CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Summary: Hermione has recently found out that she is a witch and is off to attend her first year at the prestigious Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry in the Wizarding World. There she meets a strange family of red heads, the famous chosen one - Harry Potter, a tight nit group of pranksters and Quidditch players that don't feel quite complete, along with meddling professors and ghosts. What will happen when long kept secrets are finally revealed? Will the new bonds of friendship and love that develop at Hogwarts create the saviours that are needed?
Disclaimer: All canon/original characters, plot line and rights belong to the author J.K. Rowling. Non-canon events and characters belong to me. I am not making a profit from posting this story. Some of the characters may be OOC and the plot is a mixture of both canon and non-canon with some of the main events from Rowling happening differently to canon.
Updated: 19/09/18
Page count: 9
The Hogwarts Express - Wednesday 1st September 1993
A couple of days ago Harry had told Ron and Hermione everything he had overheard between Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and he included why and how he ended up staying at The Leaky Cauldron in the first place, and to say Hermione was worried would be an understatement. But for the last few days of the summer, they tried to forget about all that had happened, and they focused on having fun, before they were to return to Hogwarts for their third year.
Hermione, Oliver, Lee and the twins were sat in their compartment, each with their attention on their own tasks. Hermione was reading, Oliver was working out a Quidditch practice schedule and the twins and Lee were, of course, planning a prank.
After a couple of hours on the train Hermione decided to go and check in on Harry and Ron, so she said her goodbyes to the boys and made her way down the train aisle, until she came across the compartment that she was looking for. She entered, closed the door behind her and took a seat next to Ron and opposite Harry. What caught her attention when she looked up was the sleeping figure sat next to Harry.
He had shaggy brown hair, a few scars on his face and he looked rather pale, almost sickly. His clothes were all tattered and ratty. She continued looking around the compartment when she noticed a case in the overhead rack, and as she looked closer she noticed that it was monogrammed and it read, 'Remus J. Lupin.'
'Interesting' Hermione thought, her eye darting between the case and the sleeping man.
She brought her attention back to Harry and Ron and they settled into a comfortable conversation, until Ron found something to complain about, as usual.
"'Mione, did you have to bring that thing with you?" he asked none too kindly.
"What thing?" she asked, pretending to be clueless and she plastered an innocent look on her face and Harry chuckled at her.
"That nuisance right there," Ron said, pointing to Crookshanks who was currently glaring at him.
"Oh, that was a big word, Ronald. Would you like me to heal you from that headache you likely have from using it?" she said sweetly.
Harry burst out laughing at the look on Ron's face. Hermione thought she saw the corner of the sleeping man's mouth twitch but she shook her head and returned her attention back to Ron.
"And yes, Ronald, I did have to bring Crookshanks with me. Where I go, he goes."
"But he's a vicious monster," he said and Crookshanks hissed at him.
"Nonsense, he's a big softy and he wouldn't harm a fly," she said to him.
"He attacked me last night," Ron said, his voice rising slightly and his ears turning red.
"Yes, well, I said that he wouldn't harm a fly, I didn't say that he wouldn't harm a human," she said with a smirk.
Harry burst into laughter; this time with tears welling up in his eyes as Hermione had a smug smile on her face. Ron processed what she had said before he too joined in laughing. This time Hermione was sure she saw a smile creep onto the sleeping man's face.
"You're something else, you are 'Mione," Ron said to her.
"You're only just figuring that out now, Mate?" Harry said, calming down from his laughter but with an amused smile on his face.
"Anyway, Crooksy didn't attack you for the fun of it, he wanted the rat."
"Well try and keep the demon fur-ball away from Scabbers."
"He's a cat, Ronald, that's impossible; they hunt rodents in the wild, and it is in their nature," Hermione said, whilst rolling her eyes at him.
"'Mione? Could you really heal someone?" Harry asked intrigued.
"Well it depends on the injury. But in theory I imagine so. I haven't had a chance to practice what with the magic restrictions out of school, but I did some research whilst we were at the dragon reserve."
"Why were you researching healing spells?" Ron asked confused.
"Quidditch," was the one word answer she gave them. They both hummed in realisation. "Between Fred and George as beaters, Ollie as keeper and you, Harry, as seeker, you four boys put the fear of Merlin in me."
