Disclaimer: Harry Potter or any of its characters etc. etc. do not belong to me. They are purely the fictional art of JK Rowling. But this plot line is mine. Oh and the song I use isn't mine either.

The way I do

…

There had been many missteps in his life. At night, he would lie awake at times and review them, thinking how different the course of his existence may be if he had done some things differently. Even just one thing differently.

He would think back over how he could have prevented things, had he known better back then. How he could have prevented people from doing what they had done.

You wouldn't say he was a strong believer in destiny. He thought that to some extent, people chose their paths by themselves. Now if someone made a rash decision and ended up suffering the consequences, well he couldn't say anything to undo that.

But now he wondered if he could. Could he have been friendlier to Peter Pettigrew, enough to prevent him from betraying his friends and siding with whom the public refer to as He Who Could Not Be Named? Could that have initially saved the lives of James and Lily and left little Harry unscarred as The Boy Who Lived? Could he have, with a few simple words, changed the mind of Sirius Black when he paced to the Department of Mysteries in blind rage and worry for his godson? Could those words have saved the life of the only other living Marauder?

He didn't know.

Nor would he ever; because what ever had happened back then could not be reversed. And so the questions that tortured his being with every breath he took would remain unanswered for eternity.

Remus had given up living. Now you could say that he considered himself not among the walking wounded but among the walking dead. He had forgotten to live and now merely survived, wishing everyday that the blessing of death would be showered upon his empty lifeless days.

Your kiss,

Your smile,

You're mind,

You're sunlight in my eyes.

It had been one hell of a long day. A bad night's sleep didn't help the matter at all. Not that he ever really got a good night's sleep. His sleep pattern would have sent any self-respecting hospital- affiliated sleep clinic into a tailspin. He amassed his sleep in snatches, never getting more than just a couple of hours at a clip; usually it was less. Each of his nights was transformed into a patchwork quilt of sleep and wakefulness.

The trouble was that he couldn't get his mind to shut off and find peace even in repose. Half the time, he dreamed of all the things that he had come to experience during the course of his long, hectic days or, more than likely, during his earlier years.

He supposed that in comparison to this period, anything he had experienced then was a cakewalk, even if he did deal with the scum of the earth at times; what he faced these past few weeks was pure vermin. At least he had the consolation of knowing that he was ridding the world of pests, making it safer for people in the wizarding world, and muggle world, to sleep at night.

Contributing to the restlessness he now felt was the fact that a certain brunette book-worm hadn't been off of his mind for more than thirty minutes at a stretch. It was agitating to know that this newly grown woman, armed with the epitome of beauty, intelligence and wit, could break down his carefully constructed fortress.

The door creaked open.

"If you don't leave me alone and go home right now then I'm going to be sending for someone from the Order to come and remove you from my house!"

Short compared to him, the wavy haired brunette ordered sternly, her back facing the guilty party. Shocked momentarily, he regained his senses in less than a second.

He startled her. "I am from the Order, hey careful there…" he cautioned as the bookend slipped from her hands. He reached for it a second too late. "You could loose a toe like that." And then he looked at her ashen face. "What happened?"

She didn't know what to do. She was trying to stop herself from breaking down in front of a man who thought her to be a strong, independent soul. People came to her with their problems; he came to her with his problems, not the other way around. She was known to be a safety net, the sole being that could always cushion anyone's fall and help them get back up on their feet, even if it meant that she had to fall, herself, in the process.

But day by day she grew more and more weary of being the brave one. She wanted someone else to be brave for her for a change, if only for a second. She wanted the load to be lifted from her shoulders.

So instead of trusting her voice not to break, Hermione threw herself into the arms of her former professor, catching him completely off guard. "Just hold me."

"Okay." Awkwardly at first and then his arms closed around her comfortably. He held her close, enveloping her in his protective embrace. The enticing scent of the shampoo she used tripped lightly along his senses, arousing rather than sedating him. He tried miserably to move the sensation to the rear of his consciousness. "'Mione, What just happened here?"

He had rarely used her first name when addressing her. It was usually just 'Miss Granger'. Hermione felt tears materializing in her eyes and silently called herself an idiot. Nothing had really happened. How could she mourn over the loss of something she had never loved? How could she feel guilty for breaking something that she had never wanted?

