Warnings for attempted murder, gun violence, child abuse, attempt of the dissection of a child, and talk of possible sexual abuse.

For anyone wondering, M.R. Carey's book, The Girl with All the Gifts, influenced a lot of the flashback on Jean's end in this chapter.

Sorry for the delay, everyone.

Painful happiness

The next morning came, and Hermione, as she always did, checked under her to make sure that the diary of Tom Riddle, was still there and was safe. It was. She stuck it into her robes and whispered to it as all the other students started packing everything up, "Tom, we're moving again back to the student dorms. So, if you can feel us moving? It's that. Sorry if it causes you any discomfort, brother."

She stuffed the book into her robes and Daphne watched her as she packed up her things as well.

Daphne tried to tell herself that she was worried about nothing.

She had to be worrying about nothing.

It was Tom, for Merlin's sake. He had been nothing but helpful to all of them, always.

Daphne chose not to comment about her suspicions, as she, Hermione and the other three walked after all the other Slytherins, off to the dungeons.

Hermione glanced at Harry, before she went down the corridor that would lead her away from the Gryffindors.

He was alright. He didn't look hurt. Alright. So, Sirius hadn't gotten to him.

Not that she had expected him to have, but Sirius escaped from Azkaban and got into Hogwarts, so, anything was possible, right?

Her mind went back to Remus Lupin. Remus Lupin, who she didn't know if they could trust. Remus Lupin, who had the map. Remus Lupin, who probably was working with Sirius Black.

And who was probably a werewolf.

She didn't know that for sure. But she needed proof.

She had been watching that map before Remus had snatched it up, but she had seen enough that fed her suspicions about him being a werewolf. It had been close to the full moon when he had begun disappearing from the castle.

She was sure that he was a werewolf.

She just needed conirmation.

She stayed close to her friends as she whispered, "Okay, so, we know for sure that Sirius Black is getting into the castle, somehow. And we know that Remus Lupin doesn't look too good."

"No," Pansy agreed, "He doesn't."

When everyone had been escorted to their dorms, and Hermione and her friends were at their room, Hermione told her friends that they needed to talk. The other four nodded and all five of them went into the common room.

When they were sure no one was watching or listening, Hermione faced Daphne, Astoria, Millicent and Pansy and began telling them about her suspicions.

They agreed with all of them. And were curious about the whole "Wormtail" thing.

At some point, though, Astoria asked something that she was curious about, "If there's a possible connection between that name, 'Wormtail,' and that rate, do you think there's a connection between that name that you and Daphne said was on the map? 'Mr. Moony?' And Remus Lupin?"

Hermione's eyes widened. She hadn't thought of that. But yeah. That was a thought.

She hadn't thought of it, but Remus Lupin probably was a werewolf. And there was someone on that map that was referred to as "Mr. Moony?"

But then, that meant….

"That means that Remus Lupin probably had something to do with the making of that map," Hermione said, recalling how he had appeared to know about the map.

Daphne nodded. "That's what I was thinking," she said, "Which means if he's Mr. Moony?"

"Then he knows who Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs are," Hermione said, realization hitting her.

"And Wormtail might just be Peter Pettigrew," Millicent finished, thinking about Hermione's suspicions.

Hermione nodded. "And possibly a rat," she added, knowing how mad that sounded.

"And possibly a rat," Pansy repeated, shaking her head, "This is all mental."

"I know," Hermione agreed, "But we live in the witch and wizarding world, remember? And the power to turn into animals exist."

Pansy nodded, still not looking like she was wrapping around what she was hearing.

"Either way," Hermione said, "We need to keep an eye on Remus."

They all agreed on that.

They carried on throughout the next few days, pretending that they knew nothing about the matter.

Hermione learned from Harry at some point, that he had heard something from Malfoy in potions class months ago.

Malfoy had said, "If it were me, I'd have hunt down Black myself." Meaning that Malfoy had known.

Which meant? That Malfoy must have known something. Because his father, Lucius Malfoy had to have known. Malfoy's father had been in Voldemort's inner circle.

Then again, didn't basically, every witch and wizard, except Harry, know?

Still….Hermione knew she'd have to dig deeper for more information.

"If Pettigrew is in fact a rat," Daphne said, laughing at how that sounded, "Has he been hiding in the castle all these years?"

Hermione shook her head. "I don't think so," she said, a castle full of well-trained witches and wizards, all teachers. I feel like he would have been caught ages ago. And besides? Remember Mrs. Norris?"

Daphne's eyes widened. Oh, yeah, right.

"Good point," she admitted, then unable to help herself, she joked, "Well, we'll probably find out that the Weasley pet, Scabbers, is Pettigrew." And she meant it entirely as a joke, however, when Daphne, Pansy and Millicent all chuckled at the thought and looked at Hermione and Astoria for more laughter, they were startled to see shock and comprehension on both other girls' faces.

"Astoria?" Daphne asked, "Mione?"

