I Think I Love You

Hermione sat on her bed, looking through an old photo album she had put together of pictures Colin Creevey had taken at her graduation. She picked up the remote to her radio, and tuned it to one of her favorite muggle stations. She flipped the page of the book, the subjects of the pictures laughing and talking to one another in the candid shots, smiling out of the frame in the posed shots. She turned the page, and found the section of group shots.

First came all of the clubs. Hermione hadn't belonged to any clubs, she found they distracted her form more important things, but while skimming through the fifteen or so seventh year clubs, she caught sight of Harry and Ron in a few of the pictures. After the club pictures came the pictures of the house quidditch teams. Hermione smiled fondly at the picture of the Gryffindors, Harry proudly clutching one handle of the quidditch cup, Ron grasping the other. Both boys' hair was very tousled from the wind, and it was obvious the picture had been taken as soon as the team had gotten off their brooms. Hermione was pleased to see the Slytherin team scowling in their photograph.

Turning the page, Hermione found the pictures of all of the students from every house together. Although this shot was supposed to have all house intermingling with each other, Hermione saw that most of the Slytherins had separated themselves from the group, although they had to be given some credit, for they were at least smiling. On the next pages, each professor had been given a page where they could write a personal message to whichever student the particular book belonged to.

Almost all of Hermione's teachers had commented on her study habits, and told her what a brilliant student she was, and how they all knew she would go far in her life, but as Hermione turned page after page, she saw that a few of the notes stood out much more than others. Professor McGonagall's, Dumbledore's, Lupin's, and even the words written in Snape's spidery script were different.

On the first page was Professor McGonagall's stern face smiling up at her, and below that a message written in perfect, neat handwriting.

My dear Miss Granger, or I suppose I should familiarize myself with Professor Granger,

I am pleased that I will still be able to work with you now that you are taking Professor Binns' place at Hogwarts next year. I daresay you will be able to make his subject much more enjoyable. Please remember that my office door is always open to my friends, and if ever you find yourself in a difficult situation, you may by all means call on me.

Yours,

Minerva McGonagall

Hermione smiled at the writing. She deeply appreciated the encouragement from her old professor. Knowing that McGonagall had always been her most critical teacher made it twice as rewarding to know that the professor approved of her placement.

The next page showed Dumbledore's face looking up at her, his blue eyes twinkling merrily as usual. The words in his loopy handwriting were just as pleasant as his personality.

Miss Granger,

Allow me to congratulate you on your graduation. You are one of the finest students these halls have ever been stepped on by, and I'm glad that you are not leaving them too soon. You are welcome at Hogwarts at any time this summer, although I would suggest that you are here at least one week before the students arrive in order to prepare yourself. As this is not our final farewell, I shall leave this short, but I would enjoy your company for a cup of tea every once and awhile.

Until next year,

Albus Dumbledore

The next few pages were filled with different teachers, none of which stood out from the rest, all of them saying pretty much the same thing. All of them wished her good luck in her new teaching position, all of them telling her she was perfect for the job. She glanced briefly at all of them before turning to Professor Snape's page.

So, Miss Granger,

I thought I was finished with you at last, but I was mistaken. As much as I hate to admit it, I shall look forward to getting to know you, and working with you, as long as you are not so much of an insufferable know-it-all.

-Severus Snape

Hermione giggled, remembering the day in her 3^rd year when Snape had called her a know it all. She supposed it was true, she had been insufferable, even Harry and Ron had thought so, but she couldn't help it. It was just the way she was. She sighed and leaned back onto her pillows, turning to Lupin's page as the chorus of a song came on the radio.

~**~

I think I love you

So what am I so afraid of

...

*~~*

Hermione's heart skipped lightly as Professor Lupin's still young looking face looked up at her, his gray speckled hair surrounding his face in an uncaring fashion. His large amber eyes looked up at her, the laugh lines clearly visible.

