Fool Moon Part Deux

After wearily trudging up the stairs to her chambers, Hermione had fallen onto the bed in exhaustion and promptly fallen into a deep sleep. Not hearing a peep from her for almost seven straight hours, Remus became concerned. More than once, he found himself at her door, poised to knock. More than once, he found himself hesitating, convincing himself that she would not welcome his involvement. Finally, after the clock had made a full rotation, he became so worried that he finally knocked on her door. Not receiving an answer, he knocked again. Again, there was no answer, so he carefully and silently opened her door.

There, laying on top of her covers, still fully clothed, shoes and all, and drooling slightly on her pillow, was the amazingly intelligent girl who had freed him of the necessity of begging Severus Snape for his monthly wolfsbane potion. Seeing her shiver slightly in her sleep, he looked around for a blanket to cover her. Finding one on the over stuffed armchair where she liked to read, he grabbed it and hesitating momentarily, he took in her rumpled appearance.

Suddenly, a thought came unbidden to his mind that Hermione was quite possibly the most intelligent and beautiful witch he had ever known. His heart beating a little faster, he looked at her as if it was the first time. He took notice of her auburn hair, now tamed each morning into tight ringlets or shining waves, the smooth skin of her face and the pert upturning of her nose. 'She's beautiful!' He saw her dark lashes making half moons on her pale cheeks and pictured in his minds' eye her sparkling cinnamon colored eyes.

Letting his eyes roam, he found himself noticing her womanly attributes. 'Not a little girl anymore, Moony, old boy.' Her breasts were not the small fashionable handfuls that all the girls seemed to have these days, but rather, the full, generous bosom of a mature woman. Her waist narrowed just before flaring into beautifully curved hips and her legs seemed to go on forever. He knew she was about a half foot shorter than his six feet, but knowing that didn't make her legs seem shorter.

His face flamed as he caught himself fantasizing about those legs. 'Moony! She's a student!' But the little devil on his shoulder chose that time to argue, 'Correction, former student'. 'Yes, a lovely, attractive, smart former student, but a student nonetheless'. To further add to his inner turmoil, he became aware of his body's reaction to what he had just seen. His trousers were becoming uncomfortably tight. To stop his train of thought and to hopefully get his libido under some kind of control, he quickly covered her with the blanket he had gotten from the chair.

Silently berating himself for taking unfair advantage of the sleeping Hermione, Remus mentally kicked himself all the way out her door. He couldn't stop himself from looking back once more at her sleeping form. She looked so peaceful knowing she was safe and that Remus would do everything in his power to keep her that way.

'Perhaps a little fantasizing wouldn't hurt. After all, she'll never know.'

She was running through the woods, the smell of damp leaves all around her and the feel of the moist, packed earth under her feet. Her keen nose picked up the smell of her friend, her mate. Her eyes, more sensitive in this form than in her natural one, saw the tracks of a small animal and the thought crossed her mind to investigate, but she decided not to and instead began searching for the other like her.

The moonlight shone in a dappled pattern through the leaves of the trees and she saw the shadow of her mate flit silently ahead of her. She increased her speed until she was a pale blur moving faster than she ever had before and more silently than she would have thought possible. Suddenly she burst into a clearing with a still pool in the middle. There, standing motionless as if he were made of stone, was the one she sought.

Moving gracefully, she went to him and stood by his side. They stared into each others eyes. After several moments, the other turned to look into the pool and his attention to it drew her gaze to the still water. Seeing her reflection in the glass-like surface, she saw what the other was trying to show her. Her reflection stared back at her and the final puzzle piece fit into place. She turned back to her companion and nodded her understanding. He bowed as if to acknowledge her and then simply vanished.

Hermione woke with a start. Sunlight streamed in the bedroom window and fell in strips across her bed. Groggily, she sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. Looking down at her rumpled clothes, she felt a moment of chagrin that she had fallen asleep in the clothes she had worn the day before... and the day before that.

'Huh... I must have been really tired" she thought to herself. 'I am so glad I don't have to make that potion every month! Not that I wouldn't if Remus needed -'

Her thoughts came to a grinding halt when she realized what she had just said (if only to herself). 'Hermione Jane Granger! What is the matter with you? He's your teacher!"

Somewhere in the back of her mind, as though she had a little devil on her shoulder, Hermione thought, 'But he isn't really your professor. He hasn't been for a long time.'

