AN: Hello, fanfiction and Harry Potter fans. I do not own Harry Potter, but feel free to enjoy this or hate it. If you enjoy it, please leave a lovely comment, if you hate it, then leave some constructive criticism, thanks!
Can You Take the Jump?
Chapter 50
His footsteps echoed on the marble floors, the sound bouncing off the pristine walls. The Ministry of Magic was a great place for visitors, its beautiful marble décor shined brightly and flawlessly, enchanting the newcomers with its grandeur. However, anyone who worked there knew it was a front. A great stone mask to hide its true ugly and rotting face.
Fleamont Potter didn't know how much longer he could hold onto his post as the Head of the DMLE. He'd been getting more and more death threats, complaints of incompetence, false accusations and more. Eugenia Jenkins, the current Minister for Magic and his long-time childhood friend, was holding back as much of the ridiculous notions as much as possible, but the outside forces were pushing her out as well, leaving him vulnerable to the soon-to-come government coup. She was being ousted, everyone could see it, but no one could stop it.
"Just until James is out of school," Euphemia had begged him. His beautiful wife was quite undeniable when she wanted, but he was barely holding on with tooth and nail right now, but another two whole years? He didn't think it possible.
He knocked on the door of the Minister's office.
"Come in."
He walked into the large office with confusion. Usually, it was filled with piles of parchment, bills and laws in the making, but it was clean. Not a single piece of parchment was in sight.
"Potter!" She greeted while pouring herself a drink. "Come!" She waved him in from the doorway. "Sit! Scotch or whiskey?"
"It's the middle of a work day." He told her, half in confusion, half nagging.
"Oh, you wet nappy, shut it and have a drink with an old friend."
"Jenkins," he walked into the room with a frown, looking around the office. "What happened?"
She rolled her eyes at him and then sat down on the couch, taking a long sip of the amber liquid in her glass.
"Let a girl have a drink before she tells you about her bloody day. How your wife tolerates your straightforwardness, I'll never know."
"Jenkins."
"All right," she raised her hand in surrender. "One of the Sacred Twenty-Nine voiced my so-called prejudice against the purebloods and their community and brought it to the Wizengamot."
"What?!"
"I know, It's quite ridiculous considering the abhorrent things they're doing and planning on doing to the muggleborns."
"When is the trial? Do you have a lawyer yet? What about evidence and witnesses?"
"The trial is done."
"What!"
"Happened in a span of two days, filed, started, trials and finalized all under 48 hours. I dare say it's the fastest the Wizengamot has ever worked, and it was for me. I think I feel a little honoured that those old croaks worked so quickly for me."
"That's preposterous! There's no way! You must demand a retrial! An appeal!"
She shook her head, "It won't work. They tampered with my evidence, my witness never showed up, and I'm pretty sure the judges were bribed. This was planned, Potter. Even if I appeal, it won't pass. This was a full setup to pull me out of my position."
"B-but—"
"I'm sorry my friend," she raised her glass. "I think our era has come to an end. If I'm gone, you'll soon follow. The tides of power are changing and war is coming."
Fleamont Potter finally sank into the couch across from her, pale and sweaty. Eugenia turned from her seat and poured him a glass of scotch.
"Will you have a fucking drink with me now?" She slid the glass to him. "A drink for our last days at work?"
He picked up the glass, the ice clinking against the sides. Maybe it was the condensation that rolled down the sides or just the pure shock of the turn of events, but the glass slipped from his fingers and fell to the floor, shattering into pieces.
The soon-to-be ex-Minister didn't react, simply turned around and poured him another.
"My boys are 16," he cradled his head in his hands.
"Boys? I thought you had one son. Did Euphy manage to have a second?"
He shook his head, "Sirius. He's James's best mate."
"Sirius…Sirius," she rolled the name around her tongue like a sommelier with wine. Her brow raised when she realized whom he was talking about. "Sirius Black? How is he, after the whole disownment fiasco?"
"He's fine, more shocked about his first break-up than his disownment."
"Ahh, to be that young again," she chuckled.
