Okay, I went a little crazy and combined two chapters into one. I couldn't help it. It just didn't feel right to break any of it up. It wanted to stay together so I left it alone... I hope that's alright... lol. I don't think any of you will really mind though will you? Another couple steps towards RL/HG action! Seriously... it's good. Love it.
Hermione couldn't put into words the pain that tore through her. Her body was on fire, sensations so terrible she couldn't find words to describe it. She screamed in agony as her skin ripped and stretched giving way to a completely different form. She fell onto her hands and knees, digging her nails along the cement floor below her. A few moments and it felt like she was going to succumb to the will of the wolf, but her senses took over a few moments later. She backed into a corner of small room with thickly padded walls and ceiling.
Hermione trembled. She hadn't known what to expect. She'd seen Remus under the potion, but had never gotten the chance to use it on herself. She curled up on the floor, her werewolf instincts screaming at her, pulling at her to go in a certain direction. She knew they wanted her to go towards the shrieking shack, to find Remus, but she had told the room not to even allow a door until the morning came so even if she had wanted to find out what was happening out there, she couldn't.
James turned his head to look at Sirius who had gone back to his human form as well, looking dumbfounded. Remus had backed away from them almost sheepishly after he had transformed. "Remus?" James said, reaching a hand out to his friend. The werewolf nodded slowly.
"Good god, the potion lets you keep your mind? That's what it does?" James muttered. He touched Remus' werewolf shoulder, but Remus pulled away as if burned. He whimpered, his eyes drawn towards the tunnel, but he seemed to be fighting it.
"What's he doing?" Peter asked as he transformed back to his human form.
"He's… wait, Hermione's transformed right?" Sirius glanced at James who nodded.
"The wolf wants to go to her?" James asked Remus, who hesitated before nodding his head as if he had just realized what the pull was himself
"He can't leave the shrieking shack," James said, suddenly.
"What?" Sirius barked. "We can't stay here all night!"
"We have to," James said. "If Remus loses control, his wolf will take him straight into Hogwarts."
"But…" Sirius sighed and crossed his arms. He pouted as if he were a child denied his playtime. The rest of the night he sulked, James asking Remus yes and no questions about this new way of experiencing his werewolf side. Peter fell asleep on the lumpy cot in the corner.
Hermione found Lily standing above her when she woke up, wondering how she had gotten into the room. There was a blanket over her, one Lily had undoubtedly covered her with. When Lily saw that she was her awake, she pointed to a pile of clothes that she had brought. Hermione blushed furiously as she reached for the clothes, holding the blanket up against her naked body.
"You'll probably want to see Madame Pomfrey about that," Lily told her, nodding to Hermione's forehead before turning away so Hermione could get dressed which she did so quickly into the jeans and t-shirt Lily had brought. Hermione had set them on a pile on her bed, hoping rather than knowing that Lily would be the one to find her in the morning. Hermione touched her tender forehead, knowing that there was probably a right nasty bruise. She had done it sometime during when she had been changing back hence her unconsciousness after she had gone back to her original form.
"Hogsmeade today," Lily informed pleasantly as they left the dark room of requirement. Hermione nodded, still very tired. She didn't feel as nauseous anymore which was a plus.
Lily said that Remus had come back much earlier so they had been worried when Hermione wasn't back. Lily had looked for nearly an hour and found her unconscious when she finally got into the room of requirement. Hermione thanked her for finding her and performing a spell to keep her from concussion. The only thing Lily hadn't been able to fix was the dark bruise forming on the right side of her forehead.
They entered the great hall with quite a few stares in Hermione's direction. Obviously, her little outburst had gotten around. Most of the younger students stared at her either in awe or shock, while the Slytherins avoided walking too close to her altogether. She supposed it was an improvement over receiving their insults. She also noticed that Snape's stare had changed back from one of disgust to one of intrigue.
She saw Remus and took in his smile as he stood. She embraced him with a relieved smile. He was happy, he was thankful, he was Remus again... almost. "Didn't tell me you could do that," he whispered. She chuckled, pulling away slightly. "You'll want to see Madame Pomfrey," he told her, indicating to her injury as his eyes settled on it. He touched it gently earning a wince from her.
"So I've been told," she said, glancing at Lily.
"Told you I had a good potions master, didn't I, James?" she said, over Remus' shoulder. She sat down next to Lily and Remus retook his place on Lily's other side, across from Sirius, who had a rogue smile on his face.
"Whatever will we do with all the Slytherins that keep soiling themselves when they see you, dearest Hermione?" Sirius asked, smirking.
"Don't be vulgar, Sirius," Hermione said, chidingly.
"You're gonna have to teach me that trick from yesterday," Sirius said.
"What so you can terrorize a few first years?" Hermione asked. James laughed while Lily seemed to be on Hermione's side in the matter. Lily was happy to see Hermione eating. The girl was quite thin, almost sickly.
"Three broomsticks today?" Sirius suggested, receiving a few nods of agreement.
"But really would you teach us that?" Peter asked.
