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Chapter Text

“Run Mione! Get out of here!”

“Not without you Harry!” she shouted over the mayhem.

“There are anti apparition wards all over the place! You’ll need a distraction to even have the chance to get out! I can’t lose him too Mione, you need to get out of here now!!”

“And I can’t lose you! You are the only family I have left!!”

“I’ll be right out after you but you need to go NOW”

Before she could convince him otherwise, Harry Potter started running in the opposite direction, firing one spell after another.

And she ran, not caring about the numerous injuries that were hurting her almost to the point of being unbearable, holding the little crying one year old tightly to her chest. She had almost reached the door when a hex caught her leg and brought her crashing down on the floor. Her reflexes forced her to hold and wrap the child in her arms protectively rather than use them to stop her fall.

It was with horror she saw the gold chain free out of her blouse with the fall and the time-turner attached to it crash into the floor while she fell on top of it.

Before she could feel the pain from the glass cutting into her skin, she heard the words “Avada Kedavra” and turned to see the boy who lived, and lived again, fall to his knees with a blank look on his face.

“NOOOO!!!” She heard herself shout, before it all went dark.

………

Hermione Granger woke up with a start and had to immediately close her eyes because of the blinding light. 

“Oh dear wait a minute!” Someone said out loud. “Now open your eyes dear”

Hermione slowly opened her eyes again and took in the sight before her in the dimmed light. She was still in Grimmauld place.

“What was she doing in Regulus Black’s room,” she wondered. 

Kreacher certainly made sure the room remains the best maintained in the entire God forsaken place. They rarely went in there but this looked much less dated than before. And then it all came crashing back to her! The breaking of the wards, intruders firing hexes to kill, anti apparition! HARRY!! Oh my God, no no no, TEDDY!! Oh my God TEDDY! And she leapt out of the bed she was in, frantically trying to figure out where her wand was, where Teddy was!!

“Where is Teddy? What did you do to him? I swear I’ll kill you if you harm a hair on his head!” She picked up the vase on the table as a weapon and lunged at the old lady in front of her!

“ Stupefy”, she heard a male voice call out from behind her and it all went dark again.

The next time she woke, she was bound to a chair and instead of the old lady, she came face to face with a man, a wizard, considering the wand in his hand. She had never seen him before and yet he looked familiar.

“Welcome back to the land of the living Miss… ”

“I’m sure you know very well who I am you b****** ! WHERE IS TEDDY?”

“I actually do not know you. I can understand why you would think I do but let me assure you my brother goes through enough of floozies like you for me to no longer be interested in who he slags around with. And assuming by “Teddy” you are referring to the kid, well he is sleeping in the other room with  my house-elf keeping an eye on him. I assure you he is safe. So if you would kindly tell me why you decided to drop into my home, half dead, bleeding all over mothers carpets, with a death grip on who I can only assume is my brothers illegitimate spawn considering that you were able to get through the Black family wards, well I can release you and you can be on your merry way out of my home”

“What?” Hermione’s eyes widened.

“Oh he does go for the dumb ones!” he sighed exasperatedly.

“If you are looking for Sirius, he is with the Potters so I would greatly appreciate if you get out of this house before my mother comes back and I get to witness a murder in my own home.”

“What??” She felt dumb, not understanding a word of what he was saying.

“I called a healer to sort out your injuries. I had to pay her extra mind you , not just for discretion but also because the patient attacking the healer was not covered in her existing clause. She said you had slicing hexes all over your legs and would have bled out of your life if you had not been treated immediately. You also had glass embedded in your chest. Probably from some trinket on your chain. She says it will take a while to heal and you might be left with a scar.” Didn’t have clothes to change you into so she scourgified you to get rid of the blood on your clothes.”

Hermione listened to him talk and the minute he said “glass”, something clicked. She looked down her bandaged chest and the familiar hanging silver chain, there was no time-turner attached to it!

“Oh my God!!” She gasped.

“ ‘God??’ Oh Merlin, you are not pure blood are you? My mother really is going to Avada you!”

Hermione looked up and before she could make sense of what was happening, she heard a piercing cry.

“TEDDY!!” She heard herself scream. “Unhand me!!! TEDDY!!!!” Her magic began swirling around her!

“Kreacher!”

“Yes Master”

“Bring the baby here”

Kreacher nodded and popped out before popping back with a bundle emitting ear piercing cries in his arms!

Before Hermione could get over the shock of a clearly much younger Kreacher calling the stranger “Master”, she felt her bonds vanish and rushed to take Teddy in her arms.

“Shhh sweetheart, it’s okay it’s okay! I’m here, I’m here, you are okay, you are safe, it’s going to be okay, it’s going to be okay.” She kept repeating and swaying Teddy lightly until she could hear him calm down and stop screaming.

She looked down and saw leftover tears on his cute little face. He had changed his hair colour to match hers and she couldn’t help the tears falling out of her own face. 

Teddy looked up at her with his big round eyes, still watery. “Meeni” “Arry?”

And that finally broke her. She fell on her knees and couldn’t stop crushingly hold Teddy while her tears kept falling. 

“Harry” or rather “Arry” was the first word the one year old had learnt to say. Harry, her first real friend, her only family left, he was gone, and she was all alone, clearly years back if she were to look at Kreacher.

She slowly dried her tears and began clicking together the pieces in her mind. The time-turner broke, she got transported somewhere, she is still in Grimmauld place, this is Regulus Black’s very much seemingly in use bedroom. That means the person in front of her is… “Regulus Black” she said out loud.

He did not seem surprised by her recognition. He spoke of a brother. Oh God Sirius is alive! He is with the Potters! Regulus thinks Teddy is Sirius’s baby! Why? The wards! Noone but a Black could enter it in this time, she assumed. Teddy had Black blood through Tonks.

“Thank you for your, eh, hospitality, sorry to bother you, if you could hand over my wand to me, I’ll get going.”

“Not so fast” Regulus said calmly while watching her and Teddy with a fascination on his face. 

“Who are you and does my brother know you have birthed his spawn?” 

Hermione was taken aback by the blunt question.

“This is not Sirius’s baby. And who I am is of no concern to you. Could I please have my wand back.” She needed to get out of here. She had no idea what exact year this was, she didn’t want to end up being in the same house as death eaters and who knows, maybe an invited dark lord. That thought brought a chill down her spine and a phantom prickle on her marked arm.

“Do you think I’m an idiot? This house allows only black blood and those accompanying black blood family. Your son is a Metamorphmagus, a known Black family trait. And you decide to come to Grimmauld place when you are in trouble. So tell me why you are not with my idiot of a brother right now?” he almost shouted but couldn’t hide the concern towards the end.

“Teddy is not my…. Sirius is not his…. ” She took a deep breath. “You know what, you can think what you like. As I already said, thank you for your help, I appreciate it, now give me my wand and I’ll be on my way” she said forcefully.

Teddy seemed to have fallen back to sleep after tiring himself out with all the crying and probably feeling safe now that he was held firmly to her chest once again.

“As you wish” he said resigned, handing over her wand to him.

He seemed to look longingly at Teddy and something within her mellowed. This was the guy who defied a homicidal dark lord, most possibly just to avenge his house elf. And he got killed for it. She really needed to know the year, maybe she can do something about it. Or maybe not, bad things happen to those who meddle with time! But on second thought, what kind of a world would she be saving? One without Sirius, Professor Lupin, Fred, Harry? Oh Harry! No she couldn’t think about that right now! she once again blocked out the image of Harry lest she breaks down once again right there. She had to stay strong for Teddy, he depended upon her, they both had just each other in this time! 

“Thank you”, she said while pocketing her wand. 

“Regulus” she said slowly, “You are a good person. I’m sorry I can’t tell you more about us but he isn’t your nephew. He does have distant Black blood but you wouldn’t know his parents. Coming here was just an accident. Goodbye Regulus. I’ll appreciate if you’ll keep this meeting to yourself. You take care of yourself,” she said with a small smile on her face.

He seemed to be taken aback by what she said but she really didn’t have time to deal with that. Facing an alive Walburga Black was the last thing she wanted to do so she held Teddy closer to her and apparated to the first safe place she could think of.

Chapter Text

Regulus Black had never felt so out of his depth when a bleeding girl of about his age appeared all of a sudden in front of him while he was enjoying a rare peaceful breakfast.

His parents had thankfully gone to visit some other vicious family. They had of-late been trying to make sure the change of the Black family heir and disownment of the earlier one is conveyed in the most diplomatic way, to minimise the impact on the credibility of this horrible farce of a family.

And if appearing out of thin air in a bloody mess wasn’t enough, she was carrying a baby with her, who was screaming murder since the minute he landed.

Despite being unconscious, she still held the child tightly to her chest, in a very protective stance, with a wand clutched even more tightly in her hand.

It took Kreacher’s elf magic to separate the kid from the magical hold that she had somehow managed to wrap around them.

He was shocked to see the grey coloured hair change into a bright warning red the minute he was separated from her.

It was only when the healer he called was busy trying to save her life that he realised that only Black blood and those accompanying them could apparate into Grimmauld directly.

He didn’t recall seeing the girl in any of the extended family gatherings but the baby was a Metamorphmagus! It was a rare capability even in the magical world and something of a Black family trait which had appeared in quite a few generations.

There was only one possibility that he could think of and he didn’t know what to think of that. Sirius was clearly not serious about any of the girls he deemed to be with but he wouldn’t abandon his child if he were aware of him, would he?

Irrespective, he swore the healer to secrecy.

She however denied the child was his. Admitted that the baby had distant Black blood though. Said he didn’t know the child’s parents. Wait, did that mean she wasn’t his mother!

Who was she? Why was she in Grimmauld in such a condition? She wasn’t a pureblood, used that word “God” too often to be.

She had clearly been attacked but seemed more startled than scared after a while. And the way she looked at him in the end! No one had given him such a soft kind look in such a long time! The way she was with the kid, she seemed fiercely protective of him and he had never seen someone so openly being affectionate with a child, it was mostly left for the house elf’s to do out of sight.

Who WAS she?

                                     ************************

The only place Hermione could think of to get some help safely was Hogwarts. If Regulus Black was alive, then surely so was Albus Dumbledore.

As she apparated to Hogsmeade and managed to check out the date from a newspaper, she was in a full panic mode as the reality started to sink in.

She was stuck in 1979, with no way to go back since her time-turner got smashed to bits leaving her with a golden sun shaped mark on her chest, almost as if the sand got embedded in her skin when the glass pieced it.

And even if she could go back, what would she do in a world without Harry, being hunted despite the dark lord being dead. They both would be all alone over there too. At least no one was trying to kill her and Teddy in this time period, not yet anyway. 

Hog's Head Inn looked a little less miserable from the outside in the seventies as compared to the nineties but the inside was as despicable as then. Why Aberforth Dumbledore never bothered to put in even the slightest effort to maintain the place was beyond her understanding.

“Good evening Mr Dumbledore,” she said quietly to the barkeeper, making sure there was no eavesdropper around to hear her talk.

Despite the bar being almost empty, she made sure to wandlessly cast a “Muffliato” to ensure privacy. It wasn’t everyday that girls her age walked into a bar holding a kid in their laps so she decided to cast a “Notice me not” charm on herself to ensure she doesn’t catch the attention of anyone unintended.

The casting did not go unnoticed to the alert and intuitive bar-owner. He looked at her with narrowed eyes and it was probably because Teddy was attached to her chest that he did not throw her out immediately. She had realised in the nineties how much he hated being referred to by the surname he shared with his famous brother.

“How do you know my name? Who are you? Never saw you before in the area,” he said, suspicion clear as the day in his voice.

She ignored his questions.

“I’m sorry to bother you but I need to talk to your brother discreetly and I was wondering if you could help me out with it.”

“And why exactly would I do that? Do I look like an owl to you? How old are you anyways? Shouldn’t you be in school?” He sounded intrigued now, looking at Teddy.

She never got the chance to gain back the lost weight during the Horcrux Hunt Camping and probably looked younger because of that.

“I’m 19 actually” , “and yeah ideally I should be in school,” she added in a low voice to herself.

She had thought she would be able to sit for her seventh year after the fall of Voldemort. However before the session could start, the killings did. And then surviving again became the primary focus. Not being able to complete her schooling would be one of the greatest regrets she would ever have.

“How about I say three golden words and you help me get in touch with him.”

“I’m listening.”

“Order of Phoenix”

“Never heard of the name.” His eyebrows raised, suddenly much more alert in his posture. She could feel his hand go to where he probably kept his wand.

“Secret society to get rid of the vermin called Death Eaters and their big bad boss Voldemort, or should I say Tom Riddle?” She said with a smile.

“Wait here,” he said.

……………………

Albus Dumbledore heard her out quietly in the back room of the Hog's Head. He sat there as patiently as ever, as if she wasn’t just giving him life altering information.

He seemed to ponder inquisitively as she narrated her tale of woe and despair that ruled the world over the past few years in her time.

She skipped over the details and just broadly told him how she and her friends had to go on a run instead of attending their seventh year because Hogwarts wasn’t safe anymore.

How her friend was supposed to be the downfall of the Dark Lord, still existent in the nineties. How despite Voldemort falling, a lot of Death Eaters escaped. How they rallied behind their backs once again. How they systematically, one by one, discretely, wiped out almost all those who were related to the Order of Phoenix within the next year as soon as their guard went down thinking they were safe from the crazy sycophant’s tyranny now.

She reiterated how she and Harry were amongst the last few ones’ remaining after Andromeda Tonks was killed, mercifully on a night that Harry was babysitting Teddy at Grimmauld Place.

She would always be grateful that the Weasleys, broken after Fred’s death had chosen to move to Romania with Charlie. Ron had wanted to stay back and fight but Mrs Weasley had had a meltdown fearing she would lose another son. Ultimately they had managed to convince him to go with his family for the time being atleast.

They had been trying to gather the remaining Order members to fight a second time. Unfortunately this time the enemy was invisible and more articulate than the homicidal Dark Lord.

“You have been on quite a journey Ms Granger” He said pensively. “I’m not sure if you have realised it yet but you can not go back to your time. There is no time-turner in existence which would send you so far in the future”

“I thought so,” she sighed. “There is no one to go back to for me in any case.” Saying that out loud made her heart sink.

“It actually makes me wonder how and why you were transported to this particular time period via a broken time-turner. Why DID you have a time-turner on you in any case? Is it normal for people to carry one in the nineties?”

“Not really,” she replied sheepishly.

“Professor McGonagall had given me one during my third year to be able to take all the classes that I wanted to. I returned it at the end of the year but she apparently continued to have it with her.

Since the situation was getting real bad, she gave it to me about a week back, making me promise to use it only as a last resort. She said she was too old to use it herself and I had the experience with it. She was killed two days later.

I didn’t even get the chance to use it to save anyone. Harry and I weren’t sure how far back it would go and were trying to get in touch with someone from the Department of Mysteries to help us figure it out. Then we got attacked and it got smashed into me, sending me over here.

As for why this time, I’m not sure but I know this is a very crucial time period and a turning point in the history when it comes to Voldemort” she stated.

She wondered once again if she had been deliberately sent to this time period in particular by a higher entity. It was too crucial a time period for this to be a coincidence. Or maybe she was overthinking. Her lack of sleep and tiredness catching up to her.

“Bad things happen to those who meddle with time Ms Granger,” Dumbledore stated.

“I did think about it. Thought about taking your help to just leave the country and live a peaceful life somewhere far away with Teddy.

But then I thought of my best friend, how he never had a life he could enjoy without the threat of harm in some form hanging over his head.

I thought about so many good people who died trying to get us to a good future, so many orphans left behind with no one to take care of them.

I thought of what kind of a world we are looking forward to. Literally every prominent figure on the side of light is obliterated by 1998.

Bad things might happen if we meddle with time Professor. But worse things will happened if we don’t.”

“When you put it like that”, he pondered while looking at the nearby sleeping Teddy.

“The future you mention is inconceivable!” he sighed.

She could only imagine what a shock he must have got with all the information she bombarded onto him. He had insisted on her taking Veritaserum before talking to her so he knew she wasn’t lying.

“Well then,” he paused. He seemed to be fighting an internal conflict while in serious thought. It took him a while but he seemed to have come to a conclusion as he looked up and said with a resolution in his voice, “Let’s take the leap. Let us change time Ms Granger, and hope for the best.”

For the first time since she landed in 1979, Hermione had a wide smile and hope in her heart. She was going to make it all right.

Chapter Text

James Potter did not know where it all went wrong.

He thought he had been in love with Lily for years. However within only a few months of her finally saying yes to dating him, he realised that his feelings for her were not as strong as he thought them to be all these years.

He still liked her as a person, a friend, but the burning passion that he thought he would feel once he was finally together with her was sorely missing. It made him wonder if it was more of an obsession to get her to say yes, a “challenge” rather than “love” which made him feel she was the centre of his universe all these years.

He had a feeling she too knew something was missing in their relationship, but with their entire set of friends involved, the pretending came naturally.

Also, with the threat of a full fledged war looming over them, the desperation to have something normal made it easy to carry on as it is rather than take the tough call and perhaps be more miserable.

As he sat, waiting for the Order meeting to start, he started to wonder if everyone in the room would be able to survive the inevitable war that they were headed towards.

He saw how his parents sat holding hands, talking softly to each other with a look of complete adoration on their faces. He wondered if Lily and him will grow to have the same look on their faces as the time passes.

He smiled seeing Padfoot flirting around with Marlene and her pretending to give him a look of disinterest.

Moony seemed to be in another one of his intellectual discussions with McGonagall. “Once a teachers pet, always a teachers pet,” he thought fondly, almost laughing out loud.

Peter however seemed to be missing another meeting to take care of his sick mother. He knew Mrs Pettigrew had been unwell for a while now and wondered if he should ask Peter once again if he could be of any help, financially or otherwise.

Today’s meeting was out of the regular schedule, hence the murmurs of excitement in the room. He once again wondered, like everyone else, if Dumbledore had good or bad news to share.

And that was when he saw her.

Dumbledore had finally entered the room and was followed by a girl of about his age who commanded attention the minute she stepped in. Even though she was dressed in a simple white knee length dress with thin shoulder straps peeking out of her baby blue sweater, her aura immediately caught attention.

She looked pretty enough but it was the way she walked in, she almost seemed to have a magical energy swirling around her which made her look so, so….  captivating. She held her head high, her posture was alert, it was almost as if Moody had trained her to be an Auror because it screamed fighter. That mane on her head, she looked like a lioness!

