Tempus Magia

Part Three

Chapter 22: To Save a Life

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 and Lily hurried out of the shop in Diagon Alley with their purchases in hand. Lily spent the entire time they were standing on line poking fun of Hermione being alone with a shirtless and impressionable Remus.

"I swear, nothing happened!"

"All I'm saying is that you did not leave my house in that thing you were wearing." Hermione rolled her eyes as they walked to the apparition point.

Before they apparated to Diagon Alley, Hermione transfigured her outfit into dark robes and boots. She then transfigured her knickers into a bra. Personally, she would rather have a bra than knickers and considering that the garish purple and orange thing wasn't hers, she was more than happy with a bra instead.

She kept the sweater under her robes, feeling a connection to the aged cotton she knew belonged to a warm brown eyed werewolf.

"You ready to side-along?" Lily asked one hand clutching her bags and the other her wand. It was rare to see anyone in Diagon that wasn't white-knuckled around their wands. Lily mentioned that mail orders and owls were at an all-time high as people were scared to leave their homes.

"No, but I'm worried about what James and Remus will be getting up to without us home."

Lily chuckled. "We're heading to a home that my in-laws bought for me and James for after we had kids."

"Don't you already have three?"

"The teensy kind, Hermione." Hermione shifted her bags and held onto Lily's hand.

When they arrived in the snow-covered village of Godric's Hollow, Hermione shivered with nostalgia. She was casting surveillance charms on the area before she realized what she was doing.

"We'll be out of the cold in a minute. Come on," she called. Although Hermione could not see the house in front of her, she knew it was there. She remembered.

Lily pulled her hand and lead her through complicated wards that covered a charming house that was in its prime. Hermione looked up to where Harry's room had been, where the roof was gone in the future. Now, it was covered by a clean slated roof and there was a light flickering the window.

"We're home! Come help us with the bags you two," Lily called as she pushed open the small wooden gate. There was a short brick wall the surrounded the house and the gardens within. Had it not been for the great tragedy that would one day happen there, Hermione would have been excited about going in. As it was, she still hadn't taken a step inside the house.

"Hermione, is everything alright?" Lily called. Hermione's attention snapped back to the front door where Remus, James, and Lily were looking at her with concern.

"Yes," she walked through the gate and up the small walkway. She tried not to think about how in two years Voldemort would walk up these steps and it would be the last night for her friends. "Just distracted."

They ate quickly and spent the rest of the weekend helping Lily and James unpack what they were able to salvage from the wreckage of their cottage. It wasn't much and Lily was devastated by the loss of her pictures. Though she tried not to show it, given how guilty Remus felt.

After dinner, Lily walked her up to the room in the far corner of the east of the house. Without even walking into the room, Hermione knew it to be Harry's. The idea of sleeping in the room where her best friend lost his entire family and she would lose her newest best friend was inconceivable. The room might one day be a place of joy for the young family but for Hermione, it was the place that tore their small family apart.

"Lily?"

"Yeah?"

"Could I trouble you for literally any other bedroom in the house besides this one?"

Lily wrinkled her nose but acquiesced without comment. Hermione settled into a room on the opposite side of the house and right next door to Remus. When Lily and James said goodnight, Hermione's heart warmed to see that they were in the room next door to Harry's.

Hermione loved being friends with Lily, she especially adored the maternal way she doted on her. Knowing that her friend had put her in the nearest bedroom to hers, made Hermione feel safe as she sent coloring charms on the walls of the room. They were a garish yellow and she preferred lighter and muted tones.

She spent over a half an hour charming and transfiguring the room until it looked homey and more like her room at home. Before going into the shower in her attached bathroom, she took out two the pants she purchased in the shop with Lily. One was a small succulent in a round and battered teacup for her nightstand, which she placed next to her little glass mason jar of bluebell fire. The other was a tall hanging plant that Hermione still didn't know the name of, all she knew was that Neville had sent her a nearly identical plant for her birthday and when she saw it in the shop she purchased it without hesitating.

