Tempus Magia

Part Two

Chapter 17: Potions and Potter Cottage

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 remained in bed for the rest of the weekend with mostly Lily to keep her company. James bothered her for details about Illevemory, which she thankfully had down pat from the Amanda Creswell, an American Transfer in the Death Chamber.

She had also met a younger Sirius Black. He was devastatingly handsome and Hermione's heart physically hurt thinking of the amount of trauma and terror he was going to be on the receiving end of within the next twenty years. Given his looks, general charm, and the fact that she saw him checking her out, she was grateful she was able to walk to the loo on her own.

Sirius kept her company when Lily, who apologized profusely left for her Sunday morning brewing with a friend. The Black heir was funny and light and Hermione barely recognized him from the older bitter and jaded Sirius.

They were playing Exploding Snap when James came home from what Hermione assumed was an Order meeting. James brought pizza with him and the three ate on her bed in mostly silence. When they were done James vanished the mess and lay back flat on his back, staring at the ceiling.

Hermione was just coming out of the bathroom when they started to talk. Hermione took a seat at the desk in the corner, as the two had completely taken over her bed.

"Sirius?"

"Yeah?"

"There's a mission in Scotland. They need two of us to go for three weeks. Albus wants me and you to go."

Sirius sat up. "Did you tell him why you can't leave Lily?"

James buried his back deeper in the bed. "Yeah, he reminded me that everyone in the room had families. The mission is supposed to help us guard two muggleborn and squib families that are currently a target of the Death Eaters. Two of the children are not even in Hogwarts yet."

Sirius buried his head in his hands. "I'll talk to Dumbledore. See if I can go instead of you."

"Albus was adamant that two people were needed. The squib family and one of the muggleborn families live on the same block, but the other family lives too far for one person to be of any use. I mean, Sirius what if someone attacks the house while we're gone? The baby-"

Hermione scoffed. As if she would let anyone attack Harry or Lily. Lily felt as close as Ginny ever had and she would be damned if anything hurt either of them.

"I'll keep them both safe."

Sirius had the audacity to laugh. Hermione wandlessly and nonverbally transfigured him into his animagus form and rolled him in the carpet, snarling. James stared at her, one eyebrow raised in intrigue.

"Your point has been made. How about you let Sirius go before he actually hurts you. The blokes terrified of closed spaces."

Hermione's sank and she released Sirius apologizing profusely. The wizard was pissed but after James calmed him down, he was retreated into himself brooding silently. Hermione felt terrible and apologized as often as she could, until during a game of wizarding chess in the living room when Sirius asked her to stop.

"Listen, Hermione, I get it you're some tough American secret agent but that doesn't mean we are going to trust you with Lily or Harry's life. I know Lily adores you, but I still don't-"

"Trust me." Hermione finished. "Let me prove it to you."

James sat up from the living room couch. His brows furrowed.

"How exactly do you plan on doing that?" Sirius retorted taking James' knight on the board.

"Disarm me," she replied simply.

"Okay."

"Absolutely not!"

James and Sirius glared at each other. Hermione rolled her eyes, she often forgot that it was the eighties. Chivalry was not quite dead yet.

"She's an agent James, she's trained to fight."

"She was injured getting here. She needs to rest!"

"She's been resting for over a week and we have to leave any day! We need to make sure that if something happens while we're gone-"

"There are wards on the house!"

"Petey said the wards have been acting funny lately! It wouldn't let him in, but then it let Alice in when she dropped off the potions!"

The two continued to argue and Hermione, in her infinite wisdom, silently disarmed them both. She had not expected them to get into a brawl. Judging by the wary look on Lily's face when she came home it wasn't the first time they got into a physical altercation either.

"Enough! Hermione, you look so much better dear." Lily hugged her in greeting, ignoring her husband and his friend.

"Thanks," Hermione noticed a bag in Lily's arm. She quirked an eyebrow and Lily grabbed her by the arm and whisked her up the stairs and into her bedroom.

"So, there's this witch's breakfast luncheon tomorrow and I want you to come with me. It's to honor witch's who brew for nonprofits."

"Oh, but I haven't-" she started, knowing enough of Lily at this point that once she got something in her mind there was little to nothing to stop her from achieving her goal. Just like Harry, she thought fondly.

"You can start on Wednesday with me and Pandora if you'd like? We brew every Sunday and Wednesday. We can use all the help we can get. On Sunday we brew for Saint Mungos and Wednesday we brew for the WSAA. It's the Witch's Support for Abuse Anonymous."

Hermione knew of it, she donated galleons to it every year. There were rumors that Narcissa Malfoy was one of the biggest anonymous patrons of it in the future. She couldn't imagine Lucius Malfoy allowing her to spend so much as half a knut on it.

