Discalimer: Ok, for the last time, I don't own Harry Potter or any rights to it. They all belong, as we all know, to J.K. Rowling. What genius that woman is.
A/N: Ok, here it is the FINAL chapter! I would have had it up much sooner but I had a little drama to deal with but nevertheless here it is! And I want to take this space and time to thank everyone who has EVER reviewed my story: wally4ever, Shy-Lil-Dreamer, amrawo, Blossom1098, PandylBas, Elaine02, Mandalen, Psyco Demon-Witch, LongLegs564, Anbu Faia, life2me, The Paths Beyond, the-ravenhaired-one, Phoebe Holly, Toki-san, EstanOne11, Pinksilverwerewolf, evilwitch111, Evil Cat Hater and latlut. Thank you all for taking a little time out of your day to read and review my story. I hope you all enjoyed it and I hope you enjoy the conclusion. So, without further ado, I give to you, the final chapter to 'Time Heals All Wounds". Enjoy!
"Hermione?"
Hermione slowly slipped back into consciences. Someone was calling for her.
"Hermione?"
She recognized that voice.
"Hermione, please wake up." It sounded sad. "Hermione, baby, please wake up. I promise I won't let anything happen to you." The voice said softly.
Next, Hermione felt someone kiss the top of her forehead. Slowly, Hermione opened her eyes and blinked several times before the outline of Remus slowly came into focus.
"Re-Remus?" She asked uncertainly.
"Hermione? You're awake!" He sounded, and looked, positively relived.
She smiled weakly. "Where am I? What happened?"
"You passed out upstairs in the bathroom. Lily caught you just before you hit the floor. She and Adrienne Nesser brought you downstairs. I carried you up here to my bed. You've been out for about five hours."
"What?" She whispered softly.
She looked around her surroundings to confirm that she was, in fact, in Remus' bed. A bowl of, what she assumed was water, lay on the nightstand with a damp cloth set next to it. She lifted her head a bit but Remus pushed her gently back onto the pillow.
"Don't try to get up just yet." He told her gently, stroking her hair and looking at her.
She reached up and cupped his cheek in her hand. He bent down and gave her a kiss.
"You're going to be alright." He reassured her.
"The last thing I remember is…" She strained her memory to try and recount what had happened hours before. She and Remus in the Shrieking Shack, coming back to the common room to find the others looking somber, the Daily Prophet saying she was a spy of some sort of Voldemort's (her stomach churned like she was going to be sick again), the Minister was coming here to Hogwarts to investigate her and she remembered getting violently ill and speaking to Lily before everything had gone all white, then blackness.
"Shh…It's ok. Don't speak." Remus said comfortingly.
"Remus, what am I going to do?" She asked, tears sprouting from her eyes.
"You mean what are we going to do." He said softly.
"What?"
"You're not in this alone sweetheart. I'm going to be right there beside you."
"And so will I." Lily's voice said.
"Lily?" Hermione asked uncertainly.
"Yea." She replied sweetly. She apparently had come through the door while Remus andHermione were talking. "And I'm going to stand beside you." She repeated.
"Hey, don't forget about us!" Sirius said. He and James had emerged through the doorway after Lily.
"Yea, we're all in this together." James added.
"Oh James. You're so sweet!" Lily said, wrapping her arm around James' neck and hugging and kissing him.
James looked very pleased.
"Don't you worry Hermione," Sirius said after he had side-stepped James and Lily and strolled over to the other side of the bed, "we're all going to stand by you. We won't let anything happen to you."
"Oh Sirius." Hermione said, wiping the tears from her eyes and sitting up in Remus' bed. "All of you." She added as James and Lily joined Remus on the other side. "You don't know how much I love all of you. Especially you." She said, tears now sprinkling her cheeks, looking at Remus.
Her wrapped his girlfriend in a hug.
"Hang on, where's Peter?" Hermione asked after her and Remus had broken away.
Sirius shrugged. "Don't know. He seemed to have disappeared after you fainted."
"He sure has been acting funny." James added.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Yea, you should have seen him this morning. He was all jumpy and nervous and he had a copy of the Daily Prophet clutched in his hand." Remus remembered.
Normally, Hermione would've scoffed and pointed out that she was the one who hadthought Peter had been acting strangely and that he, Remus, was to 'pre-occupied' to notice anything unusual but she had just thought of something. Peter had had a copy of the Daily Prophet, as did Snape. But mail hadn't even arrived yet. How did they get a copy of the newspaper before the owls had even arrived? Then, for some strange reason, she remembered the two-silhouetted figures she had seen last night in the Owlery Tower while her and Remus had been a top of the Astronomy Tower. The two figures had sent out a letter. But why did her brain conjure up this memory all of a sudden? Then it struck her like a bolt of lightning.
