"Ms.Granger it is so good to see you again."Jim a young healer in training greeted Hermione as she and Severus made their way to the Head Healer's office.Severus stepped in front of Hermione stopping the man from being able to hug his young charge.Not only did it make Hermione uncomfortable having someone she didn't like touch her, Severus didn't approve.The boy was almost 10yrs older than Hermione.He had taken a shine to Hermione when she was well underage and his romantic interest in her was inappropriate.Severus had mentioned his behavior to his boss but it seemed like he would have to mention it again.
"Hello Jim."Severus took great pleasure in watching the boy's eyes widen in fright hearing his voice.
"Master Snape…Sir…I just…Well.."Jim stuttered out.
Severus watched as Jim sagged in relief when Helga Drught the head healer met up with them.She narrowed her eyes at Jim."Don't you have someplace to be?"
"Yes, Yes I do."Jim gave a last glance at Hermione and scurried off in the opposite direction.
"I'm sorry.I will speak to him again."Helga said.
"Please do because I would hate to have to stop bringing Hermione here."Severus threatened.
Helga's paled at the threat."It will be taken care off."
"Good."Severus had a feeling that Jim wouldn't be working at the hospital much longer.It was well known that Hermione's achievements were the main source of securing grants and donations for the hospital.If she were to go somewhere else then the many medical breakthroughs the girl had would go to a rival hospital.
"Is the patient ready?"Hermione asked not paying attention to the drama.
Helga nodded."Your patient's name is Remus Lupin.He is 38 yrs old and was infected when he was a child."
"When was his first shift?"Hermione asked.
"When he was 10 yrs old."Helga told her.
"I see.I wonder if a higher dose of the potion would be needed for someone who has lived with the curse for so long?"Hermione mused.
"Didn't you factor that in?"Severus asked.
"I did however this man has been suffering from the curse a lot longer than I had anticipated."Hermione told him.
"I have faith that the potion will work.Ypu've never failed before."Helga said as she led the trio into a private room already occupied by three people.
"Oh it's you."A woman with bright green hair exclaimed upon seeing them walk in.
"Nymphadora be polite."An older woman with dark brown curly hair stood from her seat."Hello Severus it's good to see you."
"I didn't expect you to be here Andromeda."Severus said.
"I wanted to be here for moral support."Andromeda turned her attention to Hermione and held out her hand."Hello I'm Andromeda Tonks."
Hermione took the hand in her own and shook it.She had wanted to talk to Andromeda but hadn't expected to be introduced so soon."I'm Hermione Granger."
"You are the child that was raised at Hogwarts?"Andromeda had heard stories of a girl that had been living at Hogwarts but not much was known about her.
"That's none of your concern."Severus quickly shut down any questions regarding Hermione's background.
"I apologize.I didn't mean to offend."Andromeda's interest was now peaked. It was unlike Severus to be so protective over anyone let alone a student.
"Let's get to why we are here.Hermione what do you need to do?"Severus wanted to get everyone back on track.
"First I would like to examine the patient.Is that alright?"Hermione asked Remus.
"Of course you can do anything you need to do."Remus easily agreed.
"Can you show me the site of the bite?I know pictures were taken of it but I would like to see for myself exactly what it looks like."Hermione had had the hospital take pictures and document all the information they could about Remus' body so that she could track the results of the potion.
Remus took off his shirt."He got me on the shoulder."
"I see."Hermione said.
"Do you think you can really cure him?"Nymphadora asked.
"Without actually testing it I'm don't know.However based on my research I am confident that the potion will do what it is created for."Hermione told her.
Remus cut off his girlfriend before she said anything else."I am more than willing to try anything even if there is only a slight chance it will work."
"Well then let's get you situated and we will begin."Hermione turned her attention to Helga."You have proper restraints correct?"
Helga nodded."Everything is to your specifications."
"Severus would you please."Hermione only trusted Severus to actually prepare for the trial.He understood exactly what she needed and never second guessed her.
"Of course Hermione."Severus motioned for Remus to lay down."I'm just going to use the silver restraints to strap you down."
"Why are you restraining him?"Andromeda asked.
"Because when the potion begins working I predict that the curse will fight against it causing his wolf to come forth.When it does he will have no control over it at all and it would be very dangerous to not have it contained."Hermione explained.
Nymphadora didn't like the sound of that."Is this going to be painful."
"It will be but I have taken that into account and done everything I can to ease the pain."Hermione told her.
Severus double checked all the restraints."He's ready."
"Last chance to back out."Hermione offered.
"No is the first time I felt actual hope since I was a child.I'm not backing out."Remus said.
"Alright open up."Hermione held the bottle of potion to Remus' lips and poured it in his mouth.
"How soon will it start working?"Nymphadora asked.
