You know what? Forget it. No more A/Ns unless I need to explain something or have something important to say. Just keep going on with the feedback, alright? But, umm, about this chapter…I needed one where Hermione started to wonder about Remus' … 'furry little problem.' So….
Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Care of Magical Creatures class, September 11, 1977…
She let out a shriek, falling onto her back as the thing attempted to gnaw her face off. James, her partner, jumped forward and grabbed at the thing, pulling it off and handing it to the professor, who was cursing at the parasitic monster.
"Are you alright?" Lily asked worriedly, watching as James pulled Hermione to her feet, letting her lean against him like some sort of crutch.
"Merlin, Granger, your face," Sirius said, pulling her away from James to dab at her face with his robe sleeve, keeping it tight with his fingers. "You're bleeding everywhere."
"Oww," she hissed, letting Sirius attempt to clean her up, although it was of no real use.
"A'right, a'right, lemme see," the professor said gruffly, limping towards her and holding her chin as she winced, her eyes closed as he looked over her. "That's bad. Get to Pomfrey. Black, you 'elp 'er. Potter, Evans, watch the rest o' the class while I fill out the report."
"Sirius, stop it," Hermione said after a few moments as he kept dabbing at her face with his sleeve, a determined expression on his face, "You're getting my blood all over your sleeve."
"I don't care, Granger," he frowned at her, but he had to stop once they reached all of the stairs leading up to the Hospital Wing. They walked in silence for a ways, Sirius noticing that she was getting paler with each slowed step. Finally, he stopped, frowning at her worriedly.
"Do you want help?" he asked.
"No," she said breathlessly, her eyes closed as she clutched at the handrail, "I should be fine."
"Granger, the stuff that thing eats – " he cut off and shook his head at her, "C'mon, let me help."
"I said, I'm fine," she repeated, refraining from looking so weak.
But Sirius knew what was going on with her, and stepped towards her, leaning back and hoisting her up on his back. She gave a small whimper as he picked her up, giving a moment to steady each other as she wrapped her arms around his neck in a sign of defeat, laying her head on his shoulder as he trumped them up to the Hospital Wing.
Once they opened the doors, Sirius gently put Hermione back on the ground and pulled her in to his side to steady her, and she limply let him, much like a ragdoll with a sturdy base.
"Holy mother of Merlin," somebody said, sucking in a breath. Sirius turned and saw that it was Remus, already pale for the full moon on Friday, "What happened?"
"Got attacked," Sirius answered for her before setting Hermione at the foot of Remus' bed, leaving him in charge of her. "Madame Pomfrey!" he hissed quietly, running to go find the woman.
"Are you alright?" Remus asked, climbing out of bed and kneeling down in front of her, a hand on her shoulder as he tried to find the blood source. A few moments later with her saying nothing, Madame Pomfrey walked in, Sirius following.
"Oh dear," she blinked before getting control of herself, "How did that happen?"
"Umm…I might've told James that they were stupid little creatures," she mumbled as the medi-witch got out her wand, "I didn't think it'd understand what I was saying though."
Sirius chuckled as Remus rolled his eyes and got out of the way, "It's true though."
"They usually eat very rancid food – so much germs and bacteria like you wouldn't believe," Pomfrey huffed, dabbing at her face with her handkerchief, "You'll be patched up quickly enough, but I'd like you to stay here. You lost quite a lot of blood."
"Yeah, I know," Sirius waved his darkened sleeve, "I think I got a majority of it though."
"Oh, dear, go change," Pomfrey said, wrinkling her nose at him, "You can come visit once you're done then go to your next class."
"Thanks, Madame P," he grinned, waving at Hermione and Remus as he left.
Hermione sighed as the spells started to patch up her torn skin, making her feel a little sore and a little woozy, but other than that was fine. Madame Pomfrey left the two, dubbing Remus as her care taker yet again. They chatted for a while, and by the time Sirius got back, Remus was picking leaves out of Hermione's hair as she snoozed in the chair next to the hospital bed.
"I don't take that long getting ready, do I?" Sirius whispered incredulously, blinking at Hermione.
Remus rolled his eyes with a smile, "I'd lie to make you feel better, but – yes, you do."
"So how is she?" Sirius asked, sitting in another chair and putting his feet up on Remus' bed.
"Well, currently she's sleeping like a log," Remus motioned to her, sitting back and shrugging at his friend, "But she should be fine. But what were you dealing with down there?"
"Err – " Sirius scrunched up his face as he tried to remember, "Acromantula?"
Remus stared at him blankly, "That would've killed her."
"Okay, so I guess it wasn't that," he hummed before shrugging, "Meh. I'll find out later."
He was silent for a moment, frowning at a curl on Hermione's head that somewhat resembled a penguin, before he turned back to Sirius, "Hey. D'you ever think that maybe she, Lily and Alice know?"
Sirius sighed, knowing what he was talking about, "Sometimes. But maybe they don't."
"But maybe they do."
"Would you ever tell them?"
Remus was quiet for a few moments before admitting, "No."
Sirius nodded back slowly before standing up and clapping Remus on the shoulder, "Well, I'm off to whatever my next class is. I'll figure it out as I go. See ya!"
"Bye," Remus waved as he walked out.
"Ugh, I've got a pine needle up my arse," Alice growled, shifting on her branch as Hermione glared at her for such language, Lily not even blinking.