It was because the person she had been with loved her. The person who had loved her had wanted that relationship. But if he had truly loved her, would he not have understood how she felt about certain aspects of her life? She hated Ron sometimes.

She mumbled into her comforter's chest while sobs finally broke free from their worn out cage and wracked her body. "Stupid Ronald."

"What did he do now?"

"What does he think I am? Sometimes I feel as if he doesn't even know me or the kind of person I am. I'm not someone who will sit around at home with five hundred kids, waiting for my 'oh so faithful' husband to return from his work, with dinner ready on the table."

Remus chuckled lightly. Even in this state of sadness, she could amuse him with her sarcastic comments and acumen. He was never happy with the strange coupling of the second youngest Weasley and Hermione Granger. They were too opposite to ever be attracted that way to each other.

Hermione was strong and independent. She liked company but also enjoyed time in solitude, with only the companionship of her books and if even not that, her thoughts would suffice. She had an insatiable quench for knowledge that he found very appealing, unlike many other men.

Ron Weasley, on the other hand, knew no more about books than a tortoise. He was like an encyclopedia when it came to Quidditch but other than that, he was pretty dense, even when only simple matters were being discussed. He was tall and slim and didn't fit well with Hermione's short, full figure. 'No he didn't. She fits well with you,' a tiny voice in his mind would say to him; and he would just push it to the back of his mind and forget it was ever there.

Well practically at least; he did still harbor feelings for the smart- mouthed brunette but she was a young witch, new born into the chess board of adult life while he was just another pawn to pass. Old as he was, he couldn't help but look at the witch in awe as if she were written by God as an ode to simplicity and perfection.

She looked up at Remus' face with an angelic but hurt expression and then her head fell back down again. It triggered something in him that he hadn't felt in a while now.

Possessiveness.

He felt rage. He despised Ron for trying to push down her dreams and aspirations and turn her into a house wife. To some, that life was suited well but his Hermione was far too ambitious for something like that. He felt possessive of her and wanted to hold her to him for eternity, never letting another soul harm what was his.

He looked down at her minute form. "I just feel so scared Remus. What if I'll never find someone who could let me be the way I am? I sometimes feel so intimidated."

He brushed a strand of her silky hair behind here ear. He watched her pupils widened and found himself struggling against falling in. Something tightened in his belly. "You're not the type to be intimidated."

It was what she needed to hear. He made her feel truly strong again, as if everything was going to turn out alright. "Thanks," she murmured, and then, because part of her still felt vulnerable, still felt the need for someone to turn to, she looked up at him.

Everything that she was feeling was in her eyes, and he felt himself being drawn in, felt himself wanting to protect her. To keep her out of harms way as long as there was a breath in his body.

Lightly, he slid his hand along her cheek, tilting her head up a little more. He rubbed the tip of his thumb along her lower lip.

And then before he knew it, before he could talk himself out of it, he kissed her.

Hermione sighed as she leaned into the kiss, into him. Surprise quickly turned to pleasure. Pleasure turned to desire.

All the fear, all the anxiety that had been dancing around inside of her suddenly burst forth. Overwhelmed by this all she clung to this tall, dark, silent hero who had stepped out of the shadows into the center stage of her life.

Remus was feeling things, things that he had promised himself he would never feel for a woman that he was so close to. Or perhaps any woman because feelings like this bound his companion when they wished to remain free. But he couldn't dictate himself now, couldn't reason himself out of what was happening to him. All he wanted to do was to feel.

And to loose himself in her sweet embrace.

The kiss grew to be all-encompassing and both Hermione and Remus disappeared into it willingly.

Desire came, strong and hard, gripping him by the chest and spreading swiftly out to the tips of his limbs. The feeling was alien to Remus, at least to this degree and with this intensity.

He couldn't explain it. Didn't want to examine it. Just wanted it to be.

His body was hot against hers as the swell of her chest pressed feverishly against his hard abdomen. He kissed her as if it was all that mattered in the world.

And then cold air rush around both their trembling forms as they held each other in utter silence.

And that's when it had begun.

I miss,

Your breath,

On my neck,

When we whisper in the night.

