Disclaimer: Harry Potter and everything from his realm belongs to its creator, J.K. ROWLING. I make absolutely no money with it. Like you didn't know that already.

A/N: I love your reviews so much, my favourite part is checking my emails in the morning after posting a new chapter... so many of them, and so kind! I also thank my super-beta, Fredrika, who manages to put up with me somehow and always gives great advice.

Also, I am sick so the next chapter may take a while longer to come, but I'll do my best!

Chapter 7: Lessons and Limits

Hermione was waiting anxiously in the library with Remus for the others to arrive. Everyone had managed to free their Wednesday evenings, as well as their Saturdays afternoons. Hermione thought twice a week would be enough of a training for the Patronus Totalus as it was quite a draining spell and, except for the two of them present, the others needed their magic about them for their everyday job.

Sitting restlessly on the sofa, she fidgeted nervously with the hem of her robes, Remus sighed and reached out to still her hands.

"Everything is going to be fine, Hermione. Stop worrying for nothing." he chided kindly.

She nodded absently, captivated as she was by the wizard's larger hand covering her own, and Severus words rang in her ears. She knew for certain then that the Slytherin was wrong, she could feel nothing but kindness and caring from Remus. Severus was just being a worry wart, he was being so protective of late towards her. The young witch tensed suddenly, drawing an interrogative look from her neighbour. She shook her head, plastering a fake smile on her face so he wouldn't question her further. Gathering her wits, she continued to explore that line of thought: since when had Severus become more than her ex-Professor, more even than a fellow Order member? She knew there was nothing romantic about his protectiveness either and just associating the snarky man with the very notion of romanticism was laughable.

Recalling the last weeks when he had given her quite support or defended her outright, and the awkward talk they had had the other day about men, he had felt more like... not a father, he wasn't near as old as her father had been for her to imagine him as such... but maybe like a big brother. An overly serious and scary big brother with a very dark sense of humour. She smiled fondly, she had always wished she had had other siblings and it seemed Severus and her had just unconsciously adopted each other. A bit like Harry actually, who was like another, smaller and slightly reckless brother. She realized they all had in common that they were orphans with no other living family to turn to, they were all lonely and very involved in the war: her because she was a muggleborn prime-target, Severus because he was a spy and Harry because he was doomed to fight Voldemort to the death. Really, it was not surprising the two men had become her new family. Now, if only Harry and Severus could come to see each other as brothers too, it'd be perfect, but she knew she had a better chance seeing Ron dance a passionate tango with an Acromantula.

Just then, her first pupil arrived and brought her out of her reverie.

"Luna! I'm so happy to see you!" she almost squealed in a manner reminiscent of Lavender Brown.

"Hermione, Professor Lupin." she greeted calmly. "Interesting place you have here, I'm sure it's infested with umgubular slashkilters."

Hermione and Remus exchanged a bewildered look.

"Hum... You're welcome to investigate the house whenever you want Luna." the wizard offered politely.

Just then, the aurors and auror-trainees arrived. Harry, visibly nervous, glanced around the room and skittered off alone to a dark corner while Ron threw himself on one of the armchairs, grumbling about needing some food to function correctly. Shaklebolt saluted them warmly, his dazzlingly bright smile in stark contrast with his ebony skin. Finally, Tonks, the new bane of her existence, almost slobbered all over Remus as she said hello to him, totally ignoring Hermione in the process. Shaklebolt watched her colleague making a fool of herself, narrowing his eyes at her lack of respect for Hermione.

Neville knocked uncertainly at the library's open door and the Gryffindor witch seized the opportunity to get as far away as possible from the annoying pink-haired woman now clinging to Remus arm. The poor wizard looked uncomfortable, but short of using a crowbar, there was nothing she could do for him.

"Neville, I'm so glad you accepted to come. How have you been?"

"Okay, I guess. I'm always happy for an excuse to escape my gran." he replied with an apologetic smile. "I hope I'm not late."

