Tempus Magia
Part One
Chapter 2: Lasagna Chicken
Hermione Granger made a grave error during the final battle that resulted in Remus's death. Working as an unspeakable she spends two years working on a spell using powder from time turners to go back to Remus's greatest hour of need. What if Remus's greatest time of need wasn't in *this* war?
Hermione stood over her sink while she washed and checked her fresh parsley for bugs. She always wanted an herb garden and she was a witch who took seven years of Herbology. There was literally no reason she didn't have an herb garden. Drying the herbs, she set them on the cutting board next to slices of onion, sweet potato, and potato in stasis. She began to chop them into small florets to go in between the layers of vegetables.
Her mother called this chicken recipe 'healthy lasagna.' It had nothing that lasagna had in it, but Hermione and her father were never able to fault her mother in her cooking. Since both of her parents were doctors, they rarely cooked and the Granger family lived on takeaway. Something Hermione promised herself she would never do as an adult.
Funny, how time changed things and a person's priorities.
Hermione thundered down the stairs, her wand swishing violently in front of her. She had never felt so at one with her magic. She was tossing spells without even thinking about it. Gone were the days she overthought everything until she missed the opportunities that were right in front of her.
Hermione was thinking of the Yule ball and when she was contemplating asking Ron out when she heard a strangled cry of heartbreak, that caused her skin to shiver and her hair to stand on end, "HERMIONE!"
She whirled to come face to face with Fenrir Greyback. She fumbled backward, tossing hexes that bounced uselessly off of him. Just like they had when they were in the Forest of Dean about to be dragged off to Malfoy Manor.
Greyback laughed, "Still haven't figured out that only Unforgivables have any effect on werewolves?"
Hermione shot a Ministry issued werewolf jinx at him, he laughed again. "I'm an Alpha, little Granger. Try better."
Hermione moved back as the werewolf advanced hungrily on her. She tripped on something underfoot and stumbled. Greyback's mottled and hairy hand shot out just as a firm hand yanked her out of the way. Professor Lupin put himself between her and cannibalistic lycanthropic wizard.
"Lupin? I was wondering when you were going to show up. Not still mourning your mate are you?"
Professor Lupin roared in a very un-Remus Lupin way. Hermione shuddered in fear. He looked back for only a moment, concern coloring his scarred face. It was in that moment that Greyback charged. He bit into Professor Lupin's arm and yanked him away from in front of Hermione.
The two thrashed, clawed, and bit at each other. The two werewolves blurred and all that could be heard was a cacophony of snarls and tearing flesh. Hermione had never felt more useless in her entire life. She needed to do something. She had to help.
A loud crash came from overhead as an entire section of the castle blew apart. Hermione heard shouts and screams that sounded familiar to her ears. She took a step forward towards the debris but was pushed back by Professor Lupin as the two wolves separated.
"We've done this dance before Lupin. You couldn't win then as a cub and you won't win now."
Greyback feigned jumping to the left and Professor Lupin charged leaving Hermione a clear view at the smirking werewolf. She watched in horror as his stubbly wand finally made an appearance, sending Professor Lupin crashing backward into the wall.
The wall shuddered on impact and he lifted his head, his eyes dazed. Hermione gasped when she saw her beloved Professor's wand clattered uselessly in front of Greyback's feet.
Hermione stepped in between the two. She aimed her wand at Greyback. Her spells were useless, and he was right. Only the unforgivable curses would work on him and stupefy hadn't worked so far. Could she use two of the curses that separated the dark side and the light side?
"It's okay, Hermione." Professor Lupin murmured. Hermione turned back to look at the wizard she had never thought of anything more than a professor and a surrogate uncle to Harry. He was covered in blood and he was missing a chunk in his upper left arm and his right thigh.
Hermione wanted to turn around fully and apply dittany. She was close enough to reach out and touch him but she knew she couldn't. The deadly threat in the form of Greyback was still several feet in front of Hermione and if she stopped to help her Professor they would both be killed.
But her Professor wasn't looking at Greyback. He was gazing at Hermione in a way no one had ever looked at her before. Their eyes met and his changed immediately from a harsh lupine gold to a soft buttery brown. They reminded her of old books, ink filled parchment, and tea that was cold and forgotten in place of reading old manuscripts in front of a waning moon. He smiled softly at her and Hermione felt her heart tug painfully in her chest, just as a jet of green light connected with Remus's chest taking him from the world forever.
"No!"
Hermione jerked her hands off of the cutting board just as blood began to well from her palm. Shit. She cut herself again. Harry was going to be over any minute. Him and his bloody monitoring charms.
She cursed silently to herself as she healed her palm and cleaned the cutting board. She had already cut and set aside most of the parsley, so most of it was salvageable. Hermione was arranging onions and sweet potato in a layer on the bottom of a pan when Harry made his panicked entrance.