"I don't know why. Quidditch is a perfectly safe sport," Ron said seriously, Hermione scoffed at him.
"Are you kidding me? Have we been watching different matches for the last two years?"
"What?" Ron asked confused and Hermione huffed.
"First year, Harry's broom was jinxed and he fell off it when he caught the snitch in his mouth. Not to mention Ollie was knocked off his broom by that prat Marcus Flint and he fell two hundred feet. Second year, the bludger was jinxed by Dobby and it kept trying to kill Harry, it broke his arm and he fell off his broom. Then Lockhart the idiot healed his arm and removed all of the bones from it. That's not even taking into account any injuries from practices or when we're home," she finished, taking a breath.
"She's got a point," Harry stated thoughtfully. "What did you actually do to Flint for deliberately hurting Oliver? I remember him and his roommates walking into the great hall for breakfast looking rather uncomfortable."
"I got Peeves to put chilli-powder on the toilet roll in their bathroom," she stated.
"I don't think I've heard of that being done before," Ron muttered. "And what about his roommates?"
"You wouldn't have heard of it happening before because it's a muggle classic. And well, Flint was my intended target, but getting the rest of them was a bonus. It was fine anyway; they were only Slytherins," she said. Okay, she definitely saw the man smile that time, she was sure of it. "Anyway, back to reasons why I researched healing spells...".
"There's another reason?" Ron said, interrupting her.
"Yes, Ronald, there is. In first year; we dealt with a dragon, detention in the Forbidden Forest, a three headed dog, a trap door, devil's snare, the flying and catching of the correct key whilst we were being attacked by other keys, then the life size wizarding chess game, then the potions riddle and then the whole Voldemort had taken up residence on Professor Quirrell's head and The Philosophers Stones incident. Then in second year when people, cats and ghosts were being petrified, when I was petrified for two months, when you two found The Chamber of Secrets with that moron Lockhart, then Harry defeated the Basilisk and Tom Riddle -aka baby Voldemort- and rescued Ginny. Face it, we're huge magnets for danger and trouble."
"What's a magnet?" Ron asked confused.
"Muggle thing," Hermione and Harry said in unison.
"Again, she's got a point, Mate" Harry said and everyone nodded in agreement.
They continued to chat pleasantly when Percy entered the compartment.
"Gentlemen, Mia," he said.
"Hey, Perce," the three replied.
"Mia, why aren't you with the twins, Lee and Oliver?" he asked.
"I was, but I thought I should check up on Ron and Harry," she answered.
"Are the twins planning something?" he asked.
"Perce, they're always planning something," she said with a chuckle. Then she noticed his badge. "Errr, Perce." She pointed to his badge with a guilty look on her face.
Percy looked down and huffed. Then he sat down next to Harry.
"Not again, I only got it back to Head Boy last night," he said with a sigh. He then turned his eyes to her, looking as though he'd had an epiphany. "Mia, will you prank the twins for me?"
"Are you sure?"
"They've been pranking me since they were born, and I haven't once gotten revenge. But the twins are scared of you," he said with a mischievous glint in his eye that reminded her of Fred and George. Ron and Harry laughed.
"Yeah, that's because she knocked them out in first year and give them new makeovers that lasted over a month," Ron said, smiling fondly at the memory.
"Yeah, and then at the Quidditch tryouts she stuck them to their brooms and soaked them from head to toe, and since then they haven't once tried to prank her," Harry said, pride evident in his voice.
Hermione saw the sleeping man smirk. 'Maybe he isn't asleep,' she thought before shrugging.
"Come on, Mia; you haven't pranked anyone since your first year," Percy said.
"Actually ,that's not true," she said.
"You're always helping the twins with their planning of pranks, I meant you haven't done anything independently."
"Merlin, remember when she pranked the entire Slytherin Quidditch team and the reserves too, at the first match of the season? You still haven't told us how you did that," Ron said.
"And I'm not going to either," she said.
"I think that was the last big prank, disregarding your revenge on Flint. And I'm guessing the whole Malfoy running screaming into the great hall and fainting had something to do with you too," Harry said and she didn't bother denying it with an amused smile on her face.
"See? You haven't pranked anyone in a while," Percy said.
"Again that wasn't the last prank I did," she said and the boys looked confused. "Do you remember that prank that happened to Professor McGonagall in the great hall?" she said and they nodded.
