The Now of Wolf Thought

Batter Up!

Remus pulled Hermione's hand up and kissed it as they ambled toward a bench against the wall. "I'm starving," he said.

"Do you think it's due to the proximity of the erkling?"

He nodded. "Probably. What did you bring?"

"Just snacks. I did pack a sandwich though, just in case," she replied.

Remus perked up. "What kind of sandwich?"

"Just ham and cheese with a spot of mayonnaise."

Remus nodded quickly as he salivated. He held out his hand and tried his best to be patient.

"Would you like some crisps..." She watched him devour the sandwich in four bites. "Did you even taste that?"

He nodded as he licked his lips. "It was quite lovely. Thank you. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to eat the entire thing."

"You ate it in four bites, Remus! If you were that hungry..."

He tried in vain to make himself smaller and she inched closer to him, turned his face toward hers and nuzzled his nose as she grinned through her kiss.

"My, what big teeth you have..."

Remus laughed in spite of himself.

"I'm glad that you can take a joke, Remus," she chuckled.

"Aww, it's all good, Hermione. I do take myself a bit too seriously, sometimes."

"I noticed," she replied and lay her head against his shoulder.

"Tired?"

"A bit. But we're almost done."

He nodded. "Yes. Lets get this finished up and we can return to the common room. There you can rest whilst I write up the report."

She nodded her head in agreement and he stood before her, his hand extended. Her hand seemed so small compared to his and he lowered his face toward hers and inched his face closer. His lips met with hers tenderly, gently sucking on her tongue. When he ended the kiss, she licked her lips as she breathed in deeply, feeling her nether-region as well as her entire body heat up immediately. "Oh my..."

"To OZ," he asked quietly as held out his arm.

"To OZ," she replied.

"I hope you do t expect me to go skipping through the corridor singing 'We're Off To See The Wizard' or anything..."

Her face lit up and she squealed as she wrapped her arms around his neck, easily lifting her from the floor. He sighed happily as he closed his eyes.

Remus and Hermione finished their rounds without further incident and relaxed in the common room upon their arrival. Remus wrote his notes to give to Professor McGonagall in the morning. He included the incident with the erkling, just in case Malfoy reported his injury. He turned the incident report over to Hermione for her approval. She looked it over and returned the paper toward him and snuggled tightly toward him as she stared at the fire.

"May I kiss you again Hermione," he asked.

She shifted her weight and lifted her face toward his ear in a silent reply. His fingers tenderly grazed her cheek, finally cupping her face. Looking into her eyes, he lowered his face to hers and felt his lips graze the soft skin of her lips, his fingers sliding down her neck to her shoulder. Finding the fabric of her blouse, his fingers, unbuttoning the tiny white buttons with only minute difficulty, still he managed to do it quickly. She took her hand in his and placed it on her breast through her white cotton bra and deepened the kiss as he tenderly kneaded the plump flesh beneath his fingers. She rolled her body and straddled him on her knees, raising her body so that her face was level with his. Seconds later, his hands were on the outside of her thighs, rising slowly as he leaned in for another kiss, his fingers sliding upward into the elastic of her panties, cupping her bottom with his large hands. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply...this was going to happen.

He opened his eyes as an odd spark caught his eye. Then he froze and his head fell backward against the sofa with a thud. He grumbled and sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose with his finger and thumb.

"What? What is it? Did I do something wrong?"

"Button up, quickly."

"What?"

"Do it. Now. Quickly..."

Seconds later, Professor Lupin was standing in the middle of the common room with Sirius Black. The look on Black's face was apologetic as he stood behind the Professor, his hands on his hips sighing heavily, while the look on the Professor's was nearly lethal. "Hermione," he said, getting her attention. Her eyes widened as she too froze, her fingers just buttoning the next to last button.

"Professor?"

"I think you might want to be heading upstairs to your dorm room, yes?"

"Yes Professor." She clenched her eyes tightly and she crawled off of her boyfriend. "Sorry," she whispered.

Remus nodded and grimaced. "See you tomorrow."

"Good night."

He nodded.

Only when they were alone, did Sirius speak. "About to round second base there, Rey?"

Remus glowered at Sirius. "About to slide into third actually."

"Atta boy!"

The elder Lupin grumbled. "You're not helping, Sirius..."

"Says you," Sirius retorted.

"Yes. Says me."

"You two really do sound like an old married couple! I wish you could hear yourselves!"

Professor Lupin inched closer and pointed his long finger toward his younger self. "You are a Prefect Remus..."

"Yes, yes. And now you're about to lecture me about my rights and responsibilities as said Prefect..."

The Professor stood stock still, his mouth agape.

Sirius reached around and lifted Lupin's jaw with his index finger. "I think you made your point Remus. Miss Granger's virtue is safe once again. We can go home now, yeah?"

The good Professor breathed in deeply. "Let this be a warning."

"A warning? A warning of what?"

"How about this? If you're caught again, you can say goodbye to Hogwarts and to a one Miss Hermione Jean Granger..."

Remus stood instantly and quickly advanced upon his older self. "You Sir, do not have the authority to do that."

"True, but I do have the authority to make people listen to me and it will happen Remus. Mark my words. It will happen!"

"Oh yeah? And just where am I supposed to go? Azkaban? That's where they send monsters like us isn't it?"

The Professor's nostrils flared, as his pupils grew into pin points.

Sirius stood nearly between them, lest the confrontation come to blows.

"Come on Sirius." Lupin turned on his heel and advanced quickly toward the floo. He reached into the pocket of his jumper and grabbed at the small bag of floo powder, then threw it into the hearth. "Headquarters," he grumbled.

"You know what? I think he has more balls than you do, Remus."

"Shut up Sirius," the Professor grumbled.

"Shut up yourself," Sirius replied under his breath.

Sirius turned toward Remus and grinned at him as he held out his hand, giving him a thumbs up. A second later and they were both out of sight and the green flames returned to normal.

"You're right. I do," Remus replied to no one.