Hermione was showered and in her standard Remus sweater and Lily pajama bottoms nightwear, hovering over her lone and sagging bookshelf. There were so many books to read and so few hours in the night. Remus and James had put together the shelf earlier that day and promised to build her another one tomorrow. She had just settled on a book and was settling into bed when she heard a loud knock on her door.

"Come in," she called from under her covers.

Remus poked his head into the room and looked around as if he was half expecting someone else to be there.

"Er… I…"

"You can come in Remus, you don't have to stand in the hallway."

Remus came into the room, closing the door behind him. The door closed with a click of the lock setting itself comfortably in the gears and he winced at the finality of it. Hermione resisted a chuckle at how sweet and utterly adorable he was sometimes.

She had noticed over lunch that he liked to read while he drank his tea after meals. He was so engrossed in his literature that he hardly noticed when his tea sloshed onto the sleeve of his sweater. It must have been a regular occurrence because he drank with his arm far away from the book and his head tilted back. Hermione found it mesmerizing and was embarrassed that she had a hard time looking away.

All of the books in his room had all been charmed with multiples spells to protect them from age and damage. They were also enchanted with several clever anti-ripping and theft spells. They were not as nasty and strong as the Malfoy ones but they were enough that Sirius didn't touch any of his things.

Noticing how uncomfortable he was, she got out of her bed and walked to the edge of it. She was wearing one of Lily's pajama bottoms and the sweater he had loaned her with a t-shirt underneath. "Is everything alright Remus?"

He nodded.

Hermione waited.

"Oh, I mean yes. I erm… James mentioned that you liked to read."

Hermione went back to her bed and picked up the book she had chosen to read. It a rather large tome with small bits of parchment attached to several pages. "Yes, I actually found an original notated Anthology of Fifteenth-Century Charms. I just started reading it."

Remus's eyes lit up. "It's notated?"

Hermione nodded unable to control the upward pull at the corner of her lips. Harry and Ron would have rolled their eyes and asked why they made a new book each century. Remus, Remus was more like Hermione. "Would you like to read with me?"

Remus scrunched his eyebrows, "Read with you?"

"Yes, I'll levitate the book between us and we can read in the living room. We'll turn the page when we're both ready."

Remus looked at her nervously and then at the book. "I'd like that. Lily has some throws and I can make tea. Would you like tea?"

Hermione nodded. "Black please."

The two walked down the stairs chattering about the newest issue of the book and the lack of images and wand instructions that were in chapter eight and eleven. Hermione had had this conversation with Harry and Ron. Harry had tried to listen and helpfully suggested she write to the editor with her notes on improvements. Hermione had never gotten around to it as she was so busy with the Project. Maybe she could do it when she got back?

Remus walked into the kitchen while she settled into the blue paisley printed loveseat. She cast a levitating charm on the book and summoned the coffee table to stand underneath it in case either of them fell asleep. Hermione summoned two throw blankets and was laying them out when she heard Remus stirring the tea. When she was settled, she surveyed the very domestic scene she was in. All out once she remembered Tonks and Teddy and the fact that Remus was spoken for. She practiced the deep breathing exercises she had learned in therapy in an attempt to calm herself.

It was just reading a book. Nothing more.

They worked for about a minute until she realized that she easily could have settled into the two ivory wingback chairs opposite her. Just as she was about to get up and switch Remus entered the room. He was carrying a tray of tea with a teapot, two cups, and an assortment of biscuits. When he saw where she was seated, he blushed. It was a look Hermione was growing to like on him and suddenly the idea of sitting on a couch with Remus didn't seem so bad.

"Are you ready?"

"Yep."

The two read for about an hour before Hermione fell asleep on Remus' shoulder. In that time Remus noticed that she liked Ginger cookies, but not powdered ones. She also liked to stir her mug wandless and wordlessly when something irked her. The passage they were reading was about house elf bonding and while the old charms and ways were barbaric, the new ones were just as bad. No one deserved to be enslaved and Remus liked Hermione, even more, knowing how she felt about house elves.

