me that face Remus, you know she disapproves!"

"Alright! I wont tell her."

"That's my boy!"

"Dad! That's my hair!"

"Really? I could have sworn it was something else…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"… What!"

"Dad… do you still love me?"

"Of course I do, son! Why wouldn't I? If this has something to do with the hair thing, I wont do it again, I promise!"

"No, this has nothing to do with my hair, Dad. I asked because… well, because now, I'm a… a you know.. werewolf."

"So? That doesn't mean I don't love you."

"Do you mean it?"

"Of course I do! No matter what, Remus, you will always be my son. Nothing will ever change that -- whether you're a werewolf, a vampire, a toad, frogspawn, a banshee, a cookie--"

"A cookie? What the--"

"Language son!"

Remus wrapped his arms tightly around his mother, hugging the woman back with as much ferocity as her own hugs. He felt a lump form in his throat as the flashback hit him, and his eyes were watering unpleasantly. The death of his father was still a slightly fresh wound that would take a while to heal.

Mrs. Lupin sighed loudly before prying herself away from her son. Remus gave her an apologetic look before getting up and walking over to the stove, where a pan full of bacon lay sizzling on one of the four burners. He flipped it idly while his mother came up beside him and began cooking sausage on another one of the burners beside the bacon pan.

His mother preferred cooking the muggle way, rather than with magic. He never knew why, seeing that his mother had grown up with a witch and wizard for parents -- but then again, his grandmother on that side had been a muggleborn.

After the food had finished cooking, the duo sat down at the rugged, scrubbed kitchen table to eat their mid-morning meal in comfortable silence.

Remus took the time while he was eating to look about and see what had changed since he had left for Hogwarts months ago.

Its seemed that the house was practically the same, despite a few knick-knacks here and there.

The house that the Lupin's lived in was a slightly, run down cabin-like dwelling, but even so, it still had its homey touches. Most of the floors were made of wood, though a few were covered with a dark, forest green carpeting that matched the draperies on the windows. It had two bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a living room. The small house had been large enough for their family, and it was cheap -- perfect for them.

His family had never really had much money, but they had always gotten by with what they needed, even with a few struggles here and there. After Remus' father had died, his mother had taken up a job at a local market, where she could sometimes get discounts on food, or even bring home a variety of free or almost-expired goods.

Usually, during the summer, Remus would help his mother out by finding a job somewhere in the village a few miles away. The past two summers he had gotten a job at a small, neglected bookshop that paid fairly decent.

The upcoming summer was looking up.

The werewolf stole a glance at his mother, who was busy spreading marmalade on a piece of toast. She looked up and caught his glance, then smiled warmly and decided to strike up a conversation, "So Remus, how has school been?"

"It's been great, actually. I'm learning a lot this year. The new Defense teacher is brilliant."

"That's lovely dear. Are your friends treating you alright?"

"Yes, they are. I've actually made a few more friends this year," the boy stated quite proudly. Friendship was something that he valued greatly.

Mrs. Lupin beamed, "Will I be able to meet these young men anytime soon?"

"Er," Remus blinked, then turned slightly red in the face, "They aren't exactly… men. More like, women?"

The woman blinked, the words sinking in, then she got a knowing look on her face and grinned, "Girls, Remus dear? Do tell me, what are they like?"

Shifting uncomfortably under his mothers intense and mysterious 'oh-so-knowing' gaze, Remus answered her, "Well, one of them is a girl named Lily Evans. You know, I've spoken about her -- James fancies her. She's gotten quite close to us lately, and she's a great friend. Smart too."

"And what about the others?"

"Well, there's really only one other -- her name is Hermione Granger," the boy told her, then hesitated slightly. He didn't want to lie to his mother, but he couldn't just expose Hermione's secrets. "She, uh, just came here this year, actually. Moved from France, I believe, though she grew up here in Britain. She's a brilliant witch; really smart and intelligent. She can have a temper though, and can put James and Sirius in their respective places if she wants to. She's funny, also, and has a great sense of humor…"

The boy trailed on, unaware of the wide grin that made itself onto his mother face. "Tell me son, what's this young lady look like?"

"Oh, well, she has uh.. Wait, why do you want to know?"

The woman in front of him laughed heartily, confusing Remus greatly. What was she laughing at? Did he say something?

"Oh, Remy, if I didn't know any better, I'd believe you've become quite smitten with this young lady."

"What!" Her son nearly fell out of his chair and onto the hardwood floor. "I am not smitten with her! She's just a really good friend, that's all," he told her defensively.

"If you say so, darling. Maybe I could meet her sometime before Christmas, hmm?"

Remus goggled at his mother. What was she getting at? "Er… well, I would ask her to come over, but she's staying at Hogwarts for the holidays."

"Why ever would she do that? I thought you said not many people were staying. Doesn't her family want her home to spend Christmas with them?"

He looked down at his place. He didn't want to lie any more to his mother about Hermione's actual… situation, so he said the closest thing to the truth, "Well, see, she doesn't have anyone to go home to."

