Chapter 38: Yep, we're still on Tuesday, June 17, 1980. It's been a long day.
"You don't stare the devil in the eyes and come out without some of his sin. You can't beat the devil without becoming like him"
-Nina G. Jones
James stared at Hermione, his face deadpanned as he tried to process what she was saying. Finally, he blinked several times and brought his eyebrows together in confusion, his hand running through his hair.
"You want to break the chair, and use it as a weapon," he said, his words coming out slowly.
"Yes."
"Hermione, you realize they have wands, right?"
Hermione huffed, "I told you it was mad! But it's the only plan I have, so unless you've got something better…?"
"Okay, fair point. Only a few problems here… One, I don't have my glasses, and I can't see anything. I don't wear those for fashion, I do actually need them. And two, we aren't fighting Vampires. Sure, there's a few Werewolves roaming about but…"
"I understand we aren't fighting Vampires, James, but if you stab anything through the heart, it will die. So, aim for the chest and squint your eyes."
"Wow. Yeah. Okay, just remind me to never get on your bad side."
Hermione rolled her eyes, managing to puff out a bark of laughter as she picked up the wooden chair from the floor, "Stand back!" She said, waiting for James to move out of the way. With one fluid movement, and all of her weight behind it, Hermione picked the chair up by its legs and slammed it into the stone floor. With a puff of dust coming up, causing both herself and James to sneeze, she heard the splitting of wood. She repeated the motion twice more, cheering a bit when the chair finally splintered and fell to pieces.
Hermione picked up one of the legs, getting a feel for the weight of it in her hand and gave it a few swings.
"I know you were a chaser, but how's your beater arm?" Hermione smirked, satisfied with having some semblance of a plan.
"It's fair," James said, taking the proffered wood from Hermione and giving it a practice swing.
"As long as I can get a wand, we'll be fine. My wand would be preferable, but I've learned to work with what I've got."
James stopped swinging the makeshift bat and stared at her for a minute, squinting to try and focus his vision, "You really have been through it, haven't you?"
"I appreciate the sentiment, but I think someone's coming."
"Wait, listen to me," James said, speaking in a furious whisper. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry that even in 2001 you have to deal with this, that we didn't finish it. But maybe with you here-
"I can't change anything, James. I'm sorry, but everything happened…" Hermione swallowed back the emotion that threatened to take her over, feeling thankful that James couldn't see. "Everything that happened, happened exactly how it's meant to. I can't change anything."
"I know," he replied, a sad tone to his voice.
Hermione looked at him, bloodied face and swollen eye, and closed her eyes as she tried to push away the memories of Harry in similar states. Covered in cuts, beaten to a pulp, exhausted and terrified but always pushing forward, always doing what he had to do to make things right. James hand found Hermione's as they heard the lock on the door give way, squeezing it tightly, and for a moment, she could swear it was Harry next to her.
"Get back!" A voice rang as the door pushed open, "Get back or I'll hex- oomph!"
James swung the chair leg with much more force than Hermione had, connecting with the torso of the black-robed man. He yelled out in pain, doubling over, holding his stomach.
"Nice one, James!" Hermione cheered, putting all of her muscle into a downward swing, hitting the Death Eater over the head and knocking him unconscious. Hermione pulled his wand from his hand, tossing aside the wooden leg. "Amateurs…" she tutted, "They only sent one? You would think-
Her assessment of the situation had been far off, however. Hermione shrieked as she fell backward, the door swinging further open and a very tall man with broad shoulders that smelled of rotten meat stepped into the room. His nose curled up in disdain as he saw his comrade, fallen on the floor.
"Fucking amateur," Fenrir Greyback grumbled, his nose flaring as he took a deep breath, his eyes fluttering as they rolled back into his head. "You're my sprog's bitch then, are you?"
Greyback turned toward Hermione, a terrifying and deranged smile pulling his lips apart to reveal yellowed, pointed teeth. His eyes opened and swirled with gold ribbons of hunger and hatred. It was not the first time she had seen the werewolf in her life, but the other encounter she had had with him, she was far more concerned by the deranged face of Bellatrix Lestrange. Hermione felt her throat close as fear seeped into her bones, the man before her more monster than human, and suddenly Hermione understood why the Wizarding community found werewolves to be terrifying.
This was not Remus Lupin's brand of (mostly) docile, self-loathing werewolf. This was a werewolf who was fully aware of what he was and revelled in it.