"Hermione?! Hermione!"
"I'm in the kitchen. I'm fine," she called calmly as her best friend came bursting into the kitchen, his sweatshirt on backward and his running trousers unzipped. Hermione held up her palm to show the tiny silver scar. "I was cutting parsley and I got… distracted. I'm okay, see."
Harry hurried over and buried her in a hug. "God, Hermione you gave us a scare."
"Us?"
"Ginny was over, I didn't hear my wand go off and Ron Flooed over in a panic. I… Hermione, I can't lose you," he choked tears flooding behind his glasses.
Hermione hugged her friend tightly. She had been in a bad place before she came up with her plan for the Project. She had ended up in Saint Mungos for two weeks after a failed attempt on her life, that was only disrupted because Ron came back to return her things from his flat.
They had broken up several months earlier and he was purging his flat in an attempt to move on. If he hadn't taken Ginny's advice on the purge, Hermione would not be alive today. She knew that. She knew that Ron felt he wasn't allowed to worry about her anymore. He was still her friend, but the breakup had been hard on both of them.
Often she wondered if she hadn't been thinking of Ron and the Yule ball if she would have stumbled into Greyback at all. It was one of the bigger holes in their relationship that had eventually sunk the ship and left her alone on the shore of her misery and self-loathing.
"Harry, I'm okay. I just… I was just making dinner."
"You're cooking?" Harry asked in surprise.
"Why else would I be cutting parsley?"
Harry released her from his bear hug and nodded sheepishly. "A potion?"
Hermione gestured to the diced garlic and parsley in a bowl behind her. "What potion recipe calls for chicken, potatoes, onions, garlic, and parsley?"
"One for vampires? Wait, are you making your mum's chicken not-lasagna dinner?" Hermione smiled and nodded. "Can I stay? I haven't had your chicken in… well never. Ron used to talk about it all the time though."
Hermione flinched.
"You have to get used to talking about him, Hermione. If you want your friendship to survive you have to do more than go to the Weasley Sunday brunch once a month." Hermione had skipped the last several Sundays, the Project had taken precedence.
"I sit next to him," she said as she sprinkled some parsley, garlic, salt, pepper, and paprika over the onions and sweet potatoes in the pan. Harry passed her the regular potatoes and onions and she began to line them up as she had with the sweet potatoes for the second layer. "Besides, I barely ever see him."
"Well, he is the Keeper for the Chudley Cannons now." Harry sprinkled the seasoning mixture over the second layer.
Hermione felt the corner of her lips lift in a genuine smile. "He's off the reserves?"
Harry nodded excitedly as Hermione lay more onions and chicken quarters on top of it. "Yeah, I've never seen him this happy. He really loves it. Ginny's happy he's playing. She scared she's going to have to stop soon."
Hermione handed Harry the remainder of the parsley and garlic, as she put the rest of the spices on the chicken. "Why would she have to stop?"
Harry's cheeks flushed in embarrassment. "We've been… ummm… we want to be parents."
Hermione dropped the bottle of oil she was in the middle of picking up and threw herself in Harry's open arms. "I'm so happy for you Harry. You deserve happiness."
"So do you, Hermione and so does Ron. It would have been nice if you both found it together, but it's okay that you didn't. I just want you both to be happy."
Hermione smiled and let go of Harry while he poured the oil over the chicken. She covered it and put it in the oven. "Tea?"
Harry pushed his spectacles up his nose, "Yes, please."
They took their tea on the couch. Hermione had a formal dining room, not that she ever used it. The room held too many painful memories that she didn't want to resurface every time she ate in there. Ron had wanted to entertain once when they were together, but Hermione had been so vehemently against it that he dropped the subject and never brought it up again.
As if thinking about her kind loving gingered ex, Harry piped up. "You know, he won't talk about what happened between the two of you. Whatever it was, it broke him."
Hermione's eyes widened, "Harry-"
Harry raised his hand and Hermione quieted immediately. "I'm not here to judge Hermione. I love you like a sister and I always will. I just want to make sure you're okay, that you're both okay."
Hermione sipped her tea in silence. Harry's gaze never left her huddled form on the corner of the couch as he sipped his tea. She sighed and put her teacup down. She knew when Harry wasn't going to let something go. "It wasn't his fault, it was mine."
Harry's eyes fell, "Did you… erm… find someone else?"
"No, and I'm offended that you would think that low of me."
Harry set his tea down on the coffee table next to Hermione's. "Sirius told me that people do crazy things when they're weighed down with guilt."
"When?"
"I asked him why he went after Pettigrew. He said that he had just lost his brother and best friend. If Voldemort had been there he would have gone after him as well. He said he wasn't the first Marauder to go crazy like that.
