-Chapter Three-

Worth the wait

There was a moment of silence in which Lily, James, Sirius and Peter were wondering why it was so.

Hermione turned away from Remus, afraid that he might see too much, but she knew he already did. She looked up at James, smiled, although fake he didn't notice.

"Well that was strange," said James, chuckling by himself.

"Yea…" Remus mumbled, still wanting to know why Hermione had been in hospital earlier this evening.

Sensing another silent moment was going to make its presence, Lily spoke up:

"Where are you from Hermione?"

All eyes were on her in a second as the boys realized they had not been informed.

"London" she said, knowing perfectly well that it wouldn't be enough information for them; especially if the boys proved to be like Ron and Harry.

And she was right.

"Why didn't you come to Hogwarts in the first place?" asked Sirius, getting agreeable nods from the group.

"I was home sc-"

"Why now?" asked Remus, fiercely interrupting her. Hermione looked up at him, shocked at what she was hearing. "This can't be the gentle, kind Remus that Iknow so well" she thought.

"Wha-"

"Why now? Why did you decide to come to school now, of all times!" he asked, once more interrupting her. Hermione's lower lip quivered as though she was about to cry but surprisingly she didn't. Instead she briskly got up and stormed out of the great hall, all eyes on her.

Hermione ran, although she knew no one was following her, she still ran, all the way to the black lake.

She sat down on a boulder, closest to the forbidden forest, closest to where she had been attacked, close to where she had disappeared only a few hours ago.

She finally let it out, the anger, the fear and most of all the sadness. She let the tears fall freely, sadden by the fact that Remus was considering her an enemy and not what she needed the most, a friend. Sadden that the future Remus might not even be alive at this very moment.

"Oh how I wish I could tell them, warn them of their future…"

For a moment she was lost in her thoughts, not a care in the world, until she heard a crack behind her.

She quickly spun around out of habit, only to come face to face with a thin, blond haired young man.

"Who are you?" he asked, wearing that ever so familiar smirk on his face.

She looked straight into his eyes, not registering the fact that he had asked her a question just because she was too distracted with the reality that this was Lucius Malfoy.

"Are you deaf or just mute?" he asked, taking a few steps closer to her.

"I'm neither" she said, snapping out of her temporary trance.

"Well then who are you?"

"Weren't you there at diner, Dumbledore made the introduction" she informed him, crossing her arms.

"So you're the new student…" he started, eyeing her from top to bottom.

Hermione mentally shivered, wondering if the future Malfoy knew he had checked out his enemy's best friend when he was seventeen.

"I'll have you know that I'm a griffindor" she started, he smiled, " and Dumbledore's niece" with that said, he went from the mischievous Lucius to a surprised one, and she a very, very happy girl.

Suddenly, as he took a few more steps, his expression changed back to his usual smirk, only to stop a mere foot away from her.

He was up to something.

"I can't believe you Remus!" Lily shouted as the group made their way towards the griffindor common room.

After Hermione had left the great hall, the whole group were left speechless, until Lily, yet again, broke the silence by bashing down at Remus.

"She's hiding something…I just, I don't know. There's something about her that just doesn't seem right"

"Like what?" James asked while Lily gave the password to the fat Lady.

"Like the fact that on her first day to school she ends up in the hospital wing and also, for some reason I don't think she was home schooled"

They walked into the common room and made their way towards the sofas.

"I still think you were a little harsh on her. Maybe the reason she's here had to do with personal or family reasons" suggested Lily in a matter of fact voice. Remus sigh in exasperation, wondering if maybe he was wrong and that Lily might be right.

"I still think there's something"

"Well I think you should go apologize" and with that note, and Lily's suggestion, Remus walked out of the common room to go find Hermione. Leaving them wonder about Remus and Hermione's friendship.

"I wouldn't be doing that if I were you" said Hermione slowly, looking down at her knee where Malfoy's hand was.

"Dumbledore's niece, how interesting" he said, his voice filled with malice.

"I'm warning you Malfoy!" she spat as she frantically tried to push his hand away, but just as quickly, he grabbed hold of it.

"I never told you my name. How do you know it?" he asked slowly, applying pressure to his grip making Hermione flinch.

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

"I would," he whispered through clench teeth, crushing her fingers in the process.

Hermione yelped in pain and for a moment she thought she would never escape Malfoy's clutches until an unexpected voice surged through the cold crispy air.

Hermione had never been so relieved in her life to see Remus, well besides the night he saved her from Greyback.

"I'll be watching you" Malfoy sneered up at her, looked at Remus with disgust and left.

"What were you doing with him?" asked Remus, his suspicions coming back to him.

"I wasn't with him Remus, he came up to me while I was," she paused, looked down into his eyes, "thinking…". There was a brief moment of silence before she spoke again.

"Why are you here?"

Remus had almost forgotten himself why he had come in the first place. He cleared his throat, as though shy and said:

"I came to apologize…for earlier"

"Really?" she asked, an eyebrow raised, a side smile appearing on her face. She began to slide down the boulder, Remus quickly moving in front of her to help, his arms stretched out.

"Really" he whispered, as she landed in his arms in a ratter compromising position.

"I'm still waiting for it" she said, as their eyes locked, still in each others embrace.