"Oh, shit," Hermione said, "Bloody hell, I hadn't even thought of Scabbers."

Daphne's eyes went wide again. "Seriously?" She asked, "I meant it as a joke."

"I know you did," Hermione said, "But think. What would be a safe place, away from animals that tend to eat rats, and away from a castle full of wizards, trained to look for things like that? In the house of a non-tyrannical witch and wizarding family."

"Wait, honestly?" Millicent asked, stunned, "We're going with the possibility that Peter Pettigrew became a rat and hid out as the Weasleys' pet all these years?"

"I know it sounds ridiculous," Hermione confessed.

"It doesn't sound ridiculous," Pansy said, "It sounds mad."

"No more mad than anything else I've seen in this world," Hermione said, and avoided saying, 'or in the muggle world, for that matter.' As much as Hermione trusted her friends, she wasn't sure still, how she was going to tell them about Cromwell and about the labs and about the other muggle-born children who had been abducted from their homes and abused, "If there's even a chance that Pettigrew is the Weasley household pet? We need to find out. If it's just a rat? Then it's just a rat. If we use a spell on Scabbers, to make him turn back into a person and it turns out to be just a rat, nothing will happen to the rat, right?"

She received several nods. That was what she had been sure of. She had read about it and animaguses would only be affected by the spell that she was thinking of. A transfiguration spell, designed to make animaguses return to their human forms.

If the rat that Ron Weasley had brought to Hogwarts was simply a rat? Then the spell would not affect him in any way.

But if it actually was Peter Pettigrew? Then they'd have an animagus with them. One that they could potentially get information from. About Remus. About Sirius.

Astoria started, "Um, whatever people think-whether they think Pettigrew is Weasley's rat or not? I think we're forgetting one thing. How are we going to get Ron Weasley's beloved pet away from him to use the spell on him?"

Hermione paused. Good question.

Because Hermione knew how it would look. Not just to Ron Weasley, but to all of the teachers.

A Slytherin trying to take a Gryffindor's pet away?

That would most definitely not look good.

The next few hours passed, and the girls went about their studies, pretending that they hadn't been, as usual, conspiring to do something unlawful-which Hermione realized, they'd been doing for a few years now.

It was then that Remus approached her. Hermione, Daphne, Astoria, Millicent and Pansy, were all at one of the tables, eating, when Remus Lupin came into the Great Hall.

Pansy was the one that saw him first. She whispered to Hermione, looking down the Great Hall, tense, "Mione."

Hermione looked over at where Pansy was looking, as did the other girls.

They all froze, seeing Remus approaching them.

Damn. Did he know?

Hermione told herself that that was foolishness. Because unless Lupin was experienced in legilimency, then how could he possibly know?

Remus stopped by the table and looked right at all five of the girls, smiling. "Hello, Ms. Granger. Ms. Parkinson. Ms. Bulstrode. Both Ms. Greengrasses."

Hermione almost said, "spare us the pleasantries and tell us what you fucking want," she almost said that, but knew better. Instead, she said, "Professor Lupin. How can we help you?"

Remus nodded to Hermione as he said, "I would like it if you would join me in the classroom where I conduct my class."

Hermione felt tense again. Why? Remus didn't strike her as the type to sexually abuse children, however, she also hadn't thought he'd work with Sirius Black, so…

Around her, she could tell that her friends were getting equally suspicious. Whether it was because they thought that Remus wanted to sexually harm Hermione in some way or because they thought that he was a Death Eater, she didn't know, but she could practically sense their distrust of the possible werewolf.

"There is a certain spell that I wish to teach both you and Mr. Potter," Remus said, smiling simply.

Hermione frowned, now more confused than suspicious. Harry? Why were both she and Harry being called to Lupin's classroom?

"When exactly do you want the two of us there?" Hermione asked, unable to keep the suspicion out of her voice.

"In two hours," Remus said, "If you don't mind."

Hermione nodded. "Alright," she said, "I'll be there."

Remus smiled and nodded and walked away from the Slytherin table and walked towards the Gryffindor table, to most likely ask Harry to do the same thing.

Hermione looked to the other girls and Pansy demanded, confused, "Okay, what the bloody hell was that all about?"

"I don't know," Hermione admitted, troubled.

"Are you going to go?" Astoria asked, worried for her friend.

Hermione nodded. "Yes," she answered, "Because regardless of the outcome? I'll learn more about Remus. Whatever his intentions are. If he's as bad as we think he is? Then I might learn more about what he wants."

"If he hurts you-" Daphne began, her voice a growl, but Hermione nodded to her reassuringly.

"Daphne," Hermione said, "Do you think I can't defend myself?"

This actually brought a small laugh from Daphne. Because yes, she most certainly knew better than to think that Hermione couldn't defend herself. She knew Hermione could.

The things she'd seen Hermione defend herself and the others from in their first year alone? Had hit Daphne hard with disbelief. She was positive that she wouldn't have had the strength to face off against Voldemort himself.

