A/N: I'm sooooooo sorry for this long wait! This story is not abandoned, or on hiatus, just slower progress than I'd like with school and work. Apparently, I'm having a harder time balancing everything than I thought I would.
Trigger Warning: There will be attempted sexual assault in this chapter. I have added bold A/N before the scene as a warning.
-oOo-
The weeks flew by and before Hermione knew it, it was Halloween. Following her birthday, she had continued with her routine of finishing the Wolfsbane, spending time with everyone, and getting closer to Remus, Sirius, and Lily. Remus had cried hugging her the day after the full moon, sobbing his thanks at helping him during the moon. He had a wonderful night running with Padfoot, Prongs, and even Wormtail couldn't kill his high and had woken the next morning without the tiredness and agony from his time as the wolf. She and James had gotten closer, they held hands in the hallways and gave kisses on the cheek goodnight in front of their friends. In private, only in the Room of Requirement or safely hidden in the Head Dorm with the Map, they had continued kissing more passionately but it had never gotten as far as their night on the couch. She had another girl's night with the girls when the boys went out for the full moon, they had giggled all night, gotten drunk, and passed out similarly to the last time.
After the full moon, Hermione had begun her animagus training, she had placed the mandrake leaf at the roof of her mouth and held it with a sticking charm. It was an unpleasant feeling and taste that she forced herself to endure, she was doing it both for her own mental health and for Remus. Lily had even joined her and they meditated together every night before sitting and talking about the muggle world and future advancements from Hermione's time. During her meditation she had only managed to visualize rusty coloured paws in a forest, the image appeared to be built of different books layered together.
On the day of Halloween Hermione woke up in James' bed snuggled up to his chest, it was a Hogsmeade day and James had invited Hermione as their 'first date'. After he had asked her on Thursday morning, the entire school knew by Thursday afternoon, she had had memory dreams of her times with Ron and Harry in Hogsmeade causing her to be quite distant on Friday. James had spoken to her about it and invited her to sleep in his bed to keep away the dreams and nightmares, she accepted immediately. Today would be hard enough, not having ever gone to Hogsmeade without Harry or Ron, she didn't need nightmares keeping her up all night the night before as well. She climbed out of the bed, made her way to her dorm, and began getting ready for her date with James. When she had showered, fixed up her nest into beautiful loose waves, and put light makeup on to brighten her face up a bit, she went to her trunk and picked out what to wear. The night before the girls had all chosen some different articles of clothing and left them on top of her trunk for her to pick through them.
It was her first date with James, technically her first date ever unless you counted the Yule Ball, she wanted to look good but wasn't sure if anything could make her feel good. She still wasn't confident in her own skin; her curves were slowly coming back from the last two months of eating Hogwarts food, but she still had her scars and the haunted look in her eyes. She still drew into herself; she still had her nightmares and memories.
Why James wanted to date her was still a mystery to her, he could have any one of the girls who kept trying to seduce him. All he had to do was tell her and say yes to one of them, all of them if he wanted, she would understand. Yet he asked her to Hogsmeade, her, Hermione Granger. It seemed too good to be true that the handsome James Potter that she fancied, fancied her back, she was still waiting for the other shoe to drop.
She finally decided on wearing a pair of tights, a black skirt that went to mid-thigh and a red V-neck long-sleeved shirt tucked into her skirt, and white flats that laced up her ankle. It was not her usual style, the 70s left her rather limited, she couldn't wait until the 90s grunge started up or even late 80s fashion. Her mother had despised her choice of clothing, saying she was not dressing like a respectable lady of the Granger household. Hermione never cared to dress like a lady fit for the Granger house, it was all velvet, shiny, or tweed fabrics, all the fabrics she hated the feel of. She just wanted to wear her jeans with a baggy t-shirt or plaid shirt, even a big comfy jumper or a Weasley jumper would be preferable, or even a Quidditch strip.
Once Hermione was dressed the girls had all woken up and squealed at the sight of her.
"Hermione! Oh, Merlin, James is going to faint when he sees you!" Dorcas said jumping up and down excitedly.
"He won't be able to show you around Hogsmeade, he'll be too busy looking at you," winked Marlene.
"Tell us everything when you get back!" ordered Mary, "Every. Single. Detail." Hermione laughed and left the dorms to head down to breakfast and meet James before they left for Hogsmeade. She found him sitting with Sirius, Remus, and Lily enjoying some pancakes. Remus was the first to spot her, a smile growing as she approached, and James still hadn't noticed. When Lily and Sirius had also noticed her, James realized that no one around him was listening, and looked over to where they were looking. As he spotted her, Hermione's smile changed into an anxious one and she pulled a curl between her fingers, playing with it nervously. James' jaw had dropped, and his eyes had gone dark at the sight of her, his eyes roamed up her legs, over her waist, and breasts and up to her face, when their eyes locked, he snapped his jaw shut, replacing it with a brilliant smile. He jumped up off the bench just as she reached him, he took her hand and helped her into her seat like the gentleman he was.
"Wow Mi, you look phenomenal," he said into her ear, grazing his lips to her cheek, giving her an innocent peck on the cheek. Hermione shivered at the contact and thanked him shyly, putting some food on her plate.
"Yeah kitten, I think you made a bad call picking Prongs here. Come to Hogsmeade with me," Sirius spoke throwing her a wink.
"Oi! No trying to steal my witch," cried out James.
"You sure know how to charm a witch Sirius," laughed Hermione, "I would say tempting offer, but I would be lying."
