This chapter is dedicated to all the totally awesome wizards and witches who noticed that I messed up on the last chapter when updating, but were nice about it. I'm really sorry guys, it was late at night when I was updating and I'd just finished a oneshot and somehow…yeah. I'm really sorry. But it's all fixed now, so if you haven't read the REAL sixteenth chapter, please do so. And wow, we're at seventeen now! HURRAY! [This should hold as much Remus-x-Hermione as I can stuff into it without ruining the whole plot, just for y'all!]

…Long Dedicationg is long…. Anywho –

Disclaimer: I own only the plot, the Potions assignment, and "Well, I'm a girl." "Obviously." ;)

Hermione and Marlene sighed at each other, watching as Lily and James up ahead flicked paper at each other, looking bored out of their skulls. Sirius was snoozing on Remus' shoulder as he doodled, and Peter was chatting softly to some Hufflepuff. Alice and Frank were making weird faces at each other, Alice having to stifle her giggles a few times.

A loud bang announced the arrival of their Potions master as the door slammed against the wall. Sirius snorted and looked around sleepily, asking if Santa had come back. Remus had rolled his eyes and put away the doodled-on paper and took out a new one before setting his chin in his hand.

Things were stressed now. His birthday having been a few weeks ago, he had nothing left to look forward to besides being done with N.E.W.T.s, which meant the end of his days at Hogwarts and being shoved back into the real world. He didn't even know what he wanted to do once he was out of Hogwarts. He took the classes that most jobs required, but there was no yellow brick road and a bunch of blinky arrows pointing him to his dream job. Not to mention when he'd see his friends again, aside from Hermione who would be staying with him and his parents until her flat was ready for her. Sirius had his own flat, and James and Lily would no doubt be looking for somewhere together. Peter…he didn't quite know about Peter, the boy had been running off to write letters to his mother an awful lot. Maybe to quell the woman's worries. Alice and Frank would, no doubt, end up together. But where did that leave him?

Slughorn huffed and puffed before straightening, beaming at his class, "Good morning!"

"Good morning, Professor Slughorn," the seventh year class almost seemed to groan.

"Today," he grinned rather slyly, making Remus sit up a little straighter and furrow his eyebrows as he stared uncertainly at his professor. It was never good when a professor was scheming. As Sirius and James had said before – "Nothing good comes from scheming unless we're the ones who do it." This wasn't going to end well at all. "Today, we're mixing things up a bit." That was never good either. Even Sirius looked a little fidgety. "Get into co-ed groups and wait for further instructions."

Marlene leaped over and practically crashed into Remus, gripping his arm, "I call Remus!"

Hermione laughed and moved over to sit with Sirius, waving to him as he was dragged away. He looked a little sadly back at her – he'd hoped to be partnered with her. Marlene had a knack for just staring at the book in frustration until somebody helped her.

"Now," Slughorn began to pace at the front of the class, "Turn to page two hundred and forty-seven."

The class did so, and once they had reached the desired page, few gasped. Remus stared blankly at the pearly white potion in the picture.

"Amortentia?" Lily almost seemed to hiss as James tried to hide his chuckles at his girlfriend's blush, "But we did this in fourth year!"

Fourth year being when Harold Struesen's cologne wound up in Lily's list of favorite scents and embarrassed her profusely. A few out of the class giggled at the memory, but the rest was staring in horror at the page. Sirius suddenly let out a barking laugh, which a blushing Hermione quickly punched him in the arm for.

No, on second thought, Remus was very thankful Marlene had towed him away instead.

"Begin brewing the potion, and then write down your findings. Do not let your partner drink any! The most interesting of the scents will be rewarded with twenty points for their house!" Slughorn ordered with a smile, "And we will be doing many different interesting potions this week."

"Oh Merlin, Remus," Marlene giggled quietly behind her hand, "Thank gods I saved you!"

"You're telling me," he whispered as they began to work.

"Shut up," Hermione hissed, glaring at her partner.

"Nope," he smirked as he began to crush up the frozen ashwinder eggs, flipping his hair back out of his face as he did, "This will only prove things!"

"The last time I was encountered with amortentia – well, okay, in its potion form," she gave him a little glare but said nothing more about his supposed treachery, "I smelled toothpaste, grass and parchment!"

He thought about it for a second before turning to her warily, "Now when you say 'grass', do you actually mean grass or…?"

"No, I do not mean drugs," she huffed and crossed her arms before turning and wrinkling her nose at the lavender, "I mean freshly mowed grass."

"Mowed?" he repeated.

"Oh right, you're a pureblood," she hummed as she got a knife and began to chop up her most hated plant, "Well, instead of doing who-knows-what with grass when it gets too tall, Muggles chop it up with a machine that has blades. Anyway, that's going off topic. I got made fun of for months! So I am not telling you what I smell in the potion!"

