Disclaimer: Anything you recognize from the Harry Potter books and/or movies is not mine.

A/N: Sorry it took a bit longer to get this chapter out. I've been uber busy with work and my social life that I've found hardly any time for myself. But I'm getting by at a steady rate, anyways. At least I didn't take a month to update, right? This chapter isn't very action-packed as the others -- it's just a bit of 'information' needed in the plot, and also a meeting between to people. I don't really like how this chapter turned out, as I'm too tired to really think at the moment, but I hope it's okay enough for you all to enjoy. Well, I've said enough. Enjoy! - Min

Thanks The Insane Imortal Dragon, Duos Gurl1, Shiroi-Tora78, Parvatti, thisDuckIsQuackers, ViviBlack, nelygirl, Just call me Stevie, Hermione Granger Fanatic, Reanne1102, Leology, Soelle, ourlittlesecret7, tallie, Following Padfoot's Pawprints, White Twitch, LunaLovegoss, Evil Cat Hater, Aprila, and Dory12020 for the wonderfulreviews!

Seasons Change

By: Min
a.k.a. xScenex

Chapter 21

She was crying. She couldn't help it. After Severus had stopped moving, ceasing to breathe, she broke down. Her tears weren't enough to do justice for the loss she had just received.

She didn't want Severus to die. It wasn't supposed to happen. IT JUST WASN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN! Her mind screamed, IT'S ALL MY FAULT! MY FAULT!

She clutched onto the front of the boys robes, "Severus, get up," she whispered, "Get up, please. Don't do this to me! You're not dead.. You can't be dead… no, not now. Not now. IT ISN'T YOUR TIME TO GO!"

She screamed and screamed the same words over again until she was hoarse and her voice only came out as a soft whisper. She couldn't get it out of her mind -- he was dead. Dead to her and to the rest of the world. He wouldn't grow up to be the sinister, robe-billowing professor that she had known. He wouldn't get the chance to have a family and children; not that she knew he had had any.

She hiccupped, letting her eyes scan over the body of her deceased friend. "Oh, Severus," she choked as she saw the content, loving smile placed delicately on his lips. She ran a hand down his face, wondering how he was venturing along his new, great adventure as Dumbledore would most likely say. "I can't believe this… and it's all my fault."

Her hands trailed through his hair, attempting to smooth it down against his head. His face was pale, his lips red. His eyes were now closed and Hermione desperately wanted to think that he was just sleeping. He looked peaceful, she realized.

"I don't want to leave you," she hiccupped, not noticing how her body was numb from the cold, or how her own muscles ached with the pain of exhaustion from both the cruciatus and from all the constant moving she'd done. "It just wouldn't be right."

A sudden, odd sensation ran through her back. It felt as if someone had just wrapped their arms around her, holding her in a firm, reassuring hug.

Her head turned quickly but she saw no one. The feeling lingered. She looked up at the sky then, seeing how the stars twinkled and winked down at her with some hidden secret. Then a shooting star shot across the inky black sky above her head, lighting the whole vast field with it's glow. Then she smiled gently. It was a sign. Eyes now downcast, she sighed "You'll forever be in my heart, Severus."

She lent over and placed a chaste kiss on the boys forehead before giving his hand a tight squeeze. Although he couldn't feel it, she tried to reassure herself with the small, simple gestures.

Hermione stood up, stumbling while trying to keep her balance. Her legs felt unsteady underneath her weight, and her whole body shook at the effort of trying to move.

Her body was numb -- numb in more than one way. Her mind was almost a complete blank now, the shock finally settling in as the fatigue fell over her and the adrenaline leaked away. The cold had encased her body in a deadened way. She hardly felt the biting wind against her exposed skin, anymore.

All she knew was that she had to move -- get out of the area before something else happened. She had no wand, as it had been confiscated during her capture and there was no way she would find it in the wreckage.

She walked through the thick snow and across the field towards the line of trees in the distance at a slow pace, her cloak clinging wetly to her legs. She hadn't a clue of how long she had been walking or how long she would be walking, and she didn't care. Other things occupied her dazed mind.

Severus. Severus, Severus, Severus.

She walked past an extremely twisted, small and bare tree. But instead of seeing the branches and twisted trunk, she saw Severus. Only him, lying there, smiling serenely just before death. He seemed to beckon her onwards. Hermione closed her eyes tightly in her paused walk before opening them again.

It was just a tree; nothing more.

She moved on, wondering where on Earth she was. She could be anywhere, she realized. She might not have been in Britain at all. A pang of fear finally shot through her mind at the thought.

