Chapter Text
August 15th, 2000 – Lupin Cottage
Hermione smiled as she glanced around the small room, taking in her surroundings. It wasn’t much, but to her it was perfect. She turned around and beamed at the other occupant, the tired looking werewolf stumbling slightly as she hugged him. “Thank you.” She whispered, burying her head in his shoulder for a moment in order to gain control of her emotions.
She felt his chuckle reverberating through his chest and pulled back, a light blush covering her cheeks. She practically skipped into the room, running her hands over the bookshelves across one wall. The walls were a light cream and the carpets were the same dark green as the curtains, the bed draped in a homemade quilt from Mrs. Weasley.
She sighed in happiness, placing her shrunken trunk at the foot of her bed and bringing it back to its original size. She sat down on the bed and faced the door where Remus stood. “It’s quite lovely here.” She said truthfully, glancing out the window. The cottage was located deep in the forest, at least a couple miles all the way around from any kind of civilization. Of course she knew why it was so secluded but the grounds were lovely and she couldn’t wait to explore them during her evening walks.
“This is where I grew up.” He responded, looking around the room with a small smile on his face. “After I got bitten my parents packed up and we moved out here. Our old village was no long safe for the other kids with me there, apparently.” The smile held a slight edge of bitterness now and Hermione frowned, sympathy coursing through her. Not pity, she had long learned that people like Remus and Harry did not take well to pity. “I’m sorry.”
Remus gave her a soft smile in return, shaking his head, before awkwardly clearing his throat. “I’m going to go check on dinner. You can do whatever you like with the room. This was mine as a teenager actually, lots of memories in this room. ”
Hermione looked around the room once more as if expecting to see a difference with the new information and smiled as she imagined a teenage Remus lazing around with his face in a book, but the only thing that had changed in the time since she last looked back was that Crookshanks had perched on the chair in the corner. She looked back at the door but Remus was gone and she sighed as she leaned back on the bed. She curled up, deciding to leave her unpacking for later and have a short nap.
***
Dinner was awkward.
Both Remus and Hermione were accustomed to eating alone, so it was mostly just eating and a few minutes of uncomfortable conversation. It had been two years since the Final Battle and Hermione had been living with Harry at Grimmauld until recently but with Auror training for Harry they rarely were even at home at the same time unless they were sleeping.
It had been three weeks ago that Hermione decided to move out because Harry had finally proposed to Ginny and they had made plans to renovate Grimmauld as their home. Hermione had felt like a third wheel and even with Molly telling her that she was welcome to live at The Burrow, Hermione had decided that she needed a space of her own. Besides that, her relationship with Ron had been awkward at best since their breakup and she would honestly rather not open up that can of worms again. Despite relentless flat hunting, she had been unable to find a suitable place and had considered taking Molly up on her offer (awkwardness be damned) when Remus had offered her his spare room, free of charge. She had argued that and after much fuss they had agreed on fifteen galleons a month. Remus had tried convincing her that she didn’t need to pay him, but the nicer flats she had visited were around that double that cost anyways and she had plenty of money. She would have given him more, but he was stubborn about taking the fifteen galleons, never mind thirty.
After the war The Golden Trio had all been given Order of Merlin first class as well as more Galleons than they could reasonably spend as thank you. Hermione hadn’t bothered with a Gringott’s vault either, it still wasn’t fully rebuilt after their little stunt with the dragon and the idea of its safety seemed diminished after successfully breaking into it herself. Instead, most of her wealth was kept in an extended money bag tucked inside of her beaded purse.
Her beaded purse was ready to go in any situation, just in case. It was a habit she found herself unable to break even after the war. She had copies of a wide range of books on varying subjects, a Muggle lock picking kit, non-perishable food, an extra wand that had belonged to one of the fallen in the war (kept in a safe box as a precaution in case her own wand was ever taken), clothing, and a potions kit. She had as many potions vials (with everything from Pepper Up potion to Veritaserum) labeled and stored as she could get her hands on, as well as a book of instructions for a wide array of potions that had been hand written by Snape long before his death and given to her as a gift by Minerva when the new Headmistress had found it while cleaning out the Heads office.
She sighed, making her way into her new room and crawling under the covers on the soft bed. The wind made the window frames creak and rattle and the room was a bit chilly in the early autumn night air but she was far too tired to even pretend to care and with tonight being the full moon, she knew her sleep was likely to be disrupted at some point. Remus had not been able to find someone to brew Wolfsbane for him for a couple of months now so even though she was safe with him locked up in the basement she would probably still hear him all night if he forgot his silencing charms.
As she slept, she was unaware of the room being unusually bright, even by full moon standards. The darkness was brightened by a silver glow, which had the appearance of tiny little pinpricks of glitter. Little balls of light floated in the air and floated downwards, falling onto Hermione through the blanket. The lights faded into the material and as Hermione began to glow the scene around her started to darken as though the world itself was fading out.
As the glow brightened, everything else washed out to pure black as though the universe had been draped in a blanket.
***
Hermione was having a really weird dream.
It had started out fairly normal, memories of her childhood with her parents that were filled with longing. But then the dream world blurred and was instead replaced by what seemed to be a grassy clearing surrounded by trees, a small pond in the center. Hermione looked around the clearing, eyes taking it all in before they fell on a shadowed figure dressed in white. Hermione watched the still figure for a moment before slowly approaching it from behind. Suddenly it stood and turned to face her and Hermione’s hand rose to her lips, stifling a gasp.
