i have to wake up at 5 to drive 45 minutes to baby sit my nieces. Keep in mind I'm an 18 year old that's just getting caught up from long nights of homework and line learning.
Here's a present. It's 10:30ish. I should be asleep.
The rest of the week passed with miniscule incident I. Of course, James, Dorea, and herself spent some time wrapping presents together and sticking them under the huge, currently undecorated tree -apparently, it was also tradition for the boys to decorate the tree together- .
But, there were a few times she and James had stayed up having late night conversations. Two of which, shone out to her the most.
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"Can I ask you about something?" Hermione moved closer to him, after they had calmed down from quite the laughing fit.
"Sure, 'Mines. What is it?" He asked her, adjusting himself on his bed to face her, his legs crossed under him.
"What's Peter's family like?" She bit her lip.
James' face lit up for a moment, then dropped. So she assumed it was good...but bad?
"Peter's mum was a teacher at Hogwarts for a year. She was in the DADA position. Lovely woman, she is. A Hufflepuff, if I recall correctly. His father...well…" James stopped, as if searching for the correct word.
"I have no idea how his father got ahold of someone as sweet as Enid. Must've been the accent, I reckon. He was from Durmstrang, came here after he graduated. I'm not sure what he was doing here but he was here. He's been gone though. For ages. I'm not sure the two even got a marriage bond…" James trailed again, scratching his face.
"He wasn't very nice though. From what I recall the time or two I met him. Met him first year, then ran into him in Hogsmeade with my mum one time. Never been pleasant." James finished, pressing his lips together.
Hermione was quite happy Peter had a nice mum, at least.
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"Mines?"
"Hm?"
"Can I ask you something?"
"Well, you just did, James."
"Don't play games with me."
Hermione snorted, and placed a bookmark in her book, A Million and One Ways To Treat Wackspurts It seemed Luna wasn't as loony as they had all thought.
Hermione set the book down on the table, and moved around in her chair, turning so that her feet touched the floor, rather than were thrown over an arm.
"What is it?" She asked him, as he came over to her from staring into the fire.
He sat down in the plush chair across from her, and placed his hands on his knees.
"How'd you get that scar? You know, the one." James asked her, pressing his lips together in a tight line.
Hermione had honestly forgotten it was a thing. Since James had seen it, she'd placed a glamour charm over it, hoping no one else would slip up and see it.
She bit her lip, and held her arm out, waving her wand over it to take the glamour off of it.
"I'll tell you this, but I can't give exact details. And I don't know if I can answer any questions."
James nodded, his eyes glued to the word carved into her arm.
"It was three years ago,...see, James, I come from somewhere else. Somewhere that was ravaged with a war that children had to fight. My best friend was an important part of this war-"
"Is this the same one you got that scar on your chest from helping?" James interrupted her.
"Yes."
James started chewing on his cheek. Hermione took that as cue to continue.
"We, myself and my two best friends, got captured. They took us to a place where they would get rewarded with praise from their master. They thought so, at least. They were told to not summon him. This woman, she wanted to get information from us first. So they took my best friends and locked them away, and she began asking me questions-" Hermione stopped, letting out a shuddery breath. She hasn't talked to anyone about what happened. Not even Harry or Ron. But she felt like she had to give James something before he started asking too many questions.
James moved from his chair, and sat upon the table in front of her, their knees touching. He grasped her hand softly.
"Of course, I couldn't- I didn't tell her anything. So she began using an Unforgivable on me. The Cruciatus. I still didn't tell her, and so she-she got atop me, and held me down. And she...she did this." Hermione ended, pointing to the scar on her arm.
"I'm sorry to make you relive-"
"No, it's okay. I had to get it out at some point." Hermione told him, with a slightly pained smile.
James hugged her tightly to her.
Let's just say, James felt much closer to Hermione now. He felt like he needed to protect her over anything.
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And now, it was Sunday morning. Hermione and James anxiously were waiting to have another one of their group around. Of course, the two had been fine on their own, but they missed their friends deeply.
It was only a matter of time before Remus and his mother stepped through the Floo. Hermione was practically bouncing in her seat.
"Mines, you're acting like you haven't seen him in ages." James teased her, coming over to sit next to her on the loveseat.
"It feels like it has been, I mean honestly." Hermione said, brushing a hand across her face. She felt absolutely exhausted after not having anyone to calm her from her nightmares. A good night's rest was exactly what she needed.
Not to mention, Remus told her he would explain the relationship between himself and Sirius once he got there. She wanted to know the details, honestly, if she was going to be apart of it in the future. Remus agreed.
Hermione sipped her tea, hoping that would calm her jittery nerves. It didn't. But it didn't need to, because at the moment her teacup touched the saucer, the fireplace exploded with green fire.
Remus' mother stepped through, then shortly after, Remus. Hermione and James both hopped up, enveloping the taller male in a short group hug, and then separate ones.
"Alright, Remus?" James asked him, slapping his back in that boy-hug way.
"Good, yourself?" Remus shot back, his eyes locked on Hermione.