"You wound me!" Sirius dramatically cried with a hand over her heart.
"Your ego could handle it," retorted Hermione. All of them were laughing at him when Peter sat down and joined them, the laughter dying in his presence.
"We going to Hogsmeade today boys?" asked Peter, piling food onto his plate.
"Sorry Peter, Lily and I are going on a date," replied Remus, pulling Lily into his side, kissing her temple. Peter looked at Sirius and James expectantly, glancing so quickly at Hermione they almost missed it.
"Well Wormy, our friend James here finally plucked up the courage to ask our good friend Hermione. Which means he is also on a date today and I may have convinced Emma Davies to meet me at the Shrieking Shack," replied Sirius, wiggling his eyebrows.
"So basically, all of you are ditching me?" asked Peter, a hateful spark flashing through his eyes.
"We tried to get you to talk to Stevens again, sort out that mess you made weeks ago. You never did, not our fault you didn't get a date," said Sirius. Hermione could hear the angry undertone that her Sirius had used with Dumbledore when he was denied reaching out to Harry. He was holding back so much anger, resentment, and hate for them that not even his casual, nonchalant attitude could always help him. Hermione kicked him under the table reminding him to keep it together.
"Right, guess I'll take my tutor up on his offer then. Mind buying me my usual at Honeydukes and Zonko's?" he asked them, to which they agreed. They all finished up eating and made their way to the carriages, deciding to take on together and split up when they reached the village. In the carriage, James checked the Map and saw that Peter had indeed stayed behind but he was making his way to the dungeons.
'Likely to inform his master that I asked out Mi,' scowled James thoughtfully.
"Sirius you need to control your anger better," said Lily sitting in the carriage, "Even an idiot like Peter will catch on."
"I just want him gone, why do we need to wait for him to do anything? Why can't we just confront him now and be done with him? Avoid all that future bullshit betrayal?" grumbled Sirius. Hermione looked at Sirius sadly, she could see the future Sirius and the boy in front of her was a far cry from that haunted man. She wanted to protect them all, selfishly she wanted to save James more than anyone. Thinking of him dead in Godric's Hollow had her hyperventilating and unable to breathe. Quickly pulling her thoughts from the darkness, she brought herself back to Sirius' question.
"Sirius, I would love to be rid of him now. However, technically he hasn't done anything yet, except spy. If you confront him now, he'll run off and do who knows what, Voldemort will send another, and I will have absolutely no knowledge of that path. Currently, he thinks he's tricking us, he is following the path I know, and until the Horcruxes are dealt with I don't want the path changing. If we have to continue to be friends after graduation until Halloween night then so be it. I will not have that rat be the reason for everyone's downfall again," she explained tightly.
Hermione hated that the little spineless, coward of a rat had so much influence on the whole war. It helped her to prevent it all by removing one target, however, she couldn't understand it. Peter wasn't anything special, his acting was decent but shoddy to those who were looking, he was unattractive to say the least. Yet, somehow, he managed to destroy the Marauders, leave Harry and Neville orphans, caused many of the Order deaths by spying, and finally he brought the monster Voldemort back, resulting in the destruction of her everything.
"Believe me, Sirius, when I get my chance, I will be taking it. Harry and I prevented his death once out of mercy, and we forever regretted it. I will not make that mistake twice," she said quietly before staring out the window. She drowned out their chatter but she could feel James' hand in hers, squeezing tight in comfort.
James would not die, she vowed, squeezing his hand in return.
They arrived at the village and hopped out, James offering his hand to assist her out. She blushed at the simple gesture and he gave her a beautiful smile in return. Lily and Remus left to go for their date, while Sirius made his way to the Shrieking Shack for his, leaving Hermione and James in the middle of the village alone. Hermione looked around to decide where she would like to go first, when James stepped up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist.
"So, just us," he whispered quietly into her ear. She shivered as his breath grazed over her, and his scent enveloped her.
"Hmm, what did you have in mind?" she asked quietly.
"Oh, nothing appropriate for a first date," he chuckled huskily, "but I am a proper gentle-wizard and will refrain myself on our first da-"
Hermione turned in his arms and crashed her lips to his. It was a fiery kiss, passionate and powerful. She moaned and whimpered as his lips devoured her, his hands running up and down her sides. She didn't notice them moving, but she gasped when he pressed her up hard against a wall. James silenced her gasp by thrusting his tongue in her mouth. Their tongues battled for dominance before James won and languidly stroked her, he sucked it into his mouth and reveled in her taste. When they came up for air, James' lips moved across her jaw, down her neck, and over her collarbone and shoulders. His hips ground into hers, she needed him closer, she brought her hands to his arse and pulled him tighter against herself. James let out a groan and moved his hands down to cup her arse as well, lifting her up so she could wrap her legs around his waist. Hermione moved her lips to his neck and began to suck, she felt him shivering under her and couldn't help but smirk. She loved that she could make him react to her, she could feel his arousal and she couldn't wait for the day she felt ready for all of him.
"Mi," he breathed her name into her neck, "we should stop before I can't control myself. Do you feel what you do to me?" he asked, grinding his hips into her again. His impressive bulge pressed against her center, she threw her head back against the wall, letting out a whimper. It was taking everything in her not to take him right there in the alley he moved them to. When she looked back at James she could see the satisfied smirk on his lips, aware that she was just as aroused as him.
"Come on, let's go start that date," he said finally, releasing her legs so she could stand on her own. He leaned down and gave her a chaste kiss, entwining his fingers in hers and leading her back to the middle of town.
