THIRTEEN
JUNE 30 1995
Sirius was in awe of Hermione. Ever since they had arrived back to Grimmauld Place that morning, she had been cleaning - and forcing Remus and Sirius to clean as well.
“The Weasleys and younger me will be arriving in two days,” Hermione said, her back to them as she banished dust from the curtains. “I don’t want Molly spending all of her time making us clean. The kids will be in the loop this time around. At least Harry, Ron, and me. When we’re not in meetings, I want them, me, having fun , being children.” She scourgified the window and sunshine shone through. “We need to think of disguise for me, though. Unfortunately,” She turned and frowned at them, “We will probably have to get Dumbledore’s help on that one. I would ask Minerva or Mad-Eye, but I think the fewer people who know about me the better. It needs to be official within the Ministry.” Sirius nodded, aiming a stunning spell at the massive spider that scuttled across the floor.
“Polyjuice?” Remus offered, tapping the writing desk, “We’ve got a boggart here, by the way,” He added.
“Maybe?” Hermione thought about Polyjuice, she wasn’t the most adept at altering potions and having to take it every hour wasn’t sustainable. They could bring Snape on board, she thought. She snorted softly, looking over at the two men. No way would they want Severus knowing about her. “I think Polyjuice could work if we found a way for me to not have to drink it every hour on the hour.”
“You could set an alarm on your wand to make sure you took it?” Remus suggested, rolling up his sleeves, “Or alter the potion to work for a longer length of time?”
“You offering to brew it, Moony?” Sirius grinned at him. Remus rolled his eyes. “Moony was rubbish at potions and we never let him live it down,” Sirius explained.
“Too many different scents?” Hermione asked, kindly. Remus nodded, “I brewed it my second year.” Both men stopped and turned to look at her. Sirius couldn’t help the grin from spreading across his face. She really was fucking magical .
“You what?” Remus asked, incredulously.
“Yes, yes, I know,” She huffed, “We did it to get into the Slytherin common room to find out if Draco Malfoy was the heir of Slytherin.”
Sirius gasped, “You got into the snakes’ common room? Merlin, Hermione, you’re amazing.” He imagined young 12-year-old Hermione bent over a bubbling cauldron and couldn’t stop smiling.
“Okay, both of you stop. We need to figure out a way for me to stay here! I’ll need an endless supply of Polyjuice being pumped into my system.” Her eyes narrowed and the two men exchanged a glance. Her eyes glazed over the same way Remus’ did when he was thinking of a book he had once read. “Pumped into my system…” She murmured. “Like… like an IV, or…”
“An IV?” Sirius asked. Both Remus and Hermione shushed him and he raised his hands in surrender. Hermione’s eyes flitted across the room in thought as she blinked rapidly.
“Or a syringe? I could inject myself?” She looked at Remus, “Would it last longer?”
“It could… in the bloodstream. But it’s never been tested…”
“Well, none of it has,” Hermione groaned.
Remus sat up straighter, his eyes brightening, “What about one of those slow-dissolving capsules?”
“A what?” Sirius asked, glancing at Remus. Remus waved at him and turned to look back at Hermione.
“...Remus that’s brilliant.” She walked over to kiss him on the cheek. “Though, I don’t know where I would get the hair….” She ran her hands through her curls, “A hair salon! Come on Granger!” She sighed at herself, hitting her forehead, “I can go in and collect a large batch of the same hair and use it for the brew every time I need to.” She locked eyes with the men in front of her and blushed under their gazes. Both were beaming at her.
“How will we immerse you into the Order?” Remus asked.
“Well,” She frowned, “We will have to get Dumbledore on board… maybe Moody…” She shook her head and bit her lip, “But if I get to be involved in everything, it’s worth it. I think we should have everything set up before we talk to them. Though if I have a good enough back story, we might only need to tell Dumbledore.”
“Okay!” Sirius clapped his hands together, “We need to get capithingies and a nice chunk of hair! When do we leave?”
Hermione frowned, “Sirius…”
“Come on , Hermione! I can be Padfoot. I’ll even let you put a leash on me,” He winked at her and grinned. Sirius stared her down until she broke into a smile.
“Fine. Long as I can pick the leash.”
“Padfoot!” Hermione yelled as the large dog dragged her down the street. Remus laughed from behind her, shoving his hands in the pockets of his patched jeans. They reached the small hair salon and Hermione handed the leash off to Remus, flipping her transfigured blonde hair over her shoulder. Remus watched through the window as she asked the receptionist to bring her the large pile of cut hair. Thankfully it was in a separate bin that they bagged for her. She waved as she left, a smile reaching her spelled blue eyes.
