I'm going on a date with Hermione. I'm going on a date with Hermione. Harry repeated this to himself over and over in an effort to keep his cool. It would only prove Snape's point if he lost his temper in front of Dumbledore.

So he forced himself to listen quietly while Snape ranted to the Headmaster about Harry's disrespectful behavior.

"He asked me to give him a challenge so he could show off to the class and when I indulged him and even gave him a passing grade on it he insulted me repeatedly in response. Headmaster I think it's clear Potter does not belong in this school. His upbringing has clearly made him violent and unruly. Quite unfitting for a classroom environment."

Dumbledore's expression remained calm and neutral throughout all this. He seemed content to let Snape finish explaining his side first. Only once he was done did the headmaster turn to Harry.

"I would like to hear what happened from your perspective now if you wouldn't mind."

"Well sir, I would like to say that's not how it happened at all. While I'll admit that I did insult Professor Snape and lost my temper a bit, it wasn't unprovoked. He made comments about my prior education, seeming to believe I wasn't prepared to take his class. When I told him I was, he was the one to suggest I prove it by making Draught of Living Death. Even though it's a potion taught to sixth years.

Still, I'm never one to shy away from a challenge so I gave it my best shot. I was really pleased to have even gotten a passable mark. For some reason Professor Snape had an issue with my being happy about doing so well and took points from Gryffindor for as he put it 'my arrogance and cheek.'

I did lose my temper and insult him back. For that I apologize. But I did not start anything with him. I'll only take the blame I deserve for what happened."

"Well said, Harry. I appreciate your forthcoming and willingness to take accountability for your part in things. I think a fair punishment for what you said to Professor Snape is still in order. Even if you had done so provoked. Perhaps two week's detention with Professor McGonagall?" He glanced at the deputy headmistress who nodded once. "Excellent. You may go, Harry."

"Thank you, sir," Harry bowed his head respectfully.

"Headmaster you cannot be serious in taking his word over mine, surely—"

"Severus hold your tongue. This is not a conversation for young ears. We will talk about your feelings in the matter after Harry has left," Dumbledore said sternly.

Harry could barely contain his grin as he hurried out of the office. What he wouldn't give to be a fly on the wall for that conversation.

When Harry returned to the common room that afternoon, he found a party waiting for him.

"There he is! The man of the hour!" Fred Weasley exclaimed.

"The one and only!" George added.

"Let me guess, you heard about what happened in my first potion's class."

"Heard about it? We've got every single beautiful detail of it committed to memory forever more. The whole school is talking about it," One twin said.

"No one ever has stood up to the greasy git like that! Truly a spectacle to behold," The other twin said.

"We only wish we could have been there to see it in person! Secondhand accounts can't possibly be doing it justice."

"Or that we had a pensieve so we could play it again and again."

"I'd fall asleep to it every night if I could."

Harry chuckled. "Okay now you're just getting weird about it. Don't you think you're overselling this?"

"Overselling Snape getting the verbal smackdown of the century?" One twin asked.

"Never!" Fred and George said together.

Suddenly Harry could hear a familiar voice in the crowd. "Let me through!" A second later Harry had a face full of bushy hair as Hermione nearly knocked him over again. She began talking very fast.

"I'm so glad you're okay I was so worried you were going to be expelled you're not expelled right? What were you thinking saying all those things to Snape? He looked ready to kill you!"

"I'm okay. I'm not expelled," He assured as she let go of him. "Just got detention is all. And I know, I know. I shouldn't have lost my temper. I just couldn't stand it any longer! He's so much worse than I ever imagined he would be. I don't know if I can take another class of it."

"He's probably going to fail you on everything now!"

"If he does I'll get it disputed. Everyone knows he's biased against me. Besides I wouldn't be surprised if Dumbledore fired him. Everyone saw him almost attack me back there. And then Snape went on a whole tirade about how horrible I was to him and Dumbledore didn't even react to it. He just asked me my side of the story and then let me go."

"What a legend!" The twins crowed from behind.

Hermione rolled her eyes and Harry smiled at her. He took her hand and they went to find a seat together. Everyone kept coming up and congratulating Harry like he'd discovered the secret to immortality or something.

"That was so awesome!" Ron exclaimed. "You're my absolute hero. I still can't believe you really said that stuff to him. I mean was it really all true? Is Snape a Death Eater? Did he really call your mum a mudblood?"