Confusion, and embarrassment warred with desire. She knew he'd never look at her that way. He was much too proper. She should be much too proper to look at him that way, but once she had, it was all she could do to keep him out of her mind.

She went through her morning routine quickly and somewhere between showering and brushing her teeth, she came to a decision.

'Perhaps a little fantasizing wouldn't hurt. After all, he'll never know.'

Hermione calmly walked down the stairs, determined to at least keep her budding feelings for her former professor to herself. She looked in the kitchen and not finding Remus, looked in the dining room. There she found Maurice polishing the silver.

"Maurice, have you seen Professor Lupin?"

"I believe Master Lupin is in the Library, Mademoiselle. I don't think he slept a wink last night. He was very worried about you."

The shock Hermione was feeling showed on her face. "Why, Maurice? Why was he worried about me?"

Maurice paused in his polishing and looked at her directly for the first time. "He was worried about you because you slept for so long. He said that you had been working on a potion for him and if he had known how exhausting it would be for you, he would not have let you do it."

Filled now with shock for an entirely different reason, she asked, "Er... Maurice? How long was I out? I only went upstairs a few hours ago."

"Non, Mademoiselle, slept the clock around twice." Maurice looked at her expression and correctly interpreted it as disbelief. "You must have been very tired."

"Yes, I suppose I was" she answered distractedly. "I hope you'll excuse me. I need to see Remus."

Maurice nodded, though she didn't notice. 'A whole day? I slept for a whole day? No wonder Remus was worried about me!"

If she had been paying attention to the aging Butler, Hermione would have seen the knowing look in his eyes. Maurice had noticed that the young mademoiselle had called his Master 'Professor Lupin' until she became distracted. Then he became 'Remus'. 'I do hope Master Lupin recognizes this for what it is. It would be so nice for him to have a companion.' Thinking about the future, Maurice went back to polishing the silver with a smile on his face.

"Remus!" Hermione hurried through the halls of the huge old house towards the beckoning light of the Library. "Remus!"

Before she got to the doorway of the Library, Remus appeared framed in the entrance. He smiled when he saw her awake after such a long time. The worry lines etched into his forehead disappeared and were replaced by fine laugh lines around his eyes.

'My, but he's handsome when he smiles.' The thought entered her mind and this time she didn't push it away.

"Well, well. Sleeping beauty awakes!" Remus grinned laughingly and couldn't resist teasing her a bit, though his words were closer to his feelings than he would generally like.

Through her blush, she smiled back at him and decided to tease right back. "Well, if the 'big bad wolf' had come and woken me up, I wouldn't have slept so long!"

Remus gave her a particularly wolfish grin and mock growled at her playfully. Still smiling, he asked, "So, what shall we do today?"

Excitedly, she related her dream to him saying, "I know what my animagus form is! If we could work on that, I think I could finish it today!"

Impressed that she had discovered her animagus form so soon in her dream, when it took many wizards twice as long to discover theirs and then only with long hours of meditation, he quickly agreed. He conjured a three dimensional hologram of a wolf. "Now just concentrate. Picture it in your mind and when you think you have it right, let your body flow into it."

Minutes later, a wolf with fur the color of Hermione's hair with cinnamon eyes looked up at him and, after taking a turn around the room, came back and sat near his feet! Remus looked the wolf over and noted the softness of her fur, the length of her muzzle, and the pads of her paws.

As he was examining her right front paw, she suddenly lost the form and Remus was left holding the hand of the young woman he now fantasized about.

"I did it!" Hermione was breathless with more than just exhilaration. Her hand was still in Remus's and she felt the dry warmth of his palm. His face split into a grin and his eyes showed her how proud he was of her accomplishment. Their eyes met and they both felt pulled toward each other.

Tearing his eyes away from hers, he said the only thing he could think of. "That was amazing! If you keep that up and practice every day, maybe you'll be able to keep me company on full moon nights!"

Hermione suddenly had a vivid image of them running together through the woods, playing in the moonlight and possibly more. She blushed and lowered her eyes saying, "I'd like that. I'd like that very much."

Author's Note

Again, sorry about the infrequent updates. Now you all know what her animagus form is! YAY!!! A 'red' wolf!

For those of you who didn't get the answer to the challenge... it was Sleeping Beauty! "Remus Lupin lives at the cottage in the glen."

Okay, I'm running away from the spiders now! TA