He was a silent man. Hermione herself had described him as just a tad bit more talkative than a sphinx. The truth was that his desire to vocally express anything at all had been diminished when it began to seem as though everyone that he had loved was dying. He had always enjoyed intellectual conversations and what he thrived for the most was an intellectual argument. It made him test his knowledge and skills enough to prove the person on the other side of the debate wrong and make them believe what he did. It amused him.

That spark had been long since extinguished by the dark, wailing skies that cried over the bodies of his deceased friends, family and acquaintances. His joy had fallen into a spiraling abyss, never to return and reunite with his body.

But lately, he felt a little hint of something ember inside of his heart as he debated occasionally with Hermione who spent most of her time in the Black library, just like him. They crossed paths almost everyday, reading together with a warm cup of classic white English breakfast tea.

Their friendly meetings soon turned more as of that one fateful night that he had chosen to visit her. Her sweet smile conveyed to him a hidden message as she sent him off to the dangerous expeditions that the Order had assigned to him. Unbeknownst to her, he had rushed all his work, reporting his findings as soon as he had returned and then pacing back to Grimmauld Place so that he could finally hold her again.

Ginny was first to know of their budding relationship. She did try her best to keep it a secret but her frequent slips soon made many household members such as Harry, the Weasley brothers and to his regret, Molly acknowledge that Hermione and he were together.

As expected, all but Molly were pleased with the coupling and he had to endure two hours of lecturing until he finally blurted out that he was in love with the young witch. 'What an unromantic way for the witch in question to find out about the latter,' he had though.

"…Remus don't you understand the circumstances of this situation? For Gods sake man, you are nineteen years older than the child. And don't you think that your lycanthropy would affect her? She is young and experimenting. She doesn't know what she wants. I don't want you to end up hurting her and I don't want her to end up hurting you Remus. There are many women who you could have these conquests with instead…"

Conquest. The word conquest labeled onto his and Hermione's relationship boiled his blood and made him grit his teeth.

"Molly I love Hermione! We are not fooling around!" he suddenly blurted out in his anger.

Molly stood at the other end of the table, with her jaw dropped so low that it was almost touching the ancient mahogany wood.

An unexpecting brunette walked passed the door at precisely that moment, her expression identical to Mrs. Weasley's, but her emotions completely different. She could have just walked away. Walked away and waited for a more apposite time to discuss this. But she had been waiting for so long that she couldn't wait any more.

She pushed the hardwood door open and stepped inside slowly. Ignoring Mrs. Weasley completely she crossed the room swiftly and straddled the lap of her partner. She combed back his unruly hair with her fingers, looking into his deep turquoise eyes.

"You what?"

"What?"

"Do you really mean what you just said?"

"But how did you-? I- yes. Yes I do. I love you."

Hermione grinned widely as soft tears graced her eyes and trickled down her flushed cheeks.

He stood up, holding her in his arms, completely ignoring Molly as she silently watched the two, and walked out of the kitchen and upstairs into his bedroom.

That night…

"Dinner!" Molly's booming voice echoed through the rooms of the household, summoning everyone to supper.

As Hermione got up off of the bed, a strong hand pulled her gently, but enough to make her fall back down onto the soft sheets. Long, shielding arms encircled her waist as crystal blue orbs stared back at her pensively.

"Lets just stay."

She looked back his longing face and placed a chaste kiss on his already swollen lips, settling her head comfortably next to his. They stayed the same way for the rest of the night that seemed all too short, whispering sweet nothings to each other or just laying in silence, content in each others company.

Now he questioned whether he was the right man for his beloved. He knew that he had come too deep to climb out again. He couldn't, and wouldn't for that matter, let her go. He hadn't come across anyone other that Harry who truly understood her love for knowledge and the specialty of her intellect, accepting her wholly for it. But she looked to him as a brotherly figure, and thank goodness for that.

He couldn't come to imagine his life without her and he didn't want to. He knew that he wouldn't be able to survive without her. She had stolen his heart and locked it away inside herself, making her the essence of his life. Her beauty inside and out had all but devoured him and he would never wish for anything while he was with her, bathed in the serenity that made her burnish vibrantly.

Now he lay on his cold bed, thinking about the past and what the future held for him. Would he be able to provide his loved one with everything that she desired? He was not, like all his other friends, wealthy enough to provide for himself and others. He worked without pay for the Order and if it wasn't for Harry's generous offer of letting him stay at Grimmauld, surely he would have been homeless.