"Er…well…yeah kind of. Technically he's not a Death Eater anymore. Dumbledore vouched for him and said he'd come over to our side. He's still a nasty little git though as we've seen. Apparently changing sides doesn't make you a good person. As for my mum, that's a much longer story. Not one I really should share. My dad wasn't exactly a saint in it himself."

Now that Harry had calmed down he was feeling a bit guilty for dealing such a low blow to Snape. Just because Snape was worse didn't mean his dad hadn't done some awful things himself. But the difference was James had grown out of it and matured into a better person. He'd fought valiantly in the war against Voldemort and gave his life to protect family. He'd been a loving husband and father.

That old familiar ache in him resurfaced at the thought. He'd never get to have any memories of his own of his father, only the memories others had of him. Hermione seemed to sense a change in Harry because she squeezed his hand comfortingly.

"I think I need some air," Harry said standing up.

"Do you want some company?" Hermione asked.

"Thank you but no. I'll be back in a little bit."

"All right."

Harry walked out the portrait hole and used the summoning charm to bring the firebolt sitting up in his dorm room to him. It felt like it had been ages since he'd last flown.

Once outside he mounted his broom and took off into the skies, the feeling of freedom and exhilaration replacing the empty sort of ache from earlier. He flew all around the grounds, exploring Hogwarts from above for the first time. It was beautiful. The sun had nearly set and he'd be forced to go back inside soon. Then out of the corner of his eyes he saw in the distance some kind of fire. Smoke was coming up out of the forest.

Harry flew toward it, reciting in his mind the spell for a stream of water. But when he got there he realized it wasn't a forest fire.

"Dragons" He breathed in astonishment.

Four fully grown, enormous, vicious-looking dragons were rearing onto their hind legs inside an enclosure fenced with thick planks of wood, roaring and snorting - torrents of fire were shooting into the dark sky from their open, fanged mouths, fifty feet above the ground on their outstretched necks. There was a silvery-blue one with long, pointed horns, snapping and snarling at the wizards on the ground; a smooth-scaled green one, which was writhing and stamping with all its might; a red one with an odd fringe of fine gold spikes around its face, which was shooting mushroom-shaped fire clouds into the air; and a gigantic black one, more lizard- hike than the others, which was nearest to them.

At least thirty wizards, seven or eight to each dragon, were attempting to control them, pulling on the chains connected to heavy leather straps around their necks and legs. Mesmerized, Harry looked down below him, and saw the eyes of the black dragon, with vertical pupils like a cat's, bulging with either fear or rage, he couldn't tell which. . . . It was making a horrible noise, a yowling, screeching scream.

They wouldn't, He tried to tell himself. But why else would they be here? Dragons were illegal in Britain. The only way is if they had permission from the Ministry. For a big event. Like a tournament.

Harry felt sick to his stomach. He turned his broom and flew back to the castle as fast as he could.

"Dragons! Oh Harry, I can't believe it. They're really going to make you face a dragon?!" Hermione exclaimed when he told her. Fortunately the party had all but ended by now and he was able to get her alone.

"Well it was intended for legal consenting adults."

"Even at seventeen that's a lot to deal with."

"I know."

Hermione looked at his face which was probably looking very green by now. "Don't worry, Harry. Tomorrow we'll go to the library and we'll find out everything we can about dragons and how to face them. We'll be able to figure something out. I mean just look at the potion you brewed in class today. Most sixteen year old students struggle with that and yours was nearly perfect! As long as you prepare properly, you'll get through this. I know it."

"Thank you, Hermione. I'm really glad you're here."

They spent every lunch break together, poring over books in the library. Harry had tried contacting Sirius with the mirror again but had been surprised to get no response. He really hoped his godfather was okay. It wasn't like him to be unavailable like this. Fortunately he got a letter from him the following day.

Dear Harry,

Dumbledore has a suspicion that Rita Skeeter has found some way to sneak back onto Hogwarts grounds after being banned and eavesdrop on conversations happening there based on some of the articles she's been writing lately. For that reason I don't think it's safe to use the mirror to discuss anything until the headmaster figures out how she's doing it and puts a stop to it.

I'm currently off researching something important with your mentors. We think we've had a major breakthrough regarding the origin of your curse scar and why you're having dreams about Voldemort. If you need to contact me please do it by mail for now and I'll get back to you as soon as I am able.

Love from,

Sirius

The origin of my scar? Harry wondered to himself. He'd always been told it was the result of being hit with the killing curse. That something that powerful always left some kind of physical mark. But now Sirius made it sound like there was some other reason and that it was connected to the dream he'd had. For some reason Harry had a bad feeling about the whole thing.

