There was an intense wailing and the sound of footsteps hurrying down the corridor that jolted Hermione from her paperwork. Her heart thundered in her chest and she quickly ran out of the office she now shared with Madame Pomfrey, her wand tip emitting the only light in the darkened infirmary. A month into the semester and she was put on night duties on the weekends and she wasn’t all that unhappy about this. She got the chance to look over her books and catch up on paperwork that her day shift at the infirmary didn’t allow for. There was almost always a student who needed a pepper up potion or sleeping drought that she had to tend to. Not to mention the students who got brutally injured after quidditch during the week. Then there were students who were injured in classes or detention. She could go on and on listing off all of the injuries she saw during the normal school day. The quiet night shift was a reprieve.

                However, it looked like she wasn’t going to be getting her quiet night as she saw the group of boys coming in. Hermione flicked her wand and a low light lit the hospital wing and she saw the damage that had been done. Sirius’ grey eyes were wide as they met hers and James was muttering some sort of encouragement. James was holding up a limp, blood-covered Lupin.

                Hermione rushed to his side and slipped in a pool of blood as she ran to him. She looked in his eyes and they were dilated almost to the point of not being able to see the iris anymore and he was panting like he had just run a marathon. She could tell he was coming down from turning.

                “Mobilicorpus.” Hermione levitated the boy onto one of the hospital beds, the blood immediately blooming onto the white linen sheets. Hermione cast a diagnostic spell and saw he was bleeding from being impaled in the side, by what, she couldn’t say. It looked rather jagged and the other boys had obviously pulled it from him instead of bringing him to her straight away. “He was stabbed by something? You should never pull out the object.” She glanced at Sirius and James who just looked at her like gaping fish.

                “You’re not going to ask us what happened?” James asked incredulously.

                “Would you tell me the truth if I did?” Hermione shot back at him with a glare. She caught Sirius’ subtle shrug and nod to his friend.

                She accioed a phial from the stores in the office and unstoppered it. Lupin convulsed like a rabid animal and darted to get off of the bed. Sirius and James caught him just in time and forced him back down on the bed, Hermione gave them a thankful look before accioing another phial of calming drought and grabbed her young-looking professor by the chin and forced his head back.

                “You’re going to be alright, Moony, just take the potion. This is almost over. Just let her help, man.” Sirius calmly tried to coax Lupin into opening his mouth, but Lupin’s jaw muscles contracted with the strength he had from clenching his teeth shut.

                Hermione gave James a ‘here goes’ look before pressing her fingers down on either side of Lupin’s face and quickly dumping the phial down his throat then clasping her hand over his mouth immediately so that he couldn’t spit it out. After a couple moments of struggle, Lupin’s body started to relax and his eyelids started to droop.

                James and Sirius slowly let go of his limbs and Hermione pressed another phial to his mouth and then started to work on mending his injury. She pulled the inner tissues together first, making sure the blood stopped rushing from them before moving to his skin and patching that up so that there was only a large, raised, pink line left.

                “He’s gonna be okay?” James asked, concern etched into his features.

                “Yes, he’ll be fine. He will need to stay here for a while so that I can make sure that doesn’t give him any more trouble, but I’m sure I got everything sealed properly.” Hermione raised an eyebrow at the two boys who were still covered in Remus’ blood and dirt, “Now, you two best be off and get yourselves cleaned up before someone catches you out of bed after hours.” The boys stared at her, shocked before turning and making a run for it. She knew they must have used the invisibility cloak to get here undetected and was sure they were going to use it again. She was also sure they wouldn’t be heading straight to bed.

- - -

Hermione kept Lupin in the infirmary for two days before she went to check on his vitals one last time. The hospital wing was empty and Pomfrey was off for the night, leaving Hermione to finish up with Lupin before she retired as well. He looked even more haggard than usual if that was even possible. He was still getting his color back from all the blood loss and his eyes were dull. The humor wasn’t there like it usually was.

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She bent over him, pressing her fingers into his wrist. His soft eyes met hers and she gave him a small smile. She cast a diagnostic spell over his abdomen to make sure all his organs were still functioning properly and then lifted his gown to inspect how the mark where he was impaled was healing. It looked tender, but it was still closed, which is how the magic was supposed to work.

She cleared her throat before saying, “Have you ever heard of the spell sarcio pellis?”

Lupin’s brow furrowed and he shook his head.

“I had a friend who used to have injuries much like your own,” Hermione indicated to the many scars criss crossing his body from his monthly changes. Lupin’s eyes narrowed slightly and Hermione gave him a small smile. “If you run your wand along the cuts and say that spell, the skin will knit together without scarring. It only works on superficial cuts though. Anything deeper requires something more. But I thought you may be interested in knowing.” Hermione said with a small shrug.

