Happy Friday! There's a lot going on in this one so if it doesn't make sense or feels too dense, let me know. :o)
Also, there was a really good point brought up in a PM that I wanted to address here in case anyone is feeling the same kind of way about Regulus and Hermione's age gap. Regulus is 17 (well 18 as of 1 January 1979-there were two possible dates for his birthday according to my quick Google search and this ended up being the one that fit better of the story line when I mapped things out in my mind because June is going to be a busy/high focus time for or friends) and Hermione is 20 (she will be 21 on 19 September 1979). Under normal circumstances, I would raise hell over this age gap because I don't think someone living on their own/paying their own bills/living an adult life has any business getting involved with a teenager in school/going to classes/whose main focus isn't on providing for themselves. However, that's not the case for Hermione and Regulus.
This version of Hermione hasn't had a chance to have any sort of childhood, she has been entrenched in expectations in a way that the rest of the characters she is close to (including the Marauders and the Prewett twins) just haven' were able to have genuine childhoods and war is kind of hitting them in the face for the first time now that they've met Hermione while this is a watered down version of Hermione's normal. She has seen worse and she is overly mature, a bit jaded for that reason, and struggling to connect/feel understood by people who don't have that same experience.
Experience that Regulus shares. It's hinted in this chapter more than it was in his intro chapter because he is beginning to understand/open up to Hermione (and it will be a bit longer before it's explicitly stated) but Regulus has been just as entrenched in war as Hermione. And, like Hermione, he never had the chance for a childhood. When he brother was placed in Gryffindor, his entire family came down on him. They forced him into servitude for a master that didn't give him a choice in joining the war before he had even reached wizarding adulthood. He has seen (and done) things no one else in his peer group has and he struggles to identify with them (which is why he can often be found sulking around secret passageways).
Even though he is still technically in school, they're on even playing ground. There isn't a power imbalance. He's sneaking around just as much as she is (though for different reasons). Neither of them is thinking much about the future. They're focused on making sure them and theirs survive what is coming.
That being said, I totally get why that age-gap might be an ick for some of y'all and why you might need to take a step back. Also, if you are 17/18 and still in school; please, don't date someone who is 20. I know it's pretty normalized/romanticized in media but more often than not, it ends in mess because of a power imbalance and, sometimes, you won't even realize why it ended in mess until years later. So just be careful.
Super long AN over-thank you so much for being here, thanks to those who reviewed, and a special thanks to pianomouse who is always appreciated!
Love Always,
Adrien
Disclaimer: I don't own any recognizable characters or settings, those belong to J. K. Rowling. I just enjoy making things in her sandbox.
Chapter Six: Letters & Time Leaps
8 December 1978
Hermione,
My brother is…stubborn to say the least. He can be cruel and demanding and all around frustrating and I'm sorry that our arrangement has directed that treatment toward you. I'd at least offer to stop writing you all together so he wouldn't have any more reasons to give you trouble if I didn't get the impression that you would castrate me for even thinking about making a decision like that for you.
Considering you won't tell me what disaster ended with you housing with my brother and his best friend, can you at least tell me what you do to fill your days? Mine are pretty self explanatory. Classes, coursework, and sulking through hidden passageways to avoid unwanted social interactions.
Regulus
Muggle London, unlike its wizarding counterpart, was surprisingly unchanged when comparing its 1978 version to the version Hermione was familiar with in the 90s. There were small differences (in music, shops, everyday things) but the bustle, the architecture, the overall feeling was the same.
Lily led Hermione through the crowds at an easy pace, her arm threaded through Hermione's with a tactile familiarity that Hermione was still trying to get used to.
The Marauders, the Prewetts, even the Weasleys were more tactile in this time than anyone she knew in her own but it was never overbearing or restricting.
Lily's touch was vibrant, linking arms to lead Hermione toward a place or a thing she thought would interest the curly-haired witch and distracting in a way that made Hermione's awkwardness melt away when she felt like she wasn't exactly fitting in with the people around her. James had a habit of pressing protectively into the witch he had taken into his family with his hand in between her shoulder blades or his side brushing against her. Remus was softer in his affection but just as, if not more, frequent with his fingers brushing softly against Hermione's at any time he was near like he was trying to make sure she was actually there or letting her know that he was there. Sirius's touches, before his frustration at least, had been overdramatic with an underlying sincerity in the form of spinning Hermione around the room when he felt she was too serious (pun always intended) or pulling her abruptly into his side for tight hugs when she least expected it.
