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"Professor McGonagall?!" It was difficult for Hermione to see the woman clearly; the searing pain across her chest was causing her vision to blur with hot tears. Madame Pomfrey arrived at her other side, quickly waving her wand above Hermione's form trying to control the agony crippling her body.
"MAKE IT STOP!" Hermione could not focus on anything other than the pain.
"Please Poppy, a sleeping drought. She can't handle the pain right now." McGonagall begged the nurse. She also couldn't bear witnessing the pain the young woman was enduring. Madame Pomfrey ran to her collection of potions and quickly found the lavender smelling liquid. She pulled a small eye dropper from her top drawer and measured out two milliliters. Poppy rushed back to the patient and administered the powerful drought.
There were a few seconds before the potion took effect over Hermione. But then there were a few precious minutes of clarity, as Hermione's eyes locked on Professor McGonagall. "What year is it?" Hermione sleepily whispered.
"1977 dear," McGonagall knew that the girl's conscious self had limited time so she kept her statements short and precise. "Are we related?"
"You're the closest thing to family that I have left," Hermione could feel the forced sleep creeping in. "Can you help me?"
"What do you need help with?" McGonagall was curious as to where the woman's train of thought was headed.
"I have to protect them. I have to try to save them." Hermione's eyes were growing heavy.
"Yes, I will help you protect anyone. What about you?" Professor McGonagall caressed the side of Hermione's face; her voice had barley been audible. She wasn't sure if the young woman had even heard her last question.
"You'll protect me, Aunt Minerva." A calm smile appeared on Hermione's face as she slipped into the sleepy darkness.
Remus sat in his bed, forgotten by the school nurse during the screaming hysterics. He had trouble hearing anything after Madame Pomfrey had given the girl the sleeping drought, but he had made out a few words. "…1977…help me…save them…Aunt Minerva…" He had quite a few questions, but had no idea who he could inquire to about them. He settled himself back into bed and feigned being asleep as he heard the nurse and his professor walk toward the hallway.
"She'll be alright Minerva. The sleeping drought will keep her unconscious for several hours. Her body might have needed the excruciating awakening to shock her system back. I've seen it before several times, this might be exactly what her body needed to restart again." Madame Pomfrey brought a comforting arm around Professor McGonagall's shoulders. "Please, go get some rest. We will try rousing her in the morning."
Madame Pomfrey turned back to face the hospital wing again. Her face looked shadowy and exhausted. She retreated into her office without a second look at Remus.
Remus lay in his bed staring at the ceiling of the infirmary; he was board out of his mind. His brain still had the echo of the girl's painful screaming and her cryptic words bouncing around, unexplained. He turned his head toward the doors of the hospital as they opened and two dark figures snuck in. "Finally," Remus mumbled to himself. "Where have you two been? I've been awake for hours now." He had some trouble getting to a seated position in the bed, but James and Sirius were quickly by his side and pulled him up.
"Sorry mate. We were helping Hagrid out with some animals in the Forbidden Forest, and lost track of time. He's got this baby hippogriff out there he's trying to tame. Bloody brilliant but painful if you get too close too fast," Sirius brandished his fingers to show off a few very red scratches.
"Yea, Padfoot needed a good distraction from his mystery girl over there," James explained to Remus as he jerked his head toward the enclosed cot across from them.
"You know who she is?" Remus hoped his fellow Marauders could fill in some of the blanks he had rattling around in his mind.
"Um…well, not really. We think she's McGonagall's niece, but we haven't found out anything else." Sirius answered sheepishly and ducked his head down.
"But Pads is already infatuated with her. Even though McGonagall would probably kill him before he even got close enough." James and Remus snickered at their friend.
"Well, at least I'm not still after the same bird I'll been stocking for six years."
James' goodnatured laugh halted and he turned his glaring eyes onto Sirius, "At least I'm not after some mysterious unconscious girl because I've pissed off every other girl at Hogwarts."
The boys lunged at each other, rage boiling up at the other's comments. "Enough!" Remus was always the voice of reason, but he was not sure if he would even be able to squelch this fight. "You both are bloody idiots when it comes to girls, now sit down and get over it. I have no strength left to be your barrier tonight."
Sirius and James shook hands roughly and sat down on opposite sides of Remus' bed. "So will you two tell me about the mystery girl now? I need conversation; I'm bored out of my mind trapped here." Remus sat there and absorbed every detail the others had on the young woman who had arrived yesterday. He in turn recounted the painful scene he had witnessed when the girl had woken up earlier. Remus did skip over the questions he had about why McGonagall's niece had addressed her as 'professor' and why the current year had been addressed. He felt like James and Sirius might not understand the magnitude of these details. Remus wanted to collect more information before he brought the subject up with his friends.
The Hogwarts clock tower began to ring acknowledging the time to be midnight. Remus told the others that he needed to sleep since he was still recuperating from the full moon, so James and Sirius left to return to Gryffindor Tower.
