Prompt: Werewolf

Chapter 25: The Last Horcrux

A pleasant spring breeze blew through the small cabin. The smell of lilacs had a calming effect on Hermione. She was glad she decided to plant the bushes around their place. Growing up it was her favorite flower even though the enjoyment was over as nearly as quickly as it started. Now she knew the charms needed to keep the flowers blooming all summer long. And she had the sweetgrass in addition to the lilac. The mixing of each fragrance reminded her that life could be short, what mattered was what you did with the time you had. Putting a cookie on a plate, she turned in to look at her son. It was really hard to believe he was six already. Time was certainly moving faster than she'd like. At the same time, the joy she felt watching him learn and grow was some of the most rewarding experiences of her life.

Liam was completely focused on his drawing paper and colored pencils. A gift from Lilith. She understood Liam liked to create. It wasn't something Hermione could completely relate to. Sure she liked to make potions and transfigure items. It wasn't the same passion. Hermione set the cookie down in front of him. Hovering she studied one of his drawings. It looked like a werewolf changing under a full moon. Ever since they read a story about a werewolf trying to fit in, he had endless questions. Hermione took the opportunity to teach him about werewolves from A History of Magic . She couldn't enroll him in a school and had taken it on herself to make sure he got the education he needed.

"Mum, how do you spell Remus?" he asked, picking up a black pencil.

Thinking he was actually drawing Romulus and Remus, she didn't miss a beat. "R.E.M.U.S.," she instructed and saw the name under the other person in the drawing. "Romulus is with an m not a n." Liam had scrawled RON under the figure. It caused her pause, but shook it off. "R.O.M.U.L.U.S."

Liam labeled the wolf-like creature Remus. Hermione thought they should reread the story because his details weren't right. "Honey, Remus wasn't the wolf. The she-wolf cared for him and his brother."

Liam waved her off and picked up an orange pencil. Enthusiastically coloring the hair of the person. "This isn't from that story. This is from my dream. Ron helped Remus before the full moon. He's a werewolf! I know you said they were real but he looks so cool when he changes."

Hermione felt all the blood drain from her face. She had never told Liam any stories about her past life. She was dedicated to making sure he'd never give himself away when it was time for him to go out on his own. "You had a dream about Ron and Remus?" she asked, sitting down. She didn't want him to pick up on her panic and she took a small breath.

"I think it was a dream. I was awake though," he tried to explain and shrugged his shoulders like it made sense to him.

With a shaky hand, she pulled out the papers behind his current drawing to see if they would shed more light on the situation. Was it possible he was a seer? Hermione doubted it. There would have been more signs by now. A natural legilimens was also ruled out. That would have manifested much earlier on too. "Did you hear them talking or just see them?" she asked, and then her blood ran cold. He had a drawn Hogwarts. A simple version but unmistakable.

"They were talking about a teddy before he transformed. That's funny, isn't it? Adults don't have teddy bears," Liam said and laughed at the thought.

At that, Hermione turned Liam to face her. "You heard Ron and Remus talking about Teddy and saw Remus change from a person to a werewolf? And you saw this castle?" she asked, the paper shook in her hand as she held it up.

His eyes went big with excitement. "That castle was so big! I couldn't count how many towers I saw but they were all crooked and stacked," he said animatedly. Then he picked up on her concern. "Mum, what's wrong?"

She didn't know what was wrong but the panic was setting in. Turning to the last page, there was a small green snake labeled patch. It had a brown spot on its head. "Did you see this too?" she asked. It wasn't something from her old life and maybe there was something about Hogwarts in one of the magical history books. She tried to remove those sections, but it was possible she missed a picture. That didn't explain Ron and Remus or that he heard them talking about Teddy. It was a desperate attempt to explain it away as a wild imagination.

"No, that's my friend in the garden. He said he doesn't have a name so I called him Patch. Because he's got that brown patch on his head."

"He said he didn't have a name? You talked to the snake?" she asked as calmly as she could.

Apparently she wasn't very successful. Liam looked like he thought he was in trouble. "Just that one. It scared me and it apologized. I didn't hurt it. It's still out there. It likes your plants."

Liam was talking to snakes and having visions of Hogwarts. This wasn't the first time in her life someone she loved experienced both events. But the reason Harry had the visions and could speak parseltongue was because of the horcrux. She was certain of that fact. What she never considered was the possibility of the horcrux breaking off and attaching itself to Harry's offspring. She didn't even know if that was possible. Maybe it found Liam? Maybe when Harry died the horcrux wasn't destroyed and somehow it sought out his son? That was way too complicated. The obvious answer was that if there was a horcrux in her son, it had been there since he was conceived.

Hermione wanted to cry and scream. She wanted to fight something. After everything they'd been through, after all the efforts she had gone through to protect them, Voldemort was still a complication. She ran her hand over his unruly hair. He had her eyes, but all she saw when she looked at him was Harry. "I don't think you hurt the snake, sweetie. It's just not a common talent, being able to talk to snakes. I was just surprised, that's all. Eat your cookie and then clean up. We need to do your math lesson," she told him before stepping out onto her porch. Where would the vision come from? It wasn't likely that Voldemort had been watching Ron and Remus interacting calmly if the dark wizard had been close enough to witness it. Was it through one of the other horcruxes? Maybe Ron had the diadem, he didn't have a way to destroy it, and Liam connected with it. It was a stretch. She'd have to work with Liam to block the connection. He was certainly more receptive to her instruction than Harry. She'd have an easier time convincing Liam it was a bad thing to allow the connection.

Standing straighter, she resolved to understand what was happening to Liam and to stop it. Her greater concern was anyone else figuring out what was within him and searching for him to destroy it. She'd stop anyone who decided killing Voldemort was more important than Liam's life.