Trying to shake the feeling off he turned his thoughts to the other part of the letter that had mentioned Skeeter. He'd handed the letter to Hermione after reading it. When she had finished she looked incredibly worried but Harry shook his head. They couldn't discuss it out loud.

"I wonder how she's managing it," Hermione said to him on their way to class. "Hogwarts has some of the best magical defenses in the country. How could a simple journalist be sneaking onto the property when some of the most powerful Aurors couldn't do that."

"So what you're saying is one doesn't simply walk into Hogwarts?" Harry joked and Hermione playfully nudged him in reply.

"You're right though. It doesn't make sense that someone like her could manage something like that."

"Maybe she's paying someone to do the spying for her," Hermione suggested.

"Like a student?"

"Possibly. Or one of the staff."

"You're actually accusing a teacher of doing something like that?" Harry asked in surprise. "You used to think authority figures always had their students' best interests at heart."

"I know, but that was until I met Snape," She admitted.

"Ouch. Can't say I'm surprised that's what changed your mind on the subject."

"I can't understand why he even wanted to become a teacher in the first place!"

"Power over small helpless children who can't fight back was too irresistible for him I guess."

"That's not what being a teacher is about though! Or at least it shouldn't be!"

"What I can't understand is why Dumbledore keeps him on. I mean it's been a few days since the incident and Snape is still employed here like nothing happened!" This point had been particularly sore for Harry. He had a half a mind to march up to Dumbledore's office and demand what the heck was going on. And maybe he would when he didn't have a dragon to worry about.

"I don't know. It's not like Dumbledore at all," Hermione replied, baffled.

Once they got to class, Harry only had a few minutes of the lesson before he was called away on account of being a fourth champion.

"Mr. Bagman wants him," The younger boy who had been sent to fetch him explained. "All the champions have got to go, I think they want to take photographs and interviews."

"Wonderful," Harry grumbled and Hermione gave him a sympathetic look.

He was led to an unused classroom where the other champions were waiting for him.

Harry looked them over, trying to remember their names. The surly looking was the Durmstrang champion, Viktor Krum. Despite being a fan of the professional Quidditch player, Harry was a bit wary of him. Krum's headmaster was Karkaroff, the number one suspect for putting Harry's name into the goblet. Besides, a school that banned muggle born and taught the dark arts was bad news, in Harry's book.

Then there was the tall beautiful Frenchwoman, Fleur Delacour. Harry had noticed Ron and many of the other boys drooling over her. He didn't deny she was nice to look at, but she wasn't at all his type. But she was clearly more than just good looking. You had to be smart, talented, and tough as nails to sign up for a competition like this. Or completely stupid and egocentric. Harry had a feeling she was the former and not the latter though.

Finally there was his fellow Hogwarts champion, Cedric Diggory. He'd not heard a single bad word about the man since coming here which was a good sign. Apparently Cedric was also Quidditch Captain, a prefect and a model student.

The other two champions eyed Harry warily but Cedric broke into a smile when he saw him.

"Hello there, I've been looking forward to meeting you," Cedric said amiably and shook his hand firmly.

"It's nice to meet you too," Harry responded with a smile of his own.

"So I guess it'll be up to the two of us to make our school proud, eh?"

"I'll do my best, but I have to say I'm a little out of my depth here. Being underage and all."

"It was quite a surprise for us all when your name popped out after mine. Any idea how that happened?"

"I've got a few theories," Harry said, trying to be vague.

"A little boy competing with the rest of us and Hogwarts having two champions instead of one? It is an outrage! I do not understand why Madame Maxime is allowing such a thing to happen," Fleur cut in, glaring at Harry who opened his mouth to respond with an equally cutting remark.

"Please," Cedric put his hands up in an attempt to diffuse the situation, "It's not Harry's fault there's a binding magical contract, is it? I know it's not very fair that our school got two champions instead of one. But it's also not very fair that a kid like him is being forced to compete either."

Harry was surprised but happy to have Cedric on his side, even if he didn't like being called a kid.

"Believe me if I had some way out of this, I'd take it," He told Fleur.

"How did your name end up in the goblet? You are not even a student here from what I understand," She replied.

"It's complicated. And I am a student here now. For at least as long as the tournament lasts that is."

"What is so complicated about it? If you did not put your name in, then who did?" Fleur demanded.

"Voldemort," Harry said flatly, which seemed to do the trick of shocking her into silence. Cedric himself had gone pale.

