Hey everybody! I would like to first say i really am so so sorry this chapter took so long to get out! Editing it was so difficult for some reason, but i like the way it turned out and i hope you all enjoy it!
Also thank you so so much to everyone that has stuck with this story it means so much to me! I absolutely adore it whenever i get a notification that someone liked/followed or commented on this story so thank you all so much! I love reading what everyone has to say and I adore the feedback!
The next chapter is basically done i just have to finish editing it so it should be out either this week or the next! Thank you all and I hope you enjoy this chapter!
TW: mention/description of blood (im not sure if the warning is completely necessary but just incase!)
Hermione woke the next morning feeling like she hadn't slept a minute.
She barely remembered moving from the common room into her dorm and the little sleep she managed to get was filled with nightmares. Every second of her day, both awake and asleep, were filled with thoughts of Harry and Ron, wondering when, or if, she would make it back to her time.
As Hermione lugged herself out of bed, into the shower, and eventually to class her mind kept swimming with these thoughts. All day Hermione was unable to shake the worries inspired by her dreams.
She got through Friday's classes with minimal interaction, happy that no one seemed too chatty today, and by 4:00 she was wrapping some food from the Great Hall into a napkin.
Eager for space, Hermione wandered down to the Great Lake. Seeing a group of younger students lounging by her favorite spot, she decided to go for a walk. Once she reached the far side of the lake and the students across the way looked like little specs, Hermione settled down under a blooming tree and ate her dinner.
For hours she sat there, mind racing with possibilities until the sun began to set. Hermione felt her restless night catch up to her as she drifted into a peaceful sleep.
When Hermione finally woke the sun had fully set and the stars were bright in the sky.
She briefly wondered what time it was before starting to make her way back to the castle. Moving slowly in the dark, Hermione began her trek, casually ignoring the various sounds coming from deep in the forest.
Glancing back out over the lake, Hermione was astounded by its beauty. It's still water perfectly reflected the bright moon and the speckles of stars in the sky. As she stood at the edge of the water enjoying her moment of peace, a low growl sounded from the forest. It was far off, but still too close for comfort.
Taking one last glance at the Great Lake, Hermione let her eyes rest on the moon illuminating the water's surface.
Immediately her stomach sunk, her heart skipped a beat, and her blood ran cold. It was a full moon. How could she be so stupid?
Hermione froze in place cursing herself as she heard another growl coming from within the forest, sounding even closer than before.
After a minute of silence, Hermione managed to slow her racing heart and quietly turned towards the castle. Taking a gentle step, she made as little noise as possible. She tried to calm her rapid breathing as she inched away from the forest, terrified to draw any attention to herself.
The crack of a branch breaking sounded from behind her and Hermione froze once again. The silence was deafening until a loud, thrashing sound came hurdling in her direction.
Without a second to think Hermione broke into a run. Pushing herself to go faster than she ever had before, Hermione could hear her own heartbeat pounding in her ears as she tried to put distance between her footsteps and the ones behind her.
The low growl seemed just meters away when it shifted into a high-pitched squeal. Sparing a glance, Hermione saw a large stag wrestling a wolf to the ground and she thanked Merlin she had a chance to get out.
Her lungs burnt and her head was spinning but Hermione ran as fast as she could until she heard the loud, thumping footsteps behind her again and within seconds a sharp pain sliced across her back before she tumbled into the rocky floor.
As Hermione pushed herself to her feet she ignored the blood trickling down into her face, but the corners of her vision were creeping with darkness and her head a splitting pain. Pressing her palm to her forehead she turned to see the werewolf hovering above her. As Hermione stared into his yellow eyes, praying to find Remus somewhere in there, she was shocked when a big, black dog ran straight into the side of the wolf, tackling him to the ground.
Ignoring the spinning in her head, Hermione forced herself to keep running, however, she didn't make it far before something large slammed into her side. Hermione felt her ribs crack before she collapsed into a heap on the edge of the beach.
As she gasped for air she felt the cool water of the lake against her ankle and watched the previously still water ripple.
Almost directly across the lake was the castle. She still had so far to go.
There was no way she could do this. She couldn't outrun the werewolf.
Turning away from the lake Hermione saw the two big animals struggle to contain the wolf. Quickly weighing her pros and cons, Hermione briefly wondered if werewolves could swim as she jumped into the water.