"They are young. They're 16. Children." He whispered, his voice shaking with distraught. "We must fight back. We must prevent a war!"
"Until when?" She asked, sipping on her drink. "During my 7 years in office, all I've been doing is pushing back the war. It cannot be pushed back any further, Fleamont. It's here. You know this better than anyone. Your Aurors are out there every day seeing the damage that they do! But how much of what you see gets reported? The Prophet barely scratches the surface, do you know why? Because they cover it up? No! They're eager to boast about their terrors and horrors. It's us whocover it up to prevent public panic, but it cannot go on any longer."
"Without you, we have no chance."
"Harold Minchum is next in line for Minister."
"But he's—"
"A hard-liner, I know. But maybe that's what the world needs. Someone who will make the extreme decisions for an extreme world."
Fleamont shook his head, "Putting more dementors in Azkaban is not the answer! Making the crazies even more crazy and deranged cannot be the only solution to stopping this war."
"FLEAMONT!" She slammed the glass onto the table. "THE WAR IS HERE. We must accept the truth. We must accept that our efforts have been futile."
"Efforts?" He glared at her. "I've sent men and women into the streets looking for this Voldemort son of a bitch to see fewer and fewer of them come back. Don't tell me that this war is inevitable when I've commanded people—human-being with families of their own—to the front lines, only for their efforts to be pointless?! I cannot accept it!"
"Accept it! We have failed. Take your family, empty your bank, and run. Go to America. That is the only advice I have for you, my friend."
His eyes burned from the images of the world in smoke and ash. The screams of innocents and wailings of people in pain and suffering.
"If we leave, if the people who care leave, then who's left to save the world?"
…
Hermione's eyes snapped open to a dark room as the feeling of nausea awakened her. She ran to the loo, magically created by the Room of Requirement, just in time to reach the toilet bowl and vomit all the contents of her stomach. Cold sweat ran down her forehead as she heaved several times, only for bile and stomach acid to come up. She didn't eat enough to vomit much, but nausea didn't stop.
She groaned, leaning her head against the cold wall. This had become a daily occurrence for the last few weeks, but it was especially bad the last few days.
"Maybe you're not eating enough for dinner and the potions you're taking are upsetting your stomach," Harry suggested.
"Or maybe your new set of potions from Belby isn't mixing well with you," Draco added.
Hermione Granger stared at her with narrowed eyes. Everyone else watched with equal concern. Harry was no longer her lone companion. He now brought an entourage with him. Not all of them spoke, not all of them even looked at her, but they were all there. Staring.
"Sod off, all of you." Hermione groaned, clutching the rim of the toilet once more.
"When was the last time you had your period?"
Hermione froze mid-heave from the shock of Hermione Granger's question. Even those who weren't listening turned to face her.
"The last time you had sex was with Sirius in August, and it's November now, so almost 2 and a half months?" Mutters and whispers escalated in the room, no, in her mind.
"My menstrual cycle is always irregular due to the potions and my fluctuating weight. Not bleeding for 2 or even 3 months is normal for me when my condition is bad."
"True," Granger nodded, "but it's never been accompanied by nausea or vomiting."
"A sign of morning sickness," Harry's eyes widened, "a common side effect of—"
"STOP. I've been on a contraceptive potion consistently since I started dating Sirius. There is no way I'm… that!"
"You have had a lot of potions in your life," Draco interjected. "You don't think there's a possibility that your body's built a natural resistance to them, including a contraceptive potion?"
"I wonder what your baby will look like." Luna chimed. "A mix of your genes and Sirius's?"
"Does that mean I have another cousin? One that not Dudley?" Harry looked excited, completely oblivious to the terror on Hermione's face.
"I'm going to be sick."
"I bet it'll be a beautiful baby," Molly Weasley clapped her hands.
Hermione moaned as she sank to the floor to vomit once more for good measure.
…
Sirius watched Remus who kept glancing at the Slytherin table. There was no other reason he'd be glancing there, other than to look for Hermione. Never in his life had he wanted to punch his best mate in the face so much.
Why was he looking for her? What had happened between them? What if Hermione starts dating Remus? If she does, what right did he have to stop them?
