The night passed in a blur, and when Remus awoke, he was lying in his usual bed in the hospital wing. Eyes still closed, he experimentally moved his arms and legs. Satisfied that he didn't have any major injuries left from his moonlit wanderings, he opened his eyes and carefully sat up. He looked around for Madam Pomfrey, hoping to start convincing her to let him out by dinner time, and he noticed something odd-the bed diagonal from his had the curtains closed around it. In the five years of being in the hospital wing every month, Remus had seen most of his classmates with all manner of injuries pass through the infirmary. An injury bad enough, or secret enough, to warrant the use of the curtains was few and far between. He himself was their only regular user, and even then it was only on his worst days-days after transformations during which he had injured himself so badly he needed to be hidden from public view. So naturally, Remus was very curious who was in the curtained bed. A memory from the evening before fluttered in the back of his mind, accompanied by a sinister feeling and both trying to make themselves known, but Remus pushed the thoughts away in impatient curiosity. He scooted up on the bed, wincing slightly as something twinged, and leaned forward even farther still. "Just a bit more," he thought, "and I'll see who it is . . . " All he got was a glimpse of bushy brown hair before he heard footsteps out in the corridor approaching the door, and he lay down quickly to feign sleep. He listened, breathless, as the footsteps reached the door, and the door creaked open. As they entered the room, Remus could identify two sets of footsteps. One set stopped in the middle of the room, while the second set came right up to his own bedside. He recognized these footsteps as belonging to Madam Pomfrey when she put a hand on his forehead and muttered a spell to check his temperature. Then rather than continuing the check-up, the nurse walked quickly away, towards the curtained bed. He waited, in case the owner of the second set of footsteps was looking, but immediately cracked one eye open when the second person followed Madam Pomfrey behind the curtain. Remus easily identified the nurse's companion when he saw the long silver hair- it was Albus Dumbledore.
With both the nurse and the headmaster out of sight, Remus now opened his eyes fully and lay very still so as to best hear their conversation. Aided by the sharpened senses left over from his transformation, he heard every word:
"She still won't wake. Are you sure you can't do anything for her? Have you any idea what caused this?" asked Madam Pomfrey in a low whisper.
"No, I have never seen the likes of this before. We must wait until she wakes to find out, and meanwhile hope for the best," responded Dumbledore's steady voice.
"And you still don't know who she is, either?" the nurse urged.
Dumbledore responded, "No, she is not a current student here at Hogwarts. How she came to be here, or where she belongs, will be an unanswerable mystery until she can talk to us. Until then, it's no use wondering. I will be back later today, if she wakes up before then, let me know."
With that, Dumbledore swept back the curtain and strode out of the room. Remus barely had time to close his eyes to avoid detection, and even then, if the nurse or the headmaster had been paying him any attention his heavy breathing would have given him away. His mind was whirling. Who was this mystery girl, that had arrived so suddenly the night before? For the memory of finding her had come rushing back to Remus as the conversation progressed. His fervent wishing for the girls's well being was interrupted as Madam Pomfrey came bustling over.
"Ah, good, you're awake. Are you all right? You sound quite ill. Here, make sure you have your chocolate. Yes, good. Now, once you've finished, lie back down and rest. You managed to avoid serious injury this time, but you still don't look well."
The nurse said this all very brusquely and with great purpose, as if she could make up for failing one patient by being even more thorough in healing the next. Remus meekly accepted his chocolate, and sighed. There was no way he would be leaving the infirmary anytime soon.
Hermione regained consciousness slowly, becoming aware of her surroundings bit by bit. She realized she was lying down, somewhere comfortable, with soft light filtering through her eyelids. Distantly, she could hear a faint din, not unlike the noise of students rushing between classes . . . This new revelation startled her into a more alert state, and as she slowly opened her eyes she recognized a room very like the hospital wing at Hogwarts. The curtains partially shielding her bed were even the same ugly print . . . Yet something was different. She tried to raise her head, but found it almost impossible to move. Instead, she strained her eyes and could just make out, right at the edge of her vision, Madam Pomfrey standing by someone's bedside. The nurse moved away, and the student in the bed got up- Hermione squinted- he looked extremely familiar. Too familiar in fact, but he was so . . . young . . . Comprehension dawned and she let out a soft "Oh!" of surprise. Before she could stop herself, she called out softly a name she had never yet called him, but somehow seemed more appropriate than "Professor," "Remus?" Madam Pomfrey upon hearing the noise immediately bustled over, effectively blocking her view, but not before Hermione saw the shock on Remus's face. Madam Pomfrey frantically started asking questions and casting diagnostic spells on her, but all Hermione could think about was how she had come to be in the same time as a fifteen year old Remus Lupin.
Thank you so much for all of the reviews, favorites, and alerts from the first chapter. Even if I can't PM everyone to thank them personally (I'm stuck on an iPod and iPad for email and typing right now) every single one means a lot. If you get another notification for this chapter, it's because I'm adding a scene or two- I needed to get at least this up before the deadline.
Please review :)