Hermione stared at Peter for a long moment. She hesitated before nodding. "I suppose it's possible. I'm working on new potions right now, but if I have time, I might be able to teach the five of you a few spells for dueling." She was quite certain that Peter wouldn't be able to do it even if taught so she figured it wouldn't be too much trouble.
"Let's head off now. We can go with the first group," Sirius suggested, as silence took the group, most looking at Hermione with surprise about her agreeing to teach Peter something. Hermione nodded in agreement, picking up an apple for their walk.
They split up once they got to Hogsmeade, Hermione and Lily going off on their own. Hermione had a potion and a list of suggestions to go to Candice's Cauldron Cosmetics and didn't much want Sirius to know what she was doing for money. She'd kept it from him as long as she could, threatening to hex James if he told him. She had simply said that she'd found a job working with potions, not what kind of potions.
Hermione still had plenty of money left over from the suggestions that she had sent in before by owl, but she figured it would be good meet with Candice in person for this newest potion especially since she was being paid so generously for the potions she invented or improved. Hermione pulled Lily into the shop after a quick look around to be sure no one was watching. She groaned to see quite a few girls from Hogwarts inside. She unwrapped her scarf and slid her gloves off.
"Hermione?" a high-pitched voice said. She looked over to see a tall, beautiful Candice who bustled from around the counter and took her hand in a bone-crushing squeeze.
"It's absolutely marvelous to see you again. You're products are already selling like wildfire. I've wanted to congratulate you!" the woman continued. Hermione glanced around the shop to see Lily and her roommates. Janice looked away, blushing, while Susan giggled in that annoying way she did. She shook her head.
"I'm just trying to pay for my school ma'am. Please don't make too much of it," Hermione told her.
"Well, I've sent a few of your letters in to Witch's Weakly already and they want to do an interview with you! I thought you'd be in so I had a journalist come right over from the magazine!" the woman exclaimed.
"No, no, actually I have to… I have to go. I'm supposed to be somewhere," Hermione said. She blinked dazedly as a bright light flashed in her eyes.
"Where to?" a short woman demanded, one quill tucked behind her ear while another was already in her stubby-fingered hand. "I'll go along with you, a day in the life of the young woman who will one day revolutionize cosmetic potions!" the woman exclaimed.
"Actually, I was just stopping in briefly, very briefly to give you this," Hermione said to Candice, shoving a closed envelope and a bottle of purple potion into the tall lady's hands and backing up quickly. "I have to go somewhere… you know with my friend Lily!" Hermione exclaimed, grabbing her friend's arm in a tight grip.
"Well I'll go along and we can talk about how you came up with the Skin Softening Solution… oh and the Pimple Petrifying Potion!" the short reporter said, her rather large, bumbling photographer hovering over her shoulder and snapping another picture in Hermione and Lily's faces, this time with the store owner Candice leaning over her shoulder.
"I've put your name on all the potions that you invented!" Candice said, good-natured. "I'm just glad that I can one day say that I was the first person to benefit from the genius of the Great Hermione Granger." Hermione watched in mortification as the reporter smiled broadly and wrote down the shopkeepers words. It was made more terrible by the entrance of a certain dark-haired marauder, Sirius Black accompanied by the handsome James Potter.
"Hey, we heard from a couple Hufflepuffs that you were…" Sirius said, James walking beside him.
"Well, sorry but me and my… Sirius…need a little alone time!" Hermione said, grabbing Sirius' arm and yanking him out of the shop without further ceremony. She grimaced as she heard the snap of the camera behind her. She dug her fingers into Sirius' arm ruthlessly, to keep him from opening his mouth. James and Lily followed, but Remus and Peter weren't anywhere around. She didn't stop moving until they entered the Hog's Head.
"They put my name on the bottles!" Hermione cried when Lily came in. "I'll never live this down. I shall be forever labeled as the inventor of Pimple Petrifying Potion! What was I thinking? Besides, don't reporters have better things to do in the middle of a war then come after me?"
"Y-you… you invented Pimple Petrifying Potion!" Sirius exclaimed, roaring with laughter. He fell into a chair, laughing wildly and clutching his stomach. James was laughing as well.
"I didn't come up with the bloody name, Sirius," she snapped, hitting him hard on the shoulder, but it didn't stop his laughter.
"Did you really invent potions, Hermione, or were they around in your time?" Lily asked.
"No, they weren't around! I would never take credit for another person's work!" Hermione exclaimed looking scandalized at the very idea.
"Hey Dumbledore, do you have any firewhiskey?" Hermione grunted glancing over at the bar.
"I have some tame butterbeer for you little girl," the man grunted from behind the counter, clearly displeased that she knew his name at all and had the audacity to use it. The others sent strange, questioning looks his way but said nothing.
"Oh, come on, I'm of age!" Hermione hissed.
"Doesn't mean I'm about to give you anything stronger than butterbeer," he said, tossing a bottle. She caught it, and threw some money back at him, irritated.
"Where are Remus and Peter?" she asked, conversationally.
"Honeydukes," Sirius replied. "We were there, but we couldn't pass this up." His sly grin returned.
"Right, perfect. Think of all the people I have to avoid from now on: my friends, my enemies, and the reporters at Witch's Weekly," Hermione said.
