A/N: I'm not sure if I'll be uploading again before the end of the year, so I'll wish you all a very happy holidays and a happy new year now just in case! x
Chapter 24 – Greenhouse Three
It was sometime after dinner on a Saturday evening. Remus was sitting on the velvety couch in the Room of Requirement with Hermione sitting on the other end. A throw blanket covered her legs, which were curdled up into her body as she snuggled up into the nook of the couch. Her eyes were staring with the utmost concentration on the book resting on top of her knees.
Every now and then she would read something particularly interesting, making her eyebrows rise and her mouth fall open slightly. These small quirks fascinated Remus, making it nearly impossible for him to concentrate on his own book as he frequently stole glances at her. Never would he have ever found just the sight of someone reading in silence to be so intoxicating before.
There was a comfort in the sound of just the crackling fireplace in front of them as well as the occasion page turns from their books. The entire atmosphere of the room just had a relaxing ease to it with just the two of them. It was nice to just sit there with no expectations of filling the silence with mindless chatter, not that chatter ever seemed mindless with Hermione.
Normally being around people just sitting silently would make him feel slightly awkward, but this was different. Remus felt perfectly content to sit there all night long and say absolutely nothing if it meant Hermione were still sitting beside him. He cherished the moments he had alone with her. Moments like those almost distracted him completely from the impending full moon.
There was the urge to just blurt out how he felt whenever he looked at her, but the small voice in the back of his head kept rationalizing that he couldn't just ruin everything without trying to figure out where she stood first. When they had been walking down that quiet, snow-covered path on the outskirts of Hogsmeade, Remus had come so close to telling her. That was, until Sirius had shown up and ruined it. Maybe it was a sign; it wasn't as if Hermione had ever given any indication she shared his feelings, and Remus had definitely been looking for any clues that would tell if she felt the same way.
He had felt so dejected, and slightly jealous when Hermione had stayed back from Hogsmeade with James, not that he didn't trust James. However, Hermione not being interested in Dirk Cresswell… that did make him feel good. And learning Dirk had assumed he and Hermione had been a couple? That had him feeling even better. It made Remus wonder if maybe Dirk had seen something he had missed.
"What are you thinking about?"
Remus looked up and saw Hermione peeking over her book at him with a curious smile on her face.
"What makes you think I'm thinking of anything?" Remus asked teasingly, and Hermione's smile widened.
"Oh, just that you're sitting there grinning to yourself and you haven't turned a page in your book in a while."
Remus automatically looked down at the book in his lap. He hadn't even realized he had had the same page open for a good few minutes now. With a playful grin, he looked back up and raised an eyebrow at her. "Have you been spying on me?"
Hermione rolled her eyes at him but continued to smile.
"No, I wasn't spying on you. I noticed I hadn't heard the page turn in a while and I got curious," she said. She softly kicked his leg with her blanket covered foot causing Remus to laugh.
"I didn't realize. I guess I was just lost in thought."
"Aha! So I was right!"
"Aren't you usually?" he said with another laugh.
"Most of the time," she agreed with a laugh of her own. "So, what were you thinking about?"
"You."
It had slipped out before he could stop himself from saying it and he could feel his ears begin to burn. It might have just been the lighting from the fireplace in front of them, but he swore a slight blush had formed on Hermione's face.
"Me?" she asked quietly, tilting her head.
"Just that- that I'm really glad you transferred from Beauxbatons," he said slowly.
She was quiet for a moment, but the corner of her mouth twitched slightly. "I'm glad you all were here when I arrived."
That warmth that was all too familiar when Remus was around her made its way through his body again. There was still a small smile on her face as Hermione averted her gaze, but then something seemed to catch her eye and she gave a start.
"Hang on a second, what time is it?" The smile left Hermione's face as she quickly turned her body to look at the clock ticking away above the door. When she processed the time, she jumped up, her book falling from her knees into her lap.
"What is it?" asked Remus, looking at the clock himself.
"The time!" she said with wide eyes, looking back at him.
"Do you have somewhere to be?" he asked curiously.
"No, but don't you?" she anxiously questioned. "Aren't you starting to feel it?"
Ah, the full moon Remus thought regrettably.
Of course she'd be worried about how late it was getting. Yet, the last thing he wanted to do was to leave that room of theirs, but he knew she was right. He had never gone this late to the Hospital Wing before and Madam Pomfrey would start to worry, if she wasn't already worried about where he was.
"I feel fine," Remus assured her honestly. There were only slight symptoms starting so far, and they were easy enough to ignore.
Hermione's lips pursed as she looked at him skeptically.
"Really, I'm perfectly fine," he repeated. But just as he said it, he felt the familiar pang of pain starting in the back of his head, and he had to force himself not to wince.
So much for ignoring them.
"Are you sure you're feeling alright?" Hermione pressed, still seemingly not convinced and looking at him with worry.
"Some days are worse than others," he answered with a shrug. "There are times where I start feeling the effects the day beforehand. Then there are times where I don't start to feel it until closer to the full moon."
"So today is a good day?" Hermione asked with a smile. There was a hopefully innocence in her voice that made Remus's heart swell with affection.
"Today has been a great day," he said, smiling warmly back at her.
"Well, then we can make tomorrow even better! But now we need to get you to the Hospital Wing before you transform right here in this room."
She closed her book with a muted thump and placed it lightly onto the coffee table in front of them. Tossing off her blanket, she stood up with a small hop and then held out her hand towards him.