"What have you done with him?" Hermione asked, her voice smaller than she would have liked.
"Oh, we just had a little chat is all, nothing to worry your pretty little head about. In fact, I'll take you to see him, if you like…"
The devious look on his face made her feel sick but the fear of the state that Remus may have been in propelled her forward. Brandishing her newly won wand, she muttered a string of hexes, all of which Greyback deflected with ease. Hermione swore under her breath, frustrated that the wand felt so much different from her own, so much weaker.
"OI!" James yelled, swinging the wooden leg of the chair with as much force that he could muster. When it connected with Greyback, James stumbled backward a few paces, the chair leg snapping in his grip against the Werewolf's massive chest.
"Oh, fuck…"
Greyback snarled and turned toward James, fisting the cotton of his shirt and threw him against the wall. The sickening thud of his head against the stone told Hermione that he was unconscious again, before she even looked at his crumpled form on the ground. Hermione yelped as Greyback twisted his hands into her hair, tugging hard on her scalp and pulling her toward him. He plucked the stolen wand from her fingers with ease and threw it to the ground next to the fallen Death Eater.
"Dark Lord has a special plan for you, I reckon. Was told I can't kill you, pity. Didn't say anything about roughing you up a little though," Greyback laughed.
In a swift movement, his left hand balled up near his ear and sunk into her face. Hermione screamed out when she felt her nose snap under his knuckles, her mouth instantly filled with blood and her eyes watered in pain.
"On your feet," Greyback hissed as Hermione lost her footing, her knees buckling beneath her. She resisted the urge to cry out again when he yanked her hair, dragging her behind him. "I can see why he likes you, the feisty thing you are. Smell good too."
Her stomach rolled as he continued talking, dragging her along behind him, across the circular room and to a door that was two doors to the right of the room she had been in. He pushed the door open and kept walking further down a corridor and another flight of twisting steps. Finally, Hermione could hear something, and as she made out the sound, her blood turned to ice in her veins.
It was undoubtedly Remus, and he was wailing in agony.
"Remus?!" Hermione shouted, her hands flying up to pull at the fingers digging into her scalp, trying to pry his iron grip from her head. "Remus?!"
"You'd do well to stay quiet," Greyback warned.
"REMUS!" Hermione screamed again, praying he could hear her.
"I said shut up!" Greyback shouted, swinging his hand upward and cracking her across the face with the back of his knuckles. She yelled out in pain, a tooth pulled loose from her gums at the force of the hit, and she heard the plink as it hit the stone somewhere off to her left. Her hands left the fist that twisted into her hair, pressing to her bloodied mouth. She coughed, spitting the blood onto the floor.
"Special treat waiting for you in that room," Greyback said, his eyes positively glowing with excitement. "We don't need the fucking moon any more than the moon needs us."
As his words sank into Hermione's ears, he reached out and pulled open the door, shoving her quickly inside and slamming it shut. Hermione pulled herself up from the floor, groaning in pain as she scrambled to her feet. She looked around the room, a silvery glow casted from blue-bell flames that lined the sconces. When her eyes landed on Remus, she gasped in horror, her hand flying up to cover her mouth.
He was chained to the wall by his wrists, his arms spread eagle. His body was bare, aside from the chains wrapped around him. The silver chains. Remus was screaming in agony as his skin sizzled and melted beneath the chains, his wrists raw and bloody from the silver cuffs as he pulled his arms away from the wall in desperation, trying to get away from the searing of his own skin. Hermione could smell his flesh as it burned, the smell turning her stomach instantly, a surge of sick hitting the back of her throat.
"Oh my god, Remus!" Hermione rushed forward, her hands hovering above the chains across his chest, small puffs of smoke emitting from his skin as it healed beneath the chains only to be burned again.
Remus' eyes flew open, his chin falling down a bit so he could see her, his face pulled back in anguish as his mouth opened, no sound emitting as he tried to hold back the sobs shaking in his chest. His face was wet with blood and tears and his breathing shallow as his eyes found her.
"Hermione, no!" Remus cried, his voice mangled from pain. "What… What d-did he d-do to you?!"
"Oh this?" Hermione said, waving her hand over her face, "This is nothing, love! Nothing! You should see the other guy." Her weak attempt at humor was met with a huff of laughter that ended in another cry of pain.