"Who will most likely have an article in about your undying love for Handsome Heartthrob Sirius Black," James said. Hermione gave him a horrified look, then looked at Sirius then gave him an even more horrified look while Sirius looked rather pleased at the idea of some publicity.
"That's what you get for ducking them. Serves you right," James said.
"Well I guess the sooner the tragic breakup article comes out the better," Hermione groaned, sighing and drinking some more butterbeer.
"We'd better start off then, Remus and Peter should be at the three broomsticks soon. Trust me you'll be glad you came," James said, casting a secretive glance at Sirius, who rolled his eyes. James offered Lily his arm and she and Sirius followed behind, getting a rather odd mix of stares, some interested while others still looked terrified of her. She heard a girl giggle when they passed. Sirius gave her a cocky smirk.
"Lily, I honestly think I may vomit," Hermione said, through gritted teeth. How things always traveled through Hogwarts students so quickly was beyond her but she was sure her two nosey roommates had something to do with it, well to be fair to Janice, Susan was the nosy one, Janice was just along for the ride.
Sirius swept forward and held the door open for them, placing a hand on the small of Hermione's back as he followed her in. "Want to lose that hand do you Sirius?" Hermione hissed over her shoulder.
"You're going out with SIRIUS BLACK!" Lily and Hermione's dorm mate Susan squealed as soon as they entered The Three Broomsticks. Hermione winced.
"Wouldn't you know it, I'm actually madly in love with Sir Nicholas, so I just cannot find myself with any flesh and blood man," Hermione said, bitingly.
Susan stared dumbly at her for a moment and then realization dawned on her chubby face. "Oh, a joke I get it! You're so clever Hermione! I always knew that you were," the girl giggled insanely.
"Lily, I'm really serious. I am going to be sick," Hermione hissed in Lily's ear. Lily giggled, covering her mouth. Susan walked off quickly to a group of her Ravenclaw friends.
"So you and Sirius, huh?" Remus said as they approached the table. She stared at him for a long moment, seeing that he looked like he actually believed it.
"Honestly Remus, you must be joking! Has everyone in the world gone absolutely mad?" Hermione said, shaking her head in shock. She waved her hand impatiently and he moved quickly over in the booth to give her room.
"It's all right Hermione, I'm sure that not everyone will believe it," Lily said, taking the last spot in the booth and patting Hermione on the back.
"Merlin save me, even Remus thought it was true!" Hermione exclaimed. "I'm quite certain there must be no hope for me." She lowered her head into her arms.
"So it's not true?" Remus said, slowly. Hermione let out a dramatic yet muffled cry of frustration into her arms. "Well, you are always around him, going out on the grounds together all all that."
"Remus, look at him!" Lily said, incredulously, waving her hand at Sirius who was up getting drinks with James. Peter let out a wheezy little laugh.
"It just isn't my week is it?" Hermione mumbled with self-pity.
"Really, not everyone's as daft as Remus, Hermione!" Lily said entreatingly.
"Hey!" Remus exclaimed. Hermione raised her hand and moved it around blindly for a few moments before she found the side of his head, pushing his face towards the wall a bit before dropping it back to the table and groaning. Remus and Lily looked at each other for a moment before they began to laugh. Hermione chuckled along with them, but Peter just stared at them. Hermione sat up regaining her composure a bit.
"Remus, I think you're in my spot," Sirius said, as he slid in next to Peter.
"Like hell he is!" Hermione exclaimed. "You, Sirius Black, can sit as close to me as three feet for the next two weeks, understand?" She was becoming quite good at using that threatening tone. Sirius grabbed his heart as if wounded, sliding a bottle across the table to Remus and one to Peter. James placed one in front of both Hermione and Lily.
"Ready to kick Slytherin's arse next game James old boy?" Sirius asked.
"McCroy's gotten a lot better over the past year. We're going to have to train twice as much for the next few weeks because our beaters have been getting a bit lazy," he said, with a sharp look at Sirius.
"What position is McCroy?" Hermione asked, frowning.
"Slytherin Seeker. It's almost impossible to hit him with a bludger, bloody fast that kid is," Sirius grumbled. "I mean not as fast as James, but still..."
"Did you try a draw-box-seeker tactic? It can lose you a few goals, but without their seeker, they can't do much."
"Draw-Box-Seeker tactic?" James frowned.
"Harry always went on about how the Hufflepuff team kept trying to do it on him because he was so fast. Look what you do is have your seeker pretend to be going after the snitch and draw the other seeker, McCroy, towards your goal. The keeper comes out and one beater hangs back. Two of the chasers also pull back. One chaser has the quaffle ideally and the second beater protects them. The first beater sends a bludger at the seeker who doesn't have anywhere to go, because your team has pulled so closely to him," Hermione said. She received shocked stares. "Harry was quidditch captain for a year… I helped research a few strategies and that was one he spent most of his time avoiding." Her face was tinged slightly red.
"Harry was quidditch captain?" James asked, no small amount of pride in his voice.
"In his sixth year, but then things got a bit... He was also captain in his fifth until he was suspended for no fault of his own," she added.
"His father's son no doubt," he said, giving Lily a pointed look. Hermione smiled fondly.
