Tempus Magia

Part Three

Chapter 21: The Shrieking Shack

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 felt like her life had resorted to waking up in strange places. Maybe she shouldn't be surprised, she was onlyin the first month of the eighties….

Hermione rubbed her eyes and opened them properly, only to find herself looking into Remus' deep set of warm brown eyes. "Careful, don't get up too fast."

Hermione always slept curled up in a ball at the edge of a bed and because of this, their brown eyes met in multicolored synchrony of browns hues from his golden cognac coloring to Hermione's own muddy russet brown.

He was sitting on the floor next to the edge of the bed looking at her like she was the last breath of fresh air in a sinking submarine. It was enough to make her body curl tightly around her. No matter how uneasy his gaze made her, she couldn't look away. The last time she had seen those eyes were right before Greyback extinguished the life out of them.

He must have noticed her reluctance because his gaze changed from soft and lingering to wary and guarded. It was almost as if she was a woodland creature, that if he moved too quickly he would scare off. It was ironic considering his nocturnal activities.

Unsure of what to do with the growing silence between them, she stuck out her hand. "Hi, I'm Hermione."

Remus took her hand gently and shook it. When their skin connected her chest filled with an incredible warmth that reminded her of sitting in front of the Common Room fire with a book and without consciously realizing it she let out a sigh of contentment. She felt calm down to her very soul.

If Remus felt the same way, he didn't react or show it. The only action he seemed to be capable of, besides staring at her as if she might disappear, was rubbing smooth circles around the backside of her palm that sent pleasant tingles up her arm and throughout her body. Without releasing her hand and ceasing the hypnotizing motions he whispered, "I know."

"Oh," she replied too flustered to think of anything more intelligent to say. Wait, why wasn't he introducing himself?

Sitting up her hand slipped from his, leaving her feeling clammy and as if she was missing something essential to her very breathing. Hermione rested her now clear head on the dark and sturdy headboard behind her. She was wearing a men's grey sweater that was thrown over the white slip she had woken up in. It gave her a modicum of modesty and being the generally shy and borderline prudish girl that she was, she was grateful.

With her wits about her, she took a proper look around the room. She was currently lying on a heavy oak four-poster with the overall theme of the room being dark woods and burgundy. What was probably once an elegant room was ravaged down to the very door frames by what Hermione was assuming was Remus during his school years. Years later, the beautiful coloring was faded and entire chunks of the headboard were missing.

"We're in the shrieking shack," she murmured.

"Yeah," he ran his hands through his hair nervously. "I wasn't sure where to go and James and Lily's cottage was destroyed when Vali… erm..."

Hermione focused on him while he mumbled to himself, really focused on him. She could barely see any of her put-together Professor from Hogwarts in the man sitting in front of her. Sure, the older Remus wore shabby robes but he had this air of an older professional that this Remus lacked.

Young Remus Lupin was all dark long lashes and a chiseled jaw that could bend light. He was just slightly tanned in a manner that either hinted at a person who worked outdoors or took several holidays a year. One look at his nails confirmed that he was probably the one that helped Lily with the upkeep in her impressive garden.

His hair was a tousled mess and she blushed furiously when her eyes settled on his bare chest. A bit of grey thread on his shoulder proved that the sweater she was wearing was, in fact, his and Hermione felt her heart give a throb. She knew from her past that he was kind, but that was when she was his student and he the Professor.

The bit of his body she could see was a patchwork of impressive scarring but not in a terrifying way like Fenrir Greyback. His kind eyes and soft gaze offset whatever would have sent her running.
He was also, she noticed, trying very hard to not look at the see-through slip she was wearing. One wiggle confirmed she was wearing nothing underneath but knickers. The movement caused a shift in the sweater that turned his ears a lovely shade of crimson and he avoided looking at her. The series of actions reaffirmed that this was definitely not the older man she had come to know at Hogwarts and through Harry and the Order.

He was a young man fresh out of Hogwarts, much like herself. He was also a survivor of assault and currently in a war trying to protect his friends. At the moment her epiphany struck her, Hermione felt more connected to the wizard in front of her, who had only exchanged a handful of words with her, than anyone else in her life.

She had no idea how to convey this information, so she did what she knew best.

"You're bleeding you know," she said pointing to the gashes on his chest.