If she was here tonight, such thoughts would have never crossed his mind because he would be too occupied by the mere sight of her to even comprehend the simplest of words. But she wasn't. She was in Japan, settling a business deal with a client who would merge with her company soon.

Boy she had some job… unlike him. It just added to the guilt that he couldn't get a lousy job while she was chief executive of a broom manufacturing company, working right below the man who created the DragonFire9000, the fastest broom to have ever been made. Sometimes, he let a little bit of the guilt weigh off of his shoulders by telling himself that it was his lycanthropy that prevented him from getting a good job since most self-respecting agencies didn't hire werewolves. But that was only partially true. He could have gotten a job in many places.

Now, he had made a decision. He would go out to the Ministry early tomorrow morning and hand in an application for a job as an Auror. Highly trained in dueling, Remus knew he would make a great Auror but the Ministry was yet to loosen up on its biased thoughts against lycanthropy infected wizards. But Voldemort had fallen, even though his followers remained, which had the Ministry officials rethinking many of their laws. If he got declined, he had nothing to loose; then.

But now he did.

Your touch, your skin,

Can't believe the way you let me in.

Don't rush, tonight,

I need you like the ocean needs the tide.

The door opened harshly banging to the other side and bouncing back as a woman dripping wet, held it open, standing at the doorway and silently looking in.

The noise startled Remus as he sat upright looking at his love, his Hermione, standing at his door. His eyes widened in recognition. She was supposed to be in Japan.

"'Mione! What are you doing here?" He looked at her hungrily, waiting for a reply.

"Coming for you…"

He looked at her face, wet with perspiration and precipitation. She was soaked from head to toe. Her face was rosy and she was obviously out of breath.

"Maybe you should go freshen up."

"I don't want to go."

Very slowly, he lifted her head and gazed at her. All his pulses were suddenly awake and active. His anticipation was at a heightened level.

"What is it that you want Remus?"

Hermione looked at him with chestnut eyes, the moonlight bathing her drenched form in seductive hues.

He touched her damp face and felt that same longing spring up within him he'd felt before. The longing that only seemed to associate with her. The longing that he had never felt before.

"You."

It was as if everything inside her had been holding its breath. And now she felt herself melting. Hermione smiled at him mischievously.

"That shouldn't be a difficulty." She moved closer to him until she was in his arms.

Closer too him, she got a better view of his pallid face. "Are you sure you won't hurt too much?"

She was referring to the full moon. It was due in days now and he had gotten fairly weaker. What was too much though? He was already aching. Mostly for her; like an old, forgotten instrument weeping to be played. Very slowly, he moved his head from side to side, giving Hermione his answer. "I'd hurt more if you left."

Her smile widened. "You know, for a man who doesn't talk all that much, you do come up with some lovely things to say."

"Must be the company I'm keeping."

She laughed softly. How had she been able to resist this for so long? She couldn't imagine ever leaving him again. It was impossible. "I'll accept that."

Remus bent his head down and slowly, placidly, he kissed her. Everything faded away. The concerns, the pain, and most of all the loneliness that ached so badly it threatened to swallow him up whole and send his soul back into the abyss from where it had come. He had no idea how he had managed to stay away from her these past two days.

An urgency filled her making her want to race even as she wanted to savor every moment, absorbing it like a sponge. Even as his mouth slanted over her, taking her higher and higher into the euphoria that he created for them, she fumbled with his buttons, desperate to undress him. Desperate to make love with him.

She pushed the material aside and threw it aimlessly on the floor, her mind focused on nothing but undoing his pants. Her heart vibrated like a tuning fork as she pushed the button through its hole and pulled down the zipper. She bit back a moan of anticipation as, his kiss deepening, he ripped away the buttons on her shirt, yanking away the material.

And then touching her.

Softly, reverently, in complete conflict with the wild, erotic sensations slamming through her like an ocean of tiny rubber balls.

She wanted him to take her this second. She grasped his shoulders to anchor herself to him as her knees began to feel as if they were buckling. He separated from her for less than a second to catch his breath and the next moment, Remus was covering her mouth with his own again, kissing her as if his very soul hung in the balance.