"I suspect we will see the effects with in a half hour.It will start slowly beginning with fever like symptoms and then the wolf will begin to fight against it.By my estimates the entire process will take a little over an hour.He will be weak and in pain for a couple days afterwards so don't expect him to be back to normal anytime soon."Hermione warned.
Nymphadora sighed in relief."That's not as bad as I thought it was going to be."
"Hermione this would be a good time to speak to Andromeda."Severus figured that getting the conversation out of the way while they were waiting was the best.That way Hermione wouldn't be able to put it off.
"What do you need to talk to me about?"Andromeda couldn't think of a reason for the teenager to speak to her.
"That's a good idea."Hermione said.
"Why don't you two speak in the corner over there and you can cast wards to give you some privacy.That way you can still see what is going on while you have your conversation."Severus suggested.
"Thank you Sev."Hermione led Andromeda to the other side of the room and waved her arm around them.
Andromeda's eyes widened when she felt the powerful magic fall into place."What is it you need to speak to me about?"
"I think I should first show you this."Hermione held out her right hand and removed the glamor from her fingers causing her house rings to appear.
"You are the new head of household?"Andromeda didn't see that coming.She had thought the new head of household was a regular Hogwarts student not the child brought up at Hogwarts.
Hermione nodded."Yes and I got your letter.It was my intentions to write you back but this gave me the perfect opportunity to speak to you."
"If you got my letter then you have made a decision on my request?"Andromeda hoped that Hermione was going to allow Andromeda to keep drawing from the Black accounts.She wasn't sure what her family would do if they couldn't.
"Yes, I did.First I would like to know if you would like to be reinstated into the family?"Hermione was going to do it herself but wanted to ask Andromeda if she even wanted to be part of the family again.
Andromeda was shocked by the offer."I hadn't thought that would be an option."
"Well it is your birthright and reinstating you would relate with something I want to ask you."Hermione said.
"What is it you want to ask me?"Andromeda asked cautiously.
"Well first I want you to be an official member of the family.When that is done I will give you full access to the Black estate.Then I want to offer you the choice of moving to any property owned by my house including ones held in the Malfoy, Rosier and Carrow estates."Hermione opened her mouth to continue but was cut off by Andromeda.
"Wait, why are you offering all this.What do you want in return?"Andromeda knew there was a catch.An offer like that didn't come without expectations.
"Well I want to ask a favor.Even if you say no then I will not take back my offer.You are more deserving of having access to the newly formed house estate than any of the other members of the family."Hermione believed that no one other maybe Narcissa was more deserving than Andromeda.
"You still haven't told me the favor."Andromeda tried to stamp down the small amount of excitement she was feeling at Hermione's offer.It would be nice to be a respected member of wizard society again. She had been an outcast her entire adult life.If she was reinstated then that would mean her daughter would be part of a very prestigious blood line.That would open doors that had been firmly shut in her face all her life.
"I have recently inherited four seats in Wizngamots.I was hoping that you would be willing to take the house of Black's seat."Hermione told her.
"Wait what?"Andromeda wasn't sure she heard Hermione right."You want me to represent the Blacks in the ministry?"
Hermione nodded."You are the perfect choice.From what I have learned about you proves to me that you could make a positive change in our society."
"I don't know."Andromeda was tempted.She could even see herself arguing with the other lawmakers.It was just too good to be true.Things like this didn't happen to her.That made it hard to believe this was a real offer."Is this a serious offer?"
"It is very serious.As a matter of fact you are the first and only person out of my newly formed household who knows I am the one who took over.I wasn't planning on telling anyone for at least a few years.That's how much respect I have for you."Hermione wasn't lying.It was her plan to put off stepping forward for at least a couple years and continue to run the families in the shadows with the help of her friends.
Andromeda thought about how something like this would impact her life.It would change everything and for the better. It would be stupid to pass up the chance and if their was one thing Andromeda wasn't it was stupid."I accept."
"Wonderful.I will submit the paperwork with the goblins to reinstate you into the family and to get you access to the Black family estate.They can also give you a list of properties you are able to chose from if you wish to move."Because the goblins dealt with inheritance it had to be filed with them to remove a member from your family.If you wanted to add someone you had to file paperwork with them as well.
"I will have to discuss with my family about moving.My husband works in the muggle world."Andromeda would have to talk to Ted about accepting this offer because if they did their lives would change drastically.
"Maybe I can pull a few strings and get him a job in muggle relations.I have a few contacts in the ministry."Hermione had helped out one of the wizards in charge of muggle relations negotiate a trade agreement. She hadn't charged him anything for the help as he was a friend of Dumbledore's but Hermione knew that he would gladly give Andromeda's husband a job.
"I don't know about that."Andromeda knew that the wizarding world fascinated Ted but didn't know if he would be the right choice to work at the ministry.
