Well, here's chapter 6. Sorry about the wait, but I had to type this off the top of my head, while the rest of the chapters I had prewritten before I posted them, plus I was at camp for three weeks, so I had to rest for a few days. Plus, school has started again, and, well, long story short, sorry for the wait, and I will no longer keep you waiting. Just remember, I own nothing but the plot.

Chapter Six -- Eyes of the Wolf

Fifteen minutes later, they had finished their butterbeers and Hermione decided she had better get going so she could get some rest.

"Just don't forget to come tomorrow night," Lupin reminded her, "and do try to come on time."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Hermione said a little sheepishly, "Well, see you tomorrow, professor. Good night."

"Good night, Hermione," Lupin said, holding the door as she limped out the door and down the hallway.

Ten minutes later, Hermione uttered the password to her and Harry's dorm ("Golden Griffin"), and clambered inside, noticing that Harry had fallen asleep in the old armchair in front of the fire, presumably trying to wait up for her.

Not wanting to disturb him right away, she began to clear the table of her work, but it wasn't long before she heard her name. Figuring Harry had awaken, she asked him, "What?" but when she got no response, she looked up at him, and immediately felt a tug in her chest.

She knew Harry still suffered from nightmares; she had heard him rolling around in his bed before, but she had never witnessed it. She watched as his toes were scuffing the ground as if he were trying to run away from, or towards, something, and his arms and hands were twitching almost compulsively. She felt her eyes being drawn to his face, and she saw his eyes screw up before relaxing, but tensing almost right away again.

"No… Hermione…. Please, don't…. No, please..." he whispered as she got up and limped toward him, kneeling down next to the chair and shaking his shoulder.

"Harry," she said softly but firmly, "Harry, wake up. It's all right. It's just a bad dream. Come on, Harry, wake up," she continued to talk to him while shaking his shoulder a little harder.

After a minute, his bright green eyes snapped open and scanned the room quickly before locking with the caramel ones still watching them with concern.

"Hermione," he breathed, breathing deeply and looking away from her in an effort to calm himself down.

"Are you all right?" Hermione asked, trying to get him to look back at her.

"Fine," he said a little too quickly to be believable, "Just a… bad dream."

"About me?"

"How'd you know?" he said, locking eyes with her once more. She smiled kindly before responding.

"You talk in your sleep."

"Oh," he said, noticeably embarrassed, "I'm sorry."

"You've nothing to be sorry for," she said, ignoring the cries in her head, and reaching out to stroke his cheek.

Harry's heart jumped at the softness of her hand on his face and the look of innocence in her eyes. It reminded him of when he first saw her on the train six and a half years ago. She had obviously grown up since then, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but growing up with him had taken its toll on her; her eyes almost had a constant look of worry in them. Worry about him.

"Harry?"

He jumped at her voice and realized that he had been staring.

"Huh?"

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah," he said, turning away from her captivating eyes, "yeah, I'm fine. I just need some sleep. If you're okay, then I'm just going to go to bed."

"I'm fine; it's you I'm worried about, but if it's just sleep you need, then you best go now," she said, gently, wishing she could once more gaze into those enchanting green eyes of his. She could see everything from worry and fear regarding everyone who might fall victim to the Dark Lord to the innocence she saw on the train six and a half years ago. How she would love to be able to get herself lost in those bottle green orbs for hours.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Huh?"

Harry's voice pulled her out of her daze with a slight bump.

"I said are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine. You just… go to bed. I'm going to stay out here for a few more hours and finish my homework," she said, pulling herself to her feet.

"Hermione, you should probably go to bed, too. Come on," Harry said, before she could protest, and standing up beside her, "you most likely need it more than me. You know you do. Besides, it's almost ten o'clock. Go to bed. Please? You can finish your homework tomorrow."

"But --"

"No buts. You know you need sleep. What's wrong?"

She had looked away from him, biting her lip nervously. She had had another nightmare last night where she was attacking Harry, but it was worse than the previous ones; this one had lasted longer and she had actually killed him.

"Nothing," she said quickly, mentally shaking herself out of her stupor.

"Yes, there is," Harry said, taking her hands and rubbing them consolingly, "You can tell me, Hermione. What is it?"

Deciding she couldn't hide it from him any longer, she just said, "You aren't the only one who suffers from nightmares anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"Because of my lycanthropy, and because the full moon is so near, I have nightmares of when I'm a wolf and I'm attacking… someone. Someone that I care about greatly. Last night I actually killed them," she said in almost a monotone, not looking Harry in the eye, and fighting to keep the tears at bay, but that was nearly impossible after Harry spoke.