"Yeah, the one Malfoy was punished for. I hate to admit it but it was genius; tipping a bucket of water and fish from The Black Lake over and on to her at the head's table was hilarious." She smirked at Harry.
"Wait a minute! That was you, wasn't it!" Harry exclaimed.
Hermione would've scolded Harry for his outburst, but she was now certain the mystery man was awake; he had a smirk on his face and an eyebrow raised after hearing the tale.
"Yes, it was, and Malfoy getting the blame was the cherry on top. He's a prat, so he deserved it. It wasn't my fault that he happened to looked so guilty."
"I should've known it wasn't him. That idiot isn't capable of using the charms that were used. Plus, the prank was far too muggle and far too similar to the other ones you did at the beginning of the year. The prank conveniently happened when you weren't in the great hall and you looked far too innocent when you returned from the bathroom," Percy said.
"You're bloody brilliant, 'Mione" Ron said, with a dazed look in his eyes.
"Will you prank the twins for me? Please, Mia," Percy asked, a pleasing tone to his voice.
"I've said it before Perce, pranking is how the twins show their respect, at least for family members. If it's a Slytherin they prank, they do it because they don't like them."
"I know, but I want revenge, they deserve it after all the years of humiliation and annoyance." The mischievous glint was back in his eyes.
"Fine, I will prank them for you. But if I were you, I would prepare myself for the retaliation when they discover you've put me up against them," she said, and he waved her off being too excited to care.
"So what's the plan?" he asked.
"Just leave it to me, Perce, I'll figure something out," she said with a smirk.
"If it's going to be anything like your other pranks, I'm worried for the twins," Harry said with a chuckle.
Percy left with the compartment to continue with his patrols with a skip in his step, and Hermione, Harry and Ron continued to talk and laugh for a while, when the train began to slow to a stop.
"That's strange, we're not due to arrive for another four hours," Hermione said with a frown as she looked out of the window.
That's when she noticed it. The windows were fogging up and the glass began to crack. When she breathed out she could see her breath forming a smoke cloud in front of her. The compartment became cold and she shivered and wrapped her arms around herself, trying to keep the warmth of her body.
She felt depressed; as though every bit of happiness was leaving her body. She could feel the loss of both her birth parents and her adoptive parents. She could no longer see her life with The Weasleys, Woods, Harry and Lee. She could no longer feel the twins and Oliver in her life. She didn't like the feeling. The feeling of being without them and she felt as though she was going to die of heartbreak. Was that possible, for someone to die of heartbreak? Well, at this moment in time, Hermione would respond with a resounding 'yes'. Just then she heard the compartment door open, along with an agonising scream. Then everything went black.
~000~000~000~
Hermione woke to see the strange man looking down at her anxiously; when he noticed she was awake he smiled and helped her sit up. She didn't realise it, but she had tears running heavily down her face and her eyes were a puffy, red mess. Just as he planned to hand something the compartment door was pulled opened and it slammed against the wall.
When she looked up, it was to see four very concerned faces, and three of them had fear in their eyes. Lee breathed out a sigh of relief after seeing that she was fine. But Fred, George and Oliver rushed forward and they dropped to their knees surrounding her. They all sandwiched her tightly between them and she sobbed in both relief and for remembering the feelings she had been exposed to.
Then they all glowed and the compartment and its occupants were bathed in the golden light. When it disappeared the man looked at the four teenagers on the ground slightly dazed and with a raised eyebrow. He looked at the other three teenage boys and noticed that they didn't seem all that shocked; making him believe the strange occurrence was a regular sight.
Harry noticed the man's expression and he spoke up from his place on one of the seats, as he ate the small piece of chocolate he had given him.
"It's happened before," he said.
"How many times?" he asked curious.
"Don't know, possibly four," Lee responded with a shrug.
Hermione was helped up from the floor, before being sat on the bench, sitting in between the twins, with both then and Oliver touching her in some way.
'Interesting,' he thought to himself.
Harry had asked what those hooded creatures were and Hermione cut off the man as he was explaining it to the group. He raised an eyebrow at her amused when she finished talking.
"Sorry," she mumbled and he chuckled at her. "Are you the new defence against the darks arts professor?" she asked curiously, to which he nodded.