“That seemed easy,” Remus smiled at her and reached out for the bag. Instead, she slipped her hand into his and pulled him along towards Russell Square down the street. She shoved the hair into her small handbag and it disappeared.
“I told them I wanted to use it for fertilizing plants,” she giggled. “I just realized that I am going to have to test all of these to see which one I would like.”
Remus grimaced, “That’s going to hurt.”
“That’s okay. It will be fun too,” Hermione squeezed his hand, “I’m sure you and Padfoot will enjoy it.” As she said it, Padfoot nipped at their intertwined hands. Hermione yelped and laughed as he tugged Remus forward on the sparkling pink leash.
The three of them sat down on the grass, Padfoot digging and spraying dirt everywhere. Hermione leant against Remus and sighed.
“You seem better,” Remus noted, pulling at the grass.
“I am,” Hermione told him honestly, “Now that I’ve seen Harry… and everyone else. I just feel like I can fight again, I feel like I have something to fight for. Not only that, but I have a reason want to, I don’t know, live.” She turned and smiled at him, “I love being here with you and Sirius. I love living in a world where Harry is alive and I can make a real plan to change things. Plus I’ve had real fun for the first time in years.”
“You didn’t have any fun in your future?”
“Not really,” Hermione shrugged.
Remus frowned, “Friends?”
“One.” Hermione smiled softly, “Her name was Maura. She reminded me of Ginny. But even then… None of them were Harry. They weren’t you, or Sirius.” She reached up and ran her fingers through his sandy, grey-flecked hair. “I’m here now. I was always meant to come here. If I hadn’t…” She smiled sadly at Sirius.
“You never got close with us in your time?”
“No, I was young. I mean, I got closer with you , after…” She fell silent and unexpected tears prickled in the corners of her eyes.
“After Sirius died,” Remus nodded, “That makes sense. But now-”
“Now I can’t imagine not knowing the two of you.” She grinned as Padfoot bounded over to them. Hermione rubbed his ears and pressed her face against his and he licked her gently on the cheek. “Is it nice being outside, Padfoot?” Padfoot barked and turned to try to catch his tail. Hermione laughed and leant back on her elbows, smiling at the sunshine.
“For the record,” Remus said, pulling his feet under him, “I can’t imagine not knowing you either.” He smiled, nudging her with his shoulder.
“Okay!” Hermione clapped her hands together. Both Remus and Sirius were sat cross-legged on the bed in her room. She waved her wand and words appeared on the wall. “Here is the plan I’ve made.”
“Jesus, ‘Mione.” Sirius rolled his eyes and Remus grinned at her, eyes dancing over the bullet points.
“Shush, Sirius.” Hermione snapped at him. “Phase One: New Hermione. First, do we have all the ingredients?”
“Yes,” Remus nodded, “I finished getting all the supplies from Diagon Alley after you and Padfoot went home. You can start brewing when you’re ready.”
“Wonderful,” Hermione grinned at Remus, “I am going to make a very large batch, then separate it into tiny portions so we can try the hairs and make sure I’ve got the same person for the very large batch. That one should last at least a year and I’ll keep making extra batches just in case. Remus and I are going to go to a medical supply store to see if we can get empty capsules. No,” Hermione pointed at Sirius as he opened his mouth to protest, “You can’t come, not even as Padfoot. I’m sorry but they don’t let dogs into stores like that, love.”
“Alright, so, after we get those…” Remus said.
“Well we will just fill up the little things with the potion! Once we find the person I want to be and a backstory and a name, we can work on introducing me to the Order.”
“We get to pick you a backstory?” Sirius’ eyes lit up.
“Oh, Merlin,” Hermione rolled her eyes.
“‘Oh, Merlin’ is right!” Sirius shouted. “This is what I was made for, Hermione. Don’t you worry, I’ve got you covered.” His childish delight made Hermione laugh in exasperation.
“Fine,” Her smile fell, “I need to talk about some things that aren’t… easy, or happy.” She glanced and Remus before turning to Sirius and walking close to him. Hermione put her hands on his face and met his grey eyes with a sad smile. “Sirius, I need you to promise me that you won’t go away again. I need you to promise that you won’t drink yourself into a coma or change into Padfoot or run away.”
“I…” Sirius’ eyes searched her face. He wasn’t sure he could make such a promise, not with the way he’d been coping since Azkaban. But as his eyes met hers and all he saw was belief and trust and love there, he thought that maybe he could stay himself for long enough to help Hermione with whatever she needed. “I promise.” Hermione smiled and lit up his world and he knew he had said the right thing.
“So Phase Two is all about Harry,” Hermione said, chin in the air. She waved her wand and the first bullet point appeared. “Step one: we need to teach Harry Occlumency.”