The shock of the cool water felt almost refreshing against her new wounds. One hand clutched her waist and Hermione used her feet to propel herself further into the lake. Relieved to find her wand still tucked safely into her waistband, she conjured herself a small paddle boat once she reached a reasonable distance from the shore, not wanting to stay in the perilous water any longer than necessary.
After facing some difficulty climbing in, Hermione took a minute to catch her breath as the boat set off to the other shore. As she inhaled the crisp air a sharp pain split down her sides. Taking short, shallow breaths she tried to calm her racing heart. She glanced back at the shore, happy to see the wolf being led back into the woods.
Finally, Hermione had the chance to think again and thank Merlin she was alive and what the fuck were they thinking? They are so stupid. Why didn't they just stay in the shack? And gods she was so stupid! How could she forget something like that? She's too smart to be making mistakes like this!
Hermione leaned onto the edge of the boat only to feel a deep pain as soon as her back touched the wood. She pressed her palm to her spine and drawing it back she saw it covered in a deep crimson red.
Great, she thought, this was just great.
The boat finally reached the shore and slowly slid up onto the sand. Hermione looked around and once she was confident she would not get attacked again she climbed onto the beach.
Almost as soon as Hermione was out of the boat she collapsed to the ground. Every inch of her body ached, her vision was clouded by darkness, and she couldn't seem to catch her breath. Sitting on her knees in the sand, clutching her side, she tried to steady her breathing when she felt a slight tug on the sleeve of her soaked robe.
Her heart once again jolted out of her body, but immediately calmed as her eyes fell on the big, black dog gently urging her towards the castle.
Despite her fatigue, Hermione couldn't help being slightly amused. She struggled to her feet and let the dog drag her back to the school, stopping every once in a while, to steady herself and prevent the darkness at the edges of her vision from taking over.
They finally make it back to the castle and Hermione expected the dog to leave, but instead he led her all the way down to the infirmary.
Once at the doors to the Hospital Wing, Hermione slumped against the cool wall and the large dog nudged her hand slightly, before running back outside, presumably to help his friends.
Hermione took one look at the infirmary doors and immediately began walking in the other direction.
It really was a very easy decision. Even with her clouded mind Hermione realized that going there would cause too many problems.
Besides, the last thing Remus needed the night after the full moon was to wake up next to a student he had unknowingly attacked.
Hermione painstakingly made her way up to the seventh-floor corridor cursing Hogwarts, not for the first time, for having so many staircases. She paced in front of the familiar tapestry of Barmy and thought of a place she could heal herself and get some rest until she recovered.
Pushing open the doors Hermione's eyes fell on the large, cushy bed and she wanted nothing more than to just crawl in and fall asleep, but she knew she had some work to do first.
She turned to see a table with dozens of vials of potions, fresh clothes, juice and some food, as well as a large bathroom stocked with a shower, fluffy towels, and a floor length mirror.
Hermione walked into the bathroom and slowly stripped off her soaked clothes to assess the damage.
Immediately her eyes were drawn to the blood dripping down her back and legs. She was losing a lot of blood very quickly. Sitting on the toilet lid Hermione cleared herself of the blood and took her time in muttering healing spells over her back to seal the wounds.
It was good enough to stop the bleeding, but Hermione knew she would be in pain for a few days. Werewolf inflicted wounds didn't heal easily.
Walking back towards the mirror Hermione took another minute to look at her injuries. Immediately she noticed a large purple welt that covered half her rib cage. The entire underside of her left breast was purple and blue, the ribs below it were the same color and swollen, the bruise wrapped around her until it reached the edge of her back.
Gently putting pressure on her swollen side, Hermione could tell she had multiple broken ribs. Softly muttering the spell, brackium emendo, Hermione felt one of her ribs click painfully back into place. Checking the sensitivity of the area, Hermione repeated the spell two more times.
Once Hermione thought she had mended all her broken bones, she quickly healed the welt on the back of her head and closed all the cuts that had opened.
Trying to ignore the pounding in her head, Hermione painstakingly made her way to the potions. Feeling faint, she downed a Blood Replenishing Potion, Dreamless Sleep Potion, and another anti-inflammatory potion before putting on some of the loose-fitting clothes that were left in the room before collapsing into the bed and drifting off into a peaceful sleep.
Hermione awoke just past noon the next day. She jolted upright in her bed at the realization that she slept in, only to immediately feel a sharp pain burst across her back. Gasping as her whole body ached, the memories of the night before came rushing back to her.
