CW: discussion of trauma, PTSD, discussion of prejudice
:SIXTY-FIVE:
Remus gave Sirius some space for a while, instead going to their room and making sure everything was packed and ready to go. He knew perfectly well that neither of them could stay here until they had at least seen Harry and made sure he was safe. And they'd only scheduled the holiday for a couple days anyway, so Remus wasn't going to let it bother him too much. Harry would always be more important - and they could always come back while Harry was at Hogwarts.
Eventually though, Remus knew he needed to go talk to Sirius. He picked up all of their luggage, carrying it out to the front room. Remus sighed, looking out the open window where Sirius was still pacing. Though he was trying to find the silver lining in this situation, Remus knew Sirius would have a hard time seeing it that way.
He opened the door and hesitantly stepped outside. Sirius looked at him, then continued pacing.
"When will it stop, Remus?" He growled eventually. "There just always seems to be one more thing!"
"We fought in a war! We lost all of our closest friends! We destroyed horcruxes! We made sure Voldemort could never return!"
Sirius listed them off, his voice getting more and more hysterical with each sentence. He stopped pacing, looking desperately at Remus.
"When is it going to stop, Remus?!" He yelled, tears sparking in his eyes.
"Sirius…" Remus murmured lowly.
He came forward slowly, his arms outstretched for Sirius. Sirius hesitated for a moment, then crashed into Remus' arms. They held each other close, crying together over all of the pain they had endured. Because, even though Sirius had asked Remus when all of this would be over, he already knew the answer.
It was true, they had destroyed Voldemort and made sure he could never hurt anyone again. But the ideals and the hatred he spread were still there, still present in the Wizarding World wherever they looked. It was in the Ministry, where policies against muggles and magical creatures were being pushed through under the guise of 'protection'. It was in the way wizarding children were taught how to interact with others outside of the magical world. It was everywhere, and so the answer was heartbreakingly simple.
It would never stop.
"There will always be another fight, Sirius." Remus murmured quietly into his ear. "But we will always have each other, and we have something worth fighting for."
Sirius pulled away, smiling even as he cried. They were both thinking the same thing - Harry.
They would fight for each other, but their greatest reason to keep fighting would always be Harry. He was the most important thing in their lives, the thing that had saved both of them. That was why they were so scared too, because they hadn't been there to protect him.
"Let's go check on our kiddo." Sirius smirked, wiping at his eyes.
They left immediately, canceling their reservations and checking out of the cottage before walking out to find an alley. Once they found one out of the way, they apparated over to the Burrow. Once they landed outside, they barely had any time to recover before Molly was yelling from the front door.
"Harry!" She called over her shoulder. "I told you they'd come once they heard the news."
She hurried out of the house, helping them carry things inside the Borrow. "It's been a madhouse all morning, so please excuse the mess."
"Not at all, Molly." Remus said kindly. "Thank you for welcoming us on such short notice."
"I understand." She nodded, yelling again. "Harry!"
"He's coming, mum!" Fred yelled back.
"He's racing down the stairs at this moment!" George narrated as Harry ran.
"Oh!" Fred yelled. "And Harry leaps over the cat - that was a close one!"
Their narration stopped as Harry finally got to the landing. He didn't look very surprised to see Remus and Sirius, resignation clear on his face.
"I should've known you wouldn't listen to me." Harry said, coming over and allowing himself to be held in a group hug. "I'm alright though, I promise."
"We know, kiddo." Sirius said gruffly. "We just missed you is all."
"Yeah," Remus nodded, squeezing Harry harder. "We just needed another hug."
"It had absolutely nothing to do with the blood supremacists at the Quidditch Cup." Sirius waved it off like it was nothing. "But since it did happen, we had a very good reason to come."
"Yes," Remus pulled away, smirking. "We needed a good reason or you'd call us 'needy'."
Harry laughed at them both, shaking his head.
"Yeah, sure." He retorted sarcastically.
Sirius chuckled, but then his face grew solemn. "Seriously though, Harry. Are you alright?"
Harry looked away, shrugging. "It wasn't exactly pleasant. But we were safe and made it back home. And the muggles turned out okay too, the ministry workers were able to get them down and obliviated them."
"How is Hermione?" Remus asked, sensing what was really bothering Harry.
"She's…" Harry ran his hand through his hair. "She says she's alright - that she's just mad about Winky."
"Winky?" Sirius asked.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you that part." Harry explained what happened in the woods with his wand being taken and then found in Winky's hands.
"That is terrible." Sirius acknowledged. "Firing her without even checking her memories or anything. What a botched investigation."
"Yeah," Harry nodded. "But Hermione's become obsessed with it. She wants to liberate all the house elves and get them fair pay and holidays and things. I do agree with her that house elves need to be treated better, like how we take care of Kreacher, but she refuses to talk about the Cup beyond that."
Remus nodded. "Where is she, Harry?"
"Upstairs, in Ginny's room." Harry pointed.
"Alright," Remus started walking towards the stairs. "I'm going to go talk to her. You stay and talk to Sirius - I'm sure he has more questions."