But she wouldn't let that bother her yet. She would move on -- move on for Severus.

'Hermione, I want you to get out of here. I want you to go back to Hogwarts -- everything will be fine. He's gone now, you know. You'll be safe.'

The words echoed through her mind, fueling her unfeeling body. She had to go back. She just had to. She needed to tell the others what happened, even if she didn't want to.

Back at Hogwarts, things were finally calming down.

After the professors had found Remus lying on the floor in the Gryffindor common room, they had carried him down to the Hospital Wing where Madam Pomfrey had been dragged out of her sleep to care for the boy.

Everyone was nervous, anxious, and scared. No one knew what had caused the sudden collapse. All they knew was that they'd heard screams, and suddenly without warning, the whole castle shook. Many windows were played victim in the assault, but no one cared about that at the moment.

All they cared about was the boy lying lifelessly in the white hospital bed.

"His pulse is stable now," the medi-witch proclaimed, scribbling something down on her chart. "His blood pressure seems fine. No broken bones or punctured organs…"

"What happened to him?" Someone asked shakily from the right of the bed. It was James Potter, staring down at his friend with fear. "Is he going to be okay?"

Their other friends looked up with concern, hoping to hear a positive answer. Madam Pomfrey breathed in heavily, "I'm not too sure, children. I can't say that I know what's wrong with him. It's as if his whole body just gave out on him, although everything is working correctly and he's completely stable at the moment." She then shot a very noticeable glance at the Headmaster. "But there's something else."

Albus gave her a questioning glance, as if asking her to continue. But she shook her head, her eyes flashing over to where the Marauders sat. The Headmaster nodded gravely, then cleared his throat, "Ah, Poppy, if you don't mind, could I have a word with you in your office?"

Nodding in acceptance, the two adults stepped from the room.

"Padfoot, do you think Moony's going to be okay?" James asked once again on the verge of tears. He wasn't the only one in the room who's emotions were on the edge of breaking.

Wiping furiously at his eyes, Sirius didn't answer for a moment. "He better be. How could this happen? We're Marauders; we're supposed to stick together -- and we didn't. He better be bloody okay!"

Peter was next to them, wringing worriedly at his hands. He wasn't saying anything, but it was obvious he was anxious. James buried his face in his hands. "I don't want to lose him, Sirius. I don't."

"Don't talk like that," Sirius said gruffly, giving his friend a pat on the back. "Moony's stronger than that. He'll make it through. It's probably nothing to worry about. Maybe he just ran into a wall or something."

His other dark haired friend gave a feeble laugh, "I don't think he's that clumsy."

An awkward, deafening silence followed. No one knew what to do in that situation. All they did was sit there, staring somberly at the werewolf in the bed in front of them; only hoping for the best.

Meanwhile, the Headmaster was having a furious conversation with Poppy.

"How is this possible? By all scientific laws, this can't be!"

"Now, Albus, don't give me that tone. How am I supposed to know? I'm just telling you what the tests told me!"

"But it's just not possible," the older wizard stressed the last word, looking pointedly at the woman. "Something like that doesn't just disappear overnight. You should know that."

Madam Pomfrey placed her hands angrily on her hips. "Albus Dumbledure, I assure you that I know more than most about the matter. If you want, you give him the check over and tell me what you find. I doubt then that you'll have any say against what I'm telling you."

"It's not that I don't trust you, Poppy," the Headmaster said exhaustedly. "It just doesn't sound feasible."

"Well, you're not the only one who thinks that. But I can guarantee that that's what showed up on the tests; or rather, didn't show up."

There was a moments silence. "Maybe that's why he's not conscious now. He lost a huge part of himself, if this is correct," he looked at the witch pointedly. "And if you say you are right about this, then I have no choice but to believe it. Not everyone could survive such a thing."

"Indeed," the woman breathed. "But this could be a whole new theory to look in on. We might finally have an answer to what we've been looking f--"

Dumbledore put a hand up to silence her, "We will not have the boy thrown out like that as a test subject. He's human, Poppy. I will not allow such treatment on one of my students; with or without his permission."

The woman rolled her eyes slightly. "Well, yes, I fully agree, but still, there's still so many possibilities of how it happened."

"Yes," he replied, "But we may never find out what happened."

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door of Madam Pomfrey's office. She beckoned the person to come into the room. Mrs. Lupin stood in the doorway.

"Ah, welcome back Isabel. I hope you've had enough time to gather your bearings?"

