TW: Check the end, my loves. This chapter ends heavy.
The first week of their final year at Hogwarts passed quickly. It was weird not to be meeting up with the Slytherins in the library to be verbally abused and work on potions. It was weird not to sit in comfortable silence with Regulus, reading, making the occasional comment. It was weird to sit next to Severus in potions and not banter sardonically.
It hurt her heart a little. To see them from a distance and know that their hearts were full of pain and she could do nothing. It hurt her heart to see Narcissa's light dimming, and to know that reaching out would only put her in danger.
So she tried not to look.
It was Sunday of the first week of term, and she and Remus were standing in front of the awe-inspiring turnout for the Defence Association. This year they had limited membership to those fifth year and above. (And, after a furious wave of complaints, found someone to run a section for the younger years.) Still, the classroom would have been full. There was no way there'd be enough space to do anything interesting with such a massive membership. Instead, they were standing in the Quidditch pitch.
There were no Slytherins this year, but there were plenty of students. It was a stark reminder, that disparity in student numbers between now and the 90s, of just how much the Wizarding world had lost to Voldemort. It had taken her a few dazed weeks to realize each year had two dormitories each for the boys and the girls. At least twice as many students as when she'd started with Harry and Ron. While Hermione roomed with Lily, Tracey, and Mel and didn't interact much with the other 7th year girls, there were five of them in the other room. Eight 7th year Gryffindor girls, not counting herself. Compared to the three there had been in her first year. It was something she still didn't know how to process.
The horror of it struck her for about a millionth time in this moment, as she did a cursory headcount and landed somewhere in the mid-forties. For a moment, her brain stuttered, stuck on the awfulness of it. She could feel it pulling her down into a flashback. The smell of fire and blood flickered in her nose. She forced herself to focus on the expectancy in their expressions, on the crispness of the mid-September air, on the breeze that brushed against her face. She forced a deep, steadying breath into her lungs and caught the flicker of concern on Lily's face.
Lily, who had been watching her so closely lately. Hermione offered her a small smile, then cleared her throat.
"Well, er, hello," Hermione said awkwardly, raising her voice to be heard in the open space. "Welcome to the first meeting of this year's Defence Association."
Remus' shoulder pressed inconspicuously against hers in support. "Clearly we've got a few new faces this year," he said. Hermione was equal parts jealous and admiring of his easy confidence. "All the better! We've got some great stuff planned!"
"To avoid schedule conflicts, we've decided to stick to Tuesday evenings, and Saturdays-"
Several quidditch-related complaints rose up.
"-Yes, yes, Quidditch," Hermione said, rolling her eyes. "We'll switch to Sundays when our meeting time conflicts with games, and we'll hope that coaches-"
"Three of whom are out here right now," Remus pointed out.
"- Will be comfortable making some effort to work practices in around our meetings."
The three coaches exchanged glances with each other and their teammates, then nodded reluctantly.
"Excellent! The best thing about meeting on the weekend," Hermione continued, "Is that it means we can have longer and more complex sessions." Her nervousness was already transforming to excitement. She glanced at Remus, whose own excitement was clear on his face. Gryffindors, Hermione thought with a mental grin.
"What this means is that we have time to learn in the first portion of class, and then implement in the second."
"Don't we already do that?" someone asked.
Hermione shook her head. "Not like this. We restricted membership to fifth year and up so that we can stage mini battles. Last year, you broke into pairs for partnered duels. It was a bit chaotic, and we only managed a few sessions, but those of you who were here for it were starting to get the hang of things."
Several students grinned at the memory of various hilarious mishaps. Sirus and James whooped loudly and high fived. They were the defending champs of the end-of-year duel tournament Hermione and Remus had run for their final meeting. They weren't particularly humble about it.
"This year, we want to include some combat in the grounds each Saturday. As you can see, there are way too many of us for that classroom, so we'll be meeting out here every week instead. For now we're going to stick with pairs, but once everyone's comfortable there, we'll be trying out some other cool stuff."
"Everyone still on board?" Hermione asked the eager-looking group.
A chorus of "yes!" rose up, as well as an "Aye, aye, Captain!" from James and a "Where you lead, I will always follow, my love!" from Sirius.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Great, then let's get started. We've decided to begin with the Patronus charm. It's a tricky bit of magic, but really cool once you get the hang of it!"
"Isn't that just for Dementors?" a 5th year Gryffindor asked.
Remus shook his head. "Not at all. The Patronus charm is incredibly powerful protective magic. It works against many dark creatures - Dementors and Lethifolds among others."
Hermione nodded. "It can be useful against just about anything though. I've seen someone use it against some perfectly ordinary idiots and it bowled them over." Snickers rippled through the group. "It's difficult, and a waste of power for anything you could use a simple protego against, but it's beautiful and powerful magic that's worth having in your back pocket, just in case."
