Tale of a Smart Witch: Rebrewed
by Teddylonglong
All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes. Warnings: Completely AU. Time travel.
A.N. I have made major changes to this story. Due to the chane of the pairing to Hermione - Severus, I needed to adjust the title. I have also made some minor changes to the first few chapters. Please let me know if you like it.
Hermione spent most of her Sunday lingering about the entrance to Severus' temporary room waiting for him to return. However, it was almost dinner time, when Twinkle, whom she knew to be Professor Dumbledore's personal house-elf, popped up in front of her and informed her that Severus had just arrived in the fireplace of the headmaster's office. "Master Professor Dumbledore wishes you to join them," the elf informed her.
"All right, thank you Twinkle," Hermione replied and hurried towards the gargoyle, which – to her relief – opened without making her guess a password.
'Thank Merlin,' Hermione thought, seeing Severus sitting in front of the headmaster. 'At least Voldemort didn't kill him.' Without pondering her action, she stepped in front of her classmate and pulled him into a hug. "Thank Merlin you came back alive," she breathed, only then noticing that Severus seemed to be in pain. "What happened?" she then enquired, eyeing him in concern.
"The Dark Lord happened," Severus replied, before he began to tell her and the headmaster everything about the meeting.
"So, you're officially his spy, but you don't have the Dark Mark, so he can't summon you," Hermione repeated, feeling relief but also worry, knowing that Severus would still have to interact with the Dark Lord.
"Yes, I had to promise to go to see him at least once a fortnight. On Saturday evenings right after dinner," he added. "He told me I could just floo to Malfoy Manor and find him there, until I'll be able to apparate."
"Before you go, I want you to come to me," Dumbledore spoke up, "so that we can discuss what kind of news you could feed him to mislead him as much as possible."
"Of course, sir," Severus agreed. "I'm sorry sir, for not speaking with you about the matter beforehand. Hermione advised me to become your spy, and I thought about it until the last minute."
"That's fine my boy," the headmaster replied in a gentle voice. "I'm glad that you saw reason and came to me."
"And that you didn't take the Dark Mark," Hermione added, happily. "Well done, Severus."
"Thanks," the boy replied with a small smile playing on his lips.
"What did he do to you?" she then enquired, giving him a sharp look. "Why are you in so much pain?"
Severus let out a deep sigh. "He cast the Cruciatus curse on me," he replied, matter-of-factly. "It's already a bit better, but it's still going to take a few days before wearing off."
Hermione stared at the boy in thought. "There was a potion for it in my time," she said, slowly. "I don't know the exact recipe though, only the main ingredients." She remained pensive for a moment before nodding in determination. "I think it was in my seventh-year Potions book."
"Let's go to the Potions classroom then," Severus replied, seemingly eager. "Maybe we can work it out together."
Hermione smiled. "I have my book. I'll fetch it."
They quickly took their leave and spent the evening in the Potions classroom, where they efficiently managed to brew the potion for the after effects of the Cruciatus curse according to the recipe in her future NEWT level Potions book.
HP
The following three weeks before Remus was due to return to Hogwarts passed much too slow for Hermione's liking. She and Severus engrossed themselves in their summer assignments, however, even those were finished after one week.
"Let's ask Dumbledore if we may go to Diagon Alley and buy our school supplies," Hermione suggested, when they finished their last assignment.
"Yes, that's a good idea, or we could try inventing more useful potions recipes from your memory of the future and the books you brought," Severus replied, smirking.
Hermione remained pensive for a moment, before deciding, "Let me take a look at the Potions books from first year onwards and see if anything's missing that was in our books."
During the following two weeks, Hermione and Severus brewed a couple of potions that were new in this time, for which Madam Pomfrey was extremely grateful. Only when they thought of Remus returning to Hogwarts shortly to wait for the full moon, Hermione remembered that she wanted to learn how to become an Animagus.
"Severus," she spoke up in excitement, "I completely forgot, but Remus and I spoke about becoming Animagi. Would you be interested in practising the Animagus transformation together with us?"
Her Slytherin friend cast her a surprised look, before he agreed. "Yes, I'd like that. Do you know what animal you want to become?"
Hermione let out a long sigh. "Maybe some kind of cat like Crookshanks. I thought about asking Professor Scamander if he could recommend some kind of feline."
