CHAPTER 13

Hermione and Remus both settled in at the bar while Sirius floated off to find a conquest or two. Hermione smiled to herself as she realized she felt no pang of jealousy to see him seeking out female company besides her. She and Remus sat together for a moment, his hand placed gently over hers, before the bartender arrived.

"Hey, I remember you," the bartender said to Remus. "Where's that lucky black-haired bloke? The one who snagged the pretty blonde a week or two ago?"

Remus winced. Hermione's eyes widened.

"Perhaps I've said too much . . ." said the bartender apologetically.

"No, no, it's alright," said Hermione, waving her hand.

The bartender walked away to serve another customer, obviously uncomfortable with the situation brewing.

"I'm sorry, Hermione," whispered Remus.

"Please, it's alright," she said.

Her eyes sought Sirius, who was now surrounded by a handful of lanky women, as usual. She smiled.

"I suppose I knew," Hermione said.

Remus turned his head to one side in question.

"I mean, I didn't i know /I , but I knew that I couldn't keep him for myself," Hermione said, just as an auburn-haired woman was laying her arm on Sirius's chest flirtatiously. "I don't think it's fair to my gender to try."

Hermione was grinning at Remus teasingly, and he laughed. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and kissed her quickly on the cheek.

"Let's go," he said.

Hermione nodded her agreement. Remus tossed a coin to the bartender and they returned to Number 12 Grimmauld Place.

They walked in the front door, and Remus shrugged out of his coat, hanging it on the coat rack in the foyer. Hermione did the same. He turned to her, gazing at her with those kind, amber eyes, but his gaze dropped, his hands wringing together.

"I'm nervous," he admitted quietly.

"Nervous?" she asked with a playful grin. "Why would you be nervous?"

Remus chuckled, but didn't look up at her.

"I've never . . . you know . . . we haven't . . ."

"Remus, I hate to be the one to tell you," she said with a quizzical expression, "but we have."

He glanced into her laughing brown eyes and took a deep breath.

"I know," he rambled, "but that was when he was here, and I just don't know if I can live up-"

"Shh," she admonished, placing her fingers over his lips and furrowing her brow.

Hermione quickly replaced her fingers with her lips, her mouth swallowing any further protests from the lycanthrope. His gentle hands wound around her waist, his patient tongue waited for her permission to enter her mouth. She let her lips part and it slipped in to dance with hers, clumsy and nervous at first, but very soon finding a rhythm.

Remus, thin and lithe as he was, lifted her up off her feet and carried her gallantly to his bedroom, shutting the door behind him with his foot and depositing her on the bed in a move that had a distinct Sirius Black flair to it, though Hermione knew better than to voice that observation. He climbed into bed with her, stretching out alongside her body and letting his cautious fingers explore her without yet having removed any of her clothing.

Hermione's skin was feverish and her body ached to be touched in all the places he was chivalrously and diligently avoiding, but at the same time, she felt something new in this experience. His amber eyes were full of lust and desire, yes, but there was that familiar look of love in them that gave her pause. Hermione spent a long moment just gazing into those eyes.

"I love you," she whispered.

His nervousness was banished at her statement and he leapt onto her like a wild animal released from its cage. His hands wound into her hair and his hips pressed against hers so that she could feel the unmistakable bulge present there. She shuddered all over in anticipation; Remus's cock was simply magnificent, and to finally have it all to herself . . .

His hands were fumbling with her buttons, and she whispered softly to encourage him. When her jeans were on the floor and her tiny panties were slipped down past her ankles, Remus positioned himself between her beautiful legs, inhaling deeply and savoring her scent.

His tongue descended on her swollen bud, swirling around it as she gasped out her pleasure. Her hips bucked, and he fought with his arms to keep her pressed firmly against the feathery comforter. Hermione whimpered and moaned under his tongue's skilled ministrations, and Remus stared at her from his position between her legs, taking in each of her ecstatic expressions. After she orgasmed, he gently cupped a hand over her center to help her come down as he kissed his way back up to her lips.

He positioned himself on top of her, his knee gently spreading her legs as he positioned himself at her entrance. He hadn't taken her like this: she was all his, no one else's, and she was heavenly lying beneath him. Remus pushed himself inside her, slowly, inch by inch, and heard her satisfied moan as he did so. Her eyelashes fluttered and her breath became uneven. When he was finally sheathed inside of her, he let himself groan as she had.

Remus's hips slowly began their back and forth motion. His lips were places kisses everywhere he could reach, and her hands were threaded in his hair as she kissed and nipped at his neck. Her back started to arch, and she had her ankles hooked behind his back to pull him in deeper, though with his sheer size, there were places inside her that he could reach when no one else could.

Remus shifted his position, sitting up on his knees and pulling her beautiful legs up onto his shoulders, taking a moment to kiss each calf. Hermione gasped at the deeper contact, it almost hurt her to be taken this way by a man with such assets.

"Relax," he whispered hoarsely.

She did, and after her body accustomed to the man inside of her, she felt the familiar pressure of orgasm building in her abdomen. Remus's face was contorted with pleasure, and the sight of him, the calm, collected one, overtaken by his carnal instincts gave her a swooping sensation in her abdomen.

Her back was arching again, and her heavy breaths became needy whimpers. He held her hips firmly as he pushed in and out, her brown eyes were hooded and her body rising to meet his thrusts. Out of her mouth poured dirty words he didn't even know that she knew, and it turned him on even more.

"Fuck, I'm . . . I'm going to come," she whimpered.

Remus felt her inner walls clamp down on his swollen cock and her face twisted up in ecstasy. Overwhelmed by her release, he found his own, spilling into her and groaning his pleasure.

Breathing heavily and covered with a light sheen of sweat, Remus rolled off of her and pulled her close to him. Her head rested gently on his chest as her arm draped across his body.

"Hermione?" asked Remus quietly.

"Hm?" she responded, hardly hearing him through her satiated pleasure.

Remus wrapped his arms around her tighter and kissed her forehead.

"I love you," he whispered against her face.

A/N: Alright, well that's it for the regular chapter! Luckily enough for you, there is going to be an epilogue, but I don't want to make any promises on when it will be up. The muse for this story has been deplorably absent. So thanks for reading, and I'll work on the epilogue as soon as I can!