AN: Hello, FF and Harry Potter fans. I do not own Harry Potter but feel free to enjoy this or hate it. If you enjoy it, please leave a lovely comment, if you hate it, then leave some constructive criticism, thanks!

Can You Take the Jump?

Chapter 68

There was nothing like the convenience of magic when it came to wilderness survival. Hermione felt this to her core when she built her tent and fire within seconds. She remembered the hours her parents used to spend trying to set everything up for a camping trip during her first life. As a witch, she didn't need to do any of those laborious things. Water could be conjured as long as there was water somewhere within her vicinity. Dry wood could be collected and chopped without lifting so much a finger. She didn't need to carry a bulky bag, everything she needed could fit into a small backpack.

None of those things could convince her to become a wilderness girl.

The address that Remus had given her, Foloi Oak Forest, was an endless scenery of green and brown in the hot and humid weather. Hermione's clothes stuck to every inch of her, as sweat poured down her face.

"Couldn't have been more fucking specific, could you, Remus?" She muttered as she hiked through another animal trail.

If she was being honest, Hermione was a great leader, tactician, and duelist, with an exceptional specialty in gathering and using intelligence and performing under intense pressure, but there was a reason why she never followed Harry and Ron into the Auror training program, even though she was guaranteed a career. Well, frankly, there were several reasons, one of them being that she didn't want to be Harry Potter's lackey into adulthood. Not that Harry ever thought of them as his sidekicks, but he cast a long shadow, something Ron also quickly figured out only weeks into his new career as Harry's partner as an Auror. The second reason was, she quickly figured out in their year on the run that fieldwork…sucked. She preferred her white-collar job, in the office, to the blue-collar counterparts that she worked with, who'd be on some mission unable to come home or wash for days and up to weeks.

"Ugh," she swatted another flying insect out of her face as she continued to track the movements of what seemed to be a pack of large animals. However, with the lack of human belongings that were left behind with this trail, she had a terrible feeling that she was just wasting time on a pack of wolves, rather than werewolves.

She sat on a fallen tree, pulled out her water pack, and took three large gulps. It was Hermione's 3rd day in the damned forest with no sighting of werewolves. Doubt and regret were setting in heavily as she searched her bag with an Undetectable Extension Charm for a snack. She only had 4 more days of food in here. She was savvy enough with plants and magic that she could fish and forage for more food to last her longer, but she didn't want to invest that much time and energy.

"Where is that bastard, Remus." She sighed, knowing it wasn't really Remus's fault that she was struggling. It was her own. She didn't even verify the information that Remus had given her because she knew he was an honest person, however, that didn't mean Remus's information was correct. She didn't ask how he landed upon the tidbit that Greyback was in Greece, and specifically this forest, she just blindly trusted him, packed her stuff, and came here.

How could she be so stupid?

"I'm not sure there are werewolves here, Hermione."

"No shit, Harry." She rolled her eyes. "Thanks, Captain Obvious."

"Oi! No need to be short with me, I didn't make you leave without verifying the intel."

"No, but you didn't stop me either! What's the point of you constantly being in my head if you don't stop me from doing dumb things?"

"You rarely do dumb things, so I just automatically assume that what you're doing is the smart thing."

"Well, don't."

"Duly noted. So, what are you going to do?"

"Fuck if I know…I'll stay until I run out of food, and that's it."

"You should stay closer to the main trails. If Greyback is hunting people or adding to his pack, he's not going to be so isolated like this. He's going to want to stick closer to people."

Hermione shook her head, "Greyback may constantly be in a half-turned state because of how accepting he is of his own wolf, but that doesn't mean he is a full werewolf. You need the full moon to turn people, so he's hiding, probably behind wards and other enchantments."

The portkeys in her bag were starting to feel heavier by the second, trying to make themselves known to her desperate state of mind.

"I don't remember Greyback being a very good magic user. He was more muscle and brawn than magic and brains."