"Alright, then," the Gryffindor's friend replied. "How do we start?"
Hermione smiled wistfully, thinking of Harry. "With a happy memory."
The meeting went well. Only Lily managed to produce a corporeal Patronus - a doe, of course.
"You see that, folks? The girl's a genius, and she's all mine!" James had gleefully crowed, proffering a kiss unto his girlfriend in pride.
Knowing her prowess in Charms, Hermione wasn't terribly surprised her friend had managed it so easily.
Meanwhile, Hermione kept a careful eye on the other students as they practiced. The lack of Slytherins was unsurprising, as it would hardly be safe for them. But that didn't mean the Death Eaters and wannabes of other houses wouldn't be in attendance. The DA would now be a good way to keep up appearances – she could feel the difference in its vibe now. After everyone knew she'd fought in Diagon Alley, they looked at her differently, and that meant they looked at the DA differently too. Suddenly even those who had been there for the academic advantage seemed a little fiercer in their approach. And those who had always known what they wanted to get out of the DA seemed to have a new level of understanding after the summer Voldemort had unleashed upon them.
They weren't just a group at school anymore. They were training to survive. To fight. And there was a charge of defiance in the air that hadn't been there before.
In the end there were only a few more than a handful of students who still couldn't produce anything by the end of the meeting, and once they dispersed, Hermione wrote their names down on a piece of parchment.
"What's that for?" Remus asked, coming over and pressing an easy kiss to her temple.
Hermione smiled at him, totally distracted from her heavy thoughts for a moment. His gaze went from politely curious, to something heavier, deeper, in a flash, and Hermione's insides squirmed pleasantly.
"Hey," she whispered.
"Hey, yourself," Remus said back, then he leaned in and kissed her deeply and thoroughly. Hermione's fingers twisted tentatively into his hair and he growled softly, pulling her closer. He pulled away after a moment. "Have I ever mentioned how sexy it is watching you teach?"
Hermione grinned. She was slowly adjusting to this forward, confident side of Remus. "The feeling is mutual, I assure you."
Remus pulled her back in for another searing, but brief kiss. "Good. Now tell me about this list."
"Well," Hermione sighed. "As you know, dark wizards can't perform the Patronus…"
"So this was a test?" Remus eyed Hermione seriously. "Why didn't you tell me that?"
Hermione slipped her hand into his. "I didn't want you to look suspicious," she said honestly, hoping he would understand. She watched as he thought it over and finally shrugged.
"Yeah, I guess that's fair," he said with a trace of a grin. "We haven't all learned to be sneaky little berks like you."
Hermione laughed and gave him a gentle shove. "Gryffindor."
He grinned slyly. "Slytherin."
Hermione's own grin shifted to a smirk. "Ohh you'll pay for that!" Her wand was immediately in her hand. "Rictusempra! Tarantallegra!"
Remus easily blocked the first and dodged the second. "Expelliarmus!" His eyes were full of fire, a grin lit up his face. They had never actually duelled each before, not in class, or in the DA.
A trill of excitement shivered down Hermione's spine. She ducked his disarm and countered with a "Locomotor Mortis!" She had no intention of losing this duel. "Langlock!"
Remus blocked the first, and took the second right in the face. Hermione smirked. She knew he still had a harder time with nonverbal spells. She kept a careful eye on his wand movements, her own wand out in front. Waiting.
His wand moved to cast a levitation spell, which was a strange choice - and also meant she had him. Like lightning, she conjured a branch to intercept his spell, preoccupying his wand. "Tarantallegra! Flipendo! Expelliarmus!"
Remus dodged the dancing jinx, wrenched his wand from the levitation spell in time to cast a protego against the knock-back jinx, and then his wand was flying out of his hand, and he was knocked back to the ground.
Hermione caught his wand easily, triumph roaring in her chest. It was an easy duel. She'd fought Death Eaters, after all. But she'd won, and that always felt good.
"That's our Mione!"
Hermione turned to where the twins, and her friends, were standing in audience. She had felt their approach as the duel started, but Remus looked surprised to see them. Hermione smiled and waved, then moved forward to help Remus up.
"Good duel," she said. She felt as though she were radiating happiness.
Remus smiled sheepishly, accepting the hand up and his want. "Thanks, Hermione. You completely destroyed me."
"That's what our girl does best!" Fabian grinned.
"You should see her on a mission," Gideon added, eyes widened comically. "She can be downright scary."
"Oh, surely you're not afraid of anything," Tracey practically purred.
Gideon winked back.
Hermione noticed a dark look on Sirius' face. If it had been anyone else, she would have thought it might be jealousy. She cocked an eyebrow at him, and he immediately shook it off. Interesting, Hermione thought.