Questions and insecurities ran through Sirius's mind, making him want to vomit.
"Sirius," James placed a plateful of food in front of him. "You need to eat, mate. You barely touched your plate."
"I'm not hungry."
"Please," he could hear his brother's sincere request, but couldn't bring himself to care. Scum like himself didn't deserve food.
"If you don't eat, I'm going to bring Evans over here and force her to force you to eat."
"She's not here," Sirius narrowed his eyes.
James raised his brow at the challenge, "Then I'll go find her."
Sirius whipped his head around, jaw agape at the threat. James looked him straight in the eye, showing him his determination to follow through with his threat if he didn't swallow something tonight. He looked down at his hands, knuckles protruding from the lack of muscle and fat in his hands. His clothes hung limply on him. When was the last time he had a proper meal?
"I swear to Merlin I'll do it," James stood up from his seat, but Sirius grabbed him by his robe and forced him to sit down.
"I'm eating, I'm eating."
The Marauders watched as he took his first bite of the day, then collectively sighed relief. He chewed his food with difficulty, looking around if anyone else was having a problem. Everyone around him looked as if they were enjoying their meal. Appearance-wise, nothing was different about the food, but perhaps his tastebuds have changed because everything tasted stale and bland.
He grimaced, looking for something to help the food wash down his throat when he caught Remus looking for Hermione once more.
"Why are you staring at Slytherin's table, Remus?"
Unaware he'd been caught staring, the werewolf blushed deeply, the colour travelling down his neck and probably down to his chest.
"Uh, I was just… you know, just…" Remus grimaced at his lame attempt at lying to his friends. "I'm looking for Hermione. I thought the last time I saw her, she looked different."
"She's had black hair for months now, mate," Peter rolled his eyes. "It's not that shocking anymore."
"No, I mean she looks pale. She also," he glanced around, then lowered his voice. "She also smells different."
Remus turned to Sirius only to see angry eyes staring right back at him.
"I need to talk to you," they spoke at the same time.
James and Peter exchanged glances then back at the duo.
"Guys, we have charms in—"
"It'll be a quick conversation," Remus stood up, in made Sirius stand up quickly as well. The boys stormed out of the Great Hall.
"Should we follow them?" James wondered out loud, but Peter took a bite out of his sandwich and shook his head.
"Those two have been subtly at each other's throats for days. Just let them punch it out, and then we'll be able to bloody breathe in our dorms again."
James stared at the door that swung closed behind his best friends with concern.
"You want to follow them, don't you?" Peter asked with a sigh.
"You know me so well, Pete," James smiled. He picked up the sandwich he was eating and dragged him out of the Great Hall, chasing after the boys who'd just left.
Unknowingly, Remus and Sirius walked a fair distance from the Great Hall, trying to avoid stragglers who were late for lunch or had finished early; eavesdroppers, just like their friends.
"Did you get Hermione pregnant?" "Why are you staring and smelling my—" They started at the same time, but Sirius froze at Remus's accusation.
"What?"
"Did you get Hermione pregnant and make her abort the baby?"
"What?!"
"So that's not what happened?"
"Remus!" Sirius grabbed his friend by the collar of his clothes, "What are you talking about?!"
Seeing the pure panic on his friend's face, Remus knew Sirius genuinely had no idea what he was talking about.
"I-I…It's just…"
"TALK!"
"She's so pale these days and doesn't come down for meals and when I talked to Hermione on the first day," Remus avoided his best friend's intense gaze. "She was in Hogsmeade and—"
"What do you mean she was in Hogsmeade, Hermione hates Hogsmeade. She never goes there!"
"She's the girl that puts the flowers in the main square. It's like a memorial of sorts. She's been doing it since we were 11. She was there that night putting flowers down when I heard her call herself a mom, so I thought…Sirius!" Remus was caught off guard by his falling friend to finish his sentence.
"She was pregnant?" Sirius's voice broke. He cradled his head with distraught. "Was? Remus—w-was?"
"Sirius," Remus clutched him tightly, but Sirius's eyes were dazed from distress not registering his voice. "Sirius! Listen to me, I don't know for sure. It's why I wanted to talk to you."
