5
"Thank you all for coming," Hermione says, settling down on one of the five beds in the boys' dorm. "I just want to give all of you the opportunity to leave."
"What?" Lily says.
"You're going to learn about how you die," Hermione says sadly. "How your parents and your friends die. Your children, even. It's gonna hurt like hell. And you don't have to go through it if you don't want to."
"We're staying," Cass says determinedly.
"Fine," Hermione says. "I should also say that my presence here has already adjusted the timelines. Stuff that happened in my timeline may not happen now and similarly stuff will happen here that didn't in mine. You understand?"
"Yes," Peter says.
"So, if you hear something you don't like," Hermione says, her eyes moving from Peter to Sirius to Lily and on. "Just know that I'm going to do everything I can to change it."
"Okay," James says.
"Let's start then," Hermione sighs. "When Voldemort was at school, he was better known by his real name. Tom Riddle, descendant of the last Gaunt child, Merope Gaunt and a Muggle, Tom Riddle."
"He's a Half-Blood?!" Sirius says incredulously.
"Yeah," Hermione says, rolling her eyes. "He was a model student. Prefect, Head Boy, perfect OWLs, perfect NEWTs, Special Award for Services to the school. Picture perfect by all accounts. But he decided that that wasn't enough for him. He grew interested in dark magic, especially…Horcruxes."
"Oh, he didn't?" James says disbelievingly.
"He did," Hermione confirms. "He made 7 Horcruxes. I think that as of right now, he only has 5."
"7?!" Sirius gapes. "He split his soul into 8 pieces?!"
"Oh Merlin," Lily gasps.
"He did," Hermione says. "And Horcruxes are notoriously difficult to destroy. But I'll come back to them later. Let's get back to you. At the end of this year, you will graduate. James, Sirius, you'll go to train as Aurors. Cass, Marlene, Alice, even Frank, you'll join them. Lily, Remus, Peter, you'll join up to the Order of the Phoenix too, and help the fight against Voldemort."
"Always been the plan," James says seriously and Hermione nods.
"James and Lily will marry," Hermione says, ignoring James' smug grin. "As will Alice and Frank. Alice and Lily will get pregnant in autumn 1979."
"Shit that's soon," Lily says and James grins again.
"Anyway," Hermione says. "Before the children are born, Cass and Marlene are killed by Death Eaters."
"What?" Cass breathes. "We don't even make it to our 20s?"
"No," Hermione says sadly. "I'm so sorry. Sometime after the children are born, a prophecy is made. It states that only a child born at the end of July whose parents have thrice defied Voldemort himself will be able to defeat him. There were only two viable candidates."
"Oh Merlin," Alice says, clapping her hands to her mouth.
"Lord Voldemort chooses your son, Lily," Hermione says, tears starting to slip down her cheeks. "You, James and Harry are sent into hiding and you choose Sirius as your secret keeper."
"Good man," James says, clapping Sirius on the back.
"But Sirius persuades to switch at the last minute," Hermione says steadily. "To Peter."
"Well that's alright too," Lily says, smiling kindly at Peter who grins back.
"No, but-" Hermione dissolves into tears, taking a moment to sob into her hands before she continues, "I'll come back to that. Alice, sometime in the year after your son is born, you and Frank are hunted down by four Death Eaters. Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange, along with Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black and Barty Crouch Jr. find you and torture you into insanity, a madness from which you never recover. Neville, your son, is raised by Augusta Longbottom. I am so sorry."
"Oh Merlin," Alice says, going white as a sheet. "Mi, you can't let that happen to me, you just can't."
"I know, I know," Hermione weeps. "I'm going to do everything I can to stop it. Even if I have to kill Bella myself."
"It won't come to that," Sirius says icily. "But Crouch's son is a Death Eater, really?"
"I don't know if he is yet," Hermione says. "You should know, Sirius, that your brother signs up too."
"Oh no," Sirius says, clearly crushed by this news.
"He changes his mind though," Hermione says gently. "And he gives his life to bring down Voldemort."
"What do you mean?" James asks, arm-wrapping Sirius.
"I mean that Regulus finds out about the Horcruxes and dies trying to destroy one of them," Hermione says. "Kreacher helps him and keeps the Horcrux hidden for years afterwards."
"Save him," Sirius says stiffly. "He's my little brother."