"Snape and Peter." She said aloud. Her eyes were wide.
"Huh?" Sirius asked.
"What are you talking about Hermione?" Lily asked.
"Snape and Peter. I saw them last night in the Owlery Tower, when Remus and I were at the Astronomy Tower. They sent an owl out."
"What! What was Wormtail doing with Snevillus?" Sirius asked outraged.
"Why were they sending out a letter?" Lily asked.
"This just doesn't make any sense." James said, shaking his head and folding his arms.
"Yes it does." Remus said suddenly. He gave Hermione an understandable look. "Why didn't we see it?" Heasked angrily.
"It's not your fault Remus." Hermione said, holding his hand.
He looked at her. "Of course it is! I could've stopped this. We all could of." He said frustrated.
"Uh, hello? Stop what? What on earth are you two talking about?" Sirius asked.
"Huh?" Remus and Hermione had completely forgotten that there was anyone else in the room.
"What are you talking about?" Sirius repeated.
Hermione took a deep breath and spoke before Remus could answer. "That report in the Daily Prophet. It said two anonymous students had sent in a letter about me. It was Snape and Peter. They're the ones who wrote that letter."
"No. You've got to be mistaken. Wormtail would never-especially with Snevillus." James sputtered.
"It does make sense James." Lily said. "Remember when I got my copy of the Daily Prophet this morning at breakfast? Peter nearly had a heart attack. He didn't want us to show it to Remus or Hermione either."
"That's right. Then be bolted after Hermione passed out. Probably to Snevillus." Sirius said disgustedly.
"I-I just can't believe it." James said astonished.
"Who else knew about the Wolfsbane Potion and where I truly come from?" Hermione pointed out. "Not just Peter."
"That's right. Snevillus was spying on us that one night in the bathroom." Sirius said.
"Exactly. And I'll give you one guess as to who tipped him off." Hermione said.
It all added up. Peter had told Snape everything about her. She should've known. But she thought that if she had been nice to Peter, shown him friendship and kindness, that maybe she might be able to turn him and stop a number of tragic things from happening.
"Hang on." James said, interrupting Hermione's thoughts. Everyone looked at him. "I thought you put that spell on Snevillus so he couldn't tell anyone what he found out?" James asked, looking at Sirius.
"Yea, I did. But that wouldn't stop Peter from babbling off to the Ministry and to the Daily Prophet." Sirius countered.
Before anyone could speak anymore, the dormitory door opened once more, this time emitting a tall old man with a long silver beard and half-moon spectacles.
"Professor Dumbledore." Hermione said surprised.
"I'm glad to see that you are awake Hermione." He said releived.
"Yes sir. She only just woke up." Remus informed him.
"It's a good thing too." Dumbledore nodded. He smiled. "It has reappeared."
Hermione didn't need to ask what he meant. She already knew. The doorway to take her back to her own time had reappeared.
"Where?" She asked.
"Where it was when you first discovered it; just down the corridor out side of the common room." He replied.
Hermione got up quickly, ignoring the nausea and dizziness that had hit her as she did so.
"Wait! Where are you going?" Remus asked, grabbing Hermione's arm as she made to go with Dumbledore.
"Remus I-"
"You can all accompany Hermione to the door if you like to say your good-byes but I'm afraid it must be quickly. The Minister will be here any moment." Dumbledore said.
Hermione and the others followed Dumbledore out of the dormitory and out of the common room. In no time at all, it seemed like, they reached the door.
"I'll just wait in this classroom so you can all say your good-byes." Dumbledore said quietly. He disappeared behind one of the other doors, leaving Hermione with Lily and the others.
She turned to them. "Well.." She began, tears starting to emerge once more. "I guess this is it."
"Oh Hermione!" Lily said, stepping forward and hugging Hermione tightly. Hermione hugged her back.
"I'm going to miss you so much." She said tearfully.
"Well," Lily said, also starting to cry, "at least we'll see each other in twenty years." She laughed.
"Yeah." Hermione said slowly, starting to cry even more.
Why couldn't she warn them about Peter now? But wait; if Peter had already betrayed them, maybe she had already stopped James, Lily's and even Sirius' deaths. Maybe this was the one small thing that made all the difference in the world. Suddenly, she felt happy.
Lily stepped back and James moved forward. He hugged her. "See you in the future." He said, smiling back.
"Yeah." Hermione replied. Hopefully, she thought.
Now it was Sirius' turn. "It was nice getting to know you Hermione." He said, hugging her.