“Yes, I’ll-I’ll have to try that the next time I…get a cut.” Lupin said, still eyeing her suspiciously.

Hermione smiled at him, “Well, Remus, I think you are finally free to go. Just try not to get impaled again.” Hermione laughed, but she kind of meant it seriously. If they hadn’t gotten him to her any quicker, he could’ve bled out. Hermione accioed his clothes and gave them to him. “I’m sure your friends will be thrilled to see you out of the hospital wing again.”

Lupin sighed and took the clothes from her, “Yes, just in time for class to start tomorrow morning.”

Hermione winked at him, “You’re welcome, Mr. Lupin.” She turned and went back to her office to gather her things and let him change. When she came back out he was gone. She flicked her wand and the sheets changed themselves on the bed he had been in. She scrugified the area he was in and smiled to herself remembering when Lupin had taught her that spell. You’re a liar, Professor. You didn’t teach yourself that spell out of a book your first year. I taught it to you your seventh year. Hermione chuckled to herself at the thought.

- - -

Hermione woke to a loud rapping at her window. She grimaced and buried her head under her pillow angrily. Today was one of her few days off and all she wanted to do was sleep in. TAP TAP TAP TAP! She growled in a frustrated huff of anger and threw her blankets off her. The owl chirped happily when it saw her get up from bed and bob its head eagerly as she drew near.

She flung the window open angrily and the bird hopped in happily, hooting in a cheerful way as she glared at it. It stuck its little, scaly leg out for her to untie the parchment and then bobbed its head around looking for a pet or some sort of praise. Hermione grudgingly patted its feathered head and it flew with a happy hoot from her sill.

She saw the sealed wax and knew it was from Professor Dumbledore. Of course, that was his bird, she should have known with how happy it seemed to be to wake her up. She broke the seal and read the note:

Miss Cresswell,

I would like to meet with you in my office at 10am today to see how you are doing. The password is ‘tickled pears.’

-A. Dumbledore

Hermione cast a tempus charm and saw it was barely 6am! She growled and then climbed back into bed, letting the last couple of hours of sleep claim her.

- - -

Hermione finally dragged herself out of bed around nine and got ready for her meeting with Dumbledore. She washed her hair with potions she had come up with herself that made her curls soft and less frizzy. She had grown to like her hair the more she experimented with it and now that she had it tamed into soft, bouncy curls; she was rather fond. Unfortunately for her, she had to glamor herself and her hair to make her features less recognizable and her hair sleek and blonde. She sprayed herself with her favorite perfume and then sighed as she looked at the reflection that looked vaguely like her. This is what Dumbledore thought was safe, so she needed to honor it. Even if it did get old.

She left her rooms and started to make her way across the castle to the Professor’s office, taking the changing staircases two steps at a time. She hurried down corridors, lost in her thoughts and not paying attention to her surroundings. She rounded a corner and suddenly collided with a hard body and was knocked on her ass.

“What in the fu- , Miss Cresswell?” Severus Snape towered over her, a perplexed look on his face.

Hermione grumbled as she started to get up then saw his out-stretched hand and looked at it then up to him, half expecting him to retract it with a snide comment. She carefully took his hand and let him pull her easily to her feet. “Thank you, M-Mr. Snape.” Hermione stuttered on his title, so used to calling him professor that mister sounded foreign on her tongue.

When he continued to stand in front of her path, she looked up at him questioningly and immediately felt his magic slide into her mind. He was trying to be more subtle this time, but it still hit her roughly and slithered through her mind like a snake. His magic pushed through her thoughts where there was no room for it to go, chaffing her. She threw up her defenses with immense difficulty, making her feel weak.

His hands wrapped around her arms to steady her as she swayed and his eyes looked deeply into hers. It was all she could see, her mind going into tunnel vision. His eyes were exceptionally dark; black and endless. “Miss Cresswell?”

Hermione could almost feel the vibration from the deep timbre of his voice. His voice really was soothingly deep. She pulled herself from her stupor and gripped his arms tightly, pushing away from him quickly. Her heart was thumping loudly in her ears, her body suddenly felt frozen in the fear of what he could have seen in her mind. She felt sick. Terror crossed her features and she quickly slipped around him and hurried down the hall. She gave him a frightened look over her shoulder and saw he was standing in the corridor watching her leave, a confused look on his face.

Hermione ran quickly through the corridors, until she found herself outside of Dumbledore’s office. She scrubbed her hands over her face and caught her breath. She needed to get this situation with Snape under control before he blew her entire mission and altered the timeline completely.