"All right then," Severus said, pensively. "I was torn between becoming a basilisk and a magical chameleon, but I think I could try to become a magical lynx or something similar. That way, we'd at least be able to communicate whilst in our Animagus forms."
"Oh right, that's a great idea," Hermione agreed. "Do you think we could write to Regulus and ask if he wants to study together with us?"
Severus remained pensive for a moment, before he decided, "I'll do that. His parents seem to be very strict though. He surely won't be able to meet with us, before school begins again."
HP
After dinner the same day, they kept back Professor Scamander and asked for some kind of useful, magical feline.
The Care of Magical Creatures professor cast them a surprised look and remained pensive for an instant, before he voiced an idea. "I don't know easy this is to achieve as an Animagus form, but I believe that the Equilina would be an extremely useful form."
"Excuse me, sir, but what exactly is the Equilina, and what does it look like?" Hermione was certain that she had never heard of that specific species.
Scamander smirked. "It is a combination of a magical cat and a horse, and it's able to change its size from the size of a beetle to that of a real horse. It is a rarely known species, and surprisingly, the smaller it is, the more dangerous is its bite. Its colour is usually black; however, I believe that an Equilina is able to change its colour to adapt to a situation. A whole herd of them is said to be living in the Forbidden Forest; however, I have never encountered any. Perhaps, it is only a myth. I will bring a couple of photographs with me to breakfast tomorrow."
They profusely thanked the old wizard and spent the rest of the evening in the library to research the Equilina. From the following day onwards, they eagerly tried to change their left hands into the front paw of their Equilina forms, however, by the time Remus arrived, they had not made any progress yet.
HP
"From next week onwards, James, Sirius and I are going to work together with Mr. Arko," Remus told them in clear excitement, and they quickly filled Severus in on the shop that the Marauders were going to take over after their NEWTs. "I just hope that your potion works as a permanent cure, so that I'll be able to lead a normal life and work with the responsibility of being able to work every day in the month." Apparently noticing the pitiful looks he received from Hermione and Severus, he added, "I'm fairly sure that it's a permanent cure by the way, because I feel completely normal and not like I've always felt this close to the full moon."
"What did Madam Pomfrey tell you?" Hermione enquired. "Did the lycanthropy still show up on her diagnostics?"
Remus shook his head. "She said it didn't show up, when she checked on me after the full moon, but who knows if it could be back now. She told me to spend the night in the Shrieking Shack to be sure."
Hermione quickly hugged her friend. "It'll probably be all right, and if not, Severus and I will try to make it a permanent cure."
"Exactly," Severus agreed – much to Hermione's surprise, since she had somehow assumed that Severus was not even listening to their conversation.
HP
To everyone's relief, Remus did not transform but spent the night in the Shrieking Shack joking and playing with Sirius and James in his human form.
When Madam Pomfrey went to collect him in the morning, he greeted her with enthusiasm and, instead of tiredly accompanying her to the hospital wing like so many times before, strode to the headmaster's office to tell Professor Dumbledore the good news.
HP
Hermione woke up with a jolt, when Twinkle suddenly popped up in front of her and instructed her to come to the headmaster's office. Using her wand to exchange her pyjamas with a dress, she hurried towards the headmaster's office, feeling utterly relieved when she met Severus on the way.
"Do you know anything?" the boy questioned her; however, Hermione shook her head.
"No, Twinkle didn't say anything except that the password was wolvescure," she replied before giving the password to the gargoyle, which opened the passage right away.
"Hermione, Severus," Dumbledore greeted them with his eyes twinkling merrily. "I must congratulate the two of you, as you indeed managed to cure Remus from lycanthropy."
"We did it?" Hermione blurted out in disbelief, staring wide-eyed at Remus. 'And on the first attempt; how cool is that?' she quietly marvelled.
"Yes, you did," Remus confirmed. "I didn't transform last night. Thank you so much for curing me. I…" Tears leaked from his eyes, when he continued in a rough voice, "I'll never be able to pay you back, but I'll never forget what you did for me."
"You're very welcome, Remus," Hermione replied, happily launching herself at her friend. "I'm so happy that it worked," she added, smiling broadly.
"Congratulations," Severus added, displaying a rare smile.
"Hermione, Severus," Dumbledore spoke again, "are you ready to brew many doses of your wolvescure? I'd like to tell the Minister of Magic of your success, firstly to get Remus off the list of the registered werewolves and secondly for the two of you to receive the Order of Merlin, which I'm sure will be granted to you if you agree to cure all werewolves over the next year or two."
