Fate Set Right

Chapter 25

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January 30, 1977

Remus was sitting with his face in his hands, and Sirius looked ill. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Hermione thought that maybe she should feel guilty about telling them the truth, but she didn't. Not at all. It was about time. High time, really, that they understood the truth about their beloved headmaster. And while she knew James would never, ever believe a word she said because he would always see Dumbledore as infallible, these two would understand.

"So, h-he made it im-impossible for Severus to s-s-say no," Remus finally stuttered. He looked around the room, at the bed they sat on with Severus sleeping behind them, at the dingy walls. It was like Remus was, for the first time, seeing the circumstances he was forced into.

"Unless Severus forfeit his opportunity to earn his Mastership to stay with me, Dumbledore said that I would be in danger," Hermione affirmed.

"He's talked to us about it, you know," Sirius mentioned thoughtfully. "This ... Order." When Remus looked confused, and maybe a bit hurt, Sirius gave his shoulder a squeeze. "To me and James, though I imagine he'll want you, too, Moony. How could he not?"

"What did he say to you?" Hermione asked curiously, crossing her arms and legs as she braced herself against the wall.

Sirius shrugged. "That the war is getting worse, that he needs people he can trust, people he knows will do what it takes to stop Dark Wizards. And what's more, he liked that James and I will not have to look for work after Hogwarts. As members of old pure-blood families, we'll probably be able to petition for places in the Wizengamot in a few years."

"And because I'm a half-blood with a condition, I wouldn't be as useful."

"Your lycanthropy is hardly a hindrance to stopping Dark Wizards," Hermione said casually, smirking a bit at the wide-eyed terror Remus exuded at her words.

He blushed, then went pale. "You knew," he said.

"Yes."

"And ... and it doesn't bother you?"

She remembered his transformation three years ago and seventeen years from now. How absolutely terrified she was, and how she'd chastised herself for not confronting him before that last night in the Shrieking Shack.

"No," she said with a slight shake of her head. "It's not as though you have any control over it."

"He said he killed his father," Sirius said before they continued that line of conversation.

"I guess that was what You-Know-Who wanted him to do this evening. His father is a Muggle." She looked over at where Severus was resting, the spell she used to make him fall asleep still in effect. But she doubted it would be for long. "I know it's not precisely warm out here, but to move him now wouldn't be a good idea. Remus, I know you stay here when you change. Will it bother you if we stay the night?"

"Do you think we'd leave you two alone?" Sirius asked. "He had to kill someone tonight, Kitten. He didn't seem okay when he arrived. He might love you, but if he's even slightly out of it when he wakes, he may not be able to recognize friend from foe right away."

"I don't think Severus would appreciate sharing a bed with you two." She smirked, pushing off the wall. Withdrawing her wand, she pointed it at the piano in the other room, transfiguring it into a bed large enough for two. A few flicks at some of the torn sheets and she turned them into thick warm comforters. She snatched one off the floor and handed it to Sirius. "If you insist on staying, you'll do it in the next room. If Severus does wake and is not half mad, he won't want an audience. We can put up a silencing charm if he needs to talk, and you can still see I'm safe."