A/N: Gosh, there's just been so much going on lately. I haven't had any time to write. I promise though, I'll never go this long without posting again…I hope.
Oh, and apparently I should have been doing this from the beginning- I don't own it insert witty comment here blah blah and it's not mine. The end.
The three friends turned immediately to the sound.
"So I'm assuming you've heard then," said Remus Lupin, making his way into Hermione's small bedroom. Harry, Ron, and Hermione all nodded.
"It's true then?" Harry asked, looking at his old professor proudly. "You killed Greyback?"
Remus seemed to struggle for a moment, and Hermione watched as his guilty features became resolute.
"Yes," he answered, but he offered no more explanation.
"It's alright with us mate," Ron continued, oblivious to Remus' hesitation. "But why'd you do it?"
Unconsciously, Remus took a seat on the edge of Hermione's small bed. "It was an accident," he started. "And one I, no doubt, will pay dearly for." He watched as Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged glances and then settled themselves in for the story. "My transformations have been more violent lately," Remus said, closing his eyes. "Albus believes it's because I haven't been taking wolfsbane for the past few months, but I think it's something else. Whatever the cause, it was difficult for me to control myself when I transformed, particularly when I was around Fenrir. Even as a wolf, something about him just didn't sit well with me. All last week he'd been talking about- well he'd been being himself, and though I'd wanted to as a man, it was the wolf who finally acted on my disgust. On the night of the full moon we all transformed together, as we usually did, and while I should have been watching the other wolves - preventing them from hurting anyone, I lost control and attacked Fenrir instead."
Harry and Ron were both looking at Remus with a sort of morose respect; only Hermione looked angry.
"In all honesty, I don't remember much of the night. But I'm told there are four men dead because of me, and one mission ruined." It was only then that Remus looked up from his reverie. He wasn't surprised by Ron or Harry's expression, but Hermione's – while he knew he deserved her disapproval, it didn't make her accusatory glance any more comfortable.
"What was he talking about Remus?" Hermione asked, her lips tight and arms crossed. "What could he have possibly said to make you act so irresponsibly?"
Ron and Harry turned to their friend, their mouths open in shock. "Hermione!" Harry gasped, surprised that such a responsible student would be so disrespectful to a teacher.
Ron was equally surprised. "Christ Hermione," he said.
Hermione, however, was unfazed. "What were they talking about Remus?"
Lupin put his head in his hands. "It was disgusting, the things they were saying: Like you were the animals instead of all of us. Fenrir's barely a half-blood at best…"
"Half-blood? Were they talking about muggle-borns?" Ron asked, expecting to see Hermione's expression soften. But, surprising enough and in a most-Hermione-ish-way, her face turned bright red and her hair seemed to expand.
"You sacrificed a whole mission because of some name calling?" She hissed at Remus. Hermione was now standing and pacing the floor in front of her. "How many mud-bloods do you think they'll kill now that you're not there to stop them?"
"Hermione!" Harry and Ron both called. "Don't say that!"
Hermione ignored them and both boys looked to Remus, expecting him to defend himself. Instead Remus sat, his head still in his hands, looking utterly defeated.
"Remus," Ron started, not looking at Hermione. "She doesn't mean it. You're a hero, mate." Hermione only scoffed.
"A hero? Hah." And with that she flung her room door open and marched down the hallway.
"What the hell?" Harry asked, looking from the open doorway to his ex-professor on the bed. "What does she mean irresponsibly? Really Remus, you just saved more lives than we even know."
Remus didn't respond immediately. Finally he nodded, thanked the two boys, and asked them if they would leave him alone for awhile. "I'm very tired," he said.
Harry and Ron quickly obliged, giving Remus a respectful nod, and leaving him laying, face up, on Hermione Granger's bed.
"We'll have to move him before she comes back," Harry said as the two friends stepped into the hallway.
"Yeah. No telling how she'll react if she finds him still in her room tonight."
…………………………………………………………
Hermione stormed around the 5th, 4th, and 3rd floors, opened and shut at least a hundred books, and apparated in and out of her shared bathroom at least 30 times before finally forcing herself to open the door.
Remus Lupin's room was empty.
Not empty as if he'd left, just empty of him. Hermione stuck her neck out the door frame, not daring to step much farther, and determined that Remus Lupin was, most definitely not in.
After closing the bathroom door, she stared at herself in the mirror. Of course she'd reacted too harshly, of course she hadn't thought about what she was saying, and of course Remus deserved her apologies- if only she could find him. But as soon as the thought entered her mind, a snore and faint whimper sounded from behind her closed bedroom door.
Remus was in her room.
Rems Lupin, the very man she'd been searching for, was no more than 10 feet away from her- easily within apologizing distance- and instead of feeling the expected relief, Hermione became suddenly and inexplicably angry. Within in seconds she'd hurled the bathroom door open, cast silencing spells on both sets of doors, and started screaming at the top of her lungs. Remus, who had before been sleeping soundly, was suddenly awake and on alert.
"Hermione," He called, trying desperately to be heard over her incoherent yelling. "Calm down, you'll wake the whole house up!"
"Oh no Professor," She sneered keeping her volume high and her voice shrill. "None of them can hear me, none of them are going to come running in to knight you and condemn me. How dare you! How dare you sleep in MY room on MY bed after what you did!"
Remus was trying desperately to remain patient – to remember that Hermione was young, even if this was the first time he'd ever seen her show it. "Hermione," he offered, his voice soft in contrast to her screaming. "I understand why you're upset, really I do, but it was something I had no control over and I-". But Hermione was yelling again.
"You understand why I'm upset?" She yelled. "You understand? Who's controlling them now Remus? Who's watching the werewolves? Who's making sure they don't do anything worse than name call? No one!"
Remus could only briefly register that she'd called him by his first name, before his patience started to wane. "Hermione," he whispered through clamped teeth. "Please do not think I underestimate the consequences of my actions-"
Hermione sneered. "Your actions? How about your loss of control? Any human-" but as soon as she said the words she regretted them, and Remus had already propelled himself off the bed. Hermione quickly found herself pinned between Remus and the wall behind her: her left wrist held above her head by Remus' strong hand, and her waist firmly secured.
"Any human, Miss Granger?" He hissed at her, his face only a few inches from her own. "Is that to say that I am less than one? You're a 17 year old girl with no idea how the world works and I certainly don't answer to you. You'd do well to remember that I am an animal," and here he paused, his eyes locked on Hermione's. "Because if anyone could make me lose control- it's you." And then, without thinking, without questioning, without regretting, Remus lowered his head and met Hermione's indignant mouth with his own.
The kiss was soft and, at first, one sided. Hermione was so shocked by the unfamiliar contact that her first response had been to pull away, but Remus' body, which was pushed flush against her own, was so warm and his mouth so inviting, that within seconds she was responding. Her eyes closed, her body pushed away from the wall to be closer to his, and the nails of her free hand raked down his chest. Remus relished in the sensations and it wasn't until he felt, rather than heard, Hermione groan into his mouth that he realized the reality of the situation. Immediately he pulled away, leaving Hermione alone, significantly less warm, and wanting.
He couldn't look at her. "I…I'm…I'm so sorry Hermione," he managed, before turning on the spot and aparating from the room.