Tempus Magia
Part Two
Chapter 18: The Consequences of Taking What's Not Yours
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 didn't see Sirius the next morning. The two witches said goodbye to James in their pajamas and Hermione promised the concerned wizard she would look after his family. James looked at her seriously and nodded.
Lily cried while she ate breakfast and Hermione only convinced her to get dressed because they had to go to the Lovegoods to brew.
Hermione went back up to her room and dressed. It took longer than usual because she kept looking back to the spot where Sirius…
She shook the memories and worse, the feelings away. She wanted to hide under the blankets and not come out.
Sighing she removed her t-shirt in favor of Remus' sleeping shirt. She felt like she was failing the day and it had barely started. Logically, she knew that Sirius and James would be fine but it was still scary.
Hermione hurried down the stairs, Lily was wearing James' embroidered Christmas sweater. It had a deer on it and had the mood been lighter, she would have laughed at the pun.
"Are you ready?"
The two Flooed to the Lovegoods where three cauldrons were set up.
"Is Molly not coming?" Lily sniffled.
"No, she's not feeling well. She's having a difficult pregnancy." Hermione almost laughed. Good to know Ron was difficult from the get-go.
They started through their list of potions that were needed for donations at Saint Mungos and the overall haul at WSAA. Hermione worked primarily on the WSAA potions. She enjoyed the brewing and was glad that she could put Sirius out of her mind.
The witches chatted amongst each other as they cut, diced, and stirred. Lily's mood improved but Hermione could see she was still affected by her husband's departure.
Hermione was finishing a strong batch of bruising paste while Lily and Pandora finished lunch. Not for the first time, she found herself gazing at a calendar. She was in the middle of January. She was probably about four months old and living happily with her parents in Hampstead.
Losing her parents had been one of the most difficult things she had ever been through. It was far worse than being tortured by Bellatrix or losing so many friends in the war. They were her parents.
She looked down to her glamoured wrist. She was wearing Luna's bracelet again. She had accidentally brought it back with her and being the only thing that she brought back, she treated it like a talisman. It was her connection to the future.
"Hermione?" Pandora called. Hermione dropped her wrist and looked up. "Is the paste done?"
Hermione checked her wand timer. "Just. I'm on my way."
Pandora smiled kindly and returned to the kitchen Hermione had visited in 1997. It was decidedly cleaner and more organized. Any trinkets were stowed away neatly and there were pretty plants hanging from the windows. The room had a homey feel that Hermione imagined the Hufflepuff common room looked like.
"Are you okay, Hermione?" Lily asked. "You're a bit distracted today."
"Yeah," she replied taking a bite of her sandwich. "I'm just tired."
Lily nodded. "We'll turn in early tonight."
Pandora who was drinking lemonade, put her cup down. "Lily, why don't you take Hermione with you to WSAA today? This way she can make the drop-offs on her own in the future. You can visit the Little Princess after."
Lily nodded and the two eyed each other meaningfully. There was obviously a nonverbal conversation going on that Hermione was not privy to. Usually, she would be annoyed but today she was emotionally drained.
"Okay, are you ready to drop the potions off? Pandora will take the Saint Mungos haul."
Hermione finished her sandwich in one bite and nodded. They bottled all of the potions and put them in a special briefcase designated for holding potions specifically.
The WSAA looked like a regular building. If Lily had not pointed it out, Hermione would have passed it without sparing it a second glance. To think it was the last place of hope for some women made Hermione nervous as she crossed the threshold.
The inside looked almost like a dermatologist's office that Hermione had visited during her early teen years. There was a small light colored reception room adorned with flowers. A waterfall stood proudly behind the receptionist's desk, separating reception from a long hallway of private rooms.
"Good morning, Lily."
"Good morning Alice." Hermione focused in on Alice Longbottom. She recognized her from the Order of the Phoenix picture. Her hair was long and Hermione wondered when the picture was taken.
"You're off today?"
"Yeah, Moody give me off on Wednesdays and Frank on Thursday being the prick he is." Lily chuckled. "Who's your friend?"
"This is Hermione. She's a relative of James. She's going to be doing the drop-offs for a bit." Alice nodded and took the briefcase from them.
The two were leaving the building just as a heavily cloaked woman walked through the front doors, clutching her stomach. She collapsed and Hermione caught her long enough to glance at her face.
"Narcissa," she breathed.
Her face was smeared with blood and her face was mottled in bruising that was in different shades of purple. "Get a Healer!" Hermione called.
Alice was scrambling and shouting but all Hermione was aware of was the blood pooling at her feet. She looked down and without being asked lowered Narcissa to the ground and pulled open her robes. Her belly was swollen, but only just.
Hermione suddenly had a terrible thought. Draco Malfoy's birthday was in June.
Shite.
"Hold on, Ma'am." Narcissa gurgled blood as it came up from her mouth. Hermione cast spells and incantations she knew had not been invented yet, in an effort to save Draco's life.