The younger woman nodded, her eyes still red-rimmed and puffy. "Yes, thank you. So have you found out anything?"

The two other adults exchanged looks before the Headmaster cleared his throat, "Ah, yes. About that. You might want to sit down while we tell you."

Fear flashed through Isabel's eyes as she sat down, "Is he going to be okay? What's wrong with him? Please, you have to tell me!"

Dumbledore gave her a gentle smile, "It's alright, Isabel. Remus will be fine -- or, he will be once he regains his energy. But there is something rather… odd that Poppy here has found out from her tests on the boy."

The mother looked questionably at both of them, her eyes pleading. The medi-witch cleared her throat and picked up her clipboard again. "When I was analyzing what was wrong with your boy, the tests came out all positive, indicating that he has not suffered from illness or physical harm -- any that we can tell besides the few scratches on his face and chest. Those, though, seemed to have been self-inflicted. It seems that he was maybe suffering from intense pain, but we haven't found an exact source of it.

"Now, when I continued my examination, I realized something rather… odd compared to his usual checkups. I can't be too sure that I'm right, but I'm almost completely positive about this. His results have never… been so positive."

Isabel's hands were gripped tightly on the sides of her chair and her face showed much confusion, "And?"

"And we have reason and evidence to believe that your sons lycanthropy has, erm, disappeared. It doesn't appear on any of the tests I have given him."

Silence. Complete, surprised silence.

"Y-You mean that -- that my son is… is normal now?"

"He was always normal, Isabel," Dumbledore said quietly.

Tears welled up in the woman's eyes, "I know that! What I meant was -- he's no longer a werewolf?"

"He might be," the other woman said with pursed lips. "Don't get your hopes up too much -- it could just be a flaw, although I have taken the tests more than once. We will only know when the full moon comes around."

"But how is this possible?" Isabel whispered to herself. "How?"

"My thoughts exactly," the wizard said almost happily. "It is a mystery to us all. We believe he's just suffering exhaustion at the moment."

"Oh," was her response.

"I believe you should go home, Isabel, and get some overnight things."

"Yes, yes, that would be best, wouldn't it?" The woman stood up, smoothing the front of her skirt off timidly. "Do you really think this… this is possible?"

"There are always possibilities," Dumbledore smiled, his eyes twinkling a bit. "Now off you go. I'll have a guest room set up for you. I'll meet you back here."

She nodded and left, not expecting anything else surprising for the night as she left a thoughtful Headmaster and a anxious medi-witch behind in the small office. Little did she know that there was more to come.

More than an hour had passed and Hermione was surprised that frostbite hadn't caught up to her yet. She shivered now, though she didn't notice much. But she did notice when she stumbled across a small cabin in the middle of nowhere. Well, nowhere wasn't really what she called it. It was more like a cabin in the middle of the woods.

It was her only hope, so the girl slowly walked towards it. She wasn't sure what to think, or what she would even expect. A Death Eater might even live there. Voldemort's headquarters hadn't been too far away, by all means.

She walked exhaustedly to the front door, peering into one of the small windows.

There were lights on, although no signs of life were within. The house seemed cozy -- nothing expensive inside, but everything else was obviously cared for and of some value to the person or people living there.

Hermione decided it looked friendly enough and knocked hesitantly on the door. She waited, but nothing happened. She tried turning the doorknob, but it wouldn't turn, indicating that it was locked from the inside. She rubbed at her eyes slowly with a cold, damp hand. She was about to turn away when a bright light caught her eye from inside the house.

Someone was stepping out of the fireplace in the farthest corner away from the door. It was a pretty woman, in Hermione's eyes. She looked motherly and kind, but worry was etched into her face at the moment and the girl vaguely wondered why.

Hermione took a deep breath, hoping she was doing the right thing. She knocked loudly on the door. She heard shuffling from inside and the curtain to the window was pulled roughly back from the glass. She saw the woman staring at her for a moment before the door was unlocked and it opened halfway.

"Oh my!" The woman exclaimed, clasping a hand over her mouth. "What happened to you?"

Hermione opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. She felt tears prickling at her eyes again. She couldn't even talk about it without thinking about Severus. She covered her face and gave a small sob, "He's dead," was all she stated.

"Dead? Who's dead? Oh, you poor dear, please come inside. You look dreadful -- come in, come in."

The girl was ushered inside and ordered to sit down at what she assumed was the kitchen table. Finally feeling warmth after what had been hours, she realized just how horrible she felt. Her skin tingled and ached and her bruises and cuts screamed at her; she didn't care though.

