I dedicate this chapter to my 7th period Civics teacher, who allowed us a free day where I started writing the beginning of this chapter.
Disclaimer: I own only the plot and the visit to both the Shrieking Shack….
and Mungo's….
The streets of Hogsmeade were just as they always had been. Snow was beginning to melt away into piles of slush on the side of the road. Students were milling about, some darting in and out of shops, others staying inside. Otherwise, aside from the neon pink sparks shaped as hearts, and nearly everybody holding hands, things were relatively normal on the outside.
But if you looked into her eyes, you could see them struggling to appear normal, although they wanted to show just how worried she was.
Since James and Lily had (finally) gone together, Sirius and Peter had taken to keeping Hermione and Remus company. Instead of running away once he found a girl worthy enough for his attentions, Sirius stuck with the little group. But, instead of talking, they walked silently down the road in their own thoughts.
Hermione looked up and found herself at a fence. Looking farther ahead, she saw the Shrieking Shack, looming darkly in the distance. She looked over her shoulder down the hill to see that Sirius and Peter were conversing with Remus. Remus was shaking his head and frowning, and Sirius she could not see for he had his back turned to her. Peter finally shook his head quickly, darting back to the road as Remus sighed.
While they were occupied, Hermione slipped under the fence, tucked a curl behind her ear, and set off. And for the first time in a month, she had a glint in her eyes.
Remus sighed, looking tiredly at Sirius, "I doubt that the news would help her any, Padfoot."
"Oh come on," he continued, flicking his hair away from his face with a quick expression of annoyance. "Maybe she'll perk up if we told her."
Remus' eyebrows rose, "You think that telling her I'm a monster will get her out of her depression? Sirius, I want her to smile, not run away in terror!"
"She won't," he said irritably, "And you're not a monster. You haven't killed anything."
"Yet," he muttered darkly, glancing up the hill to check on Hermione, only to find that she wasn't there. "Crap!" he darted up the hill, "Hermione! Don't go in there!"
"It's not safe!" Sirius yelled as he catapulted himself over the fence, seeing Hermione waiting at the porch for them to catch up.
"Oh, what are you?" she asked, shocking them both with her grin, "Mice or Marauders?" She turned the handle of the door, letting it creak open. "Oh wow, it's a mess."
The entryway had tables and chairs and drapes scratched and clawed and gouged. Remus was taking several calming deep breaths before opening his eyes to see that Sirius looked, well, serious. He was standing in the middle of the room, his back straight with his arms held at his sides. Remus tensed as well as he heard a small creak.
"EXPELLIARMUS!" a voice bellowed from the shadows as another yelled out "PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" They both hit the ground when Hermione screamed from upstairs.
The two unknown wizards picked Sirius and Remus up from the collars of their jackets. They thumped and clunked them up the stairs, where Hermione's legs were thrashing about, one arm pinned to the ground by ropes, the other pinned down by the woman taking her coat off, revealing the baggy periwinkle sweater and white tank top.
"Hush, Pet," Bellatrix crooned as she tied Hermione's other wrist down, "Just answer my questions and it'll end fine."
"You liar!" she shrieked, still wriggling against her bonds, "You filthy liar! I know how it will end!"
Bellatrix just smiled coolly at her, "Not what I wanted to hear, Pet. Now, answer my questions or your pretty little friends will see just how dirty your blood is." She dragged out a silver dagger, holding it at the blade between her thumb and forefinger, now looking darkly at her. She glanced at Sirius and Remus, flicking her wand at them so that they were tied up. She turned back to Hermione.
"What do you know about the Dark Lord?" she questioned.
Hermione remained silent.
"What do you know about the Dark Lord?" she asked, louder.
"I know that he wants to kill people like me for our blood," Hermione murmured, "He hates the way we're born."
"What else?" she asked impatiently.
"What else is there?"
"I have a source that tells me that you know something," she hissed, "And if you don't tell me what you know I will get it out of you!"
"Don't do it, Hermione!" Sirius yelped as he and Remus finally got the chance to try to escape their bounds.
Bellatrix rolled her eyes and straightened up, "Oh please."
"Don't tell her anything, no matter what she does to us!" Remus ordered, meeting Hermione's eyes. He saw how strong she was being, despite the fear. She wouldn't tell even if she was laying there dying.
"Quiet, Mutt," Bellatrix demanded as she turned back to Hermione, "Once more – what do you know?"
Hermione tilted her chin up, glanced over at Sirius and Remus before staring into the woman's eyes and giving a smirk, "That you're a bitch."
