The opening of a door

A/N: Yep, you guessed it. If any of theses characters were mine, I would be out shopping and not writing Fanfic. Thank you.

Hermione is ripped from her slumber by the sound of growling. With her heart beating a rapid tattoo in her breast, Herm’s e’s eyes fly open only to survey the darkness in front of her. Reaching on the bedside table she grabs her wand and mutters a shaky “Lumos”. Light spills haphazardly across the bed and into the tiny room. She is in an Order safe house. Dumbledore had owled her yesterday to go there and wait for Lupin. Now, the changes are harder and harder on Remus’ body. Hermione’s job is to make sure his body gets the attention that Remus doesn’t always give it.

A strangled cry punched through the blackness. It was the pure anguish that moved Hermione’s body out of the room.

She opens the door to the room at the end of the hall tentatively. The light tumbles inside.

She lets out a breath that she didn’t know she was holding. Moonlight was washing over Remus’ tortured face. His features contorted by the images taunting his mind.

She slips into his room and crosses to hissideside, dropping her wand on the nightstand with a simple “Nox”. The light goes out. She didn’t want to startle him awake.

“Professor Lupin” she whispers placing both hands on his sturdy chest. He coils away from her touch in his sleep; Hermione leans further and places one knee on the bed to reach across to softly brush his cheek. “Love, you have to wake up now. It’s a dream. Its only a dream.”

Instinct takes over. Lupin’s thoughts race as he lunges at the demon his mind has conjured. It’s not until the impact that he finally awakens. His eyes open only to be greeted with Hermione’s large honey brown orbs.

“Merlin. . .” Remus gasps. Hermione doesn’t say anything but is desperately struggling for air. He looks wide-eyed at their tangled forms. Both palms were pressed firmly on her shoulders, his knees striating her hips, tops of his bare feet resting on the apex of her thighs.

Lupin curls up to rest on his feet in a crouch. Hermione leans up to rest on her elbows.

“Hermione, what are you doing here? You could have gotten hurt. Where’s Tonks? You are not supposed to be here.”

“Well, good morning to you too, Professor.” Hermione says still panting. “Professor Dumbledore sent me.”

“You shouldn’t be here Hermione. Where’s Tonks? She get tired of being the werewolf’s nanny?”

“It’s not like that, Professor.”

“Ah Merlin, Hermione, You don’t have to sugar coat it for me. Dumbledore should have just left me here to recover by myself if Tonks no longer wanted the job and not sent a child.”

Hermione sat bolt upright anrprirprised Lupin with the impact of two strong hands on his chest, sprawling him unceremoniously against the bed behind him.

“You stupid git. Don’t even.” Tears stream in rivulets down her cheeks. “Tonks was sent on a mission three days ago. She’s not back yet and professor Snape hasn’t gotten any word about her as of yesterday when I left. Dumbledore sent me. He said I could make you stronger and that’s what I will do, no matter how much of a prat you are trying to be.”

Lupin closes his eyes. “Hermione, I’m. . .” He can’t finish his thought. He looks at the woman on her knees. In his mind, she is a schoolgirl. In that moment, his soul wants her to be his girl. He now knows what his heart has been whispering since he cracked his eyes and got a glimpse of her on the train that rainy day so long ago.

He grabs her and crushes her form to his chest. He holds her trembling body like a lifeli He He rests his head among Hermione’s mocha curls.

Hermione’s tears slow. She realizes that her tears have not been soaking his shirt but have been racing down his bare chest. She sniffles.

“I’m sorry, you must be really tired.” She says standing wiping the remnants of the tears from her face.

“You don’t have to do this”

“Yes, yes I do.” She says leaning down and inadvertently giving Lupin a generous view of her full breasts while offering him her hand. The werewolf inside, a little too close to the surface, is doing back flips of joy. He shakes his head. He takes her hand and lifts himself off the floor.

“Oh. . .wow this was much easier when I was young.”

“Oh, professor, you aren’t THAT old.” She giggles.

“That didn’t do well for the ego there, love.” He says

“Remus, you are not old.” Hermione says still holding both of his hands as Lupin sits on the bed.

“Seriously, you don’t have to be the strong one here. You can cry all you want. In fact, I’d be more than a little concerned if you didn’t.”

“I just want it to end.” Hermione says looking at him.

“I’ve been waiting for it to end for years.”

“We’re goto bto be happy one day right?” Her voice was barely above a whisper.

She looked so vulnerable. She was a woman who seenseen too much and for all the world he knew he could never tell her no.