Hermione nodded. "I've heard of both of them. It would be my pleasure. I am supposed to be anonymous though…"

"We can dye your hair blonde and your eyes green, like mine. We'll tell everyone you're a distant relative of James that came to visit."

Hermione really did want to go, but it was irresponsible. She was in a different time and should be keeping a low profile.

"I know you want to go!"

"I'm supposed to be keeping a low profile, Lily."

"There should be only ten witches there, max twelve." Lily put the bag down on her bed and looked up at Hermione with big pleading puppy dog eyes. It was something Harry did when he needed help with an assignment. Hermione had never been able to refuse Harry, why start now?

"I have been really cooped up…."

Lily squealed excitedly and opened the bag. She drew out a cerise pink dress with buttons that trailed beneath a low neckline. Well, low for the eighties at least. There was a band around the waist that gathered neatly in the back and tied together into a small bow. It was a beautiful dress, but what captivated her most were the sleeves. They were were short, stopping at halfway to the elbow. They were cut out geometrically that gave the overall classic dress, a modern look.

"Ooh! I knew you would like it! I saw it in London a few weeks ago, but I could never pull off this color. You know my hair…" Hermione touched the material. She had no idea what it was made of but based off of the cut and the material alone, it was definitely expensive.

"Lily, I need to pay you back."

Lily was summoning different bracelets from her vanity and shoes from her closet. "Nonsense, James has more money that the two of us could ever spend. Besides, now I get a date to this impossibly boring event," she declared happily.

Hermione slipped out of her jeans and t-shirt and slipped the dress on, while Lily had her back turned. The agreed on three white chunky bangles and matching earrings and were working on shoes when James and Sirius walked in.

"Wow, Hermione you look lovely." James smiled. "And Lily, what may I ask are you wearing tomorrow?"

Hermione noticed that James knew where the two of them were going and that he wasn't surprised that Lily had bought her the dress. She also noticed that Sirius was noticeably silent.

Lily shrugged, "Not sure, but I promise you can peel it off of me when I get home. Sound good?"

Hermione snorted.

"I'll see myself out," she said delicately. James and Lily weren't even listening anymore. They were gazing into each other's eyes. Hermione hurried from the room before they started… whatever they were going to do with her still in there.

Sirius held the door open for her as she left. She thought about taking a shower and turning in for the night early but turned the idea down. She had a better one.

"Sirius?"

"Yes," he replied tightly.

Hermione looked at him with concern. Had she done something wrong?

"Umm, I wanted to know if you wanted to practice duel with me in the basement." Hermione ran a hand through her hair nervously. Why was Sirius acting weird? "Now, I mean. I mean you don't have to if you don't want to…"

Sirius nodded. "You should probably change."

Hermione looked down at the dress she was still wearing. "Oh, right. God, I'm wearing two different shoes."

One bright blue ballet flat and one gold strappy sandal, to be exact. Neither was ideal since it was the middle of January, but Lily insisted that warming and protection charms were made for a reason. Apparently, fashion was more of a necessity than Auror stakeouts, which was Hermione had primarily thought they were used for.

Hermione walked towards her room to change. Sirius was standing at the top of the stairs looking like he wanted to hit something.

"Hermione?"

"Yeah?"

"Wear the blue ones," he replied before retreating down the stairs without another word.

Hermione changed quickly wondering what that was about. She had forgotten her clothes in Lily's room so she pulled something of Remus' out of his drawers and shrunk it to fit. She hoped he didn't just show up one day, while she was wearing his clothes. It would make for an awkward talk while she was snuggling in one of his warm sweaters.

Hermione dashed to the stairs and down them, shielding her ears from her host's lovemaking noises. Hermione gagged as she walked towards the kitchen and open the pantry walking inside. She tapped a tin from the third shelf with her wand and watched as a door appeared on the wall.

She loved magic.

Sirius was running laps downstairs and Hermione stood at the base of the stairs watching him. He looked angry, but he was probably still upset about the carpet thing.

"Are you gonna stand there or are we going to do this?"

Hermione stepped forward, suddenly nervous. She had a feeling he wasn't going to go easy on her.

She was right.

Hermione could barely walk the next morning. Hermione was a good dueler, but she wasn't Auror level. Sirius was. She wondered if Harry could take Sirius down in a duel, she doubted it.

"How long were you two dueling for?" Lily asked as they walked away from the apparition point.

She was wearing a short royal purple dress with capped sleeves and small bows. The gold shoes Hermione had discarded were recycled by Lily along with other gold accents she had turned down in favor of the white theme she had going on. They both wore cloaks with warming charms over their dresses.

"No idea, how long were you two going at it for?" she retorted.

Lily smirked. "What? James has stamina… Almost stag like I would say."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "You two are gross."

Lily chuckled as they approached a small white house covered in ivy. "Okay, how is my hair? Mary is a stickler about hair."

"Fine?"

"Why are you asking me?" Lily asked nervously.

