It might be a while before I update again, cause this chapter is the last I've written – for now. hehehe Þ But if you guys review lots and beg me to continue the story, then I might do so… ÜÜÜ Okay??? :D
Oh yeah, please cast your votes again for whom Hermione should end up with… ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜ for the new readers, all you have to do is say whom you'd like Hermione to end up with… you can choose from ANY of the guys in the story, except for Dumbledore, Mr. Weasley, you know… those guys ÜÜÜ
Right now, I'm listening to the 50 First Dates OST… I have a thing for OSTs, cause they've got songs from different singers and all that crap :D hehehe ÜÜÜ In my CD player::: Spider-man 2 OST, Maid in Manhattan OST, Bad Boys II OST, 50 First Dates OST… ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜ Feel free to recommend cool OSTs if you want… Right now, I want to get the Freaky Friday and Mean Girls OSTs… not because of Lindsay Lohan; I like some of the songs there… ÜÜÜ and of course, the Harry Potter OSTs!!! :D hahaha!!!
Speaking of Harry Potter, my younger sister's going crazy cause all she sees now is Harry Potter… my collection!!! ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜ hehe… ÜÜÜ
Time to give my reviewers the answers they deserve::: Ü
Weasely::: Thanks! I'm happy you think my story's fantastic :D Okay, vote counted!!! ÜÜÜ I'll let you guys know just how many votes each guy has gotten, k??? ÜÜÜ
NcBllt85::: I will, I will, and thank you sooo much!!! ÜÜÜ
Curalium Lacrimo::: here it is!!! But Chapter 14's NOT coming out unless someone gets the song right… Ü I KNOW someone will get it right…
DarkKestrelSilkeQueen::: Thanks!!! Ü It used to be just a crappy bedtime story for my younger sis but now, even I have to say it rocks! Ü Okay, you don't have to if you don't know it… Ü There is, however, a site on the Net, a lyrics search engine, where you can type the lyrics in and they'll find the title for you. Okay! Enough help! :D hehehe ÜÜÜ Yes! Okay! ÜÜÜ
Roletta::: a little bit easier to understand, huh??? Ü hey, thanks for the bday greeting!!! ÜÜÜ
Tiontah::: Thank you! Ü yeah, I guess the argument blew over… but there's another argument here, which I didn't see coming until I started typing… :D what can I say?! I get crazy ideas when I type… ÜÜÜ
Okay, enough with the rambling, and on with the show! Ü
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Chapter 13: Plant-Hunting and a Trip to the Past
It was night time in the Forbidden Forest. Actually, it was about 2 am when Sirius was concocting a potion. He was able to Transfigure the ingredients and tools into money before they left, without Hermione's knowledge. Hermione raised her eyebrows when she saw the money, but Sirius argued that somebody might steal his money and that it was best to keep it with him. Hermione rolled her eyes at this but just let it go. Now, while she was peacefully sleeping in one corner of the treehouse, he was making a few potions which he thought might come in handy.
'Scratch that, potions that will come in handy when pulling pranks on Snape…'
Suddenly he heard a noise from below. He went to a window and looked out. He saw a unicorn gracefully cantering around the area. He sighed and went back to his work.
'Funny,' he thought. 'I must be going crazy like Emma over here.'
He remembered her extra precaution, the bow and arrow.
'Is she stupid? She's a witch, for goodness sake! Hmm… maybe she isn't as good with the wand as I am,' he thought arrogantly. (What a git… rolls eye If he only knew Ü) He finished the current potion and poured it into a bottle and corked it. He had started it the minute Hermione fell asleep, which was approximately 2 hours ago.
"Scourgify!" he whispered, and his cauldron, cutting and chopping utensils, ladle and the mat he had been using for the potion to spill on if it did, got cleared up. He heard Hermione stirring and hastily Transfigured the stuff back into coins. Hermione sat up and rubbed her eyes.
"Why aren't you asleep yet?"
"Didn't feel like it. I was just thinking about how much Herbology sucks," replied Sirius, putting away the bag of coins.
