The Wolf Who Loved Me

CHAPTER 2: Shadow









Hermione stood at the end of the hallway and watched Remus disappear into his room. She had gotten up early as she always did the mornings when he departed and made him breakfast, packed him a lunch for the road and left him a supply of writing materials. They had chatted briefly about how long his journey would take over breakfast, he told her he was heading to Wales but something inside her said he was lying.







She knew Remus Lupin better than he thought and she knew he would never lie to her without good reason. He was involved with something, something he did not want her knowing about. Her stomach rolled at the thought that it might be a woman he went to see.







The sad thing was Hermione had been in love with Remus for a few years now, not that she ever told him, or acted on it in any way. She kept her feelings to herself and cared for him as she always had her heart breaking as he took a piece of it with him every time he went away. Harry figured it out pretty early on, watching her mourn his absence then flare back to life when he returned. He made a point of staying with Ginny more often when Remus was home, hoping that she would tell him how she felt.







She opened the door to Harry’s room and pulled a box from beneath his bed. She withdrew his invisibility cloak and quickly carried it downstairs to hide it near the door. She shrunk several items of necessity and put them into a bag and sent an owl to the ministry letting them know she would be taking a leave of absence for a few weeks. She was going to find out if her suspicions were true, or if he really was just off to Wales to take a research position.







Hermione laughed at her own absurdity, she was behaving like a jealous wife or girlfriend when she was neither, she was practically stalking him. But something pulled her to follow him, to find out for certain.







She was standing in the foyer when he came down, just as she always did. Remus could always count on her to be consistent, he needed it, craved this little bit of normalcy he got from her.







“All ready?” She asked, handing him his cloak and hat.







“All set.” He said, donning both. He smiled when she handed him a satchel with his lunch and writing materials inside, the routine so familiar yet just as difficult as it had been the first time, it never got easier no matter how many times they went through it. He shrank the items and put them into his pocket along with his luggage. He saw the tears glitter in her eyes but knew they would never fall. He hated it when she looked at him that way, such pleading in their amber depths and something else, something he didn’t recognize but it haunted him at night in his dreams.







“There is enough wolfsbane potion in the bag to last you six months, owl me when you are about to run out.” She said softly as she buttoned the top button on his cloak. “Be careful, Remus, and take care of yourself.” She wrapped her arms around his waist because he was too tall for her to reach his shoulders comfortably, and rested her cheek against the center of his chest.







“I always do.” He said, kissing the top of her head and hugging her briefly before setting her away from him. He couldn’t handle having her so close for very long. Holding her against him, smelling her sweet scent made him think of things that were better left alone, made him want things that were impossible and forever out of his reach. “Don’t forget to set the wards when I’m gone and lock the door.”







“I won’t forget.” She watched him open the door and smile at her one more time over his shoulder. They never said goodbye, they couldn’t bring themselves to say something that sounded so final.







When the door closed she let the tears come, as always, rolling down her cheeks. Normally she would go back upstairs and lie down on her bed to cry for the man who held her heart but would never be hers, but this time was different. This time she wiped her cheeks and squared her shoulders. She grabbed her bag and Harry’s cloak then cast a spell to mask her scent, otherwise he would pick up on her trailing him in no time.







Hidden, she slipped out the door, locking and warding it behind her as she closed her eyes and whispered the incantation that would let her lock on to his magical signature. She had lived with him and loved him long enough that she was well tuned to his energy; he was a part of her. When she was comfortable with her lock on him she disapparated, letting the traces of his magic carry her to him.







She appeared in a thick copse of trees, a forest. She looked around and saw him moving quickly along a worn path leading deeper into the woods. She began to follow, keeping herself at a good distance to avoid detection. He was fast, and she soon found herself panting and breathless as she struggled to keep up.









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He knew he was being followed, he could sense someone behind him since he entered the woods. He couldn’t pick up the scent and that bothered him, nor could he catch sight of his determined stalker. It was possible that one of Paine’s men had come to observe him, to see if he posed a threat or it could be someone who knew about him and his mission, someone who would be a danger to him and a threat to magical security.







He darted into the wood line, using some of the nearly preternatural speed that came with his affliction to backtrack and get behind the person tracking him. The soft, slightly out of focus figure was using an invisibility cloak and halted immediately when he was no longer in sight allowing him the perfect opportunity to come up behind them and catch them unaware. He withdrew his wand and moved slowly, silently up behind the invisible figure.







He quickly curled his arm around the person’s throat, his wand pressed beneath their chin.







“Who are you and why are you following me?” He growled, his arm tightening. The person was small, fragile and hidden beneath the invisibility cloak. Tiny hands parted the front of the cloak and clutched at his arm, trying to pry their way out of the chokehold.







“Remus!” A tiny voice rasped. He stiffened, his eyes widening as he immediately released his captive and jerked the cloak away.







“Hermione! What in the bloody hell are you doing following me?” He demanded, stunned to see her standing there. She was rubbing her throat and gasping for air and Remus felt like scum for hurting her.







“Something felt off, it has for awhile and I was worried about you, so I followed you.” She said looking around her. “This isn’t Wales, where are you going, Remus.”









“None of your business, Hermione, go home.” He said forcefully.









“Come with me.” She said, stunned that he raised his voice to her.







“I can’t and don’t ask me why, just do what I said; I will talk to you when I come back.” He said as he wadded up Harry’s cloak and shoved it into her hands.







“You expect me to go home and sit for Circe knows how long and wait for you, worrying while you are off to parts unknown doing who knows what?” She asked incredulously. “No, I won’t do it. Tell me where you are going and why you lied to me.”







“Now is not the time, this is no game, Hermione, it isn’t personal, go home.” He grabbed her upper arm intending to disapparate with her and take her back to the house.