"Well, supper anyone?" Sirius said, bounding forward. "I'm starved."
"Aye, we'll walk you back to the castle," Fabian said.
Hermione frowned as they started toward the castle, Remus slipping his hand into hers. "What are you doing here, anyway?" she asked.
Fabian puffed his chest up in fake self-importance. "Official Auror business, o' course. After the attack on the train, Al- I mean, Headmaster Dumbledore, asked that the Ministry supply the school with some additional protection."
Hermione grinned. "And they've sent you?"
"Aye," said Gideon, "Along with Frank and Alice. Figured it'd be good practice for us newly graduated and in-training Aurors. If anything untoward happens, of course, we're meant to call for Moody immediately, but this is our first official mission."
"So… you'll be here all year?" Sirius asked casually. Too casually.
"That's right," Fabian replied with a mischievous grin. "However will we pass the time, Gideon?"
Gideon caught on immediately, with his annoying twin telepathy. "Why, I suppose we'll just have to fall back on sharing all our most embarrassing Hermione stories with each other, brother of mine."
Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Wherever will we start?"
"How about that time we were training with Arthur's team and—"
"Alright, alright!" Hermione interrupted, wincing at the eagerly curious looks on everyone's faces. "Let's save that gem for another time, yeah?"
They passed through the doors into the Great Hall. Gideon and Fabian pretended to consider. "Yeah, alright," Gideon said finally.
"We don't have enough time to do it justice anyway," Fabian mused. "Next time."
They winked in tandem and then strode off, presumably to the kitchens.
"Ugh. Weasley twins," Hermione said, but really, she couldn't wait to see what sort of impact they had on Fred and George's upbringing.
"Wait… I thought they were Prewetts?" Tracey asked, confused.
"Er… Long story. They just remind me of… someone else. Someone equally menacing."
Remus grinned. "I don't know. I'm really looking forward to hearing some of these stories."
Hermione just smiled. They definitely had some completely embarrassing stories they could share, but these people? They were family. If ever she were going to be embarrassed in front of someone, it may as well be them.
Just then, Lily reached for Hermione's arm. "Have you seen Mel?"
Hermione's gaze wandered across her friends, her body instantly thrown into high alert. "Um. I don't know… She was at the meeting. Is something wrong?"
Lily shrugged, but her fidgeting said she was worried. "No. I don't know. She said she'd meet us at dinner, but I don't see her," Lily said. "I mean… maybe she's just late."
Hermione frowned. "You don't believe that thought. What's going on?"
"During the duel, someone used some kind of… mood spell on her-"
"Dolorem?"
"I don't know, maybe. It made her… sad, almost… lethargic? I don't know. She wasn't herself. I ended the spell, but she seemed weird after that. I'm just worried it did something to her."
"We talking about Mel?" Tracey asked, appearing at Lily's side.
Hermione and Lily nodded.
"Well, let's go then."
"We'll bring you up some food after dinner," Remus said.
Hermione absently kissed Remus on the cheek. "Thanks."
When they reached their dormitory, Lily slowly eased the door open, peeking inside for Mel. The curtains were drawn around her four-poster.
"Mel?" she said softly, as the girls filed inside and shut the door behind them. "Can we talk?"
There was no answer. No sound at all.
Tracey shrugged. "Maybe she's just sleeping."
"Yeah, I guess," Lily said uncertainly.
Tracey reached back for the door, but Hermione had had an entire year of training with the Order to teach her that she should always trust her gut, and she had a bad feeling. She refused to ignore it as it wrapped its way around her heart and tightened. She crossed the room on autopilot and reached for the curtains. They were magicked shut. Ice reached into her heart. "Alohomora!" She drew the curtains open.
Tracey cursed behind her. Lily screamed, "Mel!"
Mel was not sleeping. She was having a seizure. Her skin slick with sweat. "Hatty!" Hermione called. Her heart raced as she reached for the empty Muggle pill bottle laying on the bed beside her friend. "Shit. Hatty!"
Finally a bewildered house elf appeared in the room. Hermione glanced up at her. "Hatty, I need you to take this bottle, and Mel to the hospital wing. Tell Madam Pomfrey she's overdosed. Can you do that?"
"Yes, Miss Belanger, Hatty is doing it immediately, Miss."
"Good, thank you."
Hatty took the bottle in her tiny wrinkled fingers, and then reached for Mel, and with a pop, they were gone.
"What the fuck?" Tracey asked. She was pale.
Lily grabbed Hermione's arm. "Is she going to be okay?"
"I don't know," Hermione said numbly. "We need to get to the hospital wing."
.
.
.
.
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TW: Intentional overdose on prescription meds.