She vaguely heard the woman in the background rummaging around in something, and before she knew it, a small vile of potion was thrust into her hands.

"Take that," the woman said. "It should help warm you up. I'm sorry I have nothing else to help you."

Hermione eyed the potion warily, but after seeing that it was merely a harmless pepperup potion, she downed it. She felt the heat trail through her body quickly and she sighed heavily. "Thanks."

"No problem, dear. Now, what's your name?"

Hermione shot her a small glance before saying quietly, "Hermione."

The kind woman's eyebrows wrinkled in thought for a moment before sudden dawning appeared on her face, "Hermione Granger?"

Wide-eyed, she began to panic. She stood up quickly, knocking over her chair and began backing away from the table unsteadily.

"Wait! I'm not going to hurt you-- I'm here to help!"

"How do I know that?" Hermione's voice quivered.

"Because one, I wouldn't hurt a child," the woman said, walking forward slowly, "and second, my son speaks so highly of you. I'm on Dumbledore's side, and they've been terribly worried about you."

The Gryffindor gave her a questioning stare, "Your son?"

"Oh, yes, where are my manners," the woman said hurriedly, "My name is Isabel Lupin, Remus' mum."

Hermione promptly fainted.

Isabel stared wide-eyed at the girl lying on her floor. She hadn't expected the child to faint. But the girl must have been through a traumatizing state at the moment -- hadn't Dumbledore said she'd been captured by Death Eaters?

Sudden realization hit her and she pulled her wand out, pointing it at the girl who claimed to be Hermione Granger. She inerverated her quickly.

"Dear, we must get you to Hogwarts."

Hermione stared warily at the woman, but it was a halfhearted stare. She nodded and tried to get up on her own, but Isabel insisted that she help. After settling Hermione in a worn - but soft - armchair, Remus' mother wandered off in search for something or another.

Hermione looked around, silently taking in everything. She was in Remus' house. It was comforting and took her strained mind off of other things, although the comfortable warmth didn't help in trying to keep her awake. All she wanted to do was fall into a deep sleep where no pain or nightmares would bother her, and the days events wouldn't haunt her.

But as she was now by herself again, sitting there in silence, her mind began catching up to her. She thought about how Voldemort was gone, and how she just knew the scar had been given to her. But how? Hadn't Harry's mother done something for him to allow him to survive? A sacrifice of some sort? Had Severus been her sacrifice? But he'd died after Voldemort's downfall. Was there another reason? She wasn't sure. She didn't even know. She was a bit glad that she didn't know much about why the killing curse had backfired on her or Harry-- otherwise, Voldemort might have known why when he had asked her.

But having the burden cast upon her scared Hermione. She was frightened at the prospect of being a hero -- at the prospect of having such a life as Harry had. But she knew hers would be different -- and it was all worth it, for allowing Harry a childhood he had never been allowed.

She smiled softly at that. She had done something right, after all. But Severus…

Her eyes began to water again and this time, she couldn't hold back the tears. She sobbed quietly, curling up into a ball on the chair. She buried her face in her hands, wanting everything to just go away. Now she knew how Harry felt when he lost Sirius. She knew now that trying to get past grieving would be harder. She also realized how Harry felt about his death -- how he had claimed it was his fault and she had constantly told him it wasn't. But Severus' death had been her fault. Right?

Minutes must have passed, because by the time Isabel returned to the room, she had a large bag draped over her shoulder. She saw the girl sitting in the chair crying and walked over.

Hermione jumped when a hand rested against her shoulder, but when she saw who it was, she relaxed.

"Let's get going, Hermione. I need to… see Remus."

"Wait," Hermione's brows wrinkled in confusion now. She wiped her face with her drenched robes, only in succeeding by wetting her face with icy water, "What's wrong with Remus? He didn't stay at Hogwarts for Christmas…"

"Oh," the woman's eyes looked sad now. "Oh, well. Something happened -- it's best if you come and see. It will be explained later."

Hermione shakily got to her feet, her heart racing once again that night. No, she thought frantically, no, please, don't let him be hurt. No more, please…

A/N: It's a bit short, once again. I really need to start making my chapters longer like they used to be. At the beginning, I'd write 15 to 18 pages for once chapter -- not it's around 8 to 10 pages. I'll work on that.

I hope the metting with Hermione and Mrs. Lupin wasn't too sudden -- I'm afraid I just threw that right in there and it'll ruin the story a bit. But meh. If there's a big problem with it, I'll go back and edit the chapter later.