"But he's got keen senses and still a little bit of magic. If he senses me within 10 km, there's a chance he'll run rather than attack me. Which would mean all these days stuck in this endless fucking forest was for no reason," Hermione grunted when her foot slipped on some mud. "Come on, this track has to lead to something. I'm not the best tracker, but I know for a fact that some animals passed through here a day or two ago."

"Remember, you want to track it but also maintain a healthy distance between you and the pack. If they aren't the pack of werewolves then they're wild beasts, and we're in their territory. There's not a chance that it's going to greet us like a loving puppy after a long day of work."

"I think neither option is greeting us like a loving puppy."

Hermione sighed as she walked. They hiked keeping a keen eye and ears toward the distance. They walked for what felt like hours, but she could tell from the movement of the sun that it hadn't been that long, but the minutes were crawling by. Several of her hallucinations appeared then disappeared from the corner of her eyes, perhaps to entertain her, or just another way for her mind to keep herself company in the vast woods.

"D'you think that centaurs still exist here?" Luna appeared in front of her, walking backwards as she broke the silence. She looked around 14 with feathers braided into her long dirty blond hair, wearing those funny glasses that she wore to search for wrackspurts and turnip earrings. "The forest used to house them. It's even named after a famous centaur named Pholos, known for his wisdom."

"I know the tale," Hermione nodded. Mythology mentioned the forest in Hercules's heroic tales to defeat the Erymanthian boar. "I think the centaurs left a long time ago, Luna. Too many humans populate Greece now. They can't exactly hide in plain sight like we can or like a werewolf or vampire, even. If they were ever discovered, the muggles would have persecuted them in far more terrible ways than the magical folks have. In the end, it's Hercules who kills Pholos, even though he helped him find the Erymanthian boar."

"It was an accident," Luna's soothing voice countered. "He named this forest after his friend."

"Fat lot of good that does for Pholos. He's dead from friendly fire." Hermione shrugged. "Besides, the ones who come out of it alive are the ones who write the tale. If Hercules was real and not just a myth, he would have written himself in a good light, not a negative one."

"Who says it's a myth?"

This made Hermione pause. "Of course, it's a myth."

"Because everyone says so? Or because it's fact."

"Because it's fact."

"Hm," Luna shrugged in a way that always used to drive Hermione crazy. It still drove her crazy. As someone who prided themselves on their intellect, knowledge of facts, and book smarts, Luna's shrug screamed 'If that's what you choose to believe' as if what Hermione just said wasn't cold hard truth, just something she believed to be accurate, like Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy when you're little.

"Luna, Hercules is a myth."

"So are witches, magic, centaurs, and werewolves."

"That's different, Hercules is a demi-god. If you're implying the truth, that would mean the Greek gods exist and demi-gods are real. A man who could choke a Nemean Lion with his bare hands."

"They say that wizards and witches are children of Hecate."

"Then where are the sons and daughters of Zeus and Poseidon?"

Luna shrugged, "My point, Hermione, is that I don't have all the answers. And neither do you. The world is full of extraordinary things that are beyond imagination. Even yours. You travelled through time. Several times. Magic allows us to fold time and space at our will. You of all people should be open to the idea that myths are not just myths."

…

Night had fallen and the search came to a halt. Hermione set up her tent once more with a flick of her wrist, her dinner cooked in a pot over a blazing fire.

"Aren't you worried that your food and fire will attract some beasties?"

Neville sat next to her, rubbing his hands together and placing them by the fire.

The action made Hermione chuckle. It was funny how many times her hallucinations acted like they were alive as if they were really here with her. Her mind truly had funny ways of making her go crazy.

"I'm hoping they come, remember Neville?"

"Ah, right." He rubbed those ears, the same ones that seemed far too big for him when he was just a kid, but something he definitely grew into. He smiled sweetly, a pure smile that had nothing hidden or malicious behind it, like a child's.

Hermione always wondered how history would have changed had Harry not been the Chosen One, but rather Neville. Would they have won? Would they have survived? Would there have been more survivors? Less? Would it all have ended the same way as it had with Harry?