"Well, he did inherit modesty from somewhere and I don't think it was you," she told him. "Best Defense student at Hogwarts too, started a club called Dumbledore's Army," she said.
James gave Sirius a smug look. "Dumbledore's Army, eh?" he smirked.
"Least I live long enough to meet him," Sirius replied, as if he were bragging. Hermione's eyes darkened, while James seemed to think it was funny. She never would understand how they could joke about things like that.
"Not clever, Sirius," Remus said, with a sharp look. Sirius smirked, earning him a glare from Lily.
"What, it's not as if it's going to happen, not with Hermione around to stop it," Sirius said, shrugging carelessly.
"Not too much pressure there eh?" Hermione said, rolling her eyes. "You just play your quidditch and enjoy your jibes."
"So, Pimple Petrifying Potion," James said, slyly. Hermione snorted, a smile growing across her lips. She glanced at Remus who looked away quickly, reddening. She tried not to laugh. She didn't want to embarrass him further.
"How do you invent potions, anyhow? Doesn't the cauldron blow up if you get something wrong?" Peter frowned.
"Not if you know which ingredients react badly with each other. Potions is about controlling the magical properties of a potion, understanding exactly how each ingredient will add to the success of the potion," Lily told him. "Like graphorn parts can't be added after flobberworms unless the potion is brought to a low enough heat and unicorn blood reacts violently with many ingredients that have been touched by dark magic."
"Exactly," Hermione nodded, glad she didn't have to explain it to the boy.
"Remus, you were going to tell Hermione what we did this morning?" Sirius asked, suddenly. He was obviously bored by the subject of potions. James made an abrupt movement and Sirius winced with a slight grunt of pain. Hermione smiled at their behavior then turned her head to look at a very disconcerted Remus.
"We… I mean well… I saw this book when we were at the… at the book store… thought you'd like it, you know as a thank you... for the potion," Remus said, blushing bright red as he picked up a book from underneath the bench.
Hermione's eyes lit up as she saw the cover of a leather bound book. She gave him a delighted smile, glancing at Lily who was smiling brightly as well. She placed the book down in front of her, running her hands over the leather. "Transfiguration: Techniques and Tactics for the Talented and Tenacious Tenderfoot." She let out a breath before grabbing Remus in tight embrace. "Thank you so much! That's so thoughtful, Remus," she said, happily.
"Lily, look!" she said, grinning like mad.
"Yes, Hermione, I see," Lily said, as if she was addressing a small child that had just received a present for Christmas.
"This is wonderful and you knew!" she said giving James a look. "You could have told me."
"It was a secret," James said, smiling.
"I'm good at keeping secrets!" Hermione protested. Lily snorted and that followed with a bit of laughter from the rest. "This was really great of you Remus," she said, giving him another smile. She gave him a small peck on the cheek and his face flamed once more. She opened the book and looked at a few of the slightly yellowed pages. It was obviously a rare text. She wanted to get back to Hogwarts and study it thoroughly, but also didn't want this day in Diagon to end either, not when it was just getting good. She suddenly set the book down a strange feeling coming over her. She pushed it slightly towards the center of the table.
She waved her hand to Lily and the girl stood quickly. Hermione slid out of the booth and stood, walking towards the door. She opened it slightly. The skies outside were much darker than when they had come in.
"James!" she called. James came over quickly. She drew her wand and pulled his sleeve slightly. He followed her out. They walked out into the center of the street, wands held up as they turned around. There in the sky a few blocks behind the Three Broomsticks floated the eerie green symbol.
"What the hell?" James muttered.
"He wouldn't dare," Hermione whispered. The others were stepping out of the Three Broomsticks turning to see what they were looking at. "Come on," she said, pulling James along with her towards a fearful cry, knowing the others were close behind them.
"Get back to Hogwarts!" she shouted to the stunned students that were stepping out of the shops all around. The wind whirled around them sharply and Hermione shivered.
Suddenly she froze, her eyes meeting a pair of black ones. She didn't move for a very long moment, conscious of the very texture of the wood in her hand, the wind rustling her robes and cloak which whipped around her ankles. He didn't raise his wand to them however, just ducked down an alley. She let out a breath, but didn't have time to relax as they heard terrified shouts. She held a hand on James' shoulder to keep him from following Snape down that alley. The shouts became more frantic.
"James, you and Sirius go down that road," she said, quickly. "Remus and Lily back towards the Hog's Head. Come on Peter," she said, grabbing the young man's chubby wrist.
"Stay close to me," she snapped at Peter, who didn't seem like he wanted to argue about that.
"And who is this?" a cold voice said to her right. She whirled, sending a spell from her wand without a word. The death eater was thrown backwards. He hit the wall and fell unconscious to the ground.
"Hey! Leave him alone!" Hermione shouted when she saw Peter being attacked. She sent a powerful spell that sent not one, but all three death eaters to the ground. "Thank you Professor Moody," she muttered, having learned that particular spell from him. They were getting up though. She'd only bought them a few seconds.