Molly's hugs were still familiar in their crushing but comforting way but she gave them out with a light-hearted frequency that she hadn't had in Hermione's time. Arthur's hugs were softer but just as frequent as Molly's in this time where she rarely remembered receiving them from the older man in her own. Fabian was similar to Sirius in his abruptness and his determination to pull Hermione away from her seriousness but his firmness was all Molly. Gideon, like his siblings, was firm in his touch but he tended to let Hermione sit in whatever she was feeling while he waited out whatever hole she fell into so she knew she wasn't alone.
It was overwhelming at times for someone who hadn't even realized how touch starved she had been until she was thrown back over twenty years. Her parents had loved her, she never once doubted that, but they had left her to her own devices more often than not and their relationship had become even more distant when she started hiding what was happening at Hogwarts. Her boys were her first friends and they were just as touch-awkward as Hermione. Ron because emotions weren't his strong suit and Harry because he hadn't known kind touch until Hermione had hugged him before he faced Voldemort in their first year. The rest of the Weasley kids were a bit more free with their affection but it wasn't frequent and tended to be more for greetings and goodbyes than anything. And Draco…Draco had hugged Hermione exactly once in the entirety of their friendship and that was the first time he had seen her after her kidnapping.
In her time, with her people, touch was something that was reserved for special occasions or moments of importance. It wasn't an everyday, easy occurrence.
The change was uncomfortable but at the same time…Hermione found herself falling into their affection with an ease that surprised her.
Lily pulled Hermione to a stop in front of a familiar cafe. The same cafe her parents and she had stopped at every time they made the trip to Diagon Alley.
"It's still here," Hermione blurts out in surprise.
"You've been?" Lily asks excitedly.
"It's my favorite," Hermione replied honestly, smiling softly at the other witch.
"Mine too." Lily's smile drops slightly and she meets Hermione's gaze seriously. "My relationship with my family is…tense to say the least. And the boys are always willing to come with me but…"
"It's not the same," Hermione finishes Lily's thought.
"No," Lily agrees, squeezing Hermione's arm gently. "I'm really glad you're here, Hermione. It's nice having someone who gets it."
"It is," Hermione agrees, wishing she'd been able to meet Lily in her own time.
Having someone who understood her, who could have helped her…it would have been everything…Honestly, having any of the Marauders…this version at least…would have changed everything.
Despite being angry with her, Sirius didn't lash out at her like he would have (and had over much smaller perceived slights) in her time. He wasn't on speaking terms with her and he showed his annoyance at any given opportunity. But, unlike her boys and the Gryffindors of her time, Sirius didn't let his grudge show in Order meetings. If someone even looked at her wrong during those meetings, which happened quite often because of her distaste for Dumbledore and the bordering on dark contract she'd strong-armed them all into, he never once failed to stick up for her. Their issue was between them and he kept it that way. Even with Remus, James, and Lily, there was a clear line in the sand when it came to how they treated their two friends. Where Harry would have stayed silent or given Hermione an apologetic look before siding with Ron, the other Marauders and Lily made it clear that they didn't agree with Hermione keeping her initial meeting with Regulus a secret but they also thought Sirius's reaction was a bit over the top (bordering on ridiculous). Remus still worked hand in hand with her to make dinner the muggle way nearly every night. James continued pestering her into practicing hex-work and warding whenever he could. Lily asked her a million and one questions that stretched her brain to the absolute limit about their common interests like potions and muggle culture.
The biggest difference though was that they weren't letting it fester like her friends had every time a disagreement had occurred in her timeline.
Hermione knew that was a big part of why Lily had insisted on finishing their Christmas shopping in muggle London today. She knew James had hit his limit with Sirius's stubbornness and that her pseudo-brother had decided to confront his best friend while Lily and Hermione were away today. Even if it didn't help, which Hermione honestly didn't think it would, she was thankful to him for attempting to bridge the gap.
14 December 1978
Hermione,
I disagree completely…using a charm to counteract the map would be counterproductive. What if you mis-cast it or it wore off before you wanted to show back up on the map? You wouldn't know until whoever had the map tracked you down or asked you the kind of questions you were trying to avoid.
