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: Oh man, facing the blank page... Thanks to Fredrika for sticking with me and I want to acknowledge Belle2611 too for offering her help. I'm sorry I can't get the chapters out sooner but thanks for encouraging me despite that. I think that for my next stories, I'll wait for them to be entirely written before submitting them. I recall a few authors do that.

Chapter 12: A Woman's Touch

Against his better judgement, Albus Dumbledore had accepted Augusta Longbottom's demand that she live at the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix so she could "keep an eye" on her only grandson. Neville might not be happy about the arrangement but Hermione was ecstatic: not only had the old lady told Dumbledore off about his meddling in loud and unflattering terms, but she had also coaxed Fudge, stubborn little house-elf that he was, to return all of Hermione's belongings to her former bedroom.

Henceforth, the young woman could again sleep like a log in the comfort of her own familiar bedroom, safely tucked between Harry's and Remus' personal quarters.

The fearsome witch wasn't even that much of a nuisance: she had selected a small study to be turned into a bedroom on the ground floor, saying she wanted to be the first line of defence in case of an attack by "those ruddy Death-Eaters" - but Hermione suspected she just wasn't that keen on having to climb the stairs all that much, which Neville confirmed when he explained she had a weak knee from an old injury. They learned Augusta Longbottom had in fact been a talented auror in her youth and an important member of the Order of the Phoenix in the first war, regaling them at meals with stories of that time. Truth be told, all the residents enjoyed her witty conversations and the tips she gave them when it came to facing Voldemort's troops. Even grumpy Alastor approved of her.

Neville was relieved everyone got along since he had feared his friends would blame the presence of his old gran on him. He dearly loved her, but he hastily chose a bedroom as far away as possible from his old relative, on the second floor, next to the room Fudge had tried assigning to her, and that Luna had happily accepted as her own.

All in all, everyone was very happy with the arrangements, except for Dumbledore. He rarely came to Grimmauld Place any more if he could avoid it. Not even to introduce new candidates for the Patronus Totalus lessons. According to Severus, it turned out people were not very comfortable discussing their romantic involvement with an old wizard. One witch even threatened to file a complaint with the MLE for sexual harassment.

Hermione's lessons were going well with their smaller group: Luna and Neville were progressing rapidly, while Remus was a natural at it, now that he had gotten the hang of it.

"I think we should continue experimenting the spell now that you're used to your Patronus form." Hermione offered one day.

"What do you have in mind?" her friend asked, but there wasn't really much else to try, so she guessed he was still reluctant.

"Oh, come on, Remus! You know we have to make two Patroni touch at one point, especially if there is to be four of us in battle at some point." she argued.

Remus looked at the two other pupils who were laughing across the room as the sunlight shined through them, and agreed.

"Luna, Neville!" he called them over, and they quickly floated over before becoming human again. "Hermione and I are going to make our Patronus forms come in contact. If something goes wrong, don't touch us and call Fudge so he can fetch Dumbledore. Understood?"

The two of them nodded and stepped back to the relative safety of the sofa, while Hermione and Remus transformed into their glowing translucent forms.

"Ready?" Remus asked, anxiety lacing his voice, although he tried hiding it under a reassuring smile, as he extended a hand towards her, palm first.

"Ready." The witch answered shakily, as she extended her own, terrified that she might hurt her friend once more.

Their hands met and unexpectedly felt solid. They had often theorized over this experience and, most of the times, had agreed that they would just pass through each other. But sometimes, they wondered if they wouldn't both explode in a joyous shower of sparkling glitter. However, Remus' hand felt warm to the touch and sent tingles rippling across her ghostly skin. She wondered if he felt the same as she observed his startled expression. She continued touching his hand before letting it glide over his arm and then his face, enjoying the warm and tingly contact. Remus, she felt, was doing the same with her wild hair before caressing her face and she leaned into his hand.

A couple of giggles broke the charm, and Hermione broke away, embarrassed at being caught unawares.

"Maybe you two should get a room." Luna said matter-of-factly.

"So, any other effects? Other than the obvious, I mean." Neville asked with a knowing grin, surprising them with his boldness.

Hermione blushed, not knowing how to explain her reaction, and she was relieved when Remus stepped up.

"I'm not sure. I got... distracted." the man chuckled. "I think we should try again, Hermione, and try to focus a bit more."

"Speak for yourself." she replied with mock pout. "I'm not the one who got sidetracked."

"Of course not." Remus agreed mockingly, eyes bright with suppressed laughter. "One last try and I think I'm done for tonight. Ready?"

Their palms met, and Hermione strived not to keep dwelling on the delicious feel of his skin, concentrating instead on anything out of the ordinary – for a patronus, that is.

"Feel anything?" she asked him.

He didn't answer immediately, his lips quirking up as if he was enjoying some private joke:

"No. You?"

She shook her head, both relieved they hadn't blown up and disappointed there wasn't more to the Patronus Totalus than met the eye.

"Anything happened?" Neville asked from the sofa.

"Absolutely nothing. You two can safely try it out if you want." Hermione answered with a wan smile.