Bella's pupils dilated and she lunged for Hermione, making the two boys struggle harder as the knife was brought up. The arm of her sweater was ripped to show the soft, pale inside of her arm. Hermione's let out a silent scream and arched her back as the blade cut into her skin, blood blooming and flowing down as it was dragged to make a single vertical line.
"What do you know?" Bellatrix asked through gritted teeth.
Hermione let out a few breaths, "I don't what you're talking about." She drew in a breath and arched her back again as the blade was brought down again, the top of the vertical mark connecting with the new diagonal mark.
"Stop it, Bella!" Sirius ordered, "Stop it right now!"
She whirled around and glared at him, "Quiet! What do you know, Mudblood!"
"Don't call her that!" Remus gritted his teeth and felt a sour taste in his mouth as Bellatrix paused and slowly turned to him. A smile slowly spread across her face. She stood up from looming over Hermione and walked towards him. She kneeled in front of him, bringing the blade closer to his face. The tip touched his cheek, cold from the metal and warm from the blood. He closed his eyes and tried not think about how the blood had only been in Hermione's body a few moments ago, as the thought made him sick to his stomach.
"Tell me, Lupin," she said softly, "What would you do, if she knew, and she was just as frightened of you as she was of me? She may not show it easily, but it would be there under the surface. I see it through the little twinges she makes. Your little problem would be like my blade to your pretty little girl. She'd be scared, terrified even. And then where would you be?"
Bellatrix inched closer to say more to him, but was stopped when a boot hit the back of her head. The two wizards flinched forward, wands at the ready, but Bellatrix's hand came up to stop them. She wheeled around and glared at Hermione, whose socked foot was curling the toes and waving. Sirius was grinning at her, and Remus was looking smug. Even injured and tied to the floor, Hermione knew something to do.
"What do you know about the Dark Lord?" she asked again, practically growling.
"Nothing," Hermione answered.
Bellatrix lunged for her arm again, making two more lines and a curve as Hermione gritted her teeth, arched her back, and tried not to make a sound.
"WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE DARK LORD?" Bellatrix screeched.
"NOTHING!" she yelled back. A curve, two more lines, another curve. Hermione was breathing heavily, her hands were in fists. Hermione's boot sailed over at Bellatrix again, Sirius wiping the taste of Hermione's laces off on his shoulder.
"BLOOD TRAITOR!" she'd whirled around to Sirius, "I DARE you to try that again!"
"Well, I can't, see, 'cause it's over there now," Sirius replied coolly, "And I'm rather tied up at the moment."
She was ready to curse him, but Hermione's other boot had met the back of her knee and threatened to take her down. She'd spun around again, growling at her as her black tendrils flew around her head like a black storm cloud.
"WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT LORD VOLDEMORT?" Bellatrix asked as she hacked fiercely away at Hermione's arm, finally emitting a scream from her.
"I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!" she yelled back as Remus and Sirius struggled away at the ropes, "I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!"
Bellatrix bolted up, glaring down at her as she breathed heavily, "We've already gotten your little family. Those twins – your brothers…they tried to protect them you know. Those lovely folks. They tried. But they begged for them to run. They tried that too, and look where it got them. But you, you're tied to a floor in a shack, powerless and alone."
"She isn't alone," Remus tried to interject, but his voice was gone. By the looks of Sirius' and a wizard's faces, Silencio had mentally been used on the two teenaged boys.
"You're going to die, you know that, don't you?" Bellatrix's voice was soft, sickeningly sweet, "You're going to die here, and soon."
Hermione's eyes finally closed in defeat; her head rearing back to hit the floor. Remus watched as Bellatrix's wand was raised towards Hermione's heart, and she was just giving in. She was going to let her end it. But whenever she opened her mouth to say the curse, Hermione snapped up, pushed off the floor with her good arm and tackled her down to the ground, growling. The wand flew into the air, and the four men – Sirius, Remus and the two Deatheaters – gaped at it before Sirius sat up on his knees and caught it in his mouth like a Frisbee. He pointed it at the two Deatheaters, knocking one over into the other and toppling them both down the stairs, before pointing it at his ropes.
"Accio my and Remus' wands!" he ordered as Hermione and Bellatrix thrashed together. The wands came zooming into his hand and he crushed his cousin's into the wall, setting the remains on fire before he released Remus.