Neville accomplished many heroic feats during their time, he was brave and kind, just like Harry, but he was softer, timid, and shy, but also more outgoing. Harry was an introvert to his bones, never speaking to people unless they were the ones to strike up a conversation first. Neville was surprisingly more extroverted and friendlier than people assumed. Neville reached out and spoke to her first, Harry and Ron, Ginny, Luna, and so many of their mutual friends.

"I miss you," The words tumbled out before she could stop them.

He turned to her with his large blue eyes, as clear and kind as the day she first saw them.

"I miss you too."

The four words weren't much yet were everything at the same time. For some reason, she thought he'd say something like "I'm here. I'll always be here for you" and point to her heart in a cheesy movie-like manner. It would have been a fine response. She would find some level of solace in it, believing in some ridiculous notion that she wasn't alone when in actuality, she was completely and utterly alone in this journey. But instead, he just replied with those four words. The reciprocation of the grief they both felt at the loss of each other's comforting presence meant more to Hermione than she could describe. She wasn't the only one still missing them, she wasn't the only one thinking about them, and she wasn't the only one remembering them as they were. This Neville may just be a hallucination, but somewhere out there in the afterlife, they missed her, they thought about her, and they remembered her as she used to be not this sickly, dying, and lonely girl.

"Thank you." She managed a smile before scooping out the paste she called dinner and eating it while Neville talked to her about his students; who fainted when dealing with Mandrakes, who didn't listen to the instructions of Devil's Snare, who likes whom, how he's matchmaking his students, forcing them to be partners so that they can take each other to the Yule Ball, etc. It was just like old times when she used to visit Hogwarts during the school year.

Once she was done, Neville left and no one replaced him, leaving her all alone once more. However, she didn't feel so lonely anymore. She pulled out a vial of Dreamless Sleep Potion, a potion she had reduced in intake thanks to vampire saliva. She uncorked the wretched potion and downed the vial before washing her mouth out of the taste.

Hermione Evans fell asleep gazing at the stars, wondering which friend was the glinting stars above her.

…

3 days ago; Diagon Alley.

"I can't let you do this," Regulus sat on the chair across the room from him.

They were sitting in a small space unfitting for all the rich purebloods in the room, but the secluded and private room in the Leaky Cauldron was the perfect location for them to have the discrete and vital discussion they were about to have.

Regulus looked pale as he glared at the other boys for even thinking of the idea.

"There is no other solution." Severus insisted.

"No other solution? I have a perfect fucking solution. Bring the person the Dark Lord wanted in the first place and place her in front of him!"

"Lily can't—I mean, Hermione would never want Lily to stand in front of Voldemort!" Severus argued. "And he wouldn't accept anyone less important. Several people in the inner circle know of Hermione and Black's previous relationship. He is the only acceptable substitute."

"MY BROTHER IS NOT SOME FUCKING BAIT FOR YOU TO DANGLE!" Regulus rose abruptly, causing the chair to tilt backwards and fall with a loud crash.

Thank Merlin they soundproofed the room, Sirius thought to himself as he watched the Slytherins argue. The basic gist of what he understood was that Voldemort threatened Avery to bring Lily in as hostage to lure Hermione back, but instead of Lily, Severus's big plan was to take Sirius instead.

Honestly, Sirius was touched to see Reggie fight for him like this. They hadn't really been brothers in several years, since he left home, no, longer. Since he became a Gryffindor and replaced his family with James and the rest of the Marauders. Yet there he was, fighting with his friends on his behalf.

"You are just saying those things because you don't want your precious muggleborn crush that rejected you constantly to be held in front of the Dark Lord. My brother has already been held hostage in front of him, why should he do it again?!"

"Exactly, that's why he's a better candidate! He has more experience. Lily…" Snape hesitated.

"Lily would break," Sirius finished his sentence for him. "Lily wouldn't be able to handle it and she would break. Especially when Hermione comes, which she will, somehow knowing everything, she will come to save Lily. That girl…Lily would break from the guilt."