The cloud in his eyes lifted slightly.
"W-where is Hermione? I need to talk to her. I fucked up so bad, Remus, but if she was pregnant… what if she's still pregnant? I can't make her go through this alone. She might not…no, I'll make her listen."
It was like Sirius didn't see him anymore, muttering to himself and biting his nails. He'd never seen him like this, so nervous and unsure. The Sirius he knew was always confident, boisterous, child-like, and relatively positive all things considered.
"Sirius?" Remus gently touched his friend's shoulder. He flinched back, completely forgetting that he was there.
"Remus, where's Hermione?"
"I…" looking into his desperate eyes, Remus felt nothing but pity for his desperate friend. "I'll help you look for her."
Sirius gave him a thankful smile, even though at the beginning of their conversation, he'd been angrily yelling at him for looking towards the Slytherin table in search of her.
"What did you do to him, Hermione?"
…
Hermione sat in her room with her small kitchenette, nursing a ginger honey lemon tea in her hands. It was the only thing that helped her nausea and the only thing she could stomach with a plain piece of toast.
Her fingernails nervously tapped the mug as she stared at the potion vial covered with thick fabric. Magical pregnancy tests were more accurate than muggle ones, they were able to detect pregnancy earlier, and tell you the sex of the baby earlier, but you had to wait longer for the results. It had to be covered as well because sunlight could affect the luminescent factor of the potion, making it pointless, but, if done correctly, the potion should light up blue or pink for a girl or boy or not light up at all for no pregnancy.
3 more minutes.
"A baby…" fear pulsed and radiated through her body. Out of all the variations of her plans, a child was never one of them.
"What will you do if you are?" Harry asked.
"I don't know."
"Bringing a baby into the war at 16 is dangerous," Draco commented.
"I know."
"Will you tell Sirius?" Hermione Granger asked.
"I don't know." Hermione's patience was wearing thin.
"What are you going to name—"
"STOP." She whipped her head around at her pesky ghosts. "Just fucking stop. Please."
Silence ensued, but it was tense. She could sense their desire to ask her the numerous questions whizzing through her mind, none of which she had answers to.
"Hermione," Harry tentatively called to her.
"What." She snapped.
"It's time."
Her head snapped to the vial under the thick fabric, "Shit."
With shaking hands, she approached her potion that could possibly ruin a plan 16 years in the making. She pinched the fabric, scared to reveal the results.
BANG BANG BANG
She jumped while holding the fabric. It jumped in the air, taking the vial with it. Her heart sank when she heard the glass shatter against the floor.
"No no no no no no no." She fell to the floor trying to notice if there was a faint glow to the liquid on the floor, but contaminated and cold, there was no way of being sure. "FUCK!"
Fury built up in her chest as she snapped her head to the door.
"Who the fuck…IS IT?!" She ran up to the door and swung it open with full force. "Wha—" but her words got caught in her throat when she saw Remus and Sirius standing outside her door.
"Are you pregnant?!"
Hermione's already pale face turned even whiter, causing her to stumble. She looked like a fish out of the water, unsure how to respond to the astute question thrown by her ex whom she hadn't spoken to in months.
"Woah," Remus reached out to stabilize her, but his hand was slapped away by Sirius who caught her.
"Are you?" He whispered to her. "W-were you?"
She pushed herself out of his grasp and looked down the halls to make sure no one was there, then she pulled the two into the Room of Requirement.
Remus, who'd never set foot in her room before took in the large space with awe. It was better than the Head students' private dorm. Her kitchenette was almost a full functioning kitchen, minus an oven, her sitting area had large sofas that surrounded a large fireplace. Her bed was a king-size mattress, that only she has used, unlike the dormitory mattresses that were lumpy and had several occupants in the past. A large book collection made the nerd in Remus giddy, but it was the large windows streaming in endless sunlight that truly took him by surprise. He could see the lake and the forest from this angle, the vast expanse of Hogwart's land.
It was both grand and homey, spacious, but no space was wasted.