"Okay, I get why we're doing homework," Hermione said, frowning at the paper curled up on her knees, "But in a tree?"
"Umm…well, apparently it's supposed to help with balance and the 'Inner Eye' or whatnot," Lily snorted, "I just think it's a way to get splinters up our – "
"Crotches?" Alice asked, making Hermione growl at her as she giggled.
"That's not what I was going to say, but it fits," Lily chuckled.
"What the bloody hell is a Grim?" Hermione asked after a few moments, "Is it the Grim Reaper thing? Or the brothers Grimm?"
"Neither, actually!" Remus called up from the base of the tree, "It's an omen – usually for bad luck or death!"
"Thanks! Hey," Hermione stopped, "How come you aren't up a tree?"
"James and Sirius tow me up on a broom every now and again – I talked to Laverti and he said that I was already balanced enough," he grinned.
"Were you staring at our arses?" Alice called with a grin, making Hermione groan and drop her face in her hands.
"No, I didn't really know you were up there until you started talking," he grinned back, "And if Sirius were here, he definitely would've."
"Ugh, thank Merlin he's not then," Hermione rolled her eyes, "Hey, what does a Grim look like?"
"Usually a big black dog," Remus chuckled, for reasons unknown to the girls.
"Much like the one jogging across the grounds?" Lily mumbled as Hermione and Alice sucked in gasps of breath, only Alice let it out as a squeal of "PUPPY!" Remus whirled around and gaped at the large black dog darting across the grounds, heading for James, who was pale and gaping as well.
Alice slid down and hopped over to James, beaming as Remus ran up with her. "Oooh, James! He's so cute!"
"Cute?" the two boys repeated as Lily walked up as well, an eyebrow arched. Alice quickly tackled the dog, petting it and cooing to it.
"How'd it get here?" Lily asked, patting it on the head before turning to the two boys.
"Maybe it lives in the Forest?" James asked weakly.
"Some tough dog then," Lily chuckled before turning to where Hermione was hiding behind the tree and frowning, "What's wrong with you?"
"Nothing," she said quickly.
Alice gasped and stood up, "Hermione, are you afraid of the puppy?"
"That is not a puppy, Alice," Hermione glared, "That's a demon from hell."
"It's a puppy!"
James grinned, "You're scared of dogs?"
"Shut up! And don't you dare tell Black about this! Merlin knows he'd never let me hear the end of it."
The dog paused before taking a few steps away from Alice and over to Hermione, who gave a squeal and pushed herself up against the tree.
"You – you go away, right now, away from me," she ordered before it grabbed a hold of her robes and yanked her down to the ground. Hermione whimpered and shut her eyes as the dog happily licked her face, wagging his tail as James, Remus, Lily and Alice laughed.
"Alright, come on Snuffles, let's leave Hermione alone," James ordered, grabbing hold of the scruff of the dog's neck and towing him back towards the Whomping Willow. Remus grabbed a limb and poked at the knot on the trunk, James throwing the dog in as he and Remus followed. Once the three had made it to the Shrieking Shack, James prodded his wand at the dog, making it shift into Sirius, who was grinning up sheepishly at them.
"Thanks," he said as he stood up, shaking out his hair. "I really have to work on that."
"What were you thinking?" Remus asked with a frown.
"Well how else was I supposed to let you guys know?" Sirius asked as he rolled his eyes.
"No – he meant with Hermione," James was grinning, "You just up and licked her. Dare I say it, but – kinky?"
Sirius chuckled, "Wanted to see what she'd do."
"She couldn't freaked and killed you," Remus was grinning as well as Sirius looked around and found his school clothes, putting them on over his jeans and t-shirt and hunting around for his shoes.
"I doubt it," he shrugged.
"I dunno – wouldn't put it past her," James winced, "She did seem pretty freaked."
"Have no idea why though," Sirius shrugged, "Maybe Granger's just weird."
"Oh God, oh God, oh God, it licked me," Hermione whimpered into her arms, still curled up against the tree. Lily and Alice were shooing away any who tried to come close to her, but wavered between letting the boys come closer or not.
"What's wrong with her?" Sirius asked, blinking.
"A dog came up and licked her and she's freaking out about it," Lily rolled her eyes as Alice lowered herself down to Hermione.
"Are you okay? I mean, what made you so freaked out about dogs?" she asked.
Hermione took a deep breath before picking her face up, "When I was like, ten, my neighbor's dog came up and tore the skin in my nose. People looked at me funny at the hospital."
James choked back a laugh, "So you only had one nostril?"
"Yes, and I appreciate you so much for not making fun of me for it," Hermione glared at him before standing up, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go scrub my face."
Lily hid her grin behind her hand as Hermione walked off, "Oh that's terrible."
"Yeah," Sirius spoke up, "Imagine being terrified of dogs since you were ten."
"No – me laughing at the image of her only having one nostril," Lily did a combination of wincing and grinning, "I'm a terrible friend."
"You know it's bad when I'm being mature about it," Sirius winced as James did the same.
"I'll be a terrible mother," Lily continued, picking up their books and settling them on her hip.
Alice gasped, "Lily Marie Evans! Are you pregnant?"
Lily did a double take as James and Sirius gaped at the red head, Remus snorting and rolling his eyes.
"No, I am not pregnant!" Lily yelled, throwing a book at her friend as Alice giggled with glee.
…This thing is utter nonsense. At least until I can get it to where I want to get it. Blaarrrgh.