After Hermione had met the boys in the lirbary, she had dawdled, wanting some fresh air before she went back to the common room. She walked around the grounds for a bit, watching the birds fly around in the cold weather. She had no idea how long she had been outside but she jumped when she heard a voice address her from behind.
"Lovely time of year isn't it?" Dumbledore said as hermione turned around, her wand in her hand ready to attack if needed. She let out a breath of relief when she saw it was just Dumbledore and not a death eater.
"I've always liked winter more than summer myself." Hermione said with a smile as she lowered her wand.
"I've been meaning to speak to you my dear. To see how you've settled in." He said.
"I'm okay. I've made some goood friends and the school work is still challenging. I miss my people though. I don't think I've been away from them for this long before." Hermione said honestly.
"It is hard, to be away from loved ones for prolonged periods of time." He said in understanding. Dumbledore offered her his arm and she took it and they continued to stroll around the grounds.
As soon as they got back to the entrance hall, Hermione made to remove her arm from his but he would not let her go, instead, he turned to face her, locking eyes with her. Hermione knew at once what he was going to do and started putting sheilds up in her mind as a growl left her throat. They struggled for a moment, Hermione trying to get free whilst Dumbledore tried to keep her still to invade her mind and take information about the war from her.
"It's for the greater good Child." He said as he pushed at her mental shields harder, making her cry out in pain.
"Get off me." She grunted out as she gave a hard shove, her wolf giving some extra force to help her resultig in Dumbledore being thrown into the wall near them and sliding to the floor.
"You'll regret that Headmaster. And don't think I'll forget what you just did either." Hermione said to him, her eyes glowing gold as her wolf voice her anger in her head.
"The old bastard." She growled and Hermione growled in agreement as she turned and stalked away.
"You should have killed him." She said with a pout making Hermione snort in amusement.
"Is that your answer to everything then?" She asked her wolf and she grinned.
Hermione ran back to Gryffindor tower, not wanting to run into any other coniving bastards on her way back. She got the the portrait and it opened when she said the password. The room was crowded and Hermione could feel a headache coming on. Right now, she didn't much want to go back to her room, condsidering that Dumbledore could have access to it too and she slept alone, so she closed her eyes to block out the sea of people and made her way up to Remus's dorm and opened the door to find all the Marauders sprawled around the room talking with each other.
Their conversation frozen when they saw her and a low growl left Remus's throat at the banged up state she was in. She walked through the room and over to Remus, ignoring all the looks she was getting. She was exausted and wanted to curl up in a ball and sleep forever. It had taken a lot out of her, fighting Dumbledore mentally and physically. He was a powerful wizard. She dumped her bag down next to Remus's bed, pulled off her shoes, socks, skirt and jumper, then hopped into his bed. She burried her head in his pillow and inhaled deeply before settling in to sleep.
After a moment she heard a whisper in her ear.
"Mia? Are you alright?" The husky voice of Remus asked her quietly.
"Attacked." She mumbled in response. She heard a collective gasp from the boys in the room.
"By who?" Remus asked her, obviously being the only one she wouldn't attack for waking her. They had all learn't that one the hard way.
"Dumbledore." She said and she smelt the confusion in the room.
"So you attacked yourself?" Peter asked and Hermione growled in annoyance. The little rat made her adgitated, especially this close to the full moon.
"Why would he attack you Mia? He's your grandfather." James asked.
"S'not my grandfather." She said and then sighed. She sat up and saw that Remus was sitting next to her. She pulled him closer and moved his arm around her so that she could snuggle closer to him, drawing comfort from his presence.
"You're alright though?" He asked, turning to her and kissing her forehead as he did so.
"Am now." She said as she wrapped her arms around his waist, kissing his shoulder in response.
"So if you're not Hermione Dumbledore, then who are you?" Sirius asked and Hermione looked up at him. He was angry and hurt and so were the rest of them. She had lied to them and their reactions were understandable. But could she tell them the truth? It would affect the future too much and the possible outcomes were endless and the ones she were thinking were all negative. She couldn't risk that Voldemort might still live if she changed anything.
"It's hard to explain and I can't tell you the whole truth. But what I will tell you is this. Old Dumbles wants some information that I have. He took me in when i was in a rough place and offered me a place here and to provide for me but now that I think about it, he only did this because then I would be under his thumb. He thought that if he was generous enough, I would feel that I owed him something, hoping to get the information from me." Hermione said and then looked up at Remus. He looked troubled but pulled her clser to him as a sign that it didn't change anything between them and she sighed in relief.
"What kind of information could a teenage girl possible have that he would need?" James asked and Hermione rasied an eyebrow at him.
"I'm hardly a teenager. I'm nineteen actually, older than all of you and I've seen much more too. There's a war going on outside these walls and someone had to be at the front lines." She said, telling a bit of the truth mixed with a white lie, hoping that they would believe her. Technically it was true, just not for another twenty or so years.
"That explains why you bested Remus in defense." Peter said.
"And why you breeze through all the school work." Sirius added.
"No, that I'm just naturally talented at. You should have seen me as a first year. Complete know it all. I'd read every book i could get my hands on and then answered every question and did every asignment ten times what was asked. I was ridiculous. Every time I went home for Holidays and talked to my parents about all the things I'd learned at school they would just look at me like i was crazy." Hermione said with a fond smile.
"Wait you're a muggle born?" James asked and Hermione nodded.
"I am. Hence the carving in my arm." She said and everyone looked a bit sheepish at not connecting the dots earlier.
"Where are you're parents then?" Peter asked and Hermione glared at him for a moment.
"I obliviated them and sent them to Australia last year after a particualry nasty threat from a death eater. A month before I came here, I found out that they had died in a muggle accident not long after." Hermione said and they all gasped.
"That sucks." Sirius said and Hermione couldn't help but laugh at now simply he sumed it all up.
"It does." She said.
"So what are you going to do now?" James asked and Hermione honestly had no idea.
"I'll avoid the old coot until the end of the year. Then I can get away from him. I'll need all of your help though, as I don't have any way of providing for myself since Dumbledore was my only source of money." Hermione said and Remus growled protectively.
"I'll look after you Mia." He said and Hermione smiled at his protectiveness.
"Thanks Rem." She said with a yawn. The boys all took that as their que to stop questioning her and head to bed.
"We'll all help you Mia. You're family now." She heard James say when everything was quiet and they were all heading off to sleep. Hermione closed her eyes and smiled as she fell asleep.