Disclaimer: I acknowledge that I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters or universe. No offense is meant by the situations portrayed in this or any other fanworks.

Chapter Fifteen: It's All Over, So Let's Do it Again

Once she was out of the range of Dumbledore's office, Hermione had to hold onto the walls to keep herself steady. Her head pounded with rage, and she struggled to keep her eyes focussed and open. She clearly should have waited for Dumbledore to escort her, but her stubbornness overcame her.

When she reached the hospital wing, Poppy and the nurse were waiting for her. Hermione was surprised at how she relaxed when she saw Poppy was there waiting for her. Everyone hadn't abandoned her. They led Hermione into a bed, and then nurse gave Hermione a potion to drink. As soon as Hermione's head hit the hospital wing pillow, she was out.

A man was screaming in her dream. He was yelling, furious about something. It took her moments to realize it was Harry while he sliced up Death Eaters. Hermione found herself hovering over Ginny's body. Every time Hermione sewed up one of the wounds on Ginny's chest, blood poured out a new wound. It must have been a new curse. Hermione hadn't seen this before. She wondered if it was one of Snape's and she made a mental note to ask him the next time she saw him so she could get the counter curse or make one herself. It was brutal, trying to come up with one of the spot, but she didn't feel the strength to curse Snape, not even just in her head.

Ginny held Hermione's free hand tightly. She kept telling Hermione to go to Harry, but her hand tightly locked Hermione there. Hermione only had to hit a few Death Eaters to keep them away from Ginny and her. Harry was doing a good job holding them all off with his rage. Ginny kept telling Hermione to kill them all for her. Ginny kept telling Hermione to kill them all for Ron. As her eyes began to glaze over, Ginny demanded Hermione promised to take care of Ron. Hermione kept tears out of her eyes as she made the promise, positive that Ginny had really meant Harry. Ginny tried to say something else, but blood started to pour out of her mouth, and she was no longer capable of speaking.

Harry was furious that Ginny had been hit, and he screamed at Hermione for letting her die. Her stubborn best friend wouldn't, couldn't realize that Hermione had done everything in her power to save her. Hermione couldn't cry for Ginny. Harry was letting himself fall apart, and Hermione needed to keep herself together to calm him down.

Hermione woke up quickly. She felt as if she hadn't slept at all, her body was still exhausted. Hermione cursed herself. She was positive she had taken out that memory, but still it lingered clearly in her mind. Maybe Hermione was losing her mind, too. Hermione wondered for a moment if she had died instead of going back in time. Maybe this was her own personal hell, forever trying to kill Tom Riddle.

That's when Hermione realized someone was talking to her. It was Lucy. Lucy, Minerva, Poppy, and, to Hermione's surprise, Rubeus Hagrid lingered around her bedside.

Hermione smiled, regretting how weak it was. "I'm sorry," she said, "I didn't hear you."

Lucy Audley spoke first, "My dad sent you a howler. I thought for sure it would wake you up. How he managed to make a howler is beyond me." Luc y didn't hide her anger when she asked, "Have you been sending him reports on what I do around Hogwarts?"

"Yes," Hermione replied.

"I can't believe this," Lucy said. "I thought you were my friend – my sister!"

"Your dad asked me to," Hermione replied. "I didn't tell him everything-"

"Please," Poppy said. "Hermione needs rest. I'm sure she has a reason for-"

Lucy Audley scoffed and left in a huff. Minerva said, "And this is why you shouldn't have ditched us for Slytherin friends. You try to help and they condemn you for it."

Hermione just laughed. "It wouldn't be the first mistake I've made," Hermione said.

"Are you still feeling weak?" Poppy asked. "You look terrible."

"I feel terrible," Hermione admitted. "But you have to introduce me to your friend."

Hagrid had been sheepishly avoiding their eye contact, clearly feeling uncomfortable just being there. "Well you know Hagrid," Minerva said, "Even if you haven't been properly introduced. I insisted on his coming along because Tom has been bullying him and Poppy says Allie has given you an assignment."

And suddenly Hermione felt like she was back with Harry and Ron. Her friends were here to help her save the day. She didn't need a Professor's permission to save the world. She didn't know why she thought she did.

"What has Tom been bullying you about, Hagrid?" Hermione asked.

Hagrid hunched up his shoulders in an attempt to make himself look smaller. "I 'ave..." Hagrid hesitated, shifting his eyes between Minerva and Poppy. "A bit o' a pet. An' Tom tried ter take 'im away."

"Is it safe to have at the school?" Hermione asked. "Maybe there is somewhere else you can keep him where he won't get taken away."

"The point isn't the spider, Hermione," Minerva said. "The point is that Tom was planning to blame his pet snake on Hagrid's harmless pet spider."

"I'd hardly call Hagrid's spider harmless," Poppy replied.

"He wouldn' hurt a fly," Hagrid replied. "An' I would have liked ter have seen the snake."

"Regardless," Minerva said. "The point is we're all on your 'I hate Tom Riddle' bandwagon. So tell us what Allie is having you do. Was it just that business with the snake?"

"So you don't believe Tom's story about the Basilisk?" Hermione asked.

"Of course not," Minerva said.