Even if Voldemort had been far from at his full power, at the time.

"I know you can," Daphne assured Hermione, "It's just….I'm really worried."

"So am I," Millicent said, staring at Remus's back with distrust in her eyes.

"We are too," Astoria answered and Pansy nodded.

Hermione sighed, "Thank you for your concern," she said, meaning it, "But we need answers. And we're not going to get them by just sitting here and talking. We need to investigate. I will go visit Remus, and I'll bring my wand. Promise. But in the meantime? Someone needs to see if they can grab Scabbers."

Pansy huffed, "Great. Just what I wanted to do, catch a rat."

Hermione chuckled at Pansy's grumble.

"Alright," Daphne said, "How about this? Two of us can track down Scabbers. The other two can follow you to Remus's room and keep watch, in case Remus tries to do anything. We'll stay out of sight."

Hermione sighed, "Daphne."

"Hermione," Daphne said, eyebrows going up.

Hermione glanced at the others and saw similar expressions on their faces and she exhaled deeply.

They were far too protective of her, to just let her go see a possible Death Eater on her own.

"Alright," she said, "But if we want to keep the two that follow me, out of sight? Then we need Harry's invisibility cloak."

Eight and a half years ago

The breakout

Jean Granger knew she needed to be careful. It wouldn't be long before Cromwell figured out what she was up to, if she wasn't cautious.

The halls of the lab were immaculate and gray. There were long stretches where Jean didn't see any guards. She moved past several rooms, knowing that there was a lot of lab equipment there.

She turned the corner, seeking out Hermione's room.

She almost gasped when she saw the guard by Hermione's door.

She recognized him. Reginald. What was he doing here?

"Reginald?" Jean asked, approaching, causing the guard to turn and look at her, "I'm sorry, but what are you doing by Hermione's door?"

Reginald looked at Jean, startled, before speaking respectfully, "Ms. Granger. Sorry if this is abrupt, but Mr. Cromwell wanted the girl to be guarded, till he brought her in to dissect her.

Horror filled Jean. She felt bile begin to stir up in her throat.

She nodded. "Okay," she said, "I need to have a word with her, before anything else, alright? Can you unlock the door, just for that?"

Reginald nodded. "I don't see why not," he said, and he turned his back to Jean.

And that was when Jean made her move.

She looked down at the guard's belt and reached out for his gun.

Now, in England? People, even guards and police officers didn't often carry firearms. It was not common.

This was not America, after all. Every single person that you might run into, didn't have access to a gun.

However, Cromwell had made it clear that all the guards were to carry firearms, in case the…"subjects" got out of hand.

Which provided Jean with the opportunity she had now.

She grabbed the gun around the handle and pulled it out of the guard's leather holster.

The guard clearly felt the movement and whirled around, but not in time, thankfully.

Jean stepped back, aiming the loaded gun at the guard, pulling the safety off of the gun, immediately.

With wide blue eyes, and holding his hands up, Reginald said softly, "Now, Ms. Granger, I don't know what's going on here, but-"

"Shut up," Jean ordered, trying to ignore how her heart was pounding fiercely and how there was sweat running down the back of her neck, never having pulled a gun out on anyone before, "Listen, you're going to unlock the door to Hermione's room, understand? Then you're going to step back from the room, got it?"

Jean somehow kept her voice from trembling when she gave those instructions.

Reginald swallowed and nodded. "A-alright," he said, turning back to Hermione's cell.

The keys were already in his hand and he worked to unlock the door. He unlocked the cell door and stepped back from the room, looking between the now opened up door to Jean, confused and frightened.

Hermione was there, sitting on her bed. When the door opened up, she looked through the opening of the door and she gasped, smiling when she saw Jean, then seeing the gun and she frowned.

"Ms. Granger?" She saked, confused.

"Hermione, listen to me, sweetie," Jean said, trying to keep her voice calming for the girl, "I need you to come out of your room and come over to me, okay?"

Hermione looked nervously at the gun. Having practically been raised in these labs, she knew what a gun was. She had seen the guards handle the guns over the years. She knew they were dangerous.

But she trusted Jean Granger.

So, Hermione got up from the bed, grabbing her stuffed dragon and went through the door of her cell, noticing the terrified Reginald not moving from his spot and she went over to Jean, standing by the woman, looking up at her, confused.

"Ms. Granger?" She asked, "W-what are you doing?"

"I'll explain later, sweetie," Jean assured Hermione, keeping her eyes on Reginald and keeping the gun aimed at him, "Right now, we need to get out of here, alright?"

"Okay," Hermione said, "What about the other kids?"

"We'll come back for them later," Jean said, "Promise."

That wasn't exactly a lie. She wanted the other kids to get out, but her main concern right now was Hermione.

Jean hoped she could get the other kids out later. But if it meant keeping Hermione safe, then she'd forgo getting them out.

