The second he saw Hermione, Harry forgot about Teddy. Harry squeezed her back just as hard. "I can't believe it worked," he whispered. Reverently, he cupped the back of her head and just held her against his shoulder. It looked like he was close to tears. Then he leaned away and took her in, a huge smile blooming on his face. "Merlin's beard, it's you! You're alive!"

"Of course I am, you oaf!" Hermione said, smacking his shoulder and smiling just as widely.

Teddy felt uncomfortable, like he was intruding on this intimate moment between long-lost friends. He didn't have escape options, though; they were blocking the only exit.

Hermione then became more serious as she took in Harry's appearance. "You really are old, aren't you?" she asked sadly.

The elation fell off of Harry's face and his eyes flicked over towards Teddy for a second. "How much do you know?"

She pointed at Teddy. "I know that is Teddy Lupin and I'm a werewolf. How long was I in that coma for, Harry?"

Harry gave Teddy a stern look before turning his attention to Hermione again. "You... might want to sit down for this." He led Hermione towards the only chair in the room. Once she was seated, he explained everything. He started with her attack and magical coma and continued until the new murder. He explained keeping Teddy's werewolfism a secret and his involvement and subsequent non-involvement in Lilith's case. Then he ended with their discovery that she was a werewolf and was dying because a potion wouldn't let her change.

Hermione sat and listened, her shoulders stiff and tense. She didn't react much except to nod or close her eyes at parts, that vulnerable part of her slowly taking over again as she listened.

Finally, Harry wound down and watched her expectantly.

Hermione worried her lip for a while before asking, "What year is this?"

"Twenty twenty-two," Harry said and then waited again for her response.

She took in a huge breath and then forced it out. She stared down at her hands, flipping them over to observe her smooth brown skin again. "So time has left me behind?" she asked, her voice soft and sad.

"Not exactly," Harry said. "Just put you in a different place. We will figure this out, Hermione." Harry placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it. "We always have."

She leaned into his embrace and closed her eyes. Then there was another knock on the door.

Pulling his arm away, Harry said, "that is probably Ginny and the gang. They are all excited to see you."

As he walked to the door, Hermione took another deep breath before pasting a big smile on her face. A few seconds later, a tumble of people spilled into the room. There was Ginny and her children, Ron and George and their parents, and Luna Scamander and even more of the extended Weasley family. Teddy didn't bother to keep track of them when they all got into the same room. The noise was near deafening, especially with his senses still raw after the change. Hermione must have felt the same, but it was hard to tell. She was laughing and hugging everyone and exclaiming over all the news they were telling her.

The uncomfortable feeling was back. It was like when a new friend of his met up with an old friend of theirs. He just stood by while they talked about all their in-jokes and history that he didn't know anything about. In this case, he actually did know the history, but the recounting still made him feel alien.

Usually it wouldn't have bothered him this much. But he was tired. Had been tired since Lilith's death. He just couldn't muster the energy to deal with that many excited people. His exit no longer blocked, Teddy slipped out into the hallway.

...

A/N: Many thanks to my alpha reader, fleurdelys21! She gave me a bunch of great feedback on Part 2 back in 2020. I ended up going back and reworking it again in 2023 when I finally came back to it. So this has been beta read even though I ended up changing it since then.