"Alright, Lupin, time to go."
Reluctantly, he took her hand and allowed her to pull him to his feet as he rolled his eyes.
"Really, Hermione, I'm not about to transform right here in the room…"
"Well, we definitely wouldn't want that," Hermione said as she led him towards the door.
Once they were both out of the Room of Requirement, Hermione dropped his hand as the door behind them dissolved into the wall. Remus's hand suddenly felt very cold in its absence.
The corridor was dark as the night sky was visbile through the large windows, showing the trees silhouetted across the grounds. There was still no sign of the full moon, which was good, but the scattered stars illuminated the indigo sky when they found gaps between the sparse dark clouds.
They had only rounded one corner when Hermione suddenly reached out and grabbed the front of his robes and dragged Remus towards her. Completely caught off guard, she managed to pull him back around the corner and pressed him against the corridor wall, his back hitting the stone with a soft thud.
A million thoughts went through Remus's head during those short few seconds – not all of them decent – as he looked down at Hermione with bewilderment. His heart was hammering in his chest for more than one reason.
But Hermione wasn't looking at him at all. Her arm was extended with her hand still resting on his chest as she stood a short distance away, peering around the corner.
"Hermione, what on earth is going—"
"Shh," she said quickly.
Feeling confused, as well as slightly disappointed and embarrassed at what his immediate thoughts had been, Remus leaned around the corner to follow her gaze.
At the other end of the corridor was a hunched over Filch, looming in the distance. A sneer was on his face as his baggy, bugged eyes seemed to look around hungerly. They stood too far away from where he lingered, but he appeared to be muttering to himself as he stalked down the corridor.
Hermione's eyes had gone wide and they slowly followed Filch as he walked. She shuffled slightly closer to Remus and the wall to better conceal herself from the caretaker's sight.
Remus was suddenly aware of how close they stood together with him squished against the stone wall. Her hand still rested against his chest, and Remus nervously wondered if she could feel how fast his heart was beating against his ribcage. It was beating so hard that he was surprised neither of them were able to hear it.
When Filch disappeared from sight, Hermione turned back to face Remus. It took her a moment before she looked down at his chest and noticed her hand was still resting against him. Her hand dropped quickly as her face flushed a brilliant shade of red. Remus felt his stomach tighten at the sight of it.
There was an awkward silence as Hermione turned to look back down the deserted corridor to make sure Filch was truly gone.
"Um, Hermione… Why are you hiding from Filch?" Remus questioned as soon as Hermione's body relaxed.
"Remember when I told you about how I ran into him on Valentine's Day?" she said, turning back to look at him.
Remus did remember that story and how animatedly she had told it to him and he nodded.
"I feel like he's been following me around for some reason," said Hermione, slightly biting her lower lip.
"Why would he be doing that?"
"I don't even know! It would make sense if he saw me coming out of the Room of Requirements or out after curfew or something… but I had just been leaving the library! He apparently had it in his head that I'm up to no good."
"Are you? Up to no good?" Remus teased, his heart finally beginning to return to a normal pace.
"Well, aren't I? After all, I am running around near curfew with a werewolf," she whispered with a mischievous grin.
"That is definitely up to no good," he responded with a smirk. "Who are you and what have you done with Hermione anyway?"
She laughed and nudged him with her shoulder. "You lot must be rubbing off on me. Maybe I have a taste for adventure now."
"We've created a monster…" Remus said with a grin. "But you have seemed excited all evening. Big adventure plans tonight?"
Hermione tensed slightly at his question and Remus gave her a questioning look.
"What? I was only kidding. Unless were you planning on attracting more trouble tonight?"
He had tried to keep his tone light, but her reaction had interested him.
"The most adventurous thing I could possibly do is have Madam Pince chase me out of the library if I stayed past curfew," she said with a hurried laugh.
"Well now I'm curious. With all of us gone tonight, what do you plan on doing with yourself?"
"Study," she said immediately. "But probably not in the library, I already have one member of staff out to get me, I don't need to add another to that list."
Remus wasn't sure he fully believed her, but he decided to drop it anyway. He was still painfully aware of how close together they still were on that corner and he coughed lightly.
"So… should we keep going?" he asked slowly, his heart beginning to beat faster than normal again.
"Oh! Right!"
Hermione let out a small laugh and started walking again, Remus falling into step beside her.
"He tends to do that, you know," said Remus. "Filch, I mean."
"Stalk students?" muttered Hermione.
Remus laughed. "Yes, actually. You should have seen him during our third year when James and Sirius discovered Zonko's after our first Hogsmeade visit. Everywhere we looked, there he was. I'm pretty sure most of the things in his drawers of confiscated things down in his office were from us. Poor man probably smelt like dungbombs that entire second term. The number of detentions we all had…"
"You must have kept him busy," said Hermione, grinning.
"And we kept the trophy room very clean," Remus nodded. "I'm sure Filch is glad that most of James and Sirius's pranks have calmed down this past year. Now he has the chance to follow other students around."
"Maybe he needs some company. Something to keep him occupied," said Hermione.
"What, like a girlfriend?" asked Remus, feeling uneasy even thinking about Filch with someone.
"More like a cat," said Hermione, grinning to herself.
"That poor cat…"
The castle was quiet as they walked. Curfew was nearing, and Remus wondered if Madam Pomfrey would wring him out for being so late. He looked down at his watch and grimaced to himself. She was certainly going to be mad; he was cutting it close to when she normally walked him to the Whomping Willow.
