Suffering
It was night, the Hospital Wing was empty except one bed. The curtain was closed and hid the person in the comfortable bed, protecting her from the cold air.
A groan escaped her mouth as her eyelids opened for a second, she tried to sit, but as soon as she lifted her body from the warm mattress, a hiss of pain escaped her mouth and she fell back onto the bed. Thanks to her former attempt, the pain she'd felt just a little before was now growing to an extent that the brunette wasn't able to hold back tears.
Suddenly a thought crossed her mind, she frowned and held her breath: Why was she alive? Memories of the battle crept into her mind, the pain she had felt as the Unforgivable hit her, the taste of her own blood on her lips and finally the cold, numb feeling that had overcome her body as the all surrounding darkness finally reached her. Cold sweat ran over her body, she bit her lower lip to fight the numb feeling that overcame her body, pretty sure that she propably should be dead by now.
Her eyes were empty and she stared at her hands, nothing was left in them. "Where am I?" her whispered voice broke and she stopped fighting the overwhelming tears. Honestly, she'd never been so frightend before, now, all she felt was helplessness.
Light sounds of footsteps were heard and the young witch eventually focused, but her blood ran cold as the sounds grew louder, making her frown. Instinctively, she reached for her wand, just to notice that she was no longer wearing her ripped jeans and sweatshirt instead the only piece of cloth was her underwear. Oh, this whole damned situation couldn't get any worse, she thought sarcastically.
A dim light appeared out of the darkness, Hermione's eyes widened, shock overcame her as she wasn't able to take her eyes off a younger Madam Pomfrey.
"Finally, you're awake, darling," her face lighted up and the older woman ran torwards the brunette witch who looked at her like she was a ghost or as if someone had played some kind of sick joke on her. "No, that's impossible", the thought shot through her mind, sending shivers down her back.
Hermione clearly remembered that the Hospital Wing was burnt down during the war. Horror replaced the numb feeling and her skin went pale, another thought crossed her mind: Was she losing her sanity? But before she could think any further, her thoughts were interrupted and this time she couldn't fight the urge to throw up, not even noticing the blank espression on the older witch's face as she hurried to help her.
"Dumbledore?"
"Yes, darling. You know, he came around to check on you a few times, he told me to get him immediatley when you're awake." A worried look was on her face, Madam Pomfrey eyed the young witch in front of her suspiciously and she was sure that if her skin went any paler, that she could easily pass as one of the ghosts in Hogwarts.
"May I ask you a question, Madam?", she asked politly, desperate to get the words out of her mouth before she would change her mind.
"Anything", the healer nodded her head and waited for Hermione to continue.
"What date is it?"
"You think she's still alive? Her injuries seemed pretty bad yesterday." James' voice was low and he stared at his empty plate in front of him. It seemed like everyone in Hogwarts was talking about the mysterious witch who had been appeared out of the Forbidden Forest, carried by the centaur, looking rather dead than alive. Rumors began to spred through the school eventually; no onehad ever seen her before in Hogwarts and no one knew why she'd been in the forest. The teachers themselves remained silent.
"Don't know, mate. McGonagall looked as if she would hex me the next second as I tried to get some information out of her," Sirius replied bitterly, his deep eyes darkened. Peter winced and nodded his head eagerly.
"Guess, we'll just have to wait," Remus muttered and loaded his plate with chicken and potatoes.
Sirius didn't know why, but he was worried over her, he had already played with the idea to sneak out of the common room with James' invisible cloack and into the Hospital Wing. Last night he hadn't slept at all, whenever he'd closed his eyes, her tortured, injured, bleeding body filled his mind.
"Potter, Black, Lupin," belled the strict voice of Minerva McGonagall, the professor rushed towards the three boys, her face showed no emotion. All Gryffindors fell silent, the whole table watched the Head of their House approach the three boys and tried to figure out what had happened.
"Will you three follow me to my office, please? Professor Dumbeldore is waiting." She gave the three young men in front of her a stern look, her lips were pressed together and formed a thin line, it was obvious that they would spend the rest of their year cleaning the corridors with Filch if only one wrong word would drop out of their mouth.
