XXXV
Many waters cannot quench thy love
Somehow, on the morning after the Order meeting, Hermione, Ginny, Harry, and Ron found the dining room to themselves. It was about seven in the morning, usually the time when people flocked there to eat their breakfast. This morning, however, the room was empty except for the four friends.
"Porridge again, Hermione?" Harry asked, crinkling his nose at the bowl in front of Hermione.
"Oh shush," Hermione waved a dismissive hand at him, "I happen to like it. It's not like your grease-coated eggs and bacon are much better."
"Worse, I'd say," Ginny interjected, looking at Harry and Ron's plates, which were filled with large portions of eggs and bacon covered with a sheen of grease.
"Enough about food," Harry cut in, taking his seat beside Ron and looking across the table at Hermione, "I want to hear details about this potion."
Hermione swallowed her bite of porridge, looking around at the three other occupants of the room. They all watched her expectantly. "There's not really much to say," Hermione finally muttered, "unless you want a twenty-minute lecture on the mechanics of blood-altering potions."
All three winced. They'd all had their fair share of academic lectures from Hermione and it was quite obviously too early in the morning for another one.
"Not details about the actual potion," Harry elaborated, "just how it came to be. And why you kept it a secret from us. I'm still pretty confused about that, actually."
Hermione nodded. She hadn't had much time to talk to any of them alone last night after the Order meeting. Even when she'd gotten a moment with Ginny or Harry, they both seemed too concerned about the plan for testing the potion to ask about it's actual conception. Ron, on the other hand, hadn't even tried to speak to her last night. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't had a real conversation with Ron at all since the incident in the library a couple weeks ago.
"Well," the witch began to explain, "you know I've always been the type of person who wants to help others."
"Yes," Ginny cut in, "we all remember S.P.E.W…"
Hermione rolled her eyes, "yes, well, it was sort of like that, I guess. I realized how badly werewolves have it, and after I spent more time learning about lycanthropy, the idea hit me to look into altering the potion. It all progressed from there."
"And the secretiveness?" Harry prodded.
She sighed, looking down at her porridge and lazily stirring it with her spoon. "I knew it was very possible that I'd fail completely and make a fool of myself. Professor Snape reminded me of that possibility often. I know that you guys think I can accomplish almost anything I set my mind to, but I didn't want to disappoint myself or any of you if I failed."
A somber silence descended over the room. Ron broke the silence a moment later, "well we do think you can do anything, Hermione, and you haven't proved us wrong yet, not even with this."
She couldn't help smiling broadly at Ron. They'd been in a bit of a bad place for a few weeks after her relationship with Remus was revealed in such an awful way, but this seemed like a sign that Ron was finally accepting the reality of it.
"Proved them wrong about what?"
Draco's voice made Hermione jump. He strode into the dining room with a plate identical to Harry and Ron's, heaping pile of food and all. Without hesitation, he sat down next to Hermione, looking around at the group, waiting for one of them to explain.
"About the fact that Hermione can do nearly anything," Ginny explained.
Draco nodded, considering it for a moment before adding, "anything but flying on a broom."
Harry and Ron burst out in laughter. Hermione frowned at Draco, "I don't even want to be good at flying."
"You're also not very good at identifying human versus cat hairs," Ron said quickly, causing Harry to burst into another round of laughter. This time Ginny was chuckling softly too.
Hermione glared at the boys and Ginny. "I really can't wait for the day when you guys will stop bringing that up," she said exasperatedly.
"Am I missing something here?" Draco inquired, eyes narrowed at the four of them.
"Trust me, Draco, you don't want to know," Harry said, still grinning.
After the room had calmed down some, Draco spoke again. "Really, though, Granger, you don't have to explain the cat hair thing to me, but I want to know why everyone was buzzing about you and Longbottom last night."
Hermione appraised Draco. Seeing nothing but curiosity in his expression, she hesitantly decided to explain the general idea of the potion to him. It wouldn't hurt to tell him at this point, especially now that the whole household knew.
About five minutes later Hermione finished explaining the basics to Draco, with a few interruptions from Harry, Ginny, and Ron along the way.