They spent their day going through the different stores, picking up books at Tomes and Scrolls, prank supplies at Zonko's, chocolate and sweets at Honeydukes, James bought her a beautiful quill at Shrivencraft's, and finally some potion ingredients for Wolfsbane at Dogweed and Deathcap. Once they completed all of their shopping, James suggested they get lunch and a drink at the Three Broomsticks.
On their journey to the Three Broomsticks, James was pulled into a conversation with another student about his prefect duties, the Hufflepuff clearly had issues with being assigned Hogsmeade duty with a Slytherin. Knowing it was going to be an irritating and lengthy conversation, James sent Hermione ahead to get them a table promising not to be too long.
Hermione happily walked through the village, seeing it pre-war was such a vast difference from her time. The first time she visited Sirius Black was on the loose, so the residents of the town moved quickly and would not stay long enough for conversations. Her fourth year was the Triwizard Tournament with Rita Skeeter buzzing around harassing all the students, no one wanted to stay very long. Fifth-year was Umbitch, Hogsmeade visits became freedom until she started punishing students for activities and discussions they had in the village, no one wanted to be heard by a spy Inquisitive Squad, so common rooms became the safe place to talk. In sixth-year Voldemort was back, no one wanted to be out in the open, a target for Death Eaters.
Now she looked at the village and saw students stopping and talking to each other, couples hidden in alleyways snogging, residents leaning out their windows smiling down at the students. In the next year that would likely change when the Death Eaters began directly attacking magical hotspots.
Hermione was so wrapped up in her thoughts of the future that she didn't notice the man leering at her appreciatively and marching towards her. Only when the stranger was in front of her, almost walking into him, that she noticed. When she looked up, she felt the colour drain from her face, and her body tense up. She knew this man.
Antonin Dolohov.
"Well, hello my little dove, aren't you quite the pretty bird," he purred. Hermione wanted to run, run far away and cower in a dark, small, hidden place and never return.
"Excuse me," she said quietly, her voice cracking as she tried to move around him.
"Now, now little dove, no need to run away. I can escort you to your location," Dolohov didn't wait for an answer or for Hermione to move away from him. He grabbed her arm and held it tightly in his own, 'escorting' her to wherever he appeared to want to go. Hermione glanced back hoping someone could see her, she had lost her voice and didn't seem to be able to make herself scream. He pulled her toward the Hogs Head, away from the Three Broomsticks, however, he did not lead her inside but instead to the alley behind it, in view of the Shrieking Shack.
**Trigger Warning**
He pushed her up against the wall and held her there with her wrists above her head. His dark, cold eyes stared into hers as if trying to determine something.
"For some reason little dove, my magic pulls to you. It is almost like it recognizes you yet we have never met. Now, why would this be my little dove?" His right hand held her wrists, while his left hand moved down her curves, grazing her breast. Hermione was shaking like a leaf, whimpering, she wanted this to end. Having the man so close, smelling him, feeling him, she was left catatonic. Inside her head, she was screaming, begging her body to start thrashing, her mouth to start screaming, but nothing.
His lips came down on her neck, the feel of his lips, teeth, and tongue moving across her skin had the tears start falling from her eyes. Only a few hours ago James' lips had been there and now it was a monster. She wanted to push him off and run into James' arms, to feel safe. She wanted to shower and scrub the disgust she felt of herself for allowing this to happen, yet she still couldn't push him away. In the distance, she thought she could hear her name being called but still, she made no sounds.
Dolohov's lips moved down her collarbone and across to her chest, his left hand came up and moved her shirt down to give him better access.
"Oh little dove, your skin tastes so sweet. I wonder how the rest of you tastes?" he pondered coldly, his left hand moving down to her heat. She jerked her body to get away, her first sign of her body listening to her mind, but Dolohov seemed to enjoy that. He pulled her body in closer, she could feel his bulge on her center, just where James had been before. This was all wrong, her mind screamed, her body was still catatonic. Why wasn't she reacting?
His left hand left her heat and moved back up to her shirt, but when it grazed in between her breasts he stopped. A calculating look flashed across his eyes as he started to unbutton her shirt.
"I wonder…..oh little dove, this is why you call to me. You have my mark," he whispered against her skin, his lips moving down to her chest, the space she never showed anyone. Her scar from the Department of Mysteries, "This is why you enjoy my touch."
He was smirking, he knew she wasn't enjoying it but she wasn't stopping it.
"Residual magic from my own creation, I don't know when I cast it on you, I would remember. I will have you little dove, my magic calls for me, I can feel it now as I caress your skin. It pulsates for me, pulsates in me," he ground his hips against her as if he was responding to the waves of his magic.
Hermione wanted to scream, everything made so much sense. How Dolohov became so obsessed with her, how he found her in the battle before his death, his magic responded to the dark magic trapped in her. She needed to get away, and her body finally realized that, she pushed against him and tried running, she only made it about a foot away before he tackled her to the ground. She thrashed against him, kicking and hitting him when she saw an opening, she tried crawling away but he climbed on top of her and turned her. He straddled her hips, holding her legs down, and used his hands to hold down arms.
"Little dove, you are MINE!" he shouted at her. He began ripping her shirt, he ripped her tights and pushed her skirt up. She could feel his hands on her bare hips, his fingertips digging in deeply, she could feel the bruises forming already. She then felt his hands sliding down her legs to her thighs, and then onto the inside of her thighs, moving slowly upwards to the last place she wanted him. Feeling his hands on her thighs seemed to have given her her voice back as she had finally started screaming. Dolohov pulled his wand out and was about to silence her when a spell shot him in the back. He slumped over on top of her causing her to panic and scream even more, she couldn't get his weight off her and she felt trapped.