"Since you aren't missing any class this month, we won't have missed class notes to go over," said Hermione as they descended stairs towards the Hospital Wing.
Remus's heart sank. Did she not want to spend the day with him tomorrow?
"That's true," he said, trying to hide his disappointment. "At least I won't have to explain to anyone where I've gone since I'm not missing class."
These were the transformations he liked the most, when they fell on the weekends and no one had to know he was even gone. Less questions from everyone.
"Well, if you feel as good tomorrow as you are today you probably won't have to spend all day in the Hospital Wing," she grinned. "So what did you want to do tomorrow?"
Ah, she did still want to spend time together. Remus immediately felt better.
"I'm not sure. Normally I spend most of the day after in the Hospital Wing so I hadn't really thought of doing anything else."
"Okay, but let's say you are feeling well, and we are able to break you out of Hospital. Then what?"
Remus thought quietly for a moment.
"What about our room?"
Hermione raised an eyebrow at him as they reached the landing leading to the Hospital Wing.
"I was thinking that maybe—"
He cut his statement off when he realized Hermione was no longer beside him as he walked down the corridor.
In confusion, Remus turned and saw Hermione standing near where they entered from the Grand Staircase. Her head was turned to look down the corridor to her left.
Before Remus could ask what she was doing, or begin the walk back towards her, a figure waltzed into view from the direction Hermione was staring.
The sight of Severus Snape momentarily confused Remus. What was Snape doing so far away from the dungeons at this time of night? And why would he be loitering near the Hospital Wing?
Severus turned his greasy head in Remus's direction and his black eyes went wide. An angry look spread across his face when he noticed Remus before he turned his attention back to Hermione. He began walking towards her as he neared the entrance to the Grand Staircase.
Remus took a step forward, his stomach churning as Severus seemed to deliberately walk directly next to where Hermione stood. When he was beside her, he paused slightly, and to Remus's bewilderment, it looked like he leaned over to her and whispered something in his ear. When Severus pulled away, Hermione was staring at him with her mouth slightly open.
And then without a word, Severus cast Remus one more look over his shoulder before leaving towards the Grand Staircase.
Hermione's face was unreadable as she stood frozen on the landing.
"Hermione…?" Remus questioned as Hermione slowing walked back up to him, looking as white as a ghost.
"Oh for Merlin's sake… Is everyone following me tonight?" she muttered angrily to herself. There was still a look of worry upon her white face but slowly annoyance seemed to be taking over. When she reached him she didn't stop but instead kept walking in the direction of the Hospital Wing.
"What was that?" exasperated Remus, staring at her wide-eyed expression as he hurried to walk beside her.
Had he imagined that Severus whispered something to her as he passed? What could he have possibly said? And why had it annoyed Hermione so much?
"It was nothing, everything's fine," Hermione said quickly.
"What is going on?" asked Remus, suddenly worried why both Filch and Severus were creeping around waiting for her.
"Severus has apparently also made it his missed to annoy me to death tonight," she grumbled, shaking her head.
"Did he say something to you?"
Hermione didn't meet his gaze and so Remus took that as a yes.
"What did he say?" he insisted, feeling the pain in the back of his head increase as his resentment towards Severus began to form. What was Snape playing at hanging around the Hospital Wing the night of a full moon? And then trying to upset Hermione?
"He wanted to remind me of something he had told me a little while back during class once."
That wasn't what Remus had expected to hear at all, and confusion overtook his budding anger.
"Which would be what?" asked Remus feeling utterly perplexed.
"Um- I'll tell you tomorrow," she said shortly, avoiding the question.
"Alright…"
"Okay, so what were you thinking?" asked Hermione, changing the subject.
"What?" Remus said in confusion.
"You were about to say something about the room before…"
"Oh, right," Remus said, shaking his head quickly, trying to think back to before he was distracted. It took him a moment to remember what he had been about to say. "Well, we do spend a lot of time there so I was thinking maybe we could do some redecorating."
"Redecorating?" she asked curiously, raising an eyebrow. He must have caught her full attention again because her annoyance at Severus appeared to have completely vanished.
"You know, maybe change up the room a bit, make it more personalized for both us? Add some more comfort to it?"
A smile on Hermione face slowly grew as she thought about it.
"Yes, alright," she grinned. "That's a brilliant idea. And it's only fair you get to bring a piece of yourself to the room too. I'm curious to see the things that bring you comfort."
You he thought with a smile, but he bit his tongue.
Truth be told, he wasn't entirely sure what he wanted to do with the room yet, other than make it something they created together. The idea had suddenly popped into his head and as soon as he said it out loud it felt right. They could turn it into a piece of both of them.
Hermione paused awkwardly when they reached the double doors that lead to the Hospital Wing, her hand lingering near the handle. She looked up at him and smiled bittersweetly, knowing it was a goodbye for the night as she couldn't go in with him.
"I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to say," said Hermione. "Do I wish you a good transformation? Tell you to have a good time?"
She looked so troubled that Remus let out a laugh strong enough that he could feel it in his stomach.
"There isn't really any proper etiquette for situations like this, is there?" he laughed.
Her lip twitched. "I suppose not. But I do hope it's an easy one for you."
"Me too, then we'll have more time together tomorrow once you break me out of here."
This earned him a chuckle.
"So, there's no proper parting words?"
"You could just tell me to have a good night," he grinned.