"Sirius," Regulus knelt in front of his brother. "You don't know what you're saying. If you're taken this time, you won't be a possible candidate. You'll be a hostage. He will torture you. He will do things to you that you—" his voice broke.

Sirius looked at the desperate look on his brother's face. He raised his hand and caressed his brother's cheeks. Regulus was so young, only 15, yet he looked so old at the same time. Worry lines creased his forehead and between his brows, unfitting for a boy his age. He knew of pain unfitting for his age as well, Sirius could tell just by the deep and dire look in his eyes. He didn't just imagine the pain that Sirius would face at the hands of Voldemort, he knew. That hurt him all the more. A 15-year-old boy shouldn't know of such things. None of them should.

If only they had been born from a different type of parents. Or even if they were a different type of person, someone crueller and more ambitious, like their parents wanted, their lives would have been much easier. This bloody bleeding heart of theirs, unfitting for their bloodline was really fucking them over.

"The real question is, what if she doesn't come? What if she doesn't come to save you?" Regulus gripped his shirt until his knuckles turned white. "What if you're just not important enough?"

"Hermione wouldn't do that." The rest of the boys spoke at the same time. They glanced at each other in surprise.

"Everyone out," Regulus demanded. "I need to speak to my brother alone."

The other Slytherins glanced at each other, but when Lucius nodded, they filed out of the room silently, giving the two brothers the privacy they needed.

The brothers waited until the door clicked shut before Regulus swung a punch, landing square on Sirius's jaw.

Sirius let out a low grunt, half expecting the punch, but not expecting the heaviness of the blow.

"Fuck you," Regulus spat. "Fuck you!"

Sirius massaged his jaw but only nodded in response to his brother's anger.

"What is she to you that you'd do this? What is she to you that you'd just give your life away and risk everything?"

Sirius knew that in this case, 'she' wasn't Lily. While a part of Sirius was doing this to save his friend, Lily, a bigger part of him was doing this for Hermione, to save Hermione's beloved sister.

"What if she doesn't come to save—"

"She will."

"WHAT IF?!" He screamed. "No one can get in contact with her! No one has seen her in months. She's abandoned everyone! What if you die? What about me? Why won't you ever fucking think about me you fucking asshole?"

"She'll come."

Regulus turned around, eyes red from anger and tears threatening to build behind those furious desperate eyes. He rubbed his temples with frustration. It was like talking to an immovable wall. Pointless.

"You ask what she is to me?" Sirius placed a heavy hand on his brother's shoulder. "She's everything." A sad smile formed on his lips as he reminisced about their good days. "I know it doesn't make a lot of sense, I know we didn't even date for that long, but my gods Regulus, you've spent time with her too, you have an inkling as to what I mean. It's impossible to explain yet simple at the same time. She is everything. She is my everything."

Regulus's teary eyes gave up their hold and the teardrops started to fall.

"But you're not her everything, brother."

Sirius didn't refute it. He couldn't, since it was the truth, and he knew it. He knew Hermione loved him, but she had different priorities. She had things much more important than him, it's why she was gone, without a word or a hint.

"I believe in her, and I know you do too Reg. You wouldn't follow her the way you do if you didn't. She will come, and I will be fine. I promise."

Regulus looked into his brother's earnest eyes and knew there was nothing he could say to change Sirius's mind.

"Fuck," he crumpled onto the floor, defeated. He gripped the roots of his hair as dread burdened his heart.

"Hey. Hey." Sirius knelt to him, "Look at me. Reggie, look at me."

Fully sobbing, Regulus looked at his older brother in the eyes. Suddenly he felt like he was transported back to when they were little kids, back to when his brother was the most dependable, strong, and undefeatable person in the world. His hero.

"I will not break. He cannot break me. I'm going to be just fine. I promise you."

"You don't know what he's capable of. I barely know what he's capable of. The only person I know that has an inkling of knowledge of his full power is Hermione, but I think that's why she ran away."

"He doesn't know what I'm capable of either. Nor do you. Nor do I, but we rise to the occasion."