Runes could have worked but they take a lot of energy out of your core, energy I didn't have when I found out about the blasted thing, and they so easily become nonfunctional—especially on something like a piece of parchment that is in frequent use. Even if I managed the right combination, which would have been a task in itself in my third year, they could have been smudged or reconstructed at any time without my knowledge.
Blood magic was the easiest solution. It was familiar to me, easily hidden, and something that couldn't be changed by anyone other than myself. It also couldn't be used to umbrella anyone else except myself which made sure that no one else could be hidden from them. I just wanted to hide. If someone else managed what I did, they could have used that to get your idiots expelled. That map made them overconfident in their ability to keep their secrets…especially the life changing ones. They were nowhere near as safe as they should have been.
Speaking of blood magic, I think we could tweak what I did to the map to make our letters more secure. The charmwork we use now is solid but I think we could do better. I don't know about you but I would prefer my thoughts stay mine. Besides, this can ensure that no one finds out about how we met or the deal we made. I attached some notes behind this for you to look over. Let me know what you think.
Regulus
"I know it's not much but—"
Molly's statement is cut off as Hermione nearly tackles the slightly older woman in a tight hug, the wrapping paper and sweater becoming pinned between their bodies.
"It's perfect…You have no idea how much this means…Your sweaters were everything to all of us…They felt like home even when we didn't…" Hermione trails off, her tears seeping through Molly's own sweater as she squeezes the woman a bit tighter.
Molly returns the hug just as strongly, her hold unfaltering until Hermione herself pulls away.
Hermione tugs the deep plum sweater over her head before settling back into her seat, her hand unconsciously cupping the mug in front of her.
The yarn is just as soft and the charms Molly weaved into them were just as comforting as she remembered. Her other sweaters were becoming threadbare and their charms had weakened over the years but she still wore them because they reminded her of the family that had taken her in selflessly without a second thought because they saw her as theirs. All of Molly Weasley's children (blood and unofficially adopted) had worn their sweaters into the ground even when they'd lived away from home. Charlie had worn his even when his dragons had singed off the edges. Bill had wrapped his around his waist when the heat got too much even though he had to beat the tomb dust out of it at the end of the day. Percy has hugged his in his sleep every night after his initial return to the family. George wore Fred's every day of the week after his twin's death. Ron had worn his on every mission he wasn't sure he would come back from…even his last. Ginny had a tendency to sleep in a different brother's sweater each night having swiped one from each of them at some point in her life. Harry probably took the best care of them out of all of Molly's children, he methodically patched any thinning patches and placed protective charms on them every time he packed them away because they were the only connection he had to the family that took him in.
"You've been by a lot the past few weeks." Molly's statement pulls Hermione away from her thoughts.
"I'm sorry if it's too much, I can–"
"That's not why I bring it up," Molly cuts her off firmly. "You will have a place here whenever you need it for as long as you want it. This is your home. I just want to know that you're ok."
"Sirius isn't happy with me at the moment," Hermione replies slowly after a beat of silence.
Molly's eyebrows shoot up and she asks, "Why not?"
"Because I met up with his brother without informing him first." Hermione's flicker around the room as her cheeks color slightly at Molly's suddenly sharp gaze.
"From what I understand, it wasn't intentional. It was either meet with him or Obliviate him and figure out a different way to meet with him later." There's no question in Molly's statement but Hermione still understands what the older woman is asking.
"It was," Hermione confirms honestly. "But we've been writing since our meeting in Hogsmeade."
"Often?" There is no judgement in Molly's tone which surprises Hermione. The version of Molly in her timeline had always jumped to the worst possible conclusions (whether is was rumors about Hermione breaking Harry's heart in The Daily Prophet or attempting to match-make with one of her sons every time she saw Hermione receive a letter from one of them).
"Almost daily," Hermione's reply is a bit reluctant, still wary of the other woman's response.
"Hmmm, and how do you feel about that?" There is a gentle curiosity in Molly's eyes that melts Hermione. This isn't something she'd been able to talk to the other Marauders or Lily about. It just hadn't felt right…especially when she didn't even really know how she felt.