Hermione's head was leaning on his shoulder and Remus tagged their place with a tissue and closed the book. He levitated the book quietly and put it on the coffee table. Hermione murmured softly in her sleep and buried her head deeper into his shoulder.

Now, what was he supposed to do?

Whatever he was supposed to do, running his fingers through her hair was definitely not it. He had done so well resisting her last night, however, last night they were not snuggled on a couch enjoying his favorite pastime together. He was pretty sure there wasn't a more perfect witch alive.

She looked uncomfortable on the couch and though his bones ached, he knew she needed to sleep in her own bed. It took him several minutes to slowly untangle himself from her and lift himself off of the couch without waking her up.

With a groan from his back and side, he scooped her small frame into his arms. After the fight with Reynir, just the act of chewing set his back and side on fire. It was probably not the best idea to carry her up a flight of stairs. He could probably levitate her since he was a wizard and all.

He gazed at the sleeping witch in his arms. In sleep, her face was smooth and without the worry lines that seemed to occupy her face in every waking moment. He walked up the stairs slowly, more because he wanted to hold her close to him than the fear of dropping her.

How had he run from this? What if he could have been holding her like this the entire time he was gone?

He shook the idea from his head. James had said she bolted when she heard that she and Remus were mates. He insisted that it had something to do with a wife and son he would have in the future and not because she abhorred him.

Everything about her was a challenge. One the one hand, they were the same age and on the other hand, she was in school with James' son. In the future, he would be old enough to be her father.

Lily said that she was already born and that she knew it because Hermione had apparated them to her childhood home, that was thankfully empty when he escaped the werewolf camp on the full moon. Remus clutched her closer to his chest.

He could have killed both Lily and Hermione. He didn't even remember escaping. He woke up the next morning rock hard with only thoughts of Hermione. She was fierce and determined and wild in ways that called to his wolf and tugged at his heart. Vali had been delighted at the situation she found him in. That was until Jormungand had shown up and kicked her out of the tent he was chained down in.

Worried about her breathing, he loosened his grip on Hermione. She murmured in her sleep and snuggled back into his chest. He couldn't help the smile tugging at his lips as he crossed the landing on the second floor.

Laying her down gently in bed, he watched as her dark curls fanned out over the white pillow. During the day, they were much lighter and only several shades darker than his own hair. He hesitated, but tossing caution to the wind, he placed a tender ghost of a kiss on her forehead.

Remus let himself out of her room and went into the loo to brush his teeth before bed. He ran his hands through his hair in the mirror, wishing for not the first time, that he had good looks like James and hair like Sirius.

Sirius.

James had told him what happened between them during the full moon. Remus was appalled at the way he acted. Sure, he was pissed that Sirius had kissed her but she wasn't his. She was a person. She didn't belong to anyone.

He needed to speak with Sirius and convince him to come back home. James was under so much pressure as it was and having Sirius missing and Peter disappearing into a bolthole to blow off steam was not helping matters.

James had so far been unable to reach Sirius, but he had only tried Flooing, owling, and actually showing up at Sirius's flat. In their fifth year, Sirius and Remus found a pair of mirrors in the Room of Hidden Things that acted as communicators. James probably had it forgotten in his pile of junk downstairs.

Shutting off the light in the bathroom, he climbed into bed. He'd call Sirius tomorrow and speak to him. Maybe he'd ask Hermione if she'd want to read again with him? The idea of tucking her into bed the following night made his heart soar and Moony yip happily.

Hermione woke disoriented in her bed in Godric Hollow with the sun shining in her eyes. It took several minutes to realize that Remus had likely brought her up to bed. Try as she might, she couldn't help the squeal that left her throat and the stupid smile on her face that wouldn't go away.