"HERMIONE!" she heard a voice yell. Dolohov was finally lifted off her and she was looking into the grey eyes of Sirius Black, "Fuck Hermione are you okay? I saw you from the Shrieking Shack!"
**End of Trigger Warning**
Hermione grabbed onto his shirt and cried into his chest, he pulled her up against him and held her, whispering soothing words to remind her she was safe.
"Mi!" she heard in the distance.
"James!" Sirius called, "Take her, I need to deal with this scum." Hermione was moved into James' arms but she wouldn't let go of Sirius' shirt, "Kitten, it's okay. You're safe, James has you."
"James?" she whimpered.
"Right here, love," James replied, pulling her in close. She leaned into his chest and sobbed. She didn't see what was going on around her, but Sirius had found Remus and Lily and had them go to the school to call for Aurors. The girls arrived shortly after and were horrified at the sight, this had never happened before in the village and it happened to their friend, the sweetest girl they knew, next to Lily. Sirius watched over Dolohov to ensure he didn't escape while James took the crying Hermione back up to the school. He led her to the Hospital Wing and laid her on the bed, climbing in beside her.
"What is going on here?" demanded Madame Pomphrey, seeing James in the same bed as a young girl.
"Poppy, please, make sure she's physically okay," James begged her, the pain in his eyes had Madame Pomphrey look at the girl once more. Her ripped shirt and jeans, and rumpled skirt told her exactly what had happened and her heart broke, no girl should go through such a traumatic experience.
"Who?" she demanded angrily.
"Aurors are on their way now, it was Antonin Dolohov," replied James. Pomphrey remembered the man; he had graduated three years ago and had heard many rumours of the man and his passions.
"I understand, now I must insist you leave the bed so that I can examine the patient."
James reluctantly pulled himself out of the bed and onto the chair beside her, never letting go of her hand. When he sat back and really looked at her his stomach turned at the thought of what almost happened. Her shirt was ripped open, her tights were hanging off her legs, there were twigs in her hair, and bruises forming on her wrists. What made his breath catch was her chest, there, there was the scar she wasn't ready to show him. It started from the middle of her breast and down to her hip, but what caught his attention was that it was starting to branch out, small veins were growing from it, he would have seen it while she was wearing her pyjamas if it looked like it did now.
"Madame Pomphrey! Her scar, it's darkening and growing!" he shouted. Madame Pomphrey looked down at Hermione's chest and gasped. She immediately started running diagnosis charms over her before running to her potion stocks. She returned with about fifteen bottles in her arms, placing them all on the table beside Hermione and pouring them down her throat one by one.
Hermione had begun to thrash as the first potion went down, clawing at her chest as the scar grew from a light purple to an angry dark bluish purple. After the eighth potion was down her throat she calmed down and her arms relaxed. By the last potion the scar had stopped growing, the colour was receding to the original colour but the branches stayed. Her main original scar was a big line, and now it had small branches like a tree growing from it.
James didn't understand why Hermione thought he would be disgusted by her scar, even this new one he did not see as a flaw. No, that was proof she was strong, she was a survivor.
"She has stabilized, I have healed all of her injuries, and thankfully he did not manage to do what he planned with her. You have saved her from a great traumatic event, Mr. Potter," explained Madame Pomphrey.
"It wasn't me," he said sadly, he wasn't there to protect her, "Sirius saved her, I only got there after he had stopped him."
"Well extend my thanks to Mr. Black. Miss Granger will be staying here until she is released tomorrow, I suggest you go and speak to the Aurors and professors. Inform them I will not have them interrogate my patient until she has had her rest. I will send for Albus when that time comes," said Madame Pomphrey before returning to her office.
James looked at Hermione and made sure she was asleep; he gave her a kiss on the head and left a small note informing her he would return. He left the hospital wing and made his way to Dumbledore's office. When he arrived he didn't have the password but it seemed Professor McGonagall was on her way as well.
"Mr. Potter, how is she?" she asked.
"She's asleep, it was touch and go for a minute. Something happened to an old scar of hers, I don't understand it but it's like it reactivated," explained James as they walked up the stairs. When they entered it was to find Sirius yelling at the Aurors and Dumbledore.
"I had him! He was right there!" he screamed.
"What happened Sirius?" demanded James. Sirius spun around and looked at James with a look of pain.
"These arseholes lost him, James! He escaped!" replied Sirius, dropping on his chair, head in hands.
"WHAT?" James stormed into the room.
"Now Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, please remain calm and sit down," said Dumbledore calmly.
"Remain calm? Remain calm? Dumbledore you didn't see her! You didn't hear her screams, or feel her cling to you in total fear. That warrior that was in your office was gone; she was a vulnerable girl!" Sirius explained heatedly.
"Whatever he did to her also reactivated a scar she had. I've never seen anything like it, her agony was unbearable to listen to," James' voice cracked.
"Has she recovered?" asked the Auror, he was tall with dark hair and dark eyes. James didn't like him, something about him seemed off.
"No, she hasn't bloody well recovered! She was almost raped! She then almost died from whatever dark magic he reactivated!" James jumped up, walking directly up to the Auror nose to nose.