Jean said to Hermione, without tearing her eyes away from Reginald, "Follow me, sweetie," and she backed away from Reginald, down the hall, towards an exit that was a few miles from here and Hermione followed, uncertain.

Reginald stayed where he was, his hands up, however, as Jean backed away, she didn't see where she was going, and she backed up into a staff member, holding up a clipboard and reading something.

But Jean and the staff member gasped on impact and Jean glanced at the man holding the clipboard who also gasped, looking between Jean and the guard and cried out, running to a plaque that had a button and a speaker, quickly realizing what was happening and slammed his hand against the button, and as soon as he did, the alarms at the top of the walls, blared to life, red light filling the halls as the lights of the alarms flared.

Guards came running in, pulling out their weapons.

"Shit," Jean hissed, whirling back around and aiming her gun at Reginald who was about to run, "Your keys!" She ordered, "Now!"

Reginald looked very pale and nodded, grabbing his keys and sliding them across the floor over to Jean, before running away.

Jean aimed the gun then at the man with the clipboard, leaning down and picking up the keys.

Hermione had backed up into the wall, her hands covering her ears from the sounds of the alarms, the child cringing and whimpering, cradling her beloved stuffed dragon in the crook of her right arm as she did.

Jean turned to the other cells.

She didn't want to have to risk doing this. But it looked like she didn't have a choice.

She grabbed the keys, keeping the gun on the man with the clipboard, as she heard the guards running, getting closer.

She shoved a key in the lock of the cell right by her, and opened it up, letting Harrison out.

She then moved on to the next few cells, letting Catherine and Noah out.

Several more cells were open and more of the children that had been captive here were out and looking around, confused at the bedlam that had just been unleashed.

The guards turned the corner and Jean yelled at the oldest of the kids, Noah, and some other kids, "We're breaking out, children! If you are able to control your abilities, now is the time to use them!"

Thankfully, despite the confusion, one of the older girls, Chloe, got the hint and faced the guards, a wicked smirk on her face, and whatever she did to use her abilities, it worked.

There was a popping sound and suddenly, four of the guards were thrown back, hitting the wall hard.

One of the guards was slammed into the man with the clipboard, the both of them collapsing on the floor, in a heap.

Another guard yelled out, enraged, reached for his gun and pulled it out.

More children got at the ready, their powers subconsciously reacting to the danger.

More guards pulled out their guns and bullets began to be fired.

The moment the first bullet fired, Hermione screamed, shaking, her power, whatever it was, a power that Jean and none of the other scientists understood, began making her lift up off of the floor, levitating her up in the air.

That was when the bloodshed began.

Present day-after the breakout

The five girls headed to Gryffindor Tower, careful not to be spotted by any prefects or students that just might sell them out to the teachers.

Harry had returned to the tower with his friends.

Hermione spoke gently to the others to stay close as they watched Harry and his friends stand close to the portrait of the knight that had replaced the fat lady, and heard the password to get in.

Hermione knew she'd need to work fast.

She whispered to the others that they would need to rush in, as soon as the portrait was opened.

However, they hadn't moved fast enough.

Harry and the others were through and the portrait closed, leaving the girls face to face with the knight. However, Hermione had a plan for this, ignoring her friends' quiet cursing.

Hermione said to the knight, as he asked, shocked, why a bunch of "Slytherin ladies" were at the Gryffindor Tower, "Brave sir Cadogan, we mean no disrespect by being at your portrait, however, there's a matter that we need to discuss with Harry Potter. It's urgent. And it might just help find the threat that is Sirius Black," Hermione fought a smile when she saw the knight raise his head, knowing she had his full attention, "With your brave and determined help, sir, we would find the threat to the castle and the students. But for that? We'd need to get through to the tower."

It was a good thing that Sir Cadogan wasn't all that bright, because he smiled happily and said, "It would be my honor to help protect the school and its students. Very well, dame Hermione, I shall let you in."

Hermione fought a laugh. Seriously? 'Dame Hermione?' Where exactly did Dumbledore find this guy?

"Thank you, sir Cadogan," Hermione said as the knight opened up the portrait and Hermione and the others slipped through. They quickly hid behind a pillar, when some Gryffindor students walked through the room, but Hermione saw Harry sitting down in the common room.

Thankfully, Ron wasn't there.

"Harry," Hermione said quietly, stepping out from behind the pillar, as the other Gryffindor kids walked away.

Harry turned to her, a startled expression on his face. "Hermione?" He asked, eyebrows narrowing, "How did you-?"

"Never mind that," Hermione said urgently, "Listen, we need help. Is it possible that we could borrow the invisibility cloak for a while?"

Harry eyed Hermione with some suspicion and Hermione was sure he was wondering why he should trust a Slytherin, who had lost the Marauders' map.