Hermione exhaled, and she tried to decide what to say. Poppy said, "Perhaps we should leave it for another time. Hermione looks pretty exhausted."

"Can we leave it for another time?" Hermione asked.

"Fine," Minerva said. "I mean, we were just ready to do anything you needed, but now you're too tired to even tell us what this is about."

"No," Hermione said. "I just want to make sure I tell the whole thing properly."

"Do you know my favourite Quidditch team?" Minerva asked.

"Minerva, please," Poppy said.

"No, Poppy," Minerva said. "Do you know anything about us? Or is this just a one-way friendship?"

"I admit it," Hermione replied. "Fine. I hardly know anything about you guys. Poppy is killer at medicine and has a guilty pleasure for passionate romance novels. Minerva, you like showing people how to do things. You think it's because it makes you feel superior, but the truth is that you feel good knowing you've helped someone with something. Minerva, I could barely stay on a broom before you-"

"Come on, you didn't have the opportunity-"

"I know it's hard to believe, but I've been trying to fly for a while and I've never really liked it before," Hermione replied, "Except when you were there to make sure I was all right."

Minerva puffed up. "Well I'm glad to have helped," she said.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Poppy said. "Aside from the howler, here's the other thing that came in the mail."

It was a package. Why would she get a package? Intrigued, Hermione opened it in front of her companions. She had hoped that Hagrid would have blossomed a bit more, but she thought that perhaps Dumbledore's confidence in him perhaps was the confidence boost that made the half-giant come out of his shell.

Inside the package was a bottle. She moved the potion between her fingers, and her three friends came closer to look at it. "I don't think I've ever seen that potion before," McGonagall said.

"It's nothing I've ever seen," Pomfrey added.

Hagrid's beady beetle eyes inspected it closely. "Looks like a mem'ry," he added.

"Why do you think that?" Hermione asked.

"I can see th' pictures in th' liquid," Hagrid replied.

"I'm going to ask a favour of you two," Hermione said, "Then I'll let you see this memory with me."

Hermione requested that while Hagrid stayed with her (he'd be too conspicuous when sneaking around), Poppy and Minerva try to find the Room of Requirement. She gave them the directions to find the room, and told them to think about how much they wanted to find Hermione's and Allie's room. Then they were to find the trunk and bring it back to Hermione.

Hermione asked Hagrid how his first few years had been at Hogwarts. She did her best to keep the conversation rolling, but in the beginning the conversation was like pulling teeth. Of course, once Hermione found the appropriate conversations, such as the magical creatures he had nursed and encountered before, he was fine talking. Hermione found her energy slowly coming back to her. The dream had made her tense and tired, but listening to Hagrid was relaxing. It was as if she was back in his hut hearing about his latest magical creature exploit. The memory of Hagrid's death was gone. If Hermione revisited her memories, she'd know he died defending Hogwarts with his brother. At the time Hermione was too worked up about Ron's death to discover Hagrid's death. It wasn't until later that she heard about the deaths of many of the staff.

Eventually, Minerva and Poppy returned with the trunk. Hermione opened the compartment with the pensieve and Hermione and Allie's memories. "I'm going to review it first," Hermione said, "And then you're welcome to it."

Before Hermione dipped into the pensieve, she noticed Poppy picking up one of the memories and looking at it closely.

The next thing Hermione knew was that she was in some sort of jail cell. She watched Allie tied to a chair alone. She said aloud to no one in particular, "Give Albus memory 48. Don't worry, we're fine."

Hermione couldn't help but notice a few of Allie's fingers were missing, but she was quite certain she could see Fawkes in the corner of the memory. That's how she sent out the letter.

Hermione was out of the memory almost instantly. How could she tell the others they shouldn't see the memory? Hermione thought maybe it would be something about them fighting in the war. She didn't imagine that they were being tortured, and Professor Narayan wasn't even in the image. Was he still alive? She highly doubted they were fine like Allie claimed.

"Let me show you a different one," Hermione said, looking through the other memories.

"What?" Minerva asked. "Why?"

"I don't think you should see this one," Hermione replied.

She wasn't sure that they should see any of them, but it was too late, Minerva was in. Poppy berated Hermione with questions as Minvera was under. Hermione was flipping through the bottles. Allie had numbered all of hers, as did Hermione. They archived what memory covered which one, but Hermione carried the list in her bag instead of with the trunk. As soon as she was out, she said, "What does that even mean? Where was she? What happened?"

"I have to give Professor Dumbledore one of the memories," Hermione said.

"What one is it?" Minerva asked.

"I don't know," Hermione said. "I don't have the list with me."

"Yeh should take a look," Hagrid said.

Hermione considered it. "Well, it would be rude, wouldn't it?" she asked. "It's not my memory."

"Merlin," Minerva said, "Just take a look."

Hermione hesitated. "No I better take this up to Albus now," Hermione said, biting her bottom lip. "I'll look up what it was later. I don't know if I have any time to lose."

"You should stay in bed," Poppy said.

"I'll just be a few minutes," Hermione replied. "I'll be fine."

