Disclaimer: I do not own anything in the wonderful wizarding world and all credit must be given to Ms. JK Rowling, however, anything unrecognisable is of my own creation.

Chapter 36: The Black Family Curse

I woke with a small scream from a nightmare, which was in truth a memory from my third year at Hogwarts. The memory was from the night Pettigrew escaped: the moment Sirius attempted to protect us from Remus. I hadn't taken much notice at the time, but this nightmare replays the scene over and over again. I knew every moment of this dream: every claw that Remus had torn through Sirius that night. I shakily wiped away my tears, as I gazed towards the window where the moonlight was spilling into the dormitory. I've had this nightmare before: it haunts me every full moon. I moved to sit beside the window, and found myself gazing out towards the forbidden forest. Sirius always tells me not to worry, which if I'm honest makes it worse. I fully understand that Remus has no reason to attack a dog, stag, or a rat, during his transformation... but this reasoning doesn't put my mind at rest, and it doesn't stop the nightmares. I eventually made my way down to the common room. I was intending on sitting beside the fire, where I'd probably fall to sleep and Sirius would find me when the boys returned in the morning. However, I don't know if it was the sleepiness, or the fright, which meant I found myself in the boys' dormitory besides Sirius's bed. The next second, I'd climbed into Sirius's bed without thinking. The duvet smells of him, which was comforting and as I curled up under the duvet I felt my eyes fluttering shut.

I was in a semiconscious state when the Marauders returned, so at first, I was unsure whether I was dreaming. I heard James groan as the dormitory door snapped shut.

'That was a rough night.' The three boys moved around the dormitory: Peter spoke next.

'You guys look awful, haven't seen him that rough in...' Sirius interrupted.

'Guys, shhh. We've got a visitor.' There was a stunned silence, before Peter opened his big mouth.

'What's she doing in your bed?!' James and Sirius shushed Peter: Sirius spoke in whispers.

'Don't know, Pete... but please, I can't let her see me like this. She'll hex me stupid.' I opened my eyes, kind of hoping that I was dreaming. I wasn't. In the dormitory stood the three Marauders; James and Sirius were covered in cuts and bruises, some of these cuts looked rather deep. I attempted to make eye contact with Sirius, but he wouldn't look towards me. A moment of silence passed before Sirius mumbled.

'Sorry Mynee.' I climbed out of bed.

'You said I didn't need to worry!' Sirius's eyes met mine.

'You don't! James always fixes me up.' I stared blankly at Sirius as I realised what his words meant.

'This happens every month?!' Sirius didn't seem able to speak, so James did.

'Mynee, you have to understand... Moony isn't the easiest to control. He has some strange idea sometimes, so me and Padfoot have to keep him in line. They're only superficial injuries.' I continued to gaze towards Sirius for a few seconds, before sighing. I know the reason they risk their lives every month, and without them Remus would severely mane himself.

'Fine. Siri, plant it!' I still sounded annoyed, and as I pointed toward the bed, Sirius wondered forward with his tail between his legs. 'James... you too.'

Sirius remained quiet as I set about healing his and James's injuries. There were a few flinches, particularly from the cuts when I applied dittany. James must've sensed the remaining tension between me and Sirius, because he attempted to break the ice.

'At least the Black Family Curse didn't activate, that would've sucked.' Sirius smirked slightly.

'Like last time, when he threw you into that tree.' I watched James shudder at the thought, before questioning something he'd said.

'The Black Family Curse?' Both Marauders glanced towards me as I spoke: James responded.

'Yep. It's a special enchantment that the Black family place on their children. Protects a child until they come of age. It means serious physical traumas, like falling from a broom, or being knocked across the forest by a werewolf, don't cause injury.' I'd never heard of an enchantment like that.

'How does it work?' James shrugged.

'Dunno... Mum put it on me; it's saved my skin a few times. Makes you feel proper rough afterwards though.' Sirius's voice appeared once James had finished speaking.

'It's sort of like those bags of air that muggles sometimes put in their transport vehicles...' I am assuming Sirius means airbags. '... It activates when severe physical trauma occurs, doesn't activate against spell damage, or minor knocks and scrapes... the blow still hurts, you walk away aching all over and with the wind knocked out of you, but better than broken bones.' Silence returned between the three of us for a moment, before Sirius spoke again. 'I'm sorry, Hermione, beautiful. Please forgive me. I should've told you how bad it can get, and about my family's curse.' I felt a smile appear on my lips as Sirius called me beautiful. I can't stay mad at him.

'Sometimes Sirius Black, I think I'd forgive you even if you were a murderer.' A wide grin appeared on Sirius's lips.

A/N Next chapter for you all: remember to review, reviews really make my day. Thanks to my reviews from the last chapter... and everyone who is following the story, made my inbox almost explode this morning with alerts, which is nice for me to see. I feel I must address Slaythevampire87question about Professor Cullen and whether I've named her after the Cullen coven from Twilight.

Professor Cullen is a character stolen from another story that I'm writing and not published. I don't intend to even scrape the surface of her character because she quite complex. For the purpose of this story though, I will give a brief back story. She was transformed in 1940 by a vampire called Charles Goodwin, who in the magical world is known as the missing auror after he was attacked during a mission. Charles is the only known wizard to keep his magic after being transformed, because usually the vampire virus re-writes straight over the magical gene. Charles passed his own magical gene to Professor Cullen and her 'sister' Roxanne when he transformed them. She married into the Cullen family -yes out of Twilight- and is married to Dave Cullen, whom is again one of my own characters. Dave was a World War II solider and was transformed during the war: he joined the Cullen family shortly after World War II ended. So, the eagle eyes ones of you may have noticed that I was describing Aro Volturi when Professor Cullen faced the boggart. Anyway, Professor Cullen is going to be a minor character and I don't plan any major crossover, might introduce Dave Cullen at some point, haven't decided yet. Hope this answers your question, Slaythevampire87.

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