AN: This is my sorry about the cliffhanger chapter because I felt SO guilty about it, so fingercrossed y'all enjoy and also forgive me.
TW: Violence, Injury
November 1976
Hermione was frozen. Stuck rooted on the spot watching the scene in horror. She couldn't hear the screaming or feel the ash as it fell like snow around her. She could only stare at the scene; Lily crying out, James lying there, blood slowly seeping further into the snow.
Watching the pool grow was what brought her out of her shock. She couldn't let James die. Not when she still had so much to do, not when Harry hadn't been born, not when he and Lily weren't even dating yet.
She ran to the couple. Kneeling, she barely noticed as the red snow soaked her clothing. Lily was pleading through sobs, "James, James, please, just stay awake. Please!"
Her hands were covered in blood, but Hermione couldn't tell where it was coming from. She didn't have time to comfort Lily. She had to focus on stopping the bleeding.
Ripping his robes open Hermione felt her breath leave her. There, torn across his side was an injury all too familiar to her. The last time she had seen a cut like this, it had killed an older Kingsley Shacklebolt, leaving her truly alone in the world.
This one was worse somehow, though. Kingsley hadn't been directly hit, it had only caught him by chance, but this spell had hit James at full force, and the cut was worrying to a different degree. Torn across his abdomen, it spanned from his ribs down to his navel, like he sustained it jumping in front of something and suddenly Hermione knew exactly what had happened.
Still, it was a gruesome looking thing, gaping, with rough edges. Not the long, neat cuts of a Sectumsempra, but something designed to be less efficient and far more painful.
She could feel bile rising up her throat at the sight of the wound but forced it down. She couldn't afford to get sick now. She couldn't let James die. He was too important. Besides, this was different. She didn't have to save him; she just had to keep him alive long enough that somebody else could.
Gripping her wand in blood-soaked fingers, she began casting every healing charm she could think of, but none of them were working fast enough. Tearing off her coat, she pressed it down firmly against the wound. Ignoring James' cry of pain at the action, she turned her attention to Lily.
"Evans!" She snapped, fear making her tone sharp, "You've got to hold this for me. It's going to hurt him, but it's the only thing keeping him alive, so you have to keep the pressure on it. Understand?"
Lily nodded, wiping tears from her eyes, she smeared blood across her cheek, a stark red against ivory skin, and Hermione could only imagine what she looked like. Taking her place next to her, Lily leant all her weight on the fabric, trying desperately to stem the bleeding. Through it all, she kept talking to James,
"James, it's going to be okay…"
Hermione ignored her, returning to casting charms, trying to close the wound hidden under Lily's hands.
"Potter, come on , you're far too stubborn to let this kill you."
For the first time since she reached the pair, James did something other than cry in pain, "James," he muttered, incoherent, "you called me James."
"Yes," Lily sobbed, "James, I'll call you James, just stay with us. Please. "
Hermione barely noticed them, so intent on keeping him alive. She didn't notice anything until she felt a hand fall on her shoulder and looked up into Kingsley's eyes. Madam Pomfrey was next to him, and Professor McGonagall was in the distance trying to impose some kind of order on the chaos around them.
Feeling relief rush through her at the sight of the Matron she turned to her, looking beseechingly, begging for direction.
"I couldn't get him to stop bleeding," she started, "Evans is keeping pressure on it, but nothing I'm casting can work fast enough to get it to close."
Madam Pomfrey nodded at her explanation, already kneeling next to her. She started casting too, spells Hermione hadn't been taught yet but was suddenly determined to learn. She couldn't risk something like this happening again.
Eventually, Kingsley dragged her away. Madam Pomfrey had taken over her role, so she was no longer needed. He pulled her into his arms, and Hermione could feel her breath coming out in gasps as adrenaline finally stopped coursing through her.
She was shaking by the time she could breathe normally, her coat lost to keeping James alive and the rest of her clothes soaked in blood and snow, making her tremble in the frigid air.