"Merlin, Granger," Draco mused, "I think I've underestimated you over all these years."
"I really can't take all the credit," Hermione interjected, "and I certainly don't need any more praise, Draco."
He scoffed, "I'm a Malfoy, I don't praise people. I was just expressing my surprise."
"Whatever," Hermione huffed, rolling her eyes almost in-sync with Harry, Ron, and Ginny.
It was only moments before a rush of people entered the dining room, carrying food and coffee and tea with them. The group's privacy was interrupted, but Hermione was extremely satisfied and relieved after the conversation she'd just had. She felt like everything was right again with her friends. She actually felt like everything was relatively okay in her life in general. That was, until Snape stepped into the dining room with that morning's copy of the Prophet, bringing with him a harsh dose of reality.
Mr. Weasley was always the first to look over the Prophet. He gazed at the cover while Fred, George, and Sirius squeezed into the room behind his chair. It only took seconds for his face to pale, his eyes almost involuntarily glancing up to Hermione, and then to Remus, who had just entered and sat beside Hermione. Hermione noticed the worried glance in her direction, and immediately knew that something was wrong.
"What is it, Arthur?" Remus asked.
Several heads turned towards the head of the table. Mr. Weasley slowly lowered the paper, placing it on the surface in front of him. "There have been more attacks," he explained, voice strangely devoid of emotion. He slid the paper down the table so it landed just in front of Hermione and Remus. They read the cover while many others read over their shoulders and from across the table.
WEREWOLF MAULINGS PLAGUE BRITAIN
"With as many as six reported werewolf maulings on this past month's full moon, and three attacks within the week from a werewolf outside of the full moon, it is obvious that a pattern is developing, a pattern that has many all across Wizarding Britain highly concerned.
According to the Auror Office of the Ministry of Magic, only two victims have died from the injuries they sustained during the attacks. The remaining victims attacked during the full moon were checked into St. Mungo's and later diagnosed with Lycanthropy. Edmund Burr, head of the Ministry Department of Magical Law Enforcement, recently released this information along with a statement about the attacks. 'This all seems to be the work of one werewolf in particular, who goes by the name of Fenrir Greyback,' said Burr. 'We urge anyone with any information whatsoever to contact the Auror Office immediately.'"
Hermione couldn't read any further. She felt nauseous. A look at Remus' pale complexion told her that he was feeling the same.
So many innocent people infected. Thoughts of how difficult and horrible life would suddenly become for all these people clouded her mind. It was awful.
Hermione brought her hand up to her face, rubbing her forehead and trying to refrain from crying. Remus' hand on her back brought a welcome wave of comforting stabilization.
People were murmuring around the table. Hermione could feel the eyes on Remus and herself. She finally pulled herself together and sat up straight. "I suppose we needed a dose of reality," she murmured. "The war is still going on and there are still awful things happening out there."
"But you have the potion now," Harry said, his voice almost hopeful, "a lot of these people can be helped now."
Hermione nodded. "Yes, but there's still a lot of work ahead of us before we can actually give them the potion." Plus, it wasn't like Fenrir Greyback was going to stop mauling people. He'd killed two of them. Her gaze trailed to Remus, who looked more shaken-up than she'd seen him in a long, long time. In fact, the last time he'd looked this upset was after he'd found out about infecting her. He knew what misery these people were going through, because Greyback had infected him too, long ago, and he'd experienced all that pain firsthand.
This was why they needed the potion to work. They needed it badly.
As the days until the full moon passed, Hermione suddenly found herself with much more free time. She still worked on the potion and trying to solidify the evidence that it would be a success, but there was only so much work she could do now.
Instead of wasting away in the Potions Lab or the Library, she chose to spend more time with her friends, feeling like she needed to do this while she could. She didn't know how things were going to change after the full moon, but something inside her was certain that they were going to change drastically.
Thus, Hermione spent an abundance of time with her friends; walking around the pond, watching Harry, Ron, and Ginny fly above the gardens on brooms, and anything else they could think of. She even found herself spending time with Draco and actually enjoying his company. They would sit in the library and debate over a cup of tea. One dispute over Transfiguration Regulation and illegal Animagi ran so late into the night that Remus went out looking for Hermione, only to find her arguing heatedly with Draco in front of the fireplace.
