Tale of a Smart Witch: Rebrewed
by Teddylonglong
All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes. Warnings: completely AU. Time travel.
During the remaining weeks of the summer holidays, Hermione and Severus spent every morning in the Potions classroom brewing as many batches of the wolvescure as they could. The afternoons were used to practise the Animagus transformation or visit the Marauders in Hogsmeade. To Hermione's chagrin, Regulus had not replied to Severus' letter concerning the Animagus transformation, but knowing that it would take them many months if not years, before they would manage the transformation, it would be soon enough to talk to her classmate once school resumed.
One day, Professor Vector accompanied them to the Ministry of Magic, where Hermione and Severus got to know Damocles Belby. He was a very friendly, old wizard, and Hermione felt relieved that they had included him in the matter, even if no one would have been the wiser had they not. All three of them received the Order of Merlin first class for curing the werewolves in spite of Hermione's and also Belby's protests. Afterwards, Severus was supposed to go home for the last week of the holidays.
While Hermione felt very annoyed that the Minister of Magic saw fit to award them the Order of Merlin in front of the whole Wizengamot and was certain that Severus felt the same, she was delighted that the Order of Merlin first class was equipped with an award of one million Galleons, which had already been placed into a new Gringotts account that had been opened for her.
'Thank Merlin, now I don't have to fear that my money won't last until the end of my seventh year,' she thought in relief and immediately after her return to Hogwarts penned a letter to Lily asking if the girl was interested to go to Diagon Alley together to shop for new robes, books and anything else they would need for the new school year.
Lily's response arrived the following morning at breakfast, and while Hermione was very disappointed that Severus had gone home, she could now look forward to going shopping together with Lily. 'How strange,' she mused. 'Even if I didn't know her in my old time, I'm much closer to her than to the girls from my own year. Oh well, it's not as if I had known any of them anyway.'
HP
When Hermione arrived at the Leaky Cauldron, glad that the headmaster had allowed her to use his fireplace to travel to London, Lily seemed to have just arrived together with her parents and her older sister Petunia.
Hermione politely greeted the Evans but had to try hard to be friendly towards Petunia, recalling all too well how the muggle had behaved towards Harry, when she raised him in the future. 'It's not this Petunia's fault,' she told herself and somehow managed to behave towards the older girl.
The Evans accompanied them to Gringotts to exchange some muggle pounds into Galleons, before they instructed Lily to be back at the parking slot, where Mr. Evans had parked the car, by four o'clock in the afternoon and left the magical shopping area.
"Are you sure that they don't mind?" Hermione asked, quickly. "We could go together with your parents and sister."
Lily chuckled. "They don't mind. On the contrary, they're glad that they can go to muggle London for their own shopping. They wouldn't leave me alone here, but knowing that you're with me, it's fine. Petunia will be very grateful towards you."
"She sure will," Hermione replied, absently, before she ushered Lily into one of the carriages that went deep into the bank's underground. "Sorry, but we need to go to my vault, before we can leave," she explained, smiling.
"You got your own vault?" Lily asked, excitedly. "Tell me, how…"
"Severus and I invented a cure for lycanthropy," Hermione informed her, "and received the Order of Merlin first class. The Ministry of Magic made a vault for me to place the money in that the Order is doted with."
"Oh Merlin, how amazing is that?" Lily asked, staring at Hermione in apparent awe, while she closely held on to the side of the carriage as it sped downwards.
"Ah, I really dislike these," Hermione sighed, when they got off the carriage right in front of her vault.
"Me too," Lily agreed and patiently waited, while Hermione filled a large bag with coins.
"At the next Hogsmeade visit, I want to buy lunch for you, Severus, Regulus and the Marauders," she announced, recalling how everyone had offered to pay for her, assuming that she did not have any money.
"I look forward to returning for our seventh year," Lily replied, smiling.
"Me too, although it's only going to be my sixth," Hermione agreed. "Hogwarts is quite lonely without all of you around, even if Severus was with me, and Remus visited over the full moon."
"Why didn't Severus come with you?" Lily asked in apparent surprise.
"He had to go home for the last week of the holidays," Hermione replied, shrugging. "I don't know exactly why."