Hermione saw a flash out of the corner of her eyes, and was a bit surprised to note that Peter had been able to shield himself without her help. She pushed him aside slightly, redirecting the next spell. There was a green flash and she shoved off of Peter to send them both flying out of the way, but splitting them up in the process. She sent a spell that caught the death eater in the shoulder, sending him to the ground with a roar of pain.
Peter let out a cry and Hermione felt an arm grab her around the middle, another ripping her wand from her grasp and her feet lifted off the ground. She felt her shirt yanked off of her shoulder and she winced as a low chuckle sounded from behind her, breath hot on her neck before a sharp pain dug into her flesh. She cried out in pain. There was a bright red light and the grip on her loosened. She turned, grabbing her wand back and cursing the death eater in one smooth motion. She glanced at where the spell had come from to see someone limping off around the corner, off to save the next person, probably. Her eyes then went back to the whimpering death eater before her
"Th-that's dark magic," he said, gasping in pain as deep cuts formed all over his body, one at a time as she kept her spell on him. She looked down at him mercilessly.
"You're pathetic," she said, muttering a hex. His masked face fell back to the ground, without another word.
Hermione placed her hand on her shoulder, feeling the blood dripping there from the death eater biting her, blood soaking through her shirt and jumper and sliding down her shoulder. It was a deep wound, horrid painful. She noticed a bit angrily that Peter was no longer there. That was why she had taken him with her. She would not trust that coward to protect anyone else.
Hermione took off towards the shouts in the distance. As she ran around a corner down an alley, she saw lights at the end. She increased her pace, seeing a girl with blonde hair she recognized from school, a sixth year Hufflepuff, friends with Janice. She was dueling obviously. She was looking to the right and Hermione saw a death eater raising his wand to her from behind. Hermione raised her hand, a bright red light breaking free from the end. It caught the death eater in the chest and he was thrown backwards, his back hitting a wall hard. He crumpled.
"Thanks!" a voice called. She glanced at the blonde boy, nodding. She ran at the girl as she fell unconscious from another death eater's spell, raising a shield as she got to her side, dropping to a knee and putting all her energy into repelling the blue curse. It hit the shield and rebounded off, slamming into the edge of a building which took a huge hit, rock flying everywhere. Hermione covered the girl with her body, catching a small rock just between her shoulder blades for the effort, but the girl was unharmed.
Hermione stood suddenly, as the boy backed up to protect the girl. She sent off another spell. "Have you seen James and Sirius?" she called, deflecting a curse with practiced concentration.
"No, but they might be the ones down by the post. There were a lot of lights shooting up from there," the boy said. Hermione shielded them both from a spell and one that was coming from her back side was deflected by a strike spell from across the street. Hermione met a pair of brown eyes, briefly and nodded to the girl.
"Are you all right here?" she asked.
"I've got this sorted. Go to your friends," he told her.
"Thank you," she told him.
"I'll cover you, go," he told her, sending a volley of spells as she constructed a shield around herself, running for the alley that led to the street the post was on.
She ran hard, finding herself with James and Sirius in short order. She shot a spell between them both that knocked a death eater off of a broom, a tactic she remembered seeing only once by the death eaters. "Thanks!" James said. She nodded sharply.
"Crazy couple of days eh?" Hermione muttered, as they formed a circle facing outwards and fighting off the death eaters.
"Just brilliant," Sirius said, sarcastically. She saw a green flash and felt a heavy weight hit her. She looked up to see James who had tackled her to safety. He pulled her to her feet, but Hermione wasn't paying attention to him anymore.
"Avada Kedavra!" she shouted at the top of her lungs. It met the green light headed for Sirius a few feet from him and there was a huge blast much like a bomb, green light flashing so bright that it was almost blinding. The sheer force of the explosion sent them all flying to the ground. James hit his head on something. Hermione ran to his side and checked him quickly. He awoke with a simple Enervate hand going to touch his head wincing a bit at the pain and groaning softly.Sirius had taken down the death eater who sent the curse at him by the time she'd looked up, and the others were slinking away into the dark alleys and disapparating.
"Sweet merlin!" Sirius breathed. "Nice aim 'Mione!" Sirius muttered, knowing how close he'd been to death.
"Accio Wands," she said, sharply. Wands came flying towards her, falling at her feet. "Incarcerous," she stated. The wizards that hadn't run off and now lay injured or unconscious on the ground were all drawn together by a magical rope in the center of the cobblestone street.
"Where's Peter?"
She shrugged, not knowing and honestly not caring. The two others frowned, falling silent. Hermione saw Lily coming towards them and noticed that Remus was hurt. She ran to meet them, grabbing Remus' arm and helping him to sit on the ground. The others came to join them, Sirius carrying a handful of death eater wands. Remus was bleeding heavily from his stomach. He was shaking terribly.
"Y-you're hurt," Remus choked out, raising a weak hand to her shoulder, but she sighed pushing his hand away.
"Don't worry about me. You're much worse off," she told him.
"Than- you... for the com-forting words," Remus said.
"What the hell was that? They weren't even here for half an hour," Lily said, breathing heavily and looking worriedly down at Remus
"Hermione?" James asked.
"It was like they were testing our defenses. I dare say they found Hogsmeade stronger than they believed," Hermione said, shaking her head as she helped Remus shrug off his robes. His shirt beneath was soaked with blood and his breathing was heavy.
