Bitten

The Cottage

Remus and Hermione walked hand in hand back up towards the Castle.

"You know that there is going be people that do not agree with (Remus paused) this."

Hermione stopped, stepped in front of Remus and smiled. "I don't really care what others think Remus, it's none of their business and the people who love and care about us just want us to be happy." She said

Remus smiled and nodded. "Come on, we're going to be late to dinner." He said as the continued on with their walk to the castle hand in hand arriving soon after.

Remus looked at Hermione. "We should (Remus paused) uncouple" He said as he looked down at their interlocked hands, "at least until we tell Dumbledore, the others."

Hermione nodded in agreement "Yes, your right" She replied as they unlocked their hands as they walked down the corridor towards the Great Hall with Hermione spotting Ron and Harry, she walked up to them and joined them while Remus headed to the staff table as the food began to appear and everyone started to tuck into their meal.

"Hermione, everything alright?"

"Yes"

"What did Lupin want?" Asked Ron

"He was just seeing how I was doing after the (Hermione looked around and lowered her voice) event."

"How are you feeling?" Asked Harry

"Better than earlier." She replied and she smiled softly "And very hungry" She chuckled and she dug into the feast.

The rest of the term went quickly, with Hermione and Remus spending the remaining full moons together in the Shrieking Shack until the Christmas Break arrived. Both feeling more alive and connected to each other the more time they spent together.

Hermione and Remus were walking down by the loch, enjoying one of the few moments they got that they could be alone without any interruptions from prying eyes and ears.

"What are your plans for the break?" Asked Remus. He had wanted to ask Hermione home for the holiday.

"Uh well my family is holidaying in Spain. I had planned to just remain here at Hogwarts. Why?" She asked.

"Well, I wanted to ask if you would consider spending the holidays with me at my cottage in Yorkshire."

Hermione smiled. "I would love to." She replied.

Remus smiled. "Excellent. We shall leave tomorrow after classes finish for the term."

Hermione nodded. "Where shall we meet?" She asked.

"We can meet in my classroom and we can floo from my quarters. " He said as they continued their walk.

The next morning came around quickly and Hermione went to breakfast with Harry and Ron. "So do you have any plans for the holidays Hermione?" Asked Ron

"Well my parents are holidaying in Spain. I'll be staying with a friend."

"What about you two?" She asked.

"We're going to visit Charlie in Romania. Haven't seen him for a while will be good to catch up."

"That's lovely" She said as she smiled as her eyes and thoughts went to Remus. They finished up breakfast 20 minutes later and proceeded onto their classes for the day.

Hermione thought back to breakfast and why she didn't just tell Harry and Ron she was spending the break with Remus. Would they have been mad? Confused? It didn't matter right now. She had the whole break to develop her relationship with Remus and then when she was sure of everything then she'd tell them.