"Wow," he turned to Hermione to comment on her room but was quickly brought back to reality as he saw the two exes standing around a shattered vial.
"You should have told me," Sirius whispered to her, but it was in a tone that Remus never heard him use to Hermione before. It was harsh, brash, and impatient.
She pulled herself out of his grasp, "I didn't think of it as a possibility until today."
"Today?" His brows wrinkled, "then why were you at Hogsmeade, calling yourself mummy?"
Hermione blinked then turned her head at Remus. Suddenly he felt like a child being scolded for tattling. In a way, he did feel ashamed for spilling their unspoken agreement to keep their meeting in Hogsmeade to Sirius, like he'd lost her trust. Deep regret radiated through him, just from her look.
"I was treated by Alphard, Belby, and Bones; the top Healers in England, and Europe for the case of Alphard and Belby." She turned her voice soft, reminiscent, and sad. "Normal, treatable, curable patients don't go to Healers like them. Many of the people they treated, many of my childhood friends and acquaintances have died. Two of them were kids: siblings. The younger brother, Hugo, died first. Just a baby at the time. The older girl was only eight when she died, Rose."
Sirius inhaled sharply at the names. He heard them before, of course not when Hermione was awake, but when she was sleeping, she'd often mutter those names with an anguished face.
"Their parents weren't around much because of the hospital bills, so they clung to me and called me mummy. They were jealous that I was going to go to Hogwarts, they always wanted to go to Hogsmeade with friends." She gave them a watery smile. "They died in front of me. Terribly. Tears in their eyes. Rose held Hugo as he died, she was too young to understand what death actually meant, so she cried, wondering why her little brother was so…still."
The boys listened to the horrifying story with a chill in their hearts, but there was a buzz of magic in the air. Hermione's emotions were destabilizing as she remembered the children from her childhood.
"Rose died the same way, but no one was there to hold her hand. Why didn't I hold her hand, Sirius? She was so alone…why didn't I hold her one last time?"
He wrapped her around his arms and held her tightly, rocking her back and forth as she cried into his chest. The trembling magic dissipated as she calmed down in Sirius's arms. Remus felt a pang of jealousy, but soon the awkwardness settled in. He regretted not leaving when he had a choice.
"I'm sorry for attacking you with questions," Sirius cradled her head. "I'm sorry. Why can't I do anything right? I'm so sorry." He placed his large hand on her belly and looked at her. Something shined in his eyes, something akin to hope.
She removed his hand, "I don't think I'm—"
"I'll make the potion to make sure. You rest."
"But that will an hour and another half an hour of waiting for the results. We have class."
"Fuck class," Sirius waved off. "I'll make it perfect. Remus will help too, won't you?"
The tall blond looked back and forth between the two. "Yeah, of course, I will."
Sirius gently pushed her to the bed, urging her to rest and get off her feet, as if she was already pregnant with a mountain of a belly.
"I'm going to send an owl, then."
"I'll do it!" Sirius dropped the potion ingredients and ran toward her.
"No," she shook her head. "You work on the potion, the faster the results, the better for us."
"Us," he repeated as if he was tasting the sweetest dessert in the world. "Yes, better for us."
…
"Did you hear what I heard?" Peter asked, his jaw dropped and brows hiding in his hairline, but when James didn't respond, Peter nudged him again. "James, did you just hear that Hermione Evans is—mmph!"
James covered his small friend's mouth with his hand.
"We tell no one."
"But—"
"No. One." James shook his head. "Peter I fucking mean it, no one."
The rat's mouth tickled with the urge to scream the biggest gossip of the year at the top of his lungs, but James's brown eyes narrowed, as though he could read his mind.
"From the sounds of it, they weren't sure either. If she is, and if Sirius wants to tell us, he will. If she isn't, then there's no reason for us to be the start of false rumours, right? So, for right now, let's just go to class. Cover for Sirius and Remus. All right?"
The mousy friend nodded, but still not completely trusting that his most gossiping friend would simply let go of the monumental bit of information they'd heard, James gripped his arm again and forced him to look him in the eye.
"Peter. Promise me. You'll tell no one. Swear it on the Marauders."