"He said during the war my mum had a good friend. She set her up with Remus and when she was killed the two went… well, he said they made berserkers look friendly."
Hermione remembered Greyback's comment about Professor Lupin's mate. "Who was she?"
"Sirius didn't remember. He said he couldn't remember meeting her because she was a werewolf and was never really around. She lived in my parent's house for a bit. Apparently, they adored her and she used to brew with my mother every Sunday and Wednesday morning. Sirius said she used to sleep in my room before she left for the packs with Remus." Hermione sat quietly.
Professor Lupin had lost so much in his life. He had known so much sadness, it was unfair. Ensuring that Umbridge was given a life sentence for her crimes against wizardkind, mankind, and magical beings were one of Hermione's first goals after the war.
"I'm sorry, Hermione. I shouldn't have brought up Remus. I know you saw him die and-"
"I didn't just see him die."
"What? But Ron said..."
"I'm the reason he's dead. I'm the reason that Teddy-" Hermione tears pooled from her eyes and she shuddered into her meltdown within the safety of Harry's arms.
"Shh… it's okay Hermione. It's okay," he murmured. Hermione's timer on her wand went off, just as a Jack Russell Terrier Patronus came gliding in the room. It looked around the room and when it found them huddled on the couch, it left in a hurry.
"Ron was checking in on you. He still loves you, Hermione. It's just…"
"Different?" Hermione sniffled.
Harry looked down at her. "You know I don't blame you for Remus's death? No one does."
"How could you not? I took the last of your family from you."
"No, Greyback did that. I love you Hermione and- Is something burning?"
"Shit!" Hermione broke free from Harry and ran to the kitchen. The chicken was just salvageable, but only just.
Harry rubbed his full belly and laughed from the living room rug, "Remember the mushrooms in the Forest of Dean?"
Hermione groaned as she fished the last sweet potato and a chunk of garlic out of the pan. "I still can't believe I didn't pack enough food for a year on the run. I honestly didn't think we would be gone that long."
Harry nodded thoughtfully from across her, "Sometimes I wonder why we didn't go to muggle areas and get food from there."
"From a shelter?"
"Yeah."
"I thought of it and I asked Kingsley before the wedding if the Ministry monitored muggle shelters or stores of food and he said they did. We would have been caught."
"Well, glad we took you along. Ron and I would probably have died within the first day." Hermione smiled shyly. "So, are you coming to Teddy's birthday Sunday? Andromeda said she didn't get your response and you're actually in England this year for his birthday..."
"I don't think it's appropriate, Harry. Professor Lupin-"
"Andromeda said if you don't come she'll drag you out of your house. Teddy specifically asked you to be at his party."
"What? Why would he ask that?"
"Because he asks for stories about his parents and he's met almost everyone in the stories that are alive except you. He thinks you don't like him and we told him that you did and that is why you are coming to his birthday party."
Hermione stuttered in shock, "But-"
"He's three Hermione. Buy him a stuffed werewolf and come to the party." Harry dug into his robes and pulled out a rainbow-colored letter. "I brought you an extra invite in case you lost yours."
Hermione winced, she usually ignored her mail. When the pile got too high, she usually incendioed it. "Thanks," she said accepting the invitation.
"Don't forget the stuffed animal." Harry charmed the empty pan clean and sent it back to the kitchen. "Thanks for dinner, Hermione. Anytime you feel like cooking and feeding me, I'll be here."
Hermione nodded and walked Harry to the door. "Good night, Harry. Send regards to Ginny… and Ron."
Harry kissed her cheek and shut the door behind him. Hermione locked it and warded her home from visitors. She checked the clock in the kitchen. It was only seven o'clock. She had plenty of time to work on the Project.
She was the only one who knew about the Project. Not because she didn't trust her friends, but because they didn't understand that she had to right her wrong. She had to save him. If she fixed his mistake maybe her life would right itself. Maybe she wouldn't be so miserable all the time. Maybe if Remus could find happiness with Teddy, maybe Hermione...
Maybe she wouldn't be so miserable like Remus Lupin's entire life had been. The kind and reserved Professor didn't deserve what happened to him and Hermione was for damned sure that she wasn't going to allow Teddy to be subjected to the life that Harry grew up with, that Hermione was struggling with now.
She walked towards her bedroom and unlocked the secret room off of her bedroom. It had been a closet that she enlarged to house her needs for the Project. She left it open behind her knowing that Harry would not return that night.
She had a long night ahead of her and a lot of work to do if she was going to bring Remus back from the dead.
I made chapter aesthetics that can be found on my tumblr, chtalks. Come hang out with me! I have 34 chapters of this story written so as long as I have access to a computer I should be posting semi-regularly. Also, in case anyone was wondering why I haven't updated Bill's Bill, this story is why. It's worth it, I promise. -Chefke