The meeting suddenly seemed to be much more interesting. 

“Good evening everyone!” Dumbledore greeted everyone. It amazed him how calm the man looked even in this kind of a setup.

“Let me introduce you to the newest member of the Order. This is Miss Hermione Granger. She has been on an intelligence gathering mission on my behalf for a while now and is finally here to help us win this war.” He smiled.

Shocked faces greeted his announcement. It was the first time he had used the word “win” in a definitive way. 

Moody was the first one to put in words what everyone was thinking.

“Intelligence gathering mission?? When did we have that discussed or approved? She barely looks of age, how exactly did she gather such intelligence if I may ask?” he asked crudely.

“I’m afraid this mission was on a need to know basis,” Dumbledore replied.
And then added with a twinkle, “and I decided only I needed to know about it until now. No offence my dear friend but the opportunity kind of, fell from the sky.” He gave the girl a look and a chuckle as if sharing a private joke. She just rolled her eyes and smiled.
“I did not have the time to consult anyone else before approving her mission.”

“And what exactly did her mission entail?” asked Moody.

“Information gathering. And I’m happy to say, she has gathered quite a bit of it.”

“How?” Moody persisted.

“That is for me and her to know I’m afraid. Atleast for the time being.”

“I don’t recognise you. Which school did you go to Ms Granger?” McGonagall spoke up.

The girl looked at her and immediately had a fond look on her face. “I was home schooled Madam.”

“And how did you come across our dear Professor Dumbledore then?” Moody chipped in again.

“She is my Goddaughter Alastor.”

“Your what?” “What?” A number of people gasped at the announcement.

“My goddaughter. Yes. She is the daughter of an old friend of mine. I have homeschooled her myself after her parents passed away. I did not want any of my enemies to focus on her because of her association with me hence kept it a secret.”

“She is going to be a target if the association comes to light even now.” Moody stated the obvious.

“That she is. But now she is older and better prepared to handle such a situation.”

“Sirius Black at your service Mademoiselle! Might I suggest myself as a tour guide to the Order of Phoenix?” Padfoot suddenly decided to interrupt the heavy air that hung around by deciding to kiss her hand in the dramatic old fashioned way leaning all across the table, squishing atleast two in between.

The small chuckle that came out of her mouth and the way her eyes brightened on seeing Sirius, as if she was meeting an old friend, made her look quite endearing.

“Might I suggest a little decorum Mr Black,” McGonagall was quick to reprimand him.

With most of their professors in the Order, sometimes it felt as if they had still not left school.

“Oh come on Prof!” Sirius pouted but leaned back in his seat, having successfully relaxed the atmosphere a little bit.

“Please ignore him Hermione, we’ll all introduce ourselves later on in a much more dignified way, I assure you,” Lily chipped in.

Granger looked over and he could see a sudden change in her demeanour. The brightness in her eyes dimmed almost abruptly to a tide of sadness. Even though she gave Lily a smile, it was apparent to him that it was taking her a lot of effort. Weird.

“Thank you Miss Evans. Now,” Dumbledore started, “From here on, we need to review a few ongoing operations.
There is credible information that the Bones family and the Prewett twins have come to the notice of the Death Eaters and face an increased risk of attack.”

Molly gasped and he could see Edgar Bones get noticeably worried.

Dumbledore continued, “The Bones family needs to have a portkey ready to transport them out of their home incase of an attack. Alastor?”

“Will get it done,” Moody replied soberly.

Dumbledore nodded and continued, “Fabian and Gideon, you are not to go on any mission, no matter how insignificant, without a proper backup. There is a strong possibility that they will lure you to an ambush.” 

“You see Fabian! We have finally proved our worth! Imagine the Death Eaters realising that before our own boss. What say Moody?” Gideon tried to lighten the mood. 

“It has just been proven that you are a bigger pain in my ass than before. Is this really the time to make me focus on you?” Moody played in.

“No Sir, point well taken.”Gideon saluted him, making everyone laugh.

“Moving on, an extremely important issue that needs to be addressed. Hermione…” Professor Dumbledore looked over to the girl.

She straightened, her face devoid of any emotion, and then said the most unexpected word that he had no idea about, but seemed to suck the energy out of the room with a few audible gasps .

“‘Horcruxes’ How many of you have heard about them?”

He looked around and found a few shocked faces, His mother and Sirius included.

“Horcrux is an item in which a wizard has concealed a part of their soul. As long as the said wizard has a horcrux somewhere in the mortal world, they cannot die. They can be reduced to a pitiable excuse of a body but will retain their consciousness and anyone loyal to them can reincarnate them with another foul ritual. It is the foulest of dark magic as its creation requires murder amongst other despicable things.”

Literally everyone except Dumbledore had visible shock on their faces!

“Voldemort has most probably five as of date,” she continued.

The stunned silence till then burst into frantic cries of “What the fu.. !”, “How do you know that?”, “Holy Shit!” and a lot more expletives from even the most decent of the wizards and witches.

She wasn’t done.

“We know the location of almost all so not to worry too much. We’ll start in the next session. However today I’ll need a vow of secrecy from each and every one of you to not divulge this information to anyone except those present here today. If anyone is absent from today’s meeting, it’s there loss. You can not tell them.

If you are uncomfortable with this, or refuse to take the vow, we would be willing to oblivate you so that you do not have to carry any guilt, if that is what you would prefer of-course,” she said calmly as if dealing with such things was an everyday occurrence for her.

“How in Merlin’s name do you know the location of his horcruxes? I’m pretty sure he won’t be giving out that information to just about anyone! Who the hell are you?” Moody couldn’t control himself.

“Alastor…” Dumbledore gave him a look.

“Right,‘need to know information’” He sulked.

“Our friend Peter is missing this meeting because his mother is unwell. Can’t we tell him and get him to vow later on?” Sirius interrupted.

Granger looked at him and replied almost abruptly, “No.”
“I mean I would prefer no one outside this meeting is told. If one can not find time to make these meetings a priority then I think it would be kind to not let them bother at all with additional information that they will worry about.” 

It made sense but he got a feeling there was more to it than what she said. Weird.

“Well that is it for now,” Dumbledore stated. “I’ll swear Moody and Potter to secrecy and they can swear you all in turn. Let’s go to the adjoining room,” he said looking at his Dad and Moody.

Granger got up too but before she could leave, she was surrounded by people introducing themselves to her. He could see her trying hard to not show her discomfort but still caught her flinching when the Prewett twins came to talk to her or giving sad looks when Arthur and Molly introduced themselves. Weird.

Lily was up next to her. He followed, keen to make her acquaintance himself.

“Hi! I’m Lily Evans. This is my boyfriend James Potter. Nice to meet you!”

“Hi,” she said meekly. He couldn’t help but notice that she hardly glanced at him before looking at Lily once more.

“You sure stirred the pot over here!” he heard himself say. “Welcome to the Order of Phoenix!”

“Thank you.” She would still not meet his eyes for more than a couple of seconds.

“When did he do something to offend her?” he wondered.

“We usually end up having a get together at Potter Manor after the Order meetings,” Lily continued. “Why don’t you join us? We can introduce you to more of our age group.”

“Potter Manor?” She sounded surprised, before schooling her features to neutral once again. “Thank you but I need to be somewhere else immediately after this. Maybe some other time.”

“Ah, sure no problem. Send me an owl whenever you are free and we can catch up,” Lily said.

“Sure. I got to go. Bye!” she said with a smile. She seemed eager to get away from them. Weird. She had no reason to! Maybe he was just overthinking.

He saw her leave and was left with a strange feeling. 

Time to get a Firewhisky and ponder over the bombardment of information that was thrown at them in the meeting.

“How in Merlin’s name did that girl manage to get such inside information!!!” he wondered, like everyone else he guessed.

Chapter Text

“Okay I’m listening. Why don’t you start Charlus. Give Alastor over here a chance to let all the information sink in.” Albus Dumbledore smiled.

Charlus Potter took a deep breath. “I have known you for a very longtime Albus. You do not have a Goddaughter.”

“I do not.”

“Who is she really?”

“A gift.”

“A gift?”

“A Gift, a Chance, Hope. She is a blessing sent to us to ensure survival of the Light.”

“She is just a child, my James’ age.”

“Neither of them are children anymore Charlus. The world on the brink of a war has turned both of them into soldiers. Her more so.”

“Can we trust her?”

“I’ll trust her with my life.”

“She looks haunted, had such immense sadness around her. It is as if she has seen horrors of the world and has the weight of the world on her tiny shoulders.”

“She has. Both.”

“Will she really help us win?”

“If she won’t, then no one else can.”

“She wears a Potter family ‘Trust bracelet’, it wouldn’t have been able to click shut if she hadn’t shown immense loyalty to the Potter family. I have never met her before and haven’t even gotten around to showing it to James yet. Will I still find that bracelet in my vault if I check Albus?”

“I have frankly no idea Charlus. If that bracelet is proving her loyalty to the Potter house, then might I recommend showing her the same courtesy and not checking?”

“When you put it like that… , maybe I won’t.”

“Good call my friend, good call. One day, after all this is over, maybe you can yourself ask her how she got it.”

“I look forward to the day.”

………

“Her information gathering wasn’t voluntary was it?” Alastor Moody was pensive.

“Depends on the point of view Alastor, it sure wasn’t planned.”

“You really trust her?”

“I do.”

“She looks battle ready, at least in her attitude.”

“She is, more than you can imagine.”

“If she is so important, do I need to train her?”

“Might not be a bad idea.”                            

                                   ***********************

“How did it go?” Aberforth asked, handing over an overexcited Teddy to Hermione.

She hugged the suddenly hyperactive child close to her and relaxed for the first time since morning.

Teddy was the best stress buster, she didn’t think she would have had the energy to fight the war once more if it hadn’t been for him.

After Professor Dumbledore, Albus, as he insisted on her calling him, shared her truth with Aberforth, he offered her an accommodation at the inn indefinitely. 

In the very few days of her stay at the Hogs end inn, Aberforth had taken up the role of their guardian quite seriously. He would keep finding excuses to feed her after she once casually mentioned her starving camping days.

Aware that it was not wise for them to learn too much of the future, lest they end up changing any key factor without understanding the repercussions, it was decided to let the events play the way they were supposed to, unless Hermione deemed it necessary and safe to intervene. They could not risk the future changing drastically until they eliminated all the Horcruxes.

This meant they were not even aware of Teddy’s actual parentage. They just knew he was a friends orphan son who had no one but her left to take care of him by the time she left that time period. However, adorable that he was, he won them over in a heartbeat.

Teddy seemed to be the ultimate favourite of both the Dumbledores. Aberforth would take every opportunity to hold and take care of him while Albus kept finding excuses to visit Hogs end at every given opportunity.

She was pleased to see the ice thaw slowly between the brothers as they played with him together, both trying desperately to get him to speak some form of their names. 

“It went better than expected. I almost expected Moody to hex me the minute I uttered the H word. There is still time though. I think they were all probably still in shock by the time I left.
The goddaughter twist was a good one though, as expected it lent me credibility in their eyes so the questions were a lot fewer than what they would have been otherwise.” She sat down with Teddy in her lap, smiling at the familiar electric blue colour that Teddy was sporting while laughing at her making funny faces for him.

“You seem tired.” Aberforth looked at her with concern.

“I saw some ghosts.”

“You are going to change the future, do not let the past tire you out.”

“Easier said than done, but yeah.” she sighed.

Chapter Text

The next few days after her first Order meeting in the new time period, Hermione spent most of her time making detailed plans for the Horcruxes’ retrieval and the major events which she really wanted to prevent. She had remembered about the Bones family and the Prewett twins tragedies of the top of her head but remembering other events took some effort. 

She barely went out and was mostly cooped up in her room, with Teddy playing in his play pen with his toy wolf. Her necessary paranoia during the original timeline ensured she carried her trusted beaded bag with her everywhere she went. After Andromeda was murdered on a night Teddy was thankfully being babysat by Harry, she had taken to carrying his stuff too in her bag. And thank God for that as the toy wolf that Harry had bought him, in the few peaceful days they had after the Battle of Hogwarts ended, was a lifesaver! Teddy loved it so much that she had duplicated it and learnt to carry one in her bag for emergencies. 

“You need to get out of this room at some point lass. Or Ted would start thinking this room is the entire world and freak out when he realises that it is not!” Aberforth’s voice broke her out of her thoughts.

She laughed. It was heartening to see how much the old barkeep had started to care for them in the short period of time.

“I will Abe. It’s just that there are so many factors to consider, I’m so afraid to forget about something important all the time!”

“You need fresh air kid or your brain will explode,” he said picking up a suddenly perked up Teddy. 

“A break might actually help,” She thought and decided to follow them downstairs.

The bar seemed to be slightly busier than normal and she almost laughed seeing how Abe was content ignoring his paying customers to see Teddy blow spit bubbles and laughing while he got tickled.

She walked towards the back of the counter and started taking the orders. How Abe kept the bar going on like this for so many years was beyond her understanding! Guess having a seemingly uninterested barman was a preference for the shady sorts who frequented the bar. Unlike them, she was well aware that despite looking uninterested, Aberforth was acutely aware of the ongoings around him and was an excellent source of information for the Order.

“You are new! Finally someone pleasing to look at in this gruesome place,” the guy buying a couple of Firewhisky’s said with a wink in her direction.

“I’m sure Abe would be heartbroken to know you don’t find him appealing,” she said with a straight face while moving on to the next order after handing him the two bottles.

She was soon done catering to the group of people around the counter and now sat on the seat with a book on Astrology open in her lap. 

“Didn’t take you for the book reading types. Sirius doesn’t usually go for ones who can read the alphabet.” She heard a familiar voice, bringing her abruptly out of her thoughts.

“Good thing Sirius doesn’t have anything to do with me or my book reading capabilities then.” She smiled at the familiar face.

“Are you sure about that?”

She sighed. There was no convincing Regulus Black, and as long as he didn’t go blabbering his theories to his family, she was content letting him think whatever he wanted.

“What can I get you?” She rose from the chair.

“You work here?”

“More like reside and help out.”

“You live here? In this Inn? Isn’t Sirius even supporting you financially? He sounded appalled. You cannot raise my nephew in an inn!” He whispered.

“Oh for Gods sake Teddy isn’t your… ”

“Isn’t he though?” the thought came across abruptly. “Tonks son would be his what exactly?” She wondered.

“He isn’t Sirius’s son!” She whispered back quickly before he took her hesitance as a confirmation.

“Then whose son is he? You do realise I have been made to memorise the entire extended Black Family Tree since I was a child! There is no one else I can think of who can be his father.”

“What makes you think it’s the father you have to search for?” She couldn’t help but reply with a twinkle in her eye and a teasing smile on her face.

“You are not a Black.”

“Who said I was?”

“So he isn’t your child?”

“He is as much mine as my own child would have been but no, I haven’t given birth to him.”

“You do realise the Black family can claim him as their own if it is brought to their notice that he is being raised by a stranger,” he said smugly.

Hermione had her wand at his neck in an instant.

“I’m NOT a stranger to him. And I swear to God if you even try to take him away from me, I’ll obliterate you!”

“Hey!” He raised his arms in surrender. “I was just joking! Why would I do that to a child and bring him to the house of misery? He is better off out of the crazy fold.” And then probably realising what he just said to an almost stranger about his family, he got red in the face.

Hermione relaxed and took the wand off his neck.

“Listen Mr Black…”

“Oh so now we are following tradition?” He was quick to bounce back with a sarcastic quip and a smirk.

“Regulus then.” She rolled her eyes.

“Regulus, as I told you before, my coming to Grimmauld place was an accident. And Teddy is very very distantly related to Blacks by blood. I’m sure they don’t include all the squibs and blood traitors in your precious Black Family Tree. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if there are a ton of names scorched literal black on that special tree of yours.” She laughed internally looking at Regulus’s shame filled face, knowing that what she said was entirely true since she had herself seen their tapestry countless times while living in Grimmauld.

“His parents passed away in an accident and had wanted him in my care incase something happened to them.” She apologised to Remus and Tonks in her heart for the lies. How could they have in their wildest imagination want their son to be raised by a 19year old with no experience in child care! She didn’t even have any sibling experience to fall back upon.

It was such a blessing that Teddy was an angelic happy child or she wouldn’t know how to take care of him! Harry though had been such a natural, whatever she learnt, she learnt from observing him!

“Having said that, I would appreciate if his link is not divulged to the world as of now. I want him safe and considering who most of your family are in cahoots with, I would rather not take the risk,” she continued.

“What makes you think I’m not part of the same crowd? Don’t you know I am the heir to the House of Black?” he said with his head held high in what looked like a practised pose. 

“I do know that but I also know that you are not a part of the same crowd as you put it.” She looked him straight in the eye.

“And what makes you think that? You don’t know me.”

“Call it intuition.” She winked at him.

“I don’t even know your name.”

“Hermione Granger”

“Of the Potioneer family of Grangers?” He seemed suddenly excited.

“I don’t think so. But feel free to believe that if you are so repulsed by talking to a Mudblood.”

He winced. “You call yourself that! Doesn’t it bother you?”

“It used to, then I had it engraved on me and suddenly it became just a word.”

“Engraved!! Engraved???” He spat out his drink.

A story for another time.” She smiled.

“Hey Black!” A new voice called out behind his back and Regulus stiffened.

Hermione looked around and came face to face with the person she last saw dying a gruesome death in the shrieking shack. The person who spent his entire life regretting one mistake that he made in his youth. Her potions professor, Severus Snape.

Looking at him she suddenly became conscious of the fact that the two wizards in front of her were the most unsung heroes the two wars produced. Both made a mistake in their youth, tried so hard to repent and yet ended up giving up their lives for it.

“Hey Snape! What are you doing here?”

“Came to talk to Slughorn for a possible internship. I heard he is retiring soon. I want to be in the position to take over his place.”

“I didn’t know you wanted to teach.”

“I don’t. But I’m expected to.”

“Oh! Well good luck in that case.”

“Thanks. A Firewhisky please.” He looked around at Hermione.

“Coming up.” She almost choked up. Somehow meeting him was worse than meeting Lily. She at least had some happy times before she lost her life. This person over here spent a lifetime of unhappiness trying to repent his mistake. It was really tragic.

“What are you doing here Black?” She heard Professor Snape, Snape, she corrected herself in her mind, ask Regulus.

