After dinner, Fred waited until they were out of earshot of the students before he asked quietly, "You okay?"

Hermione sighed and slumped her shoulders slightly. "To be honest, no, I'm not. They disarmed me, Fred. They basically took me captive. And I almost took them all out. If I hadn't yelled for you, who knows how badly I could have hurt them." She turned slightly haunted eyes towards him. "I swore no one would ever do that to me again. All my instincts told me to hurt them badly enough that they wouldn't even think twice about coming after me again. And, Fred, I almost did it." She hung her head and refused to look at him.

Fred gently laid his hand between her shoulder blades and began to rub soothing circles on her back. He could feel her tense up at the first contact, but he kept gently petting her, and eventually he could feel her relax a little. "Hermione," he said gently. "You're eighteen and have had more dangerous adventures and more horrible experiences that anyone three times your age should have. It's okay for you to feel fear. It's normal, natural. If they knew what all you've been through in the past seven years, they would be incredibly troubled by their actions our first night here."

He moved his hand to her face and slightly nudged her chin. He waited patiently for her to meet his eyes again. "Hermione, I want you to keep something in mind. Yes, you could have torn those boys apart. You could have very easily killed or maimed them. You could have made it so they never used magic again." He looked as serious and real as he could. He wanted her to see without a doubt how much he meant what he was about to tell her.

"But you didn't. When every instinct screamed for you to use violence, you called for me. You called for me, not your magic. Any time you feel like you're about to lose control, you call for me okay? Not anyone else. Good ol' Freddie will be there and take care of whatever you don't want to destroy. I'm here."

Hermione stared into his face and searched for any sign that he wasn't telling the truth. But Fred Weasley does not lie to Hermione Granger. And apparently, Fred West did not lie to Hermione Greene either. She believed him.

She nodded once and he let go of her face. "Thank you," she said quietly. Fred bobbed his head awkwardly. Emotional moments were not his forte. They continued in silence down the hall to their quarters.

"Fred," she said right before she entered her room. "Thanks for getting rid of the mirrors."

. . . .

Remus walked around the lake, quietly enjoying the softly sung bird song of the early morning. He had always liked the mornings better. The peacefulness was always welcome in his life. He loved James and Sirius, he did, but sometimes they were a bit much to handle.

James's constant curiosity and nosiness landed them frequently in trouble with their Head Girl. Lily Evans wasn't really known for being a shy girl. She insisted, usually in a loud tone, that James behave himself. He never did.

Sirius's only problem seemed to be his need for thrills. He needed to be kept on his toes. Remus was pretty certain that his friend was close to running out of girls to date. Between the girls and the pranking, Sirius was running on a continual high.

He was just heading back to Hogwarts when he saw Professor West coming towards him.

"Lupin!" his teacher called. He jogged up as Remus waited patiently. "What are you doing up this early? Where are your fellow pranksters?"

Remus raised an eyebrow. "Pranksters?" he said cautiously. As far as he knew, the Marauders hadn't been caught by the Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers in the last twenty-four hours. They'd been here for a week. Surely, they hadn't found out that quickly.

Fred grinned. "I recognize a prankster from a mile away. So can Hermione. Don't even try to play innocent with me on that one."

Remus stored that away for further analysis. He shrugged. "They're probably all still in bed."

"I'd be doing the same, but I've got teacher-y things to do." Fred started off again. "Some free advice?"

"Sure," Remus said. He felt a tad uneasy.

"Don't prank my class." Fred winked and took off. "See you at dinner!"

"What about breakfast and lunch?" Remus yelled after him, but West was already out of earshot. His teacher was fast.

Weird. One minute West was a friendly sort, ready with an easy smile and light remarks. The next, he was giving them serious looks and advice. He wondered what made him like that. Remus simply could not figure his teacher out.

He entered the main courtyard to see Professor Greene sitting cross-legged on the ground. He walked up to her. "Um, Professor?"

She didn't turn her head, just continued to make herself comfortable. "Yes, Lupin?"

He wasn't surprised that she knew who he was even though she didn't see him. He was fairly certain that she had some way of seeing without seeing. "Um, Professor, what are you doing?"

"I'm making myself comfortable. What are you doing? It's a quarter past six on a Saturday." She glanced up at him.

"Oh, um, I was just out for a walk. Why are you making yourself comfortable?"

"Oh, do you like the mornings too? They are rather quiet around here." The corners of her mouth turned up slightly. It was the closest he'd ever seen her come to a smile.

"Yes, ma'am. Sometimes Sirius and James can be rather noisy." He chuckled. "It's necessary for me to get some kind of quiet."

"I can understand that." She resumed straightening her back and settling into position.

"Professor, you didn't answer my question," Remus reminded her.

"Hm, I wasn't aware that I was required to answer," she said flatly. "I'm making myself comfortable because I'm going to be sitting here for quite some time. Now, shoo." She made waving motions with her hands. She didn't seem irritated with him, just ready to get on with whatever she was doing. "I need to set up a shield so no one else bugs me while I'm working."

