Tempus Magia

Part Two

Chapter 14: What's a Hermione?

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?

Jame's paced nervously outside his mother's guest room. When Lily finished yelling at them for their foolish behavior, they were ushered in for lunch by Flabney. It was only when Lily insisted on checking on Hermione before they ate that they realized something was wrong.

It took the combined efforts of all four of them to bypass Flabney's magic and even then, had Flabney been in his prime James doubted they would have made it passed him. When they got to the bedroom Hermione was in they found mum in a deep psychic connection with the girl.

Given how weak she was after she contained the sand to the orb, James panicked and demanded Flabney remove her. It turned out that it was not easily done and that his mother wanted no one else to know of Hermione's appearance except whoever was already in the house.

Lily closed the door softly behind her as she left the room. Sirius, who had been snoozing on Remus's shoulder on the floor was up and alert. "What happened? Is mum okay?"

Lily sighed, rubbing her aching belly. "I need to sit down. James?"

James scooped his wife up and carried her to their bed. The other marauders joined sitting on the edge of the bed as James massaged her feet and Remus gave her a glass of water.

"She needs to rest. James, I'm concerned about her health. Your mother isn't young and if she catches the Pox, I don't know if she'll be able to fight it."

The room was deafened in silence. It was Sirius who spoke up first, "Mum?"

"She's okay, now but she needs her rest," she repeated. "I have no idea what possessed her to do such an in-depth search of Hermione's mind. She must have been captivated by whatever she saw there. Regardless, we can't have anyone coming in or out of the house while she's unwell and that includes Peter. He's been around his mother and if he brings the virus here…"

Remus stood immediately. James had noticed he was acting weird since they went into the room to get his mother. He stood at the doorway staring at the girl like… well, like how James stared at Lily. "I'm going to send an owl to Peter. I'll tell him not to come over and that Euphemia is unwell. I won't mention…" he cast a wary glance at Hermione. "I won't tell him about her."

Lily nodded and arched her back uncomfortably, "James, I'm so tired."

James nodded and kissed her head, "We'll leave you to rest. Send me a hex if you need something?"

She nodded weakly and slipped into sleep as James dragged a hovering Sirius out of the room. They walked into the hallway where Remus was standing in the doorway to his room gazing at his bed thoughtfully.

The brothers stood on either side of their lupine friend for several moments quietly. Naturally, it was Sirius who broke the silence.

"I wish this witch had never come here. I wish she had stayed wherever she was before, she arrived here." Remus's shoulders tensed but he said nothing. His eyes hadn't left her sleeping form. Lily was insistent that her name was Hermione, but honestly what kind of name was that?

"I don't," replied James simply. He loved his brother but sometimes he missed the bigger point by an entire Quidditch field. Sirius, predictably, whirled on him.

"How can you say that? Mum is severely ill and Lily can barely walk!" Remus growled as Sirius raised his voice. "What's your problem?"

"She is his-" James started.

"Please don't James," Remus said quickly.

"Why?"

Remus sagged against the doorframe he routinely tripped over. "Because the reason I was with Professor Dumbledore and Mad-Eye was that they have a mission for me."

Sirius' eyebrows furrowed suspiciously. "What kind of mission?"

"The type only I can do because of… my condition."

"No," said James and Sirius in unison.

"It's suicide," Sirius added.

"What can I do, Sirius? Our friends are dying daily as his forces grow and get stronger. What can I do? The Order doesn't trust me. I'm a werewolf. Dumbledore thinks that because Alpha Greyback's son bit me, that I will be welcome as some sort of lost son."

"Remus, why are you doing this?" Sirius asked. "You don't-"

"What do you expect me to do, Sirius? Sit around and watch my friends die around me. I'd rather go first. Actually, no. I insist on going first. I grew up alone and unloved and I can't go back to that. It's not living, not really. I won't stay on living while you three go and get yourselves killed fighting him."

"Remus," James said calmly as the girl twitched in her sleep. "No one is getting killed."

Sirius flinched. "I guess you haven't heard then? Caradoc and his entire family were murdered last night." Remus said as if he was simply reciting the weather. Caradoc and his wife Algie were some of Remus's biggest allies in the Order. "They still haven't found Caradoc's body."

James hung his head. How many more would die? How many lives would it take to finally stop them?

Sirius punched the wall. "Do these bloody idiots not realize that Algie and Caradoc were purebloods? They're ruining their own agenda by wiping out the pureblood lines."