He grabs her hips to assure her undivided attention. In that moment she realizes for the first time that she is standing in between his thighs.

“I will do everything in my power to say that yes, Hermione Granger you will be happy. I promise you that.”

Lupin realizes that he has just spoken those words a loud. His silent vow made in his heart to the ages was now vocalized. His words caressing her ears as they enter her brain.

Hermione stops breathing. It was a secret. Her heart quickening when he enters the room. The butterfly’s wings churning her abdomen. His hands warm her hip over her pajama pants.

“Why are you here?” Remus asks.

“I want to be here. You need to get healthy.” Hermione says resolutely. “I was doing some research and I found a book on werewolf nutrition. Actually it was quite archaic. It seemed as though they were trying to keep werewolves as pets.”

“What? You wouldn’t want to keep me as a pet in you backyard?” Remus jokes as Hermione looks at him appalled. “How can you say that? I would much rather have people see you as a man and not some beast.”

Remus’ eyes lower as he shakes his head. “Those things are not in the runes for me anymore I am afraid.”

“What’s not in the runes for you?” Hermione asks, her hands resting on top of his.

“Well, I can’t take pleasure in having a beautiful woman tell me that she sees me as a man.”

“Why not, Remus. I meant it. I meant everything.”

“That’s the hardest part. In my heart I know its true. I’ve felt it back when I was your professor.” He tilts his head and gives her a half smile that doesn’t totally reach his eyes.

“Do you know why you are here?” he asks. She shakes her head ‘no’ slowly, not trusting herself to say anything.

“Because Albus knows it too. That’s why you’re here. He knows how I feel about you. That’s the main reason that I left Hogwarts. I couldn’t risk getting lost in you. I don’t know that it worked, however. Even in my werewolf form, I love you too much to ever hurt you.”

“You didn’t have to leave.” She whispers.

“Yes, I did. I couldn’t bear to watch you anymore. The way your plaid skirt swishes, the way you could still look graceful even with an armful of parchments balanced precariously on top of heavy books, even the way you absentmindly twirl a curl of hair around your finger when you are by yourself at the table in the back of the stacks. I could get lost in you so easily that it scared me. It still does.”

“Well,” Hermione’s hand grazes over his temple through is sandy hair. “There’s nothing that is keeping us apart now. NEWTS are in five weeks. Then, I can be with you. We can be together.”

Remus shakes his head sadly, “Hermione as much as I feel for you, we can never be together. I can’t allow myself to get too close. I could never allow you to get tainted by everything that I know. The past can be all consuming. I won’t allow you to be even licked by the flames.”

“Remus this is your life. Don’t you think that you deserve to find happiness?”

Lupin cradles Hermione’s face in his hands marveling at the silk of her skin beneath his rough palms. He shakes his head slowly. “My life hasn’t been mine to do with as I pleased in a long time. It belongs to the werewolf once a month. It is the Order’s when I am needed. But, memories are my master; the pain and the past are always with me.

Hermione stands to her full height and takes his shoulders in her grasp as his hands slip to her waist.

“Remus Lupin, I am only going to say this once so I hope to Merlin that you are listening to me. DO NOT let your past rob you of your future. It would break my heart if you were to sacrifice everything for fear. Voldemort may kill us all tomorrow. I for one would prefer to know that the time I spent on this earth was a happy as I could make it. If I don’t ultimately make you happy then that is okay. ve yve you enough that I need you to be happy. Remus, please let go of everything keeping you from that.”

“You love me?” he asks tentatively.

“More than you can even fathom.” She answers without hesitation.
Lupin looks into her eyes. There he sees the hunger of lust mingled in absolute truth. In that instant he knows he needs her, every inch of her body along with every crevasse of her being. Not just tonight, but forever.
He pulls her forward crushing her mouth in a bruising kiss. His hands slide up her ribs pulling the cotton tank top towards the ceiling. She breaks their kiss only long enough to raise her arms and savor the sensation of the cool night breeze toying with her bare torso. His hand plunges into her dark curls cluching a fistful at the base of her neck as he pulls their lips together once more. She presses her chest firmly against his. Hard nipples complete with strong muscles for dominance before they simply meld into one another.
From the far recesses for Remus’ mind he can hear Sirius’ voice. \"Letting go isn’t as terrifying as you thought it could be, huh mate\".

Sirius is pushed away as Lupin feels Hermione softly grinding her hips into his. His thighs tighten their hold on his girl, ultimately choosing her as his. As his hands tugged on her pajama bottoms, all he wanted to do was claim her as his once and for all.