And then she couldn't talk, could even whisper a few words to him, emitting only sighs and moans, because he was assaulting every square inch of her, both literally and figuratively.

Remus moved his hand up her back and pulled her zipper down at an agonizingly slow pace. The cherry red fabric seemed to sigh right off her body. Sigh the way he realized he had as he saw her standing in front of him wearing lacy black under garments and stockings that seemed to have no earthly way of staying up.

Excitement tightened like a fist within his belly. He felt himself hardening more. It took him a second to reassure himself that he hadn't swallowed his own tongue. The rest was a haze of feelings, of desires and near fulfillments. He took off her bra and panties, teasing them both, but left her stockings in place. She was incredibly erotic, wearing only the soft scraps of nylon. His own clothes were shed in a flurry as the need to feel flesh against flesh grew more urgent.

He explored her, even as she explored him, and they drove each other almost crazy as they touched, caressed and pressed moist, openmouthed kisses along trembling skin. He went closer and closer to the edge, only to retreat at the very last moment.

Every time he'd pull himself back from the brink, he did so because he wanted to relish this feeling a little longer. Wanting to pleasure her a little more. It was the only way that he could ever thank her for the respite she was giving him, for dragging him out of the solitary world that he had inhabited for so long. Hermione twisted and turned beneath his touch, beneath the hot trail that his mouth was forging. Biting back moans.

Damn but she never thought it could be like this. Like fire and ice and shooting stars racing along the sky. Pleasure erupted in her veins over and over again, seemingly joined together in an endless loop that continued to corkscrew all through her. She wanted him with such intensity she was afraid she was going to explode.

Scrambling for more and more sensations, he pressed her close to him as if he had meant to mould her into his chest. Within moments, with internal flames urging them on, they were on the floor, wrapped up in one another.

She found she could hardly breathe. Remus had her completely on fire. She didn't know where to touch first, what to feel first. Everything looked exquisitely delicious. Every vital part of her throbbed, waiting for release, wanting him forever. His body was hard and firm and she couldn't get enough of him.

When he finally drove into her, their hands locked together, their bodies pressed against one another, she bit down on her lip to keep from crying out. She felt as if she was being ripped harshly into two, and when finally she couldn't take it, she groaned loudly, making his eyes shoot open.

Realization dawned upon him as he saw that he had claimed the innocence of an untouched woman. He tried to move out but as she winced in pain, he stopped. A rush of guilt rose into his body, making him feel like a criminal.

"Hermione. I'm so sorry. I had no idea. Just don't worry. It only last a little while." He looked at her eyes that were squeezed shut and thought that it was best that he sooth her now and apologize for his mistake later. But as soon as he had spoken she opened her eyes and lifted her head to kiss him.

"Don't say that. I never… did that, because I wanted to keep myself for the right person."

Her words struck him in the core of his heart sending wild sensations up his spine and through all his bones, shocking him. To her, he was the right guy. Him. He though, she had only seen the side of him that had plentiful to offer. He would not be able to support her. But all his resolves melted away as she kissed him leisurely once more and made him discard all negative thoughts, returning back to his priority; his life.

She felt him enter her once more. Felt the sweet, powering sensation as he sheathed himself within her. She raiser her hips urgently, meeting him halfway. Beginning the movement that would ultimately bring then down from the summit that they were climbing.

His eyes were on her, as if her were trying to memorize her every feature, her every breath. Mesmerized, he didn't even blink.

Remus moved harder and harder, needing release and yet, at the same time, not wanting this time to end. He wanted her with such force that it all but completely undid him.

Together they raced to the final moment. When it came, she cried out his name in ecstasy. It escaped in an exhausted whisper that echoed in his head long after it had faded from the air. He had tightened his arms around her, pulling her into him. He tried to absorb her into his very skin, feeling things that he couldn't put into words even if he had wanted to try.

As the sensation slowly began to ebb away, he continued to hold her to him, vainly trying to prolong the moment. But eventually it flowed on the wings of the night. After its departure, inexplicably, a sweetness had begun to fill him. He couldn't make heads or tails of it, only knew that it was her doing.

She was a very smart witch, casting spells over him. Turning his life upside down. Making him want things he had no business wanting. A home, a family. A normal life. None of which he had any firsthand experience in.

