A/N:I really don't own any of this. It's all J.K. Rowlings and Harry Potter Lexicon. Big thanks to them (they helped me out with the layout of a certain street that comes up in this chapter). I'm sorry this one took me longer to get up. Homework decided to try and eat me. Anywho, thank you so much to Trins, Nynaeve80, Victor Krum's Lazyllama101, PyroGurl04, ffacowgirl89, and michelline :) Hope you like the update.

Hermione did not feel like returning to her apartment after she left Number 12 Grimmauld Place. She felt miserable still coping with the dreaded hangover from hell. She walked along the streets of London kicking a rock as she went along. She never raised her head from the stone walk as she thought about recent events. How could he hurt me like this? It wasn't even like we were seeing each other. I don't even like him. Hermione knew she was lying to herself, but she didn't care- whatever it took to get over him.

She continued walking around until she found herself at the Leaky Caldron. Might as well wander around wizarding London, too Hermione thought. As she tapped the right bricks with her wand she felt the little hairs on the back of her neck rise. She turned around quickly to see if someone was watching her, but saw no one. With a bit of a queasy feeling she found herself on Diagon Alley. She pushed the thought of a follower far from her mind as she started walking down the cobbled street trying to think if there was a magical solution to what happened last night. As she walked past Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, her eyes caught a glimpse of a trolley just beyond the entry way to Knockturn Alley. The sign on the side of the trolley has gold letters that were pealing away; it read: unrequited love potions. Once again, however, she felt a piercing gaze upon her and she turned on a dime to see whom the culprit was, but again there was no one to be seen. She felt an odd draw to the trolley and ignored her conscience's words of wisdom: What are you doing foolish girl?! You cannot go into Knockturn Alley. The War is over, but the Dark Lord's supporters are still around. But Hermione pressed on.

Severus had released Lupin soon after there "little chat" and stormed out of the room, his robes billowing as he went. Lupin put his head in his hands as he began to think of their conversation. He was ashamed and promised to never put Hermione in a position in which she would find out the true reason he pushed those who cared away. He cursed himself as that line of thinking caused him to think of Tonks. She had been fool enough to fall for him as well. She was more persistent than he thought possible and he managed to slip up a few times. In the end, though, he had managed to push her away with a few choice words and comments crueler than he would have liked. He had been somewhat depressed when she had moved on so quickly. He remembered the first time Tonks introduced Kingsley as her fiancé; it felt like that air had been sucked out of his lungs and his inability to construe sentences made it even worse.

"Enough, Remus." A blue-eyed older man with half-moon spectacles said. Remus looked up surprised to find Dumbledore watching him from the other side of the room.

"Sir." He nodded, unable to think of anything else.

"It des not help you to reminisce about the past. You must look to the future." Dumbledore said, alluding to more than he would let on. "Now, on another topic, would you be so kind as to inform me what you and Severus discussed. I believe he was almost smiling when he stopped speaking with you and being the curious, meddling man I am, I had to ask what caused such a momentous event."

"Um, Uh….Well Severus made some, err….observations about today's events and he brought them up with…me" Lupin finished lamely hardly getting the words out.

"It would be wise if you didn't push her away." Dumbledore said gravely, his eyes colder without their usual twinkle. Lupin felt blindsided by that comment. How could he know?

" I-" He was soon cut off by Dumbledore.

"She left rather upset. If I were you, I would try to make amends. She really is an extraordinary witch and I have no doubt her compassion would allow her to forgive you." He said the twinkle returning ever so slightly. "I have to objections if that was what you were concerned with. It's just too much of a shame for her to find a bit of happiness to have it taken from her."

"Sir, I can't. I shouldn't have let it happen in the first place, but I think the mead was going to my head. I never meant to harm her." Lupin said earnestly.

"I never doubted that my boy." Dumbledore said and then continued. "On a topic altogether different, I would like to ask you for a favor to the Order. It seems as if there are some werewolves under Fenir Greyback…." Dumbledore began to explain the situation in full to Lupin.

Severus was smiling, well it wasn't a smile per-se, it looked more like a grimace of pain mixed with one of his happier sneers, but it was the closest he could get. When he passed Dumbledore on the way out, he took some pleasure in the fact that he had managed to confuse one of the greatest wizards of all time with a facial expression. His grin, if you could call it that, grew wider. This was until he saw a very distraught Hermione kicking some object along the street. Stupid girl. Doesn't she know she needs to be on awares. It was with much reluctance that he decided he should probably follow her. After casting a quick disillusionment charm, he followed Hermione all the way to the Leaky Caldron undetected. Once he followed her to the stonewall, however, he was not so lucky. He saw her tense up as she turned and look straight at him. He held his breath as she continued to look behind her and let out a faint sigh of relief when she tapped the stones and stepped into Diagon Alley.

He always hated this place. Too many colors. Too many people. Too many snot-nosed students running around "preparing" for school by going into the joke shops and stocking up on foolish merchandise. He watched Hermione as she walked slowly and unnoticed by the mass of people around her. He half wondered why he disillusioned himself in the first place, but quickly justified his actions by reasoning if she had noticed him one of two things could have happened. 1). She might have gotten it in to her think skull that he was following her because he was "interested" in some way. He shuddered at the thought of it. Or 2). She would think that he was looking out for her and proceed to tell him the whole sordid story about herself and Lupin. While he was looking after her, he certainly did not want to get dragged into that drama.

He was lost in his ponderings when she began to look around again. He had learned from his past mistake and stayed many paces away. This time she did not look directly at him, but more towards Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occasions. He felt his gaze drift there as well, but noticed nothing out of the ordinary. It was around then that he realized that the stupid girl was headed for Knockturn Alley. He used a nonverbal spell to try and convince her that going down that Alley was an appalling idea, but something caused her to walk on, almost as if she were in a trance. He walked closer to her and kept his wand out.

Hermione had been walking towards the trolley with the dilapidated gold letters when she heard a voice whisper in her ear.

"You had better come with me, Miss Granger." The voice drawled. Hermione began to turn around when she felt a piece of wood jabbed against her back. "-Don't. If you cooperate fully, you shall not be harmed. That means you will not turn around. You will not raise suspensions. And most importantly, you will give me your wand, which you were preparing to use to cast an Expelliarmus," the voice added acidly. Hermione could do nothing but hand over her only chance of surviving.

"Very good." The voice conveyed. "Now we are going to take a little trip, my dear." Hermione felt a firm hand grab her about the waist painfully and then felt the unpleasant feeling that could only mean Side-Along Apparition. Before everything went black Hermione managed to get out one word: Remus.

A/N: Please review :)