Hermione couldn't stop herself from sobbing, her eyes working on their own accord and forcing tears down her swollen face. She cursed herself for leaving her bag back in the room with James, her own arrogance costing her all of the healing supplies she had brought with them.
Remus' teeth were chattering from pain, his entire body shaking. He opened his mouth again, as if to say something, but the words died on his tongue as his skin continued to blister and sear against the restraints.
"I have to get the silver away from your skin," Hermione said, her mind working at a frantic pace trying desperately to keep up with everything happening around her. This was far more disturbing, far more terrifying, than any situation she had ever found herself in before as the man she loved screamed in agony. Hermione quickly grabbed the hem of her shirt, yanking it up over her head. "This is going to hurt, Remus, I'm sorry. This is really going to hurt!"
"It f-f-fucking already d-d-does!" Remus cried.
Hermione pulled at the chains that were flush against his chest. As the top one pulled a few inches away from his skin, the bottom one tightened, causing Remus to scream. Hermione worked the hem of her shirt between the chain and his skin, pulling the chain away, tightening another, continuing the pattern until she reached the bottom chain that rested against his waist.
Remus took gulping breaths, tears flowing from his face when she relinquished her hold on the bottom chain, the very bottom of the silver still touching his skin.
"I don't have my wand, I can't make the shirt bigger, I'm sorry. I'm sorry!"
"T-thank you," Remus breathed, his eyes falling shut as he seemed to catch his breath a bit.
"Did they do anything else to you, love? Anything at all? Give you a potion or curse you?" Hermione begged.
"P-p-potion," Remus said, the index finger on his right hand extending to point toward the corner of the room.
Hermione skid across the floor, falling to her knees as she scooped up the phial, placing it under her nose to sniff the contents, trying to place any of the ingredients that she…
Aconite.
Hermione stiffened as she recognized the floral smell, she had never brewed Wolfsbane potion herself, but she had seen it done on more than one occasion. The summer she lived at Grimmauld place, she could remember Sirius brewing it and the smell would fill the basement. It wasn't Wolfsbane, exactly, but whatever it was, it was meant to harm Remus. Her brows pulled together as she tried to place it, trying to figure out what this potion could possibly be. Her mind fell back to the journal, the journal that was tucked in her medical bag in the room with James.
"P-p-page four… unghhh… Fourteen." Remus stuttered. "W-werewolf potion."
"Werewolf potion…?" Hermione repeated, staring at the small phial and trying to place the page Remus spoke of. She remembered seeing a crude drawing at some point in the book, a man's face turning into a muzzle, but she couldn't place any of the notes that were written on the page. "What are you talking about?"
"I tore it… I tore it out."
Her eyes grew large as her mind supplied the words that Greyback had left her with when he shoved her into the room not even thirty minutes prior, we don't need the fucking moon anymore than the moon needs us. Greyback, who was larger than any man, Remus included, with a broad chest hard as steel. A man who seemed to be more wolf than man even with it being two weeks past the full moon, whose breath reeked of raw flesh and who feasted on children when it wasn't even the full moon.
Greyback, who was able to cause a total change to Bill Weasley's body chemistry, even on a night the moon hung at waning gibbous. A man who ripped Lavender Brown's throat to shreds with his teeth.
A man who was more wolf than man.
Suddenly, a slew of questions Hermione had buried over the years about the fearsome werewolf surfaced, all coming to one answer. He was able to turn without the moon, and the potion he drank to make it happen was in Dolohov's journal.
An empty phial of a potion that was force-fed to Remus, who was chained in silver… a metal that only affected a werewolf so severely if they were transformed. Hermione's heart rate picked up as the alarming realization of the situation she was in began to settle in her chest. The only thing keeping Remus from turning, the only thing holding him back right now, was the silver chains wrapped around his body, that she had just muted.
Fuck.
As if on cue, Remus let out a loud scream of pain, "What's happening?!" he cried, his words hoarse as he howled in pain again. "No! No! It's not.. .Arrghhh! It's not time, the moon has passed! The moon has passed!"
A soft yellow light filled the room as the door opened and Hermione spun around, staring into the glow as she made out the outline of Antonin Dolohov.
"I see you've discovered a pet project of mine," he said, smirking. "Fenrir and I have been working on this for quite some time, you see. And Fenrir so graciously offered me his pup to test it on. I had hoped I would get to try a few things before bringing you here, but Fenrir is convinced that you could whelp a fine litter of pups once you're turned. The Dark Lord requests Werewolves, you know, so Werewolves, he shall get."