Pettigrew's eyes widened at James's words. There were only 3 things that the Marauders swore their friendship and bond over: first, James's invisibility cloak; second, Remus's lycanthropy; and third, their animagi. He could help but feel a twinge of resentment towards Hermione Evans for the umpteenth time in his life. James wanted to stake the Marauder's friendship over Hermione Evans's school reputation?
"I promise."
…
"Sirius and I aren't the best potioneers," Remus sat down next to her as the pregnancy test potion was nearly completed. Sirius was slaving over the cauldron for the finishing touches. She'd never seen him work so hard on a potion before, reading, checking, then double-checking every instruction, measurement, temperature, and potion quality. "Are you sure you should be trusting us with such an important potion?"
Hermione gave him a small smile, casting a non-verbal Muffliato without his knowledge. The noise-muffling charm invented by Severus wasn't known to others, so remained ignorant as he started speaking to her.
"You know that no matter how perfect that potion is brewed, Sirius won't accept the result. He wants a positive because he believes it will fix us. That we'll go back to how we were before."
"So all this…"
"Is to kill time."
"For what?"
"Healer Belby is finishing up his last patient and some paperwork, then he's going to come here with some equipment and do a magical blood test."
"The most accurate—that's whom you wrote a letter to."
She nodded.
"He'll be destroyed."
"Yes."
"He just wants to get back together with you. I don't think he knows how to function without you anymore." Remus never imagined that he would help Sirius by pushing him and Hermione together, but he glanced over at his friend anxiously rereading every detail of the potions book in front of him. He looked gaunt and delirious.
"Sirius is a whole person without me, he'll realize it soon."
"If he doesn't?"
She looked concerned as well. If he could see his best friend's deterioration, there was no way that Hermione could miss it either.
"He has to. I'm no good for him, Remus." She looked down at her hands and clenched them into fists. "I think I awakened something when I saved Sirius from that Death Eater meeting. It was always in me, but now that it's opened its eyes, I'm not sure if I can keep it closed like I once could." She opened her fist and a ball of black energy, raw dark power, hovered precariously in her hands. Remus's skin tingled, then it stung like a million needles were pricking it from all sides. The dread built in his chest, weighing him down like stones. Just when he felt like he couldn't take it anymore. She closed her fist, returning everything to normal. It was a split second, but he was sure there had been a shadow over his heart, his soul. He looked around, wondering how Sirius hadn't run up to them with worry, but he worked on unaware of the terror he'd just experienced.
"Noise-muffling charm," she explained, looking livelier than she had just a moment ago. Releasing the darkness had given her more life. It was holding it back that was costing her so dearly. The realization brought him devastation.
"It will corrupt him, as it is corrupting me, as it will corrupt everyone."
"That's why you told me to keep him away," he remembered her words in Hogsmeade on the night of September 1st. "You're not mad at whatever happened during the summer. You're pushing him away to protect him. You love him."
Remus didn't need to hear a response as he watched her watch Sirius.
"It's done! Hermione, I just need a bit of your saliva, and then we just wait for the results."
Hermione broke the Muffliato charm by walking up to Sirius. She placed a gentle hand on his arm as a sign of gratitude for his efforts. He beamed. She ladled the potion into a vial ¾ of the way full, then covered her mouth and leaned close to the lip of the vial and filled the remaining ¼ with her saliva before covering it quickly with the thick piece of fabric from before.
Sirius placed his hand at the small of her back and brought her near the fireplace.
"Your hands are freezing, love."
She paused at his term of endearment for her. The warmth the word spread through her body was more than any fire.
"You were always my heater."
He let out a small laugh, "I know, you'd always shock me by putting your cold feet onto my stomach at night."
"Yeah…"
They looked each other in the eye. He poured affection, longing, apology, and love into her. She wondered what she was pouring back.
"Death."
She inhaled sharply, pushing him back. She could hear his heart breaking.
"Remus," she stood up, walking away from the pain she couldn't bare the fact that she was causing. "You've never been in this room before, have you? This is the Room of Requirement."