“Father wanted me to come over and formally thank the teachers for the education they provided me with. Apparently it is a tradition in our family to do so immediately after graduation.”

“Bet your brother didn’t have that in mind when he decided the best way to thank the teachers was to almost light the entire castle on fire in his attempt to put the, what did he call it, ‘biggest display of fireworks Hogwarts will ever see’. Biggest display my foot, almost burnt the castle down.” Snape said with obvious bitterness.

Regulus however seemed to be trying hard not to smile and just rolled his eyes. “Yeah he is an idiot,” he said with apparent ‘forced’ indifference.

Hermione herself was reminded of the Weasley twin’s firework display when they decided to leave the school on their own terms. She smiled fondly remember their shenanigans and how similar they appeared to be to their self proclaimed mentors,’The Marauders’. It was immediately after that that she also remembered Fred’s unmoving body behind a pile of rubble and the devastated look on his twins face. She wasn’t going to let that happen. She promised herself.

As she looked over to the two wizards in front of her, she was filled with immense sadness at their fate.

The future was going to change and she would be damned if she let the two wizards in front of her go through the same life, and death, once again.

As she handed Snape the Firewhisky while he chatted with Regulus, she wondered if she would ever get this opportunity again. She took a deep breath, hid her nerves behind the walls she built for herself and came up with a decision.

“Hey Regulus.” He stiffened and turned towards her. Of course he didn’t expect her to talk to him with such familiarity in front of a fellow Death Eater. 

“I hope you know it’s rude to interrupt two people while they are in a conversation Ms Granger. You should be very careful of your manners,” he said with such a snooty tone, she almost laughed.

“Yeah yeah I’m sure you both are having an extremely interesting discussion while trying to convince each other of your loyalty to the fucker you call the Dark Lord.”

They both had their wards drawn in a second.

“How dare you insult the Dark Lord?” “Who the hell are you?”

They both shouted at the same time. Regulus looked pale.

Snape looked furious. “Excellent actor till the end!” she thought.

Their drawing of wands drew Aberforth’s attention and he was besides her in a second. 

“What is the problem over here?” She noticed fondly how he held Teddy protectively close to himself while trying to figure out the situation.

“Oh nothing Abe, I was just inviting the two dunderheads over here to a meeting of the Order of Phoenix,” she said to the stunned wizards around her.

She continued, “Since you know, they both are in the Death Eater club only because of family constraints and vendetta & validity. They thought it was going to be a walk in the park but since the reality of being a cold hearted Death Eater struck them, my guess is they both bitterly regret their choices but feel they are too deep in to get out now.”

“Did I cover it all or do I need to talk about your affection for Lily and yours for house-elves who are deemed to be at the lowest ladder according to your Dark Lord?”

“Who the hell are you?” Severus repeated.

“That does not matter. What matters is that you both are not the good old Death Eaters that you pretend to be and I’m giving you both a way out.”

“You are crazy!” Regulus finally uttered.

Hermione decided to take the leap.

“The child you are so keen to know about is the son of Nymphadora Tonks, daughter of your cousin Andromeda.”

“What??? She is six years old!”

“Yeah, right now she must be.”

She turned towards Snape. “And Lily is going to be dead in two years time, unless I manage to do something about it.”

“You are a seer!” Snape gasped.

“That child is not a figment of my imagination. I do not understand.” Regulus uttered, the shock coming across clear as the day.

“In a bar where anyone can listen in? Really?? Do you really want these two ‘dunderheads’, as you called them, to know the truth about you or should I start the Oblivating process?” Aberforth mentioned with apparent calmness, though she could sense a note of panic in it come across.

“Relax Abe. I put up a ‘Muffliato’ the minute I started saying anything important, old habit. And I think we can hold off the Oblivating for now. Could I use the back room for a more detailed discussion please.”

“Go ahead, I’ll keep a watch on Ted.”

“Thanks Abe.”

“You guys wanna follow me?”

The shocked wizards started walking without even uttering a word.

Chapter Text

“So let me get this straight. You are from 1999. The Dark Lord was defeated just about a year back by your best friend. You both were attacked by Death Eaters and you ended up in 1979.” Regulus Black looked dumbfounded.

“That’s about right,” Hermione said.

“Do you mind if I do a sanity check spell on you?” Regulus looked at her with a straight face.

She rolled her eyes, “There is no such spell.”

“She is sane enough to know that.” He looked at Snape.

“But insane enough to expect us to believe such a crazy story.” He added.

“What did you mean by ‘Lily is going to die in two years’?” Snape ignored him.

Hermione looked down. “There was a prophesy. The Dark Lord thought Lily’s son was going to be his downfall. He came to kill her year old baby and she sacrificed herself to save him. You changed your allegiance to the light side after that.”

His shoulders sagged. “She has a child in the next two years? She marries Potter,” he said in a low tone, resigned. 

“She did. She does.”

“A one year old child? He came to kill a one year old!! Was the child really his downfall? Did he survive?”

“He was. He finally managed to get rid of the Voldemort in 1998. But no, he did not survive. He was killed the day I was transported here,” her eyes were moist.

“Your best friend,” he realised.

“Yes. You spent your entire life trying to keep him safe.”

“Did you know me?”

“You were my potions professor at Hogwarts, a total sour pus,” she smiled.

“No way! I get the job?!!! I can’t believe it! A professor at Hogwarts! Can you believe it Black? I was just planning to go for the interview coz the Dark Lord demanded it, never thought I’ll actually get it!!”

She smiled at the innocent enthusiasm that he reflected. She needed to save that before it got lost in time and turn him into the bitter man who held no joy.

“I think both Voldemort and Albus thought you would be the perfect spy. Unfortunately for Voldemort, he crossed the line you were not willing to overlook. Not to take away from your capabilities, coz despite having the personality of a total sourpuss, you knew your stuff, unlike so many of our teachers. Irrespective of your horrible, I mean really horrible attitude towards the students, you were a learned potions master, I learnt so much from you!
But I sincerely hope your role of the spy forced you to act as the insensitive biased bully that you were, coz if you still turn out to be like that, I swear I’ll get Albus to fire you in a minute!” She said with a stern expression.

“Of course I had a horrible attitude, I hate incompetence and most kids have that.” He said defensively.

She laughed and then looked over to Regulus. He still had the shell shocked expression on his face.

“Why do you have Nymphadora’s child? Why isn’t he with anyone else from his family? Or our family? Surely Sirius or I…. ? I would have overlooked the disinherited part if he didn’t have anyone else to take care of him!” 

It warmed her heart to hear Regulus say that.

“His parents died in the Battle of Hogwarts,” she said slowly. At their shocked expression she added, “Yes, the final battle with Voldemort happened at Hogwarts. He attacked the Castle.”

“Anyways, Teddy’s paternal grandparents had long passed away and Ted and Andromeda were also killed during the war. Harry, my best friend, was his Godfather so we were taking care of him. There was noone else. You and Sirius were long dead,” she choked, remembering the day they lost Sirius.

“There was no one to directly carry on the Black family name by the time I left,” she said sadly to the still in shock Regulus.

“Did you know me? Why do you think I’m not as loyal to the Dark Lord? Did I defect in the future?”

“No I did not know you, you were dead long before I came to Hogwarts. But you did defect. Unfortunately no one came to know of your defection until 1997.”

“You were the first person to land a serious blow to your precious Dark Lord, he just didn’t know it,” she added with a sad smile.

“Why would I do that?” He seemed perplexed.

Hermione did not know for sure if Kreacher’s treatment was what led to his rebellion against Voldemort or just acted as a trigger.

She took a shot in the dark and asked him, “Can you honestly tell me you believe in all that nonsense that he sprouts? Would you have willingly joined him if you had a choice? Does torturing people just because they do not share the type of your blood actually appeal to you?”

He was silent.

“If I were to guess, you Regulus joined him because of the family pressure and you Snape joined him to get to a position of power after being mercilessly bullied by the Marauders and looked down as a half blood by the Slytherins during your Hogwarts years.”

“But here is where I come in. You now have the choice that you never did in the first run. I’m giving you both a chance to get out of the hell hole that you have put yourself in. Become spies for the Order of Phoenix, a secret society formed to fight against Voldemort, and I’ll try my level best to get you both out of the repercussions that you would otherwise undoubtedly face when the dark side loses.

However if you do not believe me and want to continue on your earlier chosen path, tell me and I promise I’ll just Oblivate you of this conversation and leave you both alone to create your own future.

If you agree, you’ll leave here with a vow to not reveal whatever I have told you to anyone unless I give you explicit permission.”

“That’s it? What about the loyalty vow? We can always double cross you or your Order in the future.” Snape asked surprised.

“You can. But I won’t vow you to loyalty. I’ll rather take my chances and trust you both. If you say you are with me, I’ll take your word for it. You both deserve a chance to prove your loyalty and allegiance without a sword hanging over your head.”

They looked at each other and nodded.

“Okay,” Regulus said.

“Okay?”

“Yes. We are in.” Snape stated.

“In that case,” she smiled. “Welcome to your new life, I’m going to make sure it rocks,” she grinned.

Chapter Text

Ever since she disclosed her true origins to the two budding Death Eaters, after they got over their shock at it all, they decided to bombard her with their presence on a regular basis to try and get her to open up about more secrets from her past.

It almost seemed to have become a game for them after a while, with both boasting of whatever little irrelevant information they managed to squeeze out of her in their conversations. Like with Albus, Hermione had been particular not to give out too much information to them lest she ends up changing anything crucial without meaning to.

They had somehow started spending their every free hour with her at the Inn. Over time they seemed to have gotten comfortable enough to visit without any particular reason.

Initially it seemed they felt reassured to see her working on her plans to make a better future as she could see that the one she told them about freaked them out badly. However of late she felt they, like her, also felt relaxed seeing Teddy do his cute little things.

Regulus, despite not accepting it, seemed fascinated with the fact that he was his cousin/nephew, he was funnily yet undecided on his exact relationship status with the kid.

Snape couldn’t keep his eyes off him when he turned his hair black and eyes green anytime he seemed to miss Harry, which was sadly often. With the messy Potter hair missing from his head, she was startled to see how much he could pass off as a kid of Severus and Lily with just the colour change. She could bet Severus saw that too.

It was clear they were both too taken with Teddy from the first time he gave them that extraordinarily cute smile of his and seemed to enjoy watching him try to crawl or use his Metamorphmagus capabilities. He definitely was the best Stress buster one could have.

Somehow in this short span of time, she had become quite fond of them and their quirkiness. Maybe it was her lack of company of her age group or the fact that she didn’t have to pretend to be someone else in front of them after telling them the truth about her.

They would either just sit with her and discuss anything random or entertain Teddy who would light up with joy when they did magic in front of him.

Regulus was fascinated to know her views on house elf rights and laughed for a full ten minutes continuously when she told him about how house elves rebelled against her in her efforts for SPEW.

Severus would discuss his potions theories with her and they would get so engrossed in their discussions that Abe would have to come and remind him to leave with a strict look in his eyes. 

She realised they were probably as lonely as her and cherished any time they could spend without either of them having to worry about faking their true beliefs or origins.

Not for the first time she thought how alone they must have felt in their first time around and promised herself she would ensure they had a much happier life this time.

…….

“You can hold him you know!” Hermione couldn’t help but notice the fond look Regulus was giving Teddy while he played with his toy wolf in his makeshift playpen. She found it extremely funny that initially Regulus was so uncomfortable being in her room alone with her. He insisted the door remain open for it to be ‘proper’.

With each passing visit though, he started to feel more comfortable and even though the door still remained open, he had no calms about spreading out on her bed like a lazy teenager now while she worked on her plans on the adjacent table.

“I’m okay,” he said slowly.

Hermione laughed. “You clearly want to hold him, and why wouldn’t you!” She went to pick up Teddy from the playpen, “He is most certainly the cutest baby ever, aren’t you my little bundle of joy!” She started tickling him and his following laughter was a balm to her anxious heart and head.

“He is your family you know, he does share your precious pure blood.” She looked over at Regulus.

“It is weird to know that when his mother is a six year old I have never even interacted with ever. When are you going to tell me about the father though, you never did?”

“Does it matter?”

“Naah.” He stretched out lazily. “What will I do getting to know another six year old?”

“If only he knew,” she thought and had to hold back a chuckle.

“They are never going to be a part of his life anyway,” he added.

“They are going to be a part of his life, just not as his parents. He is mine now, my family, my everything,” she said holding him tight to her chest. “He is the only link I have to my past… ,” she added softly.

“He will always have the Black protection though if I have my way.” Regulus suddenly got serious.

“As he should, my Sirius would have insisted on it,” she smiled sadly.

“Siriii!!” Teddy repeated. It was a new hobby for Teddy to repeat random words or crawl all over the Inn the minute she or Abe got distracted enough to not keep an eye on him.

“ ‘Your’ Sirius…  hmmm, any chance of him being ‘your Sirius’ here too?” he said with a smirk. And then as if it suddenly stuck him, ”You would actually be family to me, I mean Teddy, if you marry Sirius!” he said excitedly.

“He was forty plus year old godfather of my best friend so when I say ‘my Sirius’, trust me it’s in a fond but pure platonic way. And if I found even that Sirius immature, you can imagine my opinions on the current one,” she said with a raised eyebrow. 

“Though imagining your mother’s face if she hears her son married a Mudblood might just be worth it,” she mused.

“Don’t call yourself that!” He suddenly sat up straight.

“It’s just a word.” 

“A degrading word.”

“Doesn’t matter to me anymore,” she shrugged.

“You said something earlier. Something about it being engraved on you, what did you mean by that?”

“Story for another time,” she said while discreetly rubbing her forearm.

“Tori!!!Tori Tori Tori!!” Teddy shouted enthusiastically.

“Not yet sweetheart, you’ll get your story at night.”

Teddy pouted.

So did Regulus. “You said that last time also!”

“And it isn’t that time yet.”

“When are you going to tell me how and when I die? You just said it happened defying him but shouldn’t I be more prepared ? I should keep aside some funds for Teddy incase it happens soon.” He said soberly, changing the earlier topic.

“You are not going to die this time Regulus. Not until you have lived a full life. The only thing you need to remember is to ensure you come to me the moment Voldemort asks to borrow Kreacher. That is the most important non negotiable thing you need to keep in your brain, leave the rest to me.”

“He isn’t going to kill Kreacher, is he?”, he asked with a tremble in his voice.

“No he isn’t.” She couldn’t yet tell him about the torture Kreacher will have to face due to that lunatic lest he find a way to not send Kreacher with him. She knew she would have if she didn’t realise how essential it was for him to take Kreacher to the cave. No one else would be able to tell her the location otherwise.

Regulus visibly relaxed.

“Meeni Keacher?” Teddy asked. It amazed her how much Teddy remembered from their old life. Maybe it was the same with all magical children. She too remembered things from her childhood that she felt she wouldn’t if she had been a regular muggle.

“Kreacher is busy right now Teddybear. He’ll come to meet his favourite person very soon.” She cuddled him tightly.

“Our old Kreacher had grown quite fond of Teddy in our time, probably because he sensed the Black blood or maybe just because taking care of the baby reminded him of normal times.” She explained to the curious Regulus.

“I could get Kreacher to visit him but I don’t want to risk him with too many secrets.”

“Yes we can’t. We’ll just have to wait till Snakeface is gone, or atleast when it’s safer.”

“Snakeface??”

“Another pet name for Voldemort, will explain some other time.”

Regulus rolled his eyes, “You and your secrets.”

She laughed, making Teddy join her with joy.

“I still can’t believe, ‘you’, a ‘muggle born’ were actually living in Grimmauld place!” Regulus quipped.

“Yeah! It wasn’t fun for me either trust me”

“You could agree to date me if you want me to live a full life you know,” he waggled his brows.

She couldn’t help but laugh. “Is flirting in the Black genes or something? Do I need to be worried about Teddy breaking hearts when he grows up?”

“I hardly flirt. I can’t even talk to.… ,never mind.”

“Talk to… ???”

“No one!” He blushed.

“Oooh little Reggie has a crush! Tell me tell me!”

“I do not have a crush! And I’m hardly a year or two younger than you.” He flustered and got up from the bed. “I should be going, mother is going to send a search party if she realises I’m not out torturing muggles for sports with the Lestrange brothers.”

“Telle! Telle!” Teddy decided to join in.

It made her laugh and Regulus throw a bemused smile at Teddy over his back.

“Don’t you go betraying your own blood Teddy!” he called out while leaving.

“I’ll get it out of you!!!” she shouted with a wide smile over his retreating back.

For a minute there, it almost felt like she was teasing Harry or Ron. Remembering them sobered her pretty quickly.

“Back to work,” she thought while dropping the hesitant Teddy back in the playpen.

She would be damned if she didn’t get everything right this time around.

Chapter Text

James Potter did not remember the last time Remus Lupin had been so unbelievably anxious before the full moon.

“You need to relax Moony, I’m getting a headache just by looking at you,” Sirius smirked.

“I can’t help it! What if it doesn’t work? What if it does? It’s such a big temptation! If it doesn’t work after getting me all hopeful, it’s going to kill me! And if it does, I might still die of shock!”

James and Sirius laughed out loud.

“Look at it this way Moony, either way we can blame Dumbledore and blackmail him to give us whatever we want to keep your murder a secret.” Sirius smirked.

“Imagine having the world’s greatest sorcerer at your beck and call! We can get him to abolish Slytherin house, or claim his entire vaults gold and go on a world tour!” James chipped in.

“Seriously? You both are already filthy rich to be able to afford a world tour! And abolish Slytherin house? We aren’t even in Hogwarts anymore! If I die, I’m gonna come back and haunt you for the rest of your lives.”

“Wouldn’t have it any other way buddy! Marauders together till the end!” Sirius added while putting an arm over his shoulders.

“Where did he manage to get it anyways? I have just heard rumours of someone working on it in initial stages. Wouldn’t it have been big news if it was going for trials?” Remus wondered out loud what all of them were thinking.

“Do you think ‘this’ is a trial and they are treating you as a test subject?” Peter was stupid enough to voice out loud.

Remus paled. “Dumbledore would have told me in that case. He said it was a proven thing but the creator didn’t wish to be public about it yet.”

“Only one way to find out Moony. Cheers!” James said as he handed over the last of the vials for Moony to drink.

