Hermione left for classes the next day feeling a little sick and very tired. She made a mental note to herself to try and get some more sleep. Staying up late studying, going to meetings, both with Voldemort and Dumbledore and then after what she had to do last night was enough to make anyone sick. 'Oh gods, what I did last night.' She was going to have to tell Remus about it. He would eventually find out because of their connection and she would much rather tell him then have him find out through the rumor line. Squaring her shoulders she marched to her first class, where she knew Remus would be waiting for her in their usual seats.
Class started and Hermione didn't have a chance to speak to him, so she sent him a note. She had thought about writting it on the note, but then she realised he deserved to hear it straight from her. She asked to talk to him right after class. Class ended quickly and Hermione rushed out the door to wait for Remus. As the Mauraders were coming out a group of 5th year Slytherins were walking by. Expecting them to curse Hermione all 3 boys clasped their hands on their wands. Everyone in the corridor was shocked when Hermione stepped in front of the group and watched them walk around her. One of the boys near the back wasn't paying attention and ran right into Hermione, who then dropped all of her books on the floor from the impact.
"Watch where your going you filthy piece of..." the boy looked up and saw to whom it was he was talking and quickly bent down and started picking up her books. A few other Slytherins followed and soon they were handing back all of her books to her.
"I am so sorry, I didn't realise it was you, please forgive my rudeness? It will never happen again. Are you alright, do you need any help?" The boy clearly looked nervous and so did the rest of his friends.
"I am fine and don't worry about it, it was an accident, just be more careful next time."
"Thank you so much, I will be very careful from now on." The boy stood there almost as if waiting to be dismissed.
"You had better hurry and get to your next class." With that the by ran off with his friends following close behind him.
Sirius came over to Hermione and put his arm around her.
"What was that all about? How did you do that? You are my hero you know? Will you marry me?" All of the questions came out in rapid succession and Hermione had to laugh.
"I am not going to tell you, it's my little secret. Haven't I always been your hero? And finally no, because I just don't love you like that."
"Oh, come on, Mi, that's a cruel way to break a guys heart."
Hermione rolled her eyes at Sirius and turned to Remus. "I really need to talk to you right now."
Remus nodded his head and they stepped to the other side of the corridor.
"Remus, I need to show you something and it is very important that you see all of it before jumping to conclusions. I wanted to tell you in person and before anyone else could. I really care about you and thought that you deserved to know. I will not hide anything from you."
Meanwhile in Remus' head, images were bouncing around of Hermione breaking up with him and hexing him into an inch of his life.
Hermione whispered something under her breath and the next thing he knew she was extracting a long silver thread from her temple and placing next to his. Suddenly he was watching a memory. It seemed like a few days, but in reality it had only been a couple of minutes. She had shown him everything that had happened so far, including her run in with the Slytherins and what had transpired last night with Voldemort. When the memories were done, he was looking at Hermione with a mixture of hurt and sadness. Hermione saw his face and hers immediately fell.
"Remus, you do know that I love you, but I need to do this if we are ever going to defeat him."
"I know you do and I love you too, but I can't believe you are making yourself do that stuff. Isn't there any other way? A way where you don't have to do that disgusting, vile stuff?"
"No; if there was, I would be doing it now. I thought you were mad and were going to tell me that you never wanted to see me again."
"Never; I've learned my lesson. After the last time I was so miserable that I wanted nothing more than to have you back in my arms. Once we got back together I swore that nothing would ever come between us again."
"Oh, Remus, I really do love you and now you just made me love you more."
The couple stood in the corridor holding one another as other students filed by for classes.
"Remus, why don't we skip our next couple of classes. I really need to forget about last night. Please help me forget?" She turned her big brown eyes towards him and there was no way he could say no. They snuck back to her room and proceeded to show each other just how much they needed each other.
That night at dinner James and Sirius were teasing Remus mercilessly about missing classes. It was something they did all the time, but this was a first for Remus. Nothing could bring down his good mood today, not after what he and Hermione had just spent the day doing.
"Tease me all you like, but I would miss a whole days classes again to be able to do that all day long."
"All day? We know you are part animal, but even you can't do That all day." Sirius looked smuggly at Remus, daring him to challenge his statement.
Hermione watched the guys and leaned over to Sirius and whispered seductively into his ear, "All day long. Athough there was that 45 minutes we stopped to eat something." She turned back to Lily and picked up her fork. Lily had her hand over her mouth to cover her smile.
James, who had heard looked at Remus and said in awe, "Oh wise Mooney, will you teach us your ways? We are not worthy to be in the presence of a master."
Remus shoved James down the bench and went back to eating.
On the way back to the common room, some of the 7th year Slytherin girls came up behind Hermione and one of the girls shoved her.
"Better watch where you're going, Mudblood! You may be able to fool the younger ones with your fake mark and ring, but we are all smart enough to know what the real ones look like. After all, we were raised with it all of our lives and there is no way he would ever choose a piece of filth like you." The girl looked at Hermione with her arms crossed in front of her chest. Just then Severus, Malfoy, Zabini and Nott came up to the group and after a brief bow to Hermione and a nod of acknowledgment from her they addressed the females of their group.
"Is there a problem her ladies? I do hope you are staying out of trouble."
"Nothing that we can't handle ourselves, Lucius," the ring leader replied.
"Good, I will leave you ladies to finish your discussion."
Just then, Hermione felt a burning sensation on her inner thigh. She quickly looked to the male Slytherins and they all started heading down the hall in a flurry of black capes. James, Sirius and Remus went to follow and Hermione held up her hand and told them to go back to the common room. The female Slytherins wanted to know why a Mudblood was going with them and demanded to be brought along, so they could prove their loyalty to their master. Lucius and Severus protested and told them to go back to the common room, but Hermione got an idea and persuaded them to let the girls come. What better way for them to learn, then first hand. The motley crew made their way to the apparation point just beyond the castle and disapparated with a pop.