“I only know two-” Remus started.
“Three.” Hermione pointed to herself, “Me. Or, I guess whoever I become. I don’t think Dumbledore or Snape should teach him. We need to make sure it’s done in a safe manner, in a way that will get him to want to do it.” She thought of all the times Harry had come back shaking and furious from Snape’s office when he was trying to teach Harry. “Step two: as you both know, there is a prophecy about Harry. I think it is time we talk about it and what it means. The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches, born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies, and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not, and either must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives. ” Hermione recited from memory. “Now, before you say anything I think that prophecies are bull. I think that all this did was force Voldemort to mark Harry as his equal. But , I do think it’s important that Harry knows that this exists because unfortunately… Harry is,” Hermione made her way to stand in front of Sirius. “You promised, remember.”
“I promised,” Sirius nodded, eyes crinkling in confusion.
“Harry is a Horcrux.”
The two men stared at her in silence, Remus blinking rapidly. Sirius shook his head slowly.
“No,” Sirius stood and Hermione framed his face with her hands once more. “That’s not fucking funny, Hermione, fuck that.”
Remus grabbed his arm, “Padfoot-”
“No! Fucking no! I have to-”
“Sirius, please,” Hermione’s thumbs brushed over his stubble. “You promised me you would stay. You promised.”
“I…” Sirius shook his head, “But… Harry. Hermione, Harry .”
“I know! I know. Listen. Please just sit and listen to me for a little while longer and then the three of us can drink ourselves silly, alright?” Hermione gave him a watery smile and he slowly nodded and sat down. “I don’t have a plan on how to get Harry out of this just yet. But I will think of one.”
“We will,” Remus added, gripping Sirius’ knee. “We will save Harry, Pads.”
Hermione breathed in sharply, “Too right.” She tapped the wall again, “We can’t do anything about the Horcrux in Harry until we handle all the other ones.”
“Voldemort has more than one?” Remus asked, eyes wide.
“He made seven,” Hermione paused so Sirius could swear, “Six on purpose, and then there’s Harry.” As she spoke, the wall changed.
Diary
Ring
Locket
Cup
Diadem
Snake
Harry
“So the diary has already been taken care of - Harry stabbed it with a basilisk fang in his second year.” Hermione sighed as a line went through the word, “And I know where the rest are.”
“Well, why don’t we just go get them?” Sirius asked, standing up again, running his hands through his hair, “Let’s go right now!”
“We can’t, Sirius,” Hermione told him, “Voldemort has just returned, he’s going to check on them and make sure they’re safe. The ring is in a small cottage in Little Hangleton. The Cup is in Bellatrix Lestrange's vault. The Diadem is at Hogwarts. The snake is with him at all times.”
Remus asked, “and the locket?”
“In my bag,” Hermione admitted with a smile.
“What? How?” Sirius asked her, a small smile on his lips. She had the ability to surprise him like no one else.
“Because it was here, Sirius,” a sad smile crossed her face, “Your brother stole it from Voldemort, Sirius. And hid it in this house. He intended to destroy it.” She pulled out the locket and took the paper from it, handing it over to Sirius.
“Regulus?” Sirius’ eyes watered and he looked back at Remus, “Reg defected? I didn’t- Why didn’t he-”
“You know how he was, Pads. He never would have asked you for help. The Order wasn’t exactly friendly to ex-Death Eaters.” Remus looked at him sadly, his mouth set in a line, “We weren’t friendly, either.”
“But Reg-” The last time Sirius has seen his brother was on the battlefield. They’d meet, both lowering their wands, grey meeting grey. Sirius should have known then that he wasn’t truly turned. That he’d changed. But instead, James had cursed him, grabbing Sirius and pulling him away from the other Death Eaters that had converged on the team. “I should have known, Moony.”
“You couldn’t have,” Hermione murmured sympathetically, “I’m sorry it happened the way it did, but Sirius, he did good , we have a Horcrux now and we can figure out how to destroy it.” The two men nodded mutely and stayed silent, “Once I have all of the Horcruxes, we can ask Dumbledore for the Sword of Gryffindor. It’s been endowed with basilisk venom and can destroy them. Now-”
“Hermione,” Sirius’ voice broke, “Can we, can we just take a break, please? I need a break.”
“Oh,” her eyes met his, “Of course. I’m sorry. Let’s all go have lunch.”
“And firewhiskey,” Remus added.
“And firewhiskey,” Sirius and Hermione chorused. Hermione tapped the wall and the writing vanished. Then they made their way down to the kitchen. To eat, and drink, and hold each other as they worked to find a way to get everyone out of the war alive.