As the full moon drew even closer and the symptoms started to set in, Hermione and Remus picked up on their habit of jogging around the borders of the property. Often, Sirius would join in as Padfoot, happily traipsing along beside them.
Finally, the day of the full moon arrived. Hermione was nervous the entire day, and she could tell that Remus was feeling just the same.
At last, evening approached. Snape had been at Remus' cottage that afternoon checking on the wards. He'd come back before dinner to report that everything was in order and that he'd stopped by Hogwarts and received the final all clear from Professor Dumbledore. Snape was going to escort them to Remus' cottage.
"Just like old times," Hermione said cheerfully once they were all three standing in the front hall of the Estate. Snape raised an indignant eyebrow at her.
Remus just smiled, "do you have everything?"
Hermione nodded, motioning to the small beaded bag at her side, "we'll take the final dose of the potion when we get out there, and then wait."
He nodded. Just then, Sirius exited the kitchen, "are we ready?"
"Waiting for you, Black," Snape said, his tone only slightly malicious.
Luckily, Sirius ignored the Potions Master. He clapped his hands together, appraising both Hermione and Remus, "shall we get on with it then?"
"Wait!" Harry's voice echoed down the staircase. He descended the stairs quickly, with Ginny and Ron behind him. "Good luck," he murmured, hugging Hermione tightly.
She hugged Harry back, then hugged Ginny, and finally Ron. "We'll be fine," she told them, "see you in the morning."
And with that, Snape opened the door and together they left the Estate. It felt so surreal leaving the wards. Dumbledore had put together a Portkey for them just beyond the border of the outer wards. Hermione felt a strange confined feeling lift away after she stepped out of the bubble-like barrier. It was sort of amazing.
The Portkey was an old piece of china. Hermione, Remus, Sirius, and Professor Snape all held onto its edges, and before they knew it, they were pulled away.
The cottage was just how Hermione remembered it, peeling paint and all. The only difference was that the trees had grown a bit and the wards felt different.
Snape left them there within moments, telling them that the wards were safe up to about fifty paces from the house. They were left standing just outside the front door of the house. They'd decided when working out the details of this plan to stay outside, in direct contact with the moon, as it rose. That was the easiest way to determine if it was a success or failure. When the potion (hopefully) worked, they would have to remain at the cottage for the night, just to ensure that nothing happened. In the morning, Snape would fetch them again.
Hermione quickly withdrew the two vials of potion from her bag, handing one to Remus and keeping the other herself. Sirius stood stock-still a few steps away, obviously anxious.
Ten minutes until moonrise. In her research she'd discovered that the closer to moonrise they took the final dose of the potion, the more potent it was likely to be. They'd had a dose every day for the past week, just like with the regular Wolfsbane, but this was the dose that could make a world of difference. This was the dose Remus had missed that night when Lucius Malfoy had dragged them out into the Forbidden Forest.
She uncorked her vial, watching out of the corner of her eye as Remus did the same. After, she lifted it in the air, using the last glimpses of sunlight to inspect the potion. It looked like everything was in perfect order. "Now or never," she breathed, meeting his gaze.
He nodded at her, his lips pulled tightly and his hand clenched around the bottle. Together, they tipped them back, drinking the potion that tasted just as awful as the normal Wolfsbane, with just a hint of peppermint.
Hermione felt no initial difference after the potion, but then again, she wasn't supposed to. All that mattered was when the moon rose. That would be the moment of truth.
The seconds crept by at an excruciating pace. Sirius transformed into Padfoot during the last minute. Hermione and Remus stood out on the grass in front of the cottage, watching the sky and holding hands. Beside them stood the large black dog. Together, they looked like the bravest of warriors ready to face any battle. How strange that their battle was something as indomitable, yet innocent as the moon.
In the seconds before the moon rose, Hermione could sense it just below the horizon of trees. She could usually sense when the moon was close, and she really hoped that wasn't a sign that the potion had failed. Something told her that Remus was worrying over the same thing. She squeezed his hand. A second later, he squeezed hers back.
