Sorry for the wait, the beta search has been unsuccessful so far. I apologize for any formatting errors or grammatical errors. I try to catch them all but it's an ongoing battle. Thank you for all of the reviews and follows. It makes me smile each time I see a new one.

Hermione escorted Kelly out, the whole time trying to keep her cool. How dare he? Remus had no place to undermine her interrogation. She was damn good at her job. Because of him, Kelly lost any professional respect he may have had for her, if he had any at all. She knew that he was a bad man. Anyone who looked at him could tell that. Had she not proven herself capable of defending herself over the years? When would she be taken seriously? She made her way back up to the office. She would keep her cool. Hermione Granger did not chastise her boss publicly. Remus would be getting an earful when they were alone together, that much was for sure. She entered her cubicle and saw that there was a cup of fresh coffee on her desk. A note that simply said "sorry" was next to it. She recognized the handwriting, she had seen it enough on memos. Remus had obviously left it for her. Some of the fire left, and that lasted a total of thirty seconds.

Did he really think that a simple cup of coffee would make treating her like a child okay? There was no way he was getting off that easily. She sat down and sipped on the coffee. It was really quite good. He was one of a few people who not only knew that she preferred coffee, but also how much sugar she liked in it. She sorted through her files, spelling certain ones to make duplicates for Archives. She didn't even realize that each sip relaxed her. By the time she was done, she wasn't even mad at him. She was still upset. She wanted to know why he didn't trust her.


"Hey, are you available for lunch?" Hermione looked up, Harry was standing outside her cubicle.

"I'm about to organize all of my files, I was just going to take a late lunch." Her friend frowned at her and then extended his hand.

"I'm not taking no for an answer. Besides, I'm buying." He pulled her up from her chair before she could protest.

They went down to the cafeteria and ordered their meals. Harry handed a few galleons to the woman at the register.

"So, I heard that Remus aided you in an interrogation," he said. Hermione scoffed.

"Aided? He supervised me, like I was some trainee that didn't know how to do my job. It completely put a stop to any rapport Kelly and I could have had."

Harry continued to chew his sandwich. He put it down and took a long swig of his water. Hermione could tell that he was trying to figure out how to word something. Which meant that she was about to get a dose of reality.

"I think you may be overreacting. You and I both know that Remus has absolute trust in you, you're practically his number two in the office. I also know the reputation Owen Kelly has. He's been in an out of our system for years, before I was even in the Auror department. Could it be possible that he was there to keep an eye on Kelly, not on you?" Harry finished. Hermione sighed and massaged her temples.

"Even if that is the case, Remus knows I'm fully capable of taking care of myself," she said.

"You're still his responsibility. If he feels there could be a threat to you, then he needs try to neutralize it. He would have done that for any other employee. So why are you taking this so personally?" he asked.

She pushed her food around on her plate. Why did she care so much? She knew that Remus trusted her, and she knew that he thought she was competent. Yet the thought that he didn't had upset her so much, and she finally realized why. She cared about Remus, not only his opinion of her. She wanted him to respect her and possibly care about her one day. She pushed her plate away and pinched the bridge of her nose. Why me?

"Figure it out then, did you?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, I think I got it. Thanks Harry. I'm going to go back up to the office but I'll see you and Ginny Sunday at the Weasley's."

They stood up and embraced, then Hermione left. She cared about Remus. When had that happened?


Back in her cubicle, Hermione made the decision to treat Remus like she normally did. She wasn't mad at him anymore but she didn't want to risk him finding out she had feelings for him. She could deal with them herself until they dissipated.

A small voice in the back of her head whispered "But what if they never do?"

Hermione had to admit, something about all of this felt so right. Like acknowledging she cared for him put the puzzle into perspective. There were still pieces missing, but she knew what the image was. She would just have to figure everything out. There was time.