After a couple of minutes, Ron was able to stand up and he was prepared to talk with Hermione. He had seen the kiss between her and Remus and it made him quite jealous. But he didn't want to argue about it with Hermione, he just had to win her trust. After that, he could think of a plan to get rid of their Defense teacher. It was nothing personal, but Ron just wanted Hermione for himself. And as long as Remus was still here, that was impossible.

'Why were you kissing me completely out of the blue while you knew that was dangerous? He could have killed you!' Hermione exclaimed while Ron sat down on a chair.

'Yes, yes, I know,' Ron said nonchalantly.

'I've warned you for this and you were just too stubborn to listen! You are unbelievable, Ronald!'

'Don't you like that about me?' Ron teased her.

'Stop flirting! I've had enough of this. If you are not going to accept that I am with Remus now, then maybe we shouldn't see each other anymore. Because clearly you can't just let me go,' Hermione said and she crossed her arms.

'No, you know that I don't want to break our friendship,' Ron said, and he rose up from his chair.

'Then you need to grow up.'

Suddenly the door burst open.

'Guys! What happened? Professor Lupin… Remus… He looked as though he was going to kill someone! Is everything alright?' Harry asked concerned.

'Yes, we are alright, I'm just trying to reason right now,' Hermione said, still with her arms crossed.

'Good, I was afraid that you… never mind,' Harry said.

'If you don't want to break our friendship, then I suggest that you try to act normally around me,' Hermione said.

'Alright! Just forget about it!' Ron exclaimed.

'If you two will excuse me, I'm going to see Remus,' Hermione said and she turned to the door.

'I'm not going to give up that easily,' Ron murmured so that Hermione and Harry couldn't hear him clearly.

'What did you say?' Hermione asked.

'Nothing! Just go!' Ron said and he said down on the chair again.

Hermione left the room, leaving Harry and Ron behind. She didn't want to do this to one of her best friends, but Ron just had to see that she didn't love him that way.

When Hermione reached the door to Remus' office, she hesitated for a moment. She wasn't sure if Remus was still angry. She decided to knock on the door, knowing that Remus would never hurt her. There was no answer coming from the office, so Hermione entered the room without an invitation.

'Remus?' Hermione asked, looking around.

'Hermione!' a voice came and Remus walked towards Hermione as soon as he saw her.

'I am so sorry, can you forgive me?' Hermione asked directly.

'Yes, of course I can,' Remus said animatedly.

Hermione wondered why Remus was being so neutral about it, but then she saw that Remus was hiding something behind his back.

'What are you hiding from me?' Hermione questioned.

'Oh, this?' Remus asked and he showed his hands. In his right hand was a piece of parchment.

'Why are you hiding a piece of parchment from me?'

'Hermione! Don't you dare to talk about it like that! This is not just parchment,' Remus said a little bit offended.

'Then what is it?' Hermione asked curiously.

'It is… a map,' Remus said. When he saw the confused look on Hermione's face, he sighed. 'Look, I'll show you.'

He tapped with his wand on the map and said: 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.'

Suddenly, the whole parchment was filled with ink and the ink formed some letters.

'Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs are proud to present the Marauders Map?' Hermione read and she saw that Remus looked very excited.

'Yes! I thought that I would never see this again in my life! Until I found it somewhere in Filch' office, when I was looking for some extra feathers. I guess he never found out how it worked. I found it in a box titled 'extremely dangerous', so I wondered what was in it of course.'

'Yes… but, what is it?' Hermione asked, still not knowing what all this was about.

'It is a map from Hogwarts. It shows every room, corridor, secret passageway, and, most importantly, it shows everyone who is in this castle,' Remus said.

'That is amazing! How did you know how to use it?' Hermione wondered.

'I was one of the makers. You see, Moony, that's me. Prongs, that was Harry's father. And about the other two, I wanted to tell you about that now. Remember how I've mentioned that you can't trust your own friends?' Remus asked.

'Yes, I do,' Hermione answered.

'Well, these guys, they were my friends. One of them was the reason why Harry's father is dead. One of James' own friends had betrayed him by telling Voldemort, yes, I use that name, where he could find Lily and James. For a long time, I thought that Sirius Black was the traitor. You know, the one that recently escaped form Azkaban. But when I saw this map, I saw something remarkable and you must promise me not to tell anyone about this, alright?' Remus asked, suddenly strictly.

