*Song Recommendation: Under Pressure (Queen)*

Into the Den

"What are you doing here, Hermione?"

"Remus?"

The expression on the werewolf's face was one of terror and anguish, an instant give away that she'd turned herself blindly into a volatile situation. When she appeared in the altered time it was, at the very least, serendipitous enough to grant solitude where only she and Remus stood. As she peered over his shoulder, however, she sighted the outline of what appeared to be a colony of sorts, comprised of aged and tattered tents. Her eyes flicked back to the man in front of her, taking inventory of his appearance. He looked just the same as he did when she'd last seen him in the war, perhaps with a few more scars barely concealed behind his rustic facial hair and heavily bagged eyes.

Dear gods, I've sent myself back to the war.

Realization jolted itself through her frail body as she registered just how dire of circumstances she'd scrambled herself into. The last time she'd seen Remus alive was at Bill and Fleur's wedding, just before she and the boys went on their hunt... just before Remus himself was sent back into the werewolf packs.

"Hermione!" Remus repeated her name more forcefully, demanding her full attention as he gripped her shoulders with a hefty shake, unadulterated terror blatant in his face. "Why are you here and not with Harry?"

Throughout the length of the war, Hermione had always mentally stockpiled a plethora of theoretical exit strategies which she could draw from in any instant. It was how she'd always finagled their way out of their most immediate threats. Now, however, with the calloused hands of a battle casualty- one whose corpse she'd witnessed in the never ending line-up of the dead- digging his fingers into her shoulders, her mind was devastatingly empty. All she could do was stare with widened eyes up at her former professor.

"It doesn't even matter now, you just have to get out of here. You cannot be found out, do you understand?"

He's right, I have to leave. I have to leave. I have to-

Oxygen flooded into her body as she gasped herself back into reality. Blinking rapidly, she locked eyes with Remus and nodded her head in recognition.

"Do you have your wand still?" Still nodding, she brought her wand up to reassure him.

"Good. Now disapparate as quickly as possible. They won't let me alone for much longer."

Hermione closed her eyes in attempt to clear her mind. Where was safe? Where could she re-perform the turning? Just as she locked onto the mental image of her Parents' old home, accompanied by a stringing internal chant of 'destination, determination, deliberation,' she heard Remus' voice cut through her preparation from the opposite edge of the clearing.

"Is Harry... Is Harry alright?"

"He's alive, I promise. Harry's alive, and he's-"

Panic as she'd never seen it before crossed Remus' face, sharply silencing her mid sentence as firm arms wrapped tightly around her underfed frame, immobilizing her in an unrelenting hold.

"How considerate to bring us a play thing, Lupin." Bellowed the gravely voice beside Hermione's ear. "There's not much on her, too bad we can't plump her up before the moon. Maybe her size will make her more... compliant, eh?"

The implications of her captor's words were transparent, sending Hermione into a fit of defiance against the binds of the arms confining her. She watched as eyes locked with hers, Remus tightened the line of his mouth but did not immediately rebuke the man's words. There were not a great deal of options, she knew, and those few that were available would have to be enacted flawlessly. The only comfort he could offer was eye contact, and he gave it unflinchingly in his attempt to anchor the young woman he'd unwittingly endangered.

"That may be so, Gunnar, but I'll be asking you to unhand her nevertheless."

"And why should I let the chit go, Lupin? After all, I caught her."

"And after all, she knows and trusts me, not you, and that warrants a certain level of obedience toward only me." There was an inkling of recognition is Gunnar's eyes that struggled against his reluctance to release the little wisp he'd snatched.

"You may have caught her, but she is mine." Snarled Remus, extending himself to his full height and grasping forward to imprint his finger nails into one of the man's wandering hands. "Let. Her. Go."He growled viciously.

Sourly acknowledging his misstep, Gunners hands flexed away from Hermione's body in concession before shoving her whimpering frame forward into Remus' protective embrace.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Lupin." Spat Gunner in sour malice. "Don't forget to take her to Ardolf, he won't be happy you've brought a no-were into the fold without permission."

Remus merely nodded before pushing Hermione in front of himself and nudging her onward toward camp, whispering a barely audible stream of 'I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry' into her ear.

Whether or not Remus would be able protect her was entirely unknown, either way they were headed into the Den.