She looked in the mirror and mentally chided herself. You are not falling for Remus Lupin. Don't you dare Hermione Jean Granger! You came here to save him, to help. That's all.

A wicked little voice in her head reminded her that she could definitely help him out of her trousers. After a frigid shower and several minutes of whacking her head on the bathroom wall, Hermione followed the smell of frying bacon down the stairs and towards the kitchen.

When Hermione slipped into the room Lily smiled over the rim of her teacup, smirking devilishly. She was seated at the island bar and watching Remus and James play tug of war on what was presumably Remus's shirt.

Remus was wearing only a fluffy pink apron and there was a griddle with pancakes, eggs, and bacon going on behind him.

"Give it back you fluffy headed bespectacled git!"

"No way! You're too pretty to cook with a shirt Remus!"

Hermione slid into the seat next to Lily and giggled. The two wizards were too preoccupied in their struggle to notice either witch.

"How long have they been at it?" she whispered.

"Twenty minutes," she replied. Hermione stole a glance at the clock, it was a little past eleven. Hermione couldn't remember the last time she slept in, or for that matter when she saw two men fight over a shirt. "You should have seen how James got him in that thing."

"You realize this would be more entertaining for you if James wasn't wearing a shirt either right?" Hermione said as she made herself a cup of coffee.

Lily set down her cup and waved her wand. They were so engrossed in their fight, that neither of them noticed James shirt vanish.

"God, Hermione you are a genius. Has anyone ever told you how utterly brilliant you are?" Lily waved her wand thoughtfully. "Debating if I should toss some oil over them."

Hermione snickered from behind her cup.

"Seriously James, Hermione is going to be up any minute," Remus said nervously.

"Sirius? I thought I was Sirius?" Hermione and Lily whipped around. Sirius was standing behind them both. James and Sirius froze mid-struggle. "Sorry, about my disappearing act. Needed some time for just me and my bike."

"We were really worried," James said angrily, still not dropping the shirt.

"I'm sorry," Sirius replied sheepishly. As if he had just noticed both of his friends appearance and the fact that they were fighting over a shirt. "Um, why is Remus wearing Lily's sexy time apron and why did no one tell me that shirts are optional at meals?"

Remus looked down at the apron and immediately began yanking it off. Lily burst into shrieks of laughter. This only caused Remus to yank it harder, which was difficult to do because he had one hand gripped tightly on the corner of his shirt and while the other hand was holding a spatula.

Sirius pulled his leather jacket off and placed it lovingly on a chair. He then pulled his shirt over his head, making Hermione's throat go dry. "I repeat, why are you fighting over a shirt."

"Because," Remus said in a strangled cry, over the now charmed and fighting to stay on apron, "This git thought it would be funny if Hermione came down and all I was wearing is this apron."

Remus cheered happily as he got the thing off, one hand still on his shirt that was beginning to tear. "Sirius, why are you- James- Why is no one wearing shirts?"

Gesturing to his abs as an answer for the second statement, Sirius addressed the first. "Well considering you aren't wearing anything now and Hermione's about halfway through her morning cuppa, I'm not sure who won."

"JAMES!" Remus bellowed accidentally dropping his hold on the shirt. Hermione, Lily, and Sirius burst into laughter as Remus began hexing James who ran out of the kitchen waving the shirt like a flag. Remus ran right after him.

Silence descended on the kitchen as sounds of crashing and yelling echoed throughout the house. Hermione swallowed the last of her coffee and turned to Lily.

"Lils, would you mind giving Sirius and me a moment?"

Lily nodded and left, her tea in hand. As the kitchen door closed behind her she yelled, "Get the bloody hell off of my couch!"

"Sirius?"

"I'm so sorry Hermione."

"No, I-"

"It was completely out of line-"

"It's really not a big-"

"I feel like a rotten piece of-"

"Sirius!" Sirius clamped his mouth shut. "Sirius, you were drunk and you took me by surprise. Trust me, you weren't my first drunken kiss and you won't be the last."

