Hello everyone. My apologies once again.

Been ill, been back, been through the wringer in college, now been writing like crazy.

So I hope I can make it up to all the followers out there.

My only consolation is that I have upto 10 more chapters ready...so I'll be posting every week.

Recap for everybody(cos I really am sorry for being away for so long):

Remus and Hermione fall in love secretly. Hermione is forced to marry him because of a law that oversees Muggleborn breeding. They go to Australia in search of her memory-erased parents. Hermione falls sick and has fits. Evanesca, Remus' schoolmate and mysterious ex-flame is investigating Pastor John Whitney's murder in Switzerland, which involved Remus going to Azkaban while snooping around on behalf of the Order. Harry is smitten with Dorothy Whittaker, a brooms specialist visiting Hogwarts.


"Mr. Lupin? Will Mr. Lupin please follow me?" said the nurse.

Remus rose eagerly from his seat. He had been waiting anxiously in his seat for the better part of an hour, and there had been no news on Hermione.

The walls of Moran's Magical Hospital were painted a cheery yellow, not too glaring to the eyes. But still Remus could not shake off a foreboding feeling that something had gone wrong-seriously wrong with Hermione.

He could not even bear to remember how terrified he had been to see her on the ground, twitching like that.

At first, he had thought someone had attacked her, and he had immediately drawn his wand. But when he had seen no danger around, he had immediately brought her to Moran's. He had thankfully known where the closest magical hospital was, from his research.

However, it had not gone unnoticed that he had hired a taxi to take his unconscious wife to a deserted ruin (in the eyes of the taxi-man). He had, however, informed this inconvenience to the nurse at the reception desk, and she said the taxi-man would be taken care of by the security guards at the gates of the 'ruin'.

Now the nurse leading him opened a door, and he saw Hermione, lying there in bed. Next to her was a table that had an assortment of potion vials and herbs on it. On the other side, next to the window, another table had a unique instrument on it.

It was a lantern of some sort, with a fan that flared out triangularly, like a Japanese fan would. The lantern was lit, and was emitting a bright green light. Remus wondered whether the lantern's fumes were harmless, and meant to ask the doctor about it.

The nurse said an intern would be along to talk to him in a minute. Remus thanked her, and she left.

Remus conjured a chair and sank into it, gazing at Hermione.

She seemed to be asleep, but Remus could not tell if it was natural, or potion-induced.

The door opened again, and a tall, straight-backed man entered. He was old, even by wizards' standards. His hair was stark white, but his gray eyes were more alive than most old people Remus knew.

As his gaze fell on Remus, however, a serious look came to his eyes.

"Mr. Lupin, I gather?"

"Yes, Dr-?"

"I am Moran."

Lupin's eyes widened. He didn't miss that the doctor's name was the same as the hospitals.

As if he'd expected this reaction, sidestepped it by walking over to his patient.

"My staff was unable to pull any medical history on her. She has never been admitted to a hospital before, perhaps?"

Lupin thought over this, and then said, "No, I think not. She was admitted to 's, as far as I know."

" 's? You are from England, then?"

Lupin nodded. "What's wrong with her, doctor?"

"Ah, that is a matter that warrants a lot of discussion."

Lupin looked even more worried than before.

"She collapsed due to a seizure, as I think you might have gathered. In case of Muggleborns, this might be due to brain disease, or a nervous disorder."

Remus confirmed that she was Muggleborn.

"However, it was not the case with her. Her tests show she is in a greatly weakened state, physically, emotionally and magically. Do you have an explanation for any of that?"

Remus said, "Well- we came to Australia to find her parents. She has been through the wringer worrying about finding them. They- well, they left England shortly before the war broke out."

Dr. Moran nodded. "Muggles looking for protection, I suppose?"

"Yes. And as for magical exhaustion, I have never heard of it happening. How does it happen?"

Dr. Moran requested Lupin to sit, and then conjured a chair for himself.

He turned his gaze to Lupin, then said, sharply, "It does not happen often, but sometimes, when a person is put through enormous trauma-" He glanced at Lupin, clearly expecting some kind of reaction, "- or torture."

Lupin looked shocked, then indignant, then angry. Finally, his anger slipped away as he settled in a grave expression.

"Dr. Moran , I will tell you something in confidence. But please ensure nobody else knows this, for her own safety," said Remus, looking over at Hermione's bed.

Vicky Moran nodded.

Remus said, "Her name is Hermione. Hermione Granger."

Moran's eyes widened. "The Hermione Granger?"

If it had been a less serious situation, Remus would have been amused. He couldn't wait to tell Hermione that she was famous across the seas. Then he wondered if she would wake up for him to tell her. He immediately scolded himself for thinking such a thing. Of course she's going to wake up.

He nodded in response to Moran's question.

Remus said, "She has told me of some of the things that went on when they were in hiding, but not in detail. And there were plenty of opportunities when she could have been –tortured."

Remus looked pained as he said this. Obviously he had tried to talk to Hermione, but she had brushed him off, saying it was all over now.

"Yes, well," said ,"It is very rare that a person's magical energy gets depleted. One of the most widely known cases, of course, is from Britain. You have heard, I trust, of the Longbottom case?"

Remus looked shocked, saddened deeply.

A dark shadow passed over his face. "Alice and Frank-I was in school with them, at Hogwarts."

looked startled, and sympathetic. Obviously, he had not expected to meet someone so closely involved in the British War against Voldemort. Voldemort's influence had been growing at an extent that even thousands of miles across seas, people had feared he would grow in power here also.

