Completely Unrelated Song Lyric: "I came across a fallen tree, I felt the branches of it looking at me. Is this the place we used to love? Is this the place that I've been dreaming of? Oh simple thing, where have you gone? I'm getting old and I need something to rely on, so tell me when you're gonna let me in. I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin. And if you have a minute why don't we go talk about it somewhere only we know? This could be the end of everything, so why don't we go somewhere only we know?" – Keane, "Somewhere Only We Know"
"Knock, knock, I brought – Hermione?" Remus blinked and saw that she was sitting curled up on the couch, glaring at the Pensieve with unshed tears in her eyes. Thinking back, he'd only ever seen Hermione really cry once, and it'd been about George. He dropped his bag and moved to sit closer to her, looking at her worriedly, "Hermione?"
"I give up," she said, her voice sounding hollow as she didn't even glance at him. "I don't care whether I get back or not. Not if it means I have to go through more of this. I just found out that Harry really only sat in the garden and felt sorry about himself rather than de-gnoming it like he said. I can't do this anymore." She stood and walked towards the hallway, "Feel free to keep looking, if you think it'll do any good. But I give up."
Remus stood and watched her go before taking another glance at the Pensieve. He should've known it would be hard for her, he should've guessed that it might upset her, but he hadn't thought about it when suggested the idea. Hadn't even known if it would've possibly worked. With a sigh, he picked up the Pensieve and shut it up in a cupboard in the kitchen, looking down the hall before deciding on slowly walking that way, ending up in the office. She wasn't there, and all of her notes and theories on paper were scattered about and a few were ripped up. Half of the chalkboard was erased, the other half angrily scribbled out. A numb thought entered his head – she was well and truly done. She'd had enough. She'd given up.
But where would that leave her? Stuck there and no way to get back? Although she'd stated multiple times that she'd have to go back first and then forward into her own time for everything to be the same.
He glanced at his watch and frowned. He had to get to class. He made a mental note to stop by as soon as he could, even if it meant skiving off. Perhaps he could get help from Sirius, James and Peter, they seemed just as worried about her as he did.
"She's given up?" James repeated, as if he still couldn't believe, although it had been a while since Remus had dropped by the Gryffindor table at lunch and hurriedly told him about it before slipping over to the Hufflepuff table and telling Peter the same thing. James had told Sirius when he'd sat down beside him, as James had convinced the other Gryffindors that he was fine and this wasn't a trick or anything.
"I know, and I'm worried," Remus stated, walking backwards as he talked, "I know she's stubborn, I know she's worried about her friends, but completely giving up? I just – ugh, I don't know about this girl."
"But, wait, so she'll be stuck here then?" Peter questioned, trying to keep up.
"She'd be stuck here either way if she couldn't find a way to get us into Gryffindor, and keep the timeline the same as when she'd been there. But her going back to the future is just as important, and if she couldn't go back here, she could get to the nineties and hopefully they'd have more advanced things so she would go back and change it."
"But, Remus, there's kind of a war going on," Sirius stated, "What if she went to the nineties and the wrong side won?"
"All the more reason for her to change it back to her timeline then," Remus said as he pushed open the door, blinking when he saw the lights out and her curled up on the couch. He stepped down next to her and crouched down, brushing away her hair and seeing that she had tear tracks down her face, her bangs still rather damp.
"I'd say she's not doing too well," Sirius murmured.
"Agreed," James nodded, grabbing a few books and shelving them in an effort to clean up.
Remus thought for a moment on how best to do this, as if he screwed up he could very well end up with a wand in his face, before slipping his arms underneath her and hoisting her up, shifting her slightly to carry her better. "Help me find her room," he mouthed to Sirius, who nodded and walked down the hall with him, opening a door and deciding that she probably didn't sleep in a bathtub before going right across the hall and opening the door.
He'd figured Hermione would have her room either much like a library, or much like a base camp with the bare necessities. It looked more like a regular room, with pale blues and greens and purples all over, her furniture white. He wondered if this is what her room at home looked like, and not at the Weasleys' either, but with her mum and dad. He wondered if she half expected a ginger cat with a squished in face, much like the one from a picture she'd showed him, to hop up on her bed or on her desk while she was doing something without him.