"You sure you know what you're doing?" Lily asked, over her shoulder. Hermione performed a perfect cutting charm down the front of his shirt and opened it to allow her a clear view of the injured area. James had just hit his head pretty hard and was barely able to stand steadily, let alone perform complicated healing spells.
"Well... 'Professor R. J. Lupin' is the one who taught me so really, let's hope Remus knew what he was doing, shall we?" she muttered, with no humor in her tone at all. "Besides, James took a pretty nasty knock to the head. I wouldn't let him near Remus with a wand." As if to make his point, James stumbled to the side slightly and was only steadied by Sirius' hand.
"There you are!" Peter called, gasping for breath.
"What didn't you understand when I told you to stay close and watch my back? I'm fairly certain that doesn't translate to run and hide at the first sign of trouble," she hissed, glancing over her shoulder, but not leaving her spot on a knee before Remus.
"H-he ran- ran off?" Remus said, gaping at their friend even as his teeth chattered and his body shook from the shock of the injury to his abdomen.
"I was pulled off by a death eater! A bi-big one, wouldn't let go!" Peter cried.
"I'm sure that's precisely what happened," Hermione said, loathingly as she turned slightly to glare properly at the quivering fool. "I don't know how the hell you tricked that hat into saying 'Gryffindor' seven years ago." Sirius grabbed his wand from his hand, despite his complaint.
"Prior Incantatem," Sirius muttered. A shimmering ghost of a disillusionment charm fluttered before him. "You were hiding," he snapped.
"Imagine that," Hermione gritted out.
"Hermione, Remus!" Lily said. Hermione turned to Remus, with an angry growl. Her hands were already covered in his blood which obviously meant he was bleeding a lot. It didn't take a genius to figure that one out.
"Did you hear the spell that hit you?" she asked, glancing up at his face in time to see his eyes roll back into his head. He slumped forward. She caught him around the shoulders with a slight grunt, and laid him back gently, looking up at Lily.
"It-It was a knife I think, a throwing knife," Lily said. "I think I saw him pull something out."
"I wonder who might use one of those," Hermione said, exchanging a look with Sirius. They both knew who it had to have been.
"Bellatrix," he muttered. The healing spells were straightforward enough for such a wound, but she needed to hurry.
"Sirius, run down to the Potions shop and tell them we need a bottle of blood-replenishing potion and stitching solution," she said, pressing a few now-bloodied galleons into his hand.
"This is more than…"
"Tell them we need it now," Hermione said, seriously. Sirius took off in a sprint towards the shop, not wanting something to happen to Remus while he was gone. Hermione stopped the bleeding first with a few quick spells.
With a deep breath, Hermione pressed her wand to Remus' wound hard. He shouted in pain, his amber eyes shooting open. She muttered a spell to stop any internal bleeding before she did a few more spells to heal the outer layers. Sirius came jogging back with the potions, which Hermione took from him.
While Remus was still conscious, she pulled him up slightly by his shoulders. She made certain to check the potion thoroughly, smelling it, looking at it, and even going as far as to taste it, before pressed the bottle to his lips. Remus swallowed it as well as he could, wincing at the pain brought by the injury and the awkward position.
Hermione uncapped the other potion which was a bit thicker, more of a paste really. She moved Remus' robes under his head, laying him down flat before going back to his side. She poured a liberal amount of the potion over the wound, smoothing it a bit with her fingers. It came together, forming only a thin scar. She looked up, taking a deep breath. She saw the dark mark still hanging in the air like a ghost. She stood and waved her wand sharply and fiery sparks flew from the end, soaring up towards the skull and tearing through it before it faded.
There were pops all around them, and she found herself nose-to-nose with Alaster Moody. "Mad-Eye," she said, in greeting. He nodded, glancing down at Remus, then at Peter his eyes narrowing slightly. "Thanks for the save," she told him. Moody jerked his head before setting to work with the death eaters laying on the ground, tied together.
Hermione waved her wand, conjuring a stretcher and levitating Remus onto it carefully. His eyes opened slowly then fluttered closed again. The silence was sickening. Hermione placed a comforting hand on Remus shoulder, indicating that he should relax before stepping back and levitating the stretcher itself.
Lily, James and the others stayed behind and probably took the floo network back or one of the tunnels. Hermione walked slowly and calmly, Remus sleeping soundly on the stretcher. He was going to be fine, just needed some rest. She was fairly impressed. Lily and Remus had faced Bellatrix Lestrange and lived to tell the tale. Remus had never told her that he was an exceptional wizard as far back as his Hogwarts years, but he always had been a bit too modest.
Hermione saw a dark shadow and turned sharply, lowering the stretcher to the ground, slowly. She placed a protective hand on Remus' chest and held her wand out with her other hand, lit with a simple lumos spell. She looked around wildly until her eyes locked on a dark cloaked figure and a pale face through the darkness. Whoever it was, wasn't wearing a Death Eater mask. She caught a glimpse of a dark shadow.