Hermione gagged thinking about Cormac.

Sirius took a seat next to her. "That bad, huh?"

"Oh, I was thinking about this guy Cormac I took to a party to make this guy, Ronald that I liked jealous."

"What happened?"

"He thought he was the second coming or whatever. I spent most of the party hiding from him. Then I got drunk last year at a mandatory office holiday party and we made out. Haven't had a drink since then. Well, Lily got me drunk the other night but other than that I don't drink."

"Like ever?" Hermione chuckled and shook her head. "How the bloody hell do you get through life sober?"

"Slowly, painfully, and with a Mind Healer." She admitted truthfully. Sirius looked at her thoughtfully. "Sirius, I'd like for us to restart if that's at all possible."

"Pretend the kiss never happened?"

"No, because I don't," her therapist's many sessions filled her brain. "I don't think that would be healthy. Let's just give each other clean slates and move on, okay?"

Sirius took her teacup and drained the rest. "I'm in."

"Are you and Remus going to be okay? I don't want to come in between the two of you." Or be the reason that James and Lily pick Peter as the secret keeper.

"Yeah, we spoke for a long time this morning. You've got a good one Hermione." Hermione flushed.

"I don't have anything, but yes, Remus is brave and kind."

"Brave?" Sirius raised his eyebrows suspiciously. "What did he do?"

"He challenged an Alpha."

Sirius had the same reaction as Lily and James, except he hurled himself out of the kitchen and passed an eavesdropping Lily, screaming expletives.

Lily slumped herself into the seat at the bar beside Hermione. "That could have gone much worse."

"Really?"

"Yeah," she said over the shouting coming from the living room. "Sirius has a short temper. James is the loud one, Peter is the self-conscious one, and Remus is the one that holds them all together."

"Like glue?" she asked.

Lily face lit up with a combination of Marauder mischief and the look Harry got when he won a chess game with Ron. "You know James and Sirius have no idea what glue is! I convinced them it was magically made by the British government in secret labs in an effort to overthrow the Ministry."

The girls burst out giggling.

"I called it the department of E.L.M.E.R.S. I even made up a director and a secret location."

They continued their giggles for several moments when Lily wrinkled her nose. "I think the food is going to burn."

Hermione put the remaining food on the griddle onto serving plates.

"Okay, side point," Lily whispered conspiratorially as she set out cutlery and dishes on the table. "Did you know Remus was hiding all of that under those baggy sweaters? I sure didn't! I mean, if any of the girls at Hogwarts knew they'd swoon. I mean naturally, everyone had crushes on him, but he was so shy and evasive that he ended up being put in the friend category by everyone. I'm pretty sure he did it on purpose."

Hermione blushed.

"Oh, my god! What did the two of you do inside the shack? Also, why won't you tell your new best friend about the sexy werewolf your dating?" Hermione rolled her eyes as she put the plate of pancakes down on the table and went hunting for syrup in the pantry closet. Lily was the muggleborn version of Ginny Weasley and Hermione still wasn't sure if it terrified her or excited her.

"Nothing happened, Lily!" she said as she rummaged through the shelves. "Seriously, sure Remus is fit but like-" Hermione exited the pantry and felt every droplet of blood rush her face.

Sirius, Remus, and James were all sitting at the table. Remus was fighting off a smile while staring down at a plate of eggs and bacon, while James and Lily high fived each other.

Sirius laced his fingers together and rested his chin on them, "Do go on about our dear resident werewolf's sexiness that he hides under those hideous sweaters."

Hermione tossed the syrup at his head and went back into the pantry closet closing the door behind her. She was just going to die of embarrassment alone in the pantry. That was a perfectly reasonable and sound plan.

The door cracked open and Lily's green eyes poked in, "Hermione? What are you doing in here?"

"Hiding," she replied covering her face with her hands.

"Oh, okay." Lily closed the door and shouted behind her. "She says she's hiding!"

"What the bloody hell is she hiding for?" James shouted back.

