Chapter 34 - Alleviation
Bill's response to her letter was rightly furious. Furious that she hadn't told him immediately, furious that he hadn't been with them that weekend, but mostly furious about the Greyback situation as a whole (particularly that the Aurors had lost him when he'd been right under their noses). To Hermione's relief though, her Beta did promise to keep quiet until after the full moon, understanding that she wanted to be in full cognisance before informing the aurors. Until then, he would keep everyone on his end safe - 'although it seems his fixation is entirely on you at this moment', he had written. Hermione was just worried about what might happen once that fixation made Greyback more desperate and more dangerous to her pack.
Be that as it may, she had taken Draco's advice and tried put it out of her head as much as she could. For the moment, there was nothing she could do and she had other matters to attend to. She had collected her Wolfsbane potion for the week from Professor Slughorn - whose reactions around her tended to be unsure now, flipping from sympathy, to fear and to wonder on a daily basis - and had taken her dose each morning with breakfast, no matter how ill, tired or frustrated she felt. The hardest part was keeping the potion down when the nausea that she often felt on the final few days threatened to expel it immediately.
"It's alright, 'Mione," Ginny soothed, rubbing circles on Hermione's back at the breakfast table while she kept her eyes and lips tightly closed and jerked against the convulsions.
When her stomach finally settled, she could feel a sheen on her forehead and released her hands from their grip on the table to wipe it away in the crook of her elbow.
"Better?" Ginny asked.
Hermione nodded, swallowed, then opened her eyes after a long exhale. "Yeah. Thank you."
"Maybe you shouldn't go to class today after all. You'd feel better later if you rested now."
"I know. I just feel... I just feel inadequate," Hermione sighed. "I've always managed classes. I mean, remember my third year?"
"That was five years ago and you weren't a werewolf," Ginny deadpanned, giving her a levelled look. "Besides, you'll have to be able to put up with Harry and Ron tonight," her straight face shifted into a knowing smirk as she turned back to her breakfast.
Hermione rolled her eyes and sighed, knowing she had lost the battle as Ginny pushed herself up from the table and swung her schoolbag onto her shoulder. She stepped over the bench, continuing as she did so.
"I need to get to class and you need to get back up to the dorm and rest. You know we'll take notes for you. Just be ready to go quickly tonight; Harry and Ron are arriving at four." She spoke the last part over her shoulder and jogged towards the doors of the Great Hall, waving back at Hermione who dropped her already pounding head to the table.
When four o'clock rolled around, Hermione only just managed to roll out of bed. She had tried passing some time reading in a little window nook down in the common room, but the usually comfy position she sat in had ended up painfully cramping her legs and her shoulders. Even the reading had worsened her headache, so she had ended up lying in bed, feeling useless but thankfully free of cramping muscles as she lay down flat on top of her covers. She refused to admit she had gone back to bed completely.
She grabbed her overnight bag and shuffled out the door and through the common room, moving as quickly as she could through the clamouring crowd of students congregating between classes and dinner. She grit her teeth against the pounding in her head and breathed through the gaps between them until, eventually, she made it to the portrait hole. Struggling to lift her back foot high enough to make it over the lip, she stumbled out, straight into Ginny.
"I was just coming to get you! Honestly, were you going to go without us?" She wrapped an arm around Hermione under her shoulder blades, supporting her stance as they walked slowly away from Gryffindor Tower.
"Well you said four and it got to four so I set off and here we are."
"Are you aware that you're slurring? Did you even get any sleep?"
"S'daytime," Hermione murmured, eyes closed and trusting entirely in Ginny to get her through the castle. "And everything hurt."
Ginny gave an exasperated sigh which Hermione screwed her face up at but couldn't muster the energy to call her friend out on it.
"You're an idiot, 'Mione," she said lovingly with an undertone of disbelief, so Hermione at least tried to elbow her in the side, but there wasn't much of an effort behind it.
They reached the last staircase without incident and Hermione smiled at the scents she was picking up. Harry was standing in the entrance hall, as was Ron, their familiar scents from years of friendship easily identifiable. But just as noticeable were the scent of freshly cut grass and the clack of polished dragonskin shoes echoing across the flagstones.
"Draco," she croaked, turning her head with the noise. She managed to blink her eyes open enough to see all three of them below her, just before her left knee buckled and she toppled forwards out of Ginny's hold.
Hermione braced herself for the pain of hitting the marble staircase but Draco, who had set off towards her when she spoke his name, must have put on a burst of speed because the smell of freshly cut grass suddenly enveloped her and she grunted as her cheek hit his chest. When she opened her eyes again, she found herself looking at those polished dragonskin shoes on the end of long legs stretched out beneath her.
"How the hell are you intending to manage tonight, Granger?" He sounded stressed, more so than Hermione herself, which made her scoff.
"Same as usual. I'll be fine. And I have to be anyway, don't I? It isn't as if I have much of a choice in the matter."
"You haven't rested at all. You're not properly prepared and it's a long night this time."
"And it'll be longer next month, and the next. Draco, I'll manage. Don't worry."
She stopped picking at his trouser leg and sat up enough so that she could see the scowl on his face.
"I'll feel better after this mandrake leaf is in the potion and I've been able to drink it," he sighed, and she could see his jaw move slightly as he presumably touched his tongue to the aforementioned leaf.
"You focus on that then," Hermione grabbed hold of the distraction. "Hopefully next month you'll be able to come with us and you won't have to worry as much."
"Pretty sure he'll still worry enough for all of us," Ginny remarked, moving around them on the staircase and into Hermione's line of sight.
"Any worrying I do will be more than you, Weasley," Draco snapped, narrowing his eyes again.