"I'm a werewolf," he shrugged, wincing from the mere act of rolling his shoulders. "It happens."

Hermione rolled her eyes and slipped her bare legs out of the blanket and over the bed. Remus was sitting with his legs sprawled out, the weight of his body resting on his palms behind his back. Looking for splinters on the old wooden floorboards, she slipped her bare toes one at a time onto the floor in between his legs. She knelt down next to him, spying her wand next to his beside his fingers.

"How long was I sleeping?" she asked conversationally while kneeling down on her knees in front of him. She was never comfortable crouching and sitting on her knees would make it easier for her to check and heal his wounds.

"About ten hours? Whatever they gave you knocked you out. The sun just came up," he motioned to the light peeking through the heavily boarded up windows.

Hermione sighed. She wasn't even sure what day it was anymore. She was about to ask the date when she saw Remus wince in pain.

Hermione arched her back, her hand snaking along his side to reach for her wand. "Hermione?" his voice was thick and almost husky. She lifted her head and was startled to find that he had leaned up on his arms and they were so close she could feel his breath on her cheeks.

She hadn't realized how good he smelled.

"Remus?"

"I… what exactly did Reynir tell you?"

She could see Remus sweating and hear his heart pounding. Was he scared of her? "Mostly stuff about himself."

She could see Remus visibly relax. His shoulders sagged and his dark eyebrows retreated to their normal positions. Great, he was also a mess about the mate situation. Hermione forced herself to be as calm as possible. They couldn't both be a mess, now could they? "Lily and James mentioned something though, about me being your mate."

Remus paled, "I… I don't... It doesn't mean anything Hermione."

"Obviously it does, or everyone wouldn't be making such a big deal about it," at his dubious expression she confirmed what he had previously suspected. "Reynir mentioned it as well, but Lily and James mentioned it first."

"It's barbaric. No one should be forced to do anything they don't want to!" he said quickly and suddenly the entire thing made sense to Hermione. The reason he ran as soon as she turned up at Lily's and they all realized she was his mate.

"Remus, I know you didn't have a choice about becoming a werewolf but this is not the same thing."

Remus jerked his head back. "Of course it is! No one asked you if you wanted to be my mate!"

"Remus, what does a mate mean to you?"

"What?"

"What does being a person's mate mean to you?"

Remus thought about it. "I… I hadn't really thought about it to be honest."

"Good. So how about we just be Remus and Hermione? I'm a witch and you're an injured wizard who needs some helping okay?"

Remus turned bright red again. His trousers began to shift beneath her and Hermione's face matched her mate's.

"Um… I meant your chest! There are literally open wounds on your chest! Not… I didn't mean that. God, I was so cool until now." Hermione felt like her stomach was just a jumble of nerves.

Remus laughed. His laugh was infectious and Hermione's nerves fled her immediately and she found herself smiling back. "You were very calm," he said in between chuckles.

Hermione nodded and picked up her wand narrowly missing their fingers touching. "Okay, can you sit still while I heal you? Sheesh, this really needs dittany."

Lily was giggling into James' sweater. "They're stupidly adorable."

"Lily, you mean adorably stupid."

"No, those two are brilliant. They're stupidly adorable." James smiled but it didn't reach his eyes. Lily rubbed his arm."Have you spoken to Sirius?"

James shook his head all signs of happiness leaving his face. "No, he warded his home from owls and Peter hasn't been home the few times I checked on him."

"You were in Peter's flat?" Lily asked sharply, for some reason it didn't sit well with her. Everything about Peter didn't sit well with her since she found the monitoring charm.

"Yes, but his flat hasn't been lived in for a while. I did some tidying up for when he moves back in. I was at his mum's and she says she hasn't seen him since Sunday."

"Oh, maybe he's with Sirius?"

"Maybe, I'm worried. Sirius…" Lily wrapped her arms around her husband tightly.

"I love you sweetie, but Sirius is an adult and he has to live with his choices," Lily whispered into his ear. "I still don't understand why he kissed Hermione."

"I think he was just drunk or maybe he just wanted what he knew he couldn't have?" James shook his head. "Honestly, I love Sirius more than myself but he makes it so damn hard sometimes."

"He had a really rough childhood, James. Then he lost Reggie and…" James sighed and hugged Lily tighter. They were inseparable in our early years at Hogwarts, remember?"

