"I need you to leave."
"But I-"
"Leave!"
Hermione glared at the boy - no, young man - in front of her. Her eyes glinted and her fists clenched at her sides. With a flick of her wrist, her wand appeared in her hand. She silently swished it at the door of the empty classroom, warding, silencing, and locking herself in with Peter.
"I will not leave," she snarled. To prove her point, she stepped even closer to him. Peter's eyes widened as he stumbled backwards to get away from her. Rage rolled off her body in hot, palpable waves.
"I will not leave," she repeated, "until you tell me why." She looked him steadily in the eye, letting him see the turbulent emotions tumbling through her. Her hand was steady, though. Her hand was always steady; Harry had made sure of that.
Memories of a life lived long ago flashed across her mind, memories that filled her with pain, love, loss, hope, and so much sacrifice. She had come here to change that, to change everything, but somehow, Peter had still fallen to the darkness. Hermione's heart clenched, though she did her best to ignore it.
Again, she took a step forward, and again, Peter backed up. This time, the backs of his thighs hit the abandoned teacher's desk and his feet slipped so that he was half-sitting. Hermione moved closer still, close enough to see the vein throbbing in his temple.
She had always wondered why Peter had betrayed the other Marauders. By all accounts, the four Gryffindor boys were closer than brothers. What, then, could have been so tempting, so powerful, so convincing, to convince Peter to abandon everything he knew, everything he loved?
Even after everything she had done since arriving in the past so many years ago, she had still failed. She hadn't been able to keep Peter from taking the Mark, and the thought filled her with a fresh wave of fury. Wordlessly, she immobilized him from the neck down and stared him straight in the eye as she yanked his left arm out in between them and pushed the sleeve back.
Almost against her will, her eyes moved down to the Dark Mark that marred his beautiful, freckled skin. Hermione was surprised when her eyes filled with tears; she hadn't expected to feel quite so personally betrayed. But then, when it came to Peter, she hadn't expected to feel a lot of the things she did.
When she looked back up, her tears spilled over at the look of anguish on his face. It completely stole her breath away, and she choked as she asked him again, weakly, "Why?"
Peter's eyes tightened as he held her gaze. "Hermione," he whispered, sounding nearly as broken as she felt. "How could you possibly understand?" Hermione ended the spell keeping him still when a tear rolled down his face. Before he could try to reach for her, she spun away and wrapped her arms around her middle.
"Explain it to me, then," she demanded loudly. "Explain to me how you could turn your back on your friends?" She whirled back around to face him. "How you could turn your back on me?" Her voice dropped to a whisper again at the end. "I thought -" But Hermione shook her head, unable to continue when her throat closed up and the tears ran unchecked down her cheeks.
"Hermione," Peter said again, her name a plea as it crossed his lips. Her heart stuttered. When he straightened up and moved toward her, she shook her head and held her hand up to stop him getting any closer.
"No, Peter, you…" Hermione swallowed, hard. "You have to explain. I won't leave until you do." She wasn't sure if she was threatening him or promising him, but either way, she needed to know. When he nodded, she dropped her hand and slid her wand back into her wrist holster.
With a deep, steadying breath, Peter began to explain to her about the Slytherin boys who had, at first, bullied him in younger years, then began to seemingly befriend him. It amazed her that he had been able to keep all of this secret from his friends and from her. He told her about the innocent questions they'd asked, the bits of knowledge they'd given him in return. Hermione's fingers twisted in the ends of her hair when she heard this. He told her how he didn't realize until it was too late what was happening. Hermione's heart clenched when she remembered another boy who had been used without his consent. He told her how they, and even more specifically, Lord Voldemort, were interested in all his friends, but especially in Hermione. At this, she reached out and took his hand in hers.
He dropped his eyes when he told her about taking the Mark. But when he finally, finally, came to the why, she sobbed and gripped his shirt, pulling him to her. Peter wrapped her up in his arms with murmured confessions of betraying his friends to keep them safe, to keep her safe. Voldemort had discovered her secret, the one the Marauders had been trusted with so long ago. Peter had only tried to protect her.
Maybe Hermione had changed more than she'd thought, after all. They had threatened her, they had threatened her friends, they had threatened her family, and Peter had done what he could to protect them. She was absolutely positive that his motivation for joining the Dark had changed drastically this time around, though she wept for the price he now paid.
When he pulled back and gently wiped the tears from her cheeks, she smiled sadly at him. "I forgive you," she said softly. Peter tilted her head back and slowly bent down to kiss her, and Hermione knew she could never leave.