Using the remainder of his strength, Remus gathered her against him in his arms. Everything within him felt as if it was smiling and his own mouth curved upwards.

"I love you."

I always thought I would stand on my own,

Climb a mountain top all alone,

Relying, depending on no one.

Now look what you've done.

He looked down at his sleeping beauty, resting peacefully in his arms. He'd keep it that way forever. Remus couldn't imagine what he would do to himself if he ever lost her. He had almost done that once and the experience had been thoroughly death-bringing. He had killed himself over the fact that he hadn't been with her that night. That he had decided he had work to do before he returned home. What a stupid mistake that was. He would never be able to bring himself to forget that day. The day he had almost lost Hermione. Lost her to a killer.

"Where the hell is she Alice?" Remus burst open the doors to the dark, gloomy pub and instantly headed for the counter, wild flames ignited in his eyes like bursts of fire shot out by vicious dragons.

"Remus. What are you talking about?" The small woman cowered behind the only thing that separated herself from the angry beast.

"Hermione. You told me she never came by here, when I told you I had sent her. But Severus thinks otherwise!!"

"Calm yourself. I told you once and I'll tell you again that she isn't here!"

He skipped multiple stairs as he flew up towards the hotel rooms calling out the name that had blessed and cursed his soul. "Hermione! Come out now!" He burst into the room that he had assigned to her name and searched it quickly. She was nowhere. He turned to look back at the frightened pub owner when he caught sight of a bright purple bag, carelessly tucked away underneath the old, stale bed. Hermione's backpack. Reaching down to pull it out, he noticed many other items scattered under there.

Remus looked up in disbelief, staring at Alice, a woman who had once been a motherly figure to him, with a questionable look on his face.

"I'm sorry Remus. He wouldn't throw those away." She referred to the belongings of his deceased younger sister who was at the time of her death, working with Ted and Alice at their pub. "And I didn't want to face the truth." She buried her face in her hands, ashamed.

"What truth Alice?!"

"Oh I almost died when I found out about what went on between them Remus," she wailed, her eyes pleading with him to understand. "From the first, Ted was taken with Aania. I tried to pretend that he was just being kind and loving but-" She sobbed. "I knew what was going on."

"Why in the hell didn't you say something?" Remus exploded, sick at his stomach.

Ted and Aania!

"By the time, I knew it was too late," she said tearfully. "I knew that if I made a fuss, Ted would kick me out and... I don't have anything or anybody besides him and the pub. When Aania moved out, I thought it was over. She started dating a chap named Marco Winans and I thought that was that. Ted seemed to accept it and then it happened."

"For God's sakes, Alice!"

"I'm so sorry Remus! I should have stopped Ted. He'd been drinking and was like a madman filled with jealousy when he took his gun and stormed up to that poor fellow's home."

The truth hit Remus with the force of hurricane winds. "He killed my Aania! And Winans!"

Alice nodded, unable to speak due to the horrible shakiness of her voice.

The fear that had been building in Remus burst full-blown. He's got Hermione!

Remus had a fair idea why Ted would want Hermione. She looked so much like Aania. But what he didn't know was that unlike Ani's solemn, dark personality, Hermione was bubbly and sweet. She had a cheerful character that shone brightly through her eyes.

Remus apparated quickly to the store where Alice had said he was headed.

"John, Is Ted Macally here?"

"Not now. He was but he left a few minutes ago. Don't know where he was headed. Not back to town, I reckon."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well when I came out the shop for a quick drag, I saw him turn that load he drives in the other direction- towards the old factory road. Don't know what anybody would be doing up there at this time of night."

Remus raced out of the building. He had to reach the maze of factories by driving because it had anti-apparation charms all around it, even if it had been abandoned years ago. There were a hundred places where Ted could have taken Hermione in the factory site. It was going to be extremely tough finding her. His head resounded with terrifying fears. Was he in time to save her? Or was it already too late?

Hermione felt the night chill creeping into the darkened cabin. Her resilience had been ebbing away all day and the fear she had struggled to control had defeated her. Ted had warned her that she could yell all she wanted to and no one would hear her.