"I know," Hermione says. "He's a child and he makes a mistake. Unfortunately, he's not the only one." Her eyes swivel to Peter, who cringes under her cold, hard stare. Slowly everybody else spins to stare at him too and then Sirius turns back to Hermione, horrified.
"You said we couldn't trust him," he says, clearly fighting the urge to be sick.
"I did," Hermione says, her eyes still on Peter, who looks both terrified and devastated.
"So, he defected?" James says. "He betrayed us all."
"Yes," Hermione says. "You have to remember that he hasn't done it yet. He won't do it this time because we won't make the same mistakes this time."
"I won't," Peter says desperately. "I couldn't."
"Hmm," Hermione says, her eyes still on him. "Anyway, Peter defects and becomes a spy for the Death Eaters. He leaks the address of James and Lily's house to Voldemort and on the 31st of October 1981, he goes to visit them. He kills James, steps over his body and asks Lily to stand aside so he can kill Harry."
"Why would he ask me to stand aside?" Lily asks, her face completely soaked with tears as she grips James' hand tightly.
"Because Snape asked him to," Hermione says tearfully. "He never stopped loving you, Lily, not for a second."
"Oh no," Lily says, beginning to weep.
"You refused," Hermione says. "You refused to give up your son. So, he killed you. But your sacrifice meant that he couldn't kill your son. Harry Potter survived and became famous in the wizarding world as the child who defeated Lord Voldemort."
"What happened next?" Sirius asks hoarsely.
"You found out what had happened," Hermione says, reaching out and squeezing his hand. "You went back to get Harry. You were his godfather after all. But Dumbledore sent Hagrid to fetch Harry and so you had to hand him over. Nobody knew that you had switched Secret Keepers, everybody blamed you. Your world was crumbling and you lashed out. You decided to hunt down Peter, to confront him about what he had done. You finally found him three days later and then…boys, are you sure you want to hear this?"
"Go. On," Sirius says coldly.
"You duelled," Hermione says. "You were angry, furious, devastated. People thought you were mad. And Peter took advantage of that. He cut off his finger and transformed into a rat before he blew up the street, killing 13 Muggles in the process. And then he ran. 'All that was left of Pettigrew was his finger,' they said, 'once that maniac, Sirius Black, was done with him'. You were arrested and sent to Azkaban without trial where you remained for 12 years."
"What happened to Harry?" James asks quietly.
"He goes to live with Petunia, Lily's sister, and her husband," Hermione says. "He leads a normal life away from the wizarding world. They are emotionally abusive towards him but they keep him and that was very important. And for 10 whole years, nothing extraordinary happens at all."
"So let me get this straight," Cass says as Marlene puts an arm round a sobbing Lily's shoulder. "By November 1981, 4 of the 8 of us are dead, one is a Death Eater, one is a lifetime patient in St. Mungo's and one is in Azkaban."
"In my timeline," Hermione says tearfully. "I'm going to do everything I can to change that."
"Keep going," James says tightly. "I want to hear what happens next."
"Are you sure?" Hermione says, her eyes on a motionless Sirius.
"We're sure," Remus says tightly. "We need to know everything."
"Okay," Hermione says. "So, in those 10 years, Vernon and Petunia Dursley do not mention any hint of Harry's magical abilities. It isn't until his 11th birthday that he finally finds out the truth, when Hagrid knocks down his front door, gives his cousin a pig's tail and finally gets him out of there."
"I'm gonna kill Dumbledore for leaving my son with those monsters," Lily says furiously and James nods in agreement.
"At King's Cross Station, Harry meets the Weasley family – Molly and her four youngest sons," Hermione says, her eyes shining fondly. "Percy, a prefect, Fred and George, troublemakers and named after Molly's brothers Fabian and Gideon who died just before their birth, and Ron, who is the same age as Harry. He also meets Ginny Weasley, a year younger but already desperate to go to Hogwarts with her brothers."
"What happened to Bill and Charlie?" James asks quietly.
"Bill was Prefect, Head Boy, 11 OWLs, 11 NEWTs," Hermione says proudly. "Perfect student by all accounts. And then he shocked everybody by moving to Egypt to become a curse breaker. Charlie was Gryffindor Quidditch Captain for two years and then moved to Romania to work with dragons. Both amazing guys, I…I'm sorry, I'll come back to them." She pauses for a moment, gripping a bedpost as she fights to regain her composure.