"All right everyone, it's time for the weighing of the wands!" Bagman announced, coming into the room with Rita Skeeter. Harry scowled. What was she doing here?

"We have to check that your wands are fully functional, no problems, you know, as they're your most important tools in the tasks ahead," said Bagman. "The expert's upstairs now with Dumbledore. And then there's going to be a little photo shoot. This is Rita Skeeter," he added, gesturing toward the witch in magenta robes. "She's doing a small piece on the tournament for the Daily Prophet. .. ."

"Maybe not that small, Ludo," said Rita Skeeter, her eyes on Harry.

"I wonder if I could have a little word with Harry before we start?" she said to Bagman, but still gazing fixedly at Harry. "The youngest champion, you know. . . to add a bit of color?"

"Certainly!" cried Bagman. "That is - if Harry has no objection?"

"I most certainly do mind!" Harry protested loudly. "I'm not going anywhere near that woman if I can help it. Didn't you see what she said about my godfather in the paper the other day?"

Bagman's smile faltered. "Well I'm sure it was just a misunderstanding—"

"I only write what people are thinking but too afraid to speak aloud," Skeeter replied. "But if you think there's something that needs correcting then I would be happy to interview you and get your side of things published."

"Right," Harry snorted. "So you can twist my words and make things look even worse? No thanks."

Skeeter's expression turned downright nasty at this but she quickly plastered on a smile. "Well I think I'll have plenty to write about even without an interview." The threat was clear.

Harry clenched his fists to keep from pulling out his wand and hexing her right then and there. He knew he was in a no win situation. Whether he agreed to the interview or not she was clearly planning to make her next article about him as juicy and scandalous as possible. The-boy-who-lived being out and about in public was fresh meat in her eyes.

Bagman coughed uncomfortably. "Why don't we all head upstairs then. We don't want to keep our wand expert waiting now, do we?"

Skeeter smiled at Bagman. "Lead the way. Once you've done that I'll get a picture of the four champions and see if any of the others would like an exclusive interview."

Harry sighed. This was going to be a long afternoon.

"Fortunately as soon as we arrived in the other room and saw Rita Skeeter was there, Dumbledore was furious and kicked her out. I'd wager she'll be writing an article about him before long too. Or maybe she'll give a two for one special and black both of our names to the public in one fell swoop," Harry explained to Hermione afterward.

"I'm sorry, Harry. That woman sounds even more awful in person! I wish we could figure out how she's eavesdropping on everyone. It can't possibly be legal. If I had more time on my hands, I'd look into it further but I don't." Harry knew her hands were only as full as they were because she was trying to help him prepare for the first task.

"Let's just get me past that dragon and we'll worry about the Skeeter problem after," He told her.

"Right, I'll try not to worry about her too much. Or the first task. I know we'll come up with something," She said, looking worried.

Harry grinned at her. "I know we will. But try not to focus on it too much or you'll worry yourself sick. We still have time."

"You're right, we should try to take our minds off of it."

"That should be easy, seeing as we have our first date tomorrow," Harry pointed out.

Hermione looked at him in surprise. "Oh! I can't believe I'd almost forgotten about it! Your first time going to Hogsmeade, it'll be so much fun."

Relieved to see he'd already found a distraction for her, they spent the rest of the evening discussing where to go first when visiting the village.

"In Sites of Historical Sorcery it says the inn was the headquarters for the 1612 goblin rebellion, and the Shrieking Shack's supposed to be the most severely haunted building in Britain," Hermione explained, sounding as usual as though she'd swallowed a textbook. Something Harry truly loved about her. The way her eyes lit up and her face flushed when she talked about the things she was passionate about. It was beautiful in its own way.

They were sitting next to each other in one of the carriages that took students to Hogsmeade on the weekends they were permitted to go.

"Not haunted at all actually," Harry told her when she finished. He leaned in close to whisper to her. "Turns out there's a secret passage under the Whomping Willow that leads to the Shrieking Shack and that's where Moony went every full moon to transform. Obviously the townspeople didn't know that. They just heard the horrible sounds and assumed the worst."

"Moony?"

"Lupin," Harry reminded, forgetting she wasn't as familiar with the nicknames.

"Isn't he the one who—"

"Yeah," He replied sadly. "Sirius says he supposes they should have known with him being a werewolf and all. But they protected him all through school and were the only ones who knew and accepted him. If anything it made the betrayal so much worse."

"It sounds like they were the only ones who didn't have an unfair prejudice against him for being a werewolf. There's nothing wrong with that, it's admirable really!"

