Chapter 5

"The Oblivious Stag"

When Hermione woke up she couldn't help but groan on in frustration when she realised that she was back in the hospital wing.

"This is becoming a habit." she said out loud.

"I am glad that you are finally awake Miss Granger."

Dumbledore was standing at the end of her bed.

"Headmaster?"

"You gave us quite the fright especially Mr Malfoy and the Marauders"

Hermione suddenly remembered everything that had happened and unconsciously wrapped her arms around herself. If she hadn't stopped herself, Malfoy would likely be dead by now and the thought of that made her shudder.

When she looked at Dumbledore she met his curious gaze and she knew that it was time to tell him everything.

"Headmaster, can I borrow some of your time?"

He smiled kindly at her and took residence in the chair beside her.

With a deep sigh Hermione started to tell him everything.

"It started with a prophecy...

The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not…and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives…the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…"

She then proceeded to tell Dumbledore everything from their first year to just before she arrived here. Every secret that she had, things that only her, Harry and Ron knew she told him everything. She cried while she told him because it seemed to finally register that the whole magical world and even the muggle world would be ruled by darkness if she failed. It scared her that she finally realized how heavy her burden actually was.

"In your story that means that you are a..." Dumbledore stopped he didn't quite know how to word it know how to say it.

"A pureblood! Yes I am!" Dumbledore was taken a back by the amount of hatred in the girls voice. He might only have know Hermione for a short time but he had never seen her with such a hateful expression.

"Miss Granger most witches and wizards would be proud to have a blood as pure as yours."

"Blood is blood and it doesn't matter whether you are pure,half or muggleborn and in my case I know who I am I don't need any blood definition to define me!"

Dumbledore smiled upon seeing the fire in the girl's eyes, her hatred might be disturbing but he could still see the purity of her heart even if she herself could no longer see it and he believe that the others would see it too if only she allowed them in.

"Even before you told me anything I could see that you were a very brave woman and now I'm sure that Godric Gryffindor would be extremely proud of you.

"Brave?" Hermione laughed bitterly."Look how brave I am! I am here in the past safe and sound while my best friend is out there fighting for his life! I am anything but brave headmaster! I-I should be o-out there… I should be with H-Harry! Its always been like that. Me and him against ever-everything."Hermione had never felt so lost and she couldn't do anything but cry.

Dumbledore sighed sadly because for the first time in his life he didn't know what to do.

"I wish I could help you Miss Granger but the only thing I can do is to promise to you that I will protect you while you are here and I will support you no matter what you decide."

And with that Hermione cried harder. She cried for her future who lost its light to the dark side, she cried for her friends and the families that died for the right side, she cried for her two brave and loyal best friends who never faltered in fighting for what they believed and lastly she cried for herself for losing those that mattered to her most…but she promised along with the tears that she would never loss anyone else ever again even if she died trying.

James POV

James felt so annoyed with Madam Pomfrey, he had tried everything that he could in order to see Hermione but she just wasn't letting him and Dumbledore himself had also made it perfectly clear that he wanted noone to see Hermione either.

"Prongs give it up,we tried everything but Pomfrey and Dumbledore guard Hermione like a hawk."

Sirius's statement received a silent nod of agreement from Remus and Peter.

"No! I need to see if she is okay!" James said stubbornly which earned him a tired sigh from the three.

They were on there way into the haunted girls toilet were they always planned there pranks due to the fact noone went in because of Moaning Myrtle the ghost that resided there.

"Pomfrey said that she was okay." Remus said as patiently as he could.

"If she is okay then why won't they let us see her?"

"Maybe she doesn't want to see us?" Sirius said carelessly but he stopped once he saw the pain that crossed James's face.

"James?"

"Why wouldn't she want to see us? We didn't do anything to her… right?" James said with an obvious panic in his eyes while thinking if they had pranked her unknowingly.

The trio were speechless, not really knowing what to say to James odd behavior. They had never seen him act like this before. Even when he constantly asked out Lily Evans.

"Of course..we didn't do anything to her right?"

When James eyed them with suspicion it started to bring answer to their question. It seemed that James was infatuated with the new girl but the real question was, if he was aware of that.

Upon arriving in the girl's lavatory they all stopped upon seeing Myrtle quietly standing in the corner with a very annoyed face.

"What's wrong with you Myrtle?" Sirius said out of curiosity only to receive a heated glare from the ghost, something which had never happened before.

"What's wrong with her?" Sirius asked his friends quietly only to have the ghost narrowed her eyes towards them, to their surprise she suddenly floated towards them with a very annoyed look.

"Yes! Talk about me as if I am not here! Ignore me just like that very annoying girl!"

Not bothering for their response the irritated ghost flew straight at the toilet bowl making a very loud noise.

"Women are really complicated!" Sirius said after a minute earning a silent yes from the other three.

"Very annoying girl? Who do you think she was talking about?" Remus asked being the only one who seems to listen to Myrtle's rant.

"I think she is."

They all looked to who Peter was talking about only to see Hermione sleeping peacefully in the corner where Myrtle was glaring before she turned to them.

"What is she doing here?" Remus said in wonder while looking at Hermione.

