Disclaimer: Harry Potter and his universe all belong to the delightful JK Rowling.

A/N: I'd like to introduce everyone to my wonderful beta-reader fredrikas,who kindly volunteered and will be making sure my chapters are perfect for you! Thank you fredrikas!

And just so you know the amazing work she did, and very quickly might I add: she corrected 6 typos, 3 grammatical errors and as much turn of phrases, and even shared her ideas with me! Amazing!

*Round of applause and Weasley-Fireworks*

Chapter 2: The Training

"Why do we have to start so early?" moaned Hermione, who still sported sleep-tousled hair and bleary eyes. She had dressed in comfortable muggle clothes and taken a light breakfast before joining her Professor, but the coffee had not been enough to wake her up fully. The rising sun was barely visible through the curtains of the vast library of number 12 Grimmauld Place, whose other occupants were still sleeping soundly. Remus Lupin looked a bit bashful as he replied.

"I'm sorry, Hermione. I will have to retire early in the day, so I thought we'd better get an early start."

The young witch frowned for a second. She had thought Dumbledore had relieved the Professor of his duties with the werewolves to concentrate on the training of his new weapon, namely her, so what...

"Ooh!" she exclaimed suddenly, flushing in embarrassment as she realized tonight was a full moon. "Will you be all right? Maybe we should start the training after..."

"I'll be fine." he chuckled. "I may not be able to handle a full class of inattentive students at this time of the month but I think one avid learner like you should be no problem."

Hermione flashed him a smile at the compliment. Or what passed as a compliment for her.

"Where shall I begin then, Professor?"

"You may start by dropping the formality, you make me feel like an ancient long-bearded scholar. Call me Remus, like Harry and Ron do."

"Yes, Pro... Remus." She knew it would take some practice since she had always been very respectful of her teachers and had been calling him 'Professor' since her third year, but at least it seemed to amuse the wizard greatly.

"Right." he smiled. "Now, I want you to start by simply casting your Patronus as you usually would. An otter, I think."

Hermione nodded as she gripped her wand from the back pocket of her jeans. A swish, flick and incantation later and her otter was merrily sauntering about them. Hermione was pleased it had not vanished in favour of her other Patronus form: she liked the cheerful little rodent and it was useful to pass on messages to the Order in case of emergencies. Glancing at her Professor, she saw that he had a look of approval, probably thinking the same.

"Good." he concluded. "Can you tell me how summoning your otter is different from what you did last time?"

"Well, the obvious is that there are no dementors here. No emergency either. No lives threatened." The cosy Library, overflowing with beloved books, that had often been a sanctuary of hers, couldn't feel any safer in her eyes. The wizard nodded.

"Those are all the exterior factors, but, in theory, they should only make the casting of the spell more difficult, not explain it's realization. What about how you summoned it, how you felt at the time and the memories you used?"

"Haven't you seen the memory Professor Snape got from me?"

"Yes, I did. But it was an indirect memory, so your feelings were toned down. I think that's where the solution may be."

Hermione bit her bottom lip, thinking over that night: she had been scared and desperate at first. The first tries at summoning her Patronus had failed so she had reached out for more happy memories... Oh... Not exactly memories... Rather recollecting everything that she loved in this world. Love of life itself, and a desire to protect it all. A love that was more selfless.

"Hermione? Hermione?" called a voice.

The young woman snapped out of her thoughts as a worried wizard came into focus.

"Are you feeling all right? Maybe you still need more rest."

Hermione dismissed his concern.

"Madam Pomfrey said I was fine. I was just thinking... I think you're right." And she endeavoured to tell him how she had unthinkingly replaced happy memories with, for want of a better word, love.

"Love?" he said sceptically. "Ron?"

"What? No!" she exclaimed, horrified. "He's like a brother to me! Eew!" she added as a vivid image of Ron kissing and groping her flashed through her mind. "I didn't mean romantic love! More like... an all-encompassing love, a love of everything that grows, that breathes, that lives... I don't know, it's complicated." she finished, defeated by the lack of existing words to describe what she had felt that night.

"Then, I want you to try and recall that feeling, and summon your Patronus once more."

Hermione took a deep breath, soaked her heart into that particular love, and did the necessary wand work, intoning:

"Expecto Patronum!"

Even her otter didn't come forth, there was only a faint white mist oozing from the tip of her wand, she felt like an utter failure. Hermione didn't take well to not succeeding in something on her first try, that's what she was usually good at. And that's why she hadn't been so keen when Dumbledore had forced her into mastering her Patronus form.