James knew it was rhetorical but answered anyway, "Because Sirius, they're evil. Anyway, Remus is avoiding the topic of Hermione and her appearance yesterday and that he should be counting this as a blessing."

A silencing charm went up around the three men. "A blessing? Are you insane?! I'm a fucking werewolf James! What life could she ever have with me?!"

Sirius' eyes widened as he looked from Remus to the bed within the room. "No… she's… she's your mate?"

Remus made a strangled noise. "Please don't start leering, Sirius. It's taking all of my self-control not to go over there and…"

"Mate her?" James smirked at the same time Moony howled. "Okay, we get it. Moony is in love with the unconscious witch and we now have another woman to protect. Sheesh, Sirius are you planning on bringing a bird home anytime soon?"

"Nope," he said his lips popping on the 'P.' "I'm having a bloke faze right now. I plan on merging the blokes with the witches for a couple of months before I go back to just witches exclusively."

The two wizards groaned. Sirius was an actual dog sometimes. Sirius threw his hands up innocently, "What? I thought that would make Moony feel better that I'm more likely to shag Remus than I am to shag his witch over there."

James smiled unable to hold back, "Well as long as you don't go for a twofer…"

Remus canceled the silencing charm, set up monitoring charms on the room and closed the door. He began shooing them away from the room and down the stairs. "Out! Move! Let's go! Out!"

"Sheesh, James get a load of this guy? Ordering me about our house!"

They were ushered into the kitchen while Remus made a pot of tea. The git thought tea fixed everything.

Sirius spent most of the time heckling Remus until Remus silenced him and threatened to put him in a body bind and let Lily paint his nails pink. Sirius shut up immediately.

The sun had just set the next day when Euphemia woke. Lily, who had set the charm called James to help her into the room. Euphemia's eyes were sunken and she looked as if she were older than Dumbledore himself. She most likely was, but that's beside the point.

"Remus, was anyone else told about Hermione's visit here?"

"No, ma'am. We wrote to Peter to tell him to stay away because you were ill but otherwise we have told no one."

"Good," she leaned her head back weakly against the pillows and Remus watched as James and Sirius hovered over her. "I… I saw her memories. All of them."

The words held a weight that made Remus's heart dropped through his stomach. While watching over her today, he had noticed that Hermione had scars all over her body, not just her arm. The scars made him want to shift and fight whoever gave them to her, to death.

Those thoughts led him to forcibly locking himself in the loo until he calmed down. He was Remus John Lupin. He was a pacifist and a lover of the written word. He would never… ever…

"Remus, love." Remus met Euphemia Potter's eyes. "She is your mate, dear but not the one that will bear your child."

The room fell silent immediately. What did that mean? Was something going to happen to Hermione?

Sirius gripped his shoulder tightly. "She will not bear your child because the sands she used to send herself back here with are only temporary. She will leave only once she can save your life and then she will go back to her time."

"Back where?" Lily asked quietly. She was looking at Euphemia the same way she did at school when she knew the answer before the teacher asked.

"The future, my dear. She is a classmate and one of two best friends to Harry James Potter. She came back because Remus saved her life and she could not live with the guilt. I believe she had help, but I do not think she knows of it."

"Merlin," breathed Sirius and James at the same time.

"I will need to speak to each of you privately and each of you will take an unbreakable vow to reveal this to no one. Hermione being here is very delicate and we must ensure that she does not upset the balance, lest she not have a future to go home to."

They each took a vow before Euphemia dismissed them all and called them all back in one by one. Sirius went into the room first. While James went to check on their son's best friend, Lily leaned against Remus.

"Remus?"

"Hmm?"

"She saved James for last and she's been talking to Sirius for over an hour. Do you… Do you think?"

"That much magic would have been too much for a regular witch in her prime. Lily, I'm so sorry." Lily's tears flowed freely down her cheeks and she held onto Remus tightly.

"I'll help you protect her Remus," she vowed. "You two can have all the time together. She can stay and-"

Remus shook his head violently. "Don't you get it? Mating is barbaric. It's animalistic. She should have a choice."

"What if she does? What if she chooses you and that's why she's your mate?"

Remus sighed. "Then she chose wrong. I… Professor Dumbledore asked me to go on a mission. I am going to go."

"Why?"

"Because if I go then she is safe here, she can look after you and Harry. You heard what Euphemia said. Hermione will have to put herself in mortal danger and save my life in order to go back to her time. I..."

"You don't want her to go back to her time?" James finished from behind them. His eyes were rimmed red and Lily opened her arms. James fell into them and Remus's heart ached.