Bellatrix finally threw Hermione off of her, the two glaring at each other. Hermione's appearance was severely messed up, her sweater been tossed off and the whole left side of her tank top covered in blood. Her hair had slipped from its ponytail, keeping only eighty-five percent of her curls in at the ends, while the others were thrown haphazardly over her head. Her eyes were dark, and she was breathing heavily.
She lunged right when Bellatrix Apparated away, making her pop up from the floor and yell out "BITCH!" She was breathing heavily as Remus and Sirius watched. They soon found that it wasn't because she was angry or tired – which she was both of – but because she was trying to keep from passing out.
"C'mere," Remus murmured as he stepped forward and pulled her into him, "Come here, I've got you."
"Remus," she sounded so small and scared as she slowly fell to her knees. And that was how James, Lily, McGonagall and the Order found them a few minutes later – Remus holding Hermione as Sirius drew on two Deatheater's faces with a marker he'd conjured.
She shifted her weight more to her right, holding the pillow closer to her face. She felt the sheets around her being pulled in closer to her face, her hair being petted down soon after. She sleepily opened her eyes, finding a kind face smiling down at her through tears.
"Hello," she said, wringing her hands, "I'm Molly Weasley. I hope you don't mind, but I'm supposed to be watching you while they discuss…."
She nodded back as memories of the woman flooded before her, yelling at children and adults alike.
"I heard what happened," she continued, "I'm having two little boys – twins, actually. I've only found out just today, my husband came in with you and I ran into him on my way out."
Hermione nodded again to show that she'd understood.
"I was going to name them Fabian and Gidgeon, after my brothers, but with your permission, I'd like to name them after your brothers," she said, blinking away tears, "Fred and George."
Hermione smiled softly, nodding, "They'd be honored."
Molly smiled and hugged her as lightly as she could. It should've been weird, being hugged by someone she barely knew, but she already knew her. "You," Molly whispered, "Have to be the bravest girl I've ever known."
And with that, Hermione was lapsed into silence as Molly smiled down at her and bid her a good-bye.
Hours later, Hermione woke up again, the lighting darker than when Molly had been with her. Remus was sitting in a chair by her bed, running a hand through her hair as two people behind him talked in whispers.
"Remus?" she murmured sleepily, making him smile down at her. He had cuts across his face, one around his hand, but otherwise was unharmed. Had he been in a fight since she'd last seen him? He'd been fine then. But, then again, with the blood loss, he'd also been orange.
"Hey, Mione," he sighed, still smiling down at her, "How do you feel?"
"Like crap," she muttered back, making his smile bigger.
"I bet." He was silent, his hand still making its journey through her hair. "Can I see your arm?" he asked after a few moments, during which Hermione contemplated going back to sleep.
She lifted the arm up, turning it so the scars could be shown to him. He quit moving once he saw it, but a few seconds later his hand continued and his breathing came back.
"You're not," he whispered as he lowered her arm, no longer wanting to see the word Mudblood etched into her skin, "You're not."
"I know," she whispered back, "I just want to know why they think we are."
Remus looked down at her before lowering himself to her, placing his forehead against her cheek, "I am so proud of you, Hermione. You have no idea how proud I am."
"Remus," a woman's voice said, pulling him away from her. The woman had graying blonde hair pulled into a haphazard ponytail. She was wrapping what looked like a blanket around her shoulders, although she was wearing jeans. The man beside her had gray hair with flecks of brown, looking tired but smiling nonetheless.
"Well, Remus," the man said, "Aren't you going to introduce us?"
"Oh yeah," he said as he leaned back in his chair, "Hermione, this is my mum and dad, Helen and Atticus. Mum, Dad, this is Hermione Granger."
"Hello, dear," Helen smiled, wrapping her shawl tighter around herself, "How do you feel?"
"Like my hair looks too terrible for me to meet anybody for the first time," she said as she slowly sat up, shooting Remus a friendly glare, to which he shrugged back at. Helen and Atticus both grinned at her.
"So, Hermione, Remus has told us many things about you," Atticus said, which earned him a hissed "Dad…" from Remus, which he dutifully ignored.
"You're very bright," Helen complimented with a smile, "And I apologize for hardly jumping into this conversation, I'm not too in tune with the wizarding world."
"My mum is a Muggle," Remus said pointedly, watching Hermione's face, "My dad is a wizard."
"Yes, Remus," Hermione said slowly, "And I'm a girl and you're a boy."
Atticus and Helen laughed, looking at Hermione warmly. But they soon sobered up, and Atticus Summoned a chair next to Remus'.