It was a week back when Dumbledore had personally come to the flat that Sirius and Remus were renting out and given Remus the best news ever. Apparently there was a potion which would help him keep his consciousness even when transformed. Remus’s biggest fear ever was to end up harming someone while transformed. And Dumbledore, out of the blue, gave him a way out of that fear. 

If it worked, Remus’s life would change forever. 

“How fun would it be to actually be around a transformed werewolf in human form!” James mused. He couldn’t wait! “We could go to Snape’s house and scare the shit out of him!” He thought with a satisfied smug smirk.

……………

The next order meeting happened to be a week after Moony’s first ever conscious transformation. They had literally blasted through Hogwarts Headmasters office to stop Moony from kissing the life out of the old professor. But Moony, being Moony, ended up bursting into tears the minute he saw the old Professor and thanked him for a full fifteen minutes continuously before he calmed down enough to leave. They all were on a high since then and had partied almost daily in celebration.

Today’s order meeting was going to be the most serious one they had had till date. Good thing Peter was stuck home mostly these days to bother taking out time to attend Order meetings. He had a feeling Peter had joined primarily because of the rest of them and had no inclination to put himself through additional effort for world welfare while he had personal family issues to deal with. “Understandable, family should take priority.” He thought.

The Granger girl had her hair pinned into a plait today, she was dressed in jeans and a full sleeved black top. Her aura today screamed of a warrior rather than the hesitant but powerful magical one from the last meeting. She seemed to be busy talking to Professor McGonagall with keen interest. The Professor seemed to have an impressed look on her face. “Looks like Remus has some competition in his monopoly of being McGonagall’s favourite,” he thought humorously.

Moony and Padfoot looked half asleep at the moment though. They all had partied till late in the night and hardly got any sleep. He however was to on the edge thinking about the overload of information from the last meeting to feel sleepy. Lily had been busy with her St.Mungos internship of late and they had hardly spent any time together since quite a few days now. He was surprised that it wasn’t bothering him as much as it should. He himself was being bulldozed into a pulp by Moody while training him and the other Auror trainees, including Sirius.

Dumbledore cleared his throat and sat at the head of the table bringing the meeting to start. 

“Hello everyone! Thank you for taking out time to attend this meeting. Without wasting any further time, Hermione, if you would… ” He looked over at Granger.

“Ah, Okay so…. Horcruxes. The easiest Horcrux to collect is at Hogwarts in the Room of Requirement. It’s the lost Diadem of Ravenclaw.”

“What the hell?” “How do you know that?” “He kept one at Hogwarts!!” And a lot of other similar comments from literally everyone followed her saying this. The few who didn’t say anything seemed too shocked to comment, him included.

“Yes it’s appalling. How I know this isn’t important, what’s important is that we are aware that it is there and can collect it any time we want.”

“What is a room of requirement? We are well aware of all the secret places in Hogwarts but have never heard about such a room.” He couldn’t help but ask.

“You haven’t?” She teased. “Maybe it was essential for people to have a place to escape the infamous marauders,” she smirked.

“Hey! We were famous, not infamous!” He protested but felt himself smile.

“True that!” Sirius agreed with enthusiasm.

“We might have been a little,” Moony said under his breath.

“You didn’t even go to Hogwarts and you still know of us! Need an autograph fan girl?” Sirius smirked.

Moody hit him over the head. “Does it look like I have time for your shenanigans Black? Does it look like this is a joking matter?”

“Okaaay so the second Horcrux,” Granger said quickly, once again getting serious. He had liked the smirk on her face when she teased him, it looked like she needed some fun in her life.

“Voldemort hid a ring that he inherited, or should I say forcefully inherited from Slytherin in an old shack that belonged to Marvolo Gaunt. We should be able to find the address in the old records. That ring is the second Horcrux that we can get.
I do not have a confirmation of the next three Horcruxes yet, though I expect to get it very soon.”

“How? How do you know all this when the Auror department doesn’t have the slightest clue about any of it?” Moody almost shouted desperately.

“Can’t go on divulging my information source now Mr Moody,” she smiled. “I need to be constantly vigilant don’t I,” she added Moody’s catchphrase with a widened smile making Moody narrow his eyes.

“If looks could kill,” he thought. Moody hated not knowing anything. “She is going to put him in such a state and he is going to take it all out on us unfortunate trainees tomorrow,” he sighed internally.

Chapter Text

Dumbledore started talking before Moody could revert back. “We do not want to catch any undue attention from Tom’s spies, which we have to assume are everywhere. For the first Horcrux hunt, I could go collect it from the said place with Hermione’s help but she insists on having younger blood for the job. Apparently the oldies are more prone to fall for the defensive temptations of the Horcruxes.”

“I have a feeling the Horcrux might detect his power and fight stronger in defence.” Granger explained.

“How did one get that kind of a specific feeling?” James wondered.

Dumbledore continued, “Thankfully we can count on Hoarse Slughorn hosting a get together soon enough once the new session starts from Monday. He always invites the previous year’s select few in the first one. I’m pretty sure we’ll have James and Lilly attending as ex head boy and head girl.”

“New links in Auror Office and St Mungo’s would be too tempting for him.” Moody groaned.

Dumbledore chuckled, “Hermione will already be there to attempt her NEWTs under Ministry appointed invigilators. This ways you all will have a valid excuse to be at Hogwarts late in the evening incase you come across anyone. You all can collect the Diadem and destroy it there itself.”

“Are you kidding me? You are sending a bunch of kids with no backup to destroy the soul of one of the most evil wizards ever! How exactly are they supposed to do that?” Mother rose from her seat!

“This should be interesting!” James thought. When his mother got like this, her Black side coming to the forefront, she was scary as hell! And as long as he wasn’t at the end of that treatment, it was extreme fun.

“Calm down Dorea,” Dumbledore replied patiently. “Firstly, Hermione knows exactly how to destroy the Horcrux. Secondly, do you really think I would send them if I wasn’t sure it was safe for them to do so? However if it makes you feel better, they can just collect the Horcrux and we can destroy it over here in the next meeting when we are all together.”

“That would be much appreciated thank you.” Mother insisted.

“I would rather not store it anywhere near Teddy and I don’t think I want to trust anyone keep it with them.” Granger interrupted.

“You do not trust us?” Dad raised his eyebrows.

“Who is Teddy?” He heard himself ask.

She ignored him and answered his father.

“I do Mr Potter.” She said with a faint blush on her cheeks, probably from being reprimanded. She looked pretty while blushing. She continued,  “It is the Horcrux that I do not trust. It has a tendency to bring out the worst in you. Make you believe your worst thoughts.” She looked sad and he could see her shiver slightly.

“How DO you know that? How exactly do you have such intimate knowledge of Horcruxes when even the most accomplished wizards and witches haven’t even heard of it! There are hardly any books going around with that knowledge.” Moody was flabbergasted, like all of them he guessed.

“Well,” she sounded sheepish & hesitant, “You could say that I have already come across and destroyed one.”

A collective shocked “What” could be heard before Sirius decided to be, well, ‘Sirius’. “How many people out there are making Horcruxes? Is it a new fad or something? In which case I would … ,” Sirius started.

Granger cut him off immediately, “I would rather not talk about it. Just know that I am well aware of what I’m doing and no Sirius you would not,” she almost scolded him. She called him Sirius with such familiarity! She hardly knew him! And yet it felt so… natural.

“And I would never ever deliberately put your children at risk Madam,” she met his mothers eyes.

“I’ll hold you to that young lady,” Mother said in her most stern voice.

“I’ll expect nothing less,” Granger replied with equal confidence.

“I would prefer we first have the means to destroy the Horcrux ready so that we can immediately destroy it once we get it.” She continued.

“So how do we destroy a Horcrux?” Lily asked.

“Burn it with fiendfyre or just stab it in the middle,” I would prefer the later, she smiled.

“Just stab it with…. a knife?” He heard Lilly ask apprehensively.

“Not a knife, a Basilisk fang.”

“Who WAS this girl?” He couldn’t help but wonder, just like probably everyone else in the room, going by the startled expressions on everyone’s face.

“Easy enough then. So are you carrying a basilisk fang in your pocket or do we have to start the search for the most elusive of the creatures in the world?” Moody commented sarcastically.

“I wish I did at present but unfortunately forgot it while packing for this place you see, never thought I’ll need it again.” She said with a weird kind of a chuckle.

A shiver went across his spine wondering if she was actually joking or….. ?

She continued, “I have however narrowed down the search for it. So as long as you get me a couple of roosters, I’ll get you your basilisk.”

“Am I in an alternate fictional world? Are you for real? Where have you been all our lives?” Padfoot spoke with a wonder on his face.

Moody however was even more dumbfounded,“You know where to find a basilisk?”

“It’s in the Chamber of Secrets in Hogwarts.”

“There is actually a ‘Chamber of Secrets?’” a number of people including him asked out loud in shock.

“Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better!!” Sirius was ecstatic. “It’s like Christmas has come early! How did we ever not know about it? How do you know so much about Hogwarts?” He asked in awe!

“Can’t let the Marauders have a monopoly on all the Hogwarts secrets now can we?” she laughed. She looked so lively while laughing. “And I’m Albus Dumbledore’s Goddaughter, don’t you think it earned me the privilege of roaming around in Hogwarts during the holidays,” she smirked.

McGonagall looked at her with a strange expression and seemed to be about to say something when mother beat her to it.

“There is a Basilisk in Hogwarts!” Mother shouted. “And you knowingly let children be there despite that!” Dad put a calming hand on hers. “I’m sure Albus wouldn’t knowingly put the children at risk, would you Albus?,” Dad rarely spoke at the meetings, preferred to observe, much like him. 

“I would not. I only recently came to know after Hermione discovered it. She assures me it can not come out of the chamber as of now.”

“As of now?” Mother asked.

“Well who can guarantee the future right?” He winked at Hermione.

She straightened herself and looked down the table. Weird.

“Anyways, so as Hermione mentioned, we just need a couple of Roosters, easy to get, and then just enter the chamber to let them lose. The cry of a rooster is fatal to the basilisk. Once it is dead, we can go collect the fang.
We should take care of it this weekend itself, before the new session starts and the castle is filled with students. 
Since the session is yet to start, it’s the perfect time, we do not want Tom to be intimated by any of his student spies about people moving around the Chamber area.
I’ll ask Charlus and Alastor to accompany Hermione to take care of this task.” Dumbledore stated.

“I want to be there too!” He spoke up immediately along with a simultaneous cry from Sirius, Remus and the Prewett twins!

“You all just want to know about the Chambers location,” Lily laughed.

“Let us have these layabouts guarding the entrance just incase something goes wrong and we need to control the basilisk.” Moody agreed and he felt elated like the rest of the group.

“We need to ask Prof Sprout to have Mandrakes ready incase things don’t go to plan and someone gets petrified. Not a fun experience I assure you,” Granger mentioned as if getting petrified was nothing new to her. Who WAS this girl?

“Okay I got to go revise for my NEWT’s. I’ll catch you guys over the weekend.” Granger rose from her seat as if she had just had a casual conversation about tea and biscuits. “How could someone hunting and destroying evil souls be concerned about their exams!” He thought with wonder.

“Do you need any notes? Lilly and I made some good ones for ours. We could drop them over at your place in the evening.” Moony spoke up. 

“NO!” He could feel her getting immediately embarrassed at the abrupt, almost panicked refusal. “I mean thanks, I really appreciate it but I already made my own notes.”

“No problem, send us an owl if you have any doubts.” Moony reassured her awkwardly.

Lily added with a smile,“Yeah, please do. And once you are done with the NEWT’s, you need to come and join us for a post meeting get together to celebrate it!”

“Thank you,” Granger replied but quickly averted her eyes from both of them.

This girl made extra effort to limit her interactions with them. “Weird,” he thought as the meeting came to an end after the final logistics of the mission were conveyed.

As he left, he kept thinking about what they were about to face. 
“A ‘Basilisk’ and a ‘Horcrux’! Who would have thought these two words would be a part of my vocabulary!” he thought as he apparated home.

Chapter Text

Remus Lupin did not know what to think of Hermione Granger. Ever since she was introduced in the Order meeting, he could feel there was something going on with her.

Firstly, she didn’t smell, at all. Everyone had a unique scent that his werwolf learnt to recognise and associate with the person. However Hermione Granger smelled of nothing. It was clear that she was using a scent muffling charm and he wondered why she would do that. Most females he knew wouldn’t go out without a perfume on them but a scent muffling charm would prevent her from that. Why was she using the charm?

Secondly, she was avoiding him. When he introduced himself to her, she was quite polite and warm, and yet he had a feeling she always tried her best to not be anywhere in his immediate vicinity. Did Dumbledore tell her about his secret? Was that why she made the extra effort to maintain the distance? He would have felt hurt but she did not seem scared of him or repulsed by him whenever he did manage to talk to her. He could see her hold back and he couldn’t figure out why she would do that.

Thirdly Moony had a strange instinct of protectiveness for her. It did not make any sense. He had never met her before and yet she almost felt like pack. He had no idea what to make of it.

As they walked towards the first floor, following her, he wondered if they would have ever come to know of such unbelievable things without her. 

“Girl’s lavatory! The most elusive place on earth is in a lavatory!” Fabian Prewett spoke in an amazed tone.

“ It’s not ‘in’ a lavatory, it just has access through it.” Granger rolled her eyes.

“Potato, potaeto” Gideon quipped.

Both Granger and Sirius laughed but James seemed to still be staring at Granger as if he was trying to figure out a puzzle . He seemed to be doing that a lot of late. Couldn’t blame him, he himself was extremely curious as to how she had so much information access.

As they reached the door of the said place, Hermione stopped, took out a bunch of glasses from her beaded bag and started handing them over. “Okay.. so if a Basilisk looks you straight in the eye, you are dead but if it looks at you through some barrier, you are just petrified. We prefer petrified, hence the glasses.”

“We’d prefer avoiding that too.” James smiled.

“Well let’s hope for the best!”, she replied with a smile of her own. She seemed to avoid Prongs too from what he had observed. Why?

He didn’t get the chance to ponder more on the thought as as soon as they entered, something whisked past them at such an alarming speed that it scared the living daylight out of him. 

“Hey Myrtle! Mind giving us some room over here” He heard Granger speak calmly to what he now realised was the ghost of the dead girl that the girls would often talk about. ‘Moaning Myrtle’ they called her.

“Who are you? I haven’t seen you before? What are you doing in my place of rest?”

She had never seen Granger? But Granger seemed to recognise her! Strange! How come Granger found the entrance if the ghost says she was never here? Something weird was going on. This girl was definitely not telling them the entire truth.

“I’m Hermione. Nice to meet you. I’m really sorry but we have some work here. I promise we would try to not disrupt your schedule much.” Granger said smoothly to the ghost. She was very kind to someone she didn’t really need to be, he found that interesting.

“Schedule? What’s on it? Flushing down the drain twice?” Sirius quipped in a low voice with a chuckle.

Granger elbowed him to be quiet. She seemed quite at ease with Sirius despite knowing him for the same time as them, guess he does have that special effect on girls that he is always boasting about.

Granger went to one of the taps and made a strange noise close to it.

Immediately the sink shifted and an entrance appeared.

“Woah!!” Padfoot gasped along with literally everyone else.

Moody had his wand out in a second. “What was that? Was that Parseltongue? You can speak it?” He looked positively furious.

“Parseltongue!! What the f***!!!” James shouted.

“Keep quite James,” Mr Potter said in a stern voice.

“Miss Granger?” He looked over to the girl.

“Yes it was a word in Parseltongue. No I cannot speak it except for this one word which I learnt from my friend. He could speak the language and no he was not evil. Not everyone speaking Parseltongue is evil.” She sounded defensive.

“No one except Voldemort himself has been known to speak Parseltongue in ages. Your friend has surely kept himself under the radar Ms Granger. It certainly is an extremely rare capability. Only those with links to Salazar Slytherin are supposed to be proficient in it.” Mr Potter questioned in a subtle way.

“My friend got his capability accidentally. No he was not a dark wizard if that is what you are trying to ask.” Granger spoke confidently.

“Was? And how does one get such a capability ‘accidentally’” Moody asked.

“He is dead. I would rather not talk about him right now.” She spoke in a low voice and he could see the devastation clear on her face. She was not lying.

“Maybe someday I’ll tell you all about him” she said softly while looking up at Mr Potter with a weirdly compassionate expression.

“Okay then.” Mr Potter looked over at Moody and he nodded, lowering his wand.

“Prewett and Prewett you guard this entrance. Black and Little Potter, you are to guard the bathroom entrance. If the snake comes out, it better be dead before being able to leave the Castle. Lupin, you are coming with us. Hold the roosters.” Moody instructed.

Granger stepped up and started explaining. “We need to jump. We are going to land on Devil’s Snare. Do not panic, just relax, light a small fire and you’ll be free. Then we leave the roosters and wait.”

“Easy enough then.” Moody stated and before anyone could do anything, he jumped. Granger smiled and looked over at Mr Potter. 

“My turn then.” Mr Potter smiled back and jumped.

“Okay then…” he suddenly got nervous.

“It’s going to be okay.” she smiled reassuringly at him. “You should drop the rooster cages first, and then jump, I’ll be right after you.”

He did as she said and within a few minutes they were all looking at what looked like a pile of rat bones spread all over. He thought about Peter and had to stop himself from puking.

Once the roosters were loose, it took about five minutes before they heard a loud thump. They waited for a few minutes more and once they could hear nothing more than the roosters crying, they moved forward. Granger seemed to know where they were going and he wondered how that was possible.

He didn’t get a chance to think more on those lines as they came across a giant mass of what was most definitely the biggest snake he had ever seen in his life. His heart beat faster as he realised what would have happened if this snake would have gotten loose in Hogwarts.

It was amazing to see Granger work with such precision, as if her every move was planned. She cut the Basilisk fangs carefully and stored them in her beaded bag, which he now realised had an interior enlargement charm on them.

Moody raised his eyebrow when he saw that. “You do realise that charm is not legal Ms Granger”

“Ooops!” She smirked and he rolled his eyes. Mr Potter chuckled.

Remus had never in his life imagined he would be a part of something like this! This was not normal everyday work!

Once they were done collecting the fangs and some venom which Granger insisted was invaluable, they left the godforsaken place with the body of the basilisk in a protective preservative charm over there only. There was no way they could deal with that right now.

Once out, it felt like he could breath again. That Chamber gave him the shivers.

“Did you get to slay the beast Moony?” James put an arm around him.