He wanted that. He wanted to want and love and be wanted and loved in return. He didn't want someone who had been forced to go back in time so they could repay some sort of debt out of guilt.

"Remus, is this true?" James asked. Lily and James must have been talking while he spiraled in his own head. "You're leaving for the packs?"

James looked heartbroken. He was going to lose his mother and Remus felt like a shit wizard for leaving. Honestly though, what choice did he have?

If he stayed, he would enslave her with the bond. Or worse, get her killed before sending her corpse to the future where his wife and child would be waiting for him. Euphemia's confirmation that he had a wife proved that he didn't need his mate to live happily.

At that moment, Sirius left the room dry heaving as he dropped into James' arms and sobbed. James sank to the floor and the two brothers grieved their dying mother. She was dying because of Remus.

He could hear Moony howling from within the depths of his darkened soul.

"Remus?" Every bone in his body was begging him to flee, but he walked stubbornly into the room closing the door behind him.

"Mama P?" She motioned for him to sit at the chair by her bed. Euphemia Potter was always full of life and creativity. Whether she was attempting to learn how to knit or play the violin or learn how to play cards, she was always full of energy. Now, she looked frail and something deep inside Remus told him that if he so much as held her hand too tightly, she would snap.

"Oh, Remus. Fleamont and I were so worried about you. We were afraid that you would not live happily, not live a full life. I cannot tell you how happy it makes me, to see that you have two great loves and a son."

"Two?"

"Just because one is not your mate, does not mean you should not let yourself fall in love."

"I don't think I can..."

"Remus, dear. I know you are one of the bravest boys I have ever met. If you need time to wrap your head around this then go, but remember that she chose to come back to save you. No one forced her."

"Yes, but I… I've been dreaming of her." Remus's shoulders shook. What was wrong with him?

"Remus, as a werewolf you are given many unfortunate circumstances but you are also given many gifts. To know who your great love is, well, it's a gift people spend their entire lives looking for. You just figured it out a little earlier."

"But, she has to go back. "

"Yes, she does. I don't think my dear Harry will recover if she doesn't. I must confess, when I realized that I would die before my grandsons birth I forced myself into every one of Hermione's memories. I wanted to see as much of Harry as I possibly could. Even without meeting him I love him so much."

Remus leaned back in the chair. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I would never have got to meet my grandson otherwise. Thank you, Remus."

"Thank you?" He motioned to the witch on her deathbed. "This is my fault! James and Sirius are going to lose their mum because of me!"

Euphemia lifted one hand and smoothed his hair out of his face. "No, love. Death is part of life, as life is part of death. Remus, as a dying woman, I need to ask a witch's last request of you."

Remus hung his head.

"I am not asking you to stay. I am asking you to come back for her. If Hermione does not save your life in the month of June, she will not be able to go back to the future. I've done the calculations, her charm will not outlast the sixth month of her stay here. My Harry, my sweet loveable Harry won't be able to handle losing her. Promise me that you will let her go back."

Remus hung his head. Did she know what she was asking of him? She was asking him to lose his mate. Ever since he first breathed in her scent, every breath he took was of her. He thought of her, worried about her, and worst of all, he dreamed of her.

He dreamed of her nails scratching his back while she writhed beneath him. He dreamed of her cries when she came inside him. Above all, he dreamed of marking her. A werewolf's marking ceremony was a pretty simple one. It was a magical marriage between a mate and a werewolf that marked all of her cubs to be only his and vice versa. Their children would not be werewolves but a cross between werewolves and an animagus.

Sending her back meant giving up on that dream of the two of them. He would eventually settle down with someone else, while Hermione would be born, then grow up and go to school with James' son. She would grow up like a niece to him and he would feel like a leper, a creep. He would still have thoughts of her, but she would not be his to claim or even think of.

"Remus?"

"Do you understand what you are asking of me?"

"Yes and I already asked Sirius, but I need to make sure that no one mentions to Hermione that we know she is from the future. I don't think she will confide in us, out of fear of damaging the timeline. I also don't want anyone to tell her of me. She is already very hard on herself and I don't want her to blame herself."

The idea of lying to his mate repeatedly made his stomach physically sick like he was a boat trying to stay afloat in harsh and choppy seas. "This is so much to ask, I don't know if I could let her go once I…"

"Then don't but she must go back, Remus."

"Why?"