"Yea, you too Sirius." She said, hugging him back.
He smiled and stepped away. Now all she had to do was say good-bye to Remus. No, not good-bye, see you later. He stepped towards her and Hermione saw that he had been crying silently.
"Remus I-" She began but he had grabbed her and kissed her. It was one of those big romantic kisses you always see in movies. All that was missing was the music.
"I love you Hermione Granger. And I always will." He said after letting her lipsgo but still holding her to him.
"I love you Remus Lupin. And I'll never stop." She said.
He hugged her tightly and started crying loudly. "Hermione…please don't go. I can't live without you." He sobbed uncontrollably.
"Oh Remus." She sobbed also.
Dumbledore emerged from the classroom, looking somewhat crestfallen. "It's time." He said quietly.
"No." Remus whispered desperately in Hermione's ear. "Please don't do this, please don't leave."
"I have to Remus." She whispered back, feeling her heart breaking.
"Remus," Dumbledore said softly. "You have to let her go."
"Why?" He asked loudly, still sobbing and holding on to Hermoine. "Why do I have to?"
"Because she doesn't belong here." Dumbledore replied gently.
"Yes she does! She belongs with me." Remus said stubbornly. He buried his face in her shoulder and Hermione stroked his hair.
"Remus, if you love Hermione, and I know you do, you will let her go. If she stays here, you'll only endanger her." Dumbledore said, the gentleness never leaving his tone.
"Head-Headmaster!" A voice called out from the end of the corridor. Everyone turned their head in the direction of the voice, including Remus but he still didn't let go of Hermione. The voice belonged to Peter. He was running as fast as his little legs could carry him. Finally, he reached to where they all were and Hermione nearly suffocated as Remus held her tighter all the while. "He's-He's here, Headmaster. The Minister!" He said, gasping for air and clutching the stitch in his side.
"Oh dear." Dumbledore said. He turned to the five. "I can bide maybe fifteen minutes. Can I trust you to let Hermione go?" He asked. Everyone nodded, except for Remus. "Remus?" Dumbledore asked. Reluctantly, he nodded. "Good." Dumbledore said. And with that final word he was off to distract the Minister, leaving Hermione, Remus, Sirius, James and Lily with Peter.
"Ok listen. You've got to hear me out." Peter said quickly.
"Hear you out? Ha! You hear that Prongs? The little rat wants us to hear him out!" Sirius spat.
James looked at Peter fiercely. "You better get lost Peter or you're gonna wish the Dementors had you." He threatened darkly.
"No, wait! You've got to listen-" Peter begged.
"Beat it you pond scum!" Lily said.
"Please! You've got to listen." Peter began.
Remus, who had finally let go of Hermione, walked up to Peter.
"R-Remus! You'll listen to me, w-won't you? Y-You were always the calm one-"
SMACK! Peter howled in pain as Remus' fist collided with the side of his lip and cheek.
"Nice shot Moony!" Sirius enthused.
"Wish I'd thought of that." James added.
Remus just looked at Peter, who had shriveled up into a heap on the floor, blood exiting his mouth. Remus turned around and looked at his girlfriend.
Hermione was stunned and shocked at what Remus had just done. She didn't care that he looked murderous or, dare to say it, evil, she ran right into his arms.
"Remus I don't want to leave." She said.
"I know. I don't want you to. But you have to darling." He said, clutching her. It was hard to believe that the soft, soothing, gentle voice was coming from the same man with the murderous look she had just seen seconds ago.
"I love you Remus." She said, looking at him.
He smiled sadly. "I know you do. And I love you Hermione." He kissed her one last time, and then led her to the door.
"W-Wait!" Peter said.
Everyone turned to look at him, dislike etched in every one of their faces.
"I befriended you Peter. We all did. And you repay us by betraying us and now you want us to show you mercy?" Hermione asked coldly.
"I-I know what I did was wrong. And I'm sorry. I truly am." He said, tears forming in his eyes and not because of the fat lip he had just received.
Sirius scoffed. "You expect us to believe that?"
"I don't expect you to believe anything…or even forgive me." Peter replied. "I just want Hermione to hear the truth." He said, looking at her.
This was most unexpected. She looked at him uncertainly. "Why Peter?" She asked. She wanted to know why Peter was such a betraying, lying rat.