“Ofcourse! I wish to be known as the great slayer of the big mighty snakes from now on.”

He could see Granger’s lips twitch but didn’t meet their eyes, she was strange.

“Well then one job done,” Moody spoke. “ Now we just need to wait for Slughorn to organise his party thing and we can get started on destroying the devil,” he continued.

“This was the most interesting expedition I have had in a while. Thank you Ms Granger.” Mr Potter turned towards her.

“The pleasure is all mine Mr Potter,” Granger answered with a smile.

“I’ll get going now, Alastor are you staying to meet up with Albus?”

“I’ll just update him on the way out, we can use his floo.”

“Sure. You kids better leave soon too. The students might not be here but it’s still better to avoid being seen at the Castle without any explanation.” Mr Potter spoke up.

“Yes Dad. Will just go visit three broomsticks for a bit, it will just look like a nostalgic visit back to the village.”

“Okay that should be fine, see you at home” Mr Potter said as he walked away.

“Care to join us for a bottle of Butterbeer Granger?” James asked.

“Ah, thank you but I should get going, maybe some other time.” She replied awkwardly. 

“Oh no you don’t get to do that after such a momentous day! We need to celebrate!” One of the Prewett twins stopped her from walking away.

“I’m sorry I really need to be somewhere. I would have otherwise.”

“Okay you get a pass this time but next time no excuses. It’s not every day that you get to hang around with badass snake and Horcrux hunting witches!” The other Prewett, Gideon, came up along her other side.

“True that!” Fabian agreed with a smirk.

Granger smiled, said her goodbyes and walked away.

This was the second time the new girl let go off an opportunity to mingle with them. And he couldn’t help but feel it was personal. There was something off about Hermione Granger and Remus Lupin didn’t know what to make off it. 

Chapter Text

James Potter was thoroughly bored. There were only so many operational plans and strategies he could hear about when they didn’t directly concern him.
Granger however seemed to be in her element. He was amazed to see how much effort she had put into all that strategising. She had rolls of charts and parchment strewn all around the table. 
Moody looked like he was in heaven and hell at the same time. While he seemed to be thoroughly impressed with her strategies,the fact that he didn’t himself come up with those seemed to be torturing him. It was actually the only thing that was keeping him entertained all this while,watching Moody’s face expressions.

“Moving on to the last important topic on today’s agenda.” Professor Dumbledore spoke.

“Oh thank Merlin! I’m famished,” James thought.

“We have two new members joining us and I would insist that they are treated as well as the rest of the members. They both are joining us at great risk to their personal safety. Hence their involvement with the Order is to be kept at the greatest secrecy level. I expect us to leave behind our differences and embrace the fact that we are all working towards the same better future.” Dumbledore looked pointedly at James and Sirius and James did not have a good feeling about that.

“Please welcome Regulus Black and Severus Snape.”

James and Sirius were up on their feet in a minute.

“He is a Death Eater,” James shouted looking at the just entered Snape with his wand drawn out.

“So is he,” Sirius joined looking at Regulus with a mix of anger and sadness. He had not drawn his wand though.

Granger spoke up immediately with a loud clear voice, “Yes they are. They made a mistake. Haven’t we all at some point in our lives? They are here because they regret the choices they made and want to repent their mistakes.”

“You know them?” He asked in shock.

“I do, I’m the one vouching for them.”

“You are vouching for them?? You are a dark witch!” James gasped. “Oh it is absolutely clear now! That is how you have all this information! Was your Parseltongue friend a Death Eater or did you learn that word from Voldemort himself? You are a part of their crowd! Are you a Death Eater too?” 
He looked at her arm in shock and startled when she reflexively covered the already covered arm with her hand. Unfortunately that gesture seemed to make James and the others wonder if his statement was actually true.

“It doesn’t matter if I am or not. What matters is we all are fighting towards the same cause, the same future and if you can not leave behind your childhood grudges in the past then maybe you do not have the emotional maturity to be a part of the Order.” She seemed incensed.

“I am not mature enough to be in the order? It is you who do not belong here!!! Just because Dumbledore is stuck with you as his Goddaughter doesn’t mean we get to be stuck with you too. Did you what, whore yourself out to the other Death Eaters and Voldemort to get all that precious information since your lot doesn’t seem to have any morals in any case.”

Four things happened simultaneously after he said so.

“James!!!”He heard his parents shout.

“Enough!” Dumbledore roared.

Hermione Granger slapped him hard on his face.

Both Black and Snape pointed their wands at him with a furious expression.

“Talk to her like that again and I’ll forget I’m not supposed to kill you.” Snape said in a dead serious voice.

“I would advise you to listen to him. Black library is full of curses which will roast you from the inside and I won’t mind testing a few on my own.” Regulus added.

“Keen to follow up the Black family ideals Little brother.” Sirius stood besides him, now with his wand drawn.

“Wouldn’t be here if I did, would I now?” Regulus Black spat.

“I SAID ENOUGH.” Dumbledore’s voice echoed loudly across the room as he stood up. 

“Mr Potter, please refrain from commenting on my relationship with Hermione. She is not just my Goddaughter but a part of my family and extremely dear to me and my brother, who’s absence in this meeting you should be grateful for because he may not even have bothered to give you the warning that Mr Snape did. 
How Hermione got her information is for me to know as I have already conveyed. If you ever dare to cast apprehensions on her character like you just did, I will not tolerate it. Is that clear?”

“Yes Sir,” James said through his anger and shame. He knew it was time to shut up when the greatest wizard of all times makes it clear that he is pissed off with you.

“And as far as Mr Snape and Mr Black are considered, they are going to be putting their life on the line everyday so that we don’t have to. Whether you like them or not is up to you but I will not have you disrespect them.”

Charlus Potter spoke up then,“Miss Granger, please accept an apology on behalf of my family and let me assure you that we are truly ashamed of the words our son has used. Mister Snape, Regulus, welcome to the Order of Phoenix. I apologise to you too on behalf of my son. If Albus trusts you, then so do I.”

James turned red in anger but Sirius beat him to it. “He is a git Dad! He deserves much more for the kind of a person he is. You have no idea how he treated Lily .”

He could feel Lily stiffen at his side as everyone looked at her. 

“My personal issues with Severus are my own Sirius,” she said in anger. 

“Let me correct myself, I apologise on behalf of both of my sons.”

“Dad!!”

“Keep quiet Sirius,” Mum spoke in an equally angry tone. “I stand by the apology that my husband just gave you three. Also, Regulus dear,” she went up to him and gave him a hug. “Last time I saw you was when you were a small kid, how you have grown! I want to tell you that despite the bad decisions that you have apparently made in the past, I am so proud to see another member of the Black family stand up for what is right. Just like Sirius, you will always have a home in Potter manor should you ever need it.”

“Thank you Aunt Dorea,” Regulus choked and looked over at Sirius but Sirius was busy avoiding his eyes. 

The meeting quickly concluded after that, with everyone having to vow once again to not divulge the involvement of the two Death Eaters to anyone. “Three Death Eaters”, he thought bitterly. His cheek still hurt and Lily refused to talk to him at all since the meeting.

It was all the Granger girl’s fault. She was the reason everyone was upset with him. She made his parents feel ashamed of him and apologise in front of everyone! He was going to get back at her so badly, she was going to rue the day she decided to enter their lives.

……………

“Meeni! No cry!”

Hermione held Teddy close to her heart. She had not left her room at the Inn ever since returning from the meeting. The bold facade she kept at the meeting was long gone and she couldn’t stop the tears from falling out of her eyes.

“I can’t believe he spoke to me like that! Harry would never have spoken like that to anyone!”

“Arry,” Teddy got excited, bringing a fresh round of tears in her eyes.

“I wish he was here with us Teddy! I miss him so much! I couldn’t even look at James first because of their resemblance but I can now see how different they are! Still, it almost felt as if Harry was shouting all those mean things to me, it really hurt Teddy, it really hurt.” She said softly while drying her tears with her hand. She could feel Teddy getting upset on seeing her cry so gave him a small smile and a kiss on his forehead.

“I’m always going to have secrets over here. People are always going to judge me. I’m destined to be alone. You won’t leave me too, will you teddy bear?”

“Teddy bear,” Teddy chuckled and then kept repeating it while laughing and pulling her hair.

Seeing him laughing pulled Hermione out of her melancholy. It didn’t matter what James Potter thought of her. She thought fondly of how Albus, Regulus and Severus stood up for her. She thought of how fond, in his own way, Aberforth seemed to have become of her and Teddy. She won’t be totally friendless in this world. She just needed to do her thing, stupid James Potter could go to hell.

And yet as she slept that night, his bitter words were the last thing she thought of.

Chapter Text

“I can’t believe we are not able to come up with a good way to get back at Granger even with our combined intellect.” James groaned.

“Let me go on the record saying if you had any intellect, you would realise you were in the wrong and let it go.” Moony yawned while lounging on the sofa.

Sirius threw a pillow at him conveying their combined displeasure at his insistence on no contribution.

“I was not in the wrong! Did you see how her hand went to her arm when I called her a Death Eater, that was as good as a confession in itself. I don’t know how she has convinced Dumbledore but I can bet there is a dark mark on her arm. She has to be a higher one too to get all that information. And did you notice how she is always in a hurry to leave? Bet she is on Voldy’s beck and call all the time.”

“What if she is? She is still helping us out being a spy for the order.” Moony insisted.

“Her developing cold feet when she realised the madness of her ‘Master’ does not excuse her deciding to become one. Who knows what all she did or does as a Death Eater! She needs to pay for it.”

“She needs to pay for that or for the humiliation she put you through?” Moony said in his infinite wisdom.

“Both okay!  Do you know how much I had to hear from Mom and Dad after we came home? They were ashamed of me Moony, I have never ever seen them have that expression on their faces. Lily is still not talking to me. It’s all her fault!”

“Shouldn’t you be focusing your energy on getting Lily to talk to you again rather than find a way to make Granger miserable?”

“Naa she’ll come around. I can take care of that later. I need to think what to do with Granger first.”

Remus and Sirius exchanged a look that he did not understand.

He had to focus on what to do next.

“We don’t even know where she lives!” He spoke out loud. “And we can’t prank her at the Order meeting.”

“How about send her something nasty through owl post?” suggested Sirius.

“Now you are talking! We get our revenge and she can’t even pin it on us.” James said excitedly.

“This is a bad idea,” Remus decided to chip in, only to have both Sirius and James throw a pillow each at him this time.

………………….

The next few days were a complete nuisance for Hermione.

The first time she received parcel from an unknown owl, she didn’t bother checking, she had no enemies in this time period as far as she knew. That proved to be a costly mistake and the minute she opened it, a dust engulfed her and she turned green. Not with jealousy at the innovativeness of the product but actual complete green. From top to bottom. Her hair, her skin, every inch of her body was actual green colour.

Teddy thought it was funny and she was copying his hair colour changing capability and insisted on having green coloured hair the entire week, even after she got rid of hers in about a couple of hours despite it being an extremely complicated spell. She wasn’t the brightest of witches just for name sake. If she had not been the target, she might have actually been impressed with the spell work.

The parcel had contained a note saying “Since you like Slytherins so much”. 

She knew it was most definitely from James, he had been furious with her. What he said to her had hurt her more than she showed outwardly. It had already been tough to look at him considering his resemblance to Harry but when he was saying all those despicable things with venom in his voice, it pierced her heart. It felt as if Harry was talking to her like that.

She had initially thought she would like to be friends with the Marauders in her new future, but now she wasn’t sure. It would hurt too much to have people who liked her earlier or who she wanted to like her, hurt and hate her. She could not give that power to anyone.

Severus and Regulus were safe. She never knew Regulus and the Snape of her time wouldn’t talk without a sarcastic mean comment at the tip of his tongue so Severus talking even in a normal tone to her felt like a love poem.

A couple of days later she received a new one. She did all her tests for curses and hexes and when they came back negative, she couldn’t help her curiosity. She ended up with blood on her hands and all over her front, literal blood. She felt disgusted and even had a mild panic attack remembering Malfoy Manor and the war.

The message accompanying said “Since you Death Eaters like having blood on your hands so much.”

Third time she just tried to vanish the parcel but it was impervious to that. She decided to ‘Incendio’ it and the minute she did so, they almost ended up with fire at the Hogs Head. 
It was filled with fireworks and accompanied by the fireproof note “Since you like lighting a fire in the calm.”

Next time she didn’t even have to open the parcel. The minute she touched it her nose grew an abnormal length and a message popped in the air “Since you like being a wicked witch.”

Hermione was seething by the time the next Order meeting came. After saying goodbye to Teddy while leaving him in Aberforth’s care, she decided she had had enough. A little help from Professor Dumbledore and she was all set to teach James Potter what it meant to mess with her.

Seated between Albus and Severus, she was too excited for what was to come to focus on the topic’s being discussed. It was in any case irrelevant to her as they were all getting a know how about the Death Eaters from Severus and Regulus. She had already experienced the Death Eater treatment first hand so the information wasn’t anything new to her.

She could feel the Marauders staring at her from time to time but she made the conscious choice to ignore them for now. It was a relief that Albus had managed to convince Pettigrew to let go of the Order membership till his mother was feeling better and he could devote more time. She wasn’t ready to see the rat and not strangle him with her bare hands.

“And last of all, Moody here has a few things he wants to talk to you all about.” She heard Dumbledore say. Ah, that was her cue to pay attention.

Moody started, “Considering the amount of information overload that we have had recently, it seems we might actually have an end in sight for this proxy war. That means you all need to be ready to fight. Hands on. So from now on we are going to be doing some duelling practice after each meeting to figure out where everyone stands on that front.
Today we’ll have our Auror trainees show us what they have learnt by now.”

Bingo! Albus came through.

“Potter, you are up.” Hook.

“Choose your opponent.” Line.

“I choose Granger.” And Sinker.

She smiled and looked up at the smug face of James Potter giving her such a pretentious look, she wanted to slap him once again.

They both stood in the designated circle.

As expected he started his first spell without even a warning but it still took her less than 10 minutes to bring him down on his knees with her wand pointed at his jugular. 

He was good but she was battle worn. There was no competing with actual practical life and death duel experience.

She could have ended it earlier but she had to first change his clothes to a ball gown, make him bald, give him green eyebrows, make his feet dance to a ballet and convert his face to that of a canary(she thanked Fred and George for the idea in my mind).

She leaned close once she reversed the transformation and spoke so that only he would hear. “Send me one more parcel and this is going to look like a party compared to what I’m gonna do to you.”

He seemed shocked and transfixed by the end of it. And she was pretty sure she had conveyed her message.

However what she had not anticipated was for James to suddenly hold her wrist tightly and spat out, “I don’t take instructions from Death Eaters” for everyone to hear.

And before she could snatch her hand away, he had raised her blouse arm to uncover the one thing she had not shown or told about to anyone in this time period.

James dropped her wrist as if he had got burnt as soon as he saw what he had uncovered, and she covered it back immediately, but the shocked look on everyone’s face told her they had already seen the one thing she had not been keen to share.

She could hear someone throw up but her ears were ringing with her own cries from Malfoy Manor as that crazy old bitch Bellatrix carved her up with the word “Mudblood”.

“I got to go”, she spoke out to no one in particular, rushed towards the exit and apparated to Hogs End.

Chapter Text

“Tell me who,” she heard a cold voice. “Tell me who and I’ll make sure they don’t get to take a breath tomorrow.”

“‘We’ll’ make sure,” she heard another.

But she could not speak. She felt numb.

“Breathe Granger,” someone said to her.

No matter how much she tried to not let the word affect her, the reaction of everyone on it being carved into her arm made her relive the fact that what happened to her wasn’t normal. She couldn’t help but recall the pain of going through that torture, that fear, that vulnerability, that hopelessness. What happened to her, the horror of never forgetting how she had that vile word become a part of her body also made her once again bring forward all her childhood insecurities, from the times of crooked hair and bushy unmaintainted hair. She wasn’t vain, but would anyone ever be able to look past it and love her body the way it was now, accept and love ‘her’ the way she was now. So many scars, big and small, external and internal. So much damage, so much trauma, so much of a past she could not share with anyone.

“Breathe Granger,” someone said again.

No, no she had to accept that it may as well be impossible. Didn’t matter, she had Teddy to look after in any case. No one would accept someone with that kind of a responsibility in any case, how does anything else matter.

And she wouldn’t let her fear of that day overcome her strengths.

Hermione Granger had survived that day, that horrible horrible bitch was dead once, she’ll make sure she is again. Neville will live and grow up with his parents. Sirius will be there to be the perfect Godfather to Harry. Bellatrix Lestrange will never lay a shadow on their or Hermione Granger’s life again. She promised herself once again.

“Hermione, you need to stop thinking and breathe.” the other voice said.

She took a deliberate breath and inhaled the soothing air, still free of the death and devastation of her previous life.

Finally she found the energy to speak, “Thank you. Don’t worry, you won’t need to kill them, I’ll myself make sure they are by the end of this war.”

“That’s better. You okay?” she heard Snape ask in concern.

She nodded. 

“Why did they do this to you? I have never seen anyone act so..so brutally, even in Death Eaters!” Regulus asked her.

“They aren’t battle or Azkaban worn yet. And I was a special case. They needed something from me, something they didn’t get. I got the last laugh though. Helped me rob Gringotts,” she said with a deliberate forced smile, trying to lighten the suffocating darkness that loomed over them.

“Ha ha very funny,” Snape quipped.

She gave him an amused look.

Regulus chipped in before Snape could get over the shocked look on his face, “Oh no tell me you didn’t! No one can rob Gringotts! How in Merlin’s name did you manage that?!!”

She smiled sadly, closed her eyes and leaned back against the wall. “Story for another time”, she said and chuckled when they groaned.

James Potter might be a git to her but she couldn’t murder him if she wanted her best friend to live. 

She was just going to stay far away from him lest she hex him within an inch of his life. “Harry & Ron might have found that funny,” she thought as she felt a tear rebel out of her closed eyes.

………………….

James Potter had never felt so horrible in his life. Not even when Sirius almost got Snape killed by Moony. This time he knew it was entirely his fault . He had never in his wildest imagination thought he would see what he did on Granger’s arm. He had been so sure she was hiding the dark mark, what he saw was the polar opposite of it. He still couldn’t believe it! There were letters literally carved into her skin by someone! Someone had taken time to actually brand her with that word! How could anyone do that! Why would anyone go to such lengths? Could some be so depraved so as to torture anyone like that!

