Hermione woke up cloudy from where she was. A purple stuffed animal was sitting next to her face, and it brought vague memories of her afternoon. There was this moment when she felt like a child again, waking from a nap she had taken after falling asleep with a book in hand. It was befuddling that after all this time, the simple vision of a purple elephant could be so strong.
The door sounded, and Hermione murmured something coherent of a reply before Lily appeared. "Well, lovely, how are you feeling after a bit of rest?" She asked with a teacup in hand.
"Like the Night Bus ran me over," Hermione grunted and sat up. "Lily, are they upset and not telling me?" Hermione huffed as she reached over for the cup.
Lily sat down next to the curly-haired witch on the bed. "No, I just think they're worried. The other version of yourself was very sick. She would have days where she would struggle and swim in despair. I suppose that time travel can mix wires in your brain. They're also very concerned with how things are for you in yours- ten years of fighting is a long time," Lily sighed and caressed her shoulder through the old Weasley sweater she found to sleep in.
"I had to Lily for everyone. For them. So many times they were there and either worse off than in my original life, or about the same. I wanted them to have a better life; they deserve it," Hermione finished while her cheeks turned pink.
The redhead tilted her face as her eyes stayed on Hermione. "Do you love them, as in more than just companions who helped you for years?"
Hermione didn't know what to say. Her mouth opened as her brow contorted, but her voice wouldn't answer. There was nothing she could possibly say that would seem appropriate. The witch settled for a shrug and exhaled.
"Well, do you understand that Sirius married you because he and Remus love you?"
"That wasn't me, Lily. That was the person that was here before I was. She holds their heart; I'm just a horrible stand in so I can save this world," Hermione murmured and tucked her knees to her chest.
Lily examined the woman and the expression on her face melted to a soft smile. "You plan on staying here after, right? We want you to stay and not jump off a cliff," she spoke with mirth in her tone.
"Yes, I would like to," Hermione responded with a curl to her lips.
"Then you might need to investigate if you're going to stay married or get a divorce," Lily said.
The witches burst into laughter, and Lily reached for Hermione's hand. "I first need to find out more about who their wife was," Hermione admitted with a motion of agreement.
"She was you, but more broken. Less whole. Something happened when she jumped backward through time. That's why James and his friends took to her so quickly when Albus helped her recover. She was unusual and a bit sad. Remus was the first to make friends with her. They shared similar pain. From then on, she was theirs. James even convinced her to talk to me, which created our friendship." Lily paused and squeezed Hermione's fingers.
"That's why we are such decent friends and why Annabelle has your middle name as hers. You aren't any different than her, aside from the differences in environmental changes," Lily finished and rocked her head.
"Environmental," Hermione said, and her eyes grew. "Oh, Lily! Oh!" She shouted and jumped off the bed, grabbing out a sheet of parchment from the desk.
The marauders likely heard the screaming from the hall because they opened the door to see Hermione bent over a desk. Both mirrored each other in awe as they watched Hermione scribble with a fast pace and waved her free hand.
"Why didn't I see it before! The reason things changed so drastically in each timeline and why it wasn't always the same answer was because of the minor environmental changes. If I didn't get sent back when I was a child in this timeline, then there would have been no signal for the Horcruxes to be found meaning that the prophecy wouldn't have been about me. Which means that this would have been an echo of my time."
"Which means that if circumstances are similar, then you know which one is needed to find," Remus added as he shook off his stupor.
Hermione flicked her quill feather at him with a grin. "Precisely. Now, given that Dumbledore had taken care of three of them, I need to figure out which and we can find the others."
"How does one kill a Horcrux?" Sirius questioned.
Hermione exhaled and winced. "With Goblin metal, inferno fire, or a basilisk fang," she grumbled.
"And how do you know that?" Lily asked before waving her hand. "Wait, I don't know if I want to know."
"I had to destroy some and seen several others destroyed," Hermione sighed with a nod. "Sirius, did your brother ever surface in this timeline?"
"No," he grumbled with a scowl.
Hermione tutted and turned back to her page. "That's too bad. He was accommodating in the last one. We'll have to go to 12 Grimmauld Place and see if he left anything."
"Are you saying my brother… helped?" Sirius asked with an edge to his voice.
"Yes, your brother was the first to discover Voldemort's secret. In my original life, we found the note he left behind that led us to find the locket eventually." Hermione whipped the page off the table with a nod and exhaled. "Well, that's a start. We might have a good handle on this, after all."
Remus scratched his chin and bent his posture a bit. "Hermione, I don't think I've seen you quite like this in years," he said with a curve to his mouth.
Her curls bounced as she shrugged her shoulders and beamed. "I took after you, Remus. You were my professor in my time."
Sirius chuckled and elbowed the werewolf. "Imagine the dirty stories this witch has about you. She actually ended up completing school with you as a professor."