"Why do you think Herbology sucks??? And is Herbology sucks, then why are you taking it???" Hermione wondered aloud, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"Just to pass the time, I guess," Sirius said, shrugging. "What about you?"
"I'm taking it because I want to be a Healer." Hermione explained. "Wait, if you're taking this just to pass the time, then what about the others?"
"James and I want to be Aurors. But if that doesn't work, we'll just be international Quidditch players," he said, grinning. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Go on."
"Remus wants to teach, so he's taking a lot of subjects. At first, even he seemed skeptical that he was going to be employed, given his condition, but we told him it was impossible he wouldn't be able to get a job, what with his grades and all."
'He is going to be employed… under Dumbledore as our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.'
"And Peter? I dunno… maybe he'll be our personal assistant, at the rate he's going. No offense to him," Sirius said quickly. Hermione smiled. She was frowning thought, in her mind's eye.
'He's going to be a personal assistant, but not to you… to Voldemort.'
"And Lily?" she asked.
"I think Lily's planning to get into Gringotts… she's taking Arithmancy."
"How did you know?"
"Well, sometimes James drags me along when he wants to follow Lily around. Oh, make that all the time," Sirius confessed. Hermione laughed. "By the way, why'd you wake up? I wasn't making any noise, was I?"
"No, thinking about Herbology doesn't make any noise at all… unless you mutter to yourself," Hermione said slowly. "I had dreamt of Harry and Ron, looking really stressed out from poring over books." Hermione grinned. "I never imagined they'd ever read heavy tomes cause they'd want to. I miss them so much," she sighed. "Oh yeah… why do you think Herbology sucks? You didn't answer my question a while ago."
"Herbology sucks because I'm stuck here in the Forest, with you of all people," said Sirius, feigning annoyance. Hermione looked a bit hurt at that statement, so she chose not to reply anymore.
'Why is it that when you try to be nice to somebody, you always get responses like these?!' she thought indignantly. 'Fine! I'm NOT talking to him from now on!'
Sirius hadn't noticed the look on Hermione's face, so he continued. "Don't you ever think classes suck, for once?"
"…"
"Emma?"
"…"
"Am I talking to a wall here?"
"…" Hermione started to lie down and turn on her side when Sirius grabbed her arm.
"Girls and their bloody mood swings… okay, so what's the problem now?" he demanded.
Hermione stared at him stubbornly, not wanting to talk.
"Ohhhhh, I get it. You don't want to talk to me because I said I wasn't happy about being stuck here with you?"
"The way you said it, it was like you were blaming me!" Hermione retorted, forgetting her resolution to ignore him.
"Well what did you think? Of course I blame you!"
"It was Professor Sprout who assigned the pairs!"
"Yeah, but if you weren't here, then I would have gotten paired with someone else! But you had to come here, didn't you? If you weren't here, then I could have gotten paired with someone better!"
Hermione was taken aback. She looked teary-eyed now. Without speaking, she got up really fast and ran to the wooden ladder and climbed down with alacrity. Sirius hadn't been able to stop her cause he was taken by surprise. When she was running away, he said under his breath, "Somebody curse girls and their mood swings to hell!" and jumped down the treehouse and turned into his Animagus form to follow Hermione.
In the present...
Harry, Ron and Draco were standing in the Office of the Minister, having just talked to Dumbledore about the Pensieve idea. Remus was at Dumbledore's side, looking a bit apprehensive.
"Are you sure you want to do this, Misters Potter, Weasley and Malfoy?" Professor Dumbledore asked. The three boys' heads nodded vigorously.
"Remus, are you willing to share your memories of that time?"
Remus looked a little hesitant but answered, "If seeing Hermione spurs Harry, Ron and Draco to work harder then I'm all for it." The three boys' faces cracked into identical big grins.
"In that case, here is a Pensieve," Dumbledore said, handing one to Remus. "I trust you know how to use it?" Remus nodded. "You may give it to them whenever you feel you can."
"I'm going to give it to them as soon as possible, sir."