“It is personal! It’s personal to me!” She said, wrenching her arm away. Remus narrowed his eyes and stared at her for a moment, and then suddenly he began to see, to identify what it was in her eyes that always haunted him. She cared for him, more deeply than she said.







“Hermione…” He said her name softly and stepped forward. “How long?”







“Four years, give or take a few months.” She said as she stared at the forest floor.









“You never said anything, you never hinted...” He wasn’t sure what to do, what to say. He wanted to touch her, to reach out and hold her, comfort her but that would be cruel to them both. He couldn’t deal with her now; he needed her to go home, away from danger.









“Of course I didn’t, I saw the way you ran from Dora when she pursued you. I didn’t want to be a nuisance to you, Remus.” She looked away, her stomach tight and nausea beginning to swamp her as her nerves went on edge.









“Nymphadora was different; she was immature and made a pest of herself, Hermione. I recognized her feelings for what they were, a crush on a man with a dangerous affliction, it was the excitement of something taboo she wanted, not me.” He said. “I don’t know what to say about this, I don’t know what to do.”









“Don’t say or do anything, Remus, it’s alright, just forget that you ever knew.” She fought the tears that began to sting her eyes.









“I don’t want to forget, Hermione, I just can’t…this is really horrid timing, we can’t talk about this now.” He said, growing frustrated, he needed to get back on track and back on mission. His ears twitched and he looked up suddenly, pushing her behind him. His nostrils flared and he could smell others approaching. “Go now, Hermione.”







“Why?” She asked, confused by the sudden behavior change. He was on guard, ready to fight if necessary. She could see it in his stance, smell it in the air.







“Gods damn it!” He muttered just as four men cleared the wood line and headed straight for them. He pulled Hermione against his side and began to whisper low and fast in her ear. “Do whatever I say; agree with whatever I tell them, do you understand me?”







“Yes.” She whispered as she stared at the new arrivals. A tall man with curly black hair and a close cut beard and mustache stepped forward, the other three lined up behind him. One was the spitting image of the first man with a goatee instead of a full beard, one had auburn hair and a long, jagged scar running diagonally across his face and the last man looked to be barely out of his teens with long, sandy hair and a crazed look in his eyes.







“Remus, we were expecting you.” The older man said his hands folded behind him.









“Forgive my tardiness, Paine, I was a bit distracted.” Remus said tilting his head towards Hermione.







“I see that, who is your companion?” Paine asked, his eyes traversing her body. She was young, supple and quite lovely, built for breeding with her round hips and lush breasts. She was not a lycanthrope however; she was clearly a human witch.







“This is Hermione Granger, she’s my…lover.” He said, his hand tightening at her waist when she stiffened.







“And here I thought perhaps you brought her as a gift for the pack. A shame really, you don’t by any chance share do you?” Paine asked, leering at her. “She is a fine bitch.”







“No, I am sorry to disappoint you but I do not share.” He said, already trying to figure out how to get her away from there without being molested or worse. “Hermione, this is Paine Greyback.”







“Fenrir?” She gasped.







“His brother.” Remus said softly.







“Granger? You’re that friend of Harry Potter’s!” The younger version of Paine said with a smirk as he stepped forward. “Have you claimed the bitch then, Lupin?”







“Gilford, behave!” Paine snapped, cuffing the wayward pup on the back of the head. “Forgive my son, he is young and impulsive. Welcome to the clan of Beng Ruv, Miss Granger, you are very welcome here.”







“Th-thank you.” She stammered.









“Come, there are many in the camp who are eagerly waiting your arrival. Nadia will be very disappointed that you have brought a companion.” Paine smirked as he turned and headed back into the wood line, his compatriots following in formation behind him.







Remus waited until they were far enough away and he jerked Hermione to him, he knew they were being watched, could feel their eyes on them. He had one hand on her hip and the other cradling her head as he whispered a quick silencing charm around them and bent his head. Their lips were so close she could feel his breaths, their lips nearly touching.







“Listen to me and listen closely, Hermione. Those men are dangerous. Because you were too stubborn to listen to me earlier I have no choice now but to reveal why I am going with them and now being forced to take you as well.” She tried to pull back so that she could look him in the eye but he held her firmly in position. “No, let them think I am kissing you, put your arms around me.” She wrapped her arms around his waist and flattened her hands on his upper back. “For the last several years I have worked for a secret department within the ministry, the trips, the odd jobs abroad were all covers for various missions I was carrying out in my capacity as an agent. I am here on assignment, Hermione; those men are suspected of carrying out the attack on the anti-werewolf rights protestors in the ministry courtyard. This pack is essentially a magical terrorist cell. I am here to gather information and neutralize the threat.”









“Oh dear Merlin!” She breathed, her hands clutching at the back of his cloak.









“That is why I wanted you to go home because now I have no choice but to take you with me. It is very important that you follow my every command, that you pretend convincingly to be my lover. Go nowhere without me, be clingy, if you are hanging on me then there is less of a chance for them to get you alone. This is very important, Hermione, if they suspect for one moment that you are not who I claim you are they will kill us both. Do you understand?”









“Yes.” She said tremulously.









“Good, I’m going to lift my head and I want you to look like you’ve been thoroughly kissed.” He said.









“I’ll try; I don’t think I have ever been thoroughly kissed so how exactly am I supposed to look?” She asked.







“Let your lids lower half way…now bite your lips so they redden and swell…run your tongue over them…there you go.” He swallowed hard when he watched her tongue swipe over her lip. Now was not the time for such wayward thoughts. He lifted his head slowly and smiled down at her. “Ready?”







She nodded slowly and he took her hand, pulling her along behind him as he followed the other werewolves deeper into the forest. His mission just became more dangerous as he now was responsible for keeping her safe on top of his assignment. He prayed he would not fail because he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he did.