Wincing slightly at the audible gasp from his mother, he knew what he said wasn't the best thing. The woman was always so sensitive about people without a parent or parents. But, well, it was the truth. She didn't have anyone to stay with during the holiday's.

"The poor dear-- I can't imagine how she feels. But where does she go during the summer?"

"Er…" he needed to make up an alibi, and he would have to make a mental note to speak with Hermione about it later on. "Well, her parents… they er, died a bit after school started, sometime in October. With no more living relatives to take her in, she came here to Britain, where Professor Dumbledore offered to take her in until something was worked out…"

"She has no where to stay? Bless Albus' soul; he's got a heart of gold, that one. Oh, I can't imagine… It must be so hard on her, with their deaths so fresh in her mind…"

"Yeah…" Remus muttered. He thought about it, and realized that Hermione and him were both alike in some ways. They both had a dark secret, they both had lost a parent -- or in her case, both parents.

The rest of the morning was spent with Mrs. Lupin asking Remus reverent questions about Hermione, which he answered the best he could. He mentally scolded himself for not asking Hermione about an alibi if anyone ever asked her and he hoped that there wasn't another set of her 'history' going about. That could cause a bit of trouble…

Eventually, his mother quieted down enough, saying she needed to get ready for work. Before she left though, Remus had spoke to her about the plans that James and the other Marauders had semi-planned, and asked if he would be allowed to stay with them at the Potter Vacation Home, and that she was more than welcome to come as well. She thought about it, then smiled and nodded, saying that it would be a 'lovely' idea, though she might not be able to join until the day or two before Christmas Eve.

Smiling at the woman who had raised him, Remus waved goodbye to her as she said her goodbyes, before disapparating. He sighed a bit, then turned around to head back into the house to write a letter to James and Sirius -- and then decided to also send Hermione a small letter, apologizing for his friends behavior the day that they left.

"Alright, alright, I get it."

"Finally!"

Hermione leant back in her chair, rubbing tiredly at her eyes. It wasn't even lunch yet and the Slytherin's were exhausting her. Their constant doubts, questions, smart remarks, and annoying sense of superiority was getting on her nerves.

After debating for hours and hours of what they would do come summer, they hadn't come up with anything new. The only plan they had was the previous one mentioned by Hermione. They didn't like the idea of going into hiding, but the girl tried to assure them that they would be safe, and could do a lot of things while they 'disappeared'.

She also tried to not give them too much information, keeping the Order secret, and succeeded although they kept questioning her about her 'contacts'.

Since Lucius, Narcissa, and Jason were all in their seventh year and would be able to live on their own after the school year was over, it would be a lot easier to go into hiding if they chose to. Lucius would, no doubt, have enough gold in his own vault to last him a long time. With a little persuasion, she could probably get him to sway to their needs and house them for the three months in which her, Severus, Regulus, and Michael would have to hide before another year at Hogwarts.

Until then, Hermione needed some time away from the constant bickering in the small dungeon room.

"I'm going to head to lunch now," she told them while standing up. "Anyone else coming?" The other students just shrugged or shook their heads, annoying Hermione further. "Fine, I'll talk to you later then. If anything comes up, send me an owl or come and find me."

With that, the girl left the Slytherin's and Hufflepuff alone in the 'brewing' room. She made her way through the winding halls of the castle, trying to sort out things from their conversation.

It would take a long time to get the others to trust her enough, but hopefully that would be done by the end of the sixth year.

Groaning loudly, she trudged down one of the many corridors of the castle. As much as she wanted to deny it, she was feeling remarkably lonely at the moment. She'd do anything just to have Lily, Remus, James, Sirius, or even Peter around. The Slytherin's could be an alright group, but sometimes they were just downright annoying. Yet, that can happen with any bunch of friends -- oh, the number of times she could recall with Ron and Harry…

Shaking her head to rid herself of depressing thoughts, she headed down to the Great Hall. Before she got to the double doors though, she realized that she wasn't really hungry. She figured that she could just take a short walk outside in the blistering cold weather to ease her mind a bit.

Most would think her mental for chancing herself by going outside in the middle of winter when it the temperatures were below freezing. But honestly, she didn't mind much -- as long as she had a nice, warm cloak, she was all set.

Turning down a corridor, leading away from the Great Hall, Hermione took the path to the front doors and stepped outside. She was greeted by a blast of icy wind, causing her just-put-on scarf to flutter ridiculously about her head. She grabbed the end and wrapped it around one of her hands, relishing in the warmth it provided against her fingers -- it was a two-way thing; by wrapping her fingers in it, she could keep it from literally attacking her face, and she could keep her fingers warm. Good deal, no?

She pulled her winter cloak around her body a bit tighter, then headed out through the snow and towards the lake. She didn't really know what she was going to do outside, but a sudden sense of exploration hit her and the idea of sneaking into the Shrieking Shack filled her mind.

After a good amount of time, the girl trudging about through the snow, eventually found herself near the Whomping Willow. Not really sure of how to get to the knot at the base of the tree, she dug around the snow for a fairly long stick. Finding one, Hermione went forward, successfully dodging swinging branches and falling clumps of snow, though mainly successful because of previous experiences.