"I think…He's my friend? There's a lot I don't share with him. A lot I can't share with him. And I know for a fact that there is a lot that he's holding back. He is evasive and he has a habit of hiding behind his snark and intelligence. I don't know for certain where he stands and maybe that's my fault because I haven't pushed but…I don't want to push…I just…He understands…Remus, Sirius, James, Lily, everyone else…You all try but…I've been fighting for my life since I was eleven-years-old…Protecting Harry, solving dangerous problems adults ignored, planning for every possible outcome, pushing my brain to its furthest capabilities to make the world I wanted to live in a safer place…that took away any chance at a childhood I had…and no one here understands what it's like to live like that…but Regulus…I can't explain it, it's really just gut instinct and reading in between the lines…But Regulus understands exactly where I'm coming from. He feels like the people I knew back home."
1 January 1979
Hermione,
Please don't give Kreacher a hard time. I know how you feel about elvish rights and welfare and you know that I share your opinions. But Kreacher is family. Giving him clothes would go against everything he believes in. He has taken care of me my entire life and he will have a place with me as long as he wants to. He also happens to be the safest, and quickest, mode of letter transportation we have considering his "ownership" was overturned to me for my seventeenth birthday so he can't be called upon by anyone else and I wanted to wish you a happy new year right on time. It was their concession for waiting until I graduate to turn over Head of House to me despite father's passing before my seventeenth birthday and despite the fact that I am a year past when I should have taken up head of house as of today.
That being said: happy new year!
It's nearly time to return to Hogwarts so we won't have to send out our letters in the odd hours of the night anymore.
Until next time,
Regulus
She hadn't been thinking when she'd opened Remus's door. She'd just been so excited with her breakthrough and she had wanted to share it with him. If she'd known what she would be interrupting, she wouldn't have done it. There were just some things you couldn't unsee. Sadly, her unintentional squeak had given her away to the werewolf's heightened senses before she could apparate away…and he'd followed her because of course he wouldn't just let her pretend she hadn't seen him completely wrapped around a soundly sleeping, and very naked, Sirius Black.
"Hermione!" Remus called out as soon as his feet hit the ground in the warded off area of the Burrow that had quickly become Hermione's safe place. She should have gone somewhere else, this was the obvious place to find her, but she hadn't been thinking when she'd left. "Hermione," Remus's voice softens as he strides toward her unusually cluttered potions table, gently pulling the rag from her hand so that she can't clean instead of acknowledging the confrontation he clearly wants to have. "We should talk about what you saw."
"What I saw?!" Hermione's voice is slightly hysterical even to her own ears. "What about your son, your wife, your life?!"
"Hermione," Remus's voice is infuriatingly gentle as he cautiously breeches her personal space, like she's a dragon that will snap at the slightest provocation. "That was a different timeline, a different lifetime. I'm not that man. I will never be that man. I can't be that man…I don't doubt that I loved my wife, especially if she loved and supported a version of me who had lost everything, but I have been in love with Sirius since before I knew what love was…I just, I didn't have the courage to show it. To embrace it in a society that will look down on me for loving him with the same disdain they use for my furry little problem…But I do now…Because of you."
"Because of me," Hermione's voice is barely a whisper as her legs give out and it truly hits her for the first time and she stares up at the werewolf with wide eyes. "I changed everything."
Remus lowers himself beside her, his leg pressing firmly into hers as the world blurs around her and her chest constricts.
"For the better," Remus states firmly, the certainty in his tone piercing through her panic as he draws her attention to him.
The honesty in Remus's gaze is what anchor's Hermione and for the first time, she sees Remus clearly. He isn't the same man who had died in her timeline but he isn't an entirely different being either. This is the purest version of him. The one with confidence and love and life that he didn't get the chance to have in her timeline.
"For the better," she agrees, leaning her head against his shoulder and breathing deeply. "I'm sorry for my reaction. I really am happy for you, you both deserve the world. To be honest, Ginny and I always thought there was something more even in my timeline. You forgave each other so easily for everything the moment you were together again. But it wasn't our business so we never pushed."
"There's nothing to forgive. It wasn't about us. I think this explosion is something you've needed for a long time, love."
They sit in comfortable silence for a few moments before Remus changes the subject completely:
"Why exactly were you coming into my room in the middle of the night anyway?"