Hermione shook her head with a sigh. "No, he only was for one year. His secret was found out, and he left before the howlers came in. I thought it was despicable and brutish that wizards still judge a magically conditioned person by their ailments," she spoke with venom on her tongue.
"Well, you're one of few," Remus responded with a sad smile.
Lily stood from the bed and cleared her throat. "I'm going to go set the table for dinner. Take your time," she said and left the room.
Hermione noted the shift in the room as she left- no one really knew what to say next. "Okay, so, dinner," she attempted with a rise to one of her shoulders.
"Would you like to join us after? We usually spend time in the sitting room and read after dinner," Remus offered.
"Well, they read, I play chess with James," Sirius snickered with a roll of his eyes.
"Why are we spending the weekend here and not at your house?" Hermione questioned with a frown.
Remus and Sirius glanced at each other before turning back to the witch. "We always would spend every other weekend at the Potters. You insisted when the children were born that it's a tradition and we just never stopped," Remus responded.
"Yeah, it was a bit of a requirement of yours before we got married," Sirius chuckled.
Hermione pursed her lips as her features narrowed. "She was too sick to have children?"
They both motioned agreement. "Yes, Hermione. She knew she couldn't have them, so we helped the Potters raise their children and even assisted the Weasleys with theirs once you befriended Molly and Arthur," Remus replied with a circular gesture of his hand.
"You still married her?" Hermione asked as she analyzed both of them.
"Of course, we love you," Sirius said with a bright grin. "We don't care if either of us lucky sods ever has any brats, we just wanted the woman we love."
"Shall we postpone this until tomorrow?" Remus asked with a wince.
"Your children wouldn't have Lycanthropy," Hermione stated.
Remus stared at her with squinted eyes. "You're not positive of that."
"I am, you ended up having a child in my original life," Hermione said with a nod. "A lovely son."
Sirius snorted and elbowed Remus with a wicked grin. "You see, I told you!"
The werewolf stared at the floor with a contorted expression. "Can we please shelf this tonight."
Hermione reached and took his hand in hers. "Remus, you're not a mistake. I have told you this for ten years and will continue until I know you hear it."
"You're my favorite witch," Remus breathed as he closed his eyes.
"And you, Remus, are my favorite bookish companion," she announced while beaming at him.
Sirius refused to be outdone- he scooped the witch into his arms and wiggled his eyebrows as his hands were over her supple behind. "And I'm your favorite eye candy?" He baited as his face neared hers.
"No, that's Remus as well," she teased.
Sirius growled and sneered. "I'm far more fetching than our werewolf."
Hermione exhaled and ran fingers over his face. "You always have been quite fetching, Sirius. Now, I think dinner is due. Let's go, marauders," she said while pulling away.
They watched her march from the room, and the pair glanced at each other. "We have to protect her, Pads," Remus whispered.
"Most certainly, Moony. I won't be able to live without her," Sirius agreed.
She had been running for so long. The world was dark, and the curses blast by her in bright green flares as she dodged each one. Hermione's arm was burning in agony as the werewolf bite festered. Howling was heard in the distance, but the Death Eaters chasing her didn't seem to mind.
There was no solving this timeline. It was over before Hermione even got started, yet here she was, running from curses. It didn't make any sense that Hermione would get tossed into a time that was doomed.
Racing around a set of trees, she nearly tripped over the massive dog in front of her. It caused her to fall to the ground and struggle on the blanketed forest floor. Death eaters popped in from all sides, and Hermione didn't have enough time to shout- tell him to run, or hide. Sirius formed and tossed curses at two of them, leaving the others to cast a killing curse on him. Sirius Black died before her eyes and Hermione screamed.
"Hermione!" Remus's voice entered the morbid memory.
The sound of urgency in his voice caused Hermione to jolt, whipping out of her memory, and surfacing to consciousness. Her body jerked and shuddered in spasm as something held her. Hermione's shot open to see darkness with light peering from the side of her. Breath was escaping her chest as she tried to catch it.
"Moony!" She shrieked as forms cleared.
"I'm here, I'm here," he whispered, and she could feel the heat returning to her limbs.
"Moony," Hermione huffed as she slumped against his warmth. "Moony," she repeated as his fingers combed her damp hair.
"My girl," Remus grumbled.
"Alive," she murmured and nosed his shoulder. "Pads, where's Pads?" Hermione croaked.
"I'm here, love. You awake enough to drink some water?" Sirius's calm voice entered the darkness.
Hermione reached out into the darkness and felt his hand encase hers. "Pads, here," she couldn't get through her mind for proper speech.
The light blinded her as it flashed on, and she scrunched her eyes together with a gasp of air. "Prongs!" Remus barked.
"Yeah, yeah, I know, but Lily needs to check her."