"Hermione," he said, "I'm the wizard equivalent to a lawyer, and we have recently discovered that your brothers have left a few things to you."
"And it's been a month because the Ministry insisted on snooping through it to ensure that they were completely innocent because of the attack," Helen huffed, already getting riled up again.
"Mum," Remus admonished as he stood up, leading his mother to his seat and sitting her down, "Relax, please."
"Now, your brothers have left you a place to live," Atticus continued, "It's a shop with a loft. There's nothing in the shop but a copious amount of notes – which I managed to keep secret, by the way. My wife and I, along with the Potters, feel that you cannot possibly live alone right out of Hogwarts."
"Sir, with all due respect, I won't be bailing out of school now," Hermione told him, "As I've told your son before, I've been through a lot."
"I understand, but we're thinking about June," he said as Remus shrunk a little behind his mother's chair. "Missus Lupin and I would feel much better if you'd accept our offer to stay with us after the school year ends until you're on your feet."
"And, before you decline because you don't want to impose, it's either this or you have three strangers stalk you every day until you get a million and one charms and spells on your home and store," Remus said, "Ours has already got nine thousand nine hundred and ninety nine of them."
"I still don't know how to keep out gnomes," Helen sighed, "Why we had to live in a rural wizarding town, I'll never know."
"Merlin forbid we ever get an army of gnomes attacking our house," Remus muttered to Hermione. He was swatted three different ways for that.
"I would appreciate it greatly if you allowed me to intrude until my loft is adequately charmed," Hermione smiled at the Lupins before glancing up at Remus and grinning, "Because Merlin forbid I ever have to deal with gnomes."
They grinned back as Atticus and Helen stood up, Helen fixing Remus' hair with a frown.
"Well then, we'll see you at Platform 9 and ¾ then," Atticus smiled before leading his wife away, "We'll leave you and Remus time to talk." With a last smile, they both left.
Remus settled himself back in his previous chair, smiling at her happily before he settled his chin on his fist, "Well then."
She pushed a pillow back to lean against it and smile at him, "Well then."
The smile slowly turned into a frown, his eyes tinged with worry, "Hermione, look, about tonight…I was really worried for you."
"I was worried for you," she frowned back.
"I know," he licked his lips, still frowning, but know his eyebrows were beginning to make a crease in his forehead, "Look, we – practically the whole Gryffindor house – were worried about you this month. But today you got this light back in you."
"I know I've been distant," she sighed, "And I'm sorry for that. But, I don't know. I heard this little voice in me egging me to go in there. And look where that got us."
"It isn't your fault, Hermione," he whispered to her, setting his elbows on the bed, "Nobody blames you." His hand reached out to play with her hair again and she closed her eyes and tilted her head towards him.
"Remus?" she asked after a minute.
"Mmhmm?" he hummed.
"Whatever it is about you that Bella-bitch thinks I'll be scared of, she's wrong," she told him, opening her eyes, "You're just Remus to me."
He winced and drew his hand back, taking a deep breath and watching his foot, "That's what I've been trying to talk to you about. You see, Hermione, I…when I was younger, I was in an accident. I was just playing in my yard and got attacked. My parents took me to Mungo's. I'd live, but I'd live with a…problem."
"What?" she asked, leaning forward again.
He took another deep breath, but this one was shaky. He willed himself to look from the sheets to her arms, shoulders, and up to her eyes. "Once a month," he began, "I have to go into the Shrieking Shack. Once a month, I turn into a werewolf."
She was silent, before leaning even closer to him. He automatically flinched back when she brought a hand up, but after that he remained still as her palm rested against his cheek.
"Remus John Lupin," she said softly, "If you think that I'll be scared just because you turn into an overgrown dog once a month, you've got another thing coming."
"Hermione, it's much more serious than that," he pulled away from her, but absentmindedly reached forward and took her hand, lacing his fingers through hers, "I'm really dangerous."
She looked him steadily in the eyes and said, "So am I."
He groaned, looking at her tiredly, "There's nothing I can say to make you see that I'm very dangerous to be around, is there?"
"Do you want me to be scared of you?" she asked instead.
He dropped his gaze and frowned, "No…."
She laughed, "Then what's your problem?"
He looked back over at her and smiled.
Hermione Jean Granger was definitely one of a kind.
Okay, so you better love me. I spent all night typing this. It's past midnight. I want to go to bed but a freaking gnat won't let me. He wants to camp out in my nostrils.
So, anyway – review, because I'm exceedingly proud of these last two chapters.