"Not at all, we're still waiting for..." but her answer was cut off by the loud slam of the front door closing shut, a determined set of heeled feet headed fast towards them and finally, Ginny appeared in all her vengeful glory, her red hair and pale-blue healer's apprentice robes swirling around her as she came to a halt in the doorway.

Hermione glanced at Harry, who was trying to shrink into the shadows in the corner and looked white as a sheet. She was torn between pitying him and thinking he did actually deserve it for shutting the young woman out as he had done.

"One year!" she seethed, loudly enough for all to hear, advancing on her cowering target once she spotted him. "It's been over a year Mr Harry James Potter! You dared ignore me for so long after telling me you loved me? For my own sake? What kind of a bloody coward are you?" The irate witch had been poking Harry in the chest with each point she made and she was now waiting, hands on her hips, for Harry to make amends.

"Gin, please, you've got to understand. I just didn't want you to be targeted because of me. It's better if no one knows about us." he pleaded.

"Us? Well, I don't see a problem there as there is no 'us' to speak of now. Thanks to your inane half-baked plans."

Harry looked too shocked for words and Hermione decided to intervene before Ginny hexed him beyond repair.

"Everyone!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands once for attention. "Thank you all for coming. If you want to make yourselves comfortable, I'll start explaining the theory before I give you a demonstration, for those of you that haven't seen the Patronus Totalus already.

The young witch attempted to explained the complex spell and Remus helped her out a few times, seeing she was a bit nervous and getting lost in the details of her own description. Then, when no one had any more questions to ask, he made everyone back off to form a semicircle around her.

Taking a deep breath, she tried relaxing. She avoided Tonks who was smirking at her, no doubt thinking she would fail, letting her eyes settle on Harry and Remus. The sight of the two men, both smiling encouragingly at her, immediately made her feel happier, warmth and an odd flutter to her stomach making the tension in her body ebb away. Just a minute later, she was floating before them in her Patronus form, the glow she emitted reflected in their attentive and awe-struck eyes.

"Oh, Waoh! Hermione that's wicked!" Ron blurted out, always first when it came to making a vacuous comment, but she smiled at him at him nonetheless, riveting her transparent eyes onto him until he was too unsettled and glanced away.

"You do look rather ghostly." Luna mused in her sing-song voice. "Have you tried flying through walls yet?"

Hermione gaped at her, and it was as unattractive in her patronus form as in her human one.

"No." she answered, shocked that she hadn't even thought of it. Could she glide through walls? Through wards? Through people? Did it harm normal humans? Really, she had to try out the limits of the patronus form as soon as possible, it could come in handy. "No, I haven't actually. Thanks Luna for pointing it out, Luna, I'll try it out soon."

The dreamy-eyed witch nodded, a soft smile playing on her lips.

'It's really impressive, Hermione. I always knew you'd get your name in a book someday." Neville told her sincerely making the floating woman grin. "I hope I'll be able to do that spell"

"I don't think I can ever get tired of watching you like this." Shaklebolt added. "You're quite the sight."

"Unfortunately, it is quite draining." she said regaining her physical body. "But you can always stare at yourself all day in a mirror once you master the spell, auror Shaklebolt." she chuckled and the wizard laughed good-humouredly, calling her a cheek.

"Alright then. If you can all stand at a reasonable distance from one another in case one of you manages to transform, I don't won't you touching one another, I'm not sure what the result would be." Hermione advised.

"That's bloody careless." she heard Tonks mutter, not nearly low enough, but she decided to ignore the auror as she was only trying to make her look bad in front of Remus. Besides, even if it killed her to admit it, Tonks was right, she should have thought about it before now. There was so much she didn't know about the Patronus Totalus. Unfortunately, Dumbledore had just thrown the matter of training others into her unaware hands and she was just taking it in stride as best she could.

Helping others relax or focus, correcting their wand movement or incantation as she made paced slowly around the room, Hermione thought she might enjoy teaching. Maybe when the war was over, she could apply at Hogwarts.

