~Two years post Battle of Hogwarts~

"Thanks again for inviting me to come with you on this retreat." Remus Lupin spoke from the passenger side of the car.

"It was absolutely no problem, Remus." Hermione smiled as she steered the car up the path to the mountain cabin that would serve as their home away from home for the weekend. "If there was anyone who would enjoy a non-magical retreat to relax and curl up with books, I knew it would be you."

It was true. They were joining a group of book enthusiasts that had allowed its members to bring a friend for the retreat. And so Hermione had invited Remus to join her, registering him as her guest for the retreat as soon as she got his confirmation. But as it was a muggle group, Hermione and Remus knew it would mean they would have to do everything the muggle way for the entirety of the retreat as a precaution. So when they packed up their luggage in Hermione's car, they had sealed their wands in a box that was charmed to only open when they both touched the latch.

Though there was another unknown reason that Hermione had invited Remus to join her. She had years before fallen for him. Even though he was old enough to be her father, it hadn't stopped her from crushing back in third year when he'd taught Defense Against the Dark Arts, mostly due to the way he'd taught them in comparison to his predecessors in the position the previous two years before. But she'd also had spent many a night having tea with him and discussions over different books they'd read for enjoyment until he had to resign from the position at the end of the year. She also knew that he was a werewolf, having figured it out during an assignment from Professor Snape as an attempt to out Remus's condition. But she didn't care.

Thirty minutes later, they had finally reached their destination. It was an entire row of cabins with a bigger one in the middle for when they all met together. Hermione parked the car and together, they grabbed their luggage and headed for the cabin they would be sharing together for the duration of the trip. They found their little cabin to have a nice homey feeling to it. It was equipped with two separate bedrooms, a full bathroom that had a shower and a large tub. There was also a large kitchen that had been fully stocked with food before hand. The bedrooms had large king-sized beds. There was also a living room that had a couple of armchairs, a plush carpet, a bookshelf with different books to read and a fireplace. Next to the fireplace was some pre-chopped wood as well.

"Well, they sure know how to make it feel like home." Remus chuckled as he looked around before going to put up his things in one of the rooms.

"So it seems." Hermione mused as she took her bag in the other room and unpacked her things.

"I'm going to make a sandwich, did you want one?" Remus called out as he headed for the kitchen and started going in the fridge to pull out things needed for sandwiches.

"Sure. I'll make some hot chocolate to go along with." She joined him in the kitchen, planning to make the hot chocolate using milk and cocoa powder.

The sandwiches were ready at the same time the hot chocolate was. Hermione struggled on her tiptoes, attempting to grab a couple of mugs down from the top shelf of the cabinet. At her muttered "Bloody hell", that Remus only picked up on due to his enhanced hearing from being a werewolf, he turned to look her way in amusement. Without a word, he went right over to stand behind her, not noticing just how close he was to her.

"Let me get that." He reached up and grabbed the two mugs, setting them down on the counter in front of her.

Hermione blushed, for while he may not have noticed how close they were, she definitely had. So instead of looking at him, she looked at the two mugs. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." He smiled before stepping back and going to sit down at the table. "So what time are we supposed to meet the others for the welcome?"

Hermione looked at the clock on the wall for the time. "In about an hour." She poured the hot chocolate into the two mugs and carried the mugs over, setting one down in front of Remus before sitting down with her own and taking a sip.

The two sat in pleasant company, making small talk while they ate and sipped chocolate. By the time they'd finished their lunch and cleaned up, it was time for them to go meet with everyone else in the main meetup in the main cabin turned out to be a casual mingle setup to encourage networking between the members. Remus and Hermione both interacted with other people. Though Hermione did glance Remus' way a couple of times and had to seriously push down brief feelings of jealousy that came up when she saw a woman who was a guest of another member of the group flirting with Remus.

"Get it together, Hermione! He's not yours." She told herself. Though it did make her feel a little smug inside when she saw Remus block the woman's advances, even if she already had a feeling that he was doing it more because of his being a werewolf than anything else. Eventually, Hermione and Remus said their goodbyes to the others with mentions of seeing the group in the morning and prepared to leave to return to their cabin.