Narcissa lost consciousness, just as Hermione closed the last of her major wounds. Hermione leaned back just as Lily pulled her away. Narcissa was whisked away by a team of bustling Healers.
"Damn," Alice said handing her a bottle of water. "Hermione that was impressive. What did you say you did for a living?"
Hermione thought of Voldemort and the war. "I didn't."
Lily dragged her out after that. She practically carried her the three blocks they walked to a cleverly named pub called The Little Princess. The pub actually looked like a tea parlor except the tea was all in code.
Hermione got sloshed while responsible and pregnant Lily took on the role as the designated apparition buddy. The pub actually took your wand away if you ordered certain drinks. Hermione laughed at the witch when she tried. Lily offered to hold onto her wand and an agreement was reached.
When they finally made it home, Hermione could barely stand. She was singing a song that Ron had made up about Viktor Krum.
Oh, Bulgaria my heart beats for you,
When you win the World Cup
Viktor you fly like an angel
I LOVE BULGARIA
Lily giggled, "That song doesn't rhyme."
"No," Hermione giggled back. "Of course it doesn't. Ron made it up. He couldn't find a rhyme if it buried itself up his arse."
Lily laughed as she collapsed on the couch next to Hermione. "What's Ron like?"
"Sweet. Kisses like feathers though."
"Feathers?"
"Yeah, light and sweet. The boy takes no control and only wants to talk about Quidditch and Harry."
"Harry?"
Hermione smiled. "Yeah, he and Ginny are going to have a baby."
"Ginny?"
"Ron's sister. They're married. Annoyingly sweet like you and James." Lily beamed. "Except you never did it on my counter while I was in the loo and I haven't walked in on you almost two nineteen times, so I guess a bit different."
Lily grimaced. She mentally chastised her son and then realized that she and James had in fact done it on the counter in the kitchen the night before.
"What does Ginny look like?"
"Like you, but she has freckles. Really I think she looks more than Arthur than Molly."
Holy Shit! Ginny is a Weasley?! Molly finally got her girl!
"Oh. What does she do?"
"Something for the Holyhead Harpies. Harry said she's going to take a break once they get further pregnant." Hermione giggled. "He's gonna go on desk duty once she gets further. Doesn't want to be on a mission once she goes into labor."
Lily paled. Her son was an Auror.
"Harry doesn't like Quidditch?"
Hermione laughed. "Youngest Hogwarts Seeker in a century, he started in our first year. Bloody good too. Drove Professor Snape bonkers that Slytherin kept losing the cup to us."
Professor Snape?! Severus hated children!
"Lily?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm tired."
"Why don't you lay down on my lap?"
"Okay," Hermione murmured sleepily. "Lily?"
"Yes?"
"I'm sorry I came back in time and mucked up your life," Lily's heart stopped. "I was trying to get everything together. I just wanted to save Remus's life. He died to save mine you see..."
Whatever else Hermione said was cut off by her apparent need to sleep.
Lily felt the air leave her lungs. Someone was going to kill Remus, or was Remus was going to die protecting Hermione? She wasn't sure.
Hermione was the same age as Harry, so it wouldn't be for at least a decade, right?
Her thoughts were drowned out by a howl outside of the cottage. Lily looked out the window to see the full moon hovering over their house ominously. She cringed and began shaking Hermione. "Hermione, you need to get up."
A second howl roused Hermione from her sleep but only barely. She dropped Hermione's head on the couch and drew her wand. She approached the window and froze when she found herself looking into the bright yellow eyes of a werewolf.
She screamed and in an instant, Hermione was fully awake and yanking her away from the window. She shielded Lily with her body and Lily heard her murmur something about, "Harry." The werewolf stared at them with startling wide bright luminescent eyes, as the two witches backed away from the window slowly. There was another howl in the distance and Lily began to panic.
There was a pack of wolves descending on her house! James hadn't even been gone for a day! "How did it get past the wards?"
"Pretty sure that's Remus," Hermione slurred.
Lily forgot that she was still drunk. Shit. "How can you tell?"
"He changed by mistake in our third year. Sirius saved us. Fuck. My best friend's godfather kissed me and I think I liked it."
"WHAT?!" she screeched.
The werewolf- Remus whimpered and she remembered that canines had sensitive hearing. Hermione flicked her wrist and summoned her wand. She could do wandless and wordless magic, while she was pissed?
"You might want to hold on Mama Potter," Hermione said as she gripped her waist.
"What? Hermione, you're drunk you are not apparat-"
One moment they were standing in the living room and the next minute, they were in a dimly lit bedroom with stars on the wall and a crib in the corner.
Lily ran a diagnostic. Harry was fine. She wasn't splinched.
"Lily?" Hermione was on the ground and looking green.
"Hermione?"
"I think I'm gonna be sick."
"Given how much you drank and just apparated us, I'd be surprised if you weren't." Lily looked around what was clearly a little girl's room. "Hermione? Where are we?"
"Home," then she puked and passed out underneath a large H and picture of a small gummy tot smiling. Lily cast several charms and found the house to be empty.