"Anyway, Harry sits with Ron on the train and they become friends immediately," she continues. "He meets Neville Longbottom, a rather forgetful but unfailingly kind, brave boy, and Hermione Granger, a bossy bookworm."
"Not much changed there then," Sirius quips dryly and a quiet chuckle runs around the room.
"Oi," she says, throwing a pillow at his head. "I was a right brat back then; I hope I'm not that person now. Harry also meets Draco Malfoy, son of Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Black, and they quickly become enemies."
"I'll fast forward through the rest of the year," she says. "He and Ron saved me after I was attacked by a 10-foot troll and we became friends. He also became the youngest Seeker in a century and then almost died after someone jinxed his broomstick. He then unveiled a plot to steal the Philosopher's Stone, which is hidden with many layers of protection inside Hogwarts. We believed it was Snape who wanted to steal it for Voldemort so we went in to get it first. Ron almost died, I had to let him go on alone and then…it turned out it was Quirrell. Our Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor. He had been travelling in Albania and had been…possessed isn't the right word. He had Voldemort on the back of his head."
"Oh Merlin," Remus says and there are audible gasps from all corners of the room.
"Yes," Hermione says. "Anyway, Harry managed to get hold of the stone and then when Quirrell tried to take it from him, he…I don't know why but Quirrell couldn't touch him. His skin literally crumbled away and he died. So, Harry had thwarted Voldemort again at only 11 years old. Gryffindor won the House Cup and we went home."
"Oh Merlin," James says. "This is…a lot."
"We're only just getting started," Hermione says sympathetically. "But honestly, James, I can stop any time you want."
"I don't want you to stop," James insists. "Can we just break for a moment?"
"Of course," Hermione says. "I can answer any questions people have if you want?"
"Who does it?" Cass asks bluntly. "Who finishes me off?"
"Voldemort himself," Hermione says. "It took the main man to bring you down, Cass, and I will not let it happen this time, I swear. I'll end this before he can."
"What about me?" Marlene asks.
"They never found out who did it," Hermione says sadly. "We know Travers was involved but we believe he was only one of 6 or 7 Death Eaters who ambushed you."
"Merlin," Marlene says. "So, I went down fighting then."
"Absolutely," Hermione says, her eyes brimming with proud tears. "All of you did. James, you didn't have your wand when Voldemort came for you and you still stood between him and your wife and child. You were all…incredible. The truest examples of Gryffindor bravery I can think of."
"Except for me," Peter says and now everybody turns to look at him. Sirius, James and Remus all look reluctantly furious, while Lily, Marlene, Cass and Alice don't even try to hide it.
"You will be better," Hermione says, no room for doubt in her voice. "You will be because we will not let you betray us again. Okay?"
"Okay," Peter says, buoyed by her confidence.
"I'm ready, by the way," James says. "For you to keep going."
"Okay," Hermione says. "Second year is a tricky one. Harry gets badly treated by the Dursleys over the summer – they put bars over his window and feed him through a cat flap. Ron, Fred and George take a flying car to his house on his birthday and break him out. He spends the rest of the summer with them. Now, um…have any of you heard of the Chamber of Secrets?"
"Sure," Sirius says, waving a hand lazily. "It's a myth. A fairy-tale made up to scare Slytherin kids."
"It's not," Hermione says. "It's real."
"What?" Sirius says, suddenly white as a sheet.
"Yes," Hermione says. "And in our second year it was opened. 4 people, 1 ghost and 1 cat were petrified by the monster that lay within and for a long time it looked like the school would have to close. We brewed a batch of Polyjuice Potion to interrogate Draco Malfoy, who we believed was behind it all, but we-"
"Wait," Remus says, holding up a hand. "You brewed Polyjuice Potion when you were 12 years old?"
"13, but yes," Hermione says, not pausing. "We were wrong about Draco. And then I was…I was petrified just after I worked out what Slytherin's monster was."
"What is it?" Sirius asks keenly, leaning forwards.
"You can figure out," Hermione says cryptically. "Come on, Black, I think you're clever enough. Slytherin's monster. What could it be?"
"A Basilisk?" Peter suggests quietly and Hermione's head jerks up, shocked.
"Yes," she breathes. "How did you…how did you know that?"
"Giant snake," he shrugs.
"Wow," Hermione says. "Well done, Peter. You're right."