"I'm behind you, darling, just looking at your wounds," Lily whispered as a hand appeared on her shoulder.
"Wounds?" Hermione huffed.
"You have blood on you, love," Sirius said as Hermione glanced up at him.
"Remus, hold her still," James warned from behind.
"Grab the powdered silver and dittany. These are werewolf scratches," Lily's voice quivered.
Hermione's hands went numb. Werewolf scratches? "What?" Remus's tone reverberated through her body.
Now she could feel everything. The wetness trickle down her back, the throbbing of her shoulder and the tingle of pain rushing through her groin artery. She knew what it felt like to be bitten, many times over. There was no boiling blood like during a full moon or the build-up of drool in her mouth- she was safe from lycanthropy's effects, but still wounded.
"How?" James questioned as his feet thudded on the floor.
"My memories," Hermione whimpered as she clung to Remus.
Sirius moved and sat down in front of her, his hand still clasped in hers. "This is going to hurt, just squeeze, baby," he mumbled before kissing her knuckles.
Sure enough, the sizzling of skin and ejection of the poison in the wound caused the witch to howl. Remus held her nearly in his lap as Lily dressed the wound. He rocked her with a calming sound as she sniveled and whimpered against him.
"One more time, Hermione. I have to get the lower part," Lily murmured.
"Okay," Hermione sobbed against Remus's shoulder.
The last part was most difficult as the physical knitting of skin was evident over her entire back. Hermione cried into the air as she cast her head back and gripped Sirius's hand until she heard a crunching sound. He never let her hand go, even as it weakened.
"I'm sorry," she whimpered before pressing her forehead to Remus's shoulder.
The agony was subsiding, the pain dulled- she could breathe.
"Pads, let her hand go so I can fix your broken thumb," Lily ordered.
Sirius obeyed but didn't move. He offered Hermione a glass of water with his free hand as Lily had rushed around Remus with her wand out. The curly-haired witch reached for the glass and Remus helped her, touching her cheeks as she slumped away enough to drink. His fingers on her scathing cheeks.
"Hermione, are you alright?" He asked as she drained the cup.
"I'm sorry, Sirius," Hermione grumbled as she pulled the glass from her lips.
Sirius winced as Lily produced a bandage around his hand from her wand. "Yes, my love. Just a broken thumb. Nothing to write home about."
"Hermione, are you alright?" Remus inquired again with more force.
The witch glanced up at him and noted his anxiety. "Yes, just a nightmare."
"Nightmares don't cause werewolf scratches," James said as he rounded the mattress to her vision. "What happened?" He asked with a grimace.
"I was dreaming about another timeline. I was mauled by a werewolf," Hermione sighed.
"Are these other timelines going to cause more wounds?" Lily questioned.
Hermione glanced at all of the eyes on her and shrugged her shoulders before looking down at her lap. "I don't know."
"Are there things we need to know about these other timelines? Important things?" Sirius asked.
"I don't know," she repeated.
The room was silent as the unknown was being digested.
Remus tucked a curl away from the damp cheek of the mended witch. "You're safe, no matter what happens, Hermione," He whispered.
She moved into his lap and clung to him with her ear pressed to his clothed chest. "I know," she breathed.
"Love, can you stomach sleeping with us tonight? I'd rather not you wake up alone again," Sirius whispered as he approached the pair.
Hermione pulled his face to hers and turned to press her forehead to him. "Sirius, promise me you'll never risk your life to save mine," she said.
"I can't make that promise, baby. You're my heart and soul," Sirius murmured as he stroked her hair.
The broken witch shuddered an uneven breath, and a tear fell down her cheek. "Please? Please don't let me live through it."
"Was that what you were dreaming about?" Remus asked.
Hemione nodded against the dog animagus and touched his cheek. "I can't do it anymore. You're my greatest weakness," she whispered.
"Okay, love, I promise I won't get myself killed, alright," Sirius comforted her while stroking her hair.
"So, this room needs to be cleaned up. Why don't you all get some tea and I'll get it ready for you?" Lily offered as she walked toward the trio.
"It's fine, Lils. We'll take care of the mess and stretch out the bed. Go ahead and get some rest. We have this," Remus responded.
The Potters didn't say much else as they waved at the marauders left in the room and left. It was apparent that they needed privacy. Hermione pulled away from them as the door sounded and glanced back at the bed. It looked as if claws poked through the mattress and scratched at her… a manifestation of a former life, or leftover magic from her previous ones? She wasn't sure about it, but it was a new symptom.
"Let's get relaxed and some well due rest," Remus said with a nod.
Hermione rocked her head, but her mind wandered as she crawled off his lap. If she was able to bring forth former injuries, what else was going to spawn from her nineteen prior lives? The thought made her pale and darkness curl in her gut. There were things she wasn't planning on ever telling anyone that could possibly rear its head to announce her deeds from another world...