"Again." the scarred wizard told her, a thoughtful look on his face.

"But..." Surely, there was no point, the results would be the same.

"Again, Hermione." he ordered.

They did this a few more times, taking a few breaks during which her Professor made her eat chocolate as they sat side by side on the only sofa, and always yielding the same result. The curly-haired witch was getting frustrated with the man.

"I just don't see the point, I could be doing this all day and it won't change the fact that it doesn't work, Professor!"

"Remus." he corrected automatically. "Have you not seen a difference? I asked you to repeat this spell for a reason. The mist your wand emits is not ordinary. Here, I'll try showing you."

He proceeded to summon a weaker version of his Patronus, which was no easy feat when it was so much easier for him to summon his corporeal Patronus, by sheer force of habit. Hermione stared at the white mist that flowed out like a shiny fog from his wand, and understood what he had meant: in her case, the mist looked a lot more solid and didn't whirl out like a light fluffy cloud, but oozed sluggishly from the tip, with a watery quality, not going very far out.

"What does it mean?" she asked, puzzled.

"It's only a guess, but, as the brightest which of your age, I think you've accidentally invented a new spell and it just needs a few adjustments."

"What? But that's not possible! I don't even know how spells are created in the first place!" It was true: despite her thirst of knowledge, she had never found the time to study that fascinating and complex subject, there was always something more urgent at the time to research.

"I agree with the girl." interrupted a sweet voice from the doorway Hermione had left half-open earlier that morning.

"Nymphadora." Remus Lupin greeted her with a tight smile.

"Hello, Tonks!" said Hermione a bit more cheerfully, although she resented a bit she had just been dismissed as a mere girl by the auror. She was as much an Order Member as the pink-haired witch now that she wasn't a student any more, and hadn't been for over a year. Tonks should treat her as an equal in the Headquarters at least, especially as she was only a few years her elder.

"I wanted to see if you wanted to come to lunch Remus? It's already quite late." the eccentric witch told the werewolf, completely ignoring Hermione now.

"I hadn't seen the time pass." he replied after casting a quick Tempus. "Hermione will you be joining us?" he asked good-naturedly.

The younger witch was about to accept, she was famished after all that magic expenditure, when she spotted Tonks' frown of disapproval.

"Hum... I'll just meet with Harry and Ron if they haven't eaten yet, Professor." she replied instead, not quite understanding the Auror's animosity directed at her today.
"Call me Remus." he reminded her once more, and Hermione swore she heard Tonks choking on a snort of disbelief.

They made plans to continue the training after lunch now that they had some idea of where to go, and Hermione went to look for the boys in their room, although she very much doubted Ron had not dragged Harry to the kitchen and eaten his fill as soon as his nostrils had sensed the first wafts of tasty food drifting from downstairs. She found them in the middle of a game of wizard's chess. Harry didn't get inevitably flattened like he used to, but Ron still won most of their games.

"Hermione!" exclaimed Harry. "Please tell me you've come to save me from another defeat. My chess pieces keep calling me names." he pouted but his green eyes sparkled with amusement.

"It depends. Have you guys eaten yet? I was just heading to lunch."

"Oh. We thought you would eat with Remus. Sorry." answered Ron.

"Tonks came to drag him off to the kitchen." She hesitated bothering them with her concerns about the witch's attitude, but they did spend more time with the pink-haired Auror as they all worked -or trained in the boys' case- at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. "She was a bit short tempered... Is something wrong with her?"

The boys looked at each other, smirking.

"We think Tonks has a crush on Remus." said Harry, having difficulties containing a laugh.

"A major crush!" added Ron, guffawing.

"Oh!" Wait, was Tonks jealous of the time she had spent with Remus? Jealous? Of her? Hermione? That was a laughable reason in itself but the boys didn't know about it so something else was obviously causing their mirth.

"Why is it so funny?" she wondered, bemused at the boys' reddened faces.

"She's our instructor in concealment." explained Harry "We have to detect her using complicated spells and all, but when we still can't locate her... we murmur Remus' name, and she's bound to trip on something in the next seconds and betray her position."