"A Basilisk?!" Sirius says incredulously. "Jesus Christ Hermione, you could have died."
"I know," Hermione says. "But I didn't. I was only petrified. So, it was up to Ron and Harry to save the day and save the day they certainly did. Ginny Weasley was kidnapped and taken into the Chamber and they went with the DADA teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart, after her. Harry discovered that Ginny had been controlling the Basilisk ever since Voldemort possessed her from out of a diary. The first Horcrux."
"Oh Merlin," Lily gasps. "Was she okay?"
"Yes," Hermione nods. "Harry destroyed it and got her out of there. And that was pretty much the end of second year." She pauses for a long time, looking between Sirius, Peter and Remus and then sighs. "This is the point of no return now. And I really don't think you're going to-"
"Hermione, please," Sirius says. "Just tell us."
"Okay," Hermione nods. "So, in the summer before 3rd year, Mr Weasley wins some money and decides to take his entire family, pets and all, on a trip to Egypt. Even Percy's owl, Hermes and Ron's rat, Scabbers, go along. Not long after that, Sirius Black does the impossible and escapes from Azkaban – everybody assumes he has only one goal. To finish the job his master couldn't and kill Harry Potter."
"Harry, meanwhile, loses his temper and blows up his aunt," Hermione says, smirking slightly. "He is almost expelled but because everybody is so worried about Sirius getting to him, he is let off and sent back to Hogwarts. On the train, Harry, Ron and Hermione meet their new Defence professor, R.J. Lupin."
"What?!" Remus says, his head jerking up. "Me?!"
"Yeah," Hermione says fondly. "It was the first time you met any of us. And you slept most of the way there. Until the train was stopped and boarded by Dementors, looking for Sirius."
"Oh Merlin," James says.
"They affected us all," Hermione says, her eyes wet. "But no-one more than Harry. When he saw them, he heard…he heard his parents dying. Lily's scream and James…telling her to run. Every single time. He never stopped hearing that." Overcome now, Hermione buries her face in her hands and sobs, broken-hearted by the horrors that await her friends.
Sirius gets to his feet and sits beside her, holding her close to him until she regains her composure. "Keep going," he says gently.
"Lupin helped us," Hermione says. "Sent them away, gave us some chocolate. We'd known him like 10 minutes and he was already the best Defence professor we'd ever had. Anyway, we got to Hogwarts and I was given a Time-Turner because I wanted to take so many subjects. It was top secret – nobody was supposed to know."
"The year went on as normal," Hermione says. "On Halloween, Sirius broke into the castle and tried to kill Ron. Or so we thought. Draco Malfoy was attacked by Hagrid's prize Hippogriff and it was sentenced to death. Harry was sent a Firebolt over Christmas because his Nimbus 2000 was destroyed. It was from an anonymous source and I was worried it might be from Sirius so I reported it. McGonagall confiscated it and the boys didn't speak to me for weeks. And then, on the night of Buckbeak's execution, all hell broke loose."
"I had bought a cat the previous summer," she continues. "And when Ron's rat went missing, he assumed my cat had eaten it. He reappeared the night of Buckbeak's execution and then ran off again and was pursued by a large black dog." She shoots Sirius a disapproving look now and the young man grins broadly. "The dog grabbed Ron by the leg and dragged him into the Whomping Willow – Harry and I went after him. That's when we realised it was a trap. That the dog was Sirius."
"Harry was ready to kill you," Hermione says sadly. "He thought you'd betrayed his parents. It was only when Lupin intervened and the two of you explained the truth to us that we all calmed down. Most of us anyway. Snape came barging in, as was his way, and Ron, Harry and I all disarmed him – we sent him crashing into a wall and knocked him out. That was pretty bad."
"That's brilliant," James chuckles.
"Anyway, we didn't really believe you until you took Scabbers and turned him back into Peter," Hermione says. "You wanted to kill him and Harry stopped you. He said that it's not what James would have wanted and insisted that we take him back to the castle and hand him over to the Dementors. On the walk back, you asked Harry to come and live with you – he was so excited. But we'd forgotten one thing."
"Oh no," Remus groans. "It's all my fault, right?"
"It's not your fault," Hermione says sharply. "We all forgot. Me, Sirius, you, Snape. All of us. Anyway, you changed and then Sirius changed to save us and then Snape threw himself in front of us but in the chaos of it all, Peter got away. Sirius was captured and then…he was locked up. They were going to kiss him that night."