Merlin how did she survive that! Such torture! And she survived! They weren’t able to break her spirit! She was still fighting! And he blamed her of being a death eater! Merlin he felt horrible! 

“Dumbledore said she was homeschooled. He said his enemies might hurt her if they knew of their link. Do you think he wasn’t just referring to an imaginary scenario? Do you think it actually happened? Someone tortured her to get back at him?” James asked out loud.

“If they did, he did not know. He had the same look of shock on his face as the rest of us when you…. .” replied Padfoot.

“I feel sick,” James admitted. “I can’t believe I did that to her. She clearly had not even told Dumbledore. Merlin! I put it on display for everyone to see. Someone just Avada me!”

“You need to apologise to her Prongs. You went too far.” Moony said.

“‘Far’ was last time, this time it was beyond far,” Padfoot noted soberly.

“I know, I know. I will. But is it going be enough? I called her a Death Eater and a whore! I can’t even face anyone else from the meeting, I don’t know how I’ll face her,” he said palming his face in his hands. “Mom and Dad are furious! Moody has been treating me like a personal punching bag in the trainee sessions!”

“Lily isn’t talking to you either,” Moony mentioned with raised eyebrows. 

“Yeah, that too!”

“It doesn’t bother you as much does it?”

“Ofcourse it does! I feel miserable about what I said and did!” He protested.

“I meant the fact that Lily doesn’t talk to you, hasn’t talked to you in a while.

Is everything okay between you guys?”

“Oh! I don’t know Moony,” he sighed. “It’s like, like the passion has fizzled out you know. I still care about her, but of-late she seems more like a friend rather than a lover. I have a feeling she feels the same.

With the war looming in front of us, we both have been hesitant to act on it. You want to hold on to whatever and whoever you have in your life when tomorrow is so unpredictable.

However ever since Granger came up with all that information and Dumbledore’s increased confidence in our win in the near future, I guess it feels different when there seems to be an end in sight to all this mayhem. I’m reevaluating things.”

“That was deep Prongs!” Sirius said soberly. “I hope you figure it out soon!” 

Then added with a smirk, “It’s weird hearing you talk such mature talk! Freaking me out I tell you!” And just like that he lightened the mood, but the heaviness in James’s chest continued.

……

A week had passed and James Potter was still unable to get Hermione Granger’s address. He searched the ministry records whenever possible but couldn’t find anyone by her name registered as a British resident. Guess her primary residence was abroad.

He begged Sirius to contact Regulus for her current address but he received a short reply stating “No way in hell am I telling you that. Haven’t you troubled her enough!”

He asked Lily if she could ask Snivellus but she just gave him a look and walked away. In hindsight he should probably not have used the name “Snivellus” while talking to Lily. He knew she still had a soft spot for him and always hated that name.

Finally he decided to make the trip to Hogwarts to apologise to Dumbledore and beg him to let him know where she lived so he could apologise in person. Sirius, the good friend that he was, decided to accompany him for moral support.

“Do you think he’ll accept my apology?” James voiced out his concern.

“It’s Dumbledore we are talking about, he was always unfairly fair to us,” Sirius chuckled.

“Yeah. But that was before I insulted his Goddaughter.”

“Good point. You wanna get some liquid courage before we go there?” Sirius asked while they walked through Hogsmeade apparition point towards Hogwarts.

“One Firewhisky won’t hurt I guess.”

“Good man, let’s go to Three broomsticks.”

“No it’s going to be jam packed with kids, it being a Hogsmeade weekend for the Hogwarts students. Let’s go to Hogs Head instead.

“Okay”

…..

“Is it me or does this place look cleaner than what it used to when we came here last?” Sirius asked.

“Yeah, couldn’t find a single spider crawling about yet.”

“Hey Abe! Two Firewhiskies please,” Sirius asked the barkeep/owner.

Abe looked up from the bar and the look he gave them was pure venom.

“You are not welcome here anymore. Leave.”

“What? Why?” Padfoot asked but James suddenly realised why and his heart sank.

“Don’t care to explain. Leave.” Aberforth Dumbledore roared.

And before they could turn to leave, he heard the voice he so desperately sought, “Hey Abe do you need any help out here? Teddy is sleeping and I thought…”

She stopped abruptly when she saw them standing besides the bar.

“Never mind I’m going back upstairs, lest I murder someone in your bar.”

As she turned to leave, James sprung into action. “Granger wait!”

She turned and had her wand pointed at his neck at such a fast pace, he didn’t even realise how she did that! 

“Do you still have anything left to say to me? Hasn’t it been enough already? 

Didn’t I make myself clear, leave me the hell alone! Feel free to have whatever opinions you want but just stay out of my life!”

“I just wanted to say I'm sorry. Snape and I have a history and he just manages to bring out the worst out of me. It’s still not an excuse and I feel terrible about, about… “ he stammered.

“About displaying my insecurities in front of everyone! About exposing to the world how I have been carved into and having everyone look at me with pity in their eyes, something I abhor!” she shouted.

“Yes, no, I mean yes I’m sorry for doing that but you are wrong. Yes everyone feels horrible that it happened to you but they don’t pity you. Having something like that happen to anyone would have broken them, but not you. You have managed to keep the fire in you alive, you haven’t let them win. It’s not something to pity but something to admire in you.
I still feel horrible that I took away your choice for privacy, I’m so so very sorry.”

“Guess he does have some redeeming qualities,” he heard Aberforth murmer.

Granger sighed. “I can not forgive you yet Potter, but I appreciate your apology. Now stay out of my life.” And she went back upstairs before he could say anything to stop her.

“Did she live here?” he thought in surprise.

“Does she live here? At Hogs Head?” Sirius asked what he was thinking.

“And that is your business how exactly?” Abe gave him a cold look. It was at times like these when you could see the resemblance between the Dumbledore brothers clearly. You could feel the danger emitting from a mere look.

“Just asking,” Sirius backtracked sheepishly.

Abe turned towards James. “She is family. She has a big heart. I don’t. Get out of my pub.”

“Oh ah yes ofcourse,” he stammered once again. “I really am sorry,” he felt the need to repeat.

He really was an idiot. Someone earning such protectiveness from both the Dumbledore brothers couldn’t be anyone less than extraordinary. He had led his impulsiveness to make him act real stupid.

“I have to make this right somehow,” he thought as he and Sirius went out of the pub.

……

“Well that went well. We didn’t get the Firewhisky but the reason for having that Firewhisky in the first place ended up in our lap so it’s a win I would say. Now you don’t need to go beg Professor Dumbledore for eternity.”

“Yeah, I think I would have chickened out in any case. If Aberforth Dumbledore is so pissed off with me, imagine what Professor Dumbledore would be like.”

“Good point,” Sirius agreed.

“I’m not really going to be easily forgiven, am I?” James sighed.

“What do you expect Prongs? You kind of messed up big time. But I think your speech won you some brownie points so atleast she won’t kick your ass like she did at the meeting.”

“Don’t remind me! It was the most humiliating experience of my life!”

“Yeah, it was, I got second hand embarrassment just by looking at you.”

“How do you think she got so good at duelling?” he wondered out loud.

“No idea buddy! But seeing the kind of information she got for the Order and the kind of torture she seems to have undergone, I’m guessing she had her share of experience.”

“Hmm.” He said soberly.

“Hey Padfoot… ” he said after a while.

“Yeah?”

“Do we know anyone by the name of Teddy?”

“Don’t think so,” he answered as they stepped into the apparition point.

Next day Hermione had an obscenely large bouquet of white roses delivered for her at Hogs Head.

It came with a note saying “Since you have very few reasons to forgive an idiot.”

………………….

Chapter Text

“I apologised to her Lily! Even sent her flowers! I don’t know what else to do. I may not show it all the time but I do realise the gravity of what I did. I feel horrible!”

“Then maybe stop doing things to warrant that in the first place!”

“I wouldn’t have if it hadn’t been for Snivellus! You know how he.. ”

“For the last time, his name is Severus! And if you were to take your head out of your ass for one f******* minute, you would have realised how dangerous it is for him to be doing what he is doing! Do you have any idea what will happen to him if he were to be found out as a spy?”

“Well he should have thought about that when he decided to join them.”

“People make mistakes! God knows how many you did!”

“Oh so we are back to sympathising with him are we? Have you forgotten what he called you?”

“And you called Hermione a Death-eater whore!”

“It isn’t….”

“Isn’t it? You made a mistake and so did he.”

James was silent for a while.

“Lily…”

“Yeah..”

“Do you think you would have given us a chance if he had still been in the picture?”

“What?”

He sighed.

“I’m just wondering, you guys were so close. It was clear he had feelings for you.”

“He didn’t!”

“He did! Any blind person could see it.”

“I didn’t, I didn’t know, I didn’t realise. It’s not true, you are mistaken.”

“Not on that front Lily.”

“You are imagining things. Anyways, I’m ready, we should go.”

….

Slughorn was enthusiastic as always and it might even have been enjoyable if James hadn’t been too engrossed in his own thoughts.

After staying over for a respectable amount of time, James and Lily excused themselves saying they wanted to walk about the castle for nostalgia sake. It actually was nostalgic as they held hands while walking across the familiar corridors.

They found themselves on the specified seventh floor corridor, only to find an extremely flustered Hermione Granger pacing along the corridor muttering to herself.

Lily looked at him in worry as they approached her slowly.

“Hey Hermione!” Lily called out.

In maybe half a second, Lily had a wand pointed at her neck. The reflexes this girl had! Moody would kill to have her join the Aurors! “Why did she have such reflexes,” he thought and sobered.

“Oh Oh I’m so sorry! I was distracted and you snuck up on me and I thought for a minute I was back in the batt… ,”she stopped abruptly. “I’m so sorry!” she continued.

“Where did she think she was back to? Was she about to say “battle”? What battle?” James wondered.

“No no it’s our fault, we shouldn’t have startled you like that,” Lily lied, it wasn’t their fault.

“Eh, Is everything okay?” Lily asked Granger cautiously.

Granger looked into Lily’s eyes and had a strange expression on her face before bursting into tears!

“I can’t remember what I wrote in my exam! It’s like my brain has blocked out the memory! I can’t remember half of what I wrote! What if I failed! Oh my God! Oh my God! What will I do? How will I face Albus! How will I face Teddy! I won’t get a job! What will I do? How will I manage everything ? Oh God what will I do?” She seemed to panic while the tears in her eyes continued to flow.

The girl who was going to be primarily responsible for bringing down a Dark Lord, the girl who had not broken despite obvious brutal torture, the girl who could give trained Aurors a run for their money in a dual had completely lost it because she wasn’t sure how she had done in her NEWTS! He had to try so hard not to laugh.

“Oh dear it’s going to be okay. I used to always feel the same after my exams, trust me if you had done badly, you would have known for sure. You are just panicking.” Lily tried to console her.

“I can’t fail! I cant! I can’t afford to! Oh God!” She continued to freak out.

Lily kept reassuring her while he stood by totally amused to see such a normal human emotion from someone who till now had appeared so well put together.

“What’s wrong?” He heard Professor McGonagall approach them.

“Granger here thinks she failed her NEWT exams.” He chipped in.

McGonagall chuckled. Well I have just passed a couple of star stuck invigilators who couldn’t stop talking about the impressive girl who had just floored them with her skills. So if your practical exams are any indication, I’m sure you wouldn’t have failed your NEWTS.

“Oh!” Granger blushed. She looked beautiful, no ‘different’, she looked ‘different’, he corrected himself in his mind before he went down a dangerous path.

“Well then, where do we find this elusive room of yours Ms Granger?”

“Right here,” Granger smiled and was once again hidden behind that alert war ready posture of hers.

She started walking back and forth across the wall seemingly in concentration.

What was happening? The rest of them looked at each other. But before they could ask her if she had lost it, a door appeared on the blank wall and they all gasped!

“Welcome to the Room of Requirement, more precisely, the room of hidden things right now,” she announced with a smug smile and looked up at him.

It was probably the first time she had directed such a warm smile towards him. Sadly she quickly realised what she had done and looked away immediately. He still couldn’t help but feel that warmth in his chest, he promised himself he would one day make her realise how much he regretted saying and doing what he did and earn her forgiveness.

“Fascinating! Well this is where I’ll leave you kids. I’ll keep a watch outside and if you aren’t out in the next fifteen minutes, I’m coming in.” McGonagall said before leaving them to explore the room. 

The room of hidden things looked more like a junkyard in the muggle Britain or Sirius’s closet if he were to find a nearer example. It was full of mismatched items that people had probably dumped there over centuries. 

“Found it!” Granger cried out from somewhere within the piles of furniture , balancing precariously over one another.

She was soon joining them in the middle of the room, levitating what looked like a bejewelled tiara with her wand. He could feel darkness seeping out of the fowl thing. It made him very uncomfortable. A look around and he could see Lily appear to be facing the same effects. Granger however had an intense look of concentration and disdain on her face. 

She slowly took out a box, a BOX ?? out of the beaded bag she was carrying and levitated the tiara into it. Once inside, she dropped the levitation charm and closed the box lid with a relief on her face. Suddenly the darkness was gone.

“What you felt was the darkness of the Horcrux  and the protective enchantments which use your worst fears to manipulate you into believing them to be true. The closer you get, the bigger the effects. Trust me you do not want to touch it!” She stated.

“Have you touched one? You mentioned in the first meeting that you destroyed one.” Lily asked her.

“Yeah I have. Had it around my neck for hours at a stretch for days! Horrible horrible thing I tell you! Ron got so affected that he….. uh, ahm, anyways so yes, yes I have touched it and would prefer to never again.” She quickly ended the conversation.

He noticed she had that shield up almost by default all the time and on the rare occasions that she somehow slipped up and started talking more about herself and her experiences, she would realise it soon enough, immediately put it up again and shut down completely.

Initially he had been convinced she was hiding something nefarious but of late he believed she was hiding her entire true self. What was she so scared of? Were her past experiences so bad that she had completely cocooned herself into an impenetrable shell? His eyes went to her covered arm, how much had this girl suffered to be so scared of sharing her true self with them.

Things weren’t so bad were they? They were hunting Horcruxes so guess they were!

He promised himself he would try harder to get her to open up and relax, she needed to stop behaving as if she was going to get attacked any second. 

Chapter Text

Padfoot was in his element.

“Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here today to lay to rest one of the most evil souls to exist. I’m sure you all have some not so cherished memories of the going to be departed soul, kindly feel free to share with…”

“Ahm ahm”, Professor Dumbledore entered the room with a ‘trying to control her smile’ Granger.

“Oh never mind,” Sirius sat down.

“So, as Mr Black was so eloquently trying to convey, we have a piece of Tom Riddle with us today and we have procured the Basilisk fang required to destroy it. It is time to strike and get one step ahead in this war. 
Hermione, Would you like to do the honours since you are the reason we have it in the first place?” Professor Dumbledore spoke.

“Ahm, well , I was thinking, would it be okay if I get someone else to destroy this one. It is the first one we have procured and symbolic of the beginning of Voldemort’s end. It means a lot to me.”

“Well then do you have someone in mind who you would like to be responsible for this important milestone?” Dumbledore asked her.

“Yeah, well, if she wouldn’t mind, I’ll like Lily Evans to destroy it.”

“Me?” Lily was shocked, as were most people around him. Why would Granger want Lily to do something this important when there were so many much more experienced  and highly qualified people around!

“Yes. No offence to anyone but the reason is a bit personal. The first person I know of to destroy a Horcrux was my best friend. He had your eyes Lily, I mean they were as green as yours, looking at you always reminds me of him. So you can think of it as my believing it to be symbolic for good luck, or a tribute to his memory, it would mean a great deal to me if you would be the first person to destroy Voldemort’s soul.”

“Ah, sure, I’ll be honoured.” Lily stepped up. “Your friend, he isn’t…” Lily asked her hesitantly.

“No, he is no more.”

“I’m sorry.”

She nodded.

“Okay so what do I do?” Lily tried to speak with confidence. He knew she would be nervous.

“You just take the Basilisk fang and strike it in the middle of this diadem,” Granger said while taking both the items out of her beaded bag. That bag was something! The air suddenly became heavy, one could feel darkness seeping out of that thing.

“Easy enough then,” Lily tried to hide her nerves.

“It is, just be careful. It tries to fight back by convincing you to believe your worst fears, just like a Boggart but more manipulative. Just don’t give it time to get to you, stab it as soon as possible.”

“Oh, Okay, let’s do this.”

Lily held the fang in her hand but as soon as she raised her hand to stab it, something unexpected happened. A hazy Snape look-a-like in Death Eater robes came out of the thing and started speaking.

“You are responsible for this. You did not fight enough for me, you left me and look what I became!”

“I, I …”

“Are you going to hurt me even more Lily? Haven’t you done enough?” the fake Snape said in a disappointed voice.

“No, no I don’t…” Lily stammered and lowered her arm.

The real Snape rose up, “It’s not real Lily, you are not responsible for anything, it was entirely my fault.”

Lily looked at him, her eyes cleared and with a new resolve raised her hand to stab the Diadem.

And then something even more strange happened. The fake Snape converted into a fake Lily.

“When will you stop lying to yourself? You know the truth. He doesn’t deserve this.”

And he got the shock of his life finding a fake look-a-like of himself standing in front of him.

“You do not love me Lily. You are lying to me and now you want to kill me?”

“No no no I don’t want to hurt you, I…”

Before he could come out of the shock and decide how to react, he heard Granger shout at her, “Lily come out of it! This is all fake. It’s the Horcrux feeding on your fears. It’s not Severus and it’s not Potter. Stab it Lily!”

She seemed to have gotten through to Lily coz she once again raised her arm and stabbed the Diadem with full force.

A black mass seemed to seep out of it and all of a sudden, the darkness ended.

Everyone stood still. Lily was still staring at the mass.

“Lily,” he spoke softly.

“I think I’ll leave now, I’ll see you later,” she replied in an even softer voice.

……………

James knew he and Lily needed to have the conversation. He had given her a few hours after the meeting to sort out her thoughts on her own, but he knew there was no point in torturing both of them by delaying the inevitable.

“Was it true Lils? You do not love me?”

“I do, I do love you James. I’m just not sure if I’m ‘in’ love with you.”

He sighed.

“Its okay.”

“Is it?”

