Tempus Magia

Part Two

Chapter 19: Hungover

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 woke on the living room couch to a pair of twinkling blue eyes hovering over. She screeched and send a wordless hex at the intruder, in shock. The images around her swam into focus and the breath left Hermione when she realized she had just hexed Albus Dumbledore.

He had deflected her hex with an easy flick of the Elder wand and chuckled. "I'm sorry if I gave you a scare."

Hermione's hissed and covered her eyes with her hands. "Why is the light trying to murder me?"

"Hermione? Are you awake?"

Hermione jerked up at the sound of James' voice. Her entire body screamed in protest and she was pretty sure her brain matter was still on the couch cushions. "No," she groaned.

"Yeah, Lily said you got seriously sloshed."

Hermione's throat was painfully dry. As if Professor Dumbledore was attuned to her thought process, he held out a cup of water.

What was left of her brain remembered he was as accomplished in legilimency as Voldemort. She threw up barriers immediately. Realizing she couldn't exactly ignore the wizard, she took it from him gratefully.

"Thanks for the water, sir." Hermione drank as much as her protesting stomach would allow her to.

"Your welcome. You are quite the conundrum, Miss Peverell."

"The only thing I am right now is severely hungover."

"An extremely powerful hungover witch," said a voice from behind Professor Dumbledore.

"Mad-Eye," she whispered.

Mad-Eye Moody looked at her suspiciously, though that could just be what his face always looked like. "Have we met?"

"No," she said quickly. "But James says your a ruddy paranoid bastard."

Moody chuckled and pointed at her with his wand. "I like this one."

Lily stormed into the room and Hermione gave a sigh of relief. "Lily, what's going on?"

Lily plopped down on the bed next to her, handing her potions. Hermione swallowed the sober up potion and felt relief immediately. "What happened is that we got attacked by the werewolf pack and we were alone. I tried to apparate, but I panicked and couldn't. While I was panicking you added entirely new wards, sent hexes strong enough to temporarily incapacitate two werewolves, and then apparated us both out of there and to a safe house."

Hermione felt the blood drain out of her face. "I apparated us? Harry-"

"Is fine. I checked myself and then James had four different Healers confirm it."

"God, Lily I am so sorry. I don't even remember doing it. The last thing I remembered was ordering the drink with the little umbrella." Hermione felt tears well up around her eyes. She could have killed Harry, or crippled him, or-

"Hermione, oh Hermione it's okay." Hermione burst into tears and Lily gathered her in her arms. "Hush, it's okay."

"Are you done?" James said harshly from the doorway.

"Yes," Professor Dumbledore replied.

"Albus-" Moody started.

"Miss Peverell and Mrs. Potter have had a traumatic experience. Why don't we leave them to recover?" he said firmly. "James, please walk us out. I would like to speak to you about the remainder of your mission."

James walked Albus out while Hermione bawled into Lily's shoulder. She had been so careless. This was why she didn't drink! Why hadn't Lily and James thrown her out? Dozens of questions circled endlessly around her brain and Hermione waited until she heard the front door close to speak.

"Lily, I would never endanger you or Harry-"

"Hermione, I know."

"No, I don't think-"

"Hermione." Lily's eyes were dark and wide. Suddenly Hermione had flashbacks of Harry's eyes widening with sympathy when he understood something before she did. "I know."

Hermione felt her throat tighten, "You know?"

"Yes."

"How long?"

"That's not important."

"How much do you know?"

"James, Sirius, and Remus know as well," she replied not answering Hermione's question. "It's why Remus left, love. He doesn't want to trap you."

Wait, what?

"Lily, what are you talking about?"

"Remus, of course." Hermione looked at her blankly. Comprehension dawned on Lily's face when she realized they were not talking about the same thing. "Hermione, how much exactly do you know about werewolves?"

"Quite a bit. I mean with Remus... I researched as much as I could when I found out." Hermione remembered when Professor Snape set the werewolf essay. In retrospect, Hermione realized that several other students must have connected the dots beside her.

"What do you know about mates, Hermione?" Hermione's attention was snapped back to Lily.

"Umm.. not much. I think... it just means... that it someone they really love?" Hermione finished lamely. She didn't like being the one who didn't know information. Lily's knowledge of the wizarding world greatly rivaled her own. Not for the first time, Hermione wished she could have grown up with Harry's mum as a surrogate aunt.

Lily was fidgeting, she had clearly thought Hermione knew about mating rituals of werewolves. In all honesty, Hermione had found a chapter on it a book she read once but skipped the entire section. It was more than a little graphic and she didn't want to think of her Professor in that… light.