"That's cheating!" she told them self-righteously, but grinning all the same. How that clumsy woman became an Auror was anyone's guess. "All right. Well, see you later, then." At least she now knew why Tonks had been so cold towards her, even if it wasn't justified. She had no 'crush' on Professor Lupin herself -not since her third year when he had been her teacher at least. Although, she had to admit he was really good-looking in a rugged sort of way, with all his scars and messy hair. And you could just tell through his clothes that he was well built, with just enough muscles... Hermione halted in the middle of the first landing, blushing furiously. Had she been checking out her teacher? That was certainly inappropriate, she berated herself. But, he wasn't really her Professor any more, she told herself snidely. He even wanted her to call him Remus. So they were more like friends in that case. Did that make it okay to check him out? Maybe not. She shook her head vigorously to rid herself of the image, her curls flying wildly around her, and opened the kitchen door.

Tonks was laughing at something Remus had said. She was sitting very close to him, which she personally would have found annoying, but Prof...no, Remus... was probably too much of a gentleman to tell her off. Tonks, feeling she was being watched, turned around and grimaced slightly at seeing her. This is ridiculous, Hermione thought. Normally she would have sat at the opposite end of the table when someone showed her such animosity, but Tonks was being childish. So, she gathered her famous Gryffindor courage and sat on the werewolf's other side just to piss her off, but not so close as to smother him like the Auror did.

The wizard offered Hermione a small smile and passed her the roast potatoes and corn. And they all ate in tense silence. Mister Diggle and Auror Shacklebolt were talking animatedly on the other side of the table, completely oblivious of the drama playing before them, until Severus Snape entered and loomed above them, commanding silence without a word.

"Hello, Severus. Care to join us? There's plenty left." Remus told the intimidating man as if he wasn't glaring at everybody present. But he only looked at the food with distaste.

"Hello, Kamikaze" Hermione grinned widely. It had taken her the better part of the day to come up with that one, and she was quite proud of it.

Professor Snape seemed to freeze momentarily, before giving a quick nod of his head to acknowledge her. Coming from Severus Snape, it was the equivalent of a standing ovation. As no one else seemed inclined to greet him, he announced his business for coming to headquarters in the first place.

"Lupin, your potion." He said simply, handing the wizard a small vial of a murky looking liquid.

"Thank you, Severus." Remus answered warmly, before popping the vial's ecork off and gulping down the contents with a wrinkling of his nose. "Gods! I wish you could do something about the taste."

"I never said I couldn't." he replied, arching an elegant eyebrow to mock his assumption, and making Hermione choke on her butterbeer. "How is the training going?" he asked in a bored tone sparing her a glance, like he wasn't really interested in the answer, but Hermione knew he wouldn't ask if that was the case. Professor Snape was not renowned for idle talk.

"We made a breakthrough actually." the Gryffindor wizard told him proudly, Tonks scoffing besides him.

"Really?" drawled the black-clad wizard.

"Yes. You can assists us if you want this afternoon, I think we could progress faster, especially since I remember you're more familiar with the creation of spells."

A light lit up in Snape's dark orbs, she had never seen the dour man's interest piked before, he looked more alive, much like when he had let a laugh escape him.

"It is the week-end, and I find myself without anything more interesting to do at the moment." he told them non-committally. "I'll wait for you in the library, shall I?"

They watched him billow out of the room in a few graceful strides. A furtive glance between Hermione and Remus was enough for them to decide that, they too, wanted to start working quickly on the creation of the new spell. It was a very exciting and unique project after all, and it also had the potential to turn the war in their favour. They rose without a word and left for the library, Hermione hearing a feeble protest from Tonks.

"What took you so long?" asked Snape as snarky as ever, even if a small tug at the corner of his lips betrayed that he was actually pleased they had come after him.

Hermione showed Professor Snape her oozing Patronus mist while Remus explained what she used to summon it and what he had inferred from it.

"Obviously the incantation is all wrong: you are not sending out hope to summon a protector. In fact, it is more correct to say that you become that protector. You probably managed to become the Patronus wordlessly last time, out of desperation." Professor Snape intoned in his lecture-giving tone, pacing before the other two.

Hermione nodded in understanding, that was exactly what she had felt and wished for on the battlefield: to protect her friends and life in general.

"The wand movements seem acceptable at this point since you can produce mist. We will have to try modifying part of the incantation, since Patronus could still be viable to design yourself as a protector."

The small group then spent a couple of hours pouring over books of magic, and Latin in the witch's case, listing a few possible solutions to twist the basic Patronus charm into the one they needed.

"So...Is our guinea pig ready to try out our new formulas?" The Slytherin asked nonchalantly, as if he had not just continued their playful banter.

Hermione's jaw dropped for a second before she took control of herself once more.

"I bet you've spent your whole time looking that one up while we were seriously working." she told him haughtily, waving a finger between herself and Remus to prove her point. "You... you cheat!"