The three boys walked behind their professor, none of them spoke. Remus bit his lower lip, desperate to figure out what had happend this time, James and Sirius walked beside him, none of them making a sound. Yes, they usually would joke around since those two were never known as the quiet type, even in front of their professors, but they couldn't shake the feeling that the situation was more serious than usual.
The old, wooden door flew open and Albus Dumbledore turned around, his wise, knowing eyes were focused on the three boys and their professor.
"I see, you found them quickly, Minerva", he said in a calm voice. Leaving his place at the window, he took a seat behind McGonagall's desk, "Please, feel free to take a seat."
Dumbledore sighed heavily and closed his eyes for a second. Why? Why wasn't he the slightest bit surprised that those three in front of him would somehow manage to get involved with this whole confusing situation? The old headmaster looked at his three students, observed their faces, tried to connect the pieces which he wasn't able to figure out yet. Those three boys seemed to attrect trouble in an extent that one should worry.
"I assume you're confused why I sent Professor McGonagall to bring you here", Dumbledore began slowly, it was obvious that he chose his words carefully, "and I also belive that you are aware of what had happened yesterday..."
"How is she doing? She's still alive, right?", James interrupted the professor. Finally, he would get answers. His face showed how worried he actually was, he clenched his fists, looking nervous at the wise man. Next to him, Sirius body stiffed, his face went emotionless, James knew for a fact that his best mate was desperate to hear about the girl's condition.
"She'll be fine, Mr. Potter. She woke up yesterday night, her injuries are still pretty bad, but Madam Pomfrey said that Mrs. Granger will be fine until Friday. Honestly, that's not the reason I wanted to talk to you. Mrs. Granger told me her story, the story how she got here and it must be said, that there are mysteries within it. We talked long, long enough for me to make a few decisions, because she has nowhere she could go she'll be one of the students of Hogwarts. The reason I called for you is that I want you to show her around the school, to look out for her and be there for her until she's comfortable in this school."
"Of course, Sir. We'll go to the Hospital Wing as soon as possible."
"I hoped you would say so, Mr. Black, you three are official excused from all your classes today." He smirked as he saw their faces drop in disbelief. James turned his face torwards his Head of House, he still couldn't belief what he heard "He's not joking, right?"
"No, Mr. Potter. Professor Dumbledore thought that it would be better to allow you three to skip all your classes, but only for today," replied Minerva McGonagall, her face serious.
It was a beautiful day, the sun shone bright and the grounds of the school looked stunning.
She remembered how they used to walk around the grounds or just simply enjoyed each others company. She thought back to all the times theywalked around the grounds, laughing and joking, chatting, or just in silence.
Harry, Ron...
How was she supposed to move on? Nearly everyone she loved or held dear to her heart propably died in the battle, their tortured, lifeless bodies were a constant part of her nightmare and she... she was stuck in the past, was grieving over her loss. Never in her entire life did she feel so completely out of place. She always had something to fight for, but not anymore. Hermione didn't even try to hold back her tears.
"Hello there!"
A happy voice screamed from the entrance of the Hospital Wing and within the next second she saw herself facing three of the infamous Marauders. Her mouth stood slightly open, her eyes were glued to the boy in the middle. His black hair was a mess, he was tall and the first moment she looked him, she saw him, her former bestfriend. The bruenette blinked a few times, she had to remind herself that this boy in front of her was not Harry. Instead of the green eyes she used to know, brown ones, that were full of life and mischief shone bright behind his glasses.
Sirius' stomach flipped, his mind was empty and he stood there in shock. He had assumed that she would be young, propably his age, her body looked weak, covered with bandages everywhere under her clothers. Her brown curls flew down her back in midlength, she had deep eyes and tanned skin. He couldn't tell why but the young Black heir wasn't able to focus on something else in the room.
Once James told him that the first moment he'd met Lily, it was like no one else mattered and that the moment he saw her he knew, that she would be special.