Neville and Luna exchanged a quick look before scrambling to their feet and transforming, eagerly reaching for the other's translucent hand. Hermione laughed, despite being a bit jealous that the two of them seemed to understand each other so well without the use of words. The Gryffindor witch had been feeling increasingly attracted to Remus the more time they spent together, because they shared the same interests and could talk for hour on end, because he was so witty, considerate and charming without even trying to, because he never berated her for spending hours with her nose in a dusty book or for frequently sporting ink stains on her hands or robes. Her mother had always told her that love would sneak in on her when she least expected it to...and the young woman thought it finally had. But, she knew she lacked the courage to broach the subject with Remus. What if Remus felt none of that? She wished the two of them had the same instinctual understanding Neville and Luna appeared to have.

Remus was already in his human shape when he addressed her once more.

"Touch me." he ordered.

"I beg your pardon?" she stammered, certain she had misunderstood.

"You're still in your patronus shape. Touch me. I don't think it'll do anything, but we haven't tried a human-patronus contact yet."

Hermione looked fearfully at his hand. The last time she had touched him like that, she had transformed him into a monster.

"I-I can't. Are you absolutely certain there's no traces left of the werewolf? None whatsoever? I can't hurt you again..."

Remus let his hand fall limply to his side, looking guilty.

"No. You're right. I'm sorry. The full moon is approaching though. I plan to lock myself in the attic as usual. Just in case. Maybe we can try after that?" he compromised.

Hermione nodded, relieved he understood, but anxiously anticipating the next full moon, fearing her "cure" against lycantropie was flawed.

Remus had locked himself up early that afternoon in the attic, reassuring all the occupants, and Hermione in particular, that everything would be allright, that it was just a precaution. However, since the wizard was probably only human now, he couldn't take any wolfsbane potion without risking poisoning himself. The downside was that if he was still a werewolf, the transformation would be very painful and difficult. And if he turned into that suffering monster again, it would be even worse.

Hermione tried sleeping but ended up pacing back and forth in her room. The moon would be at its peak soon and Remus would finally know what fate awaited him. She couldn't wait any longer and made her way quietly to the topmost floor where she hoped to greet Remus if he was cured.

"What're you doing here, little girl?" Tonks asked, stepping out of the shadows on the top landing.

Hermione started, her heart beating wildly, she hadn't expected anyone to be here, and certainly not Tonks. The auror looked like hell too with big dark bags under her dulled eyes. Her maniacal sneer wasn't much more reassuring, but she had to stand her ground if she didn't want the older witch to continue picking on her.

"Checking up on Remus, not that it's any of your business. I live here, contrary to you." she shot back, trying to step around the auror.

"But Dumbledore asked me to overlook tonight's full moon. So you can go back to your bedroom and cuddle your teddy-bear, girl."

"Back to petty insults, are you, Tonks? I guess that just shows who is more mature between you and me. Now, step aside, please." The younger witch almost growled, still stuck on the last step of the steep staircase.

"No...No, he's mine. I saw him first!" Tonks snarled, advancing on her and poking her finger at the other woman's shoulder with each word.

"You're completely delusional." Hermione breathed out. "Remus doesn't even like you."

"Liar!" the auror shouted, shoving the smaller witch harder this time. "Liar!"

With that last push, Hermione lost her footing on the old wooden step she was standing on and tumbled backwards, a strangled cry escaping her lips as she desperately tried to grab something, anything, to avoid what she knew would be a long and painful tumble down the hard stairs. She saw Tonks peek over the landing and could have sworn the crazy bitch was smiling. Hermione braced herself for the fall, covering her head with both arms as she rolled over and over before landing in a heap on mid-floor landing below.

She felt like she had just been through a complete spin-cycle in her grandmother's ancient washing-machine. She was probably covered head to foot in bruises too. To think she had only fallen half a story before crashing into the opposite wall... But she knew her ordeal was not over yet when she glimpsed the auror's dragon-hide boots and crimson robes stopping right by her aching head and was proved right when she pulled her up by he hair to sneer at her face.

"Because you think he likes you? You're just a girl, and a very plain one at that."

"You're denser than I thought if you think that matters to him." she snarled right back.

"Really? Well, we'll just see about that then." Tonks shot back.

Hermione then witnessed, horror struck and powerless, as the striking pink-haired witch's features shifted into her own familiar face, as well as her whole body. Before she could do anything else than gape at her, Tonks shot her at wand point with a full body-bind, then levitated her back up the stairs, shoving her into a musty old closet facing the attic door where Remus was still locked in.

"Wouldn't want you to miss the show." The false Hermione winked, casting a one way see-through charm on the door before slamming it in her face.

Hermione wouldn't have known what to do or say even if she hadn't been stupefied. She had been trained to fight ruthlessly against Death-eaters, but Tonks was supposed to be an ally. Was she to consider her an enemy now. Clearly her actions warranted that, but she couldn't help feeling like the other witch had completely lost her mind. What did she think the Order would say? Did she really think she could get away with it?

Well... maybe she could if she obliviated her, or just got rid of her. A trained auror surely had the means to do either, and no one would be the wiser.

Hermione shook her head to get rid of these gloomy thoughts. She really had to give muggle crime novels a rest. She had to concentrate on what she could do right now.