No wonder she'd given up. She was practically alone. She had no mother or father or friends that she could whole-heartedly trust there with her. She didn't even have her cat.
Remus set her down on the bed and took the blanket that Sirius held out to him, settling it over her and taking another look around before heading back to the living room to see James and Peter sitting on the couch, staring at the Pensieve with rather shocked expressions.
"Did you get that out again?" Remus asked as Sirius looked at the two curiously.
"Err – maybe," James said hurriedly as Peter flushed in embarrassment.
Remus rolled his eyes, "I keep telling you, she says she's given up."
"Uh-huh – hey, so a quick theory Peter and I just thought up," James said, standing and gesturing a bit, although he wouldn't look him in the eye, "So say her friends wanted her to find her – let's say this loosely – 'soul mate.' And, say her soul mate was older than her and dead in her time period. Would them wanting or wishing hard enough to find him send her back to our time?"
"It seems very unlikely, but then again so does going twenty years into the past, so I wouldn't doubt it," he said before arching an eyebrow, "Why?"
"Err – so we looked and, uhm, according to Ginny and Luna, they said they thought that if their Defense Against the Dark Arts professor in their third year had been the same age as Hermione, they probably would've dated," James fidgeted a little, glancing back at Peter, who held a pillow up as a shield.
"Well who is that, then?"
"Err…you," James said sheepishly, making him stare blankly at him for a few moments before snorting and rolling his eyes.
"Right, alright, no really," Remus grinned a little.
"No, really," James insisted, Peter nodding along furiously.
Remus looked between the two before frowning, "Alright, if this is some kind of joke it's a lousy one."
"Err – mate, they aren't joking," Sirius said, making Remus look and see that he'd just pulled his head up out of the Pensieve, nodding at him. "They really did."
"What the – no, no way, that couldn't have brought her here," Remus insisted, shaking his head and hoping that he wasn't blushing like he thought. "There must be some other – it just isn't possible!"
"What isn't?"
Remus whirled around and blinked at Hermione, who had the blanket wrapped around her and was looking at him rather dully, arch an eyebrow at them. James and Sirius quickly shook their heads at him and he finally opened his mouth, dearly hoping that he knew what was going to come out of it.
"Convincing Sirius's brother to be – urm – good," Remus said.
Hermione blinked at him before shrugging, "It should be relatively easy. He's already got the thought in there, just a little bit of coaxing from his big brother ought to do the trick."
"Err – great then," Sirius said, scratching his head and staring wide-eyed at James, "Uhm, c'mon Potter, let's go try to find him. Peter, why don't you come too."
"Alright," the two said, Peter jumping up from the couch and hurrying along behind Sirius.
Remus fidgeted a little and she looked at him curiously once more.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"Are you?" he countered.
She sighed and flopped onto the couch, bringing her knees o her chest and covering them up with the blanket, "No. But whatever."
Remus sat down next to her and looked at her worriedly, "Tell me, Hermione."
She sighed again, tilting her head to the ceiling before dragging her hands across her face, "I can't keep hurting myself like that. I understand it's selfish, but I just can't. Besides, that should've been the last thing we did – I wouldn't be able to go back unless all four of you were Gryffindors and everything was back into place. I just thought…" She shook her head once more and leaned into Remus's side, making him blink a little before running his hands through her hair. "I don't know what I thought."
"It'll be alright, Hermione," Remus promised, moving them so that she was leaning against his chest with his legs propped up on either side of her.
She hummed, staying silent with him before tilting her head up at him and quirking a grin, "So, what'd you bring me?"
"Huh?" he asked smartly as she grinned a little bit wider.
"This morning you said you brought something. What was it?"
He blinked at her before grinning back, using his wand to bring his bag over and digging through it before finally pulling out the book. She lit up and took it from him, chuckling a little.
"Well, you did say you read it hundreds of times," Remus said, making her shake her head at the title.
"At least it doesn't have Spell-o Tape like mine did," she said, opening Hogwarts: A History and flipping through it. She leaned up and pecked him on the cheek, making him freeze for a moment before she leaned into him again, "Thanks, Remus."
"Anytime," he said, hoping to Merlin that his voice didn't just crack like he thought it had.
Does that make any sense? I dunno. Who are you people and why do you think I make sense?