"So, I died?" Sirius says. "That's what you're saying."
"No," Hermione says. "That's not what I'm saying. I had my Time-Turner so Harry and I went back to change it. We saved Buckbeak and then we distracted Lupin and we saved you, Sirius. You flew away on Buckbeak before they could kiss you. Back on the run again. But we couldn't stop Peter getting away. I would have done anything, I go over that night endlessly and I just…we did everything we could."
"I'm sure you did," Lily says soothingly. "So, what happened next?"
"Lupin quit," Hermione says. "Jumped before he was pushed, he said. Snape told everybody what he was so he had to go. Sirius gave Ron an owl as a replacement for the rat he didn't have anymore. And we went home for the summer."
"Do you need a break, Hermione?" Cass says.
"No," Hermione says. "I just…this is taking too long. Merlin, okay. So, the summer before 4th year, we all went to the Quidditch World Cup. Great fun, blah blah blah, but after the match, the camps were raided by Death Eaters. It was the first sign that Voldemort's forces were growing stronger again and everyone was scared. Then we went back to Hogwarts and Dumbledore announced that the Triwizard Tournament had been reinstated – this time with an age limit of 17. Students came from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, including the Bulgarian Seeker, Viktor Krum, the part-Veela Fleur Delacour and the Durmstrang headmaster, Igor Karkaroff."
"He's a Death Eater," Marlene says sharply.
"Yes," Hermione says. "We also had a new Defence teacher, the Auror Alastor Moody. One leg, one eye, chunks off his nose, he was terrifying but also an incredible teacher. He made us practice throwing off the Imperius Curse amongst things, he was…hard-core to say the least. Anyway, the selection of the champions came and three students were picked. Fleur, Viktor and a Hufflepuff called Cedric Diggory. And then the bloody Goblet lit up again and whose name comes flying out?"
"Oh no," Lily says.
"Yeah," Hermione says. "The contract is binding, everybody said, so he had to compete. He fought a dragon and then had to survive underwater for an hour and then fight his way through the Death Maze. He and Cedric both got to the cup at the same time and they took it together but it was a Portkey and um… Oh Merlin, I'm sorry." She breaks off again, sobbing for just a moment, before she chokes out, "Peter killed him. Cedric, I mean. On Voldemort's orders."
"Oh Merlin," Peter breathes. "What do I become?"
"You will not become that person," Hermione insists, tears still pouring down her face. "I promise. Anyway, Cedric is dead and Peter somehow brings him back to a body, I just…Voldemort returned. And Harry was 14 and he duelled the Dark Lord himself in the graveyard of Voldemort's father. And their wands, they had twin cores, and they connected. Priori Incantatem. The…'ghosts' isn't the right word but it works well enough. The ghosts of the people who Voldemort's wand had last killed came back to speak to him. First Cedric, then Frank Bryce, a Muggle, then Bertha Jorkins, and then…Lily and James."
She is almost unintelligible at this point but she keeps talking through her tears. "And Harry spoke to his parents for the first time in his life and he managed to get away and he brought Cedric's body back and we thought it was over but then it turned that Moody wasn't really Moody. It was Barty Crouch Jr. under the influence of Polyjuice Potion and he'd been lying to everyone for the year. Anyway, Dumbledore saved Harry before Crouch could kill him and the Dementors kissed him and it was over. But Voldemort was back and our lives had changed. It was…really, really hard."
She stops again, wiping her face, and then looks up at them. Lily, Marlene, Cass and Alice are all openly weeping, Peter is looking at the floor and nobody can see his face, James is red-eyed and Remus and Sirius are both as white as a sheet.
"The summer of 5th year, I went to stay at Number 12 Grimmauld Place," Hermione says. "Merlin, I…I can't talk about that year. Key points, I guess, are that we had a Ministry hag as our Defence teacher so we set up our own Defence club. The Ministry didn't believe Voldemort was back and they were running a smear campaign against both Dumbledore and Harry. Arthur Weasley was attacked when he was on duty for the Order and then…people were worried. They thought Voldemort was possessing Harry, so Dumbledore asked Snape to teach him Occlumency. It didn't go very well though and Voldemort planted a vision in Harry's head. Harry thought that Sirius had been kidnapped so we went, with Neville and Ginny and this girl Luna, to save him."