"Guess the world stopped turning, Padfoot?", His brother in everything than blood teased while he, the infamous Sirius Black stood there staring at her, Potter grinned stupidly at the dumbstruck young man.
Remus, being the polite and always rational one, went a few steps forward so that he stood right in front of her, his eyes shining with pity as they met hers, his right hand extended. "My name is Remus, those two without the manners to introduce themselves are James Potter and Sirius Black. Professor Dumbledore told us that you could use some company for a while."
"Why did he send you?" She hadn't thought before the words slipped out of her mouth. The last thing she wanted was that those three would be around. It would make the situation just more hard to deal with than it already was. She lost them once, she was sure that she couldn't bear to be reminded of them, she had been thrown back in time, wasn't that fact already enough?
They felt taken aback by her harsh tone, she could tell that by only looking at their faces. She wanted to fix it, but before she could open her mouth, she was cut off by Sirius' husky voice.
Her heart clenched. He looked handsome, everything on him seemed to be perfect. Suddenly her heart began to beat faster as she let her eyes shamelessly wander over him. His innoncent, careless, loyal, happy attitude stunned her. Everytime he looked at Remus and James she could see the love for them in his eyes, now she could tell how badly James death must have really hurt him, why he went after Peter, why he broke out of Azkaban to take the rat down. There was something about him, Hermione just didn't know what, that made her want to be close to him.
"Did you even hear only one word I said? Belive me, if you want to see more, I understand, but I know some better places to be alone, love", he said casually, his eyes bright with amusement.
"Yes, but there would propably no space for me because of you and your big ego", she snapped at him, hoping they hadn't noticed the blush on her face, which was caused by his words.
"Good one", James laughed, patting Sirius' back.
"You haven't told us your name", a grinning Lupin stated, but the next moment his grin faded and worry replaced it.
She was frozen to the spot. Her deep eyes became empty as if she would drift away into another world, her body was stiff the next instant.
"What did we do?", James muttered. Her sudden action confused him, worried him to no extent. Next to him Remus looked equally taken aback.
Sirius' eyes observed her. What happened to her that one simple question about her name could cause such a terrified looked on her? The urge to do something overcame him, he couldn't stand there and watch her drift away in her own agony, for some reason it hurt him to see her like that.
"Please," slowly, he began to move torwards her, his voice a soft whisper, his grey eyes never leaving the small figure in front of him. He continued to whisper soft, calming words, desperate to reassure her. It seemed like she was lost, she didn't even notice him. Careful so that he wouldn't scare her, he lifted his strong arms, and pulled her into a calming hug.
"I- I'm sorry, Harry", they heard her whisper, before she faded.
"I don't know, mate. Don't worry, maybe he's her brother or something like that", James said, grinning like an idiot at his bestfriend.
"What, James?" Sirius hissed annoyed. If looks could kill, James Potter would be dying the moment he met Sirius gaze, every other human being would run for dear life by the looks Sirius threw at the young Potter heir, but James sat in the cushy armchair in front of the fire that burnt in the Gryffindor Commonroon, amused and grinning like a little child.
"Nothing you don't know, Patfood. By the way, have you seen Peter? It's late but I know for a fact that he isn't in his bed. Normaly at this late time of the night he's already sleeping, taking my precious beauty sleep away with his loud snoring."
She was fast asleep, her body was exhausted and she felt like she'd been fighting in the war again. It was hard for her to see them again, but at least she came to a decision. Death would come and haunt them down and she wasn't willing to let them die again. She vowed to herself that she would save them no matter what, they would be alive. Harry would get a proper childhood with a loving family, Ron wouldn't go half mad about the loss of his beloved brother, and they would be happy.
Her eyes shot open but she didn't dare move a finger, just lying motionless, waken by the low noise that echoed in her ears.
Every muscle tensed, her right hand grapped her wand like a drowning man would catch at a life belt.
"Expelliamus!" She screamend out, her body rolling to the side, aiming her wand intuitional in the direction of the noises. A squeak was heard, followed by a bang and her eyes met the sight of the loathsome rat she knew just too well.
"Pettigrew, I was wondering when you would pay me a visit."