"But what are you working-"

"Shoo!"

He saw a light come into her eyes he didn't like the look of. Remembering what Professor West had said the day before, he shooed.

Hermione Greene was an even bigger mystery than Fred West. However, it was time he wake up the others and get breakfast. Maybe they would have some kind of idea about what on earth his two teachers were doing.

. . . .

"So she was just sitting there in the middle of the yard?" James mumbled through his eggs. He saw Evans watching him and grinned.

Sirius laughed as she turned away disgusted. "Hey, Prongs, maybe you should reconsider smiling with your mouth full."

James winced. "Anyway, she was just sitting there?"

Remus nodded. "Yeah. I don't know what she was doing. I was hoping you would have some ideas."

The boys quickly finished breakfast in order to go find Professor Greene. They started in the courtyard and found her right where Remus had left her. Sirius tried to approach her, but bounced right off the invisible shield. They all tried to walk closer, but they couldn't get within fifteen feet of her.

"This is weird," James said. They made themselves comfortable near a wall of the covered walkway and started tossing around ideas to break the shield

"Black! Potter!" The boys jumped at the sound of McGonagall's voice above them. "What are you doing trying to disturb Professor Greene?"

"We just wanted to know what she was doing, Professor," said Sirius.

"Yes, well, I'm sure you'll be able to ask her eventually, but for now you need to leave her alone. She and West are working very complicated magic and we cannot risk interference."

The boys allowed themselves to be ushered back towards the school. "But what is she doing?" Remus asked.

"Mister Lupin, it is not my place to say. However, I am curious myself as to how she knows how to cast such complicated magic at such a young age."

"But she's not even using her wand or saying anything!" James said. "She's just sitting there!"

"The less a wizard has to move or say to make things happen, the more impressive and complicated the spells," McGonagall said quietly. "The fact that she is as young as she is and can do things that only mages like Dumbledore can do is very impressive."

Remus and Sirius exchanged a concerned glance at the slight waver in her voice. "No disrespect, Professor, but you don't sound impressed," James said. "You sound scared as hell."

She said nothing for a moment, merely pursed her lips together tightly. "I believe you all have several parchments worth of essays to write by Monday," she said coolly. She stared them down until they got the hint and headed back inside.

Neither Professor West nor Professor Greene were seen at dinner that night.

. . . .

Hermione finally emerged from the pile of books she was researching. Fred was falling asleep on a stack of papers, drool starting to form at the corner of his mouth. She watched him for a moment, envious of his seemingly pleasant sleep. The warding must have worn him out more than she thought.

She could feel her own eyes start to droop. She fought the exhaustion setting in as hard as she could, but sleep would eventually claim her. She knew, and still she fought.

Sleep had not been her friend for years now. Not since Voldemort came back. Not since she made it her personal mission to keep Harry alive.

In her dreams she saw everything. She saw death and destruction. She saw hatred and pain and despair. She saw gruesome wounds made by torture and hideous corpses torn apart by battle.

In her dreams she heard everything. The screams, the crying, the heavy breathing of people too scared to move. She heard threats and horrendous screeching. She heard the deathly silence after a hard-won battle with very little actually achieved.

In her dreams she felt, and oh, how she felt. Her nerves on fire, electrifying her, trying to burn her from the inside out. The sharp, keen edge of a knife slicing with little resistance through her skin and muscle all the way to the bone. The force of her body being flung into thick, heavy stone walls. She felt the aches in her joints and-

She screamed in frustration. She was so tired, she just needed rest. She didn't want to fight any more. She didn't want to see the faces of her dead friends floating in her mind. She didn't want to hear their voices. She didn't want to think about all the what-ifs any more.

"HERMIONE!"

Her eyes snapped open.

Feeling a hand on her arm, she recognized it as Fred's a second too late. Her body was already moving across the table, her left arm throwing up her wand and casting a shield as she sent a stinging hex towards him. He barely dodged out of the way. He bent over with his hands on his knees as he looked up through his thick wave of hair.

They met each other's eyes and just stared at each other for moment.

"Mione?" Fred asked hesitantly.

She took a deep breath and lowered her shield. She ran her fingers through her short curls. "I'm fine," she said. "I'm fine. Just a dream. I'm fine." She shoved her wand into her arm holster. "I'm going for a walk. Get some fresh air and clear my head."

Fred straightened up and nodded. As the door began to shut behind her, she paused. "Fred." Her eyes were tight and drawn with dark shadows underneath. "We did win right? You saw us win."

Her broken voice almost brought tears to his eyes. He couldn't let her see that. He grinned a lazy, easy smile. "Yeah, kid. We definitely won all right."

She let out a steadying breath and forcibly gathered herself together. Hermione Granger did not allow herself to fall apart. Ever. She had made it through a war, and by Merlin, she would not let the after effects beat her.

Fred watched her nod to herself and him and walk out the door. There was no spring in her step. There was no click of her heels. But her stride was determined. Her back was straight. Her head was up.

Hermione Granger was definitely not okay. But she would be.