"Oh!" Hermione scrambles to her feet, tugging Remus along with her toward her notes and the simmering potion safely warded on the edge of her table. "This is something Lily and I have been working on since I came back. We can't share it with anyone since it will be invented by Damocles Belby in 1984 but I didn't want you to have to wait that long if you didn't have to. This is Wolfsbane Potion or at least a version of it that I hope to be viable. I can't promise anything since I didn't bring back the recipe with me so Lily and I have been going off of my memory and our intuitions but this looks right to me and if I'm right, this version should work. If you take a dose of this every day for the week before the next full moon, you'll be able to keep your mind during your next transformation. We just can't know for certain if we got it perfect until you try it. If it doesn't work, we'll try again until we get it right."
There's a long moment where Remus simply stares at Hermione, so long that the curly-haired witch shifts uncomfortably—worried she had overstepped his boundaries.
"It's completely up to you, you don't–"
Remus's crushing hug cuts off her rambling before it can truly begin.
"Thank you," he murmurs into her hair.
17 January 1979
Hermione,
They cancelled Hogsemeade this month since we had one right before we left for break. So I'm stuck skulking around secret tunnels and doing the bare minimum of my required social niceties so that my mother keeps her distance. Do you have any suggestions to keep me sane in the coming trying time?
I have to keep this short today because Evaline Fawley has been pressing in on me today and she made it near impossible to slip away. She thinks the fact that just because I don't have an official betrothal contract, she has a chance at being the next Lady Black. It's infuriating.
Until next time,
Regulus
"Again!" Hermione snapped, prowling from one side of the clearing to the other as three figures failed yet again to recapture their wands without magic from their partners.
"Again!"
Remus effortlessly knocks Gideon's feet from underneath him with increasingly accurate silent spellwork from Gideon's rebelling wand before physically pinning the more burly man to the ground with his lupine strength.
"Again!"
James makes it to Sirius, bodily knocking the other man to the ground. They were probably the most equal of all the pairs both in magic and fitness. Though their magical strength was nearly equal, their strengths were radically different which is why Hermione had paired them together. Where James's magic was naturally light, Sirius's leaned toward the dark and James's wand rebelled explosively when used by the other man. But Sirius had never turned down a challenge.
A particularly nasty hex paralyzes James's right side and gives Sirius the upperhand, allowing him to pin his best friend to the ground.
"Again!"
Fabian nearly manages to snatch his wand from Lily's hand but is bodily, and brutally, thrown over her back using a move Lily and Hermione had learned in the muggle self defense class they'd taken on a whim the first week of the new year.
"Need a hand, Fabian?" Hermione asks when the man fails to rise immediately.
"This is impossible," he groaned, taking her hand.
"You're just used to having the upper hand magically so you don't normally have to use your physical strength," Hermione replies cheerily before turning her attention to Remus and offering the man her own wand. "Be my example?"
Remus's grin has a predatory edge as he agrees, taking her wand from her hand.
Neither of them hesitate once the others clear the area.
Remus shoots a silent but sizzling hex at Hermione's center and Hermione dives to the side, rolling to her feet and sprinting away before Remus's next spell hits the spot she had initially landed in.
Their fight is longer than any of the others, each of them lunging and retreating when necessary. He'd gotten better since the first time they practiced together and he understood her more which helped his odds when paired against her real-life war experience. His lupine strength and quick mind presented an interesting challenge for her encyclopedic knowledge and the hands-on fighting she'd picked up with her boys in their second life on the run.
Eventually she found a small, slightly reckless opening and she took it, leaping on top of the werewolf from her perch on one of their transfigured obstacles. She locked one arm tightly around his neck and her other braced underneath the arm holding her wand, limiting his mobility on that side as her legs wrapped firmly around his upper chest.
Remus stumbled as he tried to throw her off but she held on and when he fell, she snatched her wand from his hand and immediately pressed it into his neck.
The werewolf grinned widely up at her as she offered her hand with her own triumphant smile.
When they turned toward the rest of their group, they were met with wide eyes.
"You've been holding back in our practices!" James eventually breaks the shocked silence, his light hearted accusation pointed directly at Hermione.
27 January 1979
Dear Hermione,
What do you want to do after school? Or I guess what are you doing now that you're out of school? It seems to be all that anyone here can think about. But I don't know…It's not like we even really have a choice.