"Hey," Ron jumped in. "We worry plenty enough about 'Mione."
"Oh wonderful," Draco muttered under his breath, and Hermione chuckled at the audible eyeroll.
"Come on, help me up. We have to get moving." Even as she sat there, surrounded by their comforting presence, she could feel her tendons contracting and her muscles begin to itch painfully beneath her skin.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Granger," Draco breathed with his lips ghosting over her temple, helping her up and turning to Ginny before Hermione could voice any protest. "You take care of her, Weasley."
All Ginny did was scoff and wrap her arm around Hermione, leading her the rest of the way down the stairs where Harry supported her from the other side out of the castle.
X - X - X
She only panicked briefly, stepping back with a growl deep in her throat as the mix of those three scents greeted her snout. The last time they had been with her... But then she felt the soft dirt of the forest beneath her paws, not hard, scratched wood, and realised there was open air behind her, not a crooked wall penning her in.
She relaxed her shoulders and looked at her pack, her family, taking in their open and trusting stances despite the wariness, or was it worry, that she could feel emanating from them. The pony with familiar brown eyes stepped forward and nodded her head enquiringly a few times, letting out a soft whinny when she received a nod of acknowledgement in return. They had already mended fences with the last moon and the trust between them flowed freely.
Stepping closer to all three of them, she bumped her head against the pony's neck and dipped her snout to the dog, before taking care to avoid the stag's antlers and rub her shoulder against his. She noticed the slight puckering of the skin there, his hair growing in a slightly different pattern, and let out a whine. He tried to move away and face her, but she pressed her nose against the healed wound, expressing her apologies the only way she could. When she wouldn't let him move, the stag nudged his head against her shoulder and began licking at the sensitive skin by her ear until she pushed him away with an annoyed huff. He pranced on the spot looking wholly too pleased with himself.
The next thing she knew, the stag and the pony were either side of her, jostling her along until she gave in and ran, shaking off her remaining melancholy and focusing on the power of her paws hitting the forest floor and the power of her pack's joy at running with her. They ran together until the dog began to fall behind and she soon stopped, dropping back onto her own haunches beneath an old oak tree. The stag and the pony lay dawn together, their legs tucked beneath themselves and their shoulders touching, while the dog collapsed into a bed of dirty leaves, much to the pony's indignation.
He barked back at her and their interactions brought with them more joy, and she felt at peace in a way that felt so foreign to her, as though the last time she had been so content was an entire lifetime ago. Her pack, seeing them happy; Right now, it was all she needed.
X - X - X
As the autumn sun burnt away the morning fog rolling off the lake, Harry and Ron helped Hermione out of the tunnel beneath the whomping willow, steadying her under each arm. Ginny followed them out of the tunnel, raving with Ron about various events from the night before, particularly refusing to let him forget how drawn to mud and dirt he was. Hermione caught an equally silent Harry's eye and shook her head amusedly to which she received a smirk in return before he looked back at Ginny, the smirk melting into a smile. It would never stop making Hermione happy to finally see that carefree happiness on her best friend's face.
The four of them made their way through a quiet castle - thankfully their emergence coincided with the first class of the day - passing Madam Pomfrey who awaited them on the first-floor landing. Hermione exchanged reassurances with the mediwitch in return for general replenishing potions and orders of rest, until she was content enough to permit them to head up to Gryffindor Tower rather than the hospital wing, where they fell into the soft sofas in front of the fireplace.
"I'm not going to be able to move from here," Hermione sighed with her eyes closed.
"Fine with me," yawned Ron, sinking into the cushions. "Rather this than training drills with Erskine any day."
"You know we have to do it eventually, right?" Harry peered at his friend through one eye. "Robards was very specific."
"I know, I know. Just, let's take today off, Harry, okay? Since we've got it."
Hermione pushed herself upright. "I hadn't even thought. You're missing work, I'm so sorry."
"'Mione," Ron scoffed. "Only you would apologise for making someone miss work."
"But your training. It's important."
"Robards knows that there'll be some months where me and Ron need to miss a day of training." Harry sat up and turned towards her. "It came direct from Kingsley and even if Robards knows why, he hasn't said anything. Well, besides making us absolutely aware that we will be 'undertaking any training missed with me, Mr Potter, at my convenience,'" Harry raised an eyebrow and lowered his voice in imitation before shaking his head.
"We'll be fine 'Mione," Ron insisted, his eyes still closed. "Now, if we're not eating, can we at least sleep?"
"Yes," murmured Ginny from where she was curled up next to Harry, having finally calmed down. "Sleep sounds good."
Hermione chuckled slightly and watched her friends settle in. It wasn't long before Ron let out a soft snore and she took that as her cue to curl up on her side along the coveted common room sofa, pulling a blanket over herself. The movement made the vials that she had taken from Madam Pomfrey clank in her pocket, and she pulled out the pain relief potion and dreamless sleep with a sigh.
She quickly downed the pain potion and, after thinking about it briefly, only took half the dreamless sleep. It would be enough to give her some decent, restful hours, but would hopefully wear off before her classmates returned to the tower for the evening.
A/N:
I honestly have no excuses, I just hope some you are still out there sticking with me and this story! As it happens, we have just entered my birthday month and I felt that as a present to myself, and to you all, I would post one chapter a week starting now until the 31st. That means four more chapters this month and should bring us a decent chunk closer to where I'll start wrapping up our story.
I've really appreciated your comments over the last few months, especially from those of you who absolutely flew through all 33 chapters, and just want to say a massive thank you for the motivation I needed. Now it's just time for me to be a bit stricter with myself and my schedule!
See you next week! xx