"Too bad the stereotype turned out to be true, for Remus Lupin at least. He couldn't just leave it at selling my mum and dad out to Voldemort. He had to go and attack his friend Peter. Peter, who was always such a scrawny little kid, actually tried to go after him when it happened. Only to be brutally murdered for his bravery. Apparently all that was left of him was a finger."

"You don't mean—" Hermione turned very green at this.

"When the aurors found Lupin it was pretty clear most of poor Peter had been eaten."

"That's horrible!" Hermione shuddered.

"It's been really hard for Sirius. Lost his best friend to Voldemort. Betrayed by the other friend who then went on to eat their final friend. He's all I have and I'm all he has."

"I'm so sorry Harry. But you know you also have me, don't you? And Neville too," She assured him.

Harry took her hand in his. "I do," He promised.

"So where do you want to go first?" She asked as the carriage pulled up to the village and they got off.

"I don't know. What do you want to show me most?"

Hermione grinned at him. "I think I know just the place," She said, tugging him along by the hand. Harry happily followed her.

"Honeydukes?" He asked in surprise when they had arrived in front of the brightly colored shop of sweets.

"Surprised?"

"Well you are the daughter of two dentists," He pointed out.

"Exactly. They really discourage me from eating sweets and I know they're right. It is dreadful on your teeth. But I have to admit, the idea of magical sweets was just a little too tempting to try. I still try to limit myself and only have a little on special occasions. I'd say today counts as a special occasion."

They went inside and bought a bag full of them. Hermione only had two sugar quills but Harry tried a little bit of everything. He couldn't even begin to decide on a favorite.

After that they went to the post office, Zonko's joke shop, Tomes and Scrolls (the bookshop no surprise there), and many more places. Finally they ended with stopping in at The Three Broomsticks for mugs of butterbeer.

"I personally want to hold my mentors responsible for depriving me of being able to come to Hogsmeade and try butterbeer. I can't believe I've been missing out on this," He declared and Hermione giggled.

"Only for a year. They don't let you come to the village until your third year or older."

"A year is a long time to go without being able to try such a drink."

"Why weren't you allowed to come to school?"

"I don't know. Safety issues they said. There are a lot of death eaters who avoided Azkaban and would want my head for killing their master. So my mentors decided it was best to lock me up as a result. Never mind that I'd been training under them since I was five years old. I thought I was finally going to get to go to Hogwarts when I turned thirteen because my magical gift was supposed to manifest. But for some reason it didn't. Sirius said I'm a late bloomer."

"I read about those. All children born of one of the twelve Most Ancient and Noble houses are supposed to manifest a special magical ability unique to them, right?"

"Kind of. Most of those books are written by pureblood families who believe only those with the purest of blood from the oldest wizarding families get such a gift. It's not true however. Half bloods and muggle born can get a gift, it's rare but it does happen. And the gifts aren't completely unique to each person. There's a number of gifts that everyone has a possibility of getting. Every so often a new one that's never been seen before pops up, but for the most part we all get one of the more common ones."

"Do you have any idea of what yours might be?"

"My dad's gift was the ability to turn into a magical animagus, a white stag. If one or both of your parents has a magical gift, then you're more likely to get either of those."

"Maybe that's why you haven't got yours yet then!" Hermione exclaimed in excitement. "You need to become an animagus first and then it'll turn out to be a white stag like your dad."

"Sirius thought of that. But it's a long difficult process to become one. My dad couldn't manage it until he was fifteen and that was a huge deal. No one besides him and his friends had ever accomplished it so young. He said he's willing to try to teach me how to do it this summer."

"That's wonderful, Harry. I'm sure that'll be it. It just makes sense."

"I hope so. But you've heard enough about my years in between muggle primary school and Hogwarts. What about you? What was it like learning you were a witch?"

"It was amazing! At first I thought, this has to be some kind of trick. But then McGonagall—apparently as deputy headmistress it's her responsibility to come to each muggle born with their letter and explain—turned herself into a cat and we knew that it wasn't a trick. Magic was real. It felt like something out of a fairy tale. I was so excited to learn I could do that too with the right education. I thought…" Her face crumpled suddenly.

"What? Hermione, what's wrong?"

"I thought I had found where I really belonged. You know I never fit in at muggle school, you were my only real friend there. I thought Hogwarts would be so wonderful and it was, mostly. But I thought there'd be a lot of kids like me here only to find out I'm a bossy know-it-all just as much in the wizarding world as I was in the muggle one."