Lily set up wards to alert her if there were any disturbances and lay down next to her friend and let exhaustion take her.
James was getting sick of Sirius' silent treatment. "Sirius, I'm not going to apologize for telling you to back off of Hermione. I'm certainly not going to apologize for sobering you for the mission."
Sirius had been quiet and pale ever since his drunken stupor had worn off. He didn't answer, just continued checking on his monitoring and shielding wards.
"So you're going to ignore me, now? Real mature."
"I spoke to Petey this morning. He found a flat in Knockturn."
"You're shitting me, right?" James patience was thin and Sirius was not helping. He missed Lily like hell and even Hermione, a little. "I tell you to lay off of Remus' fucking mate and you decide to move out? Are you withdrawing from being Harry's godfather, as well?"
Sirius flinched and kept his eyes trained on his shoes, "I made a mistake last night. I was drunk and I-"
James' eyes widened. "No. Tell me you're not that stupid."
"It was an accident. I stopped as soon as I realized and…"
"Sirius, Remus is going to kill you." James could feel a tension headache spreading throughout his entire body. Why were all of Sirius' fuck-ups spectacularly large ones? Couldn't he fuck up every once in a while by tripping or something? Why did he have to poke a fucking werewolf?!
"It was a fucking accident."
"I thought you weren't fucking birds!"
"I didn't… It was just a kiss," Sirius said softly. He hadn't been able to get her out of his head since it happened. She was just… shit…
"Oh, no you don't!" James yelled swatting his friend on the head.
"Don't what?"
"Don't you get that far away, I'm in love with the witch look! You don't love anyone Sirius!" James didn't realize how bad it sounded until it was out of his mouth. "Shit, Sirius. I didn't mean it like that. It's just… you're kind of emotionally stunted and-"
Sirius turned his back on his best friend so he wouldn't see his face. So, he wouldn't see just how hurt Sirius was. "I'm aware. It's all for the best."
James put a hand on his shoulder but Sirius shrugged it off. "Sirius-"
"Don't. I've never deserved the happiness that the rest of you have. I've never had a family. I'll likely die alone as well. I'm over it." James wished his best mate was drunk and only rambling. As it was he would give his left arm to have firewhiskey or Lily. She was so much better at this.
"Sirius," his voice cracked. "Please-"
A bolt of magic startled both of the wizards out of their conversation. They were alert instantly. "The wards, James."
"Someone is attacking them."
James sent a Patronus to Albus and Sirius sent one to Moody. They apparated on the spot and landed on the front doorstep. Sirius moved to open it, but James held his hand.
"Sirius, don't open the door."
"What? Why?" He said as he sent diagnostic charms into the house.
"Sirius?"
"Yeah," he was irritated and trying to figure out why Lily and Hermione were no longer in the house. They had been there recently.
"Turn. Around."
Sirius turned around slowly. Too slowly. He was only mid-turn when he became aware that a werewolf was charging at him. James had already changed and punctured the wolf in the side and knocking him out of the way. Sirius shifted down to Padfoot, just as Prongs kicked out his hind legs and sent the wolf backward.
Using one paw the wolf swiped Prongs out of the way. Enough to remove from his prey, but not enough to hurt. Sirius stopped. It was Remus.
He bowed his head in deference.
Moony growled from above him. One snap of his jaws and Sirius would be dead.
It was a mistake, he thought. She was Moony's. He shouldn't have kissed her. It was a mistake and she knew it.
Moony howled again. Prongs scrambled to protect Padfoot but Moony was towering over him. If Prongs angered him, he would snap.
Sirius pleaded with James to back off. They needed to settle this alone and someone was still trying to break through the wards. Sirius looked towards the east where two werewolves were trying to knock the wards down with sheer brute force.
It took almost a full minute of pleading but Prongs backed away and moved towards the edge. Padfoot watched him shift to Sirius. He watched him draw the werewolves back. The Ministry would be showing up at any moment.
Remus would know this. Given the hatred and loathing in his eyes, Sirius had no doubt it was Remus behind those eyes and not Moony. They stared at each other. He had no idea how much time had passed. Only that he could not hear the other werewolves anymore.
Sighing, he realized there was only one way to solve this. He shifted back to his human form. He could hear James and Mad-Eye shouting in the distance.
"I was drunk Remus. It was an accident. She knows that and I know that." Remus snarled and beat his feet on the ground. He could see spells bouncing off of Remus' back.
"You have every right to be angry. I'm moving out when we return from the mission. You won't have to worry about-" Sirius' voice cracked.
Remus leaned down so their faces were leveled. His eyes were cold and filled with anger. Two emotions he had never associated with warm, sweater wearing, and book-loving Remus Lupin.
He snarled again.
"I'll collect my things. I'll be gone by tonight." Remus stood on his hind legs, his height impressive as it was daunting. He nodded towards his window and Sirius understood. He cast an Accio and gathered his things. "I'm sorry Remus."
Remus snarled again and Sirius apparated on the spot. His uncle Alphard had a place in London. He would hide out there until he could face Remus… or until he could face himself again.