Regulus looked at him with his jaw slightly ajar. It was what their mother used to tell them when they were trained in magic at home before Hogwarts. When little, they used to cry when asked to perform dark magic, the pain in their chest, sickness in their stomach, cold chills, fever, countless nights of nightmares that followed, and overall malaise that would befall them made them repulsed by the act.

"It is a Black's duty," their mother would say. Ironically, it was when their mother was the most soothing and kind to them. She would hug them on those days, caressing their hair and cooing into their ears as an elf trembled in the corner with terrified eyes. "You must rise to the occasion, my sweet prince. So aim, and mean it."

The brothers, so hungry for their mother's love and attention rose to that occasion every single time. Desiring that attention, her sweet voice and touch just for a moment longer. And that bright brilliant (and mad) smile she'd give as she told them how proud she was of their success.

"…Fine, but only on one condition." Regulus wiped his tears and stood up from the ground with new vigour.

"Where—"

Regulus opened the doors to see the Slytherins loitering in the halls. They wordlessly filed into the room once more, but Avery was the only one who tactlessly pointed to Regulus's red and blotchy face.

"Shit, did you fucking cr—"

"Shut the fuck up." Regulus slapped his pointing finger away before wiping his tearless face once more.

"Oi!" Avery rubbed the slapped hand. "I'm still your senior, you know?"

"Says the person who ran to Lucius at the first sign of trouble."

Avery's jaw dropped, offended at the retort, but before another word could escape his mouth, Regulus lifted his hand, silencing him.

"I'll only allow Sirius to become bait under one condition."

"What is it?" Lucius spoke up for the first time.

"We fucking find a way to message Hermione Evans, or else this plan will not pass. I will make sure of it."

…

"I can't believe we made her." She could feel the rumbling of his chest as he chuckled. Their daughter danced and twirled in their living room with the new fake wand he'd given her. The muggle wands had no magic, but for a child, it didn't matter. All that mattered was the fact that the wand had a big shiny pink star at the end, and was covered in glitter, the rest of the magic was in her imagination.

"Oi, I think I did most of the work." She slapped his chest jokingly.

"Which is why I changed every one of her diapers and fed her at all hours of the day for 9 months. To even out the field a little bit so that you could return to work as soon as possible. Do you know that the boys at the office called me a pansy for taking 9 months off for paternity leave while you barely took a week?"

"So? Do you regret it?"

"No, not at all. I'm her most favourite person in the world, thanks to those 9 months."

She smiled, leaning back onto his warm chest, "I love you."

He snorted.

"Wake up Hermione, you don't love me."

"What are you talking—"

"If you loved me you wouldn't have fallen for him."

It took a moment to realize that the man beneath her wasn't Sirius, but Ronald. She gasped, her heart palpating from the shock of the scene her mind had created.

"Wake up Hermione." The tone changed. "WAKE UP! HERMIONE WAKE UP!"

Her eyes flew open, her heart racing. However, before any of the other senses could awaken, her nose was hit with a sharp and nauseating scent. The smell hit deep within her mind, triggering a gag reflex she hadn't had in a long time. She tried to sit up to vomit but found her body locked and unmoving. For a moment she thought she was having an episode of sleep paralysis, but quickly noticed by sound and sensation that her body was bound by a thick and heavy rope.

She tried to look around but only saw darkness all around her. This was not her campsite. All the trees and nature that surrounded her before she fell asleep were gone. There must've been some kind of magic covering her sight because she couldn't even get the smallest glimmer of light, movement, or shape.

"So you're up." A voice spoke in the darkness. It was rough, like a chain smoker's. They snapped—what Hermione could only assume was their teeth—together, but it sounded closer to the sound of a bear trap closing than anything else.

"Thought you were dead from how still you were. I can smell the fucking bat venom on you, but you're not a vampire. I know, I had a taste."

"How gentlemanly of you," Hermione finally found her voice, swallowing her vomit back. "And yes, a close friend of mine gave me their saliva since it contains a small percentage of their venom."

"Gross, so you've been lathering yourself with someone's spit? Why?"