Hermione and Severus exchanged a glance, before Severus nodded and promised, "We will."
"Of course," Hermione added, looking enthusiastically at Remus, "although I don't want the Order of Merlin. However, Damocles Belby must receive it together with Severus." She quickly explained about the Wolfsbane potion, and the headmaster nodded in understanding.
"I see. I shall explain the matter to him and also give his name together with your names to the minister."
HP
During the remaining weeks of the summer holidays, Hermione and Severus spent every morning in the Potions classroom brewing as many batches of the wolvescure as they could. The afternoons were used to practise the Animagus transformation or visit the Marauders in Hogsmeade. To Hermione's chagrin, Regulus had not replied to Severus' letter concerning the Animagus transformation, but knowing that it would take them many months if not years, before they would manage the transformation, it would be soon enough to talk to her classmate once school resumed.
One day, Professor Vector accompanied them to the Ministry of Magic, where Hermione and Severus got to know Damocles Belby. He was a very friendly, old wizard, and Hermione felt relieved that they had included him in the matter, even if no one would have been the wiser had they not. All three of them received the Order of Merlin first class for curing the werewolves in spite of Hermione's and also Belby's protests. Afterwards, Severus was supposed to go home for the last week of the holidays.
While Hermione felt very annoyed that the Minister of Magic saw fit to award them the Order of Merlin in front of the whole Wizengamot and was certain that Severus felt the same, she was delighted that the Order of Merlin first class was equipped with an award of one million Galleons, which had already been placed into a new Gringotts account that had been opened for her.
'Thank Merlin, now I don't have to fear that my money won't last until the end of my seventh year,' she thought in relief and immediately after her return to Hogwarts penned a letter to Lily asking if the girl was interested to go to Diagon Alley together to shop for new robes, book and anything else they would need for the new school year.
Lily's response arrived the following morning at breakfast, and while Hermione was very disappointed that Severus had gone home, she could now look forward to going shopping together with Lily. 'How strange,' she mused. 'Even if I didn't know her in my old time, I'm much closer to her than to the girls from my own year. Oh well, it's not as if I had known any of them anyway.'
HP
When Hermione arrived at the Leaky Cauldron, glad that the headmaster had allowed her to use his fireplace to travel to London, Lily seemed to have just arrived together with her parents and her older sister Petunia.
Hermione politely greeted the Evans but had to try hard to be friendly towards Petunia, recalling all too well how the muggle had behaved towards Harry, when she raised him in the future. 'It's not this Petunia's fault,' she told herself and somehow managed to behave towards the older girl.
The Evans accompanied them to Gringotts to exchange some muggle pounds into Galleons, before they instructed Lily to be back at the parking slot, where Mr. Evans had parked the car, by four o'clock in the afternoon and left the magical shopping area.
"Are you sure that they don't mind?" Hermione asked, quickly. "We could go together with your parents and sister."
Lily chuckled. "They don't mind. On the contrary, they're glad that they can go to muggle London for their own shopping. They wouldn't leave me alone here, but knowing that you're with me, it's fine. Petunia will be very grateful towards you."
"She sure will," Hermione replied, absently, before she ushered Lily into one of the carriages that went deep into the bank's underground. "Sorry, but we need to go to my vault, before we can leave," she explained, smiling.
"You got your own vault?" Lily asked, excitedly. "Tell me, how…"
"Severus and I invented a cure for lycanthropy," Hermione informed her, "and received the Order of Merlin first class. The Ministry of Magic made a vault for me to place the money in that the Order is doted with."
"Oh Merlin, how amazing is that?" Lily asked, staring at Hermione in apparent awe, while she closely held on to the side of the carriage as it sped downwards.
"Ah, I really dislike these," Hermione sighed, when they got off the carriage right in front of her vault.
"Me too," Lily agreed and patiently waited, while Hermione filled a large bag with coins.
"At the next Hogsmeade visit, I want to buy lunch for you, Severus, Regulus and the Marauders," she announced, recalling how everyone had offered to pay for her, assuming that she did not have any money.
"I look forward to returning for our seventh year," Lily replied, smiling.
"Me too, although it's only going to be my sixth," Hermione agreed. "Hogwarts is quite lonely without all of you around, even if Severus was with me, and Remus visited over the full moon."