"Dunno, Let me ask!" Lily said sarcastically. Though she did crack the door open again, "Hermione love, why are you hiding?"

Hermione buried her head lower into her knees. She heard the door open and then close and felt Lily scoot onto the floor next to her. "You know when James and I first moved in together, Sirius caught us shagging. It was mortifying because it was our first time together and James had gone all out. Decorated the entire flat we were in with little candles.

"Sirius stumbled in drunk, tripped on a bottle wine we left out and next thing we knew half of the building was on fire. We had to move into the cottage two weeks later because no one would rent to us. I'm still mad we didn't get our deposit back."

"How did Sirius know you were there?"

"We were shagging on the couch. Not very romantic but we were kind of excited and we thought he was out of town. He tripped over the bottle and said something like, 'Blimey, Lily has a fit arse.' James was pissed."

"About the flat or your arse?"

"My arse. I don't think he even noticed everything was on fire. I ended up apologizing to Aurors wearing only Sirius leather jacket. James was pretty much starkers."

Hermione laughed. "Is there anyone in the magical world who hasn't seen James naked?"

"You and that's about it. I give it a week, honestly."

Hermione wrinkled her nose. She had no interest in seeing her best friend's dad in his… nope. "That's not happening, Lily."

She chuckled. "Make sure to knock before you use the bathroom. That's all I'm saying."

Hermione rolled her eyes, "I'm staying in this closet till I die."

"Well, that's unfortunate. How will Remus know you think he's fit if you never leave?" Hermione blushed. "They won't make fun of you I promise and if they do, I'll hex them? Deal?"

Hermione's stomach grumbled. "Deal, but only because I'm starved."

Hermione followed Lily out, the boys were entirely engrossed in a Quidditch argument and Hermione tuned them out. She sat in the only open seat, between and Remus and Lily and took the overly filled plate Remus pushed towards her.

She ate while listening to them argue. It felt like being back at the Gryffindor table and sitting in between Harry and Ron while they debating the upcoming match. The difference was that even Lily participated in the conversation. "Of course I know what a bloody Wronski Feint is! I was reserve seeker, you dolt!"

"Yeah, well if the new seeker for the-"

"It won't work, Sirius!"

"Says who?"

"Says the only person at this table who has ever played the seeker position!"

"Well-" Lily finally reaching the end of her patience with Sirius, threw a piece of bacon in his hair. Sirius cursed and ran for the bathroom.

"I swear if Death Eaters ever want to take him in for questioning all they have to do is threaten to shave his head bald," Remus mused. Hermione felt a little-unsettled knowing that Sirius would have died rather than betray the Order. The same couldn't be said for the missing person in the group.

"I've had an idea," Sirius announced when he returned from the loo. "What if we start training with Remus?"

"Training?" Remus put his fork down, as Sirius slid back into his chair. "Sirius, this is a fight between two werewolves-"

"Yeah, but I'm a wolf can't we just-"

"I think it's a good idea," Hermione interrupted. It was also a good way to improve Sirius and Remus's relationship. Hermione was scared that she had ruined it. "It will help prepare Remus for his mission and Sirius for his. It will also help build up the appropriate muscles needed for fighting in wolf form."

"This witch appreciates a- Ouch! Dammit, Lily that hurt!" James was rubbing his backside glaring at his wife. "And I can't even hex you back."

James leaned down to speak to Harry in Lily's belly, it was something he had taken to doing lately. "Just you wait, when you come out we're going to prank the living daylights out of mummy."

"You mean poke right?" Sirius said just as Lily shot a hex at him. He yelped and toppled off his chair.

They continued in much of the same fashion throughout the day. After dinner, once the house wound down, Hermione showered and changed into her pajamas. She had snuck into Remus's room earlier and stolen two of his older sweaters.
She sat on the couch waiting for him to bring tea and like the night before, she fell asleep reading on him. The next morning she woke in her bed, excited about their new tradition.