“Yes Lily. I love you too, you know how much I have wanted you for years. But even I’m not sure if I’m ‘in’ love with you. I think we both got together because we were fascinated with the idea of being together, rather than actually wanting to be together. You know how things have been between us, there was always something missing, you know there was. We are great together as friends Lils, but the passion required to be more than that, that fizzled out a long time back. Isn’t it?”

“Yes, yes it did. Look at you talking all mature, if you continue on this path I might actually fall in love with you.” she smiled sadly.

He laughed out loud. “No you won’t, you are already in love with someone else, you have always had strong feelings for him Lils, you just chose to ignore them coz he acted stupid.”

“You think so?”

“I know so. I saw the way you looked at that fake Snape, you feel for him Lils, you do.

And though it kills me to admit, Snivellus, okay okay Snape, well Snape still looks as smitten by you as he was in school.”

“I don’t know what to do.”

“Well to start with, you need to let go of this handsome bloke and go talk to that ugly git.”

She rolled her eyes. “I don’t want to lose you,” she said softly.

“I don’t want to lose you either Lils, you are family now. Just not the “fall into the same bed” kinds anymore,” he winked.

She laughed.

“Thank you for being so grown up about this.”

“You may not be the love of my life Lily but you’ll still be my first major crush, we’ll always have history but I want to also have a future with you, built on a new foundation of friendship. Will you be my friend Lils?”

“I’ll always be that James. Thank you so much for making this easier for me.” She said with a hug.

“Well I should go now and have the ceremonial Firewhisky to mend my broken heart.” He said dramatically.

She laughed again. “Go you idiot, I’ll see you soon.”

“Bye Lily.”

“Bye James.”

Chapter Text

Alastor Moody was known to be sullen while talking to teenagers, and the girl in front of him was just that. However what noone knew was how much he cherished coming across someone with the spark and talent that he knew the Auror department so desperately needed. It needed to be infused with new blood and he had been lucky enough to find a few excellent prospects in recent times. The Prewett twins, Potter Junior and the Black could give the best of them a run for their money when it came to talent, though getting it out of them from that thick goofy skin of theirs was a challenge which was driving him nuts. This girl in front of him however was different. Despite being so young, she looked battle worn. He didn’t have to teach her the seriousness of the current world, she seemed more prepared than even him when it came to that.

“Albus thinks you need to train and be more battle ready,” he told the girl before him.

“Albus thinks so or you do?” she smiled. He didn’t show it but it unnerved him how she didn’t appear scared of him. He wondered if he was losing his touch, she almost looked fondly at him, it freaked him out.

“Doesn’t matter. We are going to train. You have some basic skills from what I have seen but they can be more fine-tuned. You need to get more practical and finish off a duel more quickly. There is no place for emotions getting involved. You could have finished off Potter in half the time if you hadn’t wanted to create a spectacle, that won’t work in the battlefield.”

“I’m aware. That ‘spectacle’ as you call it was deliberate and for Potter’s sole benefit. I’m not for flamboyance in a battle,” she said.

“And you know that how?”

She was silent. He continued, “We’ll see. You need to build up more speed and stamina. You look malnutritioned, do you even eat? or prefer to starve like the idiot girls of your age?”

“What? I don’t starve myself!” She looked scandalised. “Not unless I have to,” she added softly and he looked at her once again. This time he wondered if her look was due to fashion starving or a forced one. What had this girl been through? He really should have pushed Albus for more information on her.

“You will also get more experience duelling trained Aurors.”

“Ahm, didn’t I beat Potter?” She cheekily replied.

“He isn’t as bad as he was in your last encounter, he underestimated you because of his huge head and paid for it. He won’t make that mistake next time,” he told her truthfully. Potter was much better than how he duelled her last time, his arrogance and overconfidence was something that deservedly needed that defeat.

“We’ll train every Saturday at Potter Manor.” 

“Potter Manor?” She looked shocked.

“It’s the only place big enough, safe and hidden enough to ensure you do not catch any unwanted attention,” he told her.

“Oh, ah. Okay.” She looked uncomfortable and he realised a certain Junior Potter was most likely the reason.

“Despite his questionable behaviour, Little Potter is just an idiot, not evil, so you have nothing to fear at the Manor.”, he reassured her.

“I know,” she smiled. “Evil I can take, but idiots, well, it gets a bit difficult,”she added with a smirk.

Despite trying not to, he ended up with a chuckle. “We are going to get along fine lass. Just, do us both a favor and start eating more. I’ll see you Saturday.”

This girl had the toughness and the wit, he could see why Albus liked her. She would be a crucial weapon against the darkness that was threatening the world.

                                  ……………………………….

“Meeni no go!” Teddy kept repeating while crying on Hermione’s shoulder.

“Hush my darling, you’ll make yourself ill if you continue crying!”

It had been atleast half an hour since Hermione had first tried saying goodbye to Teddy. He seemed unusually clingy today but she had to leave for Potter manor soon.

“Come on kid, let her go for a while, we don’t need her to have fun.” Aberforth tried to coerce him.

“Nooo wan Meeni! wan Meeni!” Teddy did not budge.

“Moody is going to kill me if I get late for my first training session!” She lamented while trying to console Teddy. It was time to bring in the big guns.

“Okay swthrt how about we make a deal, you let me go out for some time and when I come back, we can go out for an icecream.”

“Iceem?” The little trouble brightened up.

“Yeah, but only when I come back.”

“Kay” He gave her a sloppy kiss on the cheek and turned towards Abe excitedly, “Abeee” 

“Oh now you want to play with me!” Aberforth teased him while taking him from her lap.

“‘Bribe’, I should have thought of that earlier. It’s a materialistic world.” She chuckled.

She took a minute to freshen up and went downstairs while Abe continued lavishing Teddy with attention. He was seriously going to go broke if he kept taking anymore “playing with Teddy” breaks.

She was dressed in her comfortable gym slacks, tee and a light fleece. She had tied her hair in a braid and was grateful for the comfortable sneakers she had bought from the muggle world in the few days of peace that they had had in her previous life. Her “previous life”, that is how she had started referring to her time before the time travel. It still hurt whenever she thought of the world she left behind, despite so many people being extremely nice to her over here, despite the safety she felt in her and Teddy being off the radar of the Death Eaters, the loneliness and absence of her loved ones brought her down every now and then.

“Hey!” She heard a voice as she came to the end of the stairs and out of her melancholy at the appearance of one thorn in her comparatively smooth life, James Potter.

“What are you doing here?”

“ Ah,” he fiddled with his hair. “ Moody asked me to get you to Potter Manor. You’ll need someone with Potter blood to accompany you the first time. We can include you in the wards once you are there.”

“ Include a Death Eater into your wards? Is that advisable?” She asked wryly.

“ I deserved that I guess. Listen Granger, I know you probably don’t believe it but I really am very sorry for all that I said and did. Please can’t we start over?”

She sighed. She had been a bit worried after Lily’s encounter with the horcrux but Potter seemed fine so guess everything was okay. “ We’ll see. I don’t think we need to start over, let’s just limit our exposure to each other.” She knew she’ll have to ultimately get on atleast okayish terms with him if she wanted to be a part of Harry’s life but it was too soon to forget his appalling behaviour. She had time, it was going to be a while before Harry was born in this world.

“I don’t agree but I understand. You take your time while I think of ways to repent.” He smiled. “Shall we?”

She held his arm and they apparated away.

…..

Potter manor was huge, almost as big as the Malfoy manor, maybe even bigger and the lawns seemed endless as they merged with what looked like a forest. From the distance, it looked majestic! As she saw the huge beautiful landscape in front of her, she wondered what happened to it in the future. Why was Harry not made aware of such a property? She thought of how he lived his childhood in a cupboard and a wave of anger passed through her towards all those responsible for him living that life.

“Welcome to Potter Manor.” James Potter spoke besides her.

She nodded.

“Moody is waiting for us in the west end of the gardens, would you like a cup of tea in the manor before going to meet him?” he asked expectantly.

“No thank you, I’m already almost late.”

“Okay,” he looked disappointed but moved to guide her towards the west side.

They walked in silence and after what seemed like a long walk for within a property, they could see Moody busy in action with the Prewett twins and an easily showing off Sirius.

She looked around and thankfully couldn’t see Remus anywhere nearby. She used a scent nullifying charm and yet washed twice before going anywhere she had a chance of meeting him as she was so afraid he would smell Teddy off her. She had no clue how his werewolf was going to react to that. From the limited information she recalled from the documentation that she read when Snape had assigned them that werewolf essay, she just remembered that werewolf could feel a pack bond with their offspring’s immediately. She had no idea how she would explain that if Professor Lupin were to realise that from Teddy’s smell. This Remus Lupin was not even his father technically so she was in a totally unknown territory.

She smiled when she saw Sirius pout like a child when Moody disarmed him. Looking at Sirius without the effects of Azkaban glaring in his persona always warmed her heart and strengthened her resolve. There was no way in the world she would let anyone ruin this happy carefree person in front of her.

“You are just on time lass, thought you were going to chicken out.”

“No way,” she smiled. “Sorry I got held up a bit at the Inn hence got late.”

“Okay, first things first. You need to build your endurance. You are skinny. Have you increased your diet?” He started without wasting any time. “Typical Moody,” she thought fondly.

“Yes I have,” she rolled her eyes. “Aberforth makes sure I’m stuffed beyond limits.”

“Good. Next step is exercise. Do you follow any exercise schedule?”

“I used to, but of late there hasn’t been much time.” She sheepishly replied. With Teddy keeping her on the toes, she wondered if she actually needed any other exercise.

“Okay, then we need to change that. I need you to start running 2 miles and reach the goal of 5 miles everyday morning until none of your body parts hurt doing that anymore.”

Her eyes widened, “Oh okay I guess.”

“Now for the duelling bit. No extravagance today, just pace and accuracy.”

“Sir yes sir,” she couldn’t help but cheekily shout in soldier style . It was always fun to rile up Moody.

Everyone laughed and Moody had a sour expression on his face. She knew at that moment he was going to make her regret the joke by the end of the session.

And regret she did. Moody made her duel nonstop for two hours with the Prewett twins, Sirius, and Potter. Moody had been right. James Potter was a superb duelist when he was concentrating enough. Moody kept a close watch on her, correcting whatever he felt she was doing wrong, giving her tips to improve her performance. She thought sadly how he had died so early in the fight in the future and if his staying alive would have made the crucial difference in the end. He would have certainly been paranoid enough to not relax even after the war ended officially. They could have been saved by his paranoia. She would make sure he would survive this time around, she promised herself. The world needed the cranky paranoid pain in the ass, she thought fondly with a smile on her face while still duelling Potter.

“How can you still smile after this long? I can literally feel every single muscle in my body hurting,” James Potter asked her while throwing another superb hex at her. She dodged it and sent a spell of her own in his direction.

“Oh I’m just imagining how good it would be to have a hex land on Moody accidentally,” she answered with a wink.

He laughed while blocking her spell. “Been there done that,” he answered cheekily.

She smiled. Potter was less irritating when he wasn’t being a jerk to her. He looked handsome when he laughed, she thought and then shook herself to stop thinking on those lines.

“You are a sadist Sir,” she heard Sirius shout at Moody.

“Okay that’s enough for today. You’ll all be hopefully less pathetic in the next session. Be on time next Saturday Granger.” And he apparated away.

“Sure, if I don’t die reaching home today,” she replied to the non existent Moody while sinking to the floor. She certainly was dead tired. 

“Okay kids, we too got to go, catch you later,” the twins apparated out too.

“Care for that cup of tea now Granger? We can add you to the wards after that.” She heard Potter ask hesitantly.

“Ah, eh, thank you but I should be going. Can we just add me to the wards and I’ll leave,” she said while getting up.

“Oh no you don’t! You always make an excuse to get out of spending time with us. No doubt Potter thought you were fishy.” Sirius put an arm over her shoulders, it sure didn’t take him long to get from supporting Potter in thinking of her as a Death Eater, to acting all familiar as if they were old friends. She rolled her eyes, this carefree attitude of his was as endearing as irritating.

She looked at Potter and he flushed. “ ‘Thought’ not ‘Think’, I don’t anymore. I mean you are curious, I mean I’m curious , not that I m suspicious , I mean I don’t know you but I don’t think you are evil. I mean I didn’t think earlier , I was just angry. I mean … I, I” he stammered.

He looked so cute that she couldn’t help but chuckle. She had to step in and stop him. “Chill Potter, it’s okay.”

“Phew,” she heard Potter relax a bit.

“Awwww you should have let him carry on for some more time, it was entertaining,” Sirius pouted.

She elbowed him to get out of his arm. “Aren’t you supposed be friends?”She smiled.

“Eh,” he shrugged with a smile on his face.

“Anyways, I should be leaving… the wards Potter?”

“Hey no wards entrance until you spend some time with us and put an end to Jamesie sulking about you not forgiving him.”

“Hey! I’m not sulking,” Potter said loudly.

“Ofcourse you are not,” Sirius spoke condescendingly.

“I can’t Sirius, I need to be back soon.” she interrupted his teasing.

“What for?” James asked.

“An icecream date,” she smiled thinking of how excited Teddy got every time she even mentioned the word icecream.

“Who is the lucky fellow? Do we know him?” he asked again.

“Oh I’m sure I’m luckier and no you don’t know him,” she chuckled.

“Oh well then, let’s get in, Dad is inside, he’ll have to key you into the wards.”

………..

Chapter Text

While the Potter Manor looked royally grand from the outside, the inside felt extremely warm, a total contrast from Malfoy Manor, the only other Manor she could compare it to. The entire place was decked in the right combination of elegance and vibrancy. The combined effect gave it the feel of a warm loved home. Hermione could feel herself relax just by looking at the fireplace surrounded by a huge circular sofa with a massive lush carpet below it. She could imagine the entire family sitting together, the warm glow of the fireplace making it all look cozy and intimate. Once again Hermione wished Harry could have been here to see all that.

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted as a house-elf popped right in front of her with a loud crack.

“Woah!” She was startled and her hand went to her heart feeling it skip a beat at the sudden movement. No death eaters, just a house elf, she closed her eyes and reminded herself.

“Rory is so sorry to scare the little Miss,” the elf spoke up with widened eyes.

Hermione opened her eyes and looked at the elf in a pink and white polka dot frilly dress in front of her. She looked so cute, Hermione couldn’t help but smile.

“Oh no I’m sorry, I was just lost in thoughts and got startled. It’s not your fault at all. Ahm, Hi, I’m Hermione Granger,” she said with a smile and held out her hand to the elf.

Rory looked at her with widened eyes and her eyes seemed to widen even further as she looked at her outstretched arm. She looked past her towards James and then lifted her arm to shake her hand.

“Rory welcomes Missy Hermine, friend of the family.”

She ignored James and Sirius snickering at the butchering of her name.

“Thank you Rory, might I say you look really pretty in this dress of yours.”

Rory brightened up immediately. “Thank you Missy Hermine, friend of the family, Master Jamie bought it for Rory last Christmas, it is Rory’s bestest dress ever!”

“Did he now?” Hermione looked over towards James and felt herself smiling at the fond warm look he was giving Rory, along with the slight reddening of his face when he heard her comment.

“How do you know she is a friend of the family Rory, she could be an enemy in disguise,” Sirius asked her cheekily in a fake scared hushed voice.

Hermione rolled her eyes and saw Potter do the same. Sirius wasn’t going to let either of them forget about Jamess’ past apprehensions.

Rory looked aghast. “ Rory knows she is a friend of the family, she is wearing the.. ”

“Rory why don’t you get some refreshments for our guest,” a voice called from behind them and she saw Mr and Mrs Potter walk towards them.

“Yes Master, I’ll get it right away” and she vanished in a pop.

“Welcome to our home Miss Granger! Did you have an enjoyable training session?” Mister Potter spoke with a twinkle in his eyes.

Hermione couldn’t help but chuckle. “Thank you Mr Potter and I might call the session enjoyable once my muscles don’t hurt as much. Mrs Potter.” She nodded towards them both.

“Glad to have you here Miss Granger! Please do take a seat while Rory gets some refreshments,” Mrs Potter smiled at her. It was the same welcoming smile that Mrs Weasley or her mother would have on their faces while welcoming anyone and she had to stop herself from getting misty eyed.

“Oh thank you Mrs Potter but I need to get back home soon. I just came in to get the access sorted out for future training sessions.”

“That’s a pity, it would have been a nice change to have some female company over here for a change.”

“You don’t like our company Ma P,” Sirius commented in mock outrage.

Mrs Potter rolled her eyes. “ See what dramatics I have to deal with all the time Miss Granger,” she said, ignoring Sirius.

Hermione laughed. “Please call me Hermione Mrs Potter, Mr Potter. I really have to be somewhere today but promise to save you from them next time Mrs Potter.”

“Just call me Dorea, dear. And I’ll look forward to spending some time with you next Saturday.”

“Thank you Dorea. Um, the wards Mr Potter?”

Mr Potter gave her a thoughtful look. “Let’s go Miss Gra…. Hermione,” he said with a smile.

James and Sirius started following them but Mr Potter put his hand up. “Why don’t you both freshen up, I’ll sort out the ward access and see Hermione to the gates myself.” 

They both looked a bit put off but didn’t argue, perhaps sensing the serious tone of Mr Potters voice. 

As Hermione and Mr Potter walked towards the gate, Mr Potter seemed lost in thought.

Hermione wondered if the access needed to be granted from the edge of the property.

They walked in silence and Hermione once again looked at the huge lush gardens that surrounded the property. Harry would have loved to fly all over this place, she thought with a sad smile on her lips. Soon they reached the gates. 

Mr Potter stopped and looked at her with a strange look.

“That’s a pretty bracelet you have on your wrist Hermione.” he said with a smile.

Hermione looked down her arm and she turned white. How could she forget! Harry had given her this bracelet after going through his vault after the war. He had been searching his mothers jewellery to see if he could find a suitable ring of his mothers to give to Ginny. He had. He just never got the chance to give it to her. He had come across this bracelet and had clasped it around her wrist, on the arm that had the mudblood scar.

“You are my family Mione. Whenever you look at this, remember that you are not just a Granger but also a Potter,” he had said.

She had teared up and since that day she had never taken it off. It had become such an integral part of her that she totally forgot that there might be a replica of the same in this time period and the Potters might recognise it. She could just hope that it was a common enough design in this era for them to not be suspicious.

“ Thank you. My best friend gave it to me,” she said, trying hard to sound casual.