"Who knows, but I am willing to bet that she is not supposed to be here."

Sirius might always say the illogical thing most of the time but Remus silently agreed with him, because she still looked weak and pale. It was a wonder to him as to how she managed to escape the ward and the watchful eye of Madam Pomfrey.

Before anyone could stop him James had knelt down beside Hermione and started to shake her.

"What the heck are you doing here? You're supposed to be in hospital wing."

Hermione groaned and cover her ears from the noise she sat up slowly and when she recognized Harry's father she immediately cover his mouth before he could say anything more.

"Jeez Potter could you be more loud."

"You're supposed to be in the Hospital wing, resting." James said seriously after Hermione removed her hand from his mouth.

"You still look like you need Madam Pomfrey."

Hermione slumped to the floor tiredly. She didn't need Sirius tactless comment to know that she is still sick, but Merlin she really hated the hospital wing even in the future, her memories of there aren't the best.

"What are you doing?" Remus couldn't help but ask the girl who had begun to close her eyes again.

"I'm sleeping." Hermione said in an obvious tone not even bothering to open her eyes.

"B-but its cold out here?"

Hermione opened her eyes and looked at Peter who almost hide himself behind Remus. Hermione just sighed and close her eyes again, hoping that by doing that they would get the clue and leave her alone. But even with her eyes closed she could still feel their eyes especially James's on her, she now knew where Harry got that piercing gaze.

Hermione opened her eyes again and looked at the Marauders exasperatedly.

"Don't you have pranks to do instead of bothering me?"

The four were taken a back by not what Hermione said but the way she said it, there was no judgment in her voice in fact she said it out of curiosity and nothing more.

James looked like a nervous child much to the amusement of the other Marauders and Hermione and he started to answer."We went to the hospital wing to visit you…"

"But Madam Pomfrey didn't let you." Hermione finished what James was about to say. She was feeling very tired and just wanted to sleep.

"How did you-"

Hermione looked at Sirius with the same unreadable expression that they were getting use to. "You four were not really being quite while you were trying to sneak around."

The four look abashed by that.

"Are you saying that we were noisy?" Sirius said in slightly dramatic tone followed by a nod of agreement from the others.

Even in her tired state Hermione couldn't help but giggle, the guys reminded her so much of Fred and George even though they could be annoying they were great friends nonetheless.

The boys were speechless while watching Hermione laugh it was probably the first time they saw and heard her laugh.

James touch his chest unconsciously to control the erratic beats of his heart. If his heart continued acting weirdly he might visit Madam Pomfrey and find out what was wrong with him because this was not the first time his heart palpitated loudly and uncontrollably.

"You have a nice laugh, Miss Granger."

Hermione rolled her eyes at Sirius, he really didn't know when to give up. "Flirting again.. with me Mr Black?" Hermione said with a yawn.

Sirius grinned wider, this girl was really interesting and seeing James frown is another bonus because it seems that his best friend is still clueless to his own feeling.

"So why did you leave the hospital wing, Hermione?" for some reason James felt the need to get Hermione's attention away from Sirius. He frowned when he felt his chest tightened, maybe he should visit Pomfrey tonight?

"I hate hospital wings…"

She could feel her eyes beginning to get heavy, she shut them and leant against the wall for support. She could still here them talking but their voices started to sound further and further away.

"It seems that our lovely Gryffindor found you boring mate she's fallen asleep."Sirius teased.

James glared at Sirius only to receive an annoying grin back.

Remus couldn't help but shake his head due to Sirius's behavior. He knew what Padfoot was trying to do but Prongs seemed oblivious to his feelings for the new girl.

"W-what are we going to do with her?"

Peters question woke them up from their own silent musing. They looked at Hermione who was sleeping peacefully.

"Well we can bring her to our dorm."

"Oh Prongs I really love the way you think."

"Shut up Padfoot, whatever you are thinking is far from what I am thinking."James blushed earning amused laugh from Sirius.

"We can't bring her to our dorm Prongs if someone see her they will think something about it."

"Moony we are Marauders, and besides what's the point in having a Marauder's Map if we don't use it."

"Wow Prongs I really admire you sometimes for your brilliant mind."

Remus sighed loudly but he knows that they cannot leave Hermione here alone and he doubted if James would let them leave her here either. The way he saw it there was no choice but to agreed no matter how crazy their idea was.

"Alright, to our dorm then." He said while thinking about who would carry the girl.

When James saw Sirius bend to carry Hermione he moved forward and lifted her easily and gently before his best friend could touch her.

"Oi prongs!" He heard Sirius protest but he decided not to say anything because having Hermione in his arms felt as if it was the right thing to do.

"Do you wanna bet how long our Prongsie takes before he realizes that he is smitten with our lovely housemate."

Remus and Peter shrugged and followed James who was already making his way to their dorm. Sirius couldn't help but laugh it seems that things would be more interesting now that the lovely Hermione Granger was here.

AN:

Thank you for your support please continue to read my story and I promised I will answer all the question in your minds. Yes I made Hermione a pureblood here and I will reveal the reason at the right time…continue to review…thank you everyone and thank you my beta "bethanxo"

I do not own Harry Potter so thanks to its author JK Rowling….