"The key phrase is almost," the Auror replied dryly. James saw red, he raised his fist and punched the Auror in the nose, hearing a resounding crack.
"Fuck you, you wanker! Let's see how you feel if I almost kill you!" James spat at the Auror.
"Mr. Potter, Auror Travers, stop this at once!" demanded Dumbledore.
"Assaulting and threatening an Auror, Potter? Not your smartest move," smirked Travers. James was staring down at the man, breathing heavily with a hard glint in his eye.
"You forget yourself, Travers, you may be an Auror and I a student, but I am also heir to the House of Potter, my father is head Auror. He will hear of this!" threatened James, Travers paled at the realization.
"You also forget I may be disowned, but I was raised a Black," taunted Sirius. Travers realized his error dealing with two Purebloods, they may be considered Blood Traitors, but Potter was his boss, and Black's were very well known for their madness and ability to get away with a lot of dark magic.
"Now, Auror Travers, please explain how the culprit escaped," asked Dumbledore. Travers went into an explanation that involved no Auror's truly believing a message from a Black about apprehending a culprit, sending only Travers. He appeared at the situation, woke Dolohov up, who proceeded to say he had no idea what Black was talking about. Before Travers could explain that Dolohov would have to provide memories or drink Veritaserum, Dolohov had cast two spells at Travers and Black and had escaped.
"So, it was your incompetence, good to know," James glared at the Auror. Dumbledore concluded the meeting by advising Sirius to provide his memories, and that he would contact the Ministry when Hermione woke up to give her account.
James left Dumbledore's office with Sirius and together they made their way back to the Hospital Wing.
"I can't believe I left her alone," James croaked, unshed tears starting to fall.
"There was no way to know that would happen, James, I saw her from the Shrieking Shack and she didn't even scream until I was almost there. I think she was in shock," Sirius said, his fists balled up tightly.
"Some stupid prefect wanted to argue duties with me, I sent her ahead to the Three Broomsticks. I was maybe ten minutes, but when I got there, I couldn't find her. I searched the whole bar, sent some girls into the loo to check. Then I ran around the village, checking stores she might have gone into. I left her alone and look what happened!" James stopped and fell against the wall and slid onto the floor, heartbroken he couldn't protect the girl he loved.
Wait, loved?
Yes. He loved Hermione Granger. He knew he was falling for her, but now he knew.
He was in love with Hermione Granger, and he almost lost her before he could tell her.
"James, it's not your fault. She's here, she's alive, and we stopped him before he could touch her. We need to go to the Hospital Wing now, and you need to clean up because she shouldn't see you like this," explained Sirius quietly.
James lifted his glasses and wiped his tears away, he cast a quick charm to hide the puffiness of his eyes and took Sirius' offered hand to pull him to his feet. Together they began their journey to the Hospital Wing again, meeting Remus and Lily on the way. They explained what happened, so they tagged along to make sure Hermione was okay. They could all see Moony battling for control of Remus so he could go out and hunt the wizard who dared harm his pack, for Hermione had joined his fully. Whenever she made her animagus transformation, Remus knew Moony would accept her immediately without the requirement of the introductory dance of trust between animals.
When they arrived at the wing, they found Madame Pomphrey pouring more potions down Hermione's throat. She explained that they were pain and dreamless sleep, as she had been whimpering and seizing in her sleep, possibly reliving nightmares or pain. The medical witch informed them she thought it best she sleeps until the potions had begun healing the internal damage, which could take a few days or weeks.
To say James was devastated was an understatement, weeks he could be without his Mi. Sirius, Remus, and Lily sat with him until dinner, when they left, they sent a House Elf up with food for him, which he barely touched. He stayed with her all night and refused to listen to Madame Pomphrey when she tried to kick him out. James was finally forced to return to classes on Monday when McGonagall and Dumbledore came to visit. However, he returned every morning, meal, evening, and snuck back in at night with his invisibility cloak to stay near her.
-oOo-
Two weeks passed with Hermione still in her potioned coma, and still no positive updates had been given. Madame Pomphrey was working on whatever the dark magic was that surrounded her scar, she had even brought in a friend from St Mungos. They were getting close with a potion combined with a spell to heal the growing damage, as currently, they had only suspended it.
James had become a recluse, he barely left her side, and when he was in classes he didn't participate, make jokes, or prank anyone. Sirius and Remus spent the day trying to cheer him up, but nothing had been successful so far, not even pranks on the Slytherins. Remus and Sirius felt awful for James, and even worse for Hermione, she had been through enough in her life. To be confronted by one of her old foes once more, and almost raped, they couldn't imagine what she was feeling when she would wake up.
The girls were quiet, they wouldn't allow any of their friends to walk alone. They didn't know Hermione knew Dolohov in her past life, but it still didn't explain why he targeted her already. They only knew that their friend was assaulted where she was supposed to be safe, Mary was handling it the worst as she was having nightmares again of her experience with Mulciber.
Peter seemed to be quite content as of late, he was around his friends a lot more, never straying off to have tutoring lessons. He would talk to James a lot about what kind of duties he had as Head Boy with Lily and even went as far as suggesting he update his protection announcement on Lily due to the attack on Hermione. James knew what that would do, build distrust between him and Remus, make Remus jealous of James, distrust Lily, and Hermione wake up to Hogwarts thinking James loved Lily. Something he would not do; he loved his friends too much. However, to appease Peter he came up with a plan, but he wasn't sure if Hermione would agree, it may jeopardize her plotting for Peter.
