James dropped his wand. Sirius was looking around the room for an escape room. Hermione just stared at them coldly. She couldn't believe that they had broken through all of her protective wards, found her training dummies, and her pictures of Harry, Ron and future Remus Lupin and Sirius. The pictures of the people she loved the most. Sirius opened his mouth. "What...what is all this stuff?" he asked hoarsly. Hermione sighed.
"It's nothing. Just some things I was planning on bringing to class..." Hermione lied, avoiding eye contact.
Sirius snorted. "Yeah, and I'm a phoenix."
James cleared his throat. "W-w-why do you have pictures of someone who looks just like me, Sirius, and Remus?" he asked angrily.
Hermione closed her eyes. "Look James, can we please discuss this in the morning?" she pleaded. He looked at her suspiciously before looking at Sirius for agreement. Sirius nodded and headed to bed, yawning.
"Night 'Mione." he yawned from the other room.
"James?" Hermione started. he held up a head to silence her.
"Look, just don't...okay? Don't say anything. I knew there was something odd about you, but I didn't want to say anything, I thought, hey! She's not so bad, she's a cool professor, and would make such a great friend. Just remember this. I'm watching your every move. I'll find out what you're doing." after saying his speech angrily he stormed out of the room and fell onto his makeshift bed.
Hermione slid to the floor and began to sob quietly. She sat there crying for who knew how long. Finally, the clock chimed midnight, and Hermione realised that she had been sitting on the floor for almost four hours. She conjured a blanket and continued to let the rest of her tears fall, as she thought of Harry and Ron.
Remus woke up a few minutes later, to the sound of quiet sobs. He climbed out of bed and looked at his friends. None of them were crying, Lily looked like a fiery angel, James had an angry face while he slept, and Sirius was...well Sirius. That meant that the crying had to be coming from Hermione. He crept over to her bed and found that it hadn't been slept in. Worried, he walked around her quarters checking for any sign of life. He came to the once sealed door and heard the sobs get louder. Hovering by the door, he debated on whether to go in and comfort her. "I just miss you so much. I wish I'd never gone looking for a solution." he heard her mutter. He decided to walk in. As he opened the door he saw Hermione lying on the floor. He walked over so that he was directly behind her. "And do you know what?" he heard her say fiercely to the photograph that she was holding. "I wish I had never met Remus bloody Lupin!"
"What?" he said quietly. Hermione jumped up startled.
"No, Remus..." she reached out to grab his hand. He moved away from her with a hurt look on his face. "I didn't mean it like that." she pleaded.
"I...I can't believe you would say that..." he whispered, the hurt evident in his voice. Remus turned to leave. He didn't want her to see him cry. She had no idea how badly her words had affected him. "You know. After tonight, I think it would be best for everyone if we maintained a civil student-teacher relationship. Nothing more, nothing less." he said calmly, his back still facing her."Goodnight Professor." and with that, he walked out of the room just as James had.
Hermione stayed where she was, frozen in shock. Although he wasn't the same Remus Lupin that she had fallen in love with, she began to realise that she was beginning to fall for his younger carefree self. Hard. And so, naturally, she felt her carefully mended heart shatter into tiny pieces as she lost the one person she loved. Again. "Dammit Hermione. Why'd you go and say that? Explain to him. Tell him you weren't talking about him. Tell him the truth!" she muttered to herself before falling asleep.
She was standing in a forest clearing. There were four lights shining brightly. "Help us Hermione" the lights suddenly dimmed. "I want to help you I do!" she cried. "I just don't know how!"
"Find us." the voices whispered. "Look for the elemental children" they whispered before fading into darkness. Hermione looked around and found herself staring into two blood red eyes. She screamed and fell backwards, plunging into darkness. "You cannot hide from the Dark Lord" Voldemort hissed "without your elementals, you're NOTHING!"
Hermione woke up sweating. She noticed the thin beams of light streaking through the windows. She sighed, remembering the events that had occurred the previous night. She looked over to the beds and frowned as she saw them empty. The four teenagers had left early and she felt the last sliver of hope she had disappear.