Hermione,

I am very pleased to have had the pleasure of teaching you for the two years I did. You are a wonderful young woman, and I do hope we can become closer friends whilst we teach. If you ever need advice, or just to talk, my door is always open, well, except for one night each month, but I'm sure you can work around such details.

Have a good summer,

Remus Lupin

Hermione felt her cheeks heat up as she finished reading the note. As she realised this, she gave herself a mental slap in the face.

"I don't have a crush on my teacher!" Part of her was disgusted with herself.

"He isn't your teacher anymore! Look how he signed it: Remus Lupin, not Professor Lupin! Plus, look at his eyes!" The other side of Hermione's mind was the reckless side, the side she only listened to when Harry came up with another of his so called great ideas. But Hermione was determined not to listen to that second voice this time. She switched off her radio, the last song still playing through her head.

~**~

I'm sleeping

And right in the middle of a good dream

Then all at once I wake up

From something that keeps knocking on my brain

Before I go insane

I hold my pillow to my head

And spring up in my bed

Screaming out the words I dread

"I think I love you!"

*~~*

Hermione was back at the end of her third year, and was just finishing her Defense Against the Dark Arts exam. She climbed into a large trunk and came face to face with a very somber looking Professor McGonagall.

"Miss Granger, I'm very sorry, but I'm afraid you've failed all of your classes. You may not return to Hogwarts next year."

Hermione racked her brain for a way to make the situation humorous, but the Boggart's words still rang in her ears.

"NOOOOO!" she screamed, realising her face was wet with newly shed tears. She collapsed onto the floor, the boggart advancing on her, and then a bright light lit up the trunk and, looking up, she saw Professor Lupin staring down at her looking concerned. The light around his face made it appear as if he were glowing. He extended a worn, scarred hand to her, and she took it, surprised at how warm it was. He pulled her out of the trunk, and held her close to him.

"Hermione, what happened?" he asked her, his voice calm and soothing.

"Professor McGonagall," Hermione heard herself say, "she said I failed everything." By now she had calmed down a lot, but found she didn't want the older professor to let go of her....

The eighteen year old Hermione sat bolt upright in her bed.

"I think I love him," she said to the darkness of her room. She reached around and grabbed her pillow, grabbing it to her chest and resting her chin atop it.

You're insane, she kept telling herself, and yet the part of her brain she rarely listened to, the part of her brain attached to her heart kept telling her that it wasn't insanity. It was love.

~**~

This morning, I woke up with this feeling

I didn't know how to deal with

And so I just decided to myself

I'd hide it to myself

And never talk about it

And did not go and shout it

...

*~~*

On the morning of Harry's eighteenth birthday, Hermione awoke to find a beautiful day outside. She didn't bother to pull her robe on overtop her pajamas as she headed downstairs to fix her breakfast. While the sausage was sizzling in the skillet, Crookshanks came striding in, a large spider dangling from his mouth.

"Oh, Crookshanks, you good boy, do you have to bring that in here?"

Crookshanks meowed softly and trotted out of the room to devour his prey. Once Hermione sat down to eat her own breakfast, a large snowy owl flew in the open window.

"Hello, Hedwig! What have you got for me?"

Hermione pulled off the note and read:

'Mione,

I hope you don't mind, but I've told Remus he could come over and use your fireplace to get to my place tonight. He couldn't get a ticket on the knight bus, and the Burrow is crowded enough as it is. Owl me if this is a huge problem. If it isn't he says he's going to show up around 4ish. I sort of already told him I'd checked with you. Thanks a lot and see you tonight,

Harry

Hermione gasped. Remus? Here? Four O'clock?? That meant she had only four hours to get ready! She had slept in far too late. Hermione scribbled a quick note to Harry that this was fine, and gulped down the rest of her breakfast. She set the pots and dished to work cleaning themselves (something she rarely did because she enjoyed simple muggle things like dishes) and ran upstairs to her bathroom to find her bottle of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion. She set it on the counter and set off to find her party dress. She had bought it at the last minute, waiting until she found the perfect dress. She had seen it the past weekend in a muggle shop window. It was red satin, and came tightly down to her waist, at which point it flowed down to her knees.