"How about you think about it and if your husband is interested I will set up an interview."Hermione knew that she was dropping a lot of things on Andromeda and the woman would likely need time to go over everything.
"I will discuss it with him and let you know."Andromeda would have to call a family meeting as soon as possible."Would it be alright to discuss this with Remus as well?He and my daughter are engaged and he will soon be a part of the family."
"As long as he doesn't tell anyone my identity I am alright with him knowing.He put a lot of trust in me by agreeing to try the potion.It is only right that I put the same trust in him."Hermione said.
"How did you come up with the potion?"Andromeda asked.
"I was trying to come up with a better way than wolves bane to control a werewolf on the full moon.During my research I realized that no one had really put in the effort to actually reverse the curse.They were all just worried about controlling the wolf.That started my research which led to me creating the potion."Hermione explained.
"Did Snape help you with it?"Andromeda would think that Severus had a hand in creating a ground breaking cure.
Hermione shook her head."Severus doesn't involve himself with the creating of my potions."
"Does that mean you have your masters in potions?"Andromeda knew Snape wouldn't allow one of his students to create potions on their own if they hadn't been properly trained.
"Yes, I apprenticed under Severus."Hermione told her.
"You are wearing healer robes as well.Are you a trained healer?"Andromeda knew that only official healers were allowed to wear the white robes with the medical guild symbol embroidered on them.The healers in training wore light brown robes.
"Yes I apprenticed under Rena Thorwell."Hermione said.
Andromeda didn't even try to hold back her shock."Rena retired 7 years ago."
"I was her last apprentice."Hermione had fond memories of the old woman.She had a very serious demeanor and easy adapted to Hermione's style of learning.
"You trained as a healer when you were 10 yrs old?"Andromeda didn't believe that for even a second.
"I started when I was 9 working with Madame Promfery. She was the one who set up the apprenticeship."Hermione told her.
"You are a very smart witch aren't you?"Andromeda knew that the child raised at Hogwarts was some kind of prodigy but didn't expect Hermione to be so far advanced.
"That's what Severus and Minerva claim."Hermione didn't really know how smart she was.Not did she care.All she wanted was to help others and learn as much as could along the way.
"I have feeling with you as the head of household the wizarding world is going to change quite a bit."Andromeda found she was rather excited to be involved in a future with Hermione at helm.
"That reminds me when I file the paperwork with the goblins do you want to take the last name of the new house or do you want to keep your husband's last name?"Hermione asked.
"Would my daughter be able to use the name as well?"Andromeda knew that a new last name would give her daughter much more respect in the Wizarding World.As a half blood with a disowned mother Nymphadora was met with road blocks at every turn.If she could claim a pureblood last name then a lot of doors would open for her.
"Of course.Your husband would be able to as well."Hermione wouldn't stop Andromeda from claiming her birthright and passing it on to her family.
"Then yes I would like for myself, my husband and Nymphadora's names to be changed."Andromeda knew this was a big boon for her because allowing a muggle man to claim a pureblood last name was unheard of.
"I will have it changed.You all will just have to go to Gringotts to make everything official and to have the three of you legally able to claim your new titles."Hermione told her.
Andromeda pulled the girl into a hug."Thank you for this.You don't know how much this will change my family's lives for the better."
"You're my family.It's only right for you to be able to benefit from the estates."Hermione patted Andromeda on the back awkwardly and pulled out of the hug.
"Still thank you."Andromeda wasn't offended with the less than enthusiastic response to her hug.It seemed like Hermione just wasn't big on people touching her.Andromeda would have to warn Nymphadora of that.Her daughter was big on hugging.
"Let's get back tot he patient."Hermione could see that Remus was starting to sweat.
"Of course.I'm very interested in seeing if the potion will be successful."Andromeda knew that even though Remus and her daughter were acting like it wouldn't be a big deal if this didn't work they both had put all their faith in it being successful.Nymphadora wanted to have children but Remus didn't because he was afraid of passing on the curse.If this was successful then Nymphadora would get the family she always wanted.
"All the data supports a favorable result."Hermione told her as she dropped the wards and made her way over to the bed holding Lupus.So far the day had been fruitful.Having her talk with Andromeda out of the way was nice. Especially because Andromeda agreed to take the ministry seat.That solved one of Hermione's problems.Now she had to deal with Narcissa. She had sent a letter back to the woman the night before agreeing to meet and was waiting for a response.Hermione was concerned about what would happen since Lucius gave her an end of the day deadline to step down.Maybe she could send Severus to relocate Narcissa into a new house so she would be protected from her husband.That would solve the problem short term and would give Hermione time to work on the problem in detail.That would have to wait until later.Now she had a werewolf to cure.