the_debt_of_time

He smiled sweetly at her. "I won't put that pressure on you. It's not your responsibility. For the
record, I don't put too much faith in you; I have just enough faith in you and your talents, Hermione," he
said as he stepped closer to her, looking as though he wanted to put a comforting hand on her shoulder, but
he stopped and ran it through his greying hair instead.
"I'll be fine, though. It won't be the first full moon I've gone without the potion. Just the first in
a... a very long time."
"Will Tonks make it easier?" Hermione asked and watched with mild amusement as a wide-eyed
Remus gaped at the mention of the young Auror.
"What?"
"I'm sorry." She smiled at his flustered expression. "I don't mean to pry, but after the umm...
umm.. ."
He raised an unamused brow. "Spectacle in the hospital wing?"
"Yes. Well, I assume she's your mate?"
"How would you know that?"
"Books?" She shrugged her shoulders and laughed softly, though her answer was anything but a
joke. "I once wrote a very interesting essay about werewolves, you see, and only in my third year. Two rolls
of parchment worth."
"Three," Remus corrected, smirking. "I read every word you wrote, you know. I imagine then, in
addition to being able to recognise a werewolf, you learnt how a werewolf recognises its mate?"
Her smile faded into a frown. "You told Tonks that you were too dangerous for her."
"Also, that I was too old and too poor," he reminded her.
"Excuses," she insisted, and Remus reacted with a look of surprise. Hermione could not deny that
she had clearly nailed it on the head with her answer. "You're not a very good liar, you know."
Remus chuckled. "Not many Gryffindors are."
"The safety of a mate is a werewolf's primary instinct," she said, as though quoting a book. "It
goes above and beyond that of the need to hunt, even."
"Rivalled only by the need to protect one's pack." Remus frowned and turned from her, leaning
against the rail to her side as he stared out at the open, black sky, watching the approaching waxing moon
with interest.
"Do you have a pack?" Hermione asked.
"I did." Remus nodded. "Once."