"If you're going to attack me, then do it!" she snapped, making sure to keep the dark figure in her sight, and to keep herself between Remus and that person. "Show yourself!" she shouted, furiously when he didn't respond. She sent a random spell into the darkness, but it kept going through the trees until it slammed into a tree that was obliterated. She shook her head, turning to levitate Remus' stretcher and continue forward.
'If they wanted to they would have attacked me by now,' Hermione thought to herself a bit irritated.
All she could think about was how Peter had left her. If Moody hadn't come, she wouldn't be around right now to tell the story. She could still feel that death eater's breath on her shoulder over her mark and the sharp pain of his teeth digging in hard enough to draw blood which still trickled down her back and also over her collarbone in the front.
She shivered slightly at the throbbing pain and glanced down at Remus, who was sleeping peacefully. She still couldn't get over how young he was, how much changed. He was still Remus, but different in so many ways. She smiled slightly at the fact that she was now the older one. That was hard to fully grasp. She frowned, realizing that she should probably go back for the book that he had bought for her. It was still in the Three Broomsticks.
She was saved from thinking on it further as they reached the Hospital Wing. She levitated Remus to the first bed, which another student vacated quickly, moving further down into the room. Hermione saw a girl across the room, moaning in pain. She gave the mediwitch a swift nod, leaving Remus' side to help the younger student. She was no James Potter, but one picked up a few things when being hunted by death eaters for years.
Hermione saw that the girl was bleeding heavily from her leg. Hermione summoned a few potions and quickly took care of the girl, but more were coming. She found herself quite busy in helping the mediwitch. She came across a curse that she recognized but didn't know how to heal so she called Madame Pomfrey to the fifth year girl.
When she got back to Remus she saw he was asleep, but he had to have been awake for a short time as there was an empty bottle of sleeping potion on the stand beside him. Madame Pomfrey stood above him, looking him over before pulling the blanket over him with a wave of her wand. He looked so calm lying here. She looked to the mediwitch who nodded to her with respect.
"Thank you," was all the mediwitch said, exhausted.
Hermione nodded walking to the other side of Remus' bed, taking the seat beside it. She hesitated for a moment, wondering if their odd relationship allowed for her to take his hand. They had really only just started speaking regularly. Before that he'd been afraid to even come around her really. They had studied together a few times. Hermione decided after a moment that she didn't care whether or not it did. She lifted his hand, gently, bringing it to her lips with her shaking hands and kissing the back of his hand once. She held it tightly in her smaller ones. She hadn't slept in so long, unless one counted accidentally knocking yourself out for an hour or two sleep.
Sirius and James came running in, breathing heavily. "No more injured?" Hermione asked, looking up at them. Their eyes were drawn to her then down to Remus. They relaxed visibly.
"No, there weren't many anyhow and they were brought here by floo as soon as the fighting stopped. Rosemerta got caught by a stunner, but sorted her out before you even got to us and sent her back into her bar. She was the one throwing spells from the window," James explained. Hermione nodded, remembering a spell from out of nowhere hitting a death eater at one point. She turned her eyes down to Remus again, wincing as the pain in her shoulder which gave a particularly nasty shock, her shoulder jerking. James stepped forward, pulling her shirt and jumper aside, looking at it carefully.
"I've been bitten by worse," she muttered in a half-hearted joke, but nothing was really funny in the wake of the full moon or that fight that had struck much too close to Hogwarts... to close to home.
James whispered a small spell. She winced as he applied some ointment to heal it, hand tightening on Remus', but a moment later a cool, numb feeling overtook her shoulder and she simply relaxed. James had cut her shirt open after she'd shrugged her robes off her shoulder. She removed her jumper completely, allowing the cool air of the hospital wing to wash over her as she thought about the attack, shivering slightly.
Hermione considered it for a moment. It was a bit much to get her head around. She had obviously changed something. An attack on Hogsmeade in the first war was one thing that she would have heard about definitely. It was a huge change. Her presence had obviously set of a chain of events that led to this, but how? She couldn't imagine how her connection would have emboldened the dark lord so much. One girl's presence was not enough to make that large of a change, no matter how she had acted over the past few weeks. She pressed a hand to Remus' forehead as he jerked in his sleep, looking disturbed by something. She frowned, brushing his hair to the side and staring at his face tenderly. He visibly relaxed, as if her magic itself were soothing him.
James and Lily exchanged glances. She really did have a connection to their werewolf friend. A simple touch from her had soothed him in a mere moment. He looked so peaceful there, her hand touching to the side of his head, the pretty girl staring down at him so gently, so calmly.
"You really love him don't you?" a soft voice asked. Hermione glanced at James who sat beside her. Peter looked at her with wide eyes and Lily simply continued watching Remus, tenderly.
"I will," Hermione murmured. "I will love him more than life." She could not think of any other answer. It was the simple truth.
"We'll have to keep you around then wont we?" Sirius said, dropping a book on the side table to her right. She turned slightly and looked up at him.
"Did you know?" Sirius asked, darkly, sitting between Peter and Lily on the other side of the bed, his eyes boring into hers with something like reproach.