Remus's eyes flickered to his best mate who sat on the couch in front of the fireplace with his head down. "Room of Requirement?"
"Think about something. Anything. Request the room of something you require."
"The room?"
She nodded, encouraging him. He closed his eyes and thought deeply. Remus's eyes snapped open when he heard a small chuckle from her, but instead of the spacious and sophisticated room they'd previously been in, they were in Gryffindor Tower. He knew it was still midday, but the windows showed darkness. The popular sofas near the fireplace and the soft rugs were empty, which was a near impossibility during these hours, and instead of the loud and rambunctious Gryffindors laughing and talking, it was just the three of them, Sirius, Hermione, and himself.
"Woah."
"You lack imagination, Lupin." Hermione tsked. "The Room can do far greater things than just replicate Gryffindor Tower. How about something like this?" She walked towards him, but with each step, the room changed.
The wooden floors of Gryffindor tower burst with green grass and the musky smell of sweet dirt. There was an uncanny freshness about the air as if he'd stepped outside, although he hadn't moved a single centimetre. The walls filled with banners, trophies, bookshelves and other things burst with evergreen branches. The warm glow of the fire disappeared leaving the nearly in the dark.
"W-we're in the Forbidden Forest?"
He could hear the crickets chirp, and animals scutter around.
"Not just the Forbidden Forest, look up."
He craned his neck back realizing where their source of dim light was coming from. He let out a brutal gasp as pain surged through his body. The full moon stood high in the sky, gleaming with its brilliance.
"Ah!" He gripped his arms, trying to hold himself together so that he wouldn't murder his best mate and Hermione in a werewolf frenzy.
"Remus," Sirius jumped from where he was sitting and ran to him. "It's okay!"
"No!"
"Remus, it's okay! It's fake! It's not real."
"Yes, Remus," Hermione's calm voice drifted over Sirius's alert one. "It has no power over you."
The lanky blond looked down at his body with confusion, realizing he wasn't actually in pain due to his transformation.
"It's probably phantom pain," Hermione told him. Your body is used to the reaction, expects it, even. You've been turning since you were 4, which means you haven't looked into the night sky without calculating the days until the full moon since then."
"No, I guess I haven't."
"I should have warned you, I'm sorry. I just wanted you to enjoy something without feeling any burden."
Remus tentatively glanced up once more. The moon shined so brightly that it overpowered the twinkling of its nearby stars. He could see the craters on the surface, the scared perfection, like a mysterious lover, comforting the world at night.
"It's beautiful," his voice cracked. "Fuck, it's so fucking beautiful." His knees weakened, causing him to fall onto the soft grass. Sirius sat on the grass with him and look up into the sky.
"Yeah, it really fucking is."
Hermione watched the boys talk about the moon, the stars, and astrology—a topic Remus never took because of his fear of the moon and the night sky. Sirius showed him where the constellations were, pointing to the brightest star and proudly pointing at himself. Although she disappointed him once more, it amazed her how he was able to push aside his depressed emotions for a moment to share this important moment with Remus.
Ding ding. The potion's results were ready.
The boys' attention snapped. Through Sirius's will, the room returned to its original state in half a second. He rushed to the potion, pulling her along with him. They looked at each other with bated breaths.
"3…2…1!"
Everyone stilled when Sirius lifted the fabric.
"W-what?"
The clear potion did not emit any light.
Hermione let out a sigh of relief.
"No, I think I did it wrong. It's…it's not supposed to be this clear. The textbook was a bit different. What if you didn't put enough saliva in it, Hermione? I'm not good at Potions. We should do it again. You know, just to be sure."
Hermione could feel Remus's eyes on her. She'd predicted this exact response from Sirius.
Knock knock.
From behind the portrait of Ariana Dumbledore, world-renown Healer, Demascus Belby poked his head into the Room of Requirement with a look of disgust.
"Did you know that there are spiders in that pathway?" He shook himself off. "I'm never fucking doing a house call for you again. I haven't fucking touched a spider in nearly 12 years, and I think I touched more of them…" He trailed off at the tense silence in the room. His eyes immediately fell on the clear vial that lacked a glow.