"It looks lovely. Now, let's go. I'm freezing my toes off."

"Okay, Okay."

"Remind me whose house we're going to again?"

"Mary Mungos. Her family owns Saint Mungos and I want to work there after I get my Healership so…"

"I'll be on my best behavior."

Lily rolled her eyes, "There's a reason she hasn't met James yet."

Hermione was still chuckling as a tall stern woman opened the door. She was almost taken back at how much she looked like Neville's grandmother. "Miss Evans, welcome."

"Hello Mary, this is Hermione Peverell. She is a distant cousin of my husband's and is visiting. She'll be helping with the brewing."

"Good, we need help. Now, get inside and out of the cold. You'll catch the chill."

They clambered into an ostentatiously decorated house. Hermione followed Lily and gave her cloak to a house elf before following another elf to the sitting area.

"Is she usually this grumpy?" Hermione whispered.

"It's her personality."

"She should meet Mad-Eye. They'd be a match made in heaven," Hermione blurted out. She mentally kicked herself. She wasn't supposed to know who Mad-Eye Moody was!

Lily laughed. "Please don't suggest it. We can barely handle one of them. I'm not sure what the wizarding world would do if the two started breeding."

They were greeted by eleven other witches in the living room. They talked about brewing and gossip, mostly. Hermione kept quiet. The less of an impression she made, the better.

"Lily, is Pandora coming?" asked a particularly nosy witch with a humongous violet hat and humongous nose.

"I believe so," Lily replied. "She mentioned she needed to help Xeno with the paper but she would be coming after."

The witch sitting next to the 'Large Nose' witch muttered to herself. "That newspaper is a waste of paper."

"Cassandra!" the room shook with disapproving bristles.

"What?" Cassandra responded. "Pandora could have done much better for herself. It was utter stupidity that she tied herself to the Lovegood fellow."

Hermione felt her anger rise. No one insulted Luna.

She was about to open her mouth when Lily gripped her fingers.

"Mrs. Parkinson, if you don't like one of our best brewers than you are more then welcome to see yourself out." Mary had finally arrived from her duties at greeting at the front door. Behind her, Pandora Lovegood smiled in a red jumper that Hermione was sure she had seen Luna wearing.

"Hello," she said dreamily. "I'm sorry I'm late. Xeno was interviewing a centaur for the Quibbler and he would only speak to a woman."

"Why would he only speak to a woman?" Hermione asked. The room turned to stare at her and she realized that she had spoken out loud.

"Hello Hermione, I'm Pandora but you already knew that." Hermione blushed noticing that Pandora did not answer her question.

The meeting was fairly quick and Hermione found herself enjoying the Potions talk. It was clear that Mary had no patience for gossip and Hermione wondered if she stood at the door as long as she did so that she wouldn't have to participate in it.

"Thank you all for your contributions. Miss Hermione will be staying with Lily and will help her with the brewing processes and drop off to the WSAA. Any questions?"

The meeting ended and the witches split off into groups to talk amongst themselves. Lily and Pandora were talking amongst themselves, confirming lunch plans at Lily's.

They thanked Mary and took their leave. Snow was starting to fall and Hermione shivered.

"Hermione and I put up a stew this morning. You'll love it Pandora."

They apparated to the cottage and walked into the house to the sound of shouting. Sirius and James were standing in front of each other, their noses inches apart. Their faces were red and it sounded as if they were arguing for a while.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me Padfoot!"

"I don't exactly have a choice, Prongs!"

"Of course you have a fucking choice!"

"Rich, coming from you!"

Lily hung up her cloak, "Will you two stop shouting? We have company!"

They both sprang apart and Sirius stormed into the kitchen and headed towards the Pantry. Hermione had a feeling he was going to break the dueling dummy irreparably. Pandora smiled and waved at James, but for some reason, Hermione had a feeling she was intruding.

"Lily, I had some of your stew and it was delicious," he said dropping a kiss on her head.

"Yeah, I'm sure that's what you were arguing about."

"Sirius is just worried about leaving you three behind. Albus just owled."

Lily paled. "When do you leave?"

"Tomorrow," Hermione escorted Pandora into the kitchen while Lily fretted over her husband.

Pandora sat while Hermione gave her a bowl of beef and barley stew. It was warm and Hermione wondered if Sirius had anything to eat. Most likely, not.

Excusing herself, she took a bowl into the pantry with a slice of bread and a bottle of whiskey on a tray. Sirius had very simple eating habits. Protein to keep his muscles up, whiskey to get him through the day, and bread to soak up the whiskey.

She could hear loud bangs and pants from heavy breathing from the top of the stairs. She descended silently, noting that the room was dark and that Sirius was sitting at the foot of the stairs surveying the destruction of the room.

"I thought you already said your piece James," he said without turning around.

"I'm not James," Hermione replied softly.