"You girls, okay?" James asked from the doorway. "Albus says Sirius is going to stay on-site to finish the mission. I'm going to apparate in and out."

"James love, can you make us some hot cocoa and get the Danish cookies from the tin in the back of the pantry?" Lily asked.

James' eyebrows rose so high that they disappeared into his impressively unkempt hairline. "Sure, love."

Hermione watched his retreating figure. Something was up.

"Lily? Why…" Why are you asking me if I know what a werewolf's mate is? Especially when Remus had a lovely wife and son in the future. "Why is James getting cookies?"

"We need to have a chat about you and Remus and I don't think it's going to be a comfortable one. The cookies are so that you have something to take out your feelings on."

No. No. No.

"I don't really want to have a conversation about someone I haven't met since I showed up in your house."

"Hermione, you're being stubborn."

Tonks.

"I am not being stubborn!"

I am not his wife! He already has one!

"Hermione, this is important. I will drastically change Remus' life-"

Teddy. Teddy won't ever be born if you mess with the timeline.

"NO!"

Hermione scrambled off the couch and ran past James. She needed to leave. She needed to get away from them, from the Marauders. She was ruining the future.

She had almost killed Harry. What if Teddy wasn't born when she got back? What if it was just Andromeda grieving on her own after losing her husband and her single daughter?

"What have I done?" she whispered on the carpet in front of the door.

"Hermione?" James was standing behind her. "Whatever Lily told you, know that we still love you. You always have a place in our home. Hermione?"

Hermione turned slowly. "I'm so sorry James. I never should have come here. I never-"

Hermione drew her wand. She needed to go back. She needed to leave and go back to the future. "Hermione, no!"

Hermione didn't have time to recite the spell. She was tossed backward by an explosion. Potter cottage rocked and Hermione watched as the entire roof caved in.

"LILY!" James and Hermione shouted in unison. Hermione tried to rush forward in the same direction as James but her legs were stuck in the ground. She struggled as she sent countercurse after counter-curse at her feet.

"What in the hell?!"

A hoarse laugh drew her attention to her left side, where a witch with bright blue eyes and blonde hair was smiling. "You'll be there soon enough, bitch."

Hermione's eyes widened just as a spell hit her in the chest sweeping her feet from under and sending her onto the hard tile that surrounded the front of the house. Hermione had a moment to recover from her fall when the magic of the spell hit her and knocked the air out of her lungs. She screamed as her body burned colder than an ice shard through the heart and then hotter than Dragon's fire.

Her eyes dazed and unfocused as she became sticky and wet. She coughed up what she knew to be blood. She would be dead in moments, she could feel it. The loud pops of apparition echoed loudly in the night but she knew that they were too late. The girl had knelt down next to Hermione watched as she grabbed her arm.

Odd, she couldn't feel it. She did feel the nauseating pull of side-along apparition and then there was nothing as she was pulled under a sea of ice and fire. "Remus," she called.

All she heard was the girl laughing.

Remus woke from the full moon, alive. That was something. It took him several minutes to realize he was chained to a tree in silver and gold chains. He struggled against them. Something important had happened last night but he had no idea what it was.

"Hold your rabid dog still," sneered a voice he knew from his childhood. He blinked blood from his eyes to see four masked and cloaked figures in front of him.

The Alphas were standing behind them with Fenrir standing directly behind the last Death Eater in the line. Remus wasn't stupid. Something had clearly happened last night and they were leaning on Voldemort to fix it.

Shit. He was going to be the reason they lost the war. The Order had trusted him to-

"Get onto it boy," Fenrir spat.

"I won't go near that thing unless it's controlled."

Fenrir snarled angrily. "I'm his sire. The Dark Lord may value you, but we don't. If you want to return to your Lord with your head attached I suggest you get to it."

Severus Snape took a step towards him. He raised his wand and looked into his eyes. Remus realized what he was doing too late and tried to look away. NO!

Flashes of Lily and her exciting news in the kitchen came to the front of his mind. He needed to hide her.

Her? Tell me Lupin, who is this her you speak of?

Get out of my head Snivellus!

Hm…

Severus tore through his mind, shredding his memories and Remus didn't realize he was screaming until he felt himself be silencioed.

"Enough!" barked Reynir.

Severus withdrew from Remus's mind. "I have not retrieved the information you seek, sir."

"He's been screaming the name Hermione for the last half an hour. The name is uncommon enough. Vali and Jormungand, find her and bring her here."