"I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours!" he sang.

"No!" she snapped. Sirius sighed and went back to work and a while later they had a pearly white potion in their cauldron.

"Ladies first," Sirius said, scooting the cauldron a little to her.

"No, no, you first, I insist," she said, scooting it back.

"No, please, after you!" Scoot.

"No, I couldn't." Scoot.

"Yes, you could." Scoot.

"No, I couldn't." Scoot.

"Yes, you could." Scoot.

"No, I couldn't." Scoot.

"Yes, you could!" Scoot.

She huffed and crossed her arms, glaring at him before sighing and pulling her hair back. She lowered her face to the steam rising from the cauldron and almost instantly relaxed.

"It smells like…the woods," she murmured as Sirius scrambled to write it down, "Chocolate, and…"

"And…?" he echoed, looking up from his paper as she sat sadly back in her chair, staring dejectedly at the potion.

"My mum's old perfume," she sighed, taking her hair slowly out of its ponytail. Sirius looked at her sympathetically before scooting the paper and quill to her.

"My turn," he said before nearly plunging his whole face in, having her reach and grab at his collar, making him hang limply over the potion with his eyes closed and a smile on his face, "Whoa! Smells like some weird fruity perfume that I smelled before – can't tell where, mind you – and flowers too, and really clean clothes."

"Clean clothes?" she asked in amusement as he returned to his seat and as she put the lid on the cauldron.

"I live alone," he grinned, "Clean clothes are rare to me."

"Alright…some really good smelling shampoo, lilacs, and bubbles," Marlene smiled into the potion as Remus smiled in amusement.

"Alright," he grinned as she carefully slid the cauldron over to him, pulling out a quill and a piece of paper, "I smell…chocolate – "

"Hermione," she hissed. He glared a little at her but continued.

"Peppermint – "

"Hermione," she snickered a little as his eyes narrowed at him again.

"And…err…" he closed his eyes and frowned, "I can't place it…."

"Betcha it's got something to do with Hermione," she sang.

He continued to ignore her, "It's like…but not…and then it's not that either so…what is it?" He wondered for a few more minutes before he jerked back and sucked in a breath.

"Remus?" Marlene asked, arching an eyebrow at him.

"It's…err…" he rubbed the back of his neck, "A rose."

"Okay," she eyed him warily, "What's wrong with the rose?"

"It's not really a rose, Mar," he rolled his eyes, "I'm just telling you that."

"So what is it really?"

"If I were going to tell you, I wouldn't have already lied and said it was a rose, now would I?"

"I dunno," she shrugged as she wrote down something and tossed it to Lily, "I don't know how guys' minds work."

He frowned and set his chin in his hand, glancing at her for a second before his eyes began to roam. Alice was blushing brightly and Frank was trying to calm her down through laughs. Slughorn was complimenting Snape and his partner on their potion. Lily and James were laughing between themselves, both blushing a little. Hermione was frowning at Sirius, and he shrugged as she stood up and went to put the vial of their potion in the basket on Slughorn's desk. Peter was getting ready to put a green leaf in his potion, which was a terrible idea because that was a sprig of parsley, so it'd –

Remus was already standing up, trying to make it to Peter's potion before it could –

"BOOM!"

"AHH!"

"OH MY MERLIN!"

"Eww, it's in my hair!"

"Ugh, it's on me!"

Slughorn snapped his attention to Hermione and Remus, both of whom were yanking on sticky purple gunk. They looked up at each other and grinned at their hazardous appearances.

"No!" he shouted, "Don't touch it!"

They froze, looking over at him and then back to each other.

"Did you make eye contact?" he practically bellowed.

"Err…" they glanced at each other again.

"POMFREY! NOW!" he began to shoo them away and out of the classroom.

"What's with Slughorn?" Hermione asked, yanking at the sticky substance in her hair.

Remus shrugged, "I dunno."

"Professor, will they be okay?" Lily asked, still wincing as she hid underneath her Potions book, which had been used as a shield. James peeked out from underneath the table.

"Who else got it?" he asked instead. When nobody spoke up, he sighed and seemed to relax, "To answer your question Miss Evans, they will be okay but will have minor but noticeable and purely distracting effects of amortentia. Parsley makes ashwinder yolk explode." He cast a glare at Peter, who shrunk a little

"Really?" Alice tilted her head as she absentmindedly fixed her hair, "But they seemed fine."

The Gryffindors absorbed this before they broke out into insane grins.

"They seemed fine!" they echoed before laughing like crazy, making Slughorn and the rest of the class look around in confusion.