With a wave of his fingers the silver chains dropped from around Remus' body, clanking loudly as they fell to the floor. The look of absolute elation on Dolohov's face infuriated Hermione with a rage she had never before felt. Before she had the opportunity to surge forward, Dolohov backed out from the doorway, slamming the door shut and clicking the locks into place.
"Remus!" Hermione said, turning back around and approaching him slowly. "Remus, what do I do?"
"I don't Unghh! I don't know! I-" Remus cut himself off with another cry of pain, as his back arched, his spine moving beneath his skin.
The sound of bones cracking filled Hermione's ears as she slammed her eyes shut, only for them to fly back open at another sound she was unfamiliar with. A wet, slopping sound. Her eyes landed on Remus and she gasped in horror as his skin fell to the stone floor, sloughing off of him in large pieces, slapping against the ground and leaving splatters of blood behind. Beneath the skin, fur had begun to sprout from the muscular tissue covering his frame. His back shifted again, his shoulders dropping to an unnatural angle before surging forward and popping into place. His wrists snapped, stretching and elongating as his fingers cracked in ninety degree angles to snap back together, now lined with wiry dark fur and nails that were sharp and several inches long.
His pelvis dropped, nearly folding in on itself as his hips twisted and cracked, shifting into place with a series of excruciating sounds, like the splintering of tree branches. Finally, his skull seemed to nearly split open before elongating, his nose and jaw both snapping at the same time, pulling forward to create a muzzle.
Hermione fell to the ground, scurrying backward in a strange crabwalk as far as she could into the corner of the room, knowing that the motion was useless. Remus was terrified of himself as a wolf, had warned her over and over that he was dangerous, that she didn't understand. It wasn't until this very moment did she think to admit to herself that he was probably right.
Finally, the cracking and shifting of Remus' bones stopped, and she could hear his breath as he took in a long sniff through his muzzle before howling up at the ceiling.
Somewhere in the back of Hermione's mind, she held onto enough sense to tell her to remain quiet instead of screaming in terror as she initially wanted to do. Perhaps, if she could move slowly enough, she could grab one of silver chains and use it to defend herself. The thought of further injuring Remus made her sick, but she didn't quite fancy the idea of becoming a werewolf, either.
You're already going to turn into a Dementor at this rate. What's one more beast to add to the repertoire?
She couldn't stop the puff of laughter that bubbled up from her chest, pushing past her lips and disturbing the silence. She clapped her hands to her mouth, inwardly groaning at how ignorant she was to make such a horrible joke at this point and time, and then to laugh at it, out loud, with a werewolf six feet away from her person.
The massive werewolf whipped his head around, snarling in her direction.
"Remus, please…" Hermione whispered. She took a deep breath before speaking again, "Moony. That's your name, isn't it? Moony, please. Please you must know that I… I mean you no harm. Please Moony if you… if you can understand me, don't do anything rash. Please. Remus will never forgive himself."
Her words came out in desperate, broken breaths as she tried (and failed) to remain calm. In her head, she ran through every possible scenario, none of which ended with her alive and well. I should have left when I discovered the cure wasn't complete. I should have left!
Hermione swallowed the lump in her throat as Moony moved closer to her, sniffing at the air as he stalked slowly across the small gap between them. She pulled her knees up to her chest, a futile attempt to protect herself and closed her eyes, slowly blowing shaking breaths from her mouth as she felt her hair shift. Moony's muzzle buried into her hair, pressing against the nape of her neck as he drew in a long breath.
Her breath stuttered as she tried with everything in her to remain calm. "Please, Moony. Please." She begged, repeating the quiet words over and over, praying to Merlin that Remus was still in there somewhere and once again, mentally kicking herself for not learning how to brew a decent Wolfsbane potion, not that it would be of any use now. She felt tears leak from her eyes, cutting their path through the blood and dirt dried to her cheeks before dripping off her chin to dissolve into Moony's thick coat.
Hermione had thought often of her death.
Starting as far back as her fifth year at Hogwarts, fighting in the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry, Hermione had thought of what her death would entail. She had been certain that she would perish on May 2, 1998. Had been ready for it, of course, that was if the starvation and hypothermia from living in a tent on the run for nine months of the year didn't claim her first. She had been surprised when she lived through riding a literal dragon out of Gringotts, but when she walked away from the Battle of Hogwarts, with only a few minor physical injuries… She stopped trying to predict her own death.
