AN: Forgot to mention this may not be the best fanfiction to read if you are a fan of Dumbledore.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
14 June 1975
When Madam Pomfrey arrived via floo it was to complete and utter chaos. Nearly everyone in the room was standing at that point and passed out in the middle of the table was a dirt and blood stained girl.
"What in Merlin's beard is going on!" She shrieked.
Some turned to look at her, but most just continued in their panic.
Her focus narrowed in on the girl, and she rushed to her side. A nervous Molly Weasley had cast a weak diagnostics charm and through her hysterics, was attempting to heal her. Pomfrey pushed her aside and got a good look at the girl. What she saw gave her a better understanding of the hysterics Molly was currently spewing.
With her most commanding voice she yelled, "Everybody out!" To her relief the majority listened save Dumbledore, McGonagall, and a hesitant Charlus Potter. As Pomfrey got to work healing, Dumbledore turned towards Charlus.
"Mr. Potter, was there something I could do for you?" Dumbledore looked at Charlus with knowing eyes. "Perhaps this is in regards to Miss Granger's living situation?"
Charlus despite the shocking and somber night let out a charmed laugh.
"Dumbledore, your ability to know exactly what I am going to say before I have the nerve to say it is astounding."
His mood changed yet again when he looked over his shoulder to the girl still spread on the table. He felt a small amount of relief when he noticed that the chains had finally been removed. She had certainly been a fearsome thing during the meeting, but unconscious and laid out like this he realized just how small she really was. She was the same age as his son.
"Dorea…" He paused to collect himself before turning back to Dumbledore who was regarding him with curious eyes. "She's always wanted a daughter you see." Charlus was about to continue when he was cut off.
"Mr. Potter, I understand that hearing what she has been through might evoke a certain amount of empathy, but I think it is prudent to remind you that these kind of traumas often lead to many issues. In simpler terms, I fear she will not adjust easy to any environment."
Charlus adopted an almost dangerous look in his eye.
"I think she has proven herself to be quite the formidable witch. I doubt that Dorea and myself will be any more difficult to live with than the Dark Lord himself."
McGonagall stepped forward, "Mr. Potter I do believe that if any family would be good for this girl, it would be yours. A loving household is exactly what I believe she needs at the moment, Albus."
"Yes, of course, Minerva." He paused before adding, "We will have to reinforce the wards on your home. I'm sure you understand the importance Miss Granger's safety is to the Order?"
Charlus nodded and added with a smile, "I imagine James and Sirius will take kindly to the role of protective brother."
McGonagall scoffed, "Oh, imagine all the mischief those boys of yours will bring into her life! I am almost reluctant to say, perhaps their pranks and tomfoolery might be a welcome reprieve for her! I assume, Albus, that she will return to Hogwarts in the fall?"
"Yes I imagine that to be the best course of action. When she is recovered I will meet with her to discuss it. Poppy, dear, what is your opinion on her recovery time?"
Madam Pomfrey, who had been working tirelessly behind them gave a sigh. "She is extremely malnourished, has a plethora of internal injuries, and seems to be the recipient of many dark curses. I would be surprised if her mind is intact." She forced a few potions down her throat, and then looked up. "Physically, with exception of the malnutrition, a week or so. Psychologically, I am not sure."
"Could we move her tonight? Dorea went home ahead of me to set up a room and warn the boys."
McGonagall blanched.
"That is offly presumptuous of you, Mr. Potter." Charlus smiled.
"I am sure, you remember how tenacious Dorea can be, Professor." Poppy stepped back and looked at Charlus.
"She needs to be moved somewhere. I do not see the point in moving her anywhere else." Charlus clapped his hands. "I will need you to open your floo to me for the next few weeks. I'm afraid I will need to maintain a close eye on her."
"Of course. Tilly will be thrilled to have someone to hover over."
"Let me stabilize her, and then she will be ready to be moved. I have healed the majority of her internal injuries, but most of them need time. I say we move her to a bed before I start working on the external."
"Mr. Potter I expect a note as soon as she is awake," Dumbledore added.
Charlus couldn't help but think of Hermione's disdain for the man before him.
"I will owl you as soon as she is open to visitors."
I trusted you explicitly. In return, I lost everything.
"Very well."
"I am just saying, James… your parents never leave so abruptly. It has to be something important," said Remus in an effort to get to the bottom of the Potter parents rushed departure.
"Or dangerous!" Peter chirped.
"Why would you even add that, Pettigrew!" Sirius growled out.
"And I am just saying, Remus, that they probably just forgot something at work or something."
"Oh, come on, Jamesy, even I have to admit that that is a ridiculous explanation. Why would the both of them go?" Sirius leaned forward in the seat he was sitting, "You rotten lot want to know what I think?"
Remus rolled his eyes and said quietly, "Not particularly."
Sirius completely ignored him and said, "I bet all my galleons that they are meeting about the war. When I heard my parents talking sometimes, they would say things about some kind of group that was full of blood traitors and mudbloods." He said the last part with shiver.
"Right, I agree with Sirius."
"Peter! You always agree with Sirius," James whined.
"Not true." Peter was shaking his head so adamantly that he seemed to dizzy himself and reached up to clutch his head. Remus was looking at him with thinly veiled yet mild disdain.
"It's definitely true, Peter."
"See!"
"Oh shut it, James!" Sirius said.
"Fine! Why don't we just go wait for them by the floo then! If you wankers are so sure of this!" James didn't wait a moment before stepping around them and walking with a purpose to the travelling room that his parents had flooed out of earlier. He went and positioned himself as close as he could without being in danger of getting trampled should anyone fly out. The other three almost reluctantly followed before making sure that they themselves had a clear line of vision on the floo.
