Remus Lupin was dead. He must be. He was laying down on something and he felt no pain. He tried to remember what had happened. Flashes went through his mind of Hermione's tearstained face, lying on the floor with dementors swirling around, the pain after the transformation, and then a…cage… He wasn't sure what had happened after that, but he knew he must have been killed by someone or by lack of proper care. He didn't really care at this point.

He didn't want to open his eyes. He was comfortable lying here, wherever here was. A cool touch slid over his forehead. It must be an angel. Another reason he must be dead. Dementors don't have skin, and no one would want to touch him like that gently. Except Hermione.

Not anymore, you know what leaving like that must have done to her.

I needed to do that! It was stupidly noble, yes, but it needed to be done!

No it didn't. She didn't care. Neither do Sirius, or Harry, or Ginny, or-

-I get the point. She was right. I was wrong. I can't apologize now can I?

You really messed up this time didn't you? You find the one person, the one woman, who accepts you and all your flaws, and who gives up apart of her life to save you, and you push her away. She was an angel caring for a monster and now she probably curses your name.

That doesn't matter. I'm dead. Aren't I ? Dead and crazy. I'm arguing with myself! But yes, she was an angel.

"Remus? Are you awake?"

He reluctantly opened his eyes to find Hermione peering over him worriedly. "Oh thank goodness! You were muttering to yourself."

"I…yeah, I thought I had died. Are you sure I'm not? Is this some sort of dream?" Surely, surely, Hermione was not actually still willing to help him after what he had done to her….

"It's not a dream. You must be starved, I wanted to get you out earlier, but Dumbledore wanted to make sure it didn't look to suspicious. Two weeks in Azkaban and you look near death."

She left to the kitchen and Remus waited until he left and pushed himself out of bed and to the bathroom. Moving was not the best idea, a wave of pain hit him, but he ignored it. Looking in the mirror, he saw that Hermione had been right; he looked terrible. He was always skinny to begin with, but now he looked much more pale and gaunt. He had a few new scars running across his face, and he assumed the same would go for the rest of his body.

"Remus, you shouldn't be out of bed."

Hermione had lain a tray of food on the small nightstand next to the bed. Lupin was ravenous. He was still slightly shocked that he was not dead and that Hermione hadn't abandoned him totally.

He slowly walked over to the bed, but instead of lying back upon it, he walked over to Hermione and embraced her tightly and then sat on the edge of the bed. He was hunched over, his hands covering his face.

"Hermione, I don't know how you managed to get me out of there, but I am eternally grateful. I just- I was so stupid! You were right. I was playing the angst card and I didn't realize that you and the Order really don't care what I am. I guess I'm just not used to many people caring…I should never had signed that paper! It must have cost you so much trouble to save me from my own stupid mistake! You could have left me and gone with your life but you came back for me. You've given me more second chances than I deserve. I-you really are an angel, Hermione."

He was embarrassed to discover that he was crying silently. Hermione sat on the bed next to him and put one arm around his shoulder and held him tightly to her. She reached over to the tray and wordlessly handed him a warm mug. He took a sip and the rich, warm taste of chocolate flowed down his throat.

Hermione made to leave and leave him in peace as he ate. Lupin found that he did not want her to leave.

"Hermione, how did you get me out of there?"

She started to explain as he ravenously started on the food she had provided.

"It was rather simple. I just had to change my experience and I pretended to be someone who did experiments on werewolves. I faked all the data and documents, obviously, and to ensure Umbridge didn't think I was honestly helping, I- I listed that all the ones I experimented on had died. It was so hard to sit there with a straight face and lie about the awful tests I wanted to run on you…but she bought it and didn't even look when I signed down my real name instead of the assumed one. It was even harder when I had to stuff you in that cage and carry you here."

He stopped eating and looked up at her. "You planned all this? Yourself?'

She smiled slightly. "Yes. Dumbledore offered alternatives but, I-well- I actually did it because it didn't require your consent. I guess it was rather immature to do. I mean, it is your life and it really isn't up to me: if you wanted to go to Azkaban then that's your decision. I just felt that-"

Remus reached out and grabbed her hand. "Hermione, I am truly thankful that you saved me from my own stupidity. All I could think about once the dementors had started to affect me was how much I regretted not listening to you."

She blushed and then jumped up suddenly. "I forgot to owl Sirius and Dumbledore to tell them that you're alright! They'll be so worried! At this rate I can just floo over to Sirius'. Ginny and Harry should be back from their honeymoon as well and I want to find out how they liked France."

He stood up. "Do you want me to go with you?"

She hesitated. "Well, I would like your company, but I'm sure that you're still tired, and I'd rather not test the amount of energy Azkaban's left you with."

Lupin didn't argue with this and watched her disappear in a whirl of green flames in the fireplace.

A/N- Sorry that it's so short. I've been busy studying for midterms. The next chapter will be longer; Lupin's going to take Hermione out to dinner and she's going to get attacked.