But her friends insisted and sure enough Hermione had an escort to Dumbledore's office. Hagrid often had to place a steady hand on her shoulder to keep her steady, but she found it lighter than the hand Dumbledore had put on her shoulder the day before. Dumbledore's hand felt like it was pulling her back, whereas Hagrid's hand helped her move forward. Hermione knocked on his door and he told her to enter. Without explaining herself, Hermione just said, "You need to see this."

She held out Allie's memory, number 48, for Albus to have. He didn't ask anything and seemed to recognize the contents. Dumbledore pulled out his pensieve to observe the memory. He entered and Hermione waited for his return.

Soon enough Albus was out of the memory. The sparkle was gone from his eyes, concern hanging in his wrinkles. "Where did you get this?" he asked.

"In the mail," Hermione said.

"Get back to the hospital wing and recover, Miss. Abercorn," Dumbledore said.

Hermione left without the memory, but her crew made a quick stop-over at the Slytherin dorms so she could get her bag. Luckily, classes were generally in session (Poppy had permission to skip, and Minerva and Hagrid simply had no interest in going), so the common room was empty. Grabbing her bag was easy, and soon enough she was back in the hospital wing with her friends.

Hermione consulted her notebook. Memory 48 was Albus' last memory of Saqi Narayan, of him sitting in St. Mungo's, slowly losing his mind. Hermione reviewed the memory after Allie had gone off with Saqi.

She remembered standing beside Albus in the Janus Thickey ward, before Gilderoy Lockhart and Neville's parents lingered in the room, and before the entire hospital was blown apart by Death Eaters. The colour in Professor Saqi Narayan's face was drained completely, his face hollowed out. His hair was now a weak grey, cut short, and his friendly goatee was shaven off. His hands were only palms, but his teeth had grown back, a stark white. He sat in a wheelchair, and his sunken eyes lolled in their sockets. They didn't look at Albus, more in the direction of the invisible Hermione.

"There will always be a place for you at Hogwarts, Saqi," Albus said.

"Look at me Albus," Professor Narayan's voice was hoarse, as if he had been screaming for decades straight. "What could I do at Hogwarts?"

"I could find something," Albus replied, clearly frustrated. "I'm headmaster now and I'll invent a damn job for you if I have to."

"I- I'm much better here Albus. I have my things in one room and one of the nurses helped me hook up a muggle television set. You wouldn't believe what they put on-"

"I am not having my best friend rot in a hospital," Albus said. "I can get a television working at Hogwarts, I'm sure of it. It can be part of your Muggle Studies."

"My place is here," Saqi said.

Albus exhaled, defeated. "Please remember what I said," Albus replied. "If you change your mind, there is always a place for you here."

Saqi offered a weak smile. "I truly do love you, Albus," he said.

"It was a mistake letting you go off like that," Albus replied.

"I didn't tell them anything, you know."

"I know," Albus replied.

"Nothing at all," Saqi said.

"I know, Saqi," Albus replied.

And that was when the memory faded for Hermione. She wasn't even sure the Albus from this timeline watched the whole thing, perhaps he just saw enough. Hermione hoped he was running out of the school after them at this moment. "So what was the memory of?" Minerva asked.

Hermione took a deep breath. This was it.

"It's a memory of Professor Saqi in the hospital," Hermione said.

"I don't recall Professor Saqi ever being in the hospital," Poppy replied. "Whose memory is it?"

"Dumbledore's," Hermione said.

It was quiet. Hagrid broke the silence, "How did yeh get Dumbledore's mem'ry?"

So Hermione told them everything. Starting at the beginning. Her beginning, coming from a Muggle background, meeting Harry Potter. There was so much explanation. The three of them spent the entire day listening to Hermione's story. The nurse came by trying to shoo them out several times, but Poppy reassured the nurse that Hermione was fine. It was reassuring, the fact that they didn't just leave. She skipped over parts, and every once and a while one of them would ask a question, something Hermione hadn't mentioned in great detail or any in detail at all.

When she was finished, there was silence for a few moments. Hermione had mentioned all of their futures, both their futures at Hogwarts, but also the end of their futures (but without the details that gruesome details that haunted her memory, such as in Minerva's case).

Hagrid spoke first. "I'd love ter be Groundskeeper," Hagrid remarked. "Do yeh think I can get that job and still be a Professor?"

Minerva patted Hagid's leg, "Of course. We'll make sure of it."

There was silence again. Did they think she was mad? At least they could blame it from stress, she was in the hospital wing. Minerva stood up and straightened her robes. "Well, it's best that we get to our rooms for bed," she said. "I assure you we will be discussing what you've told us."

Hermione exhaled. "Can you at least tell me if you believe me?" she asked.

"O' course I believe yeh," Hagrid said. "Why else would yeh 'ave told Minvera t' befriend me?"

"Hagrid's right," Poppy replied. "Too many things make sense for you to be lying."

Minerva said nothing, but Hermione smiled as her friends stood up around her. She felt as if she was standing up with them, and a new energy surged within her. It wasn't an energy like the magical excess that had followed her around for years, it was like the energy she had when she, Ron, and Harry had to work on something for one of their escapades. She wasn't doing this alone anymore.

"Thank you," Hermione said, "For listening."