Remus snarled and instantly Moony took over. Remus didn't even feel the shift take over his body. He was only aware that he had shifted because of the terrified screams of Severus Snape. After Sirius' prank, he was Snape's greatest fear. It had been humiliating for the Slytherin when the entire year witnessed it during his NEWTs.

Moony broke through the charms and charged at Vali and Jormungand. Reynir roared and shifted as well, but Moony would not be deterred. Vali and Jormungand were going to hurt his mate. Jormungand was vile and Vali was a bitter vindictive bitch. Reynir being the pack Alpha, protecting his subjects and threw Remus off of Jormungand.

Moony charged again, this time towards a panting and turned on Vali. Before he could reach her Reynir blocked him. Shielding his pack who were still in their human forms. He was protecting his pack, as he should Moony reminded Remus. Jormungand grabbed Vali's hand, though she protested loudly and fled towards the apparition spot.

Reynir howled. The message was clear. In order to get to his pack, he would have to go through the Alpha. Moony challenged his howl and immediately all of the packs drew back into a circle. They began to beat their feet on the ground chanting, had it been the full moon and they were shifted they would have been snarling, biting, and howling.

They were intimidation tactics and Remus was not impressed. The mate's law was the highest law of the werewolf and Moony was willing to let Remus take a smidgen of control to keep her safe. Remus urged Moony to ignore the fleeing Death Eaters that were a distraction from his real goal. Reynir.

Reynir was head Alpha for a reason. He was fast, strong, and clever. Basically, the perfect specimen. To take down someone who could outrun you, outfight you, and outsmart you was basically impossible for Moony. Moony was strong and moderately fast but he was by no means clever. That was all Remus.

During the full moon, Moony was a savage. A beast, while Remus sat huddled in a corner watching in the corner as Moony raged and attacked. Right now, Remus was not in the pilot's seat, but the co-pilot's seat. Man and beast worked in harmony to protect his mate.

To Reynir's surprise, the usually docile werewolf matched his speed, veracity, and wit. Moony pounced around him, faking blows and using the fact that the Alpha had to protect the werewolves in human form around them to his advantage.

The Death Eaters had fled. Having failed their mission, they did not want to stay and be hurt in the process. Remus hoped Voldemort killed them for it, or maybe it was just Moony talking. He knew Severus had seen Hermione and that Hermione was with Lily. He lied about not finding the information.

It was confusing and honestly, had to be shelved because he had a fourteen-foot head Alpha stampeding towards him. Moony had gotten a good chunk out of his flank and Reynir was limping. Even if Reynir won, Moony had severely wounded him.

Remus did an inner victory lap. Seeing their Alpha weak would split up the packs. If Reynir chose to follow Voldemort, they would not follow him. Sure two or three packs might fall into line but the others would flee and dissociate themselves with Reynir.

The Order had won their battle and now Remus had to win his.

They fought for hours with all of the packs collectively gathered around them still chanting. Even after Moony injured Reynir, they still cheered. Moony was aware that Fenrir and partially shifted. As a mere beta, it was a huge feat and something that put Moony on edge.

The longer they fought, the stronger Remus and Moony got and the weaker Reynir became. He was bleeding freely and his age and tiredness were beginning to show. Moony wasn't even twenty-five and Reynir was at least seventy.

A loud cracking noise distracted Reynir while they were struggling arms on each other's shoulders, deafening noise around them. Remus swept out Reynir's legs out from underneath him sending the wolf sprawling underneath him.

He towered over the fallen Alpha, his teeth snapping viciously. His jaw was aching as Remus and Moony fought over their next action. While Remus contemplated mercy, Moony insisted that his death would make him Alpha and leave him in better protection to protect their mate. They hesitated and they shouldn't have.

He could smell her blood. It filled his nose and made his veins boil with anger. Moony pressed one foot down on Reynir's chest, to assert his dominance. To show to everyone gathered that he had won. His nose rose as he sniffed for the direction of his blood. Arching his body backward he whipped his head around and roared. Members of the packs shrunk back in fear.

Vali and Jormungand were emerging from the apparition point. They smelled of ash and soot and blood. James and Lily were not with them, however, they were levitating Hermione's small form in front of them. Her eyes were closed and she wasn't moving.

Remus discarded Reynir and pounced furiously towards them. Vali smirked viscously as she dropped Hermione's body to the floor. Jormungand yanked her out of the way.

He ignored the shouts around him and the clear order being given from Reynir behind him. He didn't care about being Alpha. He cared about Hermione. He needed to keep her safe. He needed-

"STUPEFY!" At least thirty spells hit him in the chest and Remus and Moony fell mere feet before Hermione's slowly rising and falling body. The last conscious thought that plagued him was that while injured, his mate was alive.