Now at the end of a long day without food and water, she was beginning to drift in and out of a blessed state of unconsciousness. No longer were here ears tuned to catch the expected sounds of approaching footsteps. Somehow she knew the waiting was almost over. It was just a matter of hours, or maybe minutes, until Ted would be back as he had promised. He was going to kill her as deliberately as he had murdered Aania and Marco.

Thinking about Remus was the only reprieve she had during these last few hours. Life had not passed her by, after all. At least, she had experienced a love that could fill her heart and soul. She drew memories of his touch, smile, kisses and caresses.

As Remus headed up the rutting factory road, he felt the fear inside him heighten to unearthly levels. A mantle of shadows played over the darkened walls where old, decaying trees stood, looking crippled by the passing storms. Remus hadn't been up this far in the industrial site since the company had pulled out several years earlier. He bent over the steering wheel, peering ahead, hoping with every turn that a pair of tail lights would come into view, but there was no sign of Ted's brown van. When he reach the center of the lot, dubbed 'camp site' by the company, he saw only a few abandoned camp items and tumbled-down structures, half-hidden in the shadows of giant granite rocks.

Hermione was floating in a blessed, numbing haze when the crunch of footsteps edging towards her jerked her back to reality.

Ted was here!

"No, please," she croaked with a dry throat and mouth as he came into the darkening shack. He'd thrown Aania to her death. Shot Winans. And prepared a more lingering, horrifying death for her.

Ignoring her plea, he picked up a can of gasoline and turned away from the door. She could hear his feet crush the dirt underneath him as he circled the old shack, pouring the gasoline. Another perfect crime for him. A burned-down shack where the charred bones inside would remain unnoticed for years.

Even though he had warned her that yelling was useless, Hermione filled the night with feeble cries.

Remus had just spied Ted's brown van and was hurrying towards it when he heard faint cries coming from the old cabin perched below on a shelf of granite rocks. When he saw a dark figure circling the structure, he ran across the rutted ground. As Remus bounded down the incline, he smelled a strong scent of gasoline in the air. Desperately, he tried to reach Ted before he could drop the match, but he was too late."

The dry old timber caught fire.

Remus leaped at Ted, and with a fierce blow to the chin, sent him reeling backwards and crumbling to the ground.

Smoke filled the shack like a rolling fog. Gasping for breath, Hermione writhed in a spasm of coughing. Her lungs burned. Her vision became blurry and she knew that her end had finally come.

When fresh air touched her face a moment later, she dared to open her stinging eyes. Remus' face swam into focus. Carrying her a safe distance away, he set her down on the ground, untied her hands and feet, and cradled her protectively in his arms, creating a barrier that, for just a moment, kept the rest of the world from reaching her. "Its alright, love. I've got you." He stroked her hair, adorned with natural oils, as she sobbed quietly into him, clutching his shirt fiercely.

She clung to him tightly, unable to make the fear go away. He held her too, the very same way. He could have easily lost her today. Ted's scenario could have come true. The pain was just as awful as he had ever imagined it to be. The joy in realizing it wasn't true was beyond description.

Within minutes, the deserted area was crowded with police officers and detectives. Voices and noise filled the air. Hermione held at bay as long as she could, clinging to Remus. Getting her bearings. She rested, putting her weight on him, as she fell into an exhausted state of slumber, knowing that the nightmare was finally over.

Hushed sounds of early morning greeted Hermione as she was treated for severe dehydration and exhaustion at St. Mungo's. She didn't remember much about the ride from the factory site, only that Remus had held her in his arms and the police officer had drove at breakneck speed since her condition had made her too fragile to bear the effects of apparation.

Remus kept speaking to her in tender soothing tones, and she could see him standing close by as the mediwitch began to take a few readings, jotting them down on a chart. He held her hand firmly when she had slipped away into exhausted sleep. He had kept repeating reassurances to her, as much for himself as for her, as he stroked her damp forehead.

Now, sitting beside her hospital bed, Remus drew on the doctor's assurance that she just needed a couple of days of recuperation. After a long night, she finally awoke and smiled lovingly at him. Relieved, he squeezed her hand and kissed her forehead as a hint of grateful tears spilled into his eyes. They were going to be okay.

