I dedicate this chapter to anybody who has ever had great friends who were so close that they were almost family. I swear, Izzy, Kevin, Haley and I are like the Marauders. I love you guys, I hope you know that.

Also – I had a dream last night that I was Hermione and got married to Remus. It was awesome. But I woke up when I started thinking "hey, wait, I'm fifteen, and this guy isn't real, and I'm not Hermione Granger." So I think they got married in my head, but I don't know because I don't remember the 'I do's. It was just the reception. Weirded me out, that part.

Disclaimer: I own only the plot and the return of that clearing that Fred found while chasing after trouser-robbing thestrals.

Hermione huffed, frowning at her students, who stared eagerly at her. She sighed and rubbed her temples before staring wearily back at them.

It'd been a month since she'd 'defeated' Voldemort – she didn't have the heart to tell everybody that he'd be back at any time, everyone looked so happy and relaxed – and she'd refused to tell her students anything of what happened that night. Bill and Charlie had become relentless, even during Bill's detentions. She couldn't blame them – as a child, she'd been increasingly curious about things as well, and only just barely hid them as an adult. Her friends were the only ones able to decipher these facts, grinning at her and asking the questions she wanted to say for her, then grinning wider when she ducked her head in embarrassment.

So she sighed and told them what happened, wincing at the bad parts and things that could've happened, and laughing or snorting at the stupid parts of it.

"So – Harry Potter's okay?" Bill asked, worriedly, as his parents had forbidden him from reading the Daily Prophet until any Death Eaters were purged from the staff behind it.

She smiled, "Yes, he's fine."

"And Mister and Missus Potter?" a girl, Grace, asked, looking up at Hermione with dark blue eyes, smoothing back her short black hair. Bill, seated to her left, caught this action and fidgeted a little, turning the faintest of pinks – but Hermione caught it and smiled a little before turning back to Grace and answering her question.

"Yes, Lily and James are fine." She paused before adding as an afterthought, "Well, as okay as James can be." The class laughed at that, making her grin before she stopped at the rumble of a man's laughter, looking up and beaming at the man at the doorway.

"Sirius!" she said before frowning and glaring at him, leaning away from him as he stepped closer, "What do you want?"

He gasped, blinking, "What? Can I not inspect my friend's place of business and find that she is, in fact, a wonderful Astronomy professor?"

"Yes, but I teach Muggle Studies, you twat," she hissed the last part, but Bill caught it and held back his laughter.

"Ahh, yeah," he winced before shrugging, sitting on the edge of her desk, "So – what Muggle-tastic adventures are we headed for today, Professor?"

"Class is nearly over – you missed the 'Muggle' part," she smirked as he sighed. She arched an eyebrow at him but shook her head, waiting until after class to ask him what was wrong with him. She turned back to her kids, leaning against Sirius' knee, "So – who has some questions for Mister Black? He's an Auror – Professor Lupin might give you some extra credit if you brought in some facts about Aurors."

Bill's hand shot up, surprising Hermione greatly, but she waved at him for him to continue.

"Do you ever have to deal with werewolves?" he asked, leaning forward against his desk.

Sirius and Hermione both nearly paled at that, sharing quickly glances before Hermione turned to him, "Why do you ask that, Bill?"

"Well, Professor Snape was mumbling about werewolves in Potions earlier," he said, looking worriedly at them, "Why, have there been more werewolf attacks?"

"No," Sirius frowned before standing up in front of the class, "Alright, Kiddies – listen up. Who here knows about werewolves?"

Nearly every hand was up in the air.

"Alright – you," Sirius turned to Grace, nodding at her, "What do you know about werewolves?"

Grace blushed as everybody's gaze turned to her, "W-well, umm…they – they like hunting people…and…."

"Alright, good enough," he shrugged before stepping a bit closer to the front of the room, "A quick little lesson about werewolves – they are actually people. People who've been given a disease called lycanthropy, so that they have to change into a big wolf one day out of every month. Most of them don't want it, they hate that they have it and would do anything to get rid of it. However – there are some like Fenrir Greyback who love having that kind of power and love being a werewolf. I met a werewolf once – he hated it so much, he called himself a monster. I asked him if he had ever killed a human. He said 'no.' I asked him if he ever liked the changes. Again, he said 'no.' I asked him if he liked being turned into a predator once a month. Again – and having no idea where I was going – he said 'no.' I told him that he was a human with an incurable disease, like cancer, and that those like Fenrir Greyback who liked killing others were the monsters."

There was a thick silence in the room, during which Hermione wondered just how much begging and pleading she'd have to do to get her job back, when Bill spoke up again.

"What'd he say?" he asked quietly.