Remus left the two of them to wander towards the kitchen, Sirius probing for more details from Harry about what happened. He did want to keep talking to Harry and make sure he was alright, but he knew Hermione needed him more right now. Of all the people in this house, he was the most likely person to understand how she might be feeling after what happened. Being a werewolf made him even lower in social circles then being a muggleborn, though only just.
He knocked at Ginny's door, which was thankfully labeled with her name. She answered it a moment later, seeming glad to get away.
"Oh, hullo." Ginny greeted him, looking surprised. "Harry's downstairs, I think. Or in Ron's room, but that's way up at the top of the house."
"Thank you, Ginny." Remus said kindly. "But I was actually wondering if I could speak to Hermione."
"Oh," Ginny looked relieved. "Alright then. I'll just go downstairs."
She leaned closer so Hermione couldn't hear. "She's been driving me mad since we got back, to tell you the truth."
"Who is it, Ginny?" Hermione called from inside the room.
"It's Remus!" Ginny yelled behind her shoulder. "He wants to talk to you."
She sidled past him, rushing down the stairs without another word. Remus braced himself, then came inside. Papers and books were littered in a circle around Hermione, who was chewing the tip of her quill while she thought hard about something. When she caught sight of Remus, she beckoned him over with a frenzied sort of excitement.
"Hullo, Remus!" Hermione said all in a rush. "I was wondering if you could maybe help me work out this? I'm going over wizarding laws regarding house elves, but some of the passages are rather difficult to interpret. I suspect that they were made deliberately vague -"
"Hermione." Remus stated, cutting her speech off as she looked into his solemn face.
Her eyes looked too bright as she realized why Remus was there, and she looked away quickly. "I don't want to talk about it."
"I know." Remus came over slowly, sitting down next to her on the floor. "But you need to, Hermione."
Hermione shook her head, her bushy hair fluttering with her as she continued to avoid eye contact. "It's nothing, really. I can handle it."
"I know you can," Remus acknowledged. "You're a very strong and clever girl, Hermione. But you don't need to handle it alone."
Hermione's lower lip trembled slightly.
"When we were in the woods…" Hermione said slowly, still looking the other way. "Malfoy stopped us and said some things."
She looked down at her hands. "I know he's just a kid, and I shouldn't let what he said get to me because that's what he wants, but…"
Her voice broke, and she clenched her jaw as she tried hard not to cry.
"It still hurts." Remus finished.
Hermione nodded, hunching over as she began to sob quietly.
Remus reached out, holding Hermione close while she cried. "It's alright, Hermione."
"You are the brightest witch in Hogwarts." He said soothingly. "And it is not your fault that the wizarding world has such backward ideas about what makes a person worthwhile. They may only ever see you for your blood status, Hermione. But you know your worth, and every single person who gets to know you will see that too."
Hermione nodded, crying even harder into Remus' shoulder. Now that the tension had been broken, all of her repressed feelings were pouring out.
"I just…" She said shakily. "I always feel like I'm not doing enough. Like one day someone is going to tell me there was a mistake, and that I don't belong at Hogwarts. That I'm not a witch at all, even though I work so much harder than everyone else."
"I understand that, Hermione. Remus nodded. "And, I honestly think you'd be surprised how many other people feel the way you do."
Hermione sat up, wiping at her eyes again and looking Remus in the eye. "You think so?"
"Yes," Remus brushed a tear away. "I think almost every muggleborn in the school shares the feelings you do. I still feel that way, even as an adult. You are not alone, Hermione."
Remus watched as the pain and fear of not belonging retreated in Hermione's eyes. Replaced by determination and hope, Hermione shook her head again.
"You're right, of course." Hermione nodded. "I'm not alone. I just...forget that sometimes."
"Well," Remus smiled. "I'm only an owl away when you do forget, alright?"
Hermione nodded, smiling slightly back.
"And," Remus stood back up. "I think you ought to owl your parents as well. They'll want to know you're safe."
"Oh, right." Hermione snapped back to business. "Sometimes I really regret getting them a Daily Prophet subscription."
Remus was at the door when she stopped him again. "And Remus?"
He turned to see her smiling shyly up at him. "Thank you."
"Of course." Remus smiled back. "I'll just be downstairs when you're done writing."
Hermione waved as he left the room. He closed the door quietly, then released a shaky breath. Remus was glad he'd been able to help Hermione this time, but it just made him feel so helpless, knowing how little he could protect her from. All of the muggleborn children, really. They had to face prejudice without any warning, any way to defend themselves or cope with it, at such a young age.
It was wrong. And events like the one that happened yesterday showed just how dangerous that way of thinking could be.
Notes:
Hermione, really all of the muggleborns in this universe, deserved better. I also need to acknowledge that I have not personally experienced this type of discrimination. It just felt wrong to not acknowledge what Hermione must have felt, especially after seeing what happened at the World Cup. If something in this chapter reads as offensive, please tell me and I will do my best to fix it.
Happy Reading, and please take care of yourselves.