Sirius stood quickly. "What do you want?" he asked roughly.

"For you to stop being rude to me, someone to kill Voldemort, and a good book. Since I won't be getting any of those today, I'll settle for feeding you."

She handed him the tray and turned to go back up the stairs. "I'm not rude to you."

Hermione rolled her eyes and turned around. "Yes, you are but I'm not going to debate it with you. You don't have to like everyone you meet. It's fine."

She hurried back up the stairs and sat down with Pandora. They ate their lunch, ignoring the fact that there was an unnatural silence coming from the living room and that Lily had yet to return.

Despite the circumstances, Hermione found that she really liked Pandora. While Pandora wasn't big on mythical or imaginary creatures like Luna was, she was a brilliant potioneer and if Hermione was right, a seer.

She laughed at her impression of Professor Trawlaney and smiled when Hermione explained her aversion to divination. "Well, if you had a charlatan as a teacher that would explain your distaste. Besides, you're a more practical witch. You're better suited for a life as an Unspeakable than reading tea leaves to predict the future."

Hermione laughed without humor. Oh, the things she could tell her about the future.

"I enjoyed talking with you today, Pandora. It's been a bit boring with just Lily and the boys."

"Yes, I shall see you tomorrow." Pandora took her to leave through the backdoor in the kitchen. Hermione who had been practicing cooking with Lily pulled the chicken out that was meant for dinner. Waving her wand, she summoned the spices needed.

Lily and James went up to their room and only surfaced shortly for dinner. Hermione ate alone at the table with a book. Chicken with rice and beans. It wasn't fancy but it wasn't undercooked or overcooked, so Hermione was counting it as a success.

Hermione knew how to cook several dishes in the regular way non-magical way. She never had someone in the magical world to teach her how to cook with magic and she was pleased that Lily was able to fill that hole.

After dinner, she went up to her room and showered before bed. She slept in one of Remus' pajama shirts every night. It calmed her and helped her stay grounded. Helped remind her, why she came back to the past.

She was about to pluck another book from the shelf when she saw Sirius leaning against the wall. He smelled of Ogden's and his eyes were dark and stormy. There was a struggle going on, but then again he was Sirius Black. There was always an internal struggle going on.

"Er, Sirius?" His brow furrowed when she spoke and she wondered if she had done something wrong. "Do you need some-"

The rest of her sentence was muffled when Sirius pulled her close and pressed his lips against hers. She squeaked and stood in shock as his lips pried hers open.

Rough callused hands were threading themselves through her hair, snagging on her curls making her shiver deliciously. Her own hands were pressed against his chest but she couldn't get a coherent thought out, let alone push him away. His tongue explored her mouth with such deft precision that her brain exploded and then shorted out entirely.

Losing all grip on reality was the only reason she could give for gripping the material of her best friend's godfather shirt and pull him harder against her. He groaned into her mouth as his hands traveled down to her arse.

Picking her up, he slammed her against the wall roughly. Ron had never been this rough with her, neither had Viktor. She loved it. She needed it.

She wrapped her legs wrap around his waist, rotating her hips on him. He groaned and cursed, letting go of her arse. She panicked and leaned closer to him. His arms slid up her bare legs and brushed the lines of her knickers.

"Sirius?" she whispered.

"Mmm…"

"What are we doing?"

His eyes brightened as if he had just realized he was in her room. "Fuck. Hermione. I shouldn't have…. Fuck."

Hermione felt as if someone had dumped a bucket of cold water over her head. She unlocked her legs from the base of his back and he lowered her to the floor without looking at her. He fixed his shirt and fled the room without a word or sparing her a glance.

She stood in the same spot for a long time after he left, tears leaking down her cheeks. She crawled into bed, her book completely forgotten in place of her tears.

Sirius was leaving tomorrow with James. He was probably just bored. That's all it was.

Sirius leaned against the wall next to the door in his room, punching it repeatedly. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"

Remus was never going to forgive him. He would be cast out like Walburga had cast him out of his family. Regardless of what he told everyone, he had not run away from home. He had been abandoned and left on the streets. The Potters had taken him in.

He was going to be alone again.

All because he fell in love with the kind witch, who laughed easily and remembered the little things. Like, how he didn't like salt in his soup or chicken but on his pizza. Sirius slid down the wall miserably. He needed to get away from her. He needed to bury himself in other witches.

He grabbed the bottle from his nightstand and made for the door. He was going to bury himself in as many witches as he could possibly find and then he was going to look for a place with Petey. He needed to get away from her smell, from her laughter, and from her.

He raced out of the house and passed Lily and James who were holding hands in the kitchen.

"Sirius?"

"Padfoot?"

He didn't stop. He ran until he was past the wards and he apparated to the first bar he could think of. That night it was the first of many.

Halfway across the country, Moony woke up snarling.