"Well, have a good night then, Remus!" she said with a smile.
Then she did something she had never done before; she reached up onto her toes and planted a quick kiss on his cheek. "I'll come see you in the morning. And then we have a room to redecorate!"
With a small wave, she walked down the corridor and Remus watched, frozen in place, until she disappeared from sight. While nothing had seemed particularly romantic about her action, the butterflies in his stomach still began darting around excitedly as the spot on his cheek burned warmly. He couldn't help the stupid grin that spread across his face as he pushed open the door to the Hospital Wing, completely oblivious to the headache that had just been pounding in his head.
.:~*~*~*~*~:.
"Where have you been?" demanded James as soon as Hermione walked into the boys' dormitory.
"With Remus… Wasn't the plan to wait until he went to the Hospital Wing?" asked Hermione in confusion as she shut the door behind her.
"Wait, he just went now?" asked Sirius with knitted brows.
"Yes, I just walked him there myself…" she said slowly, looking around at them. "Is there a problem?"
"He just usually goes much earlier in the day because the effects get to be too much," explained James.
Hermione shrugged. "He seemed pretty alright actually. Just a bit tired but in pretty good spirits."
The three boys exchanged a look with each other.
"What?" she asked, frowning at them. "You say that as if it's a bad thing. Maybe it'll be a decent transformation this time."
After Hermione said that she could only hope that would be true. She wasn't sure if there was any correlation between his side effects as a human with how hard the transformations were for him. There weren't many studies on that subject, so she could only pray how he would feel tonight would reflect how he had felt all day and be easier. Well, as easy as a werewolf transformation could be.
"Yes, yes, let's all hope Moony has a good time tonight… But now on to more important things," said Sirius sarcastically and Hermione narrowed her eyes at him.
"Sirius is right," said James. "We need to get those leaves and fast. We lost a lot of time with him going to the Hospital Wing so late."
"Then what are we waiting for?" said Hermione, clapping her hands together which earned her a smirk from James.
James quickly made his way to his trunk and began digging through it as Hermione watched on curiously.
"Oh," said Hermione suddenly. "By the way, Severus suspects I know about Remus and I think he's been watching me."
"What? How?" said Sirius, and James stopped digging for a moment to turn and stare at her. Peter was also looking at her curiously.
"After class once we were talking and he dropped hints about you all being dangerous. Then he just saw me in the corridor outside of the Hospital Wing. You should have seen the look he gave us."
"What on earth could you have been talking to Snivellus about?" demanded Sirius.
"Does it really matter?" said Hermione, crossing her arms.
As much as teenage Snape made her nervous, she was going to keep her word to him. There was no reason the boys needed to know about his feelings for Lily, it could only lead to more trouble.
But seeing him just now near the Hospital Wing had her slightly rattled. "I tried to warn you. You don't know what you're dealing with," was what he had whispered at her, so low that she had barely heard him. At first she thought she had imagined it until her brain finally processed what had happened.
"No, it doesn't matter," said James, returning to his trunk. "We can deal with Snape later, we don't have time. Aha!-" James stood up and triumphantly held in front of him a square of parchment and long silvery fabric. The Marauder's Map and the Invisibility Cloak.
Hermione wanted to rush over and grab both of them; to feel the silky fabric of the cloak that brought back so many memories, but she had to control herself.
"What are those?" she asked instead, feigning confusion.
"On any other occasion I'd love to show these off and brag about them but we don't have time," said James quickly. "Long story short, this is a map of Hogwarts and everyone in it," he held up the blank Map and then held up the cloak, "and this is an invisibility cloak."
James quickly rested the cloak over his shoulder before tapping his wand to the map. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!"
The map slowly formed in his hands and James looked at her keenly, waiting for a reaction.
"That's amazing," she breathed, hoping she sounded in awe of what she had just seen.
James grinned humbly at her before turning to look at Peter.
Hermione was acutely aware of Peter's silence and she eyed him carefully. He didn't seem to want to meet her eye and Hermione had a sneaking suspicion that he wasn't very fond of their little adventure plans or their secrets being shared with her. She should have felt bad about a potential rift between the boys, but selfishly she didn't really care.
"Peter, hand me your wand," said James, holding out his hand to him.
Without missing a beat, Peter handed over his wand to James who tucked it inside his cloak for safekeeping.
"Why do you need his wand?" Hermione asked James.
"It doesn't transform with us, so we need to be wary of where we put it," answered James.
When Hermione turned back to look at Peter she jumped slightly when he wasn't there anymore. She dropped her gaze and saw a small grey rat sitting on Peter's bed.
It was impossible to look at him and not see Scabbers, although this current rat did not look as worse for wear. It was odd seeing him with all of his toes and not look as sickly as he had when she had last seen him. That was before he was revealed to be a traitor.
"Brilliant, isn't it?" said Sirius with a smirk and Hermione had to force a smile on her face.
James shook out the cloak and held it open between his hands.
"It'll be a tight fit," said James biting his lip as he held up his invisibility cloak. "Come get closer, you two."
Hermione walked over to stand beside James and Sirius came over to her other side, sandwiching her between the two boys. James held out his hand for Peter who seemed to know the drill because he immediately began climbing up James's sleeve before coming to rest comfortably on his shoulder.
In one fluid movement, James wrapped the cloak around them. Hermione felt the soft material cover her head and both James and Sirius instinctively moved in closer so they could all fit.