"Reasons are my own…" she glared in the general direction of his voice. "Desperate people take desperate measures," she muttered to herself. "Why don't you come and face me instead of talking and hiding in the back over there."

"Why should I?"

"Because I've been trying to get your attention for three days now. And when you grabbed me from my campsite, I know you snooped through my things. You'll find that I have a shit wand and nothing in silver. I'm not here to harm you."

Something moved in the back, but soon she could hear footsteps approaching her.

"Four." Fenrir's voice was significantly closer now.

"What?"

"You've been in this forest for four days, not three."

"What time is it?"

"You're awfully calm for a little girl who's captured."

Hermione smirked, "That's because," she sat up from her position, feeling the chains and ropes tighten as she moved. "You may be physically stronger than me, but…"

The twines that weaved together to create the ropes started to snap.

"What are you doing?

Soon the ropes ripped apart, dropping around her.

"Stop!"

"Impedimenta!" Fenrir shot, but Hermione ducked to the side. She pulled the blindfold off as she rolled again to dodge another spell.

"Immobulus!" The large wolf, nearly four times her size stood frozen in mid-air, resorting to physical violence when he noticed his magic wasn't doing the trick.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you interrupting someone was rude? As I was saying," she moved her hair away from her face, "your physique may be greater than mine, but my magic is beyond your comprehension."

She walked around him, looking for her bag. If she wasn't the one to touch the bag, the Undetectable Extension Charm wouldn't activate, meaning all Greyback would have found while searching through her belongings were some clothes, food, camping material and a pack of water.

"Accio Hermione Evans's bag."

Her backpack soared through the air from the depths of the cave system they were in. From the echoing sounds of her bag moving through the air, it seemed like a dark and complicated cave system. Like a labyrinth.

"Do you think this magic will last long?! Don't you know werewolves are immune to most magic, you dumb bitch?" He cackled maniacally. "You think your little bag with camping gear is going to save you? You'll never get out of here! I don't know what you came looking for, but I'll make sure you never leave."

Hermione smiled as she reached deep within her bag, pulling out a long chain made of pure silver.

"Yeah, my magic won't hold you long, but this will hold you forever. I paid a handsome amount for this, you know? Nearly everything I earned from my lucrative business back home."

"H-How? I searched through your things! I looked through everything and made sure there was no magic hiding anything!"

"Magic," she whipped the chain, causing it to wrap around him. "Beyond," she wrapped the remainder of the chain around his neck in a way that ensured he couldn't remove it without snapping his neck. "Your comprehension."

"What do you want? Why are you doing this?"

"To be frank with you," Hermione sat on the floor, still exhausted from her nightmare. She hadn't seen Ron like that in years, but the more chilling part was that she hadn't thought it was Ron at first, rather Sirius. How happy she'd felt, how warm and loved.

"You've never done anything to me personally." Not in this life anyway, she thought to herself.

"THEN WHY?"

"Hmmm. I think you being a shitty mutant piece of garbage is a good enough reason."

"Wha—"

"Example one, the many many…many human remains that are littered in this cave system." It hadn't taken Hermione very long to identify the cause of the nauseating smell. The smell of rotting human flesh was a scent very instinctively horrible inciting a visceral reaction in her body.

"Example two, just less than thirteen years ago, you had a feud with a prominent anti-werewolf activist. Lyall Lupin. Does the name ring a bell?"

"Ugh-ahh." Greyback choked, unable to formulate a response.

"Well, then I guess it doesn't matter if you don't remember him. It's not like there was just one anti-werewolf activist around, and it's not like Lyall Lupin was particularly unique in his views or his outrageous ideas. I'm not a huge fan of him either, but of all else, you should remember his son."

Greyback didn't seem to be really listening, struggling against his binds and consequently choking himself.

"He was only 4. A little boy, innocent and sweet. He had nothing to do with your petty feuds. He had nothing to do with anything. He was 4."

"R-Remus."

"So, you do remember." As he stopped struggling, admitting defeat, his airway opened allowing him to speak properly.