Three hours later, her hair was finally looking as she wanted it to, and she was buckling her strappy heels. She headed downstairs to tidy up and wait for Remus. After making sure everything was clean, she plopped down on the small sofa, summoning a random book off her shelf. 45 minutes later, Hermione was so wrapped up in the Roman mythology that she had completely forgotten that Remus was on his way. And so, as she was reading deeper and deeper into the stories, she jumped when she heard a knock at the door. She quickly got up, straightened her dress and walked over to open the door.

When she opened the door, there stood Remus Lupin, looking very handsome. He was dressed in dark blue jeans, and a tan button up shirt.

~**~

When you walked into the room...

"I think I love you!"

*~~*

"Hey, Hermione!" he said as he stepped inside, Harry's package tucked under his arm, "I can't tell you how much I appreciate this."

"It's, it's no problem, professor, er, Remus. Gosh, that's hard to get used to!" Hermione smiled apologetically.

"Don't worry about it, Professor Granger, you'll have to call me 'professor' in front of the students," he winked at her. "Congratulations again on your new appointment!"

"Thanks," Hermione blushed slightly, "I'm just glad I don't have to leave Hogwarts and its teachers for awhile. I'd really miss it, I think."

"I sure missed it," Remus told her.

"Well, I suppose we should probably get going, we wouldn't want to be late." Hermione let Remus into the living room.

She reached for the floo powder jar, but found she could not reach the jar on the mantle. A pair of worn, scarred hands reached up from behind her and took the jar off the shelf. Hermione turned around slowly, willing herself not to blurt out the words in her mind, knowing that she couldn't hold it in much longer. Slowly, Hermione lifted her face until she was looking him in the eyes. She opened her mouth to say something, but found she couldn't think of anything except the words she dreaded.

~**~

Believe me

You really don't have to worry

I only want to make you happy

And if you say

Hey, go away, I will

But I think better still

I'd better stay around and love you

Do you think I have a case?

Let me ask you to your face

Do you think you love me?

*~~*

"Hermione," Remus lowered his hands from the mantle, the jar still clutched in one of them. His empty hand took her hand. He began again, his eyes looking down into hers, "Hermione, I have this party I have to go to tonight, and the host says there's going to be dancing, and he suggested that I find a date, and, well, I really haven't found a girl to go with yet, and I was wondering, would you like to be my date?" He brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it lightly.

"Of course I would!" Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck, squeezing the jar of floo powder between them. "But I have a confession to make. I, I think I'm in love with you." Hermione blushed a very deep shade of scarlet.

"Well then, it really is a relief to find out I wasn't the only one."

Remus pulled her again into a tight hug, then pulled her face inches away from his and kissed her square on the lips. She held onto him tightly, and kissed him back, pushing against him and barely breathing. He led her over to the sofa, and sat her down, never breaking apart from her. She deepened the kiss, leaning into him with more and more pressure. Suddenly he broke the kiss.

"We have to get going. Shall we continue this after the party?"

"Of course," Hermione giggled as she stood up to retrieve the fallen floo powder jar. She threw a handful of powder into the fire and stepped in. "12 Grimmauld Place," she spoke, and off she zoomed.

Lupin hung back a minute, and noticed on the table a leather bound book with "Hogwarts Memories- 1996-1997" written in gold ink on the cover. He opened to a page with his name written at the top, and added to two words above his name, love always. He shut the book and grabbed a handful of floo powder, threw it in the fire, and disappeared.

~**~

I think I love you!

So what am I so afraid of?

I'm afraid that I'm not sure of

A love there is no cure for

I think I love you

Isn't that what life is made of?

Though it worries me to say

I've never felt this way

*~~*