"I see," Helen said as her brown eyes raked over Remus. "Well, it's so nice to meet
you. Hermione just went on and on about how wonderful you were in her letters home."
Hermione's cheeks flushed red. "Mum!"
Remus forced himself not to groan miserably. "She's a very bright young witch," he
said politely and then reached for Hermione's trunk. "Let me get that for you, Hermione."
"I'm fine, Remus," she assured him and then paused. "I mean Profess—
Mister Lupin?"
Remus blanched, almost dropping the trunk in the process as he shook his head
emphatically. "I told you, Remus is fine. I've got this. You shouldn't be lifting anything
heavy."
"Why not?" Helen asked.
Hermione's face went momentarily pale. "Oh, I umm... I was in a little accident
at school."
"Accident?" Richard's eyes widened. "What kind of accident?"
"I fell off my broom," Hermione lied.
Remus stared at her. Broom? That was the best she could come up with?
"You said you hated flying," Helen said suspiciously.
Hermione laughed, nerves evident in her tone. "And what do you know? Now I
hate it more. It's nothing, Mum. Just a few scrapes. Madam Pomfrey sent me home with
some potions. It's hard to explain. You... You wouldn't understand."
The Grangers turned and looked at Remus as though he could perhaps explain it
better, but Remus only offered an apologetic smile in return.
Remus stepped out of the front door of the Granger home after checking on
Minerva's wards and adding about six of his own personal ones, just in case. Hermione's
parents offered him tea and biscuits and then even insisted that he stay for dinner. The
reminder that he still had drinks planned with Dora forced him to decline, which was just
as well seeing that tomorrow was the full moon, and he was not sure he was in full control
of himself. Considering how much Hermione had kept about her injuries from her parents,
he was fairly certain that she had never told them that she knew a werewolf, or that they