"Yeah, I wish we could have helped Reggie. They still haven't found his body?"

"No. Rumor is that he was killed by Voldemort for sneaking off and not joining in the whole torture and kill muggles bit of the Death Eater initiation process." Lily shivered, she missed her parents so much. Sometimes she just wanted to run to Petunia and hug the living daylights out of her. "You thinking about your sister?"

Lily nodded miserably. "I know I did the right thing, but I miss her."

"It was kind of Albus to help you with the spell."

"As long as she hates 'freakish' things, she'll stay away from our world and be safe. Aside from Sev, no one knows about her."

"You know that she loves you right?"

Lily nodded and burst into tears remembering the night she used magic to make her sister hate her and everyone in the magical world. James held her close and rocked her as she cried. "Don't worry Lils, as soon as the war is over we'll reverse the spell. We'll be a proper family I promise.

Remus could feel his body physically burning with every touch from Hermione's skilled fingers. Where did she learn to heal like this?

"Where did you go, Remus?"

"Huh?"

"You spaced out for a bit."

"Oh, Lily and James are outside the Shack. Lily's having a bit of an emotional breakdown about her sister." Hermione nodded as if it wasn't unusual that he could hear an entire conversation from forty feet away.

"Okay, that should do it," Hermione stood and held out a hand for him. He smiled gingerly as he took it. He had been quiet during her ministrations out of pain but mostly, embarrassment. He stood trying to think of the Queen of England and not of the pretty witch in front of him and the nightgown she was wearing.

The dress was the reason that Remus was at war with himself and therefore mostly silent. It was sheer and ended just below her knees. When he had first apparated to the shack he had noticed her form through the material immediately. He pulled his shirt over his head and after casting a cleaning charm on it, put it on her.

He thought it would fix most of the problem until his eyes traveled south. Moony, quite literally pounced towards her, the urge to mate stronger than Remus was entirely prepared for. He struggled with himself to the floor and transfigured one of his socks into knickers and charmed them onto her body, leaving him swearing and panting from the floor the entire time.

After that, he had been too afraid to move or do much of anything else. Moony fought and howled but Remus remained on the floor with the aid of several charms. It took hours of convincing, but he finally subdued his wolf by reminding him that there were still werewolves that wanted Hermione and him dead. Moony rose to the task and insisted on staying alert the remainder of the night.

Remus was dog tired but he stayed awake, his wand never far from his fingertips while Hermione slumbered above him peacefully. Moony was content being a watchdog, however, even he got bored and began to supply Remus with extremely detailed images of what would happen if Remus crawled onto the bed with the time-traveling witch.

He felt like a randy teenager and not in a good way.

"... and are you sure you don't have dittany? It's going to leave a scar."

"I'm sure Lily has," he replied hoping he hadn't missed anything important. Hermione nodded and fell into step behind him. They emerged at the side entrance of the shack to Lily and James snogging up against the house.

"Oi! We're not interested in watching you two make Harry a sibling!" Remus shouted. Lily and James jumped apart, the former of the pair pushing her spouse aside and rushing towards them. Shoving Remus aside, she grabbed Hermione and began hugging her fiercely.

"God, we were so worried. The whole house just collapsed! Professor Dumbledore and Moody were on their way back after Moody saw someone suspicious on the perimeter. They've had half of the Order looking for the both of you! Are you okay? You look okay." Lily tossed her head over her shoulder. "Remus you look like shite. Also, you should put dittany on that."

James patted his shoulder. "You okay, mate?"

"I'm alive. The head Alpha gave me six weeks to recover than I have to have a rematch."

"Rematch?"

"I challenged him as Alpha after he grabbed Hermione."

"YOU WHAT?!" Hermione and Lily shouted just as James laughed, "Awesome!"

"This is most certainly not awesome, you git!" Lily shouted finally releasing Hermione.

Hermione glared at James and then at Remus. Remus found quite quickly he didn't like being on the receiving end of anger. "Is there a reason you didn't mention this before?" The subtle 'you dolt' was tacked on at the end.

"Didn't want to worry you?" Hermione threw her hands in the air and started muttering about the stupidity of boys in general.

"It's too damn early for this and I haven't slept properly in two days. James side along your idiot friend home. You start breakfast, we're going to pop by the Apothecary to get some dittany. The house is out of it."