Hermione hummed, tracing a finger along the stone wall as she passed. She'd gotten all of the potion out of her hair during her visit to the Hospital Wing. Madame Pomfrey had given both her and Remus a potion and said that they'd be fine in half an hour. They shrugged at each other, seeing as they didn't feel very weird, but took it anyway and walked out arm-in-arm. Well, alright, maybe that had been weird. And the looks that all the Gryffindors had given them when they walked in to dinner was strange. But other than that, it was an alright day.

She gave a yawn, blinking her eyes back open as she turned a corner, intending on heading back to the dorm room from the library. She gasped when somebody picked her up and practically threw her over their shoulder.

"Hey!" she yelled, attempting to wriggle out of their hold, "Put me down, you – " She lifted a fist to hit a spot in their back that would surely make them drop her.

"Oi, Granger, don't hit me!" Sirius practically growled, "Just relax and enjoy the view."

She did relax, frowning at him although he couldn't see it, "What view?"

She heard a chuckle and looked up to see that Remus was walking along behind them, hands in his pockets and grinning.

"And the meaning of this is…?" she prompted.

"You'll see," he smirked at her.

Sirius carried her outside, where the moon was casting a little light over the grounds.

"Err, guys," she shifted again as they continued their walk, "Where are we going?"

"You'll see," Sirius answered before he finally deposited her on her feet, next to Remus. Sirius stepped towards the Whomping Willow and Hermione watched as he grabbed a stick and touched a knot on the tree with it. The tree shuddered and Sirius slipped under a root and disappeared.

"Sirius?" Hermione answered, taking a hesitant step forward.

"Go ahead, it's safe," Remus told her.

She looked up at him, finding him smiling softly at her. It made her insides squirm and she felt the urge to blush. She glanced back at the tree and jumped when he lightly touched her back.

"It's either you go on your own or I shove you in," he smiled, "Which is it?"

She sighed and slipped down underneath the root, finding a narrow tunnel that she only had to crouch down a little. Remus, however, opted to stay on his knees rather than try to walk in the tunnel.

"Just keep going," he told her, getting her to move her feet.

"Am I being kidnapped?" she asked as she felt along the tunnel, as it was very dark.

"Somewhat. But I'll take you back, promise," he sounded like he was grinning.

A very long, dark and silent walk later, Hermione found herself coughing as she stepped out of the basement of the Shrieking Shack. She found Lily and James talking by the fire, Lily glaring at James in suspicion, and Peter talking to Sirius.

"Finally," Sirius sighed, shoving off of the wall and walking towards them, "You two took forever."

Remus mumbled something under his breath, but he looked completely innocent when Hermione turned to ask him what it was. Sirius had apparently heard it, as did James, as they were grinning.

"Guys," Lily said as she stood up, walking towards Hermione and hooking her arm through hers, "What's going on?"

"One – don't tell anyone," James said as he stood up as well, walking to stand with Sirius and Remus, "It's very important that you don't tell anyone."

The two took glances at each other before nodding quickly at them.

"Two – do not freak out," Remus instructed as he and James stepped back from Sirius, who was grinning.

"About what?" Hermione asked as she hid a little behind Lily.

She was shown what whenever Sirius' features shifted and changed and his hair grew. A few moments later and a large black dog was sitting there and looking up at them, his tongue lolling out of his mouth.

"YOU'RE THE GRIM!" Lily screamed as she turned and hid behind Hermione, "YOU'RE THE BLOODY GRIM!"

The dog gave a few barks, as if he were laughing.

"He's not the Grim, Lily," James said before looking thoughtfully at the ceiling, "Although…." Sirius snapped at his ankle, making James grin as he growled.

"You're all bloody idiots!" Hermione finally spoke up, making the four boys jump, dog included, "Animagi? Bloody animagi? And I doubt you're all registered! You're all so stupid!"

Remus and James winced at each other as Sirius whined and dropped his head to the floor, covering his eyes with his huge paws.

Hermione sighed and stepped forward, making Lily glare warily at 'the Grim.' "That doesn't mean that I'm mad at you for helping Remus. It means I'm mad at you for not being careful. What happens if you three get caught, huh? Who is going to have to bail you out of jail? Me, Lily and Remus, that's who. And I have better things to do than get your arses out of Azkaban."

Sirius perked up and practically tackled her to the floor, jumping up on his back legs and easily licking her face. She laughed and shoved him off, rubbing the spit off on her sleeves.

"Gross!" Lily laughed as well.

Sirius shifted back, sitting on the floor and grinning up at them, "You passed!"

"What?" they asked, looking back up at Remus and James, as Peter was distracted by the fire.

"Well, it's one of our big secrets," James said as he began to rock back and forth, "Only Marauders know it."