Her wand! Where was her wand? She knew she had taken it to go check on Remus, just in case he needed help or had to be restrained if he was still a werewolf, and she had put it in her robe's pocket. But then she had tumbled down the stairs, and since she couldn't remember feeling it on her person since then, it was either discarded on the stairs, or even broken from her fall. Just when she thought things couldn't get any worse.

So, she was forced to wait and look as Tonks hastily transfigured her auror's uniform to what she had been wearing, destroying the last hope she had that the metamorphmagus be revealed as an impostor.

It was the full moon and Remus had not transformed, he was officially cured of lycantropie! He couldn't wait to tell Hermione, I was all thanks to her after all, she had done the impossible. But he wanted to wait for at least another hour, for good measure. Finally, he went to the door to take the security wards down and was almost finished when he heard two feminine voices just outside. He guessed Luna and Hermione were probably waiting up for him to celebrate, but then, the voices became angrier. It took him some time to tear down the remaining wards, damn his own paranoia, and he finally threw the door open, coming face to face with his friend.

"Hermione!" he said relieved and happy to see her there. "I'm cured! I'm no longer a werewolf!"

Before he knew what he was doing, he had the witch spinning in his arms, crushing her in a hug, so happy and grateful to be free of the curse that had made his life so difficult up to now.

"It's all thanks to you. I don't know how to thank you." he told her sincerely, whispering in her ear as his body reacting despite himself to the proximity of her warm soft body and to the hungry look in her eyes.

"Hermione, I..."

But that was as far as he got as the young witch pushed forward a little more, capturing his lips in a urgent kiss, her hands sliding under his shirt as if she couldn't get enough of him. Not at all what he had expected from Hermione, not that he was complaining either, he was enjoying this after all but it didn't feel right. Luckily for his muddled emotions and weakening resolve, the WARTS parchment chose jut that moment to activate.

"Talk about bad timing." he muttered, knowing this had to be from the protective Severus. Remus wondered if the talented double-agent had found a way to spy on them to make sure he didn't sully Hermione. He would probably put his threats to execution the next time they met after he had snogged his protégée like that. Remus pushed Hermione back gently so she wouldn't be offended before reaching in his pocket for the messaging device. The WARTS founding member, however, was just staring at him with a quizzical look.

"Didn't you get a message too?" he asked.

Once more, she only gazed at him uncomprehendingly, which set alarm bells ringing loudly in his mind, suddenly clearing all thoughts of kissing more of this lovely witch. Actually, he should have seen much earlier something was wrong: Hermione had not uttered one word since he had opened the door, which was so unlike her that he should have been alarmed much earlier... when she had started sexually molesting him to be precise. That alone was so un-Hermione-like, she might as well have been wearing a badge stating she as a visiting Death-Eater in disguise.

"Never mind. Have you heard from Dumbledore?" he asked nonchalantly.

The Hermione look-alike still didn't speak, probably because a polyjuiced impostor couldn't change their voice. Having his doubts confirmed by her lack of answer, he discreetly pulled his wand out, holding it firmly, but keeping it hidden in the folds of his robes.

"You don't seem well. Wolf ate your tongue?" he added more menacingly, advancing on her now.

Hermione's silhouette shimmered as she grew taller and thinner, her hair shortening dramatically as they turned a gaudy pink shade. He groaned, realizing he had been duped by none other than Tonks. He should have known. This woman had really gone too far this time.

"Tonks! what do you think you're doing? Have you no shame?"

"As a matter of fact, no. And I seem to recall you were enjoying it too. As much as I was."

"Only because I thought you were... not you."

"But I can be anyone you like. Even her, if that's your thing. And when you get tired of her, I can be anyone you desire." And as she said this, she became first an alluring red-headed beauty, then a curvaceous blond, before becoming someone who looked suspiciously like Bellatrix Lestrange and returning to her pink-haired self.

"No!" he snarled, pushing her back against the wall. "You're so... shallow, and childish. Do you know me so little? Do you really think I care so much for someone's appearance? You're just a shell, Tonks. An empty shell. I don't want you to come near me, ever again. Do you understand?"

The witch merely looked mutinous however.

"I will never have the slightest interest in you, I despise you, and as much as I'm itching to hurt you right now, I know you're not even worth the trouble it'd take to hex you."

That seemed to get through to her. Tonks' face turned sour and her hair blackened visibly before she pushed passed him and stomped down the stairs. Remus slumped against the nearest wall and sighed in relief: what had started as one of the best days of his life had quickly turned into a nightmare. And if Hermione ever heard of this incident, he didn't know who she would be more mad at: Tonks for impersonating her, or him for falling for it and worse, having the nerve to kiss her, or at least, an exact copy of herself.

A tug at the back of his mind reminded him that he had a message awaiting him. Maybe it was Hermione after all, and not Severus as he had first deduced. A hope that was soon nipped in the bud as the spiky writing hurriedly unfolded on the parchment's surface. Remus read it once, and then a second time to be sure he had read correctly the first time around.

"NO!" he yelled, before dashing down the stairs as fast as he could.