Hermione quickly followed with that, "I know I screwed up before. With the Marauders' map, but we really need the invisibility cloak. It might help us find Sirius." To be honest, she wasn't sure if that was even a lie. Because if Remus had in fact let Sirius in? He might know where Sirius was.

What Hermione said about Sirius, got his attention and he stood up. "You better not be messing with me."

"I'm not," Hermione answered, "This might very well help us find your parents' traitor." Hermione felt like a lowlife for saying something like that. But she knew it would have the effect that she would need.

Harry nodded, fire in those green eyes as he turned and went up the stairs to his room. He came back down a few minutes later, carrying a bundled up invisibility cloak.

Harry extended his arms out and Hermione gratefully took the piece of magical clothing.

"Be careful with it," Harry said, voice soft, "It belonged to my father."

Hermione nodded, remembering what Harry had told her when she and her friends had first discovered him with the invisibility cloak.

"I'll take care of it," she assured Harry, holding the garment carefully in her hands, "I swear. Thank you, Harry."

Harry nodded and the girls quickly left with the cloak in their clutches. Hermione thanked Sir Cadogan, as she and the others left and heard his gallant flowery talk of being comrades in arms and wishing them farewell as they left.

When they were far enough away from the tower, Pansy asked, laughing, looking at Hermione, stunned, "How did you know that thing with sir Cadogan would work?"

"I didn't," Hermione chuckled, "I just figured that he'd want to stop Sirius Black. He's really noble in that 'naïve' way, so I figured."

The girls chuckled and they made their way back to the dungeon.

They made the plan there. Hermione would meet with Remus, along with Harry. And Daphne and Astoria would follow close behind with the invisibility cloak.

In the meantime, Pansy and Millicent would try to get Scabbers away from Ron Weasley and see if Scabbers was just a rat, or an actual animagus.

The two hours were up then, and it was time for Hermione to go meet with Remus. She told all four of her friends to be careful, and she went up to the classroom of the Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Hermione knew that Astoria and Daphne were close behind her, under the invisibility cloak.

She knocked on the door of Remus's classroom and he opened the door, smiled and led her inside.

Harry had gotten here before she had, and saw him across the room from her, looking startled by her presence.

She heard the door closed and glanced over by the door, wondering if Daphne and Astoria were just outside the classroom, or if they had gotten in quick enough. However, she didn't have long to consider that possibility, because Remus gestured for her and Harry to move closer to him. There was a chest on the floor. And it was moving around.

Hermione frowned. What the-?

"Ms. Granger, Mr. Potter," Remus said, causing both students to look at him, "I'm very sorry to ask you to do this. However, I've noticed that you both had extreme reactions to the dementors when you saw them."

Hermione would have laughed, but restrained herself. Extreme reactions? Who exactly wouldn't have extreme reactions to those things? They were dementors! They ripped every happy thought and feeling you had from you.

"So," Remus said, "To that end, I would like to help you both find a way of stopping a dementor," he gestured to the trunk, "This, of course, does not have a dementor in it. It's a bogart. However, it will have the appearance and somewhat of the abilities of a dementor. I wish to train you to stop them."

"How?" Hermione asked, already seeing a flaw in this plan. Because hadn't one of the fundamental lessons that Remus had given them about bogarts, been that bogarts could be stopped when trying to learn the fear of more than one person?

"The patronus charm," Remus said, smiling at Hermione, as if he believed she already knew, "I recall you tried to use the patronus charm on the train, when there was a dementor approaching you."

Hermione's eyes widened. Oh. Remus was going to try to teach them that?

She remembered what had happened on the train. Remus had summoned a patronus, almost effortlessly.

But there was a problem with this plan, since bogarts sensed peoples' fear, and if there was more than one person present, the bogart wouldn't know what to turn into, because those two people could have very different fears.

However, Hermione wondered if she could work with that. Was she afraid of Voldemort? Yes. Was she afraid of Cromwell? Yes. However, was she also afraid of the dementors? You bet she was scared of them.

They were horrible.

So, if she could keep her mind focused only on the dementors and not think about Cromwell or Voldemort? Then she might be able to keep things a secret from Remus and Harry.

And the bogart would only focus on her fear of dementors.

She decided to go with that.

Hermione then asked Remus, curious, "Wait, if you want to teach people who had extreme reactions to dementors, how to summon a patronus, then why not also bring Daphne Greengrass in?"

Remus said sadly, "Because I saw your and Mr. Potter's reactions, Ms. Granger. Ms. Greengrass didn't react the same way."

Hermione shifted. Unfortunately, she knew Remus was right. That dementor on the train had a far heavier impact on her than it had had on Daphne.

Why was that?

Well, she knew the answer, actually. People who suffered from severe trauma, were susceptible to triggers.

All the more reason for Hermione to focus on the dementors, and not on either Cromwell, Quirrell or on Voldemort from her first year.

Remus told Harry what the words were and that he needed to focus on his most happy memory. Harry nodded.

"Ready?" Remus asked, leaning down and beginning to unlock the trunk.