"How could you ask me that?" she murmured, staring down at Remus' hand, still clasped between hers. She looked up at his gentle, sleeping face. She didn't want to look at the others, didn't want to see in their faces what she had heard in Sirius' voice, distrust. That shook her. Sirius was her closest friend. She loved Lily, but she couldn't talk to the other girl in the way she spoke with Sirius.
"I told you I would protect you and now I swear to you that I would never willingly allow any of you to be hurt, not one of you, least of all Remus," she said, softly. "I will protect you until I die, however soon that may be." She winced, raising her hand to grip her shoulder just beside the injury so as not to disturb the healing. It throbbed something terrible once more.
"James, Lily, I'm sure you have to meet with the headmaster," she said. She glanced at Sirius, knowing he wasn't going anywhere. "Sirius and I will watch over Remus," Hermione told them. She conjured a magical hair tie, pulling her air from her face and tying it at the nape of her neck before taking Remus' hand again.
'I won't lose you again, not this time,' she thought, tears welling in her eyes. She remembered the last time she had been sitting at his side after an attack, holding his hand in hers. His shouts of pain had torn her apart one by one. What was worse was the horrid silence that followed. She had only tears from then on. All Ron could do was hold her. Not even Snape could say anything, just pull her away and tell her they had to go. There were no words, two Weasleys, a traitor, and a muggleborn left against hundreds of wizards and witches, lost in a world of darkness and prejudice.
"We'll be back," Lily said, squeezing her shoulder before she and James left.
"Peter could you give Sirius and I some privacy?" she said, her voice neutral though she felt hatred well within her.
"Uh... I mean... sure... o' course," he said, standing quickly and stumbling towards the door.
"I'm sorry. You saved my life, you're my friend, but you understand that I had to ask don't you?" he asked softly. She nodded and was quiet for a few few moments. The first tear found its way down her cheek and she lifted her eyes from Remus' face to look directly at Sirius.
"I promised not to judge him harshly and I will not, not until I know more, but you must know Sirius. If it comes down to it, I'll kill him before he hurts someone I care about, including you. I won't stop to ask questions. I will perform an unforgivable on the spot, without guilt or apology to you or anyone else," she told him honestly. Sirius stared at her evenly.
"I'd kill anyone who tried to hurt James," Sirius replied, a deep undertone to his voice that might have scared her back in her Hogwarts years. Now she simply nodded, knowing better than to try to convince him further. James was his Harry and she would have laid her life on the line to save her best friend if she'd been able to.
Tears fought to the surface but she tried to keep the rest at bay, her hands shaking as she stared at Remus' hand. She had been used to fighting these silly emotions. Since leaving the Potters', she'd vowed to be stronger, promised herself that she'd get by no matter what... for Remus, for Sirius and Lily and James. She needed some sleep. She could barely think and that was something Hermione Granger was not used to, sleep or not. She could use an invigoration draft which she would find in her dorm to keep her aware for longer.
"Will you promise to stay until I get back? Will you promise to watch him no matter what?" she asked, softly looking at Sirius seriously. He nodded, glancing up at her. He could see the nervousness and pain, could feel it. She didn't want to sound crazy, but she didn't want him to look away from Remus for a moment. She'd already lost him once. She wouldn't do it again.
Hermione stood, heading up towards Gryffindor Tower. She had not helped anything yet. All she'd done was perhaps make things worse. She would figure this out. She was the most clever witch to come through Hogwarts in decades damn it. She would not give up so easily.
Hermione got to their room to hear soft sobbing. Susan wasn't even here. She looked across the room, eyes settling on Janice Hansen's bed. She walked slowly to it, sitting down on the edge. "Janice," she whispered. Janice jumped, shaking in the darkness.
"Said that they was gonna kill us, that they was gonna wipe the school clean of us, like we're not even people 'Mione, like we're just mold growing in the castle walls or something," Janice sobbed. Hermione sighed. She pulled the girl to her, allowing her to rest her head in her lap. Hermione comforted her as a mother would, as she had comforted Ginny so many times before. The girl gripped her around the waist, holding on as if letting go were giving in to death itself. She and cried and cried while Hermione stroked her hair, whispering soft words of comfort.
Hermione let the girl cry until she was sleep before slipping off of the bed without disturbing her and going to the trunk at the end of the bed to get that invigoration draft she'd come for. She hadn't slept right since Remus' death, spent most nights since she'd got there working on potions. There really was no reason to try to sleep now, with Remus down in the hospital wing.
She stayed by Remus' side, Sirius across from her until finally Madame Pomfrey sent them off at about four in the morning, as if she hadn't even realized that they'd been there in the first place. Of course, they knew she had. Their trek back to the dormitory had been a long one and Hermione had had the urge to go back and disillusion herself if just to stay by Remus' side, but she knew that wouldn't be a very smart idea, especially if Dumbledore came down.
Instead, she went up to her room and laid still in her bed, listening to the quiet breathing of her dorm mates, all sleeping soundly, though Janice seemed like she might have been having nightmares.
Seriously, make my day and tell me what you think or ruin my day to tell me what you think. Either way, I'll take it all in stride as long as I know you're still interested, still with me. This is two chapters so I hope to get more input than on my last ones, but if you just want to say "Update, dang it!" I will completely understand.