"Yes, I'm Professor Lupin," he replied and introductions were quickly made between the professor and his new students.
"I hope you're better than that idiot Lockhart, but judging by the way you handled the dementor I would say you're already leagues in front of him and his peanut sized brain. I'd be surprised if the spanner could even spell his own name and don't get me started on his lesson content and plans," she said and everyone grimaced as they remembered their time with Lockhart well.
"That bad?" Lupin asked.
"Unfortunately, the moron didn't have an ounce of usefulness in him."
"I'm sure he wasn't the bad," he said, and he chuckled at the incredulous looks he received from the seven students.
"In our first lesson he released a cage of cornish pixies in the classroom. The room was destroyed, students were fighting them off by hitting them with books or hiding under the tables, and they picked poor Neville up by his ears and dangled him from the chandelier by his robes. When the idiot tried to act all smart and clever and put the little devils back into their cage, he said a spell which I'm pretty sure doesn't even exist, had his wand stolen by a pixie, which they used to cut the chains on the dragon skeleton that was hanging from the ceiling, and then he left us alone with the pixies whilst he locked himself in his office," Hermione said. The professor stared in shock.
"Seriously?" he asked, a frown on his face. They nodded.
"If it wasn't for Hermione here, we would've been in a lot of trouble. She managed to stop the pixies and get them back in the cage and she got Neville down from the ceiling," Harry said proudly and Hermione blushed.
"Everyone in the class helped too," she muttered. "Merlin, do you remember the duelling club?" she said. Harry, Hermione and Ron shared a chuckle and a smile.
~000~000~000~
They finally reached The Hogsmeade Station and jumped into the carriages which took them to The Hogwarts grounds.
They entered the great hall and took their seats, and once the sorting ceremony had finished, and Dumbledore had given the welcoming speech and introduced Professor Lupin -who Hermione and the boys applauded loudly for- dinner appeared and they all ate heartily.
Hermione was not thrilled to hear that the dementors would be permanent residents at the castle until Sirius Black was found; she didn't want to feel the way she had on the train again.
News of both hers and Harry's fainting had reached the entire hall before the end of dinner and they had listened to taunts from the Slytherins. When they exited the great hall they saw Malfoy being a prat and pretending to faint, and they all scowled at him.
"That little git; he wasn't so cocky when the dementors were down our end of the train. Came running into our compartment, didn't he, Forge?" George said.
"That he did, Gred, he nearly wet himself," Fred said with a smirk on his face.
"I wasn't too happy myself. They're horrible things, those dementors…" George trailed off and Fred picked up.
"Sort of freeze your insides, don't they?"
"You didn't pass out though, did you?" Harry said with a mutter of annoyance.
"I did!" Hermione said, as she playfully nudged him with her elbow. "I cried enough tears to fill The Black Lake," she said, and a smiled crept on his face at her comment.
"Forget it, Harry," George said. "Dad had to go out to Azkaban one time, remember Forge? And he said it was the worst place he'd ever been. He came back all weak and shaking. They suck the happiness out of the place, dementors. Most of the prisoners go mad in there."
They ended the topic of discussion and made their way to Gryffindor Tower, whilst Hermione headed to Professor Dumbledore's office after receiving a letter from Professor McGonagall that asked her to meet with her at Professor Dumbledore's office.
Once she reached the stone gargoyles, it was to see Professor McGonagall stood waiting for her.
"Good evening, Professor," Hermione greeted with a smile.
"Good evening, Miss. Granger. How are you?"
"I'm glad to be back," she said with a smile, which McGonagall returned before saying the password and heading up to Dumbledore's office.
When they entered Hermione took the seat next to McGonagall and opposite Dumbledore. She spent thirty minutes being lectured on the proper use of a time turner as well as going over the rules twice.
When she finally left the office she quickly made her way back to Gryffindor Tower, heading up to the fifth year boys dorm room and entering. She walked in to find the boys all unpacking and she quickly made work of her own belongings.
"So, Spitfire, what did Professor McGonagall want?"
"Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall just wanted to review how I was dealing with the separation from my parents," she told them. It wasn't a complete lie; they did talk about her parents, but the golden rule was to tell no one about the time turner, even her boys, even if it did hurt her.
Why did it hurt?