Remus gasped, looking warily at Severus in case he tried hexing the witch. He had just gotten over the fact that this unlikely pair had bonded somehow, but nonetheless, he doubted very much that the snarky wizard would take too kindly to being insulted by a former student of his. Therefore, he was even more surprised when the dark wizard only smirked at her, apparently amused by her outraged outburst.

"Sore loser." he said very distinctly, detaching each syllable as he stared straight at her, before they both burst out laughing: Severus with a deep short chuckle and Hermione clutching her sides as she couldn't stop the giggles.

Remus wanted to pinch himself -surely he was dreaming- but he merely cleared his throat instead, drawing their attention.

"Hermione, if you don't mind? I have to leave in a couple of hours."

And thus started the long list of inadequate incantations, none of them working any better than the original Expecto Patronum, and others not working at all, leaving an exhausted Hermione collapsed on the sofa.

"I don't think I can keep this up. It's too draining. Can we leave it until tomorrow?" she begged. She wasn't one to shirk her work but she doubted very much she could even lift her little finger if her life depended on it. In fact, she was thinking of sleeping right here on the sofa, as the very idea of walking up even a single flight of creaky stairs seemed as daunting as climbing Mount Kilmanjaro.

"We've been at it longer than I thought anyway. I'd better hurry and lock myself up in Buckbeak's attic for the night." Looking over at the witch unsuccessfully fighting off sleep, he added: "Want me to help you up, Hermione? You look knackered."

"Yeah, if you're willing to carry me up." she scoffed. "I couldn't even crawl up those bloody stairs if I wanted too. I'll just sleep right here, G'night Remus. G'night Prof'ssor Snape." She was about to snuggle into the velvety cushions when she caught the sandy-haired wizard's very wolfish grin. Remus advanced on her and in matter of seconds, had thrown her easily over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, her bum in the air, while she shrieked in fear.

"You just had to ask, witch." he chuckled. "Good night then, Severus, thanks for your help!" he called over his free shoulder with a wave of the hand as he made his way out and up the staircase.

Hermione stopped screaming at the man to put her down after Harry and Ron had come out, wands in hand, to see what the fuss was about, and ended up not saving her, but laughing themselves silly at the awkward position she found herself in. She was very glad she had not worn a skirt that morning, it could have been much more embarrassing than it presently was. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, Remus dropped her off on her bed.

"See, that wasn't so hard. Good night Hermione." he told her, closing the door behind him.

"I hope the attic is infested with fleas!" she shot back before he was out of werewolf-hearing range, and threw one of her cushions at the offending door. Okay, she had to admit she would sleep better in her own bed and would be in better shape for tomorrow's training. Still, that was no way to treat a lady, even for a Marauder.

And it was true, she would have slept soundly until morning if it wasn't for the anguished howl of pain that drifted down from the topmost story of the ancient house a little while later, when the full moon was shining brightly through her curtains. Every current resident of Grimmauld Place was up with their wands at the ready. Hermione and Harry in the next door bedroom, Sturgis Podmore who had taken up a permanent room since his return from Azkaban, and the Auror Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody had done the same since his kidnapping from his own home. They all shared the same landing, as well as Remus when he wasn't a werewolf, feeling safer in numbers and more like a family none of them had otherwise. They all looked uncertain of what had happened, and what they should do.

"Remus?" Harry wondered aloud.

Hermione nodded, thinking the same. Somehow, the werewolf had gotten hurt. They rushed off to the stairwell, hearing Moody's wooden leg knocking the wooden floor rapidly behind them.

"Don't you kids open that door before I get there!" the Auror growled menacingly. When he got to the attic's door, the two Gryffindors were kneeling in front of it, their ears stuck to the wooden surface.

"He's whimpering." Hermione whispered fearfully.

"We have to open the door, Alastor! He needs our help!" Harry almost yelled.

The battle-scarred wizard nodded his approval and gruffly ordered them to stand back

"Just in case." he explained. "It is the full moon. Even with the Wolfsbane potion, there's a werewolf behind that door."

The Auror unwarded it, turned the knob with one hand while the other held his wand out steadily, ready to stupefy the werewolf if he tried attacking them. Harry and Hermione did the same. Sturgis was probably locked in his room, he hadn't been the same since his unfair imprisonment in Azkaban and no one blamed him for it.

However, what they found on the other side wasn't frightening at all: monstrous, wretched, pitiful, sad, would better describe the state in which the three people found their friend.