Just as James had predicted, it was very snug with the three of them under the cloak. Hermione knew that even her, Harry, and Ron could not fit comfortably under the cloak anymore and that their feet would definitely show. James was roughly the same height as Hermione remembered Harry being, and luckily for them, Sirius was slightly shorter than Ron had been, which gave them a little more room to work with. It seemed to work though, as they were all barely covered by the cloak. But Hermione was almost positive that once they started walking, their feet would most definitely show.
"It'll be dark. Our feet will most likely show when we walk but I doubt anyone would notice…" she said, airing her thoughts out loud.
There was no room to comfortably turn to look at either James or Sirius, but she felt James nod to her left.
"And I'll keep a lookout with the map," he said.
"Alright, let's do this!" said Sirius, clapping his hands together. The cloak shifted with the movement and James struggled to right it. "Sorry!"
"You ready, Wormtail?" said James to his shoulder and Peter responded with a squeak.
Hermione had definitely been right. As soon as they started walking through the castle, they automatically separated from each other due to it being impossible to walk so closely side-by-side. Surely enough, their shoes were peeking out from beneath the cloak. James seemed to be strongly aware of this fact and his eyes barely left the map, constantly making sure the coast was clear and no one would see them.
The grounds were still and quiet as they made their way outside. The weather had been starting to warm up slightly but there was still a crispness to the March air. Luckily the cloak protected their exposed faces from the chilly breeze.
No one dared to cast a light outside of the cloak in fear they'd be spotted. Instead, they relied on the soft light of the stars to keep them from stumbling completely blindly. Not that it kept them from stumbling completely. The moon was starting to make an appearance in the dark sky which was both a blessing and a curse as it began to shine its own light. They would have to hurry.
They were somehow able to make it to the Herbology greenhouses without incident. The entire thing seemed almost too easy, which was never a good sign.
"The mandrakes are kept in greenhouse three," said James as the four of them continued up the path towards the greenhouses.
They were now safety out of view of the castle and Hermione began to relax slightly, knowing that even if their feet were exposed, no one would be able to see them.
When they approached the door to greenhouse three, James ripped the cloak off but kept the map out in front of him. With his free hand, he picked up Peter from his shoulder and placed him in the grass. Moments later, a slightly disheveled human Peter stood up, wiping down the crinkles in his robes. James's quickly reached into his own robes and handed Peter back his wand.
"Lumos," Hermione said, illuminating her wand now that no one would be able to see them, and she turned her attention to the door.
On the greenhouse door in front of them was a large brass padlock. Hermione glanced up and down the row to see if there was maybe an open window or some other way inside that wouldn't involve breaking and entering, but it seemed the only way in was the main door.
"Alohomora!" said Sirius, moving towards the door and pointing his wand at the lock before Hermione could try the lock herself. He gave the door a push but with no luck and he frowned down at it, the large lock having not moved at all.
"Let me try," said Hermione, stepping up and redirecting her wand at the lock. "Alohomora!"
Nothing.
Hermione pursed her lips as Sirius snickered beside her.
"It must be enchanted so that won't work," mused James.
"Sprout must have caught on after the last time we broke in," said Peter nervously.
James turned to look at Sirius. "Did you bring your knife?"
The penknife Sirius gave to Harry… Hermione thought suddenly, and she turned to look at Sirius, waiting for him to take out the knife that she knew could unlock any lock.
With a grin, Sirius pulled out the penknife and flicked it up in front of him.
"Oh, you're learning so many of our secrets tonight, Hermione," laughed Sirius as he stuck the blade into the hole in the large padlock. "And you still don't even know about the mirror!"
Peter grumbled in annoyance at Sirius casually blurting out their secrets and Sirius continued to laugh. Carefully, he began moving the knife blade up and down until there was a soft click and the top of the padlock popped off.
"Well, after you," grinned Sirius to Hermione, gesturing towards the door as he tucked his knife away.
"Do not disturb the pots. A mandrake's cry is fatal!" murmured Hermione under her breath as she slowly pushed open the door to the greenhouse.
Once inside, she was immediately greeted with the familiar scent of dirt and earth. Inside were a mix of exotic magical plants, but Hermione's eyes quickly fell onto the familiar mandrakes and her stomach gave a nervous flip.
"Only if they're full grown," said James back in a whisper. He raised his wand, which he had now lit as well, and looked around at the terracotta pots that littered the rundown wooden tables around the room. "Look, these are adolescent still."
James was right. Hermione squinted at the sleeping mandrakes and saw they were still small in size. No longer babies, but not quite adult either. Many of the ones near her had acne spots across their wrinkly faces.
"Will their leaves still work?" asked Hermione in a low whisper. She thought back to how the mandrakes had to be full grown for the mandrake restorative draught to work during her second year. However, the potion needed a whole mandrake to be stewed so she wondered if the leaves would be any different.
"It did last time," responded James with a shrug. "I don't think they were much older than this."
"I'd still rather not get knocked out," whispered Sirius, crouching low with his eyes at the same height as the tables' as he began making his way forward.
"Sirius, where are you going?" hissed Hermione, who still stood by the door with James and Peter.
"Getting you your leaves!"
Sirius silently stole towards a secluded corner of the greenhouse where the least number of mandrakes were sleeping with soft snores. Other odd plants surrounded him, some with moving vines that looked more like tentacles and others that had spikes covering their entire being and Hermione watched on anxiously.
