Disclaimer: All Copyrights belong to JKR

Chapter 1: Future Unraveled


Her heart hammered wildly in her chest as she dueled two Death Eaters at once. Unable to believe that everything had gone so wrong so quickly, Hermione Granger willed herself not to lose focus. Her body ached all over and she was bleeding from numerous cuts and bruises. She had already been hit by many curses and the knowledge that she had witnessed more deaths than she cared to admit shook her to the very core. Out of the corner of her eye, she glimpsed a fiery red head. Ginny was also dueling very hard but it was evident that they more close to losing than winning. Hermione knew that they can expect no help. Everyone was caught in their own battles as the Order dangled precariously over the precipice of defeat. With the deaths of so many of the Order, there was literally no one left.

'This is not possible', she thought to herself. After months of planning for this moment, they had failed. She could not understand how it had happened. Everything was going so well. And then suddenly it hadn't. The faces of all her dead friends flashed in her mind. Both Arthur and Molly Weasley, who had been like surrogate parents to her, had gone down taking Bellatrix with them. The twins and Ron, seeing both their parents' death had been momentarily stumped and had been ruthlessly butchered by Greyback. Remus, who had adamantly refused Tonks' advances citing his lycanthropy, had fallen right next to the dead metamorphagus, her hand clutched within his own. And so many of her school friends, Dean, Lavender, both the Patil twins, Luna. So many had fallen.

They had failed. That single thought alone made her heart clench in pain. She ducked to avoid another stream of green light and put everything she had into the spell.

"Reducto!"

The Death Eater to her left was lifted off his feet as he went flying into the already crumbling wall, where he slumped unmoving. She wasted not a moment to send another spell onto the remaining Death Eater. But he was quick and her spell only managed to make him stumble as his mask fell revealing a disheveled but sneering Lucius Malfoy. He looked at her with pure hatred and anger. "It's over Mudblood! Your precious Potter's dead!" he shouted as he sent another stream of green light at her. She sidestepped the curse and raised her wand only to find Ginny thrown back at her, and they both fell back in a tangle of limbs, her wand arm stuck beneath Ginny.

Hermione looked at her friend fleetingly, worried that she was dead. Ginny was unconscious and blood was pouring from the deep gashes at her side. There were scratches on her face that looked raw and bloody. 'They are made by nails' she realized, but before Hermione even had time to process it; she heard a sound that froze her. The inhuman growl accompanied by the maniacal laughter brought to her mind only one person and she was truly frightened in that moment. She could duel 10 Death Eaters at once, or face 100 Dementors but the monster that was Fenrir Greyback was stalking towards her and Ginny and all she could do was stare, her duel with Malfoy momentarily forgotten. For a second, her eyes were clouded with a memory. A memory of a boy with red hair crumbling as his neck was snapped by a monster.

Greyback opened his mouth, showing rotten teeth and smiled evilly at her. She saw then that he was partially transformed. He made to pounce on them when Malfoy interrupted, "You can have that Weasley bitch for all I care, but the Mudblood is mine to kill." Hermione snapped out of her daze at his words and tried to raise her wand only to realize that she was still stuck. Ginny was on top of her wand and she did not have enough time to even whip her head around as Malfoy was pointing his wand at her already and Greyback leered at her from behind him.

She brazed herself as Malfoy used the Cruciatus on her. She might have already had the curse used on her before but nothing could ever prepare her for the amount of pain that was headed her way then. After what felt like hours of agonizing torture but only a few seconds, she slumped against Ginny as the battle caught up with her. She realized then that she had no energy left to continue and looked up at Malfoy. "If only Potter could look at his pet Mudblood now! Broken and beaten! Pathetic!" he drawled, "You can have the body after I'm done Greyback. She's useless now, after all." He lazily raised his wand and sent a flash of green light towards her.

She closed her eyes expecting the end but it never came. She only heard a cracking sound and opened her eyes confusedly. Her eyes caught Malfoy's and he seemed stunned. The next second, his expression morphed to one of fury and he raised his wand again. But before he could even open his mouth, she felt herself being pulled and grabbed onto to the first thing she felt which happened to be an unconscious Ginny. 'I don't understand' was her last thought as she succumbed to the darkness, holding Ginny close to her.


The four sixth-year boys tiptoed down the corridors in the middle of the night, taking care not to make much noise but not exactly succeeding.

"Ouch! Watch it Moony!"

"Sorry Pete! Sirius pushed me!"

"Only because you were in your 'I-am-a-prefect-and-this-is-not-right' mode again"

"I don't have a..a..that's not even a thing" cried Remus indignantly.

"Of course you have! You skip into that every time we plan a marvelous adventure."

"I do not!"

"Yes you do!"

"Shut it guys! Merlin! You bicker like an old married couple!" said James shooting them both an exasperated glance.

"We do not!" exclaimed both the boys together and then looked at each other startled.

Peter snickered and both Sirius and Remus looked at him simultaneously with matching expressions of outrage on their faces. It set him off and he started laughing in earnest. James joined in and slowly even Sirius and Remus smiled.

They continued on their way and reached the gates of the Great Hall and just as they were about to sneak in, they heard a crash from inside. They froze and looked at each other in question. The hairs on their neck stood up and they slowly nodded at each other. Without another word, they entered the Hall and looked around for the source of the noise. The next second, their faces paled as they took in the scene before them. They took in the two bodies entwined with one another and covered in blood. They stood frozen for a minute, and then they jumped into action.