As her sense of the moon grew stronger, Hermione found herself somehow able to count the seconds until it broke above the horizon.
Ten… nine… eight…
She tried to keep herself from trembling, but she still did.
Seven… six… five…
To her left, Padfoot took a few steps backwards, as if anticipating a transformation just as violent and fearful as all the others.
Four… three… two…
Hermione took a deep breath and held it in. Remus squeezed her hand once more and they shared a look. He was terrified.
One.
Hermione held Remus' gaze. She continued holding his gaze for at least ten more seconds until she allowed herself to look away. Straight ahead of them, above the canopy of dense forest, was the luminous moon, as round and as large as any full moon should be. It's light was reflecting down directly onto them, and still nothing.
Nothing.
Hermione finally let out the breath she'd been holding with a colossal sigh of relief. Somewhere behind her, Sirius barked loudly in what she assumed was happiness. Remus turned in her direction and took a step towards her, his arms coming to wrap around her. Before she knew it, he was picking her up off the ground in a tight embrace, laughing like a carefree child. Hermione couldn't help but join in on the laughter, winding her arms around his neck and kissing him.
"I love you," Remus said when she pulled away from the kiss.
A smile broke across Hermione's face. She'd been waiting to hear that, or trying to build up the courage to say it herself. "I love you too," she whispered, "of course."
He laughed again, now spinning her around and looking up at the sky, with the stars and the moon. Hermione still clung to him, gazing upwards and finding that nothing about the moon frightened her like it once did. She felt invincible.
A loud booming noise broke them apart. Hermione's view of the stars and the night sky was now obstructed by strange black objects flying through the air, and the glowing barrier of the ward around the cottage seemed to be crippling away…
"Fuck," Remus cursed, looking at the ground next to him. Hermione followed his gaze and saw his left foot, half-covered by a rippling ward. He'd stepped outside the wards while spinning her around. Just a second after she noticed this, Padfoot barked loudly, and she felt a dog's teeth grip the sleeve of her jumper, dragging her away from the border of the ward.
It was too late. Hermione looked up at the sky once more and recognized the black objects as people. Death Eaters. Dread filled her as quickly as the overwhelming happiness had just a moment before.
How was it possible for everything to go so wrong in just a matter of seconds?
Her attention was pulled from the sky when Sirius started snarling loudly. He was facing the edge of the forest, and there among the trees were a few shadows flanking a giant beast.
Not just any beast; Hermione could recognize the wolf form of Fenrir Greyback just by the scent that suddenly invaded her nose.
Remus took a step in front of Hermione, grabbing her by the arm and putting her behind his body. He was trembling, and she could see the hairs on the back of his neck standing on edge. "We have to Disapparate," Hermione whispered, eyeing Greyback's bright yellow eyes over Remus' shoulder.
"The anti-Apparation wards are still active," he replied, retrieving his wand from his pocket, "we need to get outside them."
In a split second, he was pulling her with him to the left, sprinting in the opposite direction of Greyback and trying to get past the fizzling border of the wards. The Death Eaters had almost completely dismantled them now. Still spells were flying at the barriers from all sides, some passing through, only slightly weakened by the wards.
Greyback leapt forward in a vicious charge just as Remus and Hermione sprung into action. Hermione heard Sirius let out a growl and charge forward as well, most likely aiming for Greyback. She cursed his bravery. Didn't he know that he couldn't take on a werewolf like Greyback?
The wolf and dog collided with a large scuffling noise and several growls and barks. It was hardly a second before Hermione looked over her shoulder and saw Sirius thrown into the air. He hit the trunk of a tree with a loud thump and collapsed on the ground.
Hermione and Remus were at the border of the wards now. They could hear Greyback behind them, but without even having time to register anything else, a spell flew down on them from above. It caused a great explosion. Hermione was thrown to the ground in the opposite direction of Remus. She hit her head hard against a rock. Her vision faded away before she could even register the pain.
Author's Note: Sorry for the cliffhanger… I hope you'll forgive me. Going to try to post the next chapter ASAP.