"In that case, I'm staying up all night for this," Harry said. The other 2 nodded.
Remus smiled. "Boys, I'm not telling you to stay up, but…" he saw the looks on the boys' faces.
"Okay, next time, remind me not to talk you out of something again. You three look so pitiful that I'm going to have to give in for now," grinned Remus.
--
It was about 4 am when they had received the Pensieve from Remus. The 3 boys were in the Department of Mysteries library, hunched over the Pensieve.
"So Potter, how do you view memories here?"
"I thought you were the one who had to read up on Pensieves?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.
"It wasn't mentioned how to look," Draco retorted.
"Well it's just common sense, isn't it? You look into the bowl, you wanker," Ron said.
"You prod the silver stuff with a wand to view things, or you just put your head in," said Harry.
"And how do you get out?"
"When all the memories are over."
"There must be a lot of memories, cause Lupin was up till 4. When we get out, can we sleep afterwards?" asked Ron.
"I guess so, cause this experiment was based on research," said Draco.
"Okay, whatever… so who goes first?"
"Me," said Harry. Before the others could react, he had already entered the Pensieve.
"Me next," Ron said and did the same. Draco sighed and put his head in last.
In the past...
Hermione was running and running and didn't want to stop. She heard Sirius' yell ("Emma!") but she didn't look back. She ran and ran until she saw a house near a river.
'Fellow 7th years,' she thought. 'I hope they're Gryffindors.' She quickly knocked. Wandlight was shone on her from the window.
"Emma!" a boy said.
'Who's he?' Hermione thought, but found out when the boy opened the door and let her in.
"Remus!" The house was a two bedroom one, bungalow style. They had a real living room and all that.
"Sit here," said Remus, sitting her on a chair. "What happened? Why are you crying? Has something happened to Sirius?" he said while shutting the door.
"The reason why I'm crying is Sirius," Hermione sniffed.
Remus sat down on a chair facing her. "Would you like to talk about it?"
"Are you a shrink?" Hermione asked, a small smile on her face.
"A what? I don't know what you just said, but I'm going to let that pass, seeing that it made you smile a bit," Remus said. "Now what happened?"
"We had a row."
'Typical, Sirius.'
"I woke up just now and I asked him why he was still up; he answered that he was thinking about how much Herbology sucks and we got to talking and then I asked him why Herbology sucks and he said that he was stuck here in the Forest with me, that's why and he's blaming me; he said that if I hadn't been here at all he would have had a much better partner." Hermione said all of this very fast. Remus was surprised.
'I thought he was supposed to pretend he liked Emma! But we're not going to prank du Grey and Fuller anymore, so maybe that's why he acted mean to her… but…'
Remus took Hermione's hand and made her sit on a red sofa, him sitting beside her. He let her lean her head on his shoulder and gave her a box of tissue he had just Transfigured from a leaf he had picked up just outside the door.
"It was wrong of him to do that. In the first place, you didn't want to be here. Right?"
"Right. Then he makes me feel so unwanted, as if it's all my fault I'm here!" Hermione said, sniffing. "I want to go back home," she said, sobbing (like a teenage drama queen! haha! ÜÜÜ just kidding!).
"We're going to talk later," Remus said, putting his arm around her comfortingly. "Don't worry. We'll talk to him and sort him out."
"He won't listen!" Hermione wailed. "You know him, he's stubborn and always wants things to go his way!"
"He's not really like that, Emma… I just think you guys got off on the wrong foot."
"Wrong foot or not, he'll still get annoyed at me, like we always do."
Remus was about to reply when someone knocked on the door.
"Hang on, I'll answer the door." Hermione nodded, and curled herself into a ball on the sofa, wiping the tears away.
'What's gotten into me? I should've been able to have held my own, but I guess he touched a nerve… it isn't my fault I'm here, and he's mad I'm here. I haven't felt so unwanted, EVER! Okay, so Ron said something in first year, but after that, we became friends and I haven't experienced something like that again until now.'