She toyed with the idea while her pupils strived to master the difficult spell: Ron had even started pouting and giving up halfway through, Ginny was still too angry to find a state of bliss, and Tonks was predictably making moon-eyes at Remus again. Overall, she wasn't surprised when nobody had managed by the end of the session, although Luna's wand had started a slow patronus transformation before the Ravenclaw had lost focused, too fascinated that she was by the ethereal light that made her wand translucent.

When the bedraggled group left for their own homes, and Harry had bolted out of the library to hide somewhere in the huge house, Hermione lay back in a heap in the sofa, soon imitated by a weary Remus. She smiled, having never seen the man look so casually laid back before.

"You must be a terribly powerful witch, Hermione. I'm knackered just from trying the spell, I can't imagine the power you needed to transform and fight off a hundred dementors." he told her offhandedly but she blushed at the praise, trying to hide her pink cheeks behind her mass of curls.

"Maybe it's more taxing when you haven't mastered it yet. Who knows? There is a lot we have to learn about this spell."

"Like flying through walls?' he chuckled, recalling Luna's question.

"Not just that!" she replied animatedly, the thirst of knowledge dancing in her big chocolate eyes. "What if I could breach wards? Can you imagine how useful that could be? And I have no idea how it reacts to contact with a human. It was disastrous enough with a werewolf."

Perceiving the lingering note of guilt in her voice, Remus patted her hand to reassure her he would never hold it against her.

"Well, we can always experiment together if you want. I don't think we have anything better to do tomorrow anyway." he suggested, "And I want to practice the Patronus Totalus some more. If Harry gets it before me, I'll never hear the end of it."

After sharing a cup of tea and a quiet evening reading in companionable silence in the library, they made plans to meet the next morning, both eager to try out the patronus' limits.

Hermione was waiting for her partner in the library to begin experimenting the Patronus Totalus. She was very puzzled as to where he might be since he had not been at breakfast with all the other residents, she had knocked shyly at his bedroom door but his room was empty too, as was the bathroom. She had even checked the attic where he used to dwell as a werewolf, but to no avail, all she knew was that he had not left the house because his cloak was still hanging near the front door. She finally admitted defeat and waited for the mysteriously absent wizard in her usual spot on the sofa, making a list of everything she would like to try out. She might as well be organized about it, she convinced herself, but was actually hoping Remus wouldn't make fun of her habit of making lists for everything.

The sound of shuffling just outside the door had her heart beating faster, hoping it was Remus. She knew she was being silly but she was worried about his disappearance act. So she was relieved to see it was in fact her friend, looking sheepish and a bit dishevelled. He sat down next to her, and set the small wooden box he had been holding onto the coffee table. She couldn't suppress a smile as she realized he was covered in dust.

"Mother of trolls! Where have you been?" she exclaimed, tapping his shoulders lightly to get rid of some of the grime, but only causing a cloud of dust to fly out and spread around them. "Rolling under the furniture with the dust-fairies?"

"Ah, but don't you mean the umgubular slashkilters?" he laughed, referring to Luna's mythical beast.

"Is that what they are then?" she asked, grinning.

"We can only hope. I'd hate to find out it's something that spits in my coffee or does unspeakable things with my socks."

Hermione tried to fight back the instant sniggers brought by the umgubular slashkilters' improper behaviour towards Remus' footwear, but the internal struggle was short-lived and laughter issued, mixing with Remus' own, quite audible, hilarity. When they finally got over their fit of giggles, each one setting the other off at turns, Hermione pointed at the box.

"Is that the reason you disappeared all morning then?"

"Correct, as always, my dear Hermione." he teased, but only managed to make her stomach flutter at the use of the endearment. "It's something I would like you to try out today. I had to search the whole house for it but you guys did a thorough job of getting rid of all the dark artefacts from the house when you moved in, and t took me more time than I care to admit to find this."

He opened the little wooden box, revealing a small silver spoon. It looked very ordinary except for the Black crest on the handle.

"A spoon." she stated blandly, prodding for more explanations.

"A family heirloom of sorts. I remember Sirius mentioning it once. It would be used when the Blacks had a guest who was crass enough to lick his tea spoon, his tongue would wither and fall. Very nasty, I'm not even sure it can be healed."