Peter took a deep breath and began; "Snape knew we were all up to something when we were brewing the Wolfsbane Potion. He wanted to know what we were doing. So he cornered me one day when all of you were off doing something different. He threatened to kill my family and me if I didn't tell him…so I did. I'm terribly sorry. I should have been braver, like you lot. But I wasn't. I was a coward." He started crying again and continued. "Well, once you and Sirius caught him spying and placed that spell on him, he was awfully mad. Thought I had tipped you guys off. Anyway, he took out his anger on me." He rolled up his sleeves to reveal several cuts, scrapes, scorch marks and bruises. "He didn't leave any marks on my face because he knew you lot would be suspicious. He forbade me to tell anyone anything. I was a cowardly git." He added bitterly. "Then Snape found a way around the spell. I guess when Sirius performed it; he said he couldn't tell anyone in the castle what he had found out so he decided to write to the Ministry, who informed the Daily Prophet. And well…that leads us to here." He finished. His eyes were red and part of his lip had swollen to a great size. "I'm sorry Hermione. I'm sorry everybody. And most of all…I'm sorry Remus." He spoke it sincerely. "I'll never forgive myself for what I've done and I will do anything and everything for the rest of my life to try and make up for it, even though I know I can't"
No way was Remus buying these owl droppings was he? Peter had clearly marked himself, like he did when he had cut off his finger. Nothing had changed; Peter was still the same slimy, sneaky, conniving little puss he always was. But to Hermione's great shock, Remus stepped towards Peter and embraced him in a brotherly hug. James, Lily and Sirius followed suit. They seemed to have forgiven him! What was wrong with these people!
"Should have known you wouldn't have done it on purpose Wormtail." Sirius said.
"Yea, we should have found out all the facts first before we judged you." Lily added.
What! Hermione couldn't believe what she was hearing. This had to be some sort of a joke.
"Hermione, don't you want to say something to Peter?" Lily asked.
Yes she most certainly did! She wanted to curse Peter for lying and then manipulating good people and for killing James and Lily, framing Sirius and causing Remus a life of despair and sadness! Before she could do so, however, Dumbledore came strolling down the corridor.
"Quickly!" He said. "I managed to get Professor McGonagall to stall the Minister a while longer." He arrived to where everyone was. "I think it would be best if you lot got into your common room quickly." He added to the others.
Everyone nodded and everyone but Remus headed down the corridor towards the common room.
"I trust you've said your good-byes?" Dumbledore asked.
"Yes sir." Both Hermione and Remus said in unison.
"Oh and Hermione, have you figured out why the door has appeared?" Dumbledore asked.
Hermione was stumped. She was so worried about telling Remus about Peter, she didn't much care why it had reappeared. She shook her head nonetheless.
Dumbledore smiled. "It reappeared because you needed it to."
Hermione was still somewhat confused by this answer but before she could think anymore of it, a loud, booming voice interrupted them.
"DUMBLEDORE!" It had to be the Minister and by the sounds of it, he was merely a hundred feet away.
"No time to explain Hermione." Dumbledore said.
"I love you." Remus said.
"I love you too, but listen you've got to know about Pet-"
"DUMBLEDORE! WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS STALLING!" The Minister's voice sounded closer.
"Quickly Hermione!" Dumbledore said and before Hermione could warn Remus about Peter, Dumbledore had yanked open the door, shoved Hermione inside and slammed the door but not before he muttered, "Obliviate!" The last thing Hermione saw before the jet of light softly hit her was Remus' wide-eyed open mouthed, hurtful look.
Hermione stood inside the classroom for a few seconds before realizing where she was. Why was she here in this unused classroom? There was nothing special about it. Oh well, she might as well as go back to the common room and get ready for Transfiguration. She opened the door but it disappeared.
"What the?" She asked astounded.
Suddenly, the doorway appeared on the other side of the classroom. This room must be like the staircases, they liked to change. She best get out of here quickly before the room trapped her in here. She walked swiftly to the other side of the classroom and wrenched open the door. She walked out into the sun-filled corridor.
"Hey Hermione! What are you doing down there?" Ron shouted down at here.
"Uh, nothing! I, uh, thought I left a book in this classroom!" She shouted back.
"Well, c'mon! McGonagall will kill us if we're late!" He called back.
"Right!" She said. She turned back towards the door, but it wasn't there, only undisturbed wall rested there. "Strange." She muttered to herself. She turned back away from the wall and jogged towards her two best friends to go to Transfiguration.
Several months later, it was Christmas and Harry, Ron and Hermione had decided to go to Grimmauld Place. Everyone was going to be there, Tonks, McGonagall, and Mrs. Weasley, the twins, Fred and George, Fleur and Bill and even Charlie was going to come down, Mad-Eye Moody was also going to attend, along with Kingsley Shacklebolt and of course Professor Lupin.