The fool didn't even have on earmuffs, Hermione realized, but Sirius was too far away to yell that to him. Hermione feared that if she did then she'd wake all of the mandrakes and they'd all be caught the next morning by Professor Sprout, passed out in her greenhouse.
Sirius's wand was out in front of him and Hermione watched as he pointed it at the most secluded mandrake. She could see his mouth move slightly as he tapped his wand but no light appeared from its tip and Hermione wondered what he had done. Seemingly pleased with whatever it was he did, Sirius pulled his knife back out and began quickly cutting off leaves from the mandrake.
The mandrake awoke with a start. It's crinkled eyes and mouth flew open in a scream and Sirius hopped back in surprise. Hermione flinched at the sudden movements and quickly grabbed onto James, digging her fingers into his arm which made him wince in pain.
But something was wrong. While the mandrake seemed to be screaming and crying, no sound was coming from it at all.
Sirius was beaming brilliantly as he hurried back towards them and they all quickly shuffled out of the greenhouse before more mandrakes could wake up.
"How did you do that?" gasped Hermione as James massaged his arm once they were back outside.
"Silencing charm," said Sirius, looking quite proud of himself.
"How did you know that would work?" Hermione demanded.
"I didn't," grinned Sirius.
"What? You could have been killed! Or knocked out!" lectured Hermione. "How did you do it last time?"
"Nicked earmuffs too," said Sirius with a shrug. "Thought I'd give this a try this time. Anyway, here-"
Sirius walked up to her and held out his hand, tilting the contents of it into her own.
With the mandrake leaves in her hand, everything suddenly felt so real. Hermione felt almost giddy with excitement. She reached into her cloak and pulled out a small pouch that she had brought with her and gently slid the leaves in before tucking the pouch back away.
"Step one complete!" she said happily.
"Brilliant… but we need to get out of here. Now," said James, looking down at his watch. "Moony will be headed out any minute now and we need to get you back to the common room."
He gave Peter an expecting look and then Peter was suddenly shrinking back down into a rat. Once he was fully transformed, James picked him and his wand up and all four of them got back into the same position they had earlier.
"It's remarkable, don't you think?" started Hermione excitedly as they made their way away from the greenhouses and back towards the castle under the cloak. "That mandrake – or mandragora – are normally used to return people who have been transfigured or cursed… but here we are, using it to transform! It's fascinating! I wonder if there's a way to use it to force someone in animagus form to transfigure back into a human-"
"Hermione," interrupted Sirius sounded irritated. "We're trying to have an adventure here, not a Herbology lesson…"
Offended, Hermione scoffed at him. "Really, Sirius, it's not just Herbology. This involves both Transfigurations and Potions as well… It's really a fascinating combination of multiple branches of magic—"
Suddenly, James stopped and both Hermione and Sirius nearly yanked off the cloak as they tried to stop beside him.
"What the-" Sirius had started to say but he was cut off by James.
"Someone's getting closer," James said in surprise, holding out the map.
Hermione and Sirius both leaned over to get a closer look. On the map, headed towards where the four of them were, was a black dot.
Snape.
James swore.
"What the hell is that slimy bastard doing out here? Hasn't he learned better by now? Clearly didn't learn his lesson!" hissed Sirius, grabbing the map out of James's hands and eyeing Snape's approaching dot.
Hermione's head snapped to look at the shadow covered face of Sirius from under the cloak. None of the boys had ever mentioned what had happened with Snape – or how he knew about Remus's condition. Of course she knew the gist of it from the little Snape, Sirius, and Remus had told her, Harry, and Ron in the shrieking shack during her third year, but she had so many questions about what really had happened. Sirius looked guilty when he saw Hermione's expression and realized what he was implying, leaving her to imagine that it must have been bad.
"He'll see our feet," whispered James with a horrified realization.
He leaned around Hermione and smacked the shoulder of Sirius. Hermione nearly lost her balance at the motion and steadied herself on Sirius, who groaned at her weight. But he seemed to know what James was wordlessly getting at because, after he righted Hermione, he shoved the map at her.
There was no time for Hermione to react as Sirius slowly grew shorter, darker, and furrier until suddenly he was a full on shaggy black dog right beside her. His wand fell into the grass with a small bounce.
Hermione let out a small yelp in surprise at the large black dog. Within seconds, James's arm went around her and he stuck his hand out over her mouth. Along with his quick movement, Peter slipped off of his shoulder with a squeak and his little rat arms flailed until he managed to cling on to the front of James's winter cloak.
James's hazel eyes were wide as he mimed a "shh" with the index finger of his free hand. The black dog curled up around James's and Hermione's feet so the cloak would completely cover them all, his ears stuck up on alert. Regaining her composure, Hermione quickly nodded to James and he released her.
According to the map, Snape had gotten too close for comfort, but he thankfully must not have heard her yelp because his dot slowly began to walk further away.
It didn't seem like Snape was headed towards the Whomping Willow, instead it looked like he was pacing on the grounds. Almost as if he were patrolling near the doors of the castle, or maybe looking for something. It was so odd, even for Snape.
Nerves ran through Hermione's body as she wondered if it anything to do with their encounter in the corridor earlier. She was pretty sure he had realized she knew Remus's secret. Was he looking for her for some reason? She wondered if he had truly just been trying to warn her all along like he had after that Potions lesson from last month. But it made no sense. He made no sense.
The dot continued to move around the grounds near the front of the castle, and Hermione was squinting up the hill in anticipation of him coming into view.
After a few minutes, he did.