"That someone… is me, isn't it?"

Hermione could only nod, as a few tears escaped, surprising Harry, but he wrapped his arms around her, nonetheless.

"Why are you crying? We both know that's not going to happen."

"I know," she choked out, wiping her tears on his shoulder, "but the feelings I get while it's all happening makes me feel so guilty. I hate feeling like I'm enjoying it."

"But that's just the wolf in you. We both know that you would never try to hurt me, let alone kill me," Harry stopped and looked down at her. When he saw that what he had said hadn't stopped her tears, he said, "How about this?" he proposed, pushing her away slightly, so they could look each other in the eye, "If you have another nightmare, come to me."

"But -"

"No buts. Just come and wake me up. I won't care. Just come to me long enough to make certain you haven't killed me," Harry said, cracking one of his famous lopsided grins, which Hermione had to return. She nodded, though with slight hesitation, but still with some confidence.

"All right," Harry said, taking his hands off her shoulders, "why don't we go to bed? Come on," he added, catching her almost longing look toward her books laying on the table, "you need to relax. You stress yourself too much. Just go to bed, and I'll let you do all the homework you want on Sunday."

"Sunday? What about Saturday?"

"Saturday's the Quidditch game, and don't you want to see you're two best friends in the first game of the year?" Harry said, with a very fake pout.

"Yes, but that's only an hour, maybe two."

"Just go to bed, Mione. Either way, we have classes tomorrow, and we should both get some rest."

"All right," she said, giving in to his eyes once more, "Night."

"G'night. And remember what I said about your nightmares," Harry called as she turned to enter her dormitory. She gave a little wave to signal that she had heard him and entered her dorm. Harry just sighed and went to bed.

At about 3 AM, Hermione woke up in a cold sweat and panting. This nightmare had been one of the worst yet. She felt a few hot tears mingle with the cool perspiration lingering on her cheeks as her mind remembered what had happened.

Her nose twitched as she caught the scent of a prey she had grown accustomed to. It was him. Her human half screaming for her to stop and the dream to end, but it was the wolf in charge of the body, as she crouched in a thick bush, waiting. Finally, he walked in front of her, and her ears pricked. With a thunderous growl, she pounced and caught him completely off guard. Sinking her teeth into his shoulder, he screamed and fell as she relished the warm feeling of the blood running through her teeth.

Growing tired of his screaming, she removed her teeth from his shoulder and went for the throat. One bite and it was all over; everything was silent. Blood was everywhere, mixed in with his raven-black hair and staining his dark blue tee.

Hermione was now crying so hard, she knew that Harry would hear her if he woke up. She hated herself for the dreams and what she felt during them. She worked hard to get the ever-so-faint coppery taste of blood from her mouth, but it wouldn't budge. She silently cursed the moon shining innocently silver through her window.

She took a deep breath to steady her tears, before she stood up, goose bumps rising on her arms and legs at the November air. She wanted desperately to go to Harry, but it was half past three in the morning, and she didn't know how he would react to being awaken. She remembered his words from last night, but it's always different when you're actually waking them up.

However, another flashback of the dream was enough to get her to go out to the Head dorm common room, and up to Harry's door. Hesitating only a second, she gently pushed it open, almost turning back around when she saw he was awake.

"Hermione? Come here," he said softly, sitting up in bed. She obeyed, walking over to him, trying to keep her tears at bay as she sat down on the edge of the bed, a good three feet from him. He smiled and said, "You can come closer. I won't bite. Sorry," he apologized at his use of words, "Come here," he said, reaching over and gently tugging on her pajamas at the shoulder.

She scooted closer and closer to him with his unrelenting prompting. Eventually, he was able to wrap his arms around her, and, to his surprise, she snuggled closer to him when he did.

"Hey," he said softly, "It's all right. I'm right here," he whispered, rocking her back and forth. She tried to steady the oncoming tears, but wasn't having much luck, "I'm right here," he repeated, "and I'll never leave you. I promise."
Hermione eventually couldn't hold her tears back any longer, but Harry only responded by pulling her closer to him, allowing her to cry into his shoulder as he rocked her back and forth, inhaling her scent and, without even realizing it, falling in love.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Well, that's all for now. I hope you enjoyed it, and I will try to have the next chapter up by Christmas, or at least the New Year. Just know that I will never abandon any of the stories that I post. Well, R&R please. TTFN