'Yes, I promise, please go on!' Hermione said.

'I saw someone who is supposed to be dead. One of my other friends at Hogwarts. Peter Pettigrew. I just saw him on this map, and then I realized that he must be the traitor! He isn't killed by Sirius, so Peter must have been the one who betrayed James!' Remus said triumphantly.

'And why is that good?' Hermione asked.

'That is not exactly good, but that means that Sirius is innocent! The whole ministry is just looking for the wrong guy!' Remus said.

'But that means that that Peter is guilty, doesn't that bother you at all then?' Hermione asked.

'Don't you understand? This means that one of my friends is back! I've lost everyone in one night, and now Sirius is back. I've already lost Peter, and he being a traitor won't change anything. But it's great to know that Sirius is innocent,' Remus said.

'And you've figured all of this out in the past fifteen minutes?'

'Yes!'

'So you are not angry anymore?' Hermione asked hesitantly.

'Of course not! I am too happy to let anything bother my good mood. Wait, there is more,' Remus said.

'What?'

'About Sirius, he is Harry's godfather. I've never told Harry, no one has ever told him. Sirius was in Azkaban, so no one really felt the urge to bother Harry with it. Besides, I doubt if Harry would have liked to hear that his godfather was a serial killer,' Remus said.

'Are you going to tell him?' Hermione asked.

'Not yet, I want to find Sirius first,' Remus said determined.

'But no one has ever seen him! You have no idea where he is!' Hermione contradicted.

'That's where you are wrong. Remember that I have been his friend for a very long time. I know things that the ministry doesn't know.'

'And that is?'

'Sirius can change himself into a dog. My friends became Animagi to make my werewolf times bearable. Sirius could change himself into a dog, Peter into a rat and James into a stag.'

'So, this means that you are going to leave Hogwarts?' Hermione asked worried.

'Of course not, silly, I would never leave you. I am sure that Sirius would come to Hogwarts. Knowing Sirius, he would want to go look for Harry or me.'

'Good, I was afraid that you were going to leave me,' Hermione said clearly relieved.

'Never, I could never leave you,' Remus said and he softly captured Hermione's lips with his.

'I wanted to ask you something,' Hermione said against his lips.

'Not now,' Remus whispered and he kissed her once again, now more hungrily.

Hermione pulled back again.

'Yes, now,' she said determined, but Remus pulled her back again.

'Don't tease me like this, love, I want you,' he said and he made sure that Hermione couldn't get away again.

'After I've asked you what I wanted to ask you,' Hermione said.

Remus sighed, but he didn't let go of Hermione.

'Alright then,' he said.

'Apologize to Ron,' Hermione said simply.

'What?'

'Apologize! You were acting like a child back there! He doesn't deserve that. I've talked to him and he feels bad about it. And I am sure you do too. Remus, you are not like this, I've never seen you so out of control before! It scares me and I want you to talk with Ron. I want you to apologize.'

'Hermione, I am sorry that I've lost my temper, but you have to know that Ron…' Remus began.

'No! Don't blame Ron, you are to blame as well. Stop being so childish and make things right!'

'Come on…' Remus tried again and he wanted to kiss Hermione once more, but she backed off and crossed her arms.

'Not until you've said sorry to Ron,' she said stubbornly.

Remus knew that he wasn't going to win this discussion. And he felt sorry about it as well. He knew that it was wrong.

'Okay, I will talk to him,' Remus gave in.

'You will?' Hermione asked surprised.

'Don't look so astonished, I feel bad about it as well. You're right, this was nothing like me, I need to apologize,' Remus said.

'Oh, I knew you would, I love you!' Hermione said relieved and she wrapped her arms around his neck. But when Remus was about to kiss her, she let go of him.

'No, I told you, not until you've talked to Ron,' Hermione said smiling.

Remus sighed again.

'Why do you have to be such a moment killer?' Remus said irritated, but when he saw the look on Hermione's face, he added: 'Alright, I'll go!'

And with that, Remus left his office to go and look for Ron.

That was the ninth chapter! Let me know what you think! X