"Seems like I was late to the party."
"Belby?"
"I called him. I knew you wouldn't accept the potion if it came out negative, and I wouldn't have accepted it if it came out positive," she told him honestly, ignoring the flash of hurt that moved across Sirius's face. "We need something more accurate."
Belby rolled his eyes, "I can't believe you're dragging me into your teenage drama. Do you know how much this equipment costs? Do you know how much I cost?"
"I'll buy St. Mungo's 3 more of that equipment as long as you shut up and perform the test."
Belby's eyes shined, "Pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Black. You guys ordered a magical blood-drawn pregnancy test. As you know, it is the most accurate test. There has never been a false positive before, so if you're trying to answer the question of whether Miss Evans is in fact with child, then you've definitely ordered the right service."
Hermione gave him her arm without prompt. With practiced ease, Belby cut her and bled her without blinking. Once he collected a sufficient amount, he closed the wound with his wand and poured the blood into the vial in the magical equipment.
"How long?" Remus asked.
"Who're you?" Belby looked him up and down. "You look familiar."
"He's a Lupin," Hermione told him.
"As in Lyall Lupin's son? The werewolf?"
"Uh, yes."
"So you're the boy that Miss Evans saved. You know she sat on top of you, holding your bite wound together when you came into the hospital? Of course, I wasn't working at St. Mungo's at the time, but I've read the records. She saved your life."
"How long, Belby?" Hermione interrupted.
"Just a few more seconds, now."
The four of them waited in tense anguish.
"All done," Belby removed her vial of blood. "Well, Miss Evans. You're not pregnant."
Hermione let out a sigh of relief, while Sirius clenched his jaw.
"Thank you, Belby. I really appreciate you coming all the way here." She turned to the boys. "You guys should go back now. You missed Charms, but Herbology's next."
Remus nodded to Hermione, then pulled Sirius towards the door, but he wouldn't budge.
"You're sure that's the correct reading?"
"Are you doubting my skills, boy? Do you think a genius like me, a Potions Master like me can't read a simple pregnancy blood test?" Belby challenged.
"N-no." Sirius slumped, he reached out to Hermione and gently grazed her arm, causing goosebumps to erupt on her skin. He placed his warm large hand on her stomach, looking pensive and sad. Without another word, he left.
Belby waited for the door to fully close behind the boys before turning to her.
"You should be honoured that I'd even make this useless trip for you. I don't do it for just anyone, you know."
Hermione turned to him, confused, "What do you mean, 'useless'?"
"There's no way you really thought you were pregnant, did you?" At her expression of confusion, Belby's more casual voice altered to his professional one. "You can't get pregnant."
"What?"
He stepped back, surprised by her lack of awareness to the situation. "Miss Evans, you're too ill to ovulate. You're too sick to even menstruate. Your vomiting? Your nausea? Even your abnormal coldness. They're common signs at the end of life. I checked your sleep, metabolism and other things with the blood sample you gave me in your letter before coming here. Your deterioration has increased exponentially. A part of the reason I came here is to speak with Dumbledore. I thought you knew…I thought this was just one of your elaborate lies…there's no way you couldn't have known."
"I…" Hermione looked around her room filled with her hallucinations. They were around much more these days. There were more of them as well. Had this been her brain telling her that she was dying? "I got into the habit of ignoring my body's pain and discomforts."
"Dangerous habit."
"I can't die yet, Belby. There's so much more I need to do."
"You better do them quickly," he told her solemnly. "You don't have a lot of time."
…
AN: AHHHHH Chapter 50! Wow, I can't believe that when I started this story, I genuinely thought I was going to write a cute 30-chapter fic with 3 readers and like maybe 20 comments and call it an achievement.
I couldn't have come this far without all of you and thank you for following this crazy journey this far!
ATM, I think we are at the beginning of what I want to call the final arc. I'm still in the process of finalizing my ideas, so I'm not entirely sure how many more chapters it's going to be exactly before the end, but I just wanted to check in and say thank you to all of you for reading my ridiculously long and heavy fanfic so far.
Love you guys so much!