"Emma?"
Hermione looked around and saw James looking down at her, concerned.
"I've just talked to Sirius through the mirror, he said you ran away," he said, sitting on her left and Remus on her right.
"Well who wouldn't, after what he said?" Hermione said bitterly. Unknown to and unseen by her, James and Remus exchanged a dark look.
"I've just told him that I've found you."
"You shouldn't have bothered," Hermione said with a weak smile on her face. "I'm just going to make my own house and stay there till we get out of here. Oh, and why'd you leave Lily?"
"No, you won't make a house of your own," James said sternly. "You can stay with Lily while we sort this out. And at first, Lily thought I was going to meet some girl."
"She was probably jealous," Hermione said, grinning.
"Now that's the Emma we know and love!" said Remus, smiling as well.
"I told her it was you, that you were lost and that I would bring you there if I found you. She agreed, and stayed there in our house."
"Okay."
"So if you'd agree, I'd like you to come with me…"
"And I'll go with; we'll meet Sirius afterwards, right James?"
"Right," James said grimly. "Come on, let's go."
In the Pensieve...
Harry looked around him. "Hey…"
"What?" asked Ron, appearing beside him.
Draco also appeared. "It's Lupin," he whispered. He crouched behind a chair. "Hide!"
"You don't have to whisper Malfoy, we can't be seen by him," Harry retorted, jerking his thumb at him. Remus seemed unaware of their presence. Draco sheepishly crawled out from behind his hiding place.
"Oops…"
They watched Remus lean on a chair in the Shrieking Shack, panting but smiling faintly. A young looking Madam Pomfrey entered.
"It's time to get you out," she said grimly. "Can you make it back up Gryffindor Tower by yourself?" (for your info, his excuses were always that his mum's sick, right? I made it so if Remus would leave school, he'd just leave early in the morning and back. Trips to and from Hogwarts aren't that long; they're midday to evening… ÜÜÜ)
The two climbed out of the Whomping Willow, followed by the trio. Madam Pomfrey and Remus parted ways in the entrance hall; as soon as Remus was on the 2nd floor landing the memory changed.
--
The scene changed to breakfast in the Great Hall. Remus was just informed about Hermione. Harry, Ron and Draco winced at the description of her condition. "I wonder how she's doing," he said. "It's one big deal to be attacked by the giant squid."
"You said it," Sirius said. "Why don't we visit her?"
James and Remus mischievously looked at Sirius; Peter was too busy eating to care.
"Mm-hm… do I smell… attraction on Mr. Black's part?" James said teasingly.
"Me? Attracted to that girl? I bet that even though she gets all fixed up, she'd still be ugly," he remarked. Harry, Ron and Draco scowled, pissed off at what he said.
"Hm… what would she look like all fixed up?" Remus thought aloud.
"To give you something to think about Moony, let's go visit her before class," James said, pulling Remus away from his toast, which fell to the floor.
"Hey!" said Remus indignantly, but he was being dragged by James. Remus pulled Sirius up, and Sirius tried pulling Peter up, but he was too heavy. They left the Great Hall; Harry, Ron and Draco followed them eagerly. They also wanted to see if Hermione was okay. When they entered the hospital wing, they saw curtains placed around the end bed at the far end of the hospital wing. James, Remus and Sirius tiptoed to the end bed and pulled back the curtains. Harry, Ron and Draco followed, and gasped.
Hermione was sleeping peacefully on the bed, but she was really pale. The reason why there were curtains around her bed was because she was new to the school. Madam Pomfrey and Professor Dumbledore didn't want her to wake up with the Hogwarts' population talking about her. That would be too disorienting, they decided. On Hermione's bedside table was the reason why the three gasped; there were about 10 different types of potion which would heal the internal damage inflicted by the squid.
"It's like she wasn't ever attacked by the giant squid," James said.
"Yeah, but look at these," Remus said, gesturing to the bottles.