James was sitting in the Hospital Wing that night talking to her about his day, holding her hand, and brushing his fingers up and down her cheek.
"I don't want to do anything without you here Mi, but I need to get him off my back. He won't shut up about Lily, he thinks I need to reauthorize my claim on Lily to protect her, after your attack. I was thinking of announcing a sibling protection for her, though I don't know what that will do for your planning," he explained quietly to the sleeping form. He placed his head on the bed and breathed in the scent of her sheets, the scent he missed hugging him.
"He…toss…er…" came a grumbling voice. James' head snapped up and looked to Hermione, her eyes were still closed but her face was scrunched up in pain and her lips were moving, trying to unstick them from their dryness. He quickly grabbed some water and held it up for her to sip. He knew he should call Madame Pomphrey, but he was just so happy she was awake and they were with each other again.
"Peter's a tosser. Do you sibling announcement," said Hermione groggily. James didn't let her finish the last word before his mouth was on hers, kissing her happily. His heart cracked however when she flinched.
"Mi, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-" he tried to apologize.
"Stop, no, I'm not flinching because you touched me, Merlin James, I flinched because I bit my lip badly," she explained, touching a rather swollen part of her lip.
"You're sure? I would understand if…" he trailed off. He would understand, he would give her space and time, it would kill him, but he would understand.
"James, as much as I hate to admit this, it's not the first time I've been in that position," she grimaced, "I'm more upset at myself, I didn't react, I couldn't react. For some reason I just went catatonic and let him lead me, he explained that he was drawn to me, his magic called him."
James reached out and gently touched the small branch peeking out from her shirt, she flinched when he went to touch it.
"I didn't want you to see," she looked down, ashamed to look into his eyes.
"Mi, I saw it before and after, I don't find it repulsive or ugly, it shows me that you survived. You survived it twice!" when she looked at him in confusion, he realized she had no idea, "Your scar reactivated, you have been in a coma for two weeks. I almost lost you."
Hermione's hands jumped to her chest and she looked down, the scar was covered in bandages under her shirt but she pulled them off and looked down, not even caring that she had no bra on and James saw it all. Her fingers traced the scar she had had since she was sixteen, but not she traced the additions, the branch-like growths coming from it. It went over her cleavage and up to her clavicle, her whole front chest now looked like she had been struck by lightning. She looked up at James expecting to see at least some form of reluctance to look at her, however, instead she met his dark eyes staring at her like she was gorgeous. He didn't see the scar, he saw her.
Now she knew she was in love with him.
Before she was attacked, she knew she was falling for him, which made no sense after a short time, but now, seeing him look at her like she was a goddess on the earth, and not a scar covered victim, made her heart burst and realize she truly, truly loved the man before her.
Hermione leaned forward and placed her hand on his cheek, silent permission granted. He leaned forward and gently pressed his lips to hers, being careful not to apply too much pressure and hurt her lip again. He placed both hands on her cheeks and kissed her with such care and love she could feel he had come to some realization himself. She took one of his hands and slowly guided it to her chest, she wanted him to touch her, make her feel him and not Dolohov.
"Please James, make me forget his touch," she whispered.
James didn't immediately go for her breasts, he wanted to show her that he truly thought she was beautiful. He quickly cast a silencing charm over the curtains and checked Madame Pomphrey's office to ensure she wasn't coming out. It was midnight, so she likely wouldn't for a few hours at least. He pushed Hermione back so she was laying on the bed, and he sat on the side beside her. His fingers gently traced her scar, over her stomach and back up her scar to her cheek.
"You are absolutely beautiful," he whispered in her ear, kissing her again. He kissed her languidly before moving across her cheek, across her jaw, down her neck, across her collarbone and shoulder, and then he moved down. He kissed and licked all down her scar, his fingers trailing after, and when he felt had paid enough attention to what she thought he would be repulsed by, he hovered over her, a question in his eyes, she silently nodded her confirmation.
James leaned down and kissed over the top of her breasts, before enveloping her right nipple in his mouth, his left hand kneading her left breast. She was moaning and moving below him, her back arching so she could be closer to him. He smirked at her responsiveness, he loved that about her. After torturing her with her right breast, he moved his mouth to her left nipple and sucked. She was thrusting her hips up into him and moments later she cried out his name with her release, falling to the bed, his mouth still latched onto her left breast.
"Mmm didn't even touch you, love," he smiled, leaning up to kiss her.
"Did I just make your ego that much bigger?" she taunted.
"No, but you made something bigger," he ground his hips into her so she could feel his erection. She moaned at the contact, wanting nothing but for him to take her here.
"As pleasurable as that sounds, perhaps not in the Hospital Wing?" she asked with a smile. James agreed, albeit reluctantly, he did want their first time to be without interruptions, and he still wasn't sure if she was ready.
"You should go back to sleep; Pomphrey will be up in the morning to check on you and see if you can be released. Aurors and Dumbledore still want to speak to you," he explained.
"Why? Couldn't they just force the memory from him?" Hermione asked with slight fear in her eyes, she didn't want to relive it which she would have to do in order to pull a clear memory from her mind. James shuffled in his chair awkwardly, "What is it, James?"
"Dolohov got away," he said so quietly she almost didn't hear, but she did, and it sent her into a panic attack, "Shh Mi, I won't let him near you again."
Hermione cried against his chest, when she calmed down, she asked how he escaped.
"Travers?!" she gasped, "He's a bloody Death Eater!"