They all got suspicious when almost immediately only one of the aforementioned parent appeared.
When Dorea stepped through the floo into the traveling room it was to four teenage boys staring at her with imploring eyes. Dorea was noticeably more frazzled than James had ever seen her. She stepped into the room ringing her hands with a nervous look in her eye. When she looked from boy to boy she seemed to be on the verge of saying something before she stopped herself.
"Mum," James said. He was standing with his arms crossed in what she assumed was supposed to be a scolding manner. "Where have you been?"
She ignored him in lieu of a quick, "Tilly!"
POP!
"Mistress Potter is asking for Tilly?"
"Yes, dear, would you please set up the bedroom next to James's?"
"How long will this guest be staying, Mistress Potter?"
"She will more than likely be a permanent resident, Tilly."
Tilly clapped her hands excitedly before disappearing with a pop.
"Mum?"
When Dorea turned back to the boys she had seemed to return to her normal calm. She had her hands carefully folded in front of her and silently observed their confused expressions.
"Mum, what's happening?"
James looked mildly panicked. A new permanent resident? And a she?
Sirius asked, "Who's coming to stay?"
Dorea began carefully, "Well, boys, it should seem that we will be taking in a girl by the name of Hermione Granger." She gestured for them to have a seat on the two sofas positioned to face each other in the center of the room. She had a seat in the armchair facing the floo, and waited for them to get comfortable before continuing. "She has lost her family, and she is in need of a home."
"Mum, can you please try to be a little more specific?"
James was starting to get frustrated with the cavalier way she was describing something that, in his opinion, should be a much bigger deal.
"She has been through quite the ordeal and…" Sirius interrupted her.
"Was it Death Eaters?" Dorea gave him a wide eyed look and raised an eyebrow.
"Death Eaters?"
"That killed her family," said Sirius. His expression was grim. The only times the other boys had ever seen him like this was when he was thinking about or speaking on his own family.
"Yes, dear. It would appear so." Dorea's expression wasn't much better.
"Are you adopting her, Mrs. Potter?" Asked the ever polite, Remus.
"Yes she should be treated as family. As I was saying she has been through quite the ordeal, and I think that you boys could do her a lot of good. She's your age, and I imagine she will be joining you at Hogwarts in the fall. She is our family's to protect. James and Sirius especially. More than anything, I would like her to feel safe in this home."
A timid voice spoke up from the corner of the sofa, "What did they do to her?"
All at once Sirius, Remus, and James swiveled their heads around to give their friend, Peter, looks ranging from disapproving to suspicious.
"The specifics of that is her information to give if she so chooses, and I would advise you lot not to pry. Though, I imagine, some of it you will find easy to guess." Dorea adopted an ill look before she reined it in to say, "Do not treat her as some fragile thing. She is quite the strong-willed witch and I don't see her taking too kindly to being treated as anything but."
The boys all nodded at her forceful tone and she responded with the slightest tipping up of her chin.
"Very well. Now, I expect your father should be arriving with her any minute now."
Right as she said this the floo ignited and through stepped Charlus with the subject of their conversation in his arms. They all snapped their attention immediately to the unconscious girl. He looked surprised to see them all waiting for him.
James suddenly understood why his mother had looked so sickly after being asked what they had done to her. Her skin was nearly translucent, and her entire body was thin and pointy like she hadn't had anything to eat in months. Her hair was greasy and matted and her arm hung down limply from the side of her body He noticed that her wrists and ankles looked like they'd been rubbed raw. The skin there was bleeding and peeling. The part that had him trying to hold the contents of his stomach down though, was what seemed to be carved into her skin in messy, jagged letters.
MUDBLOOD
Before any of them could even say anything Madam Pomfrey stepped through right after him and gave the occupants of the room a bewildered look.
"Mrs. Potter! I don't think Miss Granger here would very much like the idea of four boys her age gawking at her in this state!"
Remus was the first to react. He reached out and grabbed both Sirius and James's elbows and bodily dragged their pale, horrified faces from the room. Peter was quick to follow and ran ahead of them to the loo where they could hear faint sounds of him gagging.
"I don't…" James's words got caught in his throat. Remus saw that he had tears in his eyes and continued to drag him and Sirius all the way upstairs to James's room where he promptly shut the door. Peter would find them as soon as he felt well enough.
They all collapsed on the armchairs and bed in James's room. The silence was tense.
"How could they…"
"It seemed like…"
Sirius and James both tried to speak at the same time before stopping themselves. The silence returned, and none of them felt too inclined to break it this time.
It wasn't until Peter returned and collapsed on the ground that something was said.
"Well, Pete, it looks like you didn't actually want to know what they did to her."
Sirius's voice was almost lifeless.
"I don't blame him for vomiting. I almost did." James looked like he had reined in his reactive tears and was now sitting tensely on the edge of his bed. "My mum was right. We'll take care of her now, Sirius. All of us will."
Remus almost smiled when he said, "An honorary fifth marauder?"
"I like the sound of that," James said.
Sirius gave them a quick nod before saying he wanted to retire for the night. When he shut the door it shook on its hinges. Remus and Peter were quick to follow.
None of them slept that night, and it wasn't until an hour later that Pomfrey finally flooed back to Hogwarts.
AN: I was so happy to see that I got a few reviews on the previous chapter! I know this chapter is a bit shorter than the last, but I think they will grow in length as I get closer to the meat of the story. Thanks!