--
Ron said, "Hermione had to take that many potions in our fifth year. Right Harry?" Harry just shrugged, he didn't really remember. What he was doing now was looking at his father and godfather. James and Sirius. Sirius. The reason why Hermione had to take that many potions.
"She looks so pale," Draco said worriedly.
"Well of course Malfoy; what did you think, she didn't lose a lot of blood because of the attack?" Ron said sarcastically.
--
Just then, Madam Pomfrey walked up to Hermione's bedside. Ignoring the boys, she slightly opened Hermione's mouth and poured some Blood Replenishing Potion into it. She then set the bottle on the bedside, nodded to the boys and was about to leave when Sirius asked, "When will she be awake, Madam Pomfrey?"
Madam Pomfrey turned. "Before the week ends, I suppose." She looked at them sharply. "And aren't you three supposed to be in class?"
"Wha- ? O – oh, yeah," said James, distracted. The 3 left, and the 3 visitors had little choice but to also follow them.
In the past...
Hermione woke up at midday. Her head was aching a bit because of what happened the night before. Groaning, she got to her feet. With a flick of her wand, the bed she had been sleeping on made itself. She yawned, unpacked her extra clothes brought to her by James and went to the bathroom. After bathing, she dressed and washed her clothes in the tub, then dried them with her wand.
After that, she felt her tummy growling (like what mine's doing now… it's 11:58 pm and I ate dinner at 6 ÜÜÜ). She went to the kitchen, where she met Lily who was preparing food.
"Hi Lily! Good morning," Hermione said, sitting down at the kitchen table.
"More like afternoon, you sleepyhead," giggled Lily. She set down pumpkin juice and waffles in front of Hermione. "Dig in."
"Where's James?" asked Hermione while Lily was bustling about the kitchen, looking for food for lunch.
"He's having a meeting with Remus and Sirius," she said. Hermione nodded.
"He's a jerk, isn't he?" Lily asked.
"Who?"
"Sirius."
"Yeah, I guess. We can't ever have a decent conversation without bickering," Hermione said. "Did James tell you what happened?"
"I made him tell me," Lily said quietly. "How can he be that mean to you?" she cried. Then she sighed. "Oh well. As soon as you've finished eating, I suggest you get some more rest. James, for some reason, doesn't want you to leave the house today."
"And you follow him," teased Hermione. "Just kidding!" she said hastily. "Okay, I'll stay." 'I guess he wants me to stay here until he's fixed things with that jerk.'
In the Pensieve...
Harry, Ron and Draco've been following the Marauders around for some time.
"Good thing we haven't seen Malfoy yet," Remus commented.
"Good?! What's good about that?!" James exclaimed.
"When we see him, we get to… 'practice'! Right?" Sirius said with a gleam in his eye.
"Yeah, right. Practice of what, Sirius?" Remus said cautiously.
"Practice of our magical abilities!"
Remus sighed, but smiled at James' grin.
--
"Malfoy? My father?"
"Uh, who did you think it was, Malfoy?" Ron said sarcastically (again… ÜÜÜ)
Draco glared and said, "Where's the pig you call a mother, Weasley? Probably couldn't afford school supplies, could she? And your father? He must- "
"Shut it!" hissed Harry. He was focused on the Marauders, and saw them walking in the direction of the hospital wing. "If I'm not mistaken, they're going to see Hermione now!"
Draco and Ron looked up from glaring at each other; Ron's ears were still red.
"What day is it?" Harry asked.
"I'm not sure but it must be 3 days after the attack…" They hurried along, keeping the Marauders in their sights. This was hard, cause they were running.
--
The Marauders had reached the corridor outside the hospital wing.
"Uh, guys?" squeaked Peter. The three looked at him.
"What?" asked James, inches from the entrance of the hospital wing.
"I have to go to the loo."
"Fine. Go!" Sirius said, and Peter took off as fast as his short legs would allow.
"Think he didn't want to see the girl?"
"Maybe he's a bit ashamed of himself."
"But where did that girl come from? She looks funny."
"They don't make girls like that here."