Kingsley noticed and slipped his robes around her shoulders. She tried to protest; she didn't want to ruin them any further than she already had. But he insisted, and she gladly wrapped them tighter around herself.
At some point, Sirius had reappeared and looked stricken at the sight of James. By that point though, Madam Pomfrey had stabilised him enough to start moving him to the infirmary.
The Hospital Wing was in chaos when they arrived. Thankfully, James' injury seemed to be the most severe. The others only suffering from mild cuts and burns. Instead, the main cause of the disruption was her brother, who was trying desperately to escape past Professor Sprout, and despite how ill he had looked hours earlier he was putting up a surprisingly good fight.
"Mr Lupin! What is the meaning of this?!"
He ignored her, still trying to leave the ward. "Where is my sister," he growled at the professor, "and what is happening?"
Even as he said it, he fell silent, James' body floating into the ward stunning him. Seconds later though he was fighting harder than before, Moony was closer to the surface than ever. Fear drawing him out, making him more temperamental than usual, even this close to the full moon.
She ran out of Kingsley's arms before he could hurt himself in his attempts to find her, and she felt Sirius run up behind her.
"Remus. It's okay. I'm right here. I'm fine." she pleaded.
He looked down at her and blanched at her blood-soaked clothes.
"It's not mine," she reassured, "It's James' "
The reminder of his friend's state shocked Remus back into silence, and instead of continuing to fight, he swayed on the spot, energy finally leaving him. Hermione went to catch him before he could fall, and Sirius took his other side, helping her support his weight.
"What happened?" Remus sounded defeated, and she and Sirius forced him back into bed before explaining.
"The village was attacked," Sirius' voice was thick, and she noticed for the first time he likely had a broken nose, but the thought was quickly dismissed as her brother started trying to get out of bed again.
"I'm fine," she reassured, "we all are. I think James was the worst of it."
She didn't mention that she still didn't know where Pandora was, that Sirius had only appeared once the fighting was over, that by the time she got to James it was almost too late. She didn't tell him that now she was away from it all she could remember the fear she hadn't felt in the moment. The terror she felt when she realised she was alone and the helplessness she felt at the thought she was about to watch her second Potter die.
Instead, she stroked his hand softly and looked over at Sirius, whose face was slowly bruising, blood drying under his nose. Behind him, the rest of the Hospital Wing was crowded too. Even though most of the injuries had been minor, there were plenty of them, and Madam Pomfrey was busy keeping James alive.
She was exhausted, but the staff were overworked, and her limited MediWitch training from full moons would be enough to help. So, she sighed and grabbed a Pepper-Up Potion from where the Matron hid them, turning to Sirius and examining his face.
Casting a quick episky, she turned back to both boys, "I'm going to help here, but you should both try and get some rest." They nodded in agreement, and she turned back towards the ward.
Hermione didn't know how long she worked. She treated cut after cut, tending to mild burns or smoke inhalation. The whole time Madam Pomfrey kept working on James, and Professors Sprout and Slughorn appeared periodically with plants and potions to help.
The hospital wing looked like a scene out of a Muggle disaster movie. Everyone lined up, waiting for help. They were all covered in abrasions, ash discolouring their skin, shocked expressions as they tried desperately to reassure each other that they were safe. They worked efficiently, treating those with more threatening injuries first, but even then, her bloodied clothes had dried on her body by the time he reappeared.
She didn't notice him at first. Focused entirely on healing the few remaining students, but by the time she was done with those, Kingsley was sat by the entrance waiting for her.
Suddenly feeling her exhaustion once again she slumped against him,
"Hey," he whispered, "how are you doing?"
"Tired, worried, I don't know." And she honestly didn't, most of her felt numb to the day's events. The hours of panic and pushing away her fears to focus on helping those around her had deadened those emotions.
Thankfully, Kingsley seemed to know what she needed to hear, "We just finished the headcount. Everyone's okay. Potter's as bad as it got."