"We were…we were gonna lose," Hermione says frankly. "He didn't have Sirius and we were outnumbered, outskilled, we were in trouble. I almost died, Ron almost died, Luna was stunned and Ginny had a broken ankle. Harry and Neville were the only ones standing when the Order arrived. Tonks, she almost died, McGonagall was already in St Mungo's, it still wasn't going our way until Dumbledore arrived. All the Death Eaters were so shit scared of him that they lost focus which gave us the edge back. I shouldn't have said all, most. One didn't care. Bellatrix Lestrange was fighting Sirius Black. He was taunting her and then-"
"I died," Sirius finishes. "Was it a good death? Was I brave?"
"You fell," Hermione says, tears streaming down her cheeks again. "You were laughing, teasing her, and she stunned you but you fell into this arc and then you were gone. We couldn't even have a funeral. We just…when I woke up you were dead. They had Fred tell me. Fred and I had always got on well. It would have been Harry but he could barely speak. They didn't think Ron was tactful enough. So, Fred did it and I just…I cried myself to sleep every night for a week."
"Oh, Mi," Sirius says.
"You deserved so much better," she sobs. "You all did and I am so sorry."
"Hey," James says, kneeling in front of her and forcing her to look at him. "You never have to apologise to us. You're here to fix it."
"I'm gonna try," Hermione says, scrubbing at her face. "Okay, so in 6th year, Harry and Dumbledore research Voldemort's past and they work it out, about the Horcruxes. Then…Snape…he was weak, they'd just been out looking for one and Dumbledore had to drink this stuff and then…Snape killed him. Threw him off the Astronomy Tower. He was dead. And Bill Weasley was attacked by Greyback and Draco Malfoy was a Death Eater and the world was just crumbling. Harry fell in love that year, by the way. With Ginny. The way it was always meant to be. And then…then we decided not to go back to school. We were gonna go on the run, the three of us, and find the Horcruxes."
"Moody died," she continues. "George lost an ear. That was just trying to get Harry out of his house. And then the Trace broke when he turned 17 and we stayed to watch Bill marry Fleur and then we left. We went to Grimmauld Place, hid out there for a bit while we tracked down the locket. Kreacher told us how he had watched Regulus die for it, how he'd kept it hidden until Mundungus Fletcher stole it and then we worked out that it had ended up in the hands of the same Ministry hag who had taught us in 5th year. Snape was Headmaster of Hogwarts and Lupin was married and expecting a baby so we were on our own."
"A baby?" Remus says, beaming.
"Yeah," Hermione says, exhaling heavily as he fights back tears. "Honestly, Remus, he's so beautiful. He was so loved. Amazing."
"Sorry," Remus says. "Carry on."
"So, we broke into the Ministry and got the locket," Hermione explains. "I actually took a Death Eater into Grimmauld Place so we had to leave there and then Ron got splinched so we couldn't go very far. Not that that fucking mattered, we had no idea how to destroy the one we had or how to find any more. And then Ron left. We went to Godric's Hollow – we thought the Sword of Gryffindor might be there and we knew it was impregnated with Basilisk venom so we knew we needed it, but it wasn't. We saw your graves, Lily and James, and your house. It was the first time Harry had seen them. But then we got attacked by Voldemort's snake, we barely made it out. I broke Harry's wand. It all seemed really hopeless for a while."
"Then the sword appeared and Ron came back and we had some hope," Hermione says quietly. "We followed a stupid lead about the Deathly Hallows and then it all spiralled into chaos. The man we were speaking to betrayed us and then we apparated into a bunch of Snatchers and they realised who we were so they took us to the Malfoys and I…I fully thought that was it. Bellatrix Lestrange was torturing me, she was going to kill me, but then this house-elf, Dobby, he saved us all. That was when…Peter saw that Harry and Ron were about to escape and he had to kill them. But Harry reminded him of the mercy he'd once been shown and Peter hesitated just for a second. And then he…he had this silver hand. Voldemort gave it to him after he lost his own and then…it turned on him in that one moment of weakness. It strangled him. He died in the cellar of Malfoy Manor."
"Merlin," Sirius says heavily. "Keep going. You must be almost there now, right?"