"Oh? Then why were you staring at her the whole time we were in there?" James said, grinning, jerking his thumb at the hospital wing doors.
--
"Hurry up and get in already!" Draco hissed. Harry and Ron didn't want to say it aloud, but they were also growing impatient with their conversation.
--
"Me? Staring? As if! I don't think I'd ever look at that girl the way I do… others," Sirius announced loftily.
"Whatever," said Remus. "If you two've finished your little chat, I'd like to be able to go in now," he said and pushed open the doors. The three boys ran in.
--
Harry, Ron and Draco ran in too, but it was more like gliding. They saw Hermione up for the first time since the attack. The boys (all 6) were slightly panting cause they ran to the hospital wing, rested a bit then ran all the way again.
--
The three visitors listened to the conversation Hermione and the 3 guys were having. Ron looked quite revolted when Hermione said her 'name'. When Hermione asked the 3 Marauders the question, Harry and Ron looked at each other, worried.
'What would Malfoy do if he hears what they're going to say, if they're gonna speak? He knows Lupin already, but…' thought Harry.
They moved in to hear their conversation. When the story was told, Harry and Ron looked over at Draco.
"So," he said smugly, "Unregistered Animagi, eh? I'll have their heads for this – but oh, Potter's father is dead, Pettigrew's dead too and all that's left is Black. I'll tell the authorities," Draco said, with a malevolent look in his eye.
"Sorry to burst your bubble Malfoy, but if you didn't know, Pettigrew's in Azkaban (caught by the Ministry cause of a blunder he made :D) and Sirius is…" Ron began bad-tempered, but trailed off.
"Dead?"
"See? So what are you going to tell the authorities about?" snapped Harry. "Look. Ever since we've entered the Pensieve we've been bickering. We made a truce, remember? For Hermione," he said, staring hard at Draco and Ron. "So if it's okay with you, could you two shut up already?"
"Sorry," Ron muttered, ears going red again. Draco simply nodded. They turned back to the conversation just in time to see the 3 going out.
"Wha- ?" said Draco.
"Come on!" Harry said, his arm.
"Why?" asked Ron perplexedly.
"Come – ON!"
When he had tugged them out, he explained.
"She's going to change."
"Oh."
"Sorry."
When Hermione came out from behind the curtains, they saw that she was wearing what she was the day she fell into the Abyss. The 3 guys, each not noticing the others, fumed at the looks on James, Sirius and Remus' faces. James was grinning, Sirius was slightly surprised, mouth agape, and Remus was gazing at her. She smiled, and they all stood up.
--
"I'm tired…" Ron moaned while they were walking along the corridors, following the group of 4 (I'm tired too… so forgive me for all the mistakes in spelling and grammar, k??? :D thanks! ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜ). Harry's feet were sore, but he tried to follow as best as he could. Draco was just trudging along instead of actually walking. Suddenly, Ron yelped. The 3 of them turned to see Remus smiling at them.
"The three of you look tired. May I suggest you all get some sleep?"
"We're not sleepy," Harry said quickly just as Ron yawned loudly. Remus smiled.
"Let's go," he said, grabbing Ron's arm. In a moment, they were all out of the Pensieve.
"How- "
"Potter, I thought you said we can go out only when the memories end," Draco said, confused.
"That's what Riddle's diary did, how come a Pensieve's different?"
Only the owner of the Pensieve can pull people out of his memories," Remus explained. "As I'm the owner now, I was able to bring you out. You three are haggard-looking," he said, looking at each of them in turn. He himself had shadows under his eyes.
"I suggest you get some sleep," he said. (I'm following his advice when I'm through. Ü) The 3 boys were pooped, so his suggestion wasn't met with an argument. They 3 boys just nodded and left the Department of Mysteries library. Remus was all alone in the library.
" sigh Was it a good idea to let them see my memories? I don't think it was… they care for Hermione a lot and I guess they'd be less than pleased with some… things," he said to himself, not even wanting to say just what those 'things' were. He turned and left.
--
The end of a chapter! Goodnight! ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜ
Ü rochena Ü