Sirius sighed and ran a hand through his hair, shrugging, "Nothing. He still thinks badly of himself – Greyback probably thinks of himself as a bloody king. There are good and bad people no matter where you are. Remember that."

The bell suddenly decided to ring, making the students jump before blinking and slowly gathering their things and leaving the room.

Sirius turned and shared a look with Hermione before sighing, slumping and looking at her wearily, "I hope to Merlin that nobody is smart enough to figure out who I talked about."

"For Remus' sake, you better hope not," she frowned before smiling and hugging him, "You're a good friend, Padfoot."

"Mmyeah," he grinned as he hugged her back.

Remus ran his hands through his hair, sighing and closing his eyes as he left his hands at the back of his head, gripping at his hair. He opened his eyes again, glancing around his room before huffing and letting his elbows drop, looking annoyed at air.

What he was really annoyed at, though, was himself. Firstly, for his birthday where he kissed Hermione – and things had been going so well – before he pulled back and let things drop. Secondly, for how close he was to flirting with her in front of the students – a big 'no-no' in any case, let alone with the fact that he thought he was flirting and had no idea if she was actually flirting back or just playing along.

He closed his eyes again, sighing and attempting to get control of himself. This was nearly impossible as images of his curly haired friend and co-worker appeared on the back of his eyelids. It was hard enough when they had spent late nights above the joke shop, running on fumes and still finding ways to make each other laugh or smile at the very least. But back then, they had lounged about on different furniture until they either dozed off or decided to call it quits and have him head home. Now, they were practically on top of each other in either of their small apartments in Hogwarts. There was only a couch in their living rooms, a fireplace and coffee table before it, and a doorway that led to their bedrooms, another door in there that led to their bathrooms. So it was either a couch to hang out on, or a bed. And that was another thing – falling asleep and waking up with this, this – this bloody girl in his arms and not being able to touch her the way he wanted.

His eyes jerked open at that, his face started to get red. He cleared his throat, shifting uncomfortably before realizing that nothing but somebody dumping a freezing bucket of ice water over him.

He let out a mangled yell when that actually happened, whirling around with his wand out to point it at Sirius, a wincing Hermione standing at the doorway. Sirius laughed as Remus lowered his wand, glaring at his friend but mentally thanking him.

"He didn't have it when we went in," Hermione told Remus, hiding behind the door a little.

"It's fine – it's Padfoot," he sighed and dried himself off, rolling his eyes before punching Sirius quickly in the arm. Sirius did the same, the two grinning. Hermione stepped in before it could turn into a wrestling match, clearing her throat and arching an eyebrow at the two.

"Sorry, Romy," Remus grinned back at her as Sirius flopped onto the couch, forcing the two to stand.

She only shook her head and smiled, "Canines."

Sirius and Remus shared another quick grin before Remus sat at the edge of the coffee table, letting Hermione have the arm rest next to Sirius' head.

"So, what's wrong?" Remus asked his friend, making him shrug and look dully at his shoes, which hung off the end of the couch much like Remus' did, unless he was curled around the smaller witch for body heat.

"It's just…" Sirius trailed off before flipping over onto his stomach, glaring at the pillow, "I hate being an Auror."

"So stop," Remus shrugged.

"But – "

"James will always be your friend, Sirius, you don't have to have the same job for that fact to remain true," Hermione told him, making his glare soften against the poor pillow.

"So what am I going to do instead?" he asked.

"Try Quidditch – you'd fit for it," Remus shrugged.

"Like – International Quidditch?" he shook his head, "No way, that's like – big."

"So start out small, work your way up," Hermione shrugged before she gasped, her face breaking out into a smile, "The flying teacher's position is opening up next year! Oh, Sirius, you could take that job and we could all work together!"

"Yeah!" Sirius grinned at that idea, sitting up and bouncing a little, "It'd be great! Most of the Marauders back at Hogwarts! Now all we'd have to do was get Prongs and Lela in, and Peter – " he cut himself off, letting the three sit there in the silence before Sirius coughed, grinning sheepishly, "Peter Pan. Y'know, that Muggle guy? He – he'd be cool to have around."

"Yeah," Hermione mumbled quietly, trying to smile but finding she couldn't.

"I can't believe he did that to us!" Remus huffed, frowning, "I mean, after all of this time – what was that? Just having some body guards for seven years before finding some new ones?"

"Remus, don't," Hermione said, reaching for him, which made her give up her spot on the armrest. "Neither of you are allowed to do that to yourselves, got it?"

"Aye, aye," Sirius mumbled but smiled at Remus anyway. He smiled back, moving over on the coffee table for Hermione.

The three friends spent the rest of the day laughing and talking about what it would be like to work together. Sirius was already getting excited about the idea, deciding that his students were to call him 'the Almighty Professor Black.' Hermione snorted and rolled her eyes at that while Remus chuckled at him. As it started to get dark, Sirius stood up and yawned, stretching.