All hell broke loose the minute the doors of the Hospital wing banged open. Madam Pomfrey jumped up and rushed out of her private quarters into the Infirmary to find Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew pale, shaky and screaming at her. It took her a minute to understand what they were shouting. She jumped into action readying the beds and getting potions from her medicine cabinet. All she could get was that there were two very injured girls being brought to her but it did not prepare her for what she saw when James Potter and Remus Lupin ran in with two girls in their arms. She was shocked for a moment and then her training kicked in. She directed them to the two beds and turned to the boys.

"Fetch Professor Dumbledore and Minerva right now! And not a word to anyone else!" She all but shouted at them before drawing the curtains closed and turning her attention to the two girls in front of her.

Outside the curtains, the marauders stood catching their breaths and trying to understand what they were witnessing.

"We have to go get the Professors now" Peter said in a small voice looking at the others. Sirius snapped out of their shock first and jumped.

"Yes yes. They have to come. It's urgent. I'll go to Dumbledore. Will you get Minnie Remus?" said Sirius looking at his friend.

"I-I…" stammered Remus and his friends noticed only then that he was shaking violently.

"Are you alright Moony?" asked Sirius stepping near his friend. Remus just continued shaking and he looked like he was about to be sick. Sirius looked at his other friends with concern, not knowing what to do.

"I'll go get McGonagall." said Peter determinedly and James nodded before turning to Sirius. "I'll take care of him" he said and they immediately took off.

James turned back to Remus and made him to sit in a chair. "They will be fine Moony. Poppy will fix them. They will be ok." he said but it sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than he was assuring Remus.

James looked at Remus properly then and noticed the look on his friend's face. Remus looked pained.

"What is it?"

"I-I..the girl..I don't.." Remus stuttered.

"Calm down Moony! They will be fine! Dumbledore is on his way too. It's going to …"

"No! You don't understand!" interrupted Remus agitatedly. "You don't understand! That girl in there..The girl with the red hair… She was..I know..It was a werewolf" he sounded chocked and James recoiled.

"Wh..How do you even..It's not even a full moon! How is.."

"I KNOW! Alright?" Remus interrupted again shouting. "I saw the marks on her face. I can smell it on her. It was a werewolf! It was a monster! I KNOW!" He suddenly seemed to lose all his energy and his face scrunched up in what could only be described as agony. He almost moaned out the words, "It was a monster just like me!"

James looked sick but he also looked at Remus and saw that his friend was hunching in on himself. He quickly made to talk but was interrupted when the door opened and Dumbledore burst in. He made straight past the curtains. Sirius followed in and sat next to Remus. "Did Pete make it back yet?" he asked but before James could answer, the door opened again to let in McGonagall and Peter.

She stopped for a moment to look at the boys and said, "You will all stay here until said otherwise." She disappeared behind the curtain as well.

The boys stayed silent for a few minutes before James said slowly, "It's not your fault, Moony. You had nothing to do with this."

Remus remained silent when Sirius asked, "What's this now?"

James filled him in while Remus looked down miserably. Peter's eyes widened in horror and Sirius listened with increasing anger.

"How could you even think any of this makes you a monster? She was a victim just like you were a victim. You had nothing to do with hurting that girl. You hurt yourself over and over again every month just so you will not hurt anyone else. How many times do we make this clear? Just because you are not you once a month, does not make you a monster. If you even think like this one more time, I will personally beat your ass bloody! Is that CLEAR?" Sirius yelled.

Remus still looked miserable and opened his mouth to protest, "But.."

"Oh Godric! So help me if you open your mouth to tell me just what a frightening monster you are Lupin! You are as much a monster as a fluffy bunny is! The only person to think otherwise is you!" said James exasperated by his self-loathing friend.

"I must say that I agree with Mr. Potter's opinion though I would not have been able to conjure such an interesting analogy."

The boys whirled around hearing Dumbledore's comment to find both their professors standing in front of them.

"Sir, the girls? Are they alright?" Sirius immediately enquired.

"Alas! I wish I could say that Mr. Black. But they are still under treatment. Poppy is doing all she can. We can only trust in her skills now. She tells me you all brought them here?" Dumbledore looked at them questioningly. James told him about everything that happened and Remus hesitatingly added that he suspected the injuries on one of them to have been made by a werewolf. Dumbledore looked grave and nodded.

"It seems your observation is correct Mr. Lupin although I suggest that you put your mind at ease. It is not in any way a reflection on you. The fault is only with those people who attacked them. Now, if you will excuse me I should check something." He turned and nodded once to McGonagall and immediately left.

The boys stared at the door for a moment and then they turned towards their Head of the House. "I would suggest now that you all return to your dormitories" she said. Seeing more than one face raised to her in protest, she held up her hand. "There is little you can do here now. Besides it's the middle of the night and you all look exhausted. You will go to sleep now. Any questions you might have will have to wait till morning." she said in a no nonsense voice that did not leave room for any discussion. "I will escort you back to the Tower myself." Without wasting another minute, she led them to the Gryffindor Towers. Just as they were about to enter, she told them one last thing.

"Do not speak to anyone of what happened. And you will all meet me tomorrow before classes to know what your detention will be for roaming the castle after curfew. That will be all for now." She turned back and left them there standing openmouthed with bewildered expression on their faces.