Slughorn is pestering me for another meeting. Apparently our last few haven't been to his liking. He thinks my plan of taking on my role as Head of House Black directly after my graduation would be a waste of my talents.
I don't know.
Maybe it is.
But what other option do I have?
If I don't become Lord Black, I'll be blown off my family tapestry…
Speaking of which, I attached the information I had for the enchantments on that since you had mentioned wanting to make a smaller one for your brother at some point since the Potter family tree has become so scattered. From what I understand, the magic should be able to detect any remaining members. Who you add and who you remove seems to be entirely dependent on your preferences though.
Until next time,
Regulus
Number eight, Heathgate in Hampstead Garden Suburb was exactly as Hermione remembered it. The shrubs under the front windows and the flowering tree next to the driveway were neatly trimmed. Wide windows allowed interior light to bleed into the darkness, gleaming off the pristine stone siding of the house.
From her disillusioned place outside, Hermione could see her parents swaying gently in the living room like they had in many of her memories from before odd things started happening around her. Things her muggle parents couldn't explain until a stranger in a pointed hat had shown up on their front porch. Honestly, she couldn't even remember the last time she'd seen her parents sway to their favorite record like that anymore. Sometimes it feels like magic had ruined everything happy about her life.
The unexplained oddities of Hermione's childhood had given the other children the final reason they needed to push away the bossy, bucktoothed, know-it-all and it had made her parents feel like they were crazy until Minerva McGonagall had shown up on their front porch. At Hogwarts, she had thought things would be different but her blood and her attitude had instantly alienated her from her peers. The secrets had crushed whatever remained of her relationship with her muggle family. Magic had ended with everyone she had cared about dead.
Magic had thrown her back half a century.
Magic had left her alone. Without a home.
1 February 1979
Dear Hermione,
Mother wants me to come back to Grimmauld Place for the Easter Holidays. It was more a demand than a question. We're to discuss my future and my shortcomings in holding up the Black family legacy…I don't know what else they want from me…I've done everything they've asked of me…
You talked about home a while back. How you missed yours even though there wasn't anything to go back to even if you tried. You changed the subject right after and I didn't push because I thought that was a conversation best had face to face but…I haven't been able to get that idea out of my head since I read it. The idea of home. What it is and what it should be.
I don't think I've ever really known what home is. I don't have anything to miss…Which is a terribly pathetic thing to write in all honesty.
But I like to think that…If I did have a home…I would do everything I could to fight for it. Even if I could never go back. Even if everything I knew wasn't what I knew anymore.
I like to think that I would fight. No matter the cost.
Until next time,
Regulus
Hermione's wristwatch warms, the engraving on the clock face rearranging into a set of coordinates. The watch itself was a Christmas gift from the twins, a miniature version of the wall clock they had made Molly for the first Christmas after their acceptance into the Auror program, but the engraving was her own addition. It was a modified version of the messaging Galleons that all of their Order within the Order members (plus Molly and Arthur) carried. Hermione and Remus's engravings were on the faces of their wrist watches. Gideon and Fabian's were on their coming of age pocket watches. James and Sirius's were on their mirrors. Lily's was on her favorite locket, the first gift James had ever given her.
Given the time of year and the fact that the Marauders and Lily had been bustling around her with the increasingly familiar routine for a full moon preparation, she knows exactly what the coordinates are for.
"We can't all go," Hermione states firmly when she realizes all eyes are on her. "All of us going would blow our cover. Besides, they nearly beat them alone last time. They don't need all of us. And it's a full moon night. Our first full moon with our prototype wolfsbane. So at least Remus, one animagus, and Lily or I have to stay so see how it works."
"You and James should go," Sirius's voice is gruff but certain. "You're a bonded, sibling pair like the twins. It would make the most sense for you two to show up together when your appearance is questioned."
Remus nods sharply and Lily presses a quick kiss to James's lips.
Hermione's gaze meets James's and he holds his hand out to her in silent acceptance.
Hermione grasps his hand firmly and they twist away.
Spellfire already taints the air when the bonded pair land on their feet.
James turns slightly to the right as Hermione turns slightly to left, instinctually covering each other's backs as they creep toward the unsuspecting group of death eaters closing in on the Prewett twins.
Gideon's eyes meet Hermione's in the same moment Fabian's meet James's.