"I'm sorry. I have never met them. But that means you know their case better than I ever could. The extent of their torture addled their brains. Only something like that could affect the magical capacity of a witch or wizard. We should be able to gain more knowledge once Hermione awakes, of course."

Remus looked hopeful. "So- she will wake, won't she?"

"Oh, definitely she will. Don't you worry about that, . We have treated her seizure, and will figure out the root cause before her health deteriorates further."

Remus filed away the doctor's use of the word 'further' for later pondering. Was he just talking about this seizure incident, or had health been bad for quite a while before that?

"I've been meaning to ask you about the lantern, doctor."

"Lantern?" repeated the doctor, not understanding, apparently.

"Yes, the lantern," Remus said, pointing to Hermione's bedside. "I'd assumed one of your staff had placed it there, and was wondering if the fumes were harmful."

"Yes, I have been meaning to talk to you about it. The er, lantern, is a Trace Detector."

"Trace?"

"Magical traces of dark magic."

There was a gasp from Remus.

"You mean-"

"When the intern was feeding her potions, one of the potions was vehemently opposed by Hermione's system. From my past experience-though I have seen only a couple of cases-it is always caused by dangerously advanced Dark Magic."

Remus' mind was reeling from this information. Hermione had been exposed to dark magic-dangerously advanced Dark Magic? What had the woman been doing?

"So, when Hermione awakes, we shall have a two-fold mystery to solve-what is causing Hermione's brain to seize, and what Dark Magic she was exposed to. She will awake in a few hours, and I suggest you see to her comforts, and then question her gently. And do send for me, I wish to be present when she talks to you. Ask- oh, dear, dear, what's her name-well, ask for the intern with blue eyes, and she will be able to find me."

Remus nodded, and thanked him profusely for his help.

As Moran stood, he said, "You should know, I guess, that I am not Hermione's doctor."

Remus looked startled.

"I am currently being 'phased out' of the hospital. But that also means I have a lot of spare time. Hermione's case intrigued me-I'm the one who put the Trace Detector on the table. Your doctor is Dr. Darrell. She will be along soon, I presume. She will not mind my attentions to her case, I am sure. Do tell her I came by."

And so Remus had to meet another doctor in the next hour who explained all the technical aspects Hermione had undergone.

"Vicky was here?"she said. "Oh, well, then you don't have anything to worry about. He is old, but the best doctor we have here. He's retiring you see, so he doesn't have a lot of cases. Oh, but he's such a dear."


"So, you're leaving?" asked Harry, his voice gruff.

Dorothy Whittaker nodded gloomily, and then added, "I'm taking up rooms in Hogsmeade. You'd better come down often..." She paused, suddenly looking young, and embarrassed, and added, "Only if you want to, of course."

Harry nodded enthusiastically, saying, "I'll sneak out as often as I can."

Dorothy looked less embarrassed, and comforted.

Harry asked, "When are you leaving? You've got to clean out your rooms, and you've been staying a month, so that must take long."

"Well, I'm all packed and done. I'll be leaving after supper, I think. My apartment's the one above Madam Puddifoot's teashop. You ever been there?"

Harry nodded, remembering all too well the confetti and the hearts that had flown about among the fiasco that had been his date with Cho Chang.

He comforted himself by saying that atleast it was less of a fiasco than his 'massage' with Dorothy had gone.

He winced as he remembered how he had 'embarrassed' himself in his pants as they had been making out.

Dorothy had clambered onto his lap and enthusiastically begun to devour his tongue. It had been all of Harry's wildest dreams come true- her hands roaming over his arms and chest, her tongue battling his, her soft hair tickling his neck.

And then her deft fingers had crept over the cloth of his pants. She had but touched him for a minute or so, and he had finished.

He had been flaming in mortification. What better way to prove he was an inexperienced teenager than this?

But Dorothy had laughed.

Harry had felt insulted, that she was laughing at him(not that she was wrong). But then she'd leaned forward to kiss him firmly on the lips, before saying, "With practice, you'll be able to do much better."

Harry's heart had skipped like a girl's at the word 'practice'.

Now here he was, at half past three in the morning, sitting in bed with her eating a sandwich.

The atmosphere wasn't like they had just finished making out half an hour ago. Dorothy was chatting away with him, her hand twirling a strand of her lovely hair.

Harry was finally beginning to feel sleepy. The strenuous workout at the Quidditch pitch, then the wonderful massage from Dorothy, and the intense (for him) make-out session had drained him, and his eyelids were drooping. Yet he did not know how to tell Dorothy he had to leave.

He just hoped he wouldn't fall asleep in Transfiguration tomorrow. McGonagall seemed to be in a foul mood these days, Merlin knew why.

As if reading her thoughts, Dorothy said, "Don't you have class tomorrow, Harry?"

Harry nodded wearily."I should be going, shouldn't I?"

Dorothy got out of bed, and reached for his t-shirt and pants. Pulling them on, he walked to the door, followed by Dorothy.

He opened the door and stepped out, shivering at the cold.

He shot Dorothy a smile before turning away, and was surprised when she darted out the doorway to give him a kiss on his cheek.


Feeling another pang of hopelessness wash over him, he thought, What's taking her so long?

-Remus Lupin, in a preview from next Chapter.


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I know the chapters are shorter than you're used to, but they'll be coming more often, so it'll be okay, I think.

And thank you to my lovely reviewers who have been asking for updates.

I came back for you guys and gals!