"We cannot ruin the-"

"Fuck the timeline!" Remus bolted out of his chair and began to pace the room like the caged animal he was. "You're asking me to give up my mate before I've even met her properly."

Euphemia sighed. "Harry has two best friends. The other friend is a boy named Ronald. He has a younger sister named Ginevra."

"Why the fuck do I care about those obviously Prewett sounding names?!"

"Ginevra is Harry's wife."

Remus froze. "What?"

"I believe Harry to be twenty-one when Hermione left. Ginevra is newly pregnant and if Hermione does not return I believe Ginevra and Ronald will be blamed for Hermione's tumble through time. Harry will lose his wife, his child, and his two best friends in one stroke."

Remus felt his throat go dry. It would be the equivalent of Remus losing the Marauders and Lily all at once. It was not something he could bring himself to do. "I…"

"Harry is the end goal, Remus. Everything comes down to Harry."

"And what about Hermione? Where does that leave her?!"

Euphemia scoffed and righted the chair with a flick of her fingers. "She's the brightest witch of the age. Not even twenty-two and they have already offered the Head of the Department of Mysteries."

Remus gaped and collapsed in the chair again. "Now, I know that you're making things up. That's not even impossible."

"No really, I saw into her mind. I wasn't just looking at Harry. James tells me I was in her mind for sixteen hours, dear. Honestly, if I could I would spend longer. She is nothing short of brilliant. Do you know how she came back?" Remus shook his head. "She mixed old Wiccan magic and regularly practiced magic and created acharm. She turned the most complicated area of magic into a simple ruddy charm. I worked as an Unspeakable. I'm baffled by most of what she did and she did it all in under two years, while working a full-time job, losing her parents, and breaking up with her boyfriend. Honestly, I feel extremely under-accomplished."

Remus chuckled. "She's intimidating."

"And ruthlessly loyal and loving. She'll fight to the death for those she loves."

Remus stood and said his vow with tears leaking down his eyes. His heart felt like it was actually cracking down the middle and deep within himself, Moony was howling in pain that was much worse than his transformations.

He was getting everything he had ever wanted but was also losing in the same stroke he had received it in. How could it hurt this bad to lose something he didn't really have in the first place?

"Trust her to rescue you, Remus," she said as he made for the door. Remus needed to cover his heart in steel. He needed to get away. He needed to run from these feelings, from the hurt.

"Trust her?" Remus said incredulously as he thrust the door open. His wolf was feral, fighting and biting within him. Moony knew what he was going to do and was fighting to stay behind with his mate. Lucky for Remus, Moony wasn't in control or he'd curl up on the edge of his witch's bed and watch over her while she slept.

As it was he felt like he was going to be sick if he stayed in this house another minute. He was going to owl Dumbledore and leave tonight before Hermione even woke up. He couldn't have her just to lose her. He needed a clean break. Turning back to Euphemia he said coldly, "I don't even know her."

He stalked passed Lily, Sirius, and James who were sitting down on the floor holding each other's hands. Lily stood to hurry after him, but Euphemia called her in.

He rushed passed Hermione's room holding his breath so he wouldn't breathe her scent in. He flew down the stairs with inhuman speed while sending a Patronus to Dumbledore. It was faster than sending an owl.

He was fastening a borrowed cloak at the front door when Sirius and James came pounding down the steps. "Remus, where are you going? Sirius thinks mum won't last the night."

James stepped backward when Remus turned to face him. He wasn't sure what his face looked like and he didn't want to know. Sirius squared his shoulders and growled in response. No one threatened a Grim.

"I have a mission for Dumbledore and I cannot wait. The full moon is in twelve days and I can't show up the day before the moon. If the pack doesn't trust me I'll be hunted and eaten once the moon changes us."

Sirius' shoulders dropped instantly and James' faces were doused with remorse. "Don't go, Remus. Sirius and I will figure out something else."

"Are either of you planning on becoming werewolves anytime soon?"

"Remus be reasonable!" Sirius snapped.

"I am," his eyes were dark. "The only way for the witch to return to the future is for her to not have anything to do with me until it's time for her to return. I can't keep her and if I can't keep her, I'm not going to stay either."

"You're joking, right? You finally find the witch you are supposed to be with and you're throwing her away ?!" Sirius thundered.

"No, Sirius. I'm saving her." Remus turned and left the house apparating from the front gardens. He wasn't sure he ever wanted to return to this house. It was a house of love and life for Sirius but for Remus, it was a house of loss and heartbreak. At that moment in time, he would have been happy to never return.