Oh Merlin. The night before. How could she be so stupid? How could they be so stupid? Absolutely none of that should have happened. How could she forget about Remus? Poor, poor, Remus…
Her mind drifted off, Remus would be absolutely miserable knowing that he hurt her, he would probably never look at her again…
She sat up, much more slowly this time, to discover a patch of blood on the sheets. Assuming one of her wounds reopened in her sleep, Hermione slowly slid out of the bed to take care of the injury, deciding to think about Remus later.
Every single muscle in Hermione's body was sore as she made her way over to the shower. Closing her eyes Hermione let the warm water run over her face and chest before turning around. Letting the water soak her head and run down her back, she attempted to detangle her hair with her fingers.
Hermione wiped her eyes before glancing down at the floor of the shower to see the red tinted water swirling down the drain. When the water finally turned clear, Hermione spent a few more minutes under the stream, letting it soothe her aching muscles before turning the faucet and gingerly stepping out of the shower.
Carefully patting herself dry and facing the mirror Hermione reassessed her wounds.
The area around her ribs looks less swollen, but still a nasty purple color. She had a large gash that ran halfway down her calf and twisted to the front of her ankle, although her head wasn't pounding anymore she could still feel the large bump hidden under her hair. Her arms and legs were also cluttered with small scrapes and bruises she must've gotten from falling down so many times.
But as Hermione turned around and looked over her shoulder to view her backside her breath caught in her throat and she was filled with shock at the marks she saw.
There were four huge gashes running from her right shoulder blade, diagonally down her back, stopping just above the center of her waist. The top most gash was the smallest, only about half the length of the rest, but still extremely unpleasant looking.
None of her other scars were even close to being this big.
Trying to get over her shock Hermione told herself that her body was already littered with scars, a few more added was no big deal.
But still, she grimaced at the sight of them. She hoped that there would be a way to heal them, but she knew that werewolf inflicted wounds, much like wounds from dark curses, often never healed fully.
Hermione did her best to prevent the wounds from reopening. She cast a healing charm on her back and the one on her calf, as well as the lump on the back of her head and any small scrapes she could find. She then put a thick layer of dittany over her back and leg before dressing the major wounds with gauze, hoping that it would be enough.
Hermione stepped into some slippers and put on a fluffy robe before walking back to the potions table. She took another blood replenishing potion, along with an anti-inflammatory potion, and one that would reduce the pain.
Next to the potions table Hermione was pleased to see platters of food laid out for her. As she was eating her lunch the potions kicked in and she felt significantly better than she did that morning.
After finishing her food Hermione decided to get some more rest before facing the marauders. She crawled back into bed and tried to figure out what to say when she saw them.
Hermione quickly concluded that it would be best not to say anything. After all, there was no logical reason she should know it was them.
Sirius was freaking the fuck out.
Padfoot had his jaw grasped around Hermione's sleeve as he led her to the Hospital Wing.
How the fuck did this happen.
Hermione slowed to a halt and rested her forearm against the cobblestone wall to catch her breath. Sirius glanced back at her, unable to believe the state she was in.
He was honestly surprised Hermione was able to make the walk to the Hospital Wing. He didn't want to rush her, but he knew that every second they waited the closer she got to passing out. So once again, he gently tugged on her sleeve and continued leading her down the hall.
They eventually made it to the infirmary. Hermione stared at the oak doors and Padfoot gently nudged her hand in goodbye before he bolted back outside. As much as he wanted to stay and make sure she was ok, he knew that James and Peter could only corral an angry Moony on their own for so long.
The three marauders were able to successfully move Moony back into the shack before sunrise, and as Moony turned back into Remus they saw Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey walking out of the castle and towards the shack.
The three marauders huddled under the invisibility cloak, Peter still in rat form sitting on James' shoulder, as they silently made the trek back to the castle.
As soon as they reached their room James removed the cloak and Wormtail turned back into human form.
The three boys stood there in silence.
Sirius' head was spinning with questions he knew the other boys had as well.
"How did she seem, Sirius?" James was the first to break the silence.
Subconsciously shaking his head, he replied, "Not well."
"Do you think she's going to…" Peter trailed off.
"I think she'll be okay," Sirius eventually continued, "But Madam Pomfrey is going to have a lot of work to do. She wasn't bitten, obviously, but Moony still got her bad."
"I just don't understand." James said distractedly, "How could this have happened? We've never had a problem like this before… And Remus! Remus is going to lose it when he wakes up and sees her in the hospital wing!"