Remus had just found a comfortable position on the flat infirmary pillow when gasping and coughing sounds erupted from behind the partitioned area of the room. Oh Merlin, she's awake again. He didn't want the poor girl to be in agony, and could not find his wand, so he pulled himself out of bed and began the difficult maneuvering toward Madame Pomfrey's office. Remus stumbled a bit and crashed into one of the medical carts causing some potions and tools to fall to the ground.
"Who's there?" A soft voice came from behind the white curtain walls.
"Uh, sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you. I was trying to get the nurse; I wasn't sure if you would be in pain again." Remus made his unsteady way around the partitions and finally looked at the mystery girl. He could clearly see her by the light of the side lamp she had turned on. She was gorgeous, blonde with brown eyes and slight frame; something stirred at the pit of his stomach.
Hermione looked up into the very familiar face of Remus Lupin. "Hello," was all she could muster.
"Hello," Remus returned the greeting with a smile. "Are you alright? Would you like me to get Madame Pomfrey?"
"No, I think I'm alright now. I can feel the pain, but it's manageable. Not like before…" Hermione had a faint memory about her first attempt at waking and shivered.
Remus, being ever a gentleman, saw this and pulled the extra blanket from a neighboring bed and draped it over the girl's shoulders. "Would you like to talk?"
Hermione smiled warmly at her future professor, "Yes. I would like that very much."
"Well, I am Remus Lupin. And you are?"
"Amelia McGonagall." The name still left a foreign taste in her mouth, but she was beginning to like the moniker.
Remus sat down at the foot of her bed and extended a hand, "Pleased to make your acquaintance Amelia."
"And you as well Remus," Hermione grasped his outstretched hand gratefully. She appreciated the familiar feeling of his hand shake.
"Why did you come to Hogwarts?" Remus' eyes fell to her exposed collarbone and silently analyzed the frayed edge of the scar there.
Hermione's fingers immediately went to her neck; she could feel the raised skin of the scars. She thought back to the attack in Hogsmeade and attempted to remember what curse the younger Deatheater had thrown. "Fulgretum," Hermione muttered, rolling the spell around in her mind trying to remember its origin.
"Lightning?" Remus was perplexed why the young woman was reciting old Latin spells.
Realization dawned on Hermione's face as she thought about being hit by the curse through her timeturner. She quickly stood from the bed and faced the small mirror above the sink next to her bed. Hermione pulled a bit of her gown down to see more of the scar. "Yes, it was lightning."
Remus adverted his eyes when Hermione had pulled her collar down, but he did take a peek at the scars and noticed that they appeared to run down the whole front of her torso. They were a bright, agitated, red and took the pattern of cracked ice.
Hermione's mind wondered to Harry, Ron and Ginny. She hoped that she could do something to save them, but right now she needed to focus on her current time. Tears rimmed her eyes, but Hermione refused to let them fall. She sat back down in bed, "I'm so sorry, I forgot what your question was."
Remus looked sympathetically at Hermione, "You don't need to be interrogated right now; it's alright."
A smile crossed Hermione's lips and she laughed a little stiffly, "No! No, I want to answer the question." She dropped her gaze and fiddled with her hands, "If you don't mind, I could use a friend." Hermione looked into the familiar blue eyes and was surprised to find them smiling back at her.
"Yes, well I could always use more friends so who am I to turn away a pretty girl?"
Hermione chuckled at his response, "Oh, you asked me why I came to Hogwarts." She told Remus the adopted story of her 'parents' and their death at the hands of rioters in France. Hermione explained that she was present during the skirmish, but was hit and badly injured by someone and her mother hid her from the other fanatics. She spun a tale about how she witnessed her parents' death and could do nothing to prevent it. And now she now had to go away to live with her loving aunt because she had no family left. Hermione gestured to the scars on her chest and stated that she believed that she had been in and out of consciousness for a few days now, so her sense of time was distorted and she had really had no time to morn her family's passing.
The tears rolled down her face despite her struggle to keep them at bay. Hermione realized that this may not be her story, but it was true for Professor McGonagall and her heart broke for the woman.
Remus listened patiently as the young woman finished her tale. He could not imagine the pain that she felt. "Well, that is quite a life story for just a few days."
Hermione shrugged, "I think I'm in shock still. I can't quite process everything that happened. But talking about it seems to help, so thank you Remus."
The young werewolf scooted forward and embarrassed the emotional girl. Hermione was a bit taken aback and took a second to return the hug. Remus thought of how brave this person in front of his was and had a strange sensation of protection fill his thoughts.
He pulled back from the Hermione and looked at her with caring eyes. Remus saw the beautiful face again, but did not feel any kind of yearning to hold her hand or kiss her cheek. He knew immediately that this girl needed a friend not a lover, and Remus was surprised to find his teenage hormones completely in agreement.
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