Their wands move in unintentional sync and the four death eater wannabes collapse around the man leading their initiation.
It should have been easy after that.
Their odds were four to one.
Antonin Dolohov was alone.
As feared as he was, he didn't stand a chance…and he knew it.
Before his underlings' bodies had even hit the ground, he raised his wand above his head with a crazed, cornered gleam in his eye.
"Fiendfyre." His tone was chilling as the spellwork swallowed the unconscious bodies on either side of him.
He let his fire run wild, his own skin blistering, as he shot spell after spell at the four magicals still surrounding him.
The group of four closed in on each other as they blocked the crazed man's curses and the three men's gazes fell on Hermione.
They could all leave, get out of here safely. Dolohov would either escape or be swallowed by his own spellwork.
But if they did that, who knew how many homes would be wrecked or how many people would die by what they left behind.
In the end, it wasn't really a decision.
"We have to stop it," Hermione states firmly. "The counter is hard, especially given his intent, but we can do it with the family magic. I'll just need all of my focus."
"I'll cover your back," James agrees verbally more for the twins than anything.
"We'll keep him engaged so he can't add on to this disaster," Fabian's tone is short but certain before the Prewetts turn as one to distract Dolohov.
A shield erupts around the Potters, protecting their skin from the worst of the flames and any stray hexes that came their way as they approach the point of origin. The countercurse was more effective when used where the fire first appeared.
Even with the shield, Hermione's arms were turning red from the heat as her wand sliced precisely through the air and she repeatedly cycled through the required motion. The continuous stream of the countercurse from her lips began burning after the fifth set and James pressed his nondominant hand firmly into her back, pushing as much of his magic as he could into her without his shield failing.
As the Fiendfyre went out with a splutter, Dolhov lashed out violently one last time.
His curse clipped Gideon in the side of his head in the same moment Fabian's Petrificus Totalus smashed into his chest.
Their bodies hit the ground at the same time.
Fabian froze at the sight of his fallen twin but the Potters didn't hesitate as they sprinted toward their friend.
Hermione checked his pulse as she gently pulled his head into her lap. It was faint but there.
"He's alive but we have to work fast, he's losing too much blood." Hermione's tone is sharp and her words are clipped. "Fabian, push your magic into his. Help ground him. James, you do the same for me while I counter the curse and heal the wound as much as I can."
Both men snap into action at her words. Fabian kneels to Gideon's left and places his hands over his twin's heart, a soft glow emanates almost instantly as he focuses on their shared energy. James lowers himself behind Hermione, his hands bracing her lower back so that he doesn't interfere with the movement of her arms as he pushes his own magic into Hermione.
Hermione's vision begins to spot as the darkness leeches away from the wound but Hermione pushes through until the bleeding stops completely and there is no dark magic to be detected.
James keeps pushing his magic through Hermione as her own hands fall to her side and she takes a deep breath, exhausting creeping into her bones as her adrenaline begins to waver.
Gideon blinks slowly up at the three worried gazes trained on him. His hand slowly finds its way up to where his ear use to be, tracing the damage for himself.
"This makes me the better looking twin, doesn't it, love?" Gideon murmurs, his voice slightly groggy but his gaze clear as he stares up at Hermione from his place in her lap.
"Absolutely." Hermione lets out a slightly watery laugh as she runs her fingers through his hair. "Scars are very rugged."
10 February 1979
Dear Hermione,
Do you ever feel like you're the only one who sees things clearly? Being back at Hogwarts, sitting through classes and eating meals surrounded by these people…I just…I don't know.
They don't understand what is happening in the world. What life will be like outside of this supposed sanctuary. They don't understand sacrifice. They don't understand what it feels like to have parts of your family still living but dead according to the scorch marks on a family tree. The pressure to be perfect, to uphold a legacy they never had a say in in the first place.
They just sit here and talk about who they're betrothed to or who they want to be betrothed to. They plan out their futures based on the connections their parents have made. They have so many choices…and they don't make any of them. They don't see how easily they can be taken away.
I don't even know what I'm saying. This probably doesn't make any sense and I probably shouldn't even send it but…being back at Hogwarts isn't what I wanted it to be.