The woman had long hair that seemed to hover somewhere between blue and black, contrasting wildly with her pale white skin. The most astonishing part was perhaps the shimmering translucent teal scales that were spread out over half her face. Her lips were the deep red of blood and her eyes were pure white. No irises or pupils disrupted the white, but they glowed like freshly fallen snow in the winter sun.
Without a second of warning the woman was suddenly directly in front of her, those haunting eyes directed right into Hermione’s own. There was an intense scent that wafted off of her, one that was so familiar but Hermione could not place it. Her heart was beating so fast that she felt as though her body was pulsing, her pulse audible in her own ears. She felt pure terror at the moment. And then, those blood red lips opened and a melodic voice issued forth. “Be safe my child. Your journey will be hard, but Fate will be on your side.”
And with that, Hermione crumpled to the ground and her mind went blank.
August 15th 1976 – Lupin Cottage
Remus was sitting on his bed, rolling his eyes as he pretended to read the book held loosely in his hands. James and Sirius had been recanting all of last year’s highlights and making plans for as much havoc as possible when they went back to school. It was their last year and as James had said with a completely serious face, they had to go out with a bang if they wanted to be Hogwarts legends. Now, two of Remus’ three best friends were busy trying to shove each other off the bed after Sirius had decided that teasing James about his continued attempts to woo Lily Evans was a good idea. He eventually gave up the act, setting the book on his nightstand and leaning forward as he put a hand on each of his friend’s shoulders and pushed them back in opposite directions. There were two muffled thumps as they hit the carpet and Sirius was the first back to his feet, pouting as he tried to fix his hair.
“No fair, Moony.” He whined, flopping back onto the edge of the bed as a grumbling James struggled to get up. “You didn’t give me any warning. Bloody cheating wanker is what you are.” Remus just chuckled and leaned back against the headboard with his hands behind his head. As his parents were gone on trip for a couple of weeks, Remus had been allowed to invite his three friends over to stay for the duration of their absence as long as he promised to repair or replace anything they broke. Peter had only been able to stay the first week before his mother had forced him to return home but the Potters had allowed James and Sirius to stay as long as they wanted as long as they floo’d home for lunch every day so that
Dorea could fuss over them. He wished Peter could have stayed, but two out of three was better than being alone.
So far, it had been the best two weeks of his summer, and he still had two more weeks with them before it was time to buy their school things and head off for their Sixth year. In six days the full moon would be in the sky and then he had a while to recuperate before they had to do anything too taxing.
The three of them left the room to get snacks from the kitchen (resulting in James being pelted by cereal that Sirius threw at him and then Sirius pouting as he rubbed the spot where he’d been hit with an orange) and laughed as they pillaged for snacks. Remus took a bite out of an apple as they planned a prank for the first day back, which would take place directly after the feast. Sirius wanted to do something huge, but James wanted to work with an idea they had for months and had never used. Remus refused to pick a side, knowing it would just drag him into the argument.
It was half an hour later that they ventured back to Remus’ room, Sirius running ahead of the other two boys before stopping dead in the doorway of the bedroom. He was silent for a minute and Remus raised an eyebrow at his friend as he kept walking. Sirius turned to look at him, mirroring his expression.
“Uh, Moony? Why is there a half-naked bird in your bed? I mean, I think I would have noticed her there before.”
Remus, thinking Sirius was joking around, brushed past him and walked into his room. He froze as his eyes landed on the girl curled up on his bed, her slightly bushy hair covering her face and clad in only a tee-shirt and lacy knickers. A slight blush rose on his cheeks and he glanced away, meeting James’ wide eyes with a matching stare.
Just then the girl rolled over, hair falling to the side and revealing a pretty face that was scrunched as though in discomfort. However she was quite clearly still asleep, or rather she was for the moment. Remus didn’t know what to do. He was left without words and struggled to figure out how this girl had not only gotten into his house, but into his bed, without coming through the front door and being seen by anyone. There was also the question of how she had managed to get past the wards. She couldn’t be keyed into them because Remus had certainly never seen her before.
The girl made a soft noise and all of a sudden shot up straight, inhaling deeply as though she had just ran a mile. Her wide eyes flicked over the room and Remus noticed the look of fear on her face. She seemed to relax a bit, as though the sight of the room was familiar. James was, of course, the one to break the silence as he cleared his throat. Big brown eyes darted over to them and Remus found he could not read any emotion in them. “Harry?” She said curiously, instinctively pulling the blankets over her half naked form as a blush formed on her cheeks. But then she glanced at the other two boys in confusion and back to James’ face, her eyes narrowing before she inhaled sharply. “You… who are you?”
***
Trying to make sense of what she was seeing at the moment was like trying to understand Ron’s lack of tact. She couldn’t piece any of it together despite having it stare her in the face. Harry-but-not-Harry was staring at her, with eyes the wrong colour and small differences that had quickly made her realize it was not her friend that she was looking at. Besides that, he looked younger than Harry did. The other two boys were both strikingly handsome but in completely different ways. The first had a toned figure and shoulder length black hair that had a slight curl to it, steel grey eyes that glinted mischievously and sharp aristocratic features. The second was taller, lean with skin that was a light golden colour and messy sandy hair. His piercing eyes were watching her, slightly narrowed and she noticed a thick scar peeking out of the collar of his shirt. “I should be asking you the same thing, considering you’re in my room. Remus Lupin. Mind telling me who you are and how you got here?”