"I remember everything. True Lyall Lupin wasn't unique or anything, but he was so much holier-than-thou than the rest of them. Posing in front of the media with his family, a muggle wife and his half-blood son. What difference does that boy and I have? He and I are the same half-breeds, just different halves of something, yet he stood there holding that child with so much pride." He let out a dry laugh. "So what could I do other than ruin the pride he had for his son?"

"That's why you did that to a toddler? Because of some unresolved fucking daddy issues?!"

"You don't know me or my life!" He growled, his werewolf form growing larger and larger, compressing his own body and breaking his own bones.

"What are you doing?"

"I wanted to get his son in my pack, following me around like a little pup, but that bloody child resisted me at every turn. Unusual, you see, for an omega like him to deny an alpha like me, especially the alpha that turned him. Makes me want him more."

She could hear his bones snap and heal with incredible speed. He was trying to reconfigure his anatomy to slip out of the binds.

"Oh fuck!" Hermione leapt onto him tightening his binds. "No!"

"Too late," his arm got free, grabbing her by the hair. He threw her off.

"Ah!" Hermione went fly, landing straight into the cave wall. She was winded from the impact, hitting her head on the stone. Black spots appeared in her vision, she could barely make out the fact that Greyback got free.

She reached her hand out, summoning something from her bag.

"Die!" Greyback lunged toward her, claws out.

"Augh!"

…

"James," Lily held his with tears in her eyes. "You need to eat."

"Hm?" His large square-framed glasses made his eyes appear even larger, but the only thing his larger-looking eyes emphasized was their emptiness.

"What time is it?"

"It's been 3 hours, there's still 2 more to go, but you should eat. You haven't eaten since yesterday."

"It's okay, I'm not hungry, but more importantly, did you get in contact with Sirius yet?"

Lily clenched her jaw, not wanting to be the bearer of bad news.

"No," she shook her head. "I'm sorry. I haven't, but Peter is out trying to find him right now."

"He should be here. Where is he?" James gripped his hair tightly, shaking his legs from anxiety.

"I-I'm not sure."

They'd been sitting on the same hard plastic chair in the St. Mungo's for the past three hours after James's elf had found them in the streets of Diagon Alley while the two were searching for traces of Hermione. James's father had collapsed for reasons unknown. The Healers were checking everything, but they had no results. They resorted to the last possible option of a thorough magical brain scan, but it was a long and tedious process that required hours and hours of treatment.

James's mother was in another infirmary room, sedated and finally asleep after hours of uncontrollable crying.

"James, please eat something. For me?"

He looked into her pleading eyes and finally relented.

"Okay. Something light."

"Yeah, whatever you want, as long as you eat something." She helped him up, his legs weakened beneath him, asleep from the hours of sitting. "I've got you. I'm here."

He gripped her hand tightly.

"Please don't ever leave. Please don't ever go."

"I'm here James. I'm right here."

…

Severus stood in front of Sirius Black's flat. He was hesitating. He hadn't seen Lily since their fight in Hogwarts when she found out Hermione was gone. All the things Regulus had said echoed in his ears along with his silence. The tears in Lily's eyes as he couldn't help her in any way as she wailed about being a terrible person.

Black had told him that Pinky didn't know anything, but Severus had no other idea as to how to contact Hermione and if he didn't manage to find a way to get in touch with her, Lily will…

Severus spent the entire day looking for traces of Hermione, but no one knew a thing. Even though he was discouraged, there was one thing he was absolutely sure of, he also knew Hermione wasn't the type to leave without any way for them to contact her. The only person who would be trusted not to tell a soul about her whereabouts, even if it meant risking their life was…

Knock knock

"L-Lily?" Severus called out but heard nothing. "Lily?! Li—"

The door opened to reveal the flat shared by Lily Evans and Sirius Black. The whole house was covered in flowers. "What the fu—"

"Master Severus."

"Pinky."

"I've been waiting for you. Mistress Hermione told me you'd come and that you'd have questions. More importantly, that you'd be looking for my mistress."