Until next time,
Regulus
Hermione reread Regulus's latest letter as she slowly incorporated the chocolate into the simmering milk for Remus's after moon recovery drink, worried about what she wanted to share…what she should share. Especially considering she still didn't know exactly where the youngest Black stood. Especially considering how teasing, and very much like their first meeting, the newest letter was compared to how raw and almost scattered the letter she'd received earlier that same day (but hadn't had the chance to respond to because of their full moon prep) had been.
"Is that from Regulus?" Sirius's voice makes Hermione stiffen but she doesn't turn around. She doesn't think she has the energy for a fight today.
"Yes," she answers slowly.
"He just wrote you yesterday."
Technically, this letter had come in yesterday as well with Kreacher startling out of her sleep barely half an hour after she had collapsed into bed in order to deliver it.
"He heard about Dolohov and wanted to make sure I was ok."
He didn't outright say that of course but he wouldn't have sent Kreacher in the middle of the night if he hadn't wanted to make sure she was ok.
"He wanted to make sure you were ok?"
Hermione's eyes narrow at the disbelief in that statement as she whips around to face him, a cutting remark already forming on her tongue.
"Whoa," Sirius interrupts her before she can start, his hands raised in surrender. "That's not what I mean. I just—Reg and I—I'm not used to him showing interest in…Well, anything honestly. Let alone somebody who I know and care about."
"He cares about you too." Hermione's body relaxes and her voice softens.
"He asks about me?" Hope and caution coincide equally in Sirius's tone with that question.
"Not explicitly," Hermione replies honestly because the Slytherin seemed to do everything he could to keep his true feelings about anything as ambiguous as possible.
"Because Merlin forbid someone in the House of Black be straightforward with their feelings," Sirius scoffs.
"You're one to talk," Hermione deadpans without thinking.
Sirius lets out a sharp, familiar bark of laughter. One she hadn't been able to pull from him since she'd deliberately met Regulus for the first time. Which is something Sirius seems to quickly realize because his laughter cuts off short and his face falls into an all too serious (pun not intended) expression.
"I'm sorry," Sirius's voice is soft and sincere. "I should have said it sooner. All I could think about after you left was that I would never forgive myself if something went wrong and you never got the apology you deserved because I was being a stubborn prat. And I'm just…So sorry for not hearing you out…for pushing you away when all you've done is try to help…for everything."
"I'm sorry for not telling you about running into him right after it happened. It just threw me off and I didn't really think through what intentionally meeting with him would mean to you. I let my worry and avoidance over what could have happened impact what actually happened. I—"
Sirius yanks Hermione into a tight hug, cutting off her apology before it can become a full-fledged ramble.
"Taking in strays is a bit of a Potter trait. You fit right in in that aspect," Sirius murmurs into her curls.
"The wild hair is a shared trait as well," Hermione laughs in response.
"And your loyalty," Sirius adds on, his sincerity only slightly tinged with laughter at Hermione's comment. "I wish you had been able to meet the rest of them. You would have fit in as well with the Potter family as you do ours. You've made us better by being here."
"It's not even been three months, Sirius. I haven't really changed anything, you all are still getting to know me"
"And you've already made it feel more like home here than either Remus or I realized we needed. You make sure we eat. You wake up early, even on days like today where I know you barely got any sleep, to make hot coco from scratch to lace with pain potion so that Remus can start off the day after the full moon a bit easier. You corrected my Patronus when you realized it wasn't as powerful as it should be even though I was being an utter prat to you at the time. And that's just us. James and Lily feel the same way for entirely different reasons that I'm sure they would wax poetry about if you let them. Kitten, we already see you as family. You just need to let us be."
10 February 1979
Dear Hermione,
There's an interesting rumor going around about an unknown witch playing a key role in a confrontation that occurred between the Prewetts, James Potter, a number of recruits, and Antonin Dolohov. Supposedly this witch took out a new recruit before they even realized she was present, dismantled Antonin Dolohov's Fiendfyre, and cured a curse that was supposed to be crippling. The curly-haired witch has garnered quite a lot of interest in certain circles. It's a very curious thing considering no one seems to be able to place her.
Rumors aside, the next Hogesmeade weekend is quickly approaching. What do you say to finding somewhere a bit more private than Madam Puddifoot's for our next meeting? It seems like there's quite a lot we have to catch up on in person.
Yours,
Regulus