Hermione and Harry looked at each other, both wanting to gauge if the other was going to back down or not.

Hermione saw that Harry wouldn't and she smirked, pulling her wand out and Harry smirked back, pulling his wand out and they both faced the trunk that Remus was opening, aiming those wands at the ready.

The trunk was opened, and what came out, was exactly what Hermione expected. Thankfully.

A cloaked figure, levitating up out of the trunk, a deep blowing sound in the air as Hermione felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

She tried to keep her mind focused. On dementors only.

She heard Harry say the words, "Expecto patronum!"

Hermione glanced at Harry's wand, seeing no light coming out of it.

Hermione turned back to the approaching bogart and said the words too, "Expecto patronum!" She focused entirely on finding out she was a witch and that there was a whole world full of witches and wizards, and that there might just be a world for people like her, like the other kids at the lab who had been stolen from their families and were experimented on. She focused on the sheer happiness she felt then, as she said the words.

To her relief, white light began spilling from the tip of her wand.

But not enough light.

Light enough that it held the bogart back for a few seconds, but not that long. The bogart then closed in on her and Harry.

Hermione knew immediately, that Daphne and Astoria had made it into the room, because she heard footsteps right behind her and she hissed quietly, "Don't! It's just a bogart. Don't interfere."

Hermione almost felt Daphne and Astoria's dismay, because she didn't hear them rushing forward anymore and Hermione could feel the "placebo effects" of the bogart mimicking the dementors and all at once, memories of Cromwell, the lab and all the dead muggle-born children.

Hermione gasped, pain tearing through her, even if the bogart hadn't even touched her.

The images of the dead muggle-born children ran through her mind. Peter. Donna. Andrew. Johnny. Basil. Evie. Harriet. And so many more.

She heard Harry gasping next to her.

Then Remus yelled, "Expecto patronum!"

A flash of white-blue light blasted out all around them and the bogart and the bogart-dementor receded back into the trunk. Lupin closed the trunk fast, locking it.

Hermione almost collapsed, but had held herself up enough not to. Harry, on the other hand, hadn't been so lucky.

He fell to the ground, on his rear, shaking.

Hermione would have felt for him, if she hadn't felt her own unimaginable pain and agony.

Tears she knew now, were in her eyes.

Cromwell, being told by the guards at the lab that her biological mother and father had given her up, the dead muggle-born children, the fires at the lab…..

She shook as Remus brought some chocolate over to her and Harry. He handed small pieces to them and Hermione and Harry both shakily took the chocolate and ate it.

"What did you think about when you used the spell?" Remus asked them.

Hermione breathed out, wiping the back of her right hand against her face and wiping the tears away. "When I first got my letter from Hogwarts. When I realized there was a world of witches and wizards and that there was a place I might belong."

Remus nodded and he looked at Harry. Harry said, still stuck where he had dropped, "When I first rode a broom."

Remus chuckled, "Oh, you'll need way better than that," he looked at Hermione, "You were closer."

Hermione nodded. "But not close enough," she said.

Remus said, "What you need is painful happiness. The happiest moment you've ever been. So happy, that it hurts."

Hermione could almost detect Harry's confusion, but she understood, right away.

Painful happiness. Almost heartbreaking happiness.

She knew exactly what memory she'd use too.

"I'm ready," Hermione said, without hesitation.

Remus nodded then looked to Harry. Harry got up, taking a breath. "I'm ready too," he said, and whether it was because he didn't want to look weak in front of the Slytherin or because he didn't want to give up, he sounded like he meant it.

After a moment, Remus nodded and leaned down, unlocking the trunk again and opening it up.

The nightmare in the shape of a dementor, spilled out of the trunk.

Hermione readied her mind. She focused on one thing. One specific memory.

Eight and a half years ago-right after the breakout

It had been several days since she and Hermione had escaped from Cromwell's lab. Jean had picked Hermione up and had carried her to the train, they'd gotten on and took the train further into England, going closer to the suburban communities.

Jean, between those days, had called up an old friend and asked if there were any houses available that she could buy instantly. Said friend answered that there was, and quickly gave the information. Jean called the person selling the house and gained the right to the house and was told where the house was. She thanked her friend and hung up, looking down at young Hermione, who stared up at her trustingly, her eyes soft and scared, sucking her right thumb.

Jean smiled sadly. This girl had seen so much. So much blood. So much carnage. So much death. At the age of only five. Jean said softly to the clearly traumatized child, "It will be alright, love. We'll have a safe place of our own soon. Where Cromwell won't find us. Where we can start over, alright?"

Hermione nodded, though she clung closer to her new guardian, almost biting her thumb.

Jean gently lowered hand and stroked Hermione's messy brown hair.

They traveled like that for hours, eventually reaching their destination. They got off of the train and headed to where the address of the new house was.

When they got to the new house, Jean looked down at Hermione, smiling, gesturing to the house as she said, "This is our new home, honey. We'll be safe here."