He smiled. “Why don’t you try apparating inside the property from outside the gates Hermione.”

She looked at him in surprise and confusion. “But you haven’t added me to the wards yet!”

He gave her another thoughtful look which she couldn’t decipher.

“Try it Hermione.”

She stepped out of the gates, took out her wand and closed her eyes to visualise the property and apparated. She was almost ready to be thrown back by the property wards but to her utter surprise she found herself in her earlier position, adjacent to Mr Potter.

She gasped and looked at Mr Potter. “Did you wandlessly add me to the wards? I didn’t know that was possible!”

“It’s not Hermione. I hope someday you might feel comfortable enough telling me more about your best friend.”

Hermione went still. She looked at her bracelet once again. Oh my God this bracelet gave me access to the Potter property! This wasn’t a regular bracelet! She looked at Mr Potter in shock. He just smiled. “Don’t worry Hermione, I won’t ask you questions that you are not ready to answer yet. But just incase you are not aware, you have the Potter family protection. Don’t hesitate to ask for it if you are ever in need.” And with that he turned around and started walking back towards the Manor.

Hermione stood rooted on the spot for a good few minutes and then slowly held her wand and apparated back to the Inn.

……….

“She wasn’t aware of the significance of the bracelet Dorea. She said her best friend gave it to her. I could feel she was speaking the truth.”

“Which means her best friend wasn’t aware of its significance. Do you think James took it out of the vault on any of our visits and just gifted her?”

“I think she was wearing it before she even met James.”

“Then what does it mean? Do you think someone stole it from our vault? Only a Potter could have closed the clasp on it. Do you think there is a Potter out there that we are not aware of?”

“I don’t know Dorea but I told Albus I won’t check the vault as of now. If there is something he doesn’t think we should know as of now then I’ll trust his judgment.”

“She is almost a child and yet she must have shown immense loyalty to our house for that bracelet to be able to be clasped closed. I wonder why we haven’t even been aware of her existence till now,” Dorea Potter pondered.

“No idea, she sure is a mystery. Hopefully one day soon we’ll get our answers.”

……….

“Merlin I’m tired!” James threw the towel on the bed while trying to find the T-shirt he wanted to wear. Sirius too was done with his shower and was lounging on the bed playing with a snitch.

“Yeah I think Moody was trying to kill me today,” Sirius replied casually.

James laughed. “If it makes you feel better, I think he was trying to kill me too but Granger might have actually done the deed if I hadn’t been in my right senses today. She is terrifyingly good at duelling! I don’t think I have had so much fun in a while, it has been so long since anyone felt like a real challenge.”

Sirius looked fake appalled, “You don’t think I’m challenging enough, you wouldn’t say so if I include a few Black speciality curses in the duel.”

James laughed. “Moody will have your hide if you use them in friendly fire, better save them for the real enemy.”

“Yeah! Can’t wait to use them on that fucker they call the Dark Lord.” Sirius replied smugly.

James finally found the T-shirt he was looking for and lounged on the sofa next to the bed. His mind was replaying his interactions with Granger and he felt overwhelmed trying to figure out what kind of a person Hermione Granger actually was. Duelling with her felt splendid and if he wasn’t terribly wrong like before, he had a feeling that she too enjoyed it a lot. Her spell work was extremely impressive, the way she moved while casting one spell after another, it felt like a dance.

Despite being bone tired by the end of the session, he had enjoyed duelling with her almost as much as he enjoyed playing quidditch and that was saying something. She looked like a battle worn hardened warrior at the start of the duel but he could feel her getting comfortable along the way, as if it took her a while to realise that she was having a friendly duel and no one was trying to actually harm her. It was then that he felt her duelling style change. Her body relaxed, her footwork became more fluid and it was visible that she had started enjoying it. He liked seeing her like that.

And then there was her interaction with Rory. No one would believe it was the same girl who was throwing deadly curses a few minutes back. The soft way she spoke to the elf, there were very few who treated house elves with so much respect and kindness. Rory was a sweetheart and it warmed his heart to see her being treated as such. ‘A friend of the family!’ That’s what Rory had called her with so much confidence, as if it wasn’t the first time she was meeting her.

“Prongs!!!” He heard Sirius shout.

“ What?”

“ I called your name three times! What were you thinking about?”

“ Nothing, just the training session.”

“Oh no!”

“What?”

“The last time you were so lost in thought, you started pursuing Lily from the next day”

“What? I have no intention of persuing Granger!”

Sirius smirked. “So you were thinking about Granger”

James rolled his eyes. “She was the person I duelled with the most. Stop looking into it so minutely!”

“ mm hmm” he kept smirking.

James threw a cushion at him and walked away. He didn’t want to go on that track. Granger was obviously off limits and he would be stupid to think on those lines, he convinced himself.
And yet when he went to sleep that night, he kept thinking about how nice it was to see the smile on Grangers face.

Chapter Text

“I hate it there, it’s horrible. All that propaganda about blood bullshit, if only they could see that some mud.. muggle borns have more brain than all of them combined.” Regulus was in a mood to crib today and Hermione was patiently hearing him out while trying to read her book on advanced spells that Albus had given her. Teddy was busy trying to catch the snitch that Regulus was flying around for him at a low height.

“Hang on there, it’s just a matter of time. We’ll be rid of Voldy and his gang very soon. Then you’ll be free to do whatever you want,” she tried to console him.

“Will I though? Will anyone be able to look past the dark mark on my arm? Sirius knows I’m spying for the order and yet he hasn’t bothered to even talk to me.” 

Hermione looked up and her heart broke to see the dejected look on his face. She put her book aside, “Sirius is an idiot. He’ll come around soon. I know he cares about you, I could see that in his eyes when he saw you at the meeting. I think he just doesn’t know how to behave now that he has been proven wrong about you. Just be patient, I think he is trying to gather the courage to talk to you and admit his mistake.”

He nodded but still looked glum. She realised she would have to change that.

“Okay enough of that. No sad face around Teddy. It’s time I introduce you to some good muggle fun because wizard life fun seems to be nonexistent for you.”

“And what pray tell would that be?” He smirked waggling his brows.

“Nothing pervert you flirt! God! You and Serious are seriously obsessed with flirting. Anyways, let me have the privilege to introduce you to the best invention of all times. A television! Ta da!” And she removed the sheet covering it.

She had found a good condition tv in a second hand shop on her visit to the muggle world one day and couldn’t resist buying it. It had taken her ages but she finally had a working tv with an old style cassette player. She got a few children’s movie and a few classics. It had taken her quite a while, even with Severus’s help, to get the electricity working for it to work and she had been waiting eagerly to show it to the ignorant pureblood heir.

“I have no idea why I am supposed to be excited about a black box” Regulus looked perplexed.

“Telle Telle telle” Teddy chipped in clapping his hands excitedly.

Hermione laughed and Regulus looked like a fish out of water.

“Yes Teddy, we are going to show Reggie over here what a wonderful thing a television is.”

With Teddy around, she had to be careful about the choice of the movie but found one that she felt both the boys would enjoy.

“What the hell!” Regulus jumped up from the bed he was lounging on with his wand drawn towards the now switched on television.

“Hell!!!” Teddy repeated and she couldn’t decide whether to laugh at Regulus’s reaction or scold him for teaching Teddy a word he shouldn’t be speaking.

“Language!! And keep your wand away Regulus, noone is going to come out to attack you from in there!”

“She is lying, there have been a few instances when a monster stepped out of the box to attack you.” She gasped as she heard the voice of Severus Snape from the door.

“Ha ha very funny! Stop scaring him with lies”

Regulus looked like he wasn’t sure whom to believe and kept the wand in his hand held tightly while looking shockingly at the people in the tv.

“Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory! Seriously? You couldn’t find anything better?” Severus commented while making himself comfortable on the bed.

How these two stuck up brats found it okay to make themselves so comfortable in her room and take over her bed while she was stuck on the sofa, she would never know! Maybe the easiest way to kill Voldemort was to show his two dedicated soldiers lounging like two lazy teenagers on the bed of a muggle born.

Hermione rolled her eyes. “Hey it’s a classic! And I couldn’t very well get ‘The Godfather’ while Teddy is here.” 

“ Seviii!!!” Teddy rushed towards Severus at an alarming pace on his tiny wobbly legs. Ever since he started taking his first steps, she had to be extra careful as he seemed to have no idea of self preservation, probably got that from his mother, she thought fondly thinking of Tonks. Severus jumped up from the bed to pick him up before he fell over.

Both Severus and Regulus had become a bit more comfortable showing their affection towards Teddy as the days passed, though they would still get conscious whenever they noticed her smiling at them when they did.
To see the fearsome Professor Snape letting a toddler play with his hair was still an out of the world sight for her and she desperately wished she could share the picture with anyone from her old life, only they could relate to the shock that she still got every time she saw Severus wrapped around little Teddy’s finger. Who would have thought Professor Snape could actually like a kid! Remus Lupin’s kid at that! Ha!

“You are doing it again!” Severus brought her back from her thoughts.

“What?”

“ Looking at me as if I’m some out of the world entity.”

She laughed, “One day I’ll show you all my memories of you and then you’ll understand how much of a whiplash you give me every time you do a simple thing like smile”

“I’m sure there would have been no reason to smile with an irritating swot like you around me! Now are we watching the movie or not? Regulus and I are not skipping some muggle torture session just to get tortured ourselves in boredom.”

They both looked at Regulus and found his eyes glued to the television. They shared a chuckle and settled down comfortably to watch the movie.

At times like these, Hermione almost felt like she was back with Harry and Ron and found that to be very peaceful.

…………….

The next Order meeting was scheduled for Friday evening and Hermione had spent a painstaking amount of time planning for the things she wanted to discuss. 

She was supposed to leave with Albus but he seemed to be too busy playing ‘catch the bubbles’ with Teddy to bother about time. “What’s the use of being head of an organisation if I can’t be late to it.” He had said cheekily when she reminded him of the time. With so much attention being lavished on him by powerful wizards, she was scared Teddy would end up spoilt like Malfoy.

Albus had offered his personal elf to babysit Teddy while she was away at the meeting but Aberforth wouldn’t hear of it and clearly stated he preferred spending time with Teddy rather than a stuffy meeting whose content he could easily be updated on by Hermione and Albus.

Given a choice she felt Albus too would have chosen the same option, she thought smiling at the sight before her.

It was another ten minutes before Albus agreed to finally hand over the bubble game to his brother.

…………………….

James Potter was lost in thought when his attention was diverted to Snape and Regulus Black entering the meeting. Everyone got silent as they walked towards two free seats at the table. All eyes were on them as his mother rose and met them on the way. She hugged Regulus and he seemed to be as awkward about it as Sirius had been when she started the process with him. He didn’t know Regulus as such but found himself hoping he too would get as comfortable as Sirius with being at the receiving end of affection. From all the tales he had heard about Walburga Black from Sirius, affection must be an alien concept for Regulus.

He looked past him towards Snape, the jerk Lily was in love with. He may not have feelings for her anymore but he still cared about her well-being and if being with Snape would make her happy then it was high time he started mending things a bit with the jerk. Merlin he wished she was in love with just about anyone else! This was going to be painful but he decided it was time to be an adult about it and rose from his seat.

“Black, Snape,” he nodded at the two. They both looked shocked and he could feel Black’s eyes move towards Sirius, who was still sitting at the table, deliberately avoiding his brothers eyes.

“I just wanted to say, I would prefer bygones be bygones, now that we are all working towards the same goal and all,” he said while cursing Lily and Granger for putting him in this position. He was far happier thinking of Snape as the enemy.

“Same goal? I thought we were Deatheaters out to destroy you and the Order,” Snape spit out in apparent anger.

“Well you didn’t give me any reason to trust you, what was I supposed to think?” He defended himself.

“And what about Hermione? Did she also not give you any reason to trust her?”

James felt something weird when he heard Snape talk about Granger with familiarity. It took all his effort to not snap.

“I already apologised to her. And while you and I have a history which is not easily forgotten, I’m trying for Lily’s sake. Whether you want to or not is upto you.” He said stiffly while turning back to sit at his seat. Who was he to make him feel guilty about the way he treated Granger, as if he wasn’t aware of it himself and regretting it every single day. There was only so much of Snivelous that he could take without losing his temper. He knew he’ll have to try more but Rome wasn’t built in a day.

He was still sulking at Snape’s cold response when Dumbledore entered the room with Granger.

“Sorry everybody, I got held up with something important,” he explained.

Granger seemed to be holding back a chuckle, a chuckle? What had Dumbledore been actually doing?

“Anyways. Let’s start.”

They discussed various surveillance and intelligence gather missions. Granger kept focusing on the Bones family and Prewett twins, she seemed to be sure they were going to be targeted sometime soon.

“We need some surveillance over Diagonal Alley, there are whispers of the Dark Lord ordering some trouble over there. It might be something or just a way to figure out if he has any snitch in the death eaters, he loves to test his followers every now and then. We can not have a proper order team in place, it has to look a by chance fight back.” Snape stated.

“Okay then we form a team and give them a valid excuse to be there, do we know when this is expected?” Moody asked.

“Not exactly but sometime in the coming week. It will be during the day to maximise casualties ” Regulus mentioned.

“Okay so who all have a valid reason to be there in the coming days?”

“I can be there.” Granger said casually.

“No!” He nearly fell out of his seat by the loud denial from three strong voices. Everyone looked at Dumbledore, Black and Snape.

“And why not?” Granger seemed incensed.

“You know why not Hermione. You are too important for us to lose in a casual fight.”

“I am not sitting cooped up in a room while others are fighting for their lives! I already have you keyed to my journal Albus, if something happens to me you can get all the information from there.”

“I have no intention of getting all the information from a journal Hermione. You have done enough for this fight, noone is going to begrudge you for sitting this one out.”

“I am not sitting out of this one or any other fight.”

“Do you have any idea what will happen if they catch you alive.” Regulus spoke in a cold voice.

“I am a trained occlumens, you both and Abus test me every other day! And you know I won’t break under torture! They won’t be able to get anything out of me.” She was defiant.

“And what if they catch hold of you and use your weakness against you. Will you be able to sacrifice Teddy? You need to keep a low profile Mione.” He had never heard Severus Snape talk in such a soft voice.

“I will burn the world before I let them touch him.” Her eyes blazed.

He wondered once again who the guy was to warrant that kind of a loyalty from her. She didn’t deny him being her weakness. He felt a twitch of jealousy which he quickly pushed aside.

“Anyone who goes out there will have a weakness. Family, friends, loved ones. We can’t all sit at home. All of us need to take that risk. That is the price we pay.” She was determined.

“The girl is right. And she is one of the best fighters we have got. If we have to keep the guard to a minimum to avoid detection then we need to keep our best over there.” Moody stated.

Dumbledore seemed hesitant but nodded to give his acceptance.

“Okay then, Granger, Black Serious, Potter Junior, Evans, Lupin, you all can easily pass on as a group of friends who happened to be roaming around the Alley. We have a safe room in one of upper floors of a building which overlooks most of the street. You all will stay there and move out only at the sight of trouble. You send a patronous before stepping out. We can be there in 10minutes, can’t come earlier as it will look preplanned otherwise. You need to buy us those 10minutes.” Moody instructed.

All of them nodded.

“Moving on. Hermione where are we on the Horcruxes?” Dumbledore asked.

“I want to wait a while to retrieve the ring. Hogwarts was safe but that place is easily accessible to Voldemort. I don’t know if he ever checks on it. We should wait till we have confirmation about the others.”

“And when are we expected to get that confirmation?” Moody asked her.

“Soon hopefully,” she said with a quick glance at Regulus. 

“Okay then, I guess that is about it. The Diagonal Alley shift starts from Monday morning. Alastor will notify the observation flat location to the members.”

Granger got up with Dumbledore and was about to leave when Lily decided to block their path. “Excuse me Professor Dumbledore but will it be okay if we take Hermione with us to Potter Manor, we are having a small get together and would love to get to know her more.”

Oh Lily was sneaky when she wanted to be, he thought getting amused by the look on Grangers face. Lily most probably realised Granger would make another excuse to avoid spending more time with them so she went for the big guns.

Granger was quick to respond. “Oh I’m sorry I can’t. I have some business to take care of back at the Inn. I… ”

Professor Dumbledore interrupted her with a twinkle in his eyes. “Oh nonsense. I’m going back to the Inn. I’m sure Aberforth and I can easily take care of that ‘business’, unless you think we are not capable enough.” 

Granger looked sheepish, “But…”

“No buts, you kids go have some fun. I’ll tell Aberforth not to expect you back before 10.”

“10!! No I’ll be…”

“Great! Thanks Professor!” Lily didn’t let Granger finish and held Grangers arm while moving towards them.

He could see the hesitance in Granger and wondered why she was so averse to socialising with them. Him he could understand since he did mess up a lot but she didn’t look keen to spend more time with any of them.

Time to change that, he thought and smiled at the approaching girls.

“Hey Snape, Black!” he called out.

They looked at him with narrowed eyes.

“ We youngsters usually have a small post meeting get together at the Manor, wanna join?”

They both looked taken aback. Black looked at Sirius and this time he could see Sirius meet his eyes and nod. Snape looked at Lily and she smiled encouragingly.

“Thanks. Maybe some other time.. I got to…” Snape started to say but Lily didn’t let him finish.

“Please come Sev. We won’t hold you for long.” 

“Oh umm… ” He seemed to be at a loss for words.

James decided he needed to intervene before Snape found his ability to speak. “Great! Lily you take Snape and Mary, I’ll take Regulus and Marlene. Granger and Remus already have access so Sirius can side along the Prewett twins.

“No I have to… ” Regulus started to say but Sirius interrupted him. “Come Reggie. It’s time we talk about what a failure of a brother I have been.”
The brothers looked at each other and he could see them both get a bit misty eyed. Sirius was like a brother to him but he knew Regulus’s absence had always hurt him. He was really glad Regulus ended up on their side, he didn’t think Sirius had it in him to face his brother on the other side of his wand.

Snape, Black and Granger all looked like they would gladly jump into the lake with the Giant Squid rather than accompany them. He would have found it funny if he hadn’t been actually worried about how to get the ice to thaw in this weird group of people, he was unfortunately stuck with that responsibility as the host, damn all those etiquette lessons from his childhood. Life was so simple at Hogwarts, he missed the times when he could freely hate and freely love, logic be damned. Oh the perils of being an adult.