"Why didn't Severus come with you?" Lily asked in apparent surprise.
"He had to go home for the last week of the holidays," Hermione replied, shrugging. "I don't know exactly why."
"Why don't you come and stay with me for the last couple of days then?" Lily offered, causing Hermione to stare at her in surprise.
"I'd like that," she replied, pensively, "but I don't know if your parents would be agreeable, and your sister definitely won't like it. She's not exactly fond of magic and magical people."
"Yes, that's true, but she'll get over it, and you're at least muggleborn, so you'll be able to adjust better than, for example, Severus who was accustomed with magic from his early childhood onwards," Lily contradicted, convincingly.
"His mother was a witch," Hermione added in understanding.
"Let's go and ask them, when I have to go and meet them anyway. I've already told them all about you, and my mother already suggested a few weeks ago that I should invite you, when she heard that you had to remain at Hogwarts over the holidays," Lily insisted.
HP
That decision made, the two girls quickly went through with their shopping, and while they were still waiting for their new robes to be made, stepped through the fireplace to Hogwarts in order to receive Professor McGonagall's permission and fetch some clothes for Hermione for the week.
To the girls' delight, McGonagall agreed immediately, and after quickly packing a bag for Hermione, the friends eagerly returned to Diagon Alley.
HP
Mrs. Evans very much reminded Hermione of her own mother, and she immediately felt at home at the Evans, so much even that she considered telling them about where she came from. 'No, I can't do that. I shouldn't even tell magical people, but above all, they're muggles,' she finally decided.
However, when Mrs. Evans gently asked what happened to her parents, Hermione was unable to lie and ended up telling the truth.
"From nineteen years into the future?" Mr. Evans asked in disbelief, carefully turning his glass of wine in his hand. "Is that normal in the magical world?"
"No, it was an accident," Hermione explained, giving her friend's father a weak smile. "Unfortunately, this kind of accident seems to be completely unknown, so that no one can help me, and I won't be able to return to my own time anytime soon. I'll probably just have to make this time my own and live here. While I very much miss my friends, I've already found some good friends here."
"You should already know everyone here as adults, don't you?" Mrs. Evans asked in a soft voice.
"Only some of them," Hermione admitted, trying to push back the tears that were welling in her eyes. "Your grandson was my best friend in the future," she added, smiling.
"Is he magical as well?" Petunia enquired, her expression clouding upon Hermione's positive response.
"Through your nephew, I've heard a lot about you," Hermione replied gently, smiling at the older girl.
"Did you know us in the future?" Mr. Evans queried, putting down his empty glass.
"I'm sorry," Hermione replied, rubbing her eyes. "I'm not supposed to tell anyone anything about the future. Sorry, I even already said too much."
"It's all right dear," Mrs. Evans said gently. "If you ever wish to talk, you're very welcome to do so, but we won't force you. Lily, why don't you go and show Hermione her room?"
HP
It was on the last day of the holidays, and the two girls were sitting together on a swing in the nearby playground, when Lily turned to Hermione. "I'm sorry, but from the bits and pieces I heard from you, I'm getting the impression as if something was very wrong in the future. Please tell me everything about the future. I promise that I won't talk to anyone about it."
Hermione shook her head. "I can't," she replied, horrified, as tears began to freely run down her cheeks.
Lily gently laid her arm around her friend's back. "Please try," she begged.
"Lily, it's horrible," Hermione replied, "but I'm not allowed to change the future. I already changed too much."
"What did you change?" Lily enquired, causing Hermione to tell her bits and pieces of her changes, for example, that Severus had not taken the Dark Mark before becoming a spy.
"What kind of role did he play in the future?" Lily wanted to know.
"He always was a spy, but he seemed very lonely without any friends," Hermione admitted. "So, that is only a minor change, but still, no one knows what bad things the changes I made with that might trigger."
"Oh, I see," Lily replied, pensively, before she replied, "It seems to me that it is a solely good change though. Don't worry about it." Her expression then faltered, and she asked, "What's going to happen to James and me? Are we going to die soon?"
Hermione stared at her friend in shock. "Why?" she managed to press out.
"Because that's the only way that our son would be in a position to tell you something about Petunia. Petunia doesn't tolerate anyone magical for a longer time. Frankly speaking, I'm surprised that she's so well-behaved towards you."
tbc...
A huge thanks to the kind reviewers. Your comments mean a lot to me.