At least, Jean wanted to believe that.

Jean took Hermione's hand and led her to the house. The key had been left under a rock by the door. She pulled the key out, unlocked the door and opened it up.

She and Hermione stepped through, Hermione looking around curiously, which was certainly a step up from being stuck in a traumatized daze, though she had gone back to sucking her thumb.

"You're going to stay with me from now on," Jean said gently to Hermione, "No more experiments. No more labs. No more guards." Hermione looked up at Jean, confused, as the woman switched on the lights in the main room.

Jean smiled at Hermione's confused expression. She continued, "I'm going to adopt you, honey. Do you know what 'adopt' means?"

Hermione shook her head.

"It means, sweetie," Jean said softly, "That you're going to be my child now. My daughter. I'm your mother. Not by blood. But legally, and by choice. Understand?"

Hermione seemed to mull over what she heard. And Jean honestly wasn't sure if the small girl understood all that.

Between her young age, how isolated she'd been from the rest of the world for years, and how traumatized Hermione was? How much did Hermione understand about family dynamics and choosing a family? Most likely not much.

"Does that mean that we're going to be together?" Hermione asked, pulling her thumb out of her mouth, "That you'll stay with me? Take care of me?"

"That's right, love," Jean assured Hermione, "I'm going to take care of you. Be your mommy."

Hermione couldn't help herself. She let out a cry of overwhelming happiness, tears falling from her eyes as she lunged for Jean, her mother and Jean leaned down, reaching out and scooping the child up into her arms, hugging Hermione close as Hermione pressed herself to the woman's chest, crying in joy, shaking-a relief after all the horrors she had been through and seen.

Hermione gripped herself to her mother's chest and cried out in relief and happiness.

She was loved. She was wanted. She had a home. A mother.

Eight years later-present day

Hermione let the memory, full of painful happiness tear through her and she cried out, feeling new tears just threatening to fall-these tears of joy, rather than loss, "Expecto patronum!"

And this time, instead of just a trickle of white-blue light, a whole wave of white-blue light spilled out of her wand, taking form before the bogart.

Hermione gasped, smiling as she realized she was succeeding, and in surprise that the shape that her patronus had taken.

It wasn't what she'd thought it would be. She figured it would be something like a dog or a wolf or something.

It wasn't.

It was a tiger. An actual tiger. Big and striped with a roaring mouth and fangs and claws.

Hermione couldn't be absolutely positive, however, she could have sworn she heard a couple of gasps behind her, and it hadn't come from Harry or Remus.

Hermione smiled, glad that Daphne and Astoria were impressed.

The tiger stepped forward, fearless, roaring at the bogart, as it stepped closer. Harry didn't even have time to fully form his stag patronus that was now walking out and about the room, as the bogart shrank back from Hermione's tiger patronus.

Remus grinned and closed the trunk, locking it.

He looked at Hermione and Harry. "Excellent!" He cheered and Hermione more or less "shut her tiger patronus off," making it go slowly fade, as did Harry and they both sheathed their wands.

Remus still gave them some chocolate. They both thanked him and ate their chocolate.

Remus asked, "What memory did you think of?"

Hermione noticed that he was looking at her with as much interest as he was looking at Harry.

Hermione simply stated coolly, "Now, why would I tell you something as intimate as that?"

Hermione might like him, and might trust him more than she did before she got into the room and was set to face off against a bogart, but she still didn't trust him. And even if she had? She knew she wouldn't tell him something as personal as the memory she had used against the bogart.

Remus's eyebrows went up, but he nodded. "Understood," he said.

Harry looked at Hermione, startled at her distrust. When Remus looked at him, Harry answered, "I pictured my parents. When I was really young. A baby. I just have that, that image of the two of them holding me and smiling at me. It's not much. But it's all I have."

Hermione smiled sadly. Whatever Harry's friend, Ron, might have thought of her, she and Harry had a lot more in common than Ron thought.

Hermione looked at Remus. "Is there anything else you need from us?"

Remus looked to her Hermione, curious and he shook his head.

"Thank you, then," Hermione said, "If you'll excuse me. And thank you for helping us learn how to summon our patronuses."

Hermione walked to the door, opened up the door and walked out, making sure to hold the door open more, so, that Daphne and Astoria could go through. When she heard footsteps quietly shuffling by and felt a small burst of air passing her, she closed the door, then turned to where she heard the sound of their footsteps.

"You got all that," Hermione said, smiling at her friends.

The invisibility cloak was pulled off and Daphne and Astoria looked at Hermione, the expressions on their faces, startling Hermione.

Daphne was staring at Hermione with a cross between admiration and sadness. Astoria looked impressed, but confused.

"Daphne, Astoria?" Hermione asked, "What's wrong?"

"Hermione," Daphne said, "I've been thinking about this as a possibility for a while. That you…you don't talk a lot about the stuff that's happened to you."