"I knew he gave me a bad feeling! He was convicted in your time?" he asked warily, only convicted Death Eaters were caught during a murder, he was afraid to know who's.
"Yeah, Marlene," she cried. James was left in shock, the girl Sirius cared for, possibly could love, who was with him at the Shrieking Shack today, died at the hands of the man he shared an office with earlier, "He probably deliberately let Dolohov go. He'll come back, he was obsessed with me in my time, and now after this, I think it will be worse. He's interested in why I have his 'mark' when he doesn't recall meeting me."
James knew this was bad, Travers, a Death Eater, had infiltrated the Auror department, let a dangerous criminal go, and now said criminal was interested in her. They could take this to You-Know-Who, another piece of the puzzle they were trying to decipher about Hermione. This may lead them more to their idea she was from the future.
"I won't let anything happen to you. If we go to Hogsmeade, you aren't ever going to be alone. I won't fail again Mi," he said to her quietly.
"You didn't fail me, James, if anything I failed you by letting a man lead me to an alleyway," she said sadly, tears in her eyes.
"No, you didn't fail either. If you won't accept, I failed, I won't accept you did either. I don't blame you for what happened, I never could. The blame is solely with Dolohov and Travers." James kissed her forehead and forced her to lay down, he said goodnight and laid with her until her breathing was steady and she had fallen asleep. He carefully extracted himself from the bed and sat in his chair with the cloak, falling asleep watching her.
The next morning, he woke up early, seeing Hermione still sleeping, he snuck out and headed up to Gryffindor Tower to shower and change. He remembered his conversation with Hermione last night and her approval to announce his sibling protection. He didn't want to warn his friends as he wanted their honest reaction for Peter to witness. Once he was showered and dressed, he met with Remus, Lily, Sirius, and Peter in the Common Room, they asked after Hermione as they made their way to the Great Hall.
"She woke up last night," he answered happily, noting the surprised and unhappy look on Peter's face before he covered it up, "Madame Pomphrey didn't see her, so she'll check her today. I'm hoping that it means she can be released soon, I miss her."
They walked into the hall and sat down in their usual places, Peter beside James, Lily and Remus opposite them, and Sirius sitting beside James, across from Marlene. James caught his breath for a second looking at Marlene, instead of the usual Marlene with bouncing blonde hair and sparkling eyes, he saw her pale, covered in blood, her hair matted to her head, and her sparkling eyes glazed overseeing nothing. A split second later it was gone and he was looking at his chipper friend again, Remus and Sirius caught the pale, terrified look on James' face and gave him a concerned look. He shook his head and waved them off. Halfway through dinner he turned to Peter and whispered to him that he would be reauthorizing his protection on Lily, but hadn't told them yet. Peter snickered thinking he may have won this round, Remus would be angry and jealous, Lily would be confused and need to handle Remus, and Sirius would be mad James didn't inform him and was causing tension in the group.
Just before the meal finished and people started leaving, James jumped up on the Gryffindor table.
"Witches and Gentle-wizards! I must announce a great tragedy that I have neglected these past few years! My darling Lily flower!" he began, Remus glared up at his friend, his eyes flashing between green and amber, believing his friend to be announcing love for his girlfriend when Hermione was in the hospital!
"James," he growled in warning. Lily placed her hand on his knee which he slapped off, causing Lily to look down in hurt. Peter smirked at the display.
"Lily, I have in the past announced a protection on you through love. Today I am once again initiating the protection of the House of Potter for Lily, who I love….like a sister!" he called out happily, "I also evoke protection for Hermione Granger, under the House of Potter. Any harm comes to them and you will deal with me personally!" he called out to the whole Great Hall. He climbed back down in his seat, ignoring the silence of the room and going right back to his food. Remus, Lily, and Sirius were staring at him in confusion while Peter was glaring at him.
"So, what was that?" asked Sirius awkwardly.
"Well, Wormtail here made a great point. After what happened to Mi, I wanted to make sure Lily was safe. I haven't claimed my protection in a few years, since you first started going out, but with the war coming, I wanted to protect my friends more. She is now safe under family protection, not future Lady Potter protection," explained James.
Remus nodded and turned to Lily, lifting his hand to touch her shoulder, the minute he did she shook it off, stood, and walked away. Remus sighed and chased after her, leaving Sirius and Peter with James. Peter made excuses that he needed to go and see his tutor, however, they knew he needed to discuss with his 'friends' the next step for his plot. James and Sirius made their way to the Hospital Wing to check on Hermione, who they found sitting up awake and smiling.
"Good morning Mi," James greeted, walking forward for a kiss. He heard a throat clear behind him and he looked to see Madame Pomphrey there.
"You would think, Mr. Potter, that seeing your girlfriend awake for the first time in two weeks would have a more surprising greeting," she scowled.
"Um…you see…" he tried to come up with a lie, but nothing came. He should have run to her, excited that she was awake for the first time, he wasn't supposed to have been here six hours ago talking with an awake Hermione and not informing the mediwitch.
"Next time you visit in the night and my patient wakes up, please inform me," she replied briskly, walking back into her office.
"Busted," laughed Sirius, "Kitten!"
"Sirius!" she laughed, hugging the man who bounded towards her, pulling her into a tight hug.
"I'm so glad to see you awake and okay," he kissed her cheek and sat on the chair beside her.
"All thanks to you Sirius, if it wasn't for you," she trailed off, pain in her eyes.