"Hermione…"

"It's true! I know it's what they all think of me! I don't mean to be, honest I don't, I just can't seem to help myself. I memorized all my school books to show them I was just as capable as anyone else. My professors loved that about me. But my classmates didn't. The only one who was nice to me was Neville and I thought it was only because he didn't have any friends either."

"Hermione, I know you don't mean to come across as stuck up and if they would just give you a chance I'm sure they would like you as much as I do. Well maybe not exactly in the way I like you," He blushed at this and then chuckled. Hermione though was looking on the verge of tears.

"'Mione, I know there's something you're not telling me. I don't want to push you but you know I'm here for you," He reached out and squeezed her hand. Suddenly she lurched forward into his arms and he held her for several minutes. When she finally composed herself she told him what had happened on Halloween.

"I thought I was helping Ron by telling him the correct way to do the levitation charm, but I know it came out harsher and more snappish than I intended. We were already off to a bad start since I laughed at his attempt to turn his rat yellow on the train. But honestly if you'd heard the ridiculous obviously made up spell his brothers probably gave him, you would too. I should have stayed away from him after that but I thought maybe I could make things better by showing him how to do the charm. It just made everything worse…"

I don't think he thought I was around to hear him but I did. He was telling his friends Dean and Seamus what a nightmare he thought I was and how it was no wonder I hadn't got any friends."

Harry felt a surge of anger at this only for it to get even worse as she went on.

"I ran off to the lavatory for a good cry. I was determined then, to go home. I wasn't happy here and I wanted to be with my parents again and with you. Next thing I know Neville comes crashing into the girls bathroom in a panic. A troll had gotten loose in the castle somehow. All the students were heading up to their dorm for safety when he realized I still hadn't come down to the feast. It was amazing really. That shy timid boy who was terrified of putting a foot out of place and getting into trouble, risked coming to find me with a troll on the loose. He's so much braver than anyone gives him credit for." She smiled fondly at this.

"He is," Harry agreed.

"I found out later from Lavender and Parvati that he'd given Ron such a tongue lashing for sending me to the bathroom crying, everyone was shocked speechless by it. I think Ron felt guilty when he realized I could have been in serious danger because he actually apologized to me after I got back to the dorm. I don't think we'll ever actually be friends but he does seem to be trying to be nicer to me since then."

"Hermione, I'm so sorry. I had no idea. I wish my mentors would have let me come to school when I was eleven like everyone else. I could have been there for you. I should have been there." Harry felt a bit sick to his stomach at hearing all this. If that troll had wandered down the wrong corridor... If Neville hadn't remembered Hermione… He didn't even want to think about what could have happened.

"Harry, it's not your fault you weren't there! And I'm okay now. Really. Neville and I became very close after that, we looked after each other.

"But if I had been there—"

"You're here now and that's what matters," She assured him emphatically.

They spent the rest of the afternoon and evening on lighter topics and soon enough it was time to head back to the carriages.

"I had a lot of fun, we should do this again next time," Hermione said.

"Yeah we should," Harry agreed.

Her expression was filled with so much warmth and affection for him, Harry found himself leaning in to kiss her without even thinking about it. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on your perspective) Hermione pulled back before their lips could meet.

"Sorry! I almost forgot," Harry apologized.

"It's okay, I almost did too."

"This is getting harder and harder. Are you sure we shouldn't just…let it," He suggested.

Hermione shook her head, but she was smiling. "Harry we can't."

"Why not?"

"Because we can't let our hormones make us rush into something we're not ready for. We have to be rational about this."

"You're right, I know you are, it's just…"

"Hard, I know. But we'll get through it." She pecked him on the cheek and Harry felt warm all over at her touch.

"Yeah, we'll get through it," He said, feeling uncertain.

A/N: So now we've found out a little more about how certain canon events played out in this fic. Peter convinced Lily and James to make him the secret keeper instead of Remus at the last minute which Sirius and Dumbledore had no knowledge of. The night the Potters died was a full moon and Peter used that to his advantage to stage an attack and make it look like Remus in his werewolf form had eaten Peter, leaving behind only a finger for identification. There were no witnesses to this, only the aftermath and a note sent to Sirius from Peter claiming he was going after Remus for the betrayal. Sirius was so grief stricken and distraught and trying to care for baby Harry that he couldn't even face up to seeing Remus at his trial or get his side of the story. The ministry being the ministry, considered Remus' werewolf status enough of a reason to believe he was guilty and sentenced him to Azkaban.