That was difficult to do right now.
She could picture Remus waking up after transforming back into his human form, surrounded by her limbs, the blood from her jugular dripping off his chin. She could picture her eyes open and unseeing as he wept over her body. Clear as day, she could see him become a shell of himself, forever blaming himself for killing Hermione Granger.
She could imagine her own death, easily; but she would not be the death of Remus Lupin.
Hermione opened her eyes, turning her head slightly as she realized that Moony had not yet lunged for her throat, he still remained where he had been for several long seconds. Muzzle pressed into her hair, breathing her in. As she turned her face toward him, her brows pulling together a bit in confusion, her hands slowly moved up to land in the fur on his face.
"Moony," she whispered. "Look at me, love."
She guided his muzzle from her hair and looked directly into his eyes, her heart skipped. There, wrapped in gold, was a ribbon of mossy green.
Hermione's brain quickly flew into overdrive, trying to make sense of the situation. The main ingredients, that she could tell from simply smelling the empty phial, had been Aconite and Runespoor Venom, two incredibly identifiable potions ingredients that were both expensive and rare. And two of the main ingredients of a Wolfsbane Potion, that Hermione could remember.
It seemed that in their drive to control Werewolves, the Death Eaters had created some sort of hybrid potion that forced Remus to transform outside of the lunar cycle, but also kept him in some semblance of control of his faculties.
"Amazing," Hermione marvelled.
Moony gave a low whine, his eyes staring into hers. She opened her mouth to speak again and was cut short when Moony jerked his head from her palms, turning around swiftly and snarling at the door. She heard two loud thumps and finally the locks gave way, Sirius standing in the doorway, his t-shirt soaked with blood, Marlene McKinnon in a heap at his feet.
"Oh fuck!" Sirius said, "Prongs! Prongs! We need you in here mate! Now!"
"No!" Hermione said, pushing herself to her feet, "No! You don't understand, it's Remus! Remus is in there!"
"No, kitten, I understand perfectly well." Sirius said, taking a step closer and shifting into Padfoot as he entered the room. A few seconds later, James stumbled into the room, his hair wet and his face dripping with blood.
"What the hell…?"
"Listen to me!" Hermione said, ignoring the low growl of warning coming from Moony. "He's got control of himself! Do you think I'd be alive right now if he didn't?!"
"Either way," James said. "The only way we're getting out of here is if we shift. We've bought ourselves a little time! Here!"
James tossed the wand from the first Death Eater they had attacked to her, shifting into a massive stag in a fluid movement. Together, Padfoot and Prongs backed Moony into a corner. Prongs had him caged against the wall, his blood-stained antlers on either side of Moony's torso. Padfoot backed away shifting back into human form.
"We were able to get the apparition wards weakened, Marlene has the other wands that we nicked them off one of the low level Death Eaters. Get her out of here."
"Where?!" Hermione asked.
"Take her to your cottage, we'll take Moony to the Shrieking Shack to wait out-
"No." Hermione interrupted, "No. You'll bring him home."
"Hermione-
"Sirius! Bring him home. I have a basement, we can ward it. Bring him home!"
"I don't even know if I can apparate a bloody werewolf, and you want me to bring him to your house?"
"You better figure it out then," Hermione hissed.
Sirius nodded, admitting defeat. "Fine. Take Marlene and go, now! I don't know how much time we have!"
Hermione gave a sharp nod and rushed over to Marlene's broken form, wrapping her arms around her and hoisting her to her feet. She was barely conscious, her head lolled backward and she groaned in pain.
"Marlene, you have the wands?" Hermione asked, urgency prevalent in her voice.
"Bag," she choked out.
Hermione looked toward their feet, her lips twitched upward at the sight of her black dragonhide bag with a gold clasp. She carefully bent to snatch up the bag, feeling around inside and sighing in relief when her fingers wrapped around the vinewood wand.
"My wand is broken, give me the spare!" Sirius said.
Hermione turned, tossing the wand to Sirius. "Five minutes. You be at my house in five minutes or I'm coming back here."
Sirius gave a sharp nod as she tightened her grip around Marlene's waist and twisted out of sight.
.
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a/n: Hi everyone! How are we feeling about this chapter? I know it was *a lot* and our poor babies were put through it. Let me know in a comment!
xo