"Yeah," Hermione says. "We broke into Gringotts, got the next Horcrux but lost the sword. Then we went back to Hogwarts. Snape fled, the Order and the students were working together to barricade the castle while we searched for the Horcruxes. We found the Diadem and destroyed it. Dumbledore had done the ring before he died so we thought the only one left was his snake. So, we went to look for him. Fred died, we watched him die. And then Ron. Oh Merlin, Ron."
"Ron died?" Sirius breathes.
"Yeah," Hermione says, choking down violent sobs. "Greyback got him. It was over in seconds, there was nothing we could do. We had to keep going. I could hardly breathe but we kept going and then…we found him. Voldemort. And we watched him kill Snape. As he was dying, he left us some memories. Harry and I, we collected them up and then went back to the castle. Remus was dead. And his wife, Tonks. His son was like 5 days old. It was…a tragedy. I just…Merlin. And then Harry and I went to watch the memories. And it explained everything."
"We didn't know, you see, that Snape was friends with Lily when they were kids," Hermione says sadly. "We watched him fall in love with her. We watched her push him away, we watched it all. We watched as Snape begged Voldemort and then Dumbledore to spare your life. He would have done anything for you. Then we watched him break as you died, hug your corpse, we watched him sob…Merlin, Lily, he loves you so much. We watched everything he did to protect Harry. We watched him lie and cheat and deceive the Dark Lord himself. We watched him kill Dumbledore on Dumbledore's orders. He sent us the sword, he was helping us from the start. And his Patronus, Lily…it was a doe. 16 years after you died, he still loved you. He wasn't a good guy but he wasn't evil either. We would have died so many times if it hadn't been for him and his love for you."
"Anyway," Hermione says, wiping tears away. "His memories revealed one crucial piece of information. There were 7 Horcruxes, not 6 as we originally thought. And the 7th was Harry."
"What?!" James, Lily and Sirius all gasp in unison.
"Yeah," Hermione says. "To bring Voldemort down, Harry had to die. So, he did. Harry died, Ron died, Sirius died, Remus died, Tonks and Fred and Snape…I was all alone. And I was running and running and my leg was broken and then I tripped and smashed an entire case of Time-Turners and then…I was here. I don't even know what happened. I don't know who won." As the story comes to an end, she dissolves, falling off the bed and burying her head in her hands.
"Come here," Sirius says, pulling her into his chest. "I am so sorry you had to tell us that, I can't even imagine how difficult it was for you to relive it all."
"Sirius is right," Lily says, crawling forwards and squeezing Hermione's hand tightly. "But we are going to do everything we can to help you stop it."
"Definitely," Cass says. "Where do we start?"
"Can we think about that tomorrow?" Hermione asks wearily. "I think I just need to sleep right now. Unless any of you have any questions?"
"Hermione, were you in love with our son?" James asks and Hermione's eyebrows shoot up. "It's just…the way you talk about him."
"Harry was my brother in every way except blood," Hermione says honestly. "For such a long time, I thought…but the love I had for him was so unconditional that it could never be romantic. You would have been incredibly proud of him though. He was such a good-looking boy, exactly like James but with Lily's eyes. He was so unfailingly kind, even when people probably didn't deserve it. He was respectful, he was funny, he was caring, he was…he was everything a young man should be. And sometimes he overslept or he snapped or he shouted but he was just the most honest person you would ever meet. And he was brave – he wouldn't think twice about risking his life if it meant saving someone else's. I was so proud to be his best friend and I would have done anything for him. If I could have taken that killing curse for him, I would have done it in a heartbeat. I don't know many people who wouldn't. He was burdened with this title 'Saviour of the Wizarding World', and he carried it with such humility and strength, I just…I loved Harry so much more than I can ever say, and I certainly didn't tell him enough. But I wasn't in love with him."
For a second, nobody so much as breathes, just staring at her, and then she gets to her feet. "If you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to take a walk," she says quietly.
"I'll come with you," Sirius says, jumping up and wrapping an arm around her waist. She rolls her eyes but a smile plays at the corners of her mouth and she lets him guide her out of the room.
"Hell," Cass says. "She's…"
"Sirius is gonna be absolutely head over heels by tomorrow morning," Remus says. "Merlin knows, I'm falling for her. How did she survive all of that?"
"I don't know," Marlene says. "But we need to stop it from happening this time around. Please."
"Definitely," Lily says. "Whatever it takes."