As soon as James and Remus parted, Hermione practically clung onto him as if they were magnets. Remus was rather pleased.
Remus's mother was a pale, almost sickly looking woman. She was very tall, and thin, and had hollowed cheeks. Her hair was pulled back into a tight bun, and in a long dress, that was colored ruby. Hermione thought she looked to be a rather uptight woman.
"Aren't you going to introduce me?" She asked him, her voice soft, yet slightly nasally.
"Right! Right! This is Hermione Granger. She's Headmaster Dumbledore's niece. And you already know James. Hermione, this is my mum, Hope Lupin."
Hermione detached herself from Remus to shake his mother's hand.
"Hope! It's so good to see you, dear." Dorea came into the tea room, with another tray of tea and biscuits.
"It's good to see you too, Dorea." Hope said to her. The two greeted each other with cheek kisses.
"Are you staying for tea?" Dorea asked her, situating herself in a fluffy chair.
"I'm afraid not. Lyall is in a mood. I must get back to him before he wrecks the house." The woman rolled her eyes.
"Be good, Remus." She told him. Remus nodded, and the woman stepped through the Floo once more.
"Remus, I thought your mum was muggle?" Hermione pointed out, as they sat down.
"She is. She just has habit of dropping me off everywhere, still. Father showed her how to use the Floo. That's the only bit of magic she sees most days." Remus told her, his arm coming to rest around her waist.
Hermione felt her cheeks heat up, when she noticed Dorea analyzing the two of them.
After a bit of catching up on Remus and Dorea's part, the three of them went up into the activity room. Hermione watched the boys play a few games of Exploding Snap, before speaking on a subject outside of the conversation.
"Remus? I really want to know. If you don't mind talking about it in front of James.." She trailed off, curling up a bit more in the chair she was situated in.
"I suppose he'll have to find out at some point, won't he?" Remus smiled at James.
The two finished their current game, and then situated on the floor. Remus leaned back against the chair Hermione was in, giving her leeway to play with his hair all she wanted. James sat across from him, his eyes moving back and forth between the two of them.
"Well? Go on then." James said, flailing his arms about.
"You already know about my...circumstances… But along with them, I get a bond, or multiple bonds, with ones that we call mates. Were you aware of that, James?" Remus asked him.
"I was aware that you could be with someone, but I didn't know there was such a thing. I suppose I should read more." James hummed, scratching his neck.
"Yes, the one good thing about this is unconditional love. And an amazing bond. But, I have have been blessed with two mates, James. Two people that are very important to me-"
"It's not me, is it?" James cut him off very quickly.
"Gods, no. You're still free to go for Lily. Anyways, Hermione is one of them-"
"I could've told you that from the way she's been clinging-"
"James, please. Stop interrupting and let him talk." Hermione told him, rolling her eyes.
"Sirius is the other one." Remus said quickly.
James nodded.
"Well, yeah. Don't you remember that one time Peter and I walked into the room and- oh..wait.. You two were too wrapped up in each other to realize.. Never mind." James grinned sheepishly.
Remus blushed, and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Yes, Sirius and I have had sex… And the reason why we don't get all..you know.. Around you is because we didn't want to scare you off." Remus said, turning to look at Hermione.
"Not going to scare me off. Feel free." Hermione smiled.
Remus grinned at her, a blush still coating his cheeks.
"I'll keep that in mind." He told her, turning back to look at James.
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After a few more games of Exploding Snap -to which, Hermione joined in on- they were called down to dinner.
Hermione sat in between Remus and James, ignoring their banter as best she could being between them. They were arguing about Quidditch. The thought suddenly bringing Harry and Ron to mind. They had talked about Quidditch a lot when they were in school as well. Hermione knew James was on the team, so why hadn't she heard of any matches this year?
Hermione voiced her question, without mentioning the fact that she knew James and Sirius were on the team.
"Oh, well, honestly we had replacements for the past few games. It's not like either one of us to just miss a game at all, so they didn't question us when we asked for it. We're starting back again when term starts up." James told her, forking some pork into his mouth.
"Why'd you get replacements, though?" She asked him.
"To help you adjust better. We didn't want to be running off every other day and leave you with just Remus and Peter. Who knows what could have happened." James said, as of it were obvious.
Hermione rolled her eyes. These boys were crazy.
After a bit of elvish wine - "It's not going to hurt anything, dear. When I was a kid we had it at every meal." Dorea told her - Hermione went up to her room feeling somewhat buzzed. She had never had a strong resistance, nor had she ever tried to build it up. The easier it was to get drunk, the less money she had to spend on those nights.
Hermione slipped out of her clothes and into her bed, too dizzy to put on pajamas. She slid under her fluffy duvet and promptly fell asleep.
About a half hour later, her door opened. Hermione sat up, a bit shocked.
"Its just me." Remus whispered. He came to the other side of the bed and slipped under the blanket with her.
Hermione gravitated to his side and curled up on his warm, bare chest, his arms coming around her.
"Are you nude?" He asked her quietly, soft chuckles vibrating her head.
"Mmm." Hermione answered, her fingers curling up.