"If it weren't for me, James was right there after me. We won't let anything happen to you, never again," he promised. She smiled at him softly, knowing he could never keep that promise, she knew she would be in the middle of the war again. James redirected the conversation to his announcement in the Great Hall, to get her mind away from the darker thoughts of 'what if'. She laughed at his wording and how he was really testing his best friend's patience with that but reprimanded him when it led to an obvious disagreement between Remus and Lily. She warned them to watch Peter, he may have a new trick up his sleeve now that James confirmed sisterly-love to Lily in public.
James and Sirius left for class; Hermione being held until the end of the day after Madame Pomphrey had observed her awake for the day. She was so bored in her hospital bed, no one thought to bring her books since she was in a coma for two weeks. Shortly after first classes ended, Dumbledore walked in with a man following behind him, when she got a look at his face she almost jerked back but contained herself. She recognized him, he was on the front cover of the Daily Prophet after the mass breakout, he was in the Department of Mysteries, he had been one of the men running the Muggleborn Registration.
Travers was a high-ranking Death Eater.
"Miss Granger, I would like you to meet Auror Travers, he is running the investigation on your attack," explained Professor Dumbledore.
"Um, excuse me Professor, but do you really believe it prudent that the man who helped my attacker escape, be the one running the investigation?" asked Hermione, one eyebrow raised.
"Now see here missy," started Travers, stalking forward, only stopped by Professor Dumbledore's arm over his chest.
"Auror Travers, I believe you should contain your frustration with the victim."
"Yes, my apologies Miss Granger," said Travers through gritted teeth.
"Apology not accepted, I refuse to speak with this man. Bring me a competent Auror," demanded Hermione, smirking at the angry glare Travers threw her. Dumbledore tried to persuade her to rethink her decision, but she held firm. It may draw more attention to her, Travers may run to his master and bitch about the mudblood they were watching, however, she refused to give information to the man who allowed her attacker to escape, who she knew hated muggleborns, who she knew killed her friend in the future. Who knows who else he killed? He would have been at the Battle of Hogwarts fighting the Order and students, many of which he probably killed.
"You'll regret this missy," warned Travers quietly, storming out of the Hospital Wing, Professor Dumbledore looked at her with slight disappointment and started to leave as well.
"You may disagree, Professor, but let me ask you this. What would you do if you learnt that the Ministry was already infiltrated? That I know Dolohov escaped because Travers is already in the Death Eater pocket?" she asked angrily.
"I would perhaps agree with your decision then," he sighed and left.
Hermione knew he didn't really, he wanted to continue his path of the 'Greater Good' and believed Death Eaters could be saved, yet couldn't save members of the Light who turned. He saved Severus Snape, confirmed, Marked Death Eater, who vowed he switched to the Light, but refused to hear out Sirius Black, and threw him in Azkaban without a trial for being suspected of betraying the Potter, no Mark on his skin. She may agree with saving Severus, Regulus, and potentially any other repentant Death Eater, although she knew it was unlikely to find any more, but she didn't agree with how Professor Dumbledore made his decisions.
Professor Dumbledore made too many mistakes in her future, in this time, she would not allow him to play them all as pawns in his great game of chess against Voldemort. She would kickstart this Horcrux hunt if she had to. The moment she had graduated she would go on the run again, collect them all, and destroy them all in one location with Fiendfyre. She couldn't control it and didn't particularly want to practice it, but she knew it was her only choice. The Chamber of Secrets was locked and even if she could imitate parseltongue, she didn't particularly want to kill a sixty-foot basilisk, which also meant the sword was not imbued with venom.
Thus, Fiendfyre was her only option.
Hermione would have to find an uninhabited rock island off the coast and do it there, she would be surrounded by water which she could jump into if it got out of control. And no inhabitants nearby to hear the screams or feel the dark magical presence, and worst case if she died then at least it was from destroying all of the Horcruxes.
With that decision made, Hermione now had to plan. She had about six months to train more before NEWTS, she needed to research the Gaunt family, Dumbledore would not be obtaining that ring, and finally, she had to plan out a dark magic-safe, warded box. Experiencing the effects of the locket once was enough, if she could collect them all in one box and not feel the negative feelings, she could do everything much faster, potentially destroy them all within the box.
Now she just had to decide if she should tell James and her friends, she didn't want to lie to them. However, she knew they would try and discourage her from doing it alone, they would want to join her, or get the Order involved (which included Dumbledore). It wasn't that she didn't trust anyone, she loved James, was in love with him, and trusted him with her life, she just hadn't told him yet, but she didn't trust herself around him. She would be distracted trying to keep him safe, he would be distracted trying to keep her safe. Remus couldn't join because of the moon, and Sirius would never keep a secret from James.
She had to do it alone.
She had approximately seven months until graduation, seven months left with James.
Hermione was going to give him her everything, no more holding back, she would drop her walls and let him in. The least she could do would be to give him her love while she still could. He deserved that, and if she died then at least they had their time together. She despised the idea of leaving him and breaking his heart, but she had to. Thinking of James Potter dead at the hands of Voldemort was an image she never wanted to ever see in real life. The past would not repeat itself.
James Potter would survive the First Wizarding War and would live until he was older than Dumbledore with as many messy-haired children as his future love would give him.
Hermione Granger would save James Potter.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed that chapter! It will be slow progress from now on, I may not get my next chapter for a while. I'm off this week so hoping to write a bunch, but I have another story I thought of I'd like to start. Then I'm back at school next week and am getting piled with exams and lab exams. So, thank you so much to everyone who is sticking with me on this! I want to finish this story so badly, I love it so much!