Neither of them knew what to do at that point. She could only sigh in relief that nobody had been injured more gravely.
Eventually, she found it in her to speak again, "I'm exhausted."
"I know - come on."
He tried leading her out of the Hospital Wing, but she shook her head.
"I just need to check on James. Madam Pomfrey said he should be okay, that he just needs rest, but I have to see for myself."
Kingsley nodded in understanding, and they both made their way over to his bed. Peeking through the curtains they could make out two figures in the moonlit bay. James was asleep on his back, totally still but with one hand tangled in the long red locks of Lily Evans as she slept in the chair next to him, slumped over to lean on his bed.
Hermione smiled at the sight and left the two of them to their moment of privacy, sneaking back over to her brother's bay to check on him. He too had a visitor, Sirius dozing in the chair next to his bed, while Remus was completely passed out. Shaking his shoulder gently, Sirius started awake before calming at the sight of her.
"Mini," his voice was rough with sleep.
"Hey," she whispered "I'm all done, but I've got to clean up, so could you stay with him." her voice shook slightly as she asked.
She wished she could stay with her brother. She knew he would panic on waking if she wasn't there, but she had to get out of the infirmary. Now that she was no longer running on Pepper-Up and adrenaline, all of her emotions were a little too close to the surface.
"Oh, Kitten," he replied, gently rubbing a hand up and down her bicep, "Of course, I'll stay. Go get some sleep, yeah."
She nodded, and he drew her into a quick hug before she turned back to Kingsley, slipping her hand into his. She waved a goodbye to Sirius, who was back in the chair but staring at their joined hands with furrowed eyebrows, "Night, Sirius, thank you."
She let Kingsley guide her through the Halls, but it soon became clear they weren't going in the direction of Ravenclaw Tower. Something that made her stop suddenly and turn to look at him, confused.
"Where are we going?"
He looked down at her a little sheepishly, "Heads dorms."
Still confused, she frowned at him, "What?"
"It's been a long day. I don't want to leave you alone."
"But what about Pandora?" she didn't know why she was questioning him. Truthfully, the idea of spending the night with him felt reassuring after the day they had, but she couldn't stop herself from asking.
"I told her I would offer when we were checking on the Ravenclaws. Do you want to come with me?" his asked, tone suddenly unsure and she rushed to answer him.
"Oh. Um. Yes. Please?" It shouldn't have been a question, and yet it was.
He chuckled softly and pulled her closer to him, starting to walk again.
"But what about my clothes? And I need to shower." Again she couldn't stop the questions from escaping her, but Kingsley seemed to find them endearing.
"I'm sure we'll figure something out."
They had been purposefully avoiding the Heads dorms until this point. Knowing that the privacy it afforded may encourage them to go further than they perhaps should this early in their relationship. But tonight, Hermione wasn't thinking about that. Instead, she was focused on the comfort that came from sharing a bed.
When they were younger, she used to crawl into Remus' bed whenever they had nightmares. Somehow, she had always known when he had one and needed the reassurance of having someone close by, but she had plenty of her own too. They had both been plagued by them after Greyback's attack, and often the only thing that had been able to calm either of them down was the other's presence.
Since Hogwarts though they had stopped. Age making it awkward, as it had changed so many other aspects of their relationship. She hadn't shared a bed in years, but after the stress of everything, the idea of sharing with Kingsley seemed like it would provide the comfort she desperately needed.
She had never seen the Heads dorm before, but they were somehow exactly as she imagined. Decorated in a variety of colours, it favoured no one House, though, the plaques on the two-bedroom doors were their respective red and yellow.
They snuck through a tiny common room, ducking into the room marked Kingsley Shacklebolt, Headboy 1976-77 . Once they were in there though neither of them seemed to know what to do.