"I can't wait to see Fred and George. They're going to let me see their latest invention." Ron said excitedly as the Knight Bus rushed past a couple of pine trees, which hoped to the side just in time and replanted themselves in their rightful spot once the Knight But had passed.
"I can't wait. Everyone's going to be there." Said Harry. "It's been a while since any of us has been together to celebrate anything."
Hermione merely nodded.
Fifteen minutes later, the Knight Bus dropped them off at Grimmauld Place, though Stan Shunpike or the conductor, Ernie didn't know that a house was there. Once it sped off in a purple blur, the three best friends entered the house.
"Oh, kids!" Mrs. Weasley greeted them and pulled each one into a tight hug.
"Mom, we're not kids, we are of age after all." Ron said.
Mrs. Weasly ignored him and led the three into the kitchen where Mad-Eye, Fred, George andLupin were all sitting at the table, talking.
"They're here!" Mrs. Weasley announced.
Everyone greeted them heartily, everyone that is, except for Lupin. He said hi and all, but when he got to Hermoine, he merely shook her hand limply and looked terribly sad. Hermione thought that was very odd but shook it off as Tonks appeared through the kitchen door, Ginny at her side. Ginny had taken the Hogwarts Express and got here a day earlier than the other three.
"Tonks! Ginny!" Hermione greeted and the three girls started chatting excitedly. More than once, Hermoine got the feeling someone was watching her and when she turned around to investigate, Lupin had hastily turned back towards Mad-Eye and Harry. How very odd.
The days past leading up to Christmas and Hermione couldn't help but notice that Lupin seemed to be avoiding her. Whenever she came through the kitchen door, Lupin had made up an excuse suddenly and bolted and on more than one occasion Hermione had seen Lupin moping about, his eyes red and puffy as if he had been crying. Hermione couldn't stand to see him suffer, she greatly looked up to Lupin and had a vast amount of respect for him so one night, after everyone had gone to bed, she crept downstairs to confront Lupin. She knew he'd be down here because Tonks mentioned that Lupin was brooding in the kitchen alone, refusing to talk to anyone. She opened the door and saw Lupin with a small glass of firewhiskey, crying softly. He jumped when he heard someone come in and hastily rubbed his eyes.
"Professor Lupin?" Hermione asked timidly.
"Hermione? What a surprise. I didn't know you were still up." He said, sniffing.
"Yeah, I couldn't sleep. Um, could I talk to you for a minute?" She asked softly.
Remus looked like he wanted to talk to her very much but at the same time looked like it might physically drain him.
"Please?" She asked ever so sweetly.
"Alright." Lupin gave in.
Hermione took the empty seat next to him and studied him. He looked the same he always did, thin, pale, his brown hair prematurely streaked with gray, his blue eyes full of misery and loss.
"Professor Lupin-"
He chuckled softly, "Please Hermione, call me Remus. I am no longer your teacher." He seemed to have to force himself not to cry right there.
"All right, Remus," She said, it felt strange calling him by his first name. "I couldn't help but notice that you've been sort of avoiding me lately."
"What? No I simply-"
"No, you have." She cut him off. "And whenever you look at me, you look like you just want to cry. And I must ask, have I done something to you?"
"No, of course not Hermione. You could never do anything to me." He said, putting his hand on her shoulder, which he quickly removed.
"Then why have you been acting so strangely around me?"
Remus took a deep breath, "Well, I had a girlfriend when I was about your age and…certain circumstances forced us to break apart and well…I guess you remind me of her a great deal." He seemed to be on the verge of tears again.
"I'm so sorry Prof- Remus." She wished she hadn't asked anything now. "But you know," she said after a few seconds, "they say it's better to of loved and loss than never to have loved at all."
Remus smiled sadly and looked down at his glass. "I guess you're right. I just need some time I guess."
Hermione smiled sympathetically. "Don't worry Remus, time heals all wounds." And not knowing why she was doing it, she had bent over and hugged Remus. He hugged her back after a minute, very tightly. They pulled away. "Well, I guess I should be getting to bed." She said. "Good night Remus, I hope you feel better." She bent down and kissed his cheek and walked out of the kitchen. Before she retreated too far up the stairs, however, she swore she heard Remus say, "I love you Hermione."
A/N: Whew! That was a long one, I know. But I just had another one of my brain waves and just couldn't stop! And I didn't want to add another chapter so I squeezed it all into this one. I hope you all liked it, I hope I didn't insult the Harry Potter trilogy, I hope I did it some justice. I'm thinking about writing a sequel to this story, but I don't know if I should. What do you all think? Well, thanks again for reading my story and I hope I didn't waist your time, if I did send me a bill and I'll repay your time back to you. Until next time, rock on!