"Merlin! The purebloods don't half take table manner seriously." she breathed out, shrinking away from the small piece of metal. "Maybe we should use it on Ron." she added mischievously, before adding Cursed objects to her list of experiments.

"What's that?" Remus wondered, eyeing her parchment upside down.

"A list." she mumbled, not looking him in the eyes. "Of what we should try today."

"Good idea." he replied, and she beamed at his sincerity, but was positively glowing when he handed her a scrap of parchment with his own ideas jotted down so they could mesh the two lists together.

They decided to start with her ability, or lack thereof, of going through walls: it was the easiest and less dangerous experiment. Knowing beforehand that regular patronus went through walls spurred her on too and after a few reassuring words from Remus, she drifted to the wall that should lead to the entrance hall. She took a deep unnecessary breath, closed her eyes, and flew across to the other side of the wall, immediately popping her head back in to share her success with her friend. Just for the sake of being thorough, she tried varied walls, ceilings, doors and even the windows that had view on the small hidden garden, lest one of their muggle neighbours see her, until Remus begged her off, alleging she was making him dizzy.

"Do you feel up to something else?" Remus asked.

Hermione took a minute to consider it: she was starting to feel weary, in an insubstantial sort of way, but thought she could hold her patronus for a little while longer and told him as much. Remus went to the library door, closed it, and waved his want to ward it. The witch grinned in understanding, gliding toward the entrance.

The more she moved towards the door, the more resistance she felt, as if an invisible force was pushing her back, but she inched forward, little by little, until she reached the door and stuck her hand through it. She rapidly withdrew, as if burned and the next moment, she was panting on the floor in her human form. Remus was down beside her in the blink of an eye, checking her over for potential injuries, especially her hand that he kept cradled in his own as he addressed her.

"What happened? I thought you hurt yourself."

"Sorry." she mumbled, exhausted. "It felt like I was losing my grip on the patronus and had to retreat quickly. I didn't mean to worry you. What did you ward the door with? It drained me faster than a hoard of dementors."

"Hum..." he started, visibly embarrassed and unwilling to share the information. " I didn't think it would actually work, I just thought we'd start off easy..."

"What did you use, Remus." she insisted, paling at the unwelcome news.

"A repelling charm." he told her reluctantly.

"A repelling charm... A repelling charm?" she repeated, unable to believe it. "You mean to tell me a simple charm taught to kids at Hogwarts is all it takes to vanquish our secret weapon?"

Hermione just couldn't believe the Kryptonite to her super-power was something so meaningless, so ridiculous, so easy. "We're doomed." she said.

"No, we're not, Hermione. The death-eaters... they'll never find out. In fact, I think we're lucky we found out about it ourselves so soon, just in case. But you know as well as I that Voldemort's forces don't use repelling charms, they have a clear preference for bloody and dark spells, not to mention the unforgivables."

The depressed witch mulled this over, he was right of course, no self-respecting death-eater would use such a light spell.

"Maybe we should try their spells on the patronus form though, we have to know if anything happens."

Remus squeezed of her hand almost painfully so and looked sternly at her.

"I am not casting unforgivables at you." he responded with an edge of finality.

"Well, maybe not the killing curse." she conceded "But an imperio or crucio can't hurt too much, as well as the cutting, exploding, disarming and binding spells they use the most."

Remus blanched at the thought of using such spells on Hermione. He wouldn't be able to bring himself to hurt her that way.

"Let's try the spells that can't harm you first." he eluded. There was no point arguing with the stubborn witch, once she had decided something, nothing could stop her. He'd just have to try keeping her too busy to think of using such extremes again. He sighed, it was going to be a full time job.

Remus regained his footing and helped Hermione up.

"But first, you need to rest." he told her, and when she was about to protest, he added: "No, we can't risk magical depletion, you're our only patronus totalus for now."

The young woman didn't object again, as he knew she wouldn't: Hermione couldn't resist a logical argument when it was presented to her. That left him until tomorrow to think of enough strategies to keep the overachieving witch from asking him to crucio her again. When had his life started getting so strange? Whatever happened to the dull werewolf days?