The pit Sirius already had in his stomach sunk even lower. James was right. This would destroy Remus.
"Why was she out?" Peter asked the thing they had all been wondering, "And not just out, but out on the other side of the lake? What was she doing there?"
The three boys sat quiet. After some time, they decided to go to bed for the few hours they had before the infirmary opened again. They would go to see both Remus and Hermione first thing in the morning.
As Sirius lay in his bed trying to sleep, he couldn't stop himself from thinking about the growing list of questions he had about Hermione.
After a completely restless few hours, Sirius pulled himself out of bed.
James was already up and showering and Peter's snoring could be heard from behind his drawn curtain.
Looking at the time Sirius realized the hospital wing would be open for visitors in just over half an hour. He pulled Peter's curtain back and flung a large pillow at his head, hoping to wake him up.
Noticing that Peter didn't even flinch at the assault by pillow, he tried a few more times to no avail. As James walked into the room Sirius decided that his friend could wake the sleeping marauder and left to take a shower.
Soon afterwards, the three boys make their way down to the infirmary. James slowly pushed open the large wooden doors, careful not to make too much noise. As the room came into view Sirius' eyes swept the bright white space.
He saw Remus' usual bed in the far back corner curtained off, but all the other beds appeared to be empty.
Looking at James and Peter he saw they were just as confused as he was.
Madam Pomfrey said a quick good morning to the boys before rushing off to Remus's corner.
Swiftly following her, Sirius put on what he hoped to be an innocent smile, and said "Good morning, Madam Pomfrey. Just out of curiosity, is Remus the only one here?"
Glancing at him over her shoulder, the witch replied, "Yes. Well, only him and now you three."
As she continued towards the corner of the room James fell into step with her and asked, "No one else came in last night?"
"No, Mr. Potter." Madam Pomfrey replied. She reached the edge of Remus' curtain as she turned to look at him, "Should I have been expecting someone?"
Sirius watched his friend as James smiled and said, "Not at all, we were just wondering."
Looking slightly suspicious, Madam Pomfrey resigned, "Well you boys will have to give me a few more minutes before you can see him. I'll let you know when you can come in."
James turned back towards his friends as they walked to the front of the hospital wing.
"I thought you said you brought her here." Sirius heard James mutter in a low whisper.
"I did," Sirius replied, even more confused than James, "I brought her right to the hospital wing doors."
"But you didn't actually see her go in, did you?" Peter asked.
"No, I didn't. But I don't see how she could have gone anywhere else." Sirius said as he tried to run through all the possibilities of what could have happened.
"Well, she must not have actually come in." James said slowly, "Maybe she just went back to the dorms?"
"Why would she do that?" Peter asked, "If she was hurt at all, healing spells are not the easiest to do…"
James turned to face Sirius again, "Do you think it's possible that she just went somewhere and healed herself, Sirius?"
Sirius thought back to the night before, he remembered the blood soaking through her clothes as she limped down the hallway, leaning against the wall struggling to breathe.
If she did go somewhere else to heal herself, Sirius would be shocked if she was still alive. Her injuries were no joke and Peter was right in saying healing spells were not easy.
"I mean, I suppose it's possible." He said after some time. Although this girl has done nothing but surprise them so far, Sirius really doubted those odds.
Soon Madam Pomfrey came back and told the boys they could see Remus.
They slipped between the curtains and the frail boy came into view.
Remus looked like shit. I mean, he always did after the full moon, but today he looked even worse than usual.
Sirius took in his pale face and bandaged appendages as James said, "Hey Remmie, how are you feeling?"
"Like shit," the boy said as the corner of his mouth tilted upwards slightly, "but that's nothing new. How'd it go last night?"
Sirius glanced back at James and Peter, each wondering who would be the one to tell him. Remus noticed the solemn air to the boys and all traces of humor vanished from his face.
"Remus," Sirius said quietly, catching himself off guard. "There was a small problem last night, but it wasn't your fault and we don't want you to feel bad about it, but you really should know."
Staring into Remus' face Sirius couldn't bring it upon himself to say any more. Remus already looked like he was in so much pain, he looked so distraught, Sirius couldn't be the one to worsen that.
Thankfully James continued for him.
"Hermione was out last night. On the other side of the lake."
Immediately Remus' face was filled with horror, his mouth open and shut, seemingly unable to find any words to say. He stared at the ground face filled with disgust.
