"I am uncomfortably aware of what you think about my doing this Ron, but honesty now that this is possible why aren't you embracing it? You could have Fred back. Harry can have his parents, Teddy can have his. Merlin Ron even your mum can get her bothers back. Think of Neville, think of Hannah, think of everything that could be fixed with one tiny little trip," Hermione finished her tirade with her hands on her his glaring at Ron. He sulked and withdrew further into the couch mumbling.
"Sorry, I didn't quite catch that."
"I said I don't want to lose you Mione. It's only been a month since the war ended, things need to settle down and you'll feel better. I…I don't think I can deal without you being the big part you are in my life. If you go back we won't be friends. You'll be… I don't know like an aunt or something," he said sulking, knowing that nothing would change her mind. She continued to glare for a moment before sighing and plopping down next to him and wrapping an arm around his shoulders.
"I'm not leaving you Ron, I'm just going to be in your life, just in a different capacity. Trust me ok, I'm Hermione Granger I always know what I'm doing." Pressing a kiss on his cheek she stood. "Can you pass these letters out, everyone else isn't speaking to me but I'd still like to give them my goodbye. There are duplicates in this bag, everyone in this house seems to act without thinking." She bent to place one last kiss of his forehead before turning and picking up her two bags. Her crack of disapparation startled Ron slightly before he calmed, picked up the letters and went down to the family.
Hermione landed heavily, stumbling a couple of steps before righting herself. She stepped forward and pushed the swinging door, hearing it smack shut behind her. Hermione scanned the crowd for a moment before making her way towards the old wizard.
"Aberforth, good to see you." She took a seat across from him. He grunted before replying.
"Always trouble with you. But I can see your point this time. You owe me, girl." He took a swig of his fire whisky and wiped his mouth on the back of his gloved hand casing Hermione to grimace. He took the last sip and stood. Hermione followed and they went into the back room.
"I want to thank you again for this. I wasn't sure of anyone else who would help me, well us, or anyone who could get it done. You Dumbledore's are formidable wizards. I understand that you don't agree with what I'm…we're going to be doing but I do think that this is the best thing I could possibly do. We all lost far too much," she closed her eyes at the end of her sentence and took a deep breath. Just as she opened her eyes Draco walked through the door looking worn and tired. Hermione lifted a corner of her lips in greeting and he nodded lightly in response. Aberforth didn't reply to Hermione nor did he acknowledge Draco's presence. Hermione took his hands as he stood next to her and gave it a squeeze before she closed her eyes again as Aberforth raised his wand. She kept them tightly shut as she heard the words flowing out of his mouth and tried to close them even tighter as she felt the power of the spell wrap around her and squeeze.
Hermione felt like she was about to burst when all of a sudden the pressure was gone. Fearful that the spell had failed she stayed still for a moment longer before cracking open her eyes slightly. She was ten feet away from a much younger Aberforth, who looked like he was about to faint. Sitting at the table was a rather dishevelled looking man about her age. He looked like he was in the middle of the worst hangover of his life. There was something familiar about him but the trip must have addled her because she couldn't quite place him. Before she could react both men were facing them wands drawn and she remembered exactly how distinct a Malfoy looked and exactly how well trained and suspicious Aberforth was.
She jumped in front of Draco, hands raised in a placating way.
"Whoa, whoa. Easy. Let's not do anything silly now Aberforth," she soothed. That straightened Aberforth right up.
"How do you know my name? Who are you? Where did you come from? Why have you got a Malfoy in my home?" he spat the last name as though he were spitting a nasty taste from his mouth. The other man was still in a defence position but he was concentrating more on the conversation. Hermione felt Draco go to move from behind her and dropped one of her hands to hold his wrist urging him to keep in place.
"That's a fantastic collection of questions, but I can't really say with company," she said politely.
"Remus, go into the lounge and relax on the couch, I'll see you soon." He gestured to a thin door on the right wall. The young man got up and slowly made his way past Hermione. She held still, her shock of coming face to face with a young Remus Lupin. She hear his deep intake of breath and could feel his confusion as he couldn't quite place her scent. She knew it would be somewhat familiar with her having spent so much time around Teddy and in Grimmauld place. Now wasn't the time to explain all that though. She smiled at him before he shut the door.
"Now explain to me, Missy, how it is that you came to be in my house and knowing my name even though I most assuredly haven't laid eyes on you before," he stood his ground and crossed his arms across his chest as he spoke.
"My name is Hermione and I am from 1998. I've just helped end the Second Wizarding war and I…we have come back in time to make sure that half the things that occur in my time don't actually occur. I spent the last month pestering you to help me as there was no one else who would hear me out. I know how strange this sounds, honestly I do. If you'd like proof I can give you my memories. Might I enquire what the year is, you weren't exactly sure how far you can send us" she rushed out the last bit as she could see him beginning to form an interruption.
" It's 1979. I do believe that I will be needing those memories. If you'd please fill these vials. I'll look at them immediately," he said handing her a box of vials he had sitting on a shelf in the dining room they'd landed in. He watched carefully as she extracted the memories then twice as carefully as Draco did the same. He pulled a small font from his pocket and enlarged it.
"I suggest you take us with you into the memories, there is going to be a lot that will need to be explained and some of what you see you'll not like but there are good reasons behind all of them," Hermione told him as she collected Draco's vials and handed the 15 or so to Aberforth.
"Call Remus in so he can watch to make sure there is no funny business going on here." He didn't look up as he started to fill the pensive with the liquid that held the memories.
Giving Draco a reassuring squeeze she walked away from him over to the door. Hermione knocked before entering and seeing Remus lift himself off the couch and freeze as he saw her.
"Sorry to interrupt you, while you're unwell, Aberforth wants you to watch us so he knows that we're not screwing around," she spoke quietly but knew that Remus could hear her. He fixed his eyes on her and moved closer, sniffing.
"You smell like pack, like pups. But I don't know you, you also smell like Malfoy and I'm not sure I like that mixed with my pack," he was circling her now, not making her uneasy but it still put all her war instincts on edge.
"I'll explain everything eventually I promise Remus," she caught his eye for a moment and the wild amber slowly bled back into his honey brown. He nodded once.
"I'm going to hold you to that," he said before gesturing for her to go back through first.
"Been sized up? What do you think Remus?" Aberforth asked.
"I trust her, but I haven't had the same time with the Malfoy. But I think that if he's here with her then we can give him the benefit of the doubt," Remus answered nodding in Draco's direction.
"Before we continue I'm going to introduce my travelling partner, Draco Malfoy. We are working on the Malfoy bit as you will see in a moment Aberforth. We are a package deal. Where I go he goes, and vice versa. You'll both do well to understand now that I am not going to back down from something I believe is right. I can do what I need to do here without your help though it would be easier with it," she was calm as she spoke but the underlying vehemence was loud and clear. Her stoic expression transformed instantly into a giant grin and she clapped twice, "let's begin then shall we. Draco, Aberforth get yourselves ready."
Hermione walked up to the basin and took a settling breath, she knew that going through these memories would be hard for Draco and herself but doing so would mean that they don't actually happen. As they each dipped a finger into the liquid and silver mist swirled around them Hermione let out her breath and tipped up her chin. She was going to fix this.