Be Silently Drawn || Remus Lupin & Hermione Granger

Chapter 10

Where's Remus?"

Hermione, who'd been sitting alone at a table in the Gryffindor common room, studying in quiet concentration, looked up from her notes at the sound of Sirius's voice.

"Did he go to the library?"

"No, he went up to your dormitory to get a book," she told him.

"Good." Sirius settled down in the seat next to her. "Sorry, Jean. I tried."

"Tried what?"

"To help you out with Remus."

"Help me what?" she asked, nonplussed.

"I tried to get something going between you two when we played that Muggle game, when I dared him to kiss you."

Hermione blushed at the memory.

"And what makes you think I wanted to 'get something going' with Remus?" she shot at him rather defensively.

Sirius gave her a look. "Come on, Jean. We've had this conversation."

"Yes," she said, remembering when he'd carried her to the Hospital Wing and insisted she was in love with her ex-professor. "And I don't understand why we're having it again."

"Because you lied to me before."

"What does it matter if I lied or not? Why do you care?"

"Remus is my friend, and I'm just trying to help you out. But things didn't work out quite the way I'd hoped that night. Only Remus would turn down a perfectly good opportunity to snog a girl." Sirius shook his head in disbelief. "I apologize on his behalf. He can be an idiot sometimes."

"He's not an idiot, and you don't need to apologize for him. I'm glad he didn't kiss me."

"Really? So that wasn't disappointment I saw on your face?"

"No, it wasn't."

"I'm not buying it."

"Well, I'm not trying to sell it," she said with finality. She then returned her attention to her Transfiguration notes.

After a short silence, Sirius told her, "You're nearly as bad as he is, you know."

Her attention snapped back to him. "What do you mean by that?"

He smiled. "Nothing. Nothing at all."

She narrowed her eyes at him, but Sirius looked past her.

"Hey, Remus," he greeted, and she turned to see her study partner walking towards them, a thick textbook in hand. "I was just having an interesting chat with Jean here."

"Yeah? What about?" Remus asked, taking a seat across from them.

"That Truth or Dare game we played a couple of weeks ago," Sirius said, a gleam in his eyes as he looked at Hermione, clearly enjoying her unease at where this conversation was heading. "We're having a bit of a disagreement on something."

"A disagreement on what?"

"On how Jean feels about—"

"Nothing!" Hermione cut across him. "There's no disagreement. Sirius is just teasing me, that's all."

"Why are you blushing, Jean?" Sirius asked.

"I'm not blushing," she said, though she knew she was.

He smirked. "The color in your cheeks says otherwise."

"I'm flushed because I'm annoyed with you!"

"If you're annoyed with me, then I must be right."

"Right about what?" Remus asked, looking between the pair of them.