Traveling Through Time
Chapter 7
Hermione and James were in a pleasant silence while James helped Hermione redo her bandages and wraps. He noticed that her bruises were mostly gone, but most of the scars weren't. There were still huge gashes across her back that were only closed by a small layer of skin that held it together. James made sure that he was careful around those scars so that they didn't open up again.
"Hey, Hermione?"
"Yeah?"
"When will I finally know how you got all of these scars?" James asked as he gently touched a small one that was mostly healed causing Hermione's skin to raise up at the feeling of his cold fingers touching the hot, inflamed scar.
"I told you. They're from the war." Hermione said as she closed her eyes and handed James back the wrap.
"Well I know that. I just want to know who or what did it." James said as he slowly gave the wrap to Hermione.
"Branches, curses, knives, talons, claws." Hermione answered as she taped the end of the wrap to the side of her stomach and stood up. James leaned against the soft padding of the table on his fists, let out a sigh, and hung his head as he watched Hermione struggle, but manage to put her shirt on.
"How did you two end up here again?" James asked as he tried to continue to put the pieces of the story together.
"I told you that too. I tried to save Ginny from magic in all forms and then poof. We landed in the Great Hall." Hermione said as she turned around and fixed the bottom of her shirt.
"I know that, but why were you fighting anyways? Don't get me wrong, you're an amazing fighter from what I've seen, but why were you having to fight?" James asked seriously as he straightened up and kept powerful eye contact with Hermione to try and convince her to tell him
"Because my bestfriend was the Chosen One. He was predicted to defeat the Dark Lord. I was one third of a group called the Golden Trio. It consisted of my bestfriend and our other friend. We met on the train to our first year at our school and at first not everything went smoothly, but after they saved me from a mountain troll on our first Halloween it just snowballed from there and we spent the rest of our lives trying to defeat Him. We were forced to grow up before we ever even had the chance at a childhood. I was called the Brightest Witch of my age. That's why I was fighting. I was determined to prove that just because I was a muggle-born that it didn't mean I couldn't be as good as the rest of them." Hermione said as she told James about most of her life story. She just let out all of the important information like their names and what and who were involved.
"Hermione, I am so sorry that happened to you. You didn't deserve any of that. No one does, but I'm glad that you chose to anyway. I can tell that you're a strong fighter and if you don't believe me I can prove it. I'm not sure if you were told your full list of injuries, but you shouldn't be alive with how severe they were. I just have two questions." James said as he walked to her during his speech
"What are they and I'll see if I want to answer." Hermione said as she went and sat down cross legged on her bed with her hands in her lap as she watched him walk over to her.
"One, I thought earlier to the Snakes you said that you were a descendant of some sort to the Ravens?" James asked as he sat down next to her
"I did."
"But just a moment ago you called yourself a muggle-born?" He turned to face her
"I did."
"Well why's that?" James asked, utterly confused.
"Because I thought that I was a muggle-born. I was raised with muggles and was led to believe that muggles were my parents. I found out just before the war that I had been sent away to be adopted by my biological parents because He wanted them to be recruited, but they refused. So they went into hiding, but they wanted me to still get to live a normal childhood. Little did they know that my life has still been plagued." Hermione said
"Damn, you just can't catch a break can you?" James said funnily and seriously.
"Apparently not. Because even when I do the unselfish thing, it still comes back to hurt me somehow. Thanks to the Death Eaters, Ginny and I have been thrown away from our home and our family. That's how come she doesn't have any brothers left. She'll never get to see them again." Hermione said. A few tears started making their way down her cheeks.
"Hermione," James said as he grabbed under her chin gently, "You have fought bravely and there's no doubt in my mind that your side won if they had you. You may or may not get to see everyone you knew again, but you have us now." James said as he gently wiped away her tears. Hermione sniffled and looked up at him. James leaned in and they were only a few inches from touching lips when Hermione turned her head and James kissed her cheeks instead of her lips. Instead of getting upset, James just pressed another short kiss to her cheek and walked back into the main area to grab Sirius.
"James, I…" Hermione went to say, but the wall had already been put back into place.