Hermione blinked open her eyes to find herself completely relaxed and satiated with love. She lay with her back nestled against Remus' muscular body, his arms around her, the tensions and insecurities of the previous days fading away like a fog before a warm sun. She had experienced a fulfilling peace that radiated to the depths of her being.

Now I can't go on without you,

I'm naked, I can't fake it,

And I'm not that strong without you,

Never thought I could love you, the way I do.

Hermione shifted quietly and turned around in his arms to face him, wide awake and deep in thought. His face was creased with intelligent lines when he was thinking about something and it gave his face an irresistible look of wisdom and understanding that was usually hidden away beneath his tough exterior. Unable to resist, she lifted her head a little higher and kissed his lips eagerly. An electric sensation shot out from their touching skins and travelled through every nerve in her body, making her fervent and giddy.

A brush of the ancient moonlight played through the half open curtains of his bedroom. Remus looked down upon her lovely nakedness and a swell of tenderness nearly choked him. As his hands slipped over her skin smoothly, his mouth found hers in a kiss that began softly and built to passionate insistence. She engaged his senses like no other woman he had ever known, and for the first time in his life, he surrendered all of himself. As she clung to him, a building rhythm of exploding sensation joined them together, and he gave himself wholly and completely to a love he'd never known before.

As she lay in his arms, both trying to regulate their breaths, he longed to make a commitment to her, promising love and devotion for the rest of their lives, but the words would not come. It was not because his feelings had lacked sincerity, but because he had nothing more to offer to her than himself. When the sun rose up, he would still be just Remus Lupin, a working man, lacking money, living at the house of his best friend's godson.

She looked up at him to find him, once more, in deep thought.

"What's keeping you up tonight?" She gazed at his face with wide orbs, shining like chocolate in the dimly illuminated room. She brushed her lips lightly against his, and unbeknownst to her, had succeeded in brushing away any noble resolve on his part.

He sat up straight, causing her to do the same, and pulled her close.

"Marry me."

Dumbfounded, she stared at his face as her pupils grew large. She searched his face for any sign of dishonesty or humor even, but there was none. He was seriously asking her to marry him.

"I- what?"

His heart fell, racing down at an unearthly speed and hitting the ground like a nuclear bomb, shattering to pieces, sending shards flying through the air and stabbing every inch of his tense body. But he caught hold of himself and restrained his feelings to prevent them from being displayed.

"No I get it. I'm sorry I brought it up. I ju-"

She cut him off half way through his useless rambling and pulled him into a long sweet kiss that all but screamed out her answer. Inside, mountains of excitement and happiness erupted through her, explosions manifested around every cell in her being.

She had carefully removed every piece of shattered glass from his form and off the ground, and put it back together with such ease that his blew his mind completely. The way his heart had felt, reformed and thumping loudly, had felt indescribable. He was soaring to new heights. He had seen a glimpse of this when, at the night of their first kiss, she had punched a hole into the confining barricade around his soul and showed him a glimpse of rainbow, and other things that he had never even imagined he would have, inside of himself.

When they broke apart, he stared at her for the longest moment and realized that it would be better to tell her now than have her suffer later.

"But Hermione, I can't provide for you." His voice was almost pleading, as if afraid that when the reality of the situation dawned upon her, she would leave him.

"Yes you can."

"I don't even have a job."

"Honey you think I care about your money?" Remus looked down, ashamed about the fact that he had thought this but also that he had been initially lacking the latter, which caused this topic to arise.

"I just want to-"

"Remus I don't want your money. I don't even need it. We don't. I have you. I just need you to stay safe and come back to me every night. I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

She remained calm. Her insides were boiling at the fact that he would ever think that such a thing would matter to her, but to some extent, she could understand that he was worried.

He glanced at her face and then lifted his own, coming to the understanding that materialistic possessions would never be appealing to his partner. He still felt that he should be able to provide for his family, but he would deal with that tomorrow at the ministry. Today, he just wanted to loose himself in the petite beauty that sat in front of him, accepting him and letting him into her life wholly despite his flaws.

Remus gathered her small, perfect form against him hastily and kissed her once more. Hard. And the dance began all over again despite all of his resolutions and rules to the contrary.

Fin.

­A/N: Okay so how was it? If i made any mistakes please feel free to point it out. Thanks.

xoxDrAcArDoRiSxox