It was too dark and he was too far away to fully make out what his expression was, and it killed Hermione not to know what his intentions were. In the darkness of the night he appeared to just be a moving shadow. If she hadn't been holding the map and knew he was close, she never would have noticed he was there. It was probably what he had been counting on.
And then Snape turned around and was gone.
They waited there for what felt like an eternity, but it must not have been even more than a minute since he had left. When it appeared that Snape wasn't headed towards them anymore, James let out a breath.
Gently, James lifted Peter up and set him back on his shoulder, giving him a quick pat on the back. It was probably meant to soothe him, because his little rat body was trembling from the shock of his fall. Peter's inability to talk this entire time made Hermione realize she greatly preferred him in rat form.
James gently took the map back from Hermione and the two of them looked down at it.
"There's someone else, look – ha!" he barked out a laugh and quickly covered his own mouth.
Hermione peered over at the Map and saw James pointing to where Snape's dot had collided with another.
"Caught by Filch!" laughed James under his breath with glee.
Snape's dot came to a halt as Filch's dot came speeding towards him. Hermione could imagine Filch doing his signature run hobble towards Snape, like he always did when he'd get excited to punish someone. She almost allowed herself to smile at the thought, but she was too nervous thinking about being caught herself.
Hermione was aware of both Peter the rat and Sirius in dog form staring at her holding the map, waiting for her to announce what was happening, but she and James remained silent as they watched Filch's dot stop by Snape's. And then the two slowly headed back in the castle.
That was now the second time that day she had come way to close to Filch and Snape, and Hermione's heart was beating rapidly. Yet, it was almost poetic how they ended up meeting each other. Two birds with one stone.
"Serves him right," laughed James in both relief and humor. "This night couldn't have gone any better!"
"Okay, we should go before Filch comes back," said Hermione quickly and James nodded in agreement.
"We aren't going to be able to walk back with you at our feet, mate," said James, looking down at Sirius who stared up at James with what could only be described as 'puppy dog eyes'. "Oh don't look at us like that, Pads. You can come back under the cloak once we're back at the castle."
Sirius's ears dropped and he whimpered sadly before picking up his wand in his mouth and scurrying out from under the cloak. He was barely visible on the dark grass as Hermione watched him run back towards the castle entrance.
James and Hermione spent the rest of the walk up the hill in silence, with James keeping a careful eye on the Map, making sure no one else came near and that Filch never came back. It wasn't until they were near the castle walls and met back up with Sirius that James stopped again.
"Ah, here comes Remus," groaned James. "We're really running late."
Sirius the dog darted quickly back under the cloak and curled up again. Hermione held her breath as she saw Remus walk only a short distance away from where they stood under the cloak. She had a much clearer view of Remus than she had had of Snape and her heart tugged at the sight of him. Gone were the smiles and laughter from earlier that evening, and instead his face was wrinkled with worry and misery.
The way he walked was sniff, as if he were in pain and Madam Pomfrey was guiding him with a comforting hand on his shoulder. His eyes looked hollow as he stared down at the dark grass as he walked; his right hand massaging his temples.
Hermione had never seen him so close to a transformation, not counting the time she had seen him transform in her own time. That had taken her by such surprise. It had happened too quickly for her to fully understanded what had been happening. But seeing him like this and knowing what he had to go through… so young and innocent, making his way to that beaten up old shack looking so sickly… hurt her. It wasn't fair.
After Remus and Madam Pomfrey disappeared from sight, they all waited as they watched their dots safely disappear from the map as well after entered the secret passage beneath the Whomping Willow.
James pulled the cloak off of all of them and Hermione breathed in the fresh night air, not having realized how much she had needed it to calm herself down.
Sirius the dog rubbed up against Hermione's leg, wagging his tail.
Not really knowing how to respond to that, Hermione awkwardly reached down and gave his head a good-natured pat. It was the most bizarre feeling; petting a dog and knowing it was one of her friends. When she started to pull her hand away, he gave it a quick lick.
"Ew! Sirius!" groaned Hermione, quickly wiping her hand on her cloak. "Don't do that! That's disgusting!"
Sirius barked a noise that sounded close to what she's imagine a dog laughing would sound like. This was exactly why Hermione preferred cats.
"Sirius, take Hermione and the cloak back up to Gryffindor Tower and then run back down here. It'll be faster than all of us trying to get there and then back," interjected James, handing the cloak off to Sirius. "Peter and I will stay hidden until Madam Pomfrey goes back into the castle and then we'll join Remus."
The great black dog barked once and then began to grow in size until Sirius stood in front of them, looking quite windswept. He reached down into the grass to grab his wand and wiped it on his trousers a few times while grinned at Hermione's amazed expression.
"Dog slobber," he said, as Hermione watched him clean off his wand.
Hermione glowered at him with disgust.
"Why can't I just go back without him?" said Hermione, eyeing Sirius with revulsion. The last thing she wanted in that moment was to be under the invisibility cloak with him.
"Because you'll most likely get caught without the cloak, especially with Filch lurking about," answered James. "And we can't just give it to you because we'll need it to sneak back in the castle after the transformation. I'd take you up myself but we're short on time and he can run back here as a dog without being seen."
Hermione sighed. It annoyed her that she hadn't thought about that. There was no other way than what James had suggested. "I hate it when you're right."
"Don't forget," started James, looking at Hermione with a faint smile. "You need to start the leaf tonight. It goes for the full moon cycle."