"Thanks, guys, I'll see you later," he grinned before going to the fireplace, waving before he disappeared in the green flames.

Hermione hummed, setting forward on her elbows, "I think I have to go too."

"No, you don't," Remus said, a little too quickly, but she didn't notice.

"Hmm?" she blinked, sitting up now.

"Stay," he grinned, looking a little like a wolf for a second, "I want the body heat."

She decided not to point out that, as a werewolf, he had a bit more body heat than regular wizards, but instead followed him to bed and listened to his steady breathing and rhythmic heartbeat for a while until she too fell asleep.

"Why would you do that?" Remus sighed, sitting down across from her in the library.

She shrugged, looking up from her book to smile at him before going back to it. It was a rather large book, looking a little beaten, with a dark cover. On that cover, and on the spine as well, was written in beautiful golden script Becoming an Animagus.

"Hermione – " he tried to reason with her, but was cut off with a very quick 'shush.' He frowned at her as she looked up again, dog-earing her page and smiling fondly at him.

"Remus, please relax," she said, tucking a few strands of hair behind her ear, "I'm doing this with or without your consent – although to be honest, I'd very much like it, considering I'm mostly doing this for you and not for my teaching career."

He groaned before sighing, silently relenting her to do whatever she wanted. She smiled back and reached across the table to kiss his cheek, unaware that Bill had been just around the corner and had seen it. Instead of making a face or even running off to tell his friends, he grabbed a book and smiled at its pages before walking away from that section. So what if Pince would kill him for leaving a book where it wasn't supposed to be? It was better than feeling guilty about spying on his favorite professors' private moments.

Remus sighed again, looking pale and worried as he looked out of the window of the Shrieking Shack. Hermione wasn't there yet, waiting until Remus had changed until she could come out.

They'd talked the day before about it, her still refusing to reveal to him what her Animagus – registered, she'd like to add – form was.

"A fish?" he had guessed weakly, smiling when she laughed.

"What sense would a fish make?"

"I don't know," he'd shaken his head before leaning against the back of his couch, "Can I have a hint?"

"No," she'd smiled and shook her head.

He'd sighed again and thought about it, "A fox?"

"No…but I think it's pretty close. Err…is a fox part of the cat or dog family?"

"So you're a cat!" he'd shouted triumphantly.

She'd giggled, "No."

"A dog!"

"No," she sang, making him huff and frown at her.

"I don't like this game," he had admitted.

But now he was worried again. He'd been worried before with James and Sirius the first time, but had soon discovered that they were tough enough. He knew Hermione wasn't weak, but he wasn't sure if whatever form she was in could hold up to the werewolf.

He hissed in pain, sighing before another stab of pain shot through him. Either way, he was about to find out.

Hermione was lying against the cool grass, waiting for Remus to come out of the Shrieking Shack. He'd promised, after all, that he wouldn't stay in there the whole night. Of course, his curiosity to see what animal she was would force him outside.

She picked her head up as he finally stepped out, looking like a regular dark brown wolf that any old Muggle would find. He picked his head up and stared at her for a moment, watching as she rolled over onto her back to show him her knew form, which was exactly like her patronus. She was the same color as her hair as a human, darker patches covering her ears and tail. He blinked at her, thinking that she had somehow managed smiling in wolf form.

She let out a yelp as he landed on her stomach, thinking for a second that maybe this was a bad idea and the wolf part of him would think of her as a challenge and attack her. Instead, she found that he'd landed lightly on her, just enough to scare her. As she rolled over onto her feet, ready to run into the woods, he pinned her down, licking the side of her face. Had she been human, she would've blushed, but then thought about it. This would technically be like a kiss on the cheek. So she reached up and did the same to him, delighted to find that his eyes had stayed the same shade.

The two ran through the woods most of the night, switching on who would be chased until they both plopped on their sides in the middle of the clearing that Fred had found what seemed like ages ago. Remus watched as Hermione gazed out at the familiar scenery, inwardly wincing when he realized that he wouldn't remember any of this in the morning. But then the thought that while he couldn't remember it, she would entered his brain. With that, he stood up and lied down next to her, putting his head over her neck and next to hers on the other side, pushing her into him and picking his arm out of the way to hold her closer to him. She made a small noise of contentment, nuzzling further into him.

I figured that Hermione should've been an Animagus as well, since James would probably too busy helping Lily with Harry, and Sirius working too hard with the whole 'Auror' thing. And I'd made Hermione's patronus a she-wolf in an earlier chapter, and there's the whole 'Romy' thing that we'd done. And…yeah, I just wanted a snuggly chapter. You caught me. Haha. :D