'And?' Lavender and Sophie asked Parvati and Hermione.
Parvati shook her head sadly.
'No, I went away, I was really ashamed of my pathetic fainting stunt,' she said.
'Well, it is not like we did a great job, we were having a fight right in front of him! That angry Remmy makes a sexy Remmy, though,' Sophie said.
'What about you, Hermione? You haven't done anything! Don't you want him?' Lavender asked a deeply blushing Hermione.
'I… I may have gone to him after class…' Hermione started, she was secretly dying to tell the others, but she was not sure if they would be so positive about it.
'And? Did you kiss him?' Parvati insisted.
Hermione nodded, not looking the other girls in the eyes. Her face went possibly more red.
'Only kisses? Your face tells me something else,' Lavender said. 'Did you two…'
'Don't be ridiculous, Lavender, of course she didn't,' Sophie said, giving Lavender a glare. 'Remus is a teacher, he wouldn't do that.'
Hermione made a weird sound and trembled all over her body suddenly.
'Seriously, Hermione, did you?' Sophie said.
Hermione nodded, that was the only thing she could do at the moment.
'Oh my God! No! How dare you!' Parvati shouted.
'Excuse me?' Hermione asked, looking up at Parvati.
'The rules were; only kissing! You can't do this to us! Why are you so selfish?' Parvati shouted.
'You… I… I beg your pardon? This is none of your business! Remus just clearly didn't want you, because he already liked me!' Hermione said frustrated. She was normally never this snappy towards someone, but the girls really upset her.
'What?! You bitch! You forced yourself on him, didn't you? You used a charm, or a love potion, or something else!' Parvati said.
Hermione looked at the other two girls, but they were not going to help her either. They were just as jealous as Parvati.
'Of course I didn't! Remus is a grown-up man who can make his own decisions, I don't need cheater stuff to make him love me!' Hermione yelled angrily.
'Of course you did!' Parvati cried and she lunged for Hermione. Hermione found herself on the ground in the next second with Parvati on top of her. Then she felt something warm on her face, her nose was bleeding. Another punch on her jaw, her eye, her cheek.
'Stop it, Parvati! Stop!' Lavender yelled and she grabbed Parvati to pull her off Hermione.
'She deserved this! Steeling our man from us!' Parvati shouted.
Hermione decided to ignore this and she went to her bed. Those bruises on her face would really show tomorrow.
The next morning, Hermione walked out of the dormitory and the common room all on her own, not wanting to be seen by anyone. Especially not by Harry or Ron, they would ask her only questions, and that was the last thing she wanted. On the stairs, she changed her mind. There were also a lot of people in the great hall for breakfast, they could also see her bruises. So Hermione turned and walked into a random corridor where she bumped into someone. Remus Lupin.
'Hermione? What are you doing here?' he asked softly.
'I am… lost, professor,' Hermione said, not looking him in the eyes.
'Please, call me Remus. Listen, Hermione, I am… sorry. I shouldn't have…' Remus started, but Hermione cut him off.
'No! Don't say you are sorry! I wanted it as well!' Hermione said.
'I wasn't myself… I didn't want you to find out that way about my other side. But don't get me wrong, I don't regret what happened between us yesterday.'
'Me neither, Remus. But… what is going to happen next?' Hermione asked, still looking at the ground because of her bruises.
'Well, my wolf has considered you as his mate. That means that you and I are now only for each other. You can't flirt with another guy in my presence, because I can't guarantee that that guy is getting away with it alive. Of course I understand when you want to be with someone else, but you can't be in front of me. You understand?' Remus asked carefully. He felt guilty for doing this to Hermione, but she really had to be careful.
'I don't want to be with someone else! I love you!' Hermione said convincing.
'Say that to me while looking me in the eyes,' Remus said.
Hermione did, and on that point, Remus saw her bruises.
'Hermione! What happened! Oh my… I didn't do this to you, did I?' Remus asked almost panicked.
'No, no, you were treating me well, it's just… I had a fight with someone,' she said.
'Who? Who was it?' Remus asked and his eyes hardened. His protective side was already taking over and he would do anything to punish the one who had caused the injuries on his mate's face.
'Please, you are not going to hurt her, are you?' Hermione asked not so certain.
'Oh, is it a she? I am not exactly going to hurt her, but I do want to make it clear to her that she can't just punch you whenever she feels like it. Everyone who dares to touch you has to answer to me.'
'Alright, it was Parvati,' Hermione said, feeling that it would be a great pay back for her. Parvati was not going to like a scolding from her favorite teacher.
'I'll make sure she doesn't try this again. Shall we go for breakfast together?' Remus asked.
Hermione smiled. 'I want a kiss first.'
Remus leaned in and gave her a soft kiss. Then Hermione grabbed his hand and they didn't go downstairs for breakfast, they went to a deserted classroom instead.
On Friday, the students were having Defense Against the Dark Arts. Hermione was a little bit nervous because of the fact that Remus had promised her to deal with Parvati. She just hoped that he didn't do that right in front of the whole class, because that would mean that everyone saw that Remus was being protective of Hermione.
'Miss Patil, please stay after class,' the professor said and Parvati nodded. She smiled very confidentially and Hermione didn't like her face at all. Like she thought she could have Remus.
When Lupin dismissed the class, Parvati approached Hermione.
'You see? He isn't only interested in you,' she sneered.
Hermione ignored her and walked out of the classroom, after Remus had given her a warm smile which made her heart melt.
Parvati walked towards the desk where Lupin was sitting and she checked quickly if her clothes and hair were neat enough.
'Don't even bother, Miss Patil,' Remus said sharply.
'Why… what did I do wrong, sir?' Parvati asked innocently.
'I wanted to let you know that beating up your classmates will not be tolerated,' Lupin said sternly.
'But, professor, I didn't beat up anyone,' Parvati said.
'I'm warning you, Miss Patil, don't mess me around. If you ever touch Miss Granger again, then I will make sure that you are in so much problems that you wished you had never punched her,' Lupin said, standing up from his chair.
'But I…' Parvati began, but the professor held up his hand to silence her.
'I don't want to hear it! Just leave now, and know that I am keeping an eye on you. One wrong move towards Miss Granger and you will regret it,' Lupin said and he turned around. That was a clue for Parvati to leave.
'Professor?' Parvati asked hesitantly.
'Yes?' Lupin said curtly.
'What is it exactly between you and Hermione?' Parvati asked.
'That is not something I am going to tell you. I strongly recommend to keep your nose in your own business,' Lupin said and he walked to his office.
Parvati left the classroom and thought about how her teacher had responded. There was definitely something going on between that man and Hermione, so Hermione was not really lying about what had happened that afternoon in the Defense classroom. Parvati decided to apologize to Hermione for her behavior. Maybe she should let professor Lupin go, he was clearly only interested in Hermione.