Hermione furrowed her eyebrows. "What do you mean?" She asked, voice cautious.

Daphne sighed as she, Astoria and Hermione began to walk away from the door before Harry or Remus could emerge from it, "Look, Mione? We know about what happened years ago in our first year, we know about all that. We know that you're a muggle-born. We know that you live with your adoptive muggle mother. But that's it. Mione, can you tell me one thing about you that we don't know? That's really personal?"

Hermione stopped walking in the hallway, staring at Astoria and Daphne in confusion. "Where is all this coming from?" She asked.

"It's just…," Daphne said, "We know so little about you emotionally. You know so much about us. About Pansy and Millicent. But you guard your secrets like that three-headed dog in our first year that we had to deal with."

"Don't compare me to Fluffy," Hermione grumbled, "I wouldn't try to bite anyone."

"Don't change the subject," Astoria said, now that her sister had pointed out the elephant in the room, which was that Hermione kept so many secrets from her friends, "We've told you so much about our lives. You keep so much from us."

"Look, it's nothing to be worried about," Hermione said, feeling her chest becoming tight, realizing that they were getting very, very close to some truths that she didn't want them to find out about, "There's just stuff I deal with, is all."

Seeing Hermione's closed off expression, Daphne asked the question that almost made Hermione gasp, "Hermione, what happened to you? What happened to make you so closed off?"

Hermione shook her head, her lips tight together.

"Let's just find Pansy and Millicent," She said, turning on her heel and walking past the other two girls.

She heard Daphne and Astoria sigh, and follow after her.

Hermione knew that finally, Daphne and Astoria were becoming aware of how much she was keeping from them and Pansy and Millicent.

And what exactly would she tell them? About Cromwell? The labs? The many dead muggle-borns? The things she had done in the lab during the breakout? How many people she was positive she had killed with her magic, albeit, unintentionally? The Sorcerer's Stone? The wand that she had, that was the same as Voldemort's wand, core, wood and all?

How was she to explain all that? Something that was like an open wound for her?

Not to mention that time turner that McGonagall had given her.

Absentmindedly, Hermione said, "We need to return the cloak to Harry at some point. But hold onto it until then."

"Right," Daphne said, not saying anything more than that.

Hermione knew that out of all of her friends, Daphne was the most observant. A thought then ran through Hermione's brain fast. The thought was, if Daphne if was that observant about Hermione keeping secrets, did that mean that Daphne was onto something by not trusting Tom Riddle?

Hermione tried to ignore that thought.

Just because Daphne was right about her, didn't mean she was right about Tom.

Another thought entered Hermione's mind. The thought was, (then why do you feel some distrust for Tom? Why have you kept so much from him?)

Hermione didn't speak of these thoughts. She didn't like these troubled thoughts. Not at all.

While Hermione, Daphne and Astoria had investigated what exactly Remus had wanted, Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode had gone to find Ron Weasley's pet, Scabbers.

Ron and Harry were talking in the hallway, and guffawing about other "stupid students," in their words.

And Millicent and Pansy turned the corridor, looking down the hallway. And they could see Scabbers, the rat, right on the bench next to Ron.

The thing was, Ron and Harry both had their backs turned to the rat. Which meant they might not see what Pansy and Millicent were about to do.

Pansy and Millicent looked at each other, and they both nodded.

Pansy pulled out her wand, aimed it at Scabbers and whispered, "Silencio."

She watched as light pushed out of the wand and hit Scabbers, which would effectively silence him.

Millicent then aimed her wand and used a transportation spell, lifting Scabbers up into the air and magically moving him across the hallway towards herself and Pansy.

As Scabbers got closer, Millicent and Pansy could see that Scabbers was opening his mouth and trying to make noise, but Pansy had silenced him, so, Weasley and Potter would not hear him.

When Scabbers reached the two witches, Pansy reached out with her free hand, and with a disgusted look on her face, grabbed Scabbers's long, pink tail.

Scabbers looked up at them, frightened.

Both witches turned the hallway, carrying the rat with them, away from Weasley and Potter, before the two boys could see them.

As Millicent and Panys went down the hall with Scabbers in their grasp, Millicent tried to soothe the rat. "Shh," she said, "It's okay, it's okay."

They had no idea if Scabbers was just a rat, or a wizard that was trying to stay safe as a rat, but they'd find out soon enough.

And either way, if they were right about why Pettigrew had become a rat in the first place, if Scabbers was in fact, Pettigrew? Then he had nothing to fear from them. They'd protect him from Sirius Black.

Author's note

If anyone's asking, yes, Hermione and the others still think that Sirius is the bad guy. And yes, things are moving faster than they were in the books. You'll see where this goes. And if you're wondering if I'll give more details about the "breakout" from Cromwell's labs, yes, I will. I'll give more flashbacks later.

And you might be wondering what happened to the other muggle-born kids in Cromwell's labs. We'll get to that. Eventually.