She nodded back to him and tapped the lump in her cloak pocket where the leaves were hidden. "I won't forget."
"Alright, we'll see you tomorrow. And we'll see you soon, Sirius. Hurry."
The walk back through the castle with Sirius under the cloak was a quick one. Sirius seemed antsy to get back down to the grounds and join the rest of his friends in the Shrieking Shack.
It was past curfew when they arrived back at Gryffindor Tower and there were still a handful of students hanging about, so Sirius carefully led her through the room and up into his dormitory. Hermione held her breath the entire time they avoided making their presence known to any of their housemates. Once inside the dormitory, Sirius ripped off the invisibility cloak and met Hermione's eyes with a brilliant grin.
"How'd you like our little adventure?" he asked, beaming at her as he straightened out the cloak.
Hermione, who could breathe again finally knowing that they had managed to pull that off without getting caught, grinned back at him.
"Honestly?" she breathed. "It was exhilarating."
And it had been. Sneaking around on an adventure when she shouldn't have been was just the rush she needed to stay focused and motivated on the tasks to come. It reminded her of those same feelings from the good old days of adventures during her own time.
Sirius looked like a proud dad as he nodded approvingly at her.
"But never lick me again," Hermione added, frowning back at him.
Sirius laughed. "Okay, but only if you do me a favor."
"That depends…"
"Can you go easier on Peter?" he said softly. "I know you don't like him for whatever reason, but he's going to be helping you with us as well. Can you at least try to get along better? He's been stressing out over it."
Hermione grimaced. Obviously she had not done a very good job of hiding her distaste for Peter, even though she had told herself she'd try. The last thing she wanted was to have to get along with the rat or to make him feel better in any way, but what choice did she have?
"I'll… do my best…" she muttered, and it pained her to say each of those four words.
"He's really a good guy."
Hermione would have laughed at that statement if it didn't also fill her with so much anger knowing that no, Peter was certainly not a good guy and there was nothing on the planet that could make her ever like him. But instead, she gave Sirius a surrendering nod. She was going to be on her best behavior.
"Brilliant," said Sirius with a grin as he headed towards the door, spreading out the invisibility cloak as he walked.
He stopped short as he reached for the handle and then he whipped around.
"Oh, don't forget! You have to do the leaf!" he said, taking a step back towards her.
"Now?" said Hermione with surprise.
"Full moon to full moon, Hermione!"
Groaning internally, Hermione took the small pouch she had put her mandrake leaves in out of her inner cloak pocket. Inside were about half a dozen mandrake leaves, and before then she hadn't had a chance to fully examine them. They looked wrinkly, and the greenish brown color of them was off putting. She pulled one out of the bag and felt how brittle it was, and then lifted it up to sniff it. It was a poor decision because she immediately cringed away from the smell.
"Do they taste as badly as they look and smell?" she asked, crinkling her nose.
"Oh, don't be a baby. Just do it."
With a deep breath, Hermione placed a single leaf in her mouth. It had barely gotten past her lips and touched her tongue before she was gagging and spit it out into her hands. It was one of the most disgusting tastes she had ever experienced. Far worse than any Bertie Bott bean she had ever encountered.
"Gross," said Sirius. He was staring at the leaf she had just spit out but he was also trying his hardest not to laugh.
"It's not funny!" she snapped. "It doesn't matter how horrible it tastes! I have to be able to do it…"
"Well, go on then!"
Glaring at him, Hermione quickly placed the leaf back into her mouth, trying to get it over with. She was immediately met with that taste of dirty grass, dirt, and what she could only imagine sewage would taste like. It took all of her strength not to gag again.
Hermione rolled her tongue carefully to reposition the leaf, concentrating hard not to displace it, or worse, swallow it. Once it was under her tongue the taste wasn't so bad, but there was still a horrid bitter aftertaste sitting in the back of her throat and she couldn't help but grimace. Sirius laughed at her expression.
"You get used to it," he said, his eyes sparkling with amusement.
"When?" she muttered, hearing the impairment in her own voice as she focused to keep her tongue pressed down.
His grin widened. "Okay no, I lied. It sucks the whole time. Just don't swallow it because you'll have to start over next month. Don't want to prolong the process now, do we?"
Hermione shook her head, too afraid to speak and displace the leaf, and Sirius laughed again.
"We'll see you in the morning for breakfast, then we can head to visit Moony," said Sirius. "Gotta run!"
He gave her a wink and wrapped the cloak around himself until he completely disappeared from sight.
After the door to the boys' dormitory opened and closed, Hermione went to sit by the window and she looked out onto the dark grounds, turning over the small pouch of extra mandrake leaves in the palm of her hand.
The full moon was now fully up in the sky and casting the dark earth below in rich, illuminating light. Everything looked so beautiful and still, and Hermione wished she could be out there with the rest of them. At least she was one step closer.
Hermione stayed for bit, relishing in the solitude of the empty boys' dormitory, just staring out into the night. She couldn't be sure, but she swore she could see a black shadow bounding down the grounds with a long shimmering material flowing beside it.
A/N: While the wording is changed slightly, the cheek kiss line at the end of this first section is based on a line from Chapter 37: The Beginning from Goblet of Fire! Just in case that seemed familiar. I just loved that line so much in the book!
So let me know what you thought! Is there anything in particular that you liked? Anything you want to happen? Anything you think should be different? What do you think will happen next? Any suggestions or concerns? Let me know!
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