"Why don't you come and stay with me for the last couple of days then?" Lily offered, causing Hermione to stare at her in surprise.
"I'd like that," she replied, pensively, "but I don't know if your parents would be agreeable, and your sister definitely won't like it. She's not exactly fond of magic and magical people."
"Yes, that's true, but she'll get over it, and you're at least muggleborn, so you'll be able to adjust better than, for example, Severus who was accustomed with magic from his early childhood onwards," Lily contradicted, convincingly.
"His mother was a witch," Hermione added in understanding.
"Let's go and ask them, when I have to go and meet them anyway. I've already told them all about you, and my mother already suggested a few weeks ago that I should invite you, when she heard that you had to remain at Hogwarts over the holidays," Lily insisted.
HP
That decision made, the two girls quickly went through with their shopping, and while they were still waiting for their new robes to be made, stepped through the fireplace to Hogwarts in order to receive Professor McGonagall's permission and fetch some clothes for Hermione for the week.
To the girls' delight, McGonagall agreed immediately, and after quickly packing a bag for Hermione, the friends eagerly returned to Diagon Alley.
HP
Mrs. Evans very much reminded Hermione of her own mother, and she immediately felt at home at the Evans, so much even that she considered telling them about where she came from. 'No, I can't do that. I shouldn't even tell magical people, but above all, they're muggles,' she finally decided.
However, when Mrs. Evans gently asked what happened to her parents, Hermione was unable to lie and ended up telling the truth.
"From nineteen years into the future?" Mr. Evans asked in disbelief, carefully turning his glass of wine in his hand. "Is that normal in the magical world?"
"No, it was an accident," Hermione explained, giving her friend's father a weak smile. "Unfortunately, this kind of accident seems to be completely unknown, so that no one can help me, and I won't be able to return to my own time anytime soon. I'll probably just have to make this time my own and live here. While I very much miss my friends, I've already found some good friends here."
"You probably already know everyone here as adults, don't you?" Mrs. Evans asked in a soft voice.
"Only some of them," Hermione admitted, trying to push back the tears that were welling in her eyes. "Your grandson was my best friend in the future," she added, smiling.
"Is he magical as well?" Petunia enquired, her expression clouding upon Hermione's positive response.
"Through your nephew, I've heard a lot about you," Hermione replied gently, smiling at the older girl.
"Did you know us in the future?" Mr. Evans queried, putting down his empty glass.
"I'm sorry," Hermione replied, rubbing her eyes. "I'm not supposed to tell anyone anything about the future. Sorry, I even already said too much."
"It's all right dear," Mrs. Evans said gently. "If you ever wish to talk, you're very welcome to do so, but we won't force you. Lily, why don't you go and show Hermione her room?"
HP
It was on the last day of the holidays, and the two girls were sitting together on a swing in the nearby playground, when Lily turned to Hermione. "I'm sorry, but from the bits and pieces I heard from you, I'm getting the impression as if something was very wrong in the future. Please tell me everything about the future. I promise that I won't talk to anyone about it."
Hermione shook her head. "I can't," she replied, horrified, as tears began to freely run down her cheeks.
Lily gently laid her arm around her friend's back. "Please try," she begged.
"Lily, it's horrible," Hermione replied, "but I'm not allowed to change the future. I already changed too much."
"What did you change?" Lily enquired, causing Hermione to tell her bits and pieces of her changes, for example, that Severus had not taken the Dark Mark before becoming a spy.
"What kind of role did he play in the future?" Lily wanted to know.
"He always was a spy, but he seemed very lonely without any friends," Hermione admitted. "So, that is only a minor change, but still, no one knows what bad things the changes I made with that might trigger."
"Oh, I see," Lily replied, pensively, before she replied, "It seems to me that it is a solely good change though. Don't worry about it." Her expression then faltered, and she asked, "What's going to happen to James and me? Are we going to die soon?"
Hermione stared at her friend in shock. "Why?" she managed to press out.
"Because that's the only way that our son would be in a position to tell you something about Petunia. Petunia doesn't tolerate anyone magical for a longer time. Frankly speaking, I'm surprised that she's so well-behaved towards you."
tbc...
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