When she got within poking distance of the base of the tree, she pressed the knot with the end of the stick, causing the tree to freeze up and sway stiffly in the howling wind.

Smiling at her accomplishment, she ducked down into the hole that led down into the passageway that would guide her into the famous Shrieking Shack.

The walk was a bit long, but soon, she found herself inside of the torn up building. It wasn't as cold in there as it was outside, and she was grateful for it. Looking about the place and realizing that it didn't look so shabby as it had in her third year, she grimaced a bit.

Only Merlin knew what went on in that very shack every full moon.

Hermione walked quietly through the small, abandoned home, glancing about and examining various things. A few times, she saw dark stains on the floor or walls, and highly suspected it to be blood but she didn't actually investigate it -- she didn't want to know if it actually was and if the stains really were bloodstains, she was afraid of who the previous owner of it used to be -- and although her mind protested it could be someone else, she thought it would most likely be Remus'.

After about ten minutes, the brown-haired girl found herself inside of a bedroom. Said bedroom was the exact same one that she had first met Sirius black in and had also exposed Remus' secret in -- those memories would always haunt her. It was that very place that she would, in the future, find out about the traitorous history that involved a certain rat, the loyalty of a certain canine, and the love and sacrifice that a stag would give. More importantly to her, she would also find out the everlasting friendship that a werewolf would hold for his friends -- one that would help a man on the run stay alive with hope, one that would allow a guilty man to escape again -- though not on his (Remus') own will, and one that would always remember a loving friend that had gave his life for his son.

That werewolf, commonly known as Remus J. Lupin, had somehow burrowed himself into Hermione's mind. No matter what she was doing, he would sometimes just randomly pop into her mind -- his smiling face, his friendly reassurance, his sometimes-childish antics… everything about him, in Hermione's opinion, was perfect.

Hermione sat down heavily on the dusty bed and contemplated those very thoughts. Then she came to a conclusion -- could she actually fancy Remus?

No, she chided herself, he's your professor!

…

He will be your professor.

…

…

It's still wrong!

She groaned, slapping her face lightly in attempt to get those thoughts out of her mind. Even if she did fancy Remus, it was very unlikely that he felt the same about her -- she was, after all, just a insufferable know-it-all with bushy not-to-mention untamable hair.

Chuckling slightly at that, she closed her eyes. She really wanted to be home. It was Christmas after all, and all those times she had spent with her two best guy friends would be gone forever.

She felt herself drifting off to sleep, buried deep in her cloak for warmth and comfort as she lay in the dusty, moth-eaten bed. She was about to slip into the blissful unconsciousness when she heard a light tapping coming from somewhere in the room.

Fearing that she might not be alone in the shack, Hermione sat bolt upright and looked around. She didn't see anything at first, then listened carefully to where the sound was coming from.

The window?

She walked over to the dirty, filth covered window and slipped it open cautiously. The girl was surprised, however, when a small barn owl swooped into the shack, landing gracefully on the bedside table. She stared at it quizzically at first, then figured it was something from Lucius or Severus.

She took the letter off of its leg and it hooted dolefully at her before taking off again. She shut the window, shivering at the sudden blast of wind, then picked up the parchment.

Unrolling it slowly, she realized that it wasn't from one of the Slytherin's, but rather, it was from Remus.

Dear Hermione,

I just wanted to write to you to see how your holiday is going so far. I hope you aren't too upset about the row you had with Sirius -- he's just being paranoid. It really isn't any of his business, knowing what you do or do not do. He should respect you -- but I can't talk any sense into him without him throttling me for such a remark. He is, after all, Sirius.

Also, another reason for me sending you this letter is, my mother was asking about you, and I had to put up an alibi since I actually didn't have one for your life history.

I hope that you don't get mad at me, but I felt that I needed to tell you…

She scanned the rest of the letter, silently cursing herself for not ever speaking to the others about an alibi. Of course someone would eventually wonder where her parents were, and why she never went home for different holidays. She was actually thankful that Remus came up with what he did -- she wasn't really in the mood to come up with her own alibi.

Hermione flopped back down on the bed, causing dust to rise up into the air, dimming what little light filtered into the room.

Sneezing lightly, the girl covered her nose and mouth with her scarf, closed her eyes, and curled up on the bed with Remus' letter clutched to her chest unnoticed.

She was dimly aware that she was actually falling asleep in the shack as one last thought slipped into her mind.

Maybe I do fancy Remus… but just… a little….

A/N: So what'd you think about Remus' 'history'? Anyways, the poll is closed, and I want to thank each and every single one of you who voted. Those who voted yes, I'm sorry that the 'yes' vote didn't win. You guys are great!

Also, just so you know, I more than likely wont be updating until after Christmas -- I do have some family get-togethers to attend and whatnot, so I doubt I'll have any more time updating until after all that stuff is over. Consider this chapter a Christmas gift? I dunno', but anyways, Happy Holiday's everyone!