James continued, "She did get a little bit hurt, Sirius brought her here last night. But Remus you can't blame yourself, this isn't your fault."
"Isn't my fault?! James, it is my fault! It's all my fault! I hurt her, I could have killed her! It was so irresponsible of me to go out of the shack, we should have never left!" He frantically glanced around before saying, "She's not here. What happened to her?"
"We're not sure, but we think maybe she went back to her dorm and healed herself." James said.
"Oh my god she's going to hate me. I can't ever be her friend, I've already hurt her too much, I can't put her in that position." Remus continued.
"I don't think she's going to hate you, Remus," Peter cut in, "She doesn't even know it was you."
"That doesn't make it better! If anything, that makes it worse! Hiding it from her like a coward…" Remus trailed off.
"Remus," James began slowly as a concerned look etched Remus' face, "I know that it doesn't feel right to hide it from her, but I don't think that you should…"
"I know, I know, I'm not going to tell her it was me. She's only just started actually trying to make friends, I don't want to ruin that for her." Remus finished.
Sirius didn't know what to say, Remus was in panic mode and it was very difficult to get him out of it.
Thankfully, James, the voice of reason, stepped in again.
"I know that this is stressful and scary Moony, but try not to think about it right now," at Remus' approaching look of protest James continued, "I know, but just hear me out. She didn't come into the Hospital Wing, even though Sirius specifically brought her here. So, if she made the decision to refuse medical help it's likely she wasn't that injured, if anything she may have just been frightened."
Remus didn't look completely convinced, so Sirius decided to help his friend, "James is right. Don't beat yourself up over it right now, we'll go find her and tell you what kind of condition she's in."
Sirius didn't know why he said that. He knew very well based off last night that she was in pretty bad condition.
"Okay," Remus said, looking like he was trying to convince himself this was a good idea, "Yeah, find her and let me know how she is."
Although he appeared slightly calmer, Sirius could still see the panic behind his eyes.
Shortly after, Madam Pomfrey came bustling in again and kicked the boys out saying Remus needed to eat and get his rest. The three marauders made their way back up to the Gryffindor Tower, it was a Saturday so students were dressed in their casual clothes and scattered all over the castle.
They made their way into the common room just as Lily and Marlene were walking down the stairs from the girls' dorm.
"Hey," Marlene shouted as the girls approached them, "Have you lot seen Hermione?"
"We haven't," Sirius replied, attempting to sound casual, "Is everything alright?"
"Yeah," Marlene continued, "She just didn't come back to the dorms last night so we were wondering."
"She didn't come back to the dorms last night?" James muttered.
Lily's eyebrows furrowed as she said, "Well she was acting off all day yesterday and didn't come back to the dorms at all last night and we haven't seen her yet today."
Sirius glanced at James out of the corner of his eye. Okay. So, Hermione didn't go back to the dorms last night.
"Oh, I'm sure you lot have nothing to worry about," Marlene said clearly attempting to lighten the mood, "She probably just found a nice bloke to spend the night with."
Sirius and James both chuckled, trying to play off their nervousness. As soon as Marlene and Lily disappeared through the portrait the boys sprinted up to their dorm.
Sirius reached the room first and threw open the door which was slammed closed by James only seconds later.
"If she wasn't in the infirmary last night and she wasn't in her dorm then where the fuck did she go?" Sirius said as he popped open his trunk and ruffled through it to pull out a slightly browned and tattered piece of parchment.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." He said with his wand pointed at the paper.
The ink started to fill the pages with the loops and swirls of cursive writing as Sirius spread the parchment over the floor.
He stared at the map soon joined by James and Peter, searching for her name.
His eyes scoured the paper for her name once, twice, three times, to no avail.
"This doesn't make any sense!" Sirius finally yelled, "She isn't here."
Glancing back at James he looked just as confused as Sirius felt. His eyes frantically searched the pages as he shook his head. "I don't understand."
"Maybe she went to St. Mungo's?" Peter offered.
"It wouldn't make sense that she would go to St. Mungo's before ever checking into the Hogwarts infirmary." James said frantically, running his hands through his hair.
"The map must have made a mistake. She has to be here." Sirius said.
"I don't know," James said, shaking his head, "The map is never wrong."
The three marauders decided to split up and search the castle themselves, as Sirius headed towards the library he figured that if she was still in the castle that was where she would most likely be.
Although, as he dipped in and out of aisles and checked every hidden room and corner he knew deep down that James was right. The map was never wrong. She wasn't here.