"And…?" Lily prompted as Hermione glanced between the four.

"D'you two want to be Marauders?" Sirius asked, still from his spot on the floor. The room was suddenly silent as the girls looked between each other and then at them. The four boys were waiting, all of their attention focused on the two.

"Why?" Lily finally asked.

"Well, you two proved to be excellent at pranking," James shrugged. "Remember last year, Lily? And then the time with the blue hair?"

Hermione placed her hands over her heart and batted her eyelashes at them, "I remember it fondly." Sirius narrowed his eyes at her, which only made her grin at him.

"But, honestly, do you?" Remus asked.

"Sure," Hermione shrugged as Lily frowned at her boyfriend.

"You do remember that I am Head Girl, right?" she asked.

"But you love me, Lily!" he grinned, reaching out and hugging her, "Please? Please, please, please, please?"

A very muffled "fine" was heard as Lily pushed herself away from his chest.

"Awesome!" Sirius beamed, "Now you need nicknames!"

"Nicknames?" the girls echoed.

"Well, it wouldn't be fair if we had nicknames and you didn't," Peter said quietly, "And remember on the train? You said you hated your nickname and wanted a good one."

"Oh yeah," Hermione hummed before frowning at the boys, "I will not accept 'Hermy,' 'Wormy,' or 'Mimi.'"

"And nothing with flowers," Lily glared, "Very overrated."

"Well, back to the drawing board then," Peter mumbled, squashing a spider with his thumb. Sirius chuckled nervously before coughing.

"Don't worry," James grinned, "We'll get it sorted out."

"Uh-huh," the two girls grinned at each other before laughing with the rest of them.

"I thought it was stupid too," Remus said as he and Hermione made their way up to the castle.

"Hmm?" she asked, stifling a yawn.

"That they did the animagus thing," he said, "Really stupid."

"But sweet."

"Guys don't call other guys 'sweet.'"

"Well, I'm a girl."

"Obviously."

"I have no retort to that."

"What? You mean I stumped little Miss Granger?" his eyebrows went up and he blinked at her, and she playfully shoved him as she rolled her eyes.

"No, I have one I just don't want to share it," she said as he picked up his arm, having her lean into him.

"Of course," he said sarcastically, "That's it. How stupid I was not to see it." He grinned and swooped down, picking her up and having her squeak. He spun her around once before dropping her back to her feet.

She arched an eyebrow at him, "What was that?"

He shrugged, but he was smiling anyway. She smiled too, completely oblivious to the fact that James, Lily, Sirius and Peter were doubled over, trying to hide their laughs.

But it was a shame they'd never know that Hermione smelled another scent in the potion, as it was whatever Remus' hair decided to smell like. And it was also a shame that Marlene never knew that it wasn't a smell so much as having ghost sparks on Remus' tongue from a certain person with brown frizzy curls.

Such a shame.

"So, Hermione," Remus began as he stretched his legs out on the table, "What do you want for Christmas?"

"But, wait, haven't we already had Christmas?" she asked, curling her legs up on the couch.

"Well, yes, but Reneé hasn't," he gestured to the redheaded girl practically curled into a ball in a chair, her sketchpad on her knees as her nose nearly touched the paper, the pencil scratching away.

"Oh," Hermione hummed, tapping her fingers to her lips before grinning at Remus, "What about…a rose?"

He frowned at her, "Bad Hermione. You read the chapter."

"I skimmed," she grinned, "What do you want, Remus?"

"I would very much like another chocolate bar," he grinned back at her before finally turning his attention back to Ren, who was examining her drawing with a frown, "What about you?"

"I want an original Marauder nickname for both Hermione and Lily – I'm absolutely rubbish at coming up with it myself," she huffed, "And reviews. I want reviews."

"Oh, right," Hermione smacked her hand to her forehead, "Ren can't go much farther in the story without the nicknames – they're needed. Badly."

"Well, not really, but they'd be great to have. Otherwise Lily will be some flower name and Hermione will be either 'Mignon' or 'Circe.'"

"There will be a poll on her profile if she can't decided or has too many names," Hermione said.

"So, yeah, review, give me a nickname and say who it's for and…" Ren picked her head back up, "I think that's it. Happy belated Thanksgiving, Happy upcoming Holidays, and MY BIRTHDAY IS NEW YEAR'S EVE. Just to let you know. HINT, HINT."

"Subtle," Remus muttered as Buffy the Siamese cat jumped up in his lap, purring loudly.

"Very," Hermione chuckled as Buffy made her was over to her.

"Bloody cat likes fictional characters better than me," Ren grumbled as Remus and Hermione both turned to her with confused expressions.

"Fictional?" they repeated as Ren paled even more.