An awkward silence fell over them as Hermione looked around the room, Gryffindor red sheets on a large bed and a second door that could only lead to the bathroom. Taking the out when she saw it, she turned to him,
"Um, I think I'll shower now. If that's okay?"
He looked relieved one of them had spoken and nodded quickly.
"Oh, of course. There should be towels in there but let me grab you a change of clothes," he said, glancing down at her bloodied attire, "Take as long as you need. I'll just be out here."
Hidden away in the bathroom, Hermione let out a sigh of relief. She didn't know why that wave of awkwardness had washed over them, but she was glad to be free of it. Looking around the room, she thought it was like a smaller version of the prefect's bathroom, but with a large shower tucked into the corner.
Ridding herself over her ruined clothes, she stepped under the hot water and began washing away the day. It wasn't until she started to wash her hair that she realised how bad she must have looked - water murky with ash and blood.
She hadn't realised how covered in it she had been, but as the water ran red, she could only see James lying there motionless and hear the screams that had echoed around the village through the attack. Scrubbing at her skin until it was pink, she tried desperately to remove any evidence of what had happened.
Finally convinced she was clean, Hermione felt ready to leave the safety of the shower. Stepping out into the misty room, she cast a drying charm over herself, carefully avoiding her hair, instead, wrapping it in a towel, she looked over the clothes Kingsley had left her.
Slipping the quidditch jersey over her shoulders, the oversized shirt fell to mid-thigh covering her easily. Looking at the bottoms though she knew no amount of rolling would get them to fit and settled on wearing the jersey as a nightgown.
Hesitantly reentering the room, she found Kingsley sitting up in the large bed reading. His hair was slightly damp, though she didn't know how as she had just occupied his shower for the better part of an hour, and he was already in his pyjamas.
Looking up at her entrance, he smiled and flipped the other side of the bedsheets up next to him. Climbing in, she felt worry building back up in her chest, but it faded when he smiled at her again, whispering, "How are you doing now?"
"Okay, I think," she replied, equally quiet like they were both afraid to break the silence.
"Yeah?"
"I think so, just tired. It's been a long day." She didn't know if it was true. Honestly, she still didn't know how she felt and without the distraction of scrubbing herself clean, she found she didn't know what to do with herself.
Still, he nodded at her reply, and the room fell quiet once again. Both of them staring into the distance thinking back over the attack. As she thought about it though Hermione felt tears build up in her eyes and could do nothing to stop them from spilling over.
She had felt so helpless in the moment but looking back now she somehow felt more so. Even with all her extra memories, she hadn't known what was coming and could have done nothing to stop it.
It was a stark reminder that for all she may plan, so many things could go wrong. She could not afford to be complacent. She had almost lost James today, five years before she was supposed to have to worry about it, and so many other things could still go wrong.
That thought forced a sob out of her chest, and Kingsley turned to her quickly, "Hey, hey. It's okay."
"James," she cried, "he almost died," the last word broke as it left her mouth.
"I know, I know," he soothed, pulling her into his arms, "but you saved him. You did so well."
Still, she could not stop crying, stress finally leaving her body, after it had been building up ever since the glass first shattered. There in the silence of his room, she could only think about how she had almost lost James to the same curse she lost the man whose bed she was sharing. About how she could still lose them both, lose so many other people, and whether her plan would still be worth it if she lost them anyway.
Distantly she heard him still speaking, and forced herself to focus on his voice, calming her frantic breaths "You took care of everyone so well. Just let me take care of you now, yeah."
She kept crying but breathed easier at his words. Snuggling deeper into his chest and feeling his arms tighten even more around her, she finally fell asleep, exhausted.
AN: I've realised some of you may think theres significance to James and Kingsley having the same injury and I'm honestly flattered if you think I could come up with something like that but unfortunately thats not quite true.
I just wanted to make it super clear quite how much danger James was in. Like he would have died had Hermione not started performing First Aid on him pretty much immediately and I felt the best way to show that was by showing that someone else already had died from it - hope that makes sense