A Second Channe Through Time

CHAPTER TWO

Page count: 13

St. Mungo's – Sunday 8th November 1981

Hermione woke to blinding lights, groaning she was forced to shield her stinging eyes from the brightness. When she heard movement from beside her, she blinked several times to clear her vision and to allow her eyes to accommodate to the light, she removed her hand from her face. Her eyes carefully scanned her surroundings, seeing she was clearly in a St. Mungo's hospital room and she groaned; she'd certainly seen enough of the sterile rooms in her lifetime.

"I'm getting sick of ending up in here, soon I'll have a whole bloody ward to myself," she grumbled, slowly pushing herself into a sitting position and leaning back against the pillow, noticing that she was dressed in a blue hospital gown. Lovely, she thought.

"You've been here before?"

She startled at the voice, turning in the direction the words had come from and her eyes landing on a tired-looking Remus Lupin. Dumbly, she stared at him.

"Oh my..." She trailed off in a whisper, unable to finish her sentence.

He looked far different than he did in her time. He had fewer scars on his face, he looked more muscular, he didn't have a moustache, his hair was lighter and shaggier and he was... well...Alive.

After a few moments, he cleared his throat, being uncomfortable under her unwavering stare. She had a look on her face, as if she'd just seen a ghost, but there was something else there, too. In her eyes, he could swear he saw them glittering with hope and joy.

"Sorry, it's just really weird to see you like..." She trailed off once more. Merlin, she had to pull herself together lest he think her an idiot.

"You know me?" He asked curiously.

"You could say that. Why are you here? Sirius asked you to watch over me, didn't he?"

He raised an eyebrow. Had did she know that?

"Yes, he left a note saying you didn't seem to be a member of You-Know-Who's faction, but he wasn't a hundred percent sure as to your intentions or if you could be trusted. He wanted to wait until you woke up to question you."

She snorted. "How long have I been out? Where's Sirius? Is Harry alright? What about James? Did Lily survive? Why haven't I been healed?" She asked, as she noticed she was still littered with cuts and bruises, but the blood and dirt had been cleaned away from her body, though not well, specks of it still lingered.

"You've been out eight days. The healers tried to heal you but they couldn't and no one knows why. As for Lily, she died giving birth to Harry," Remus spoke, looking at her curiously and a gasp fell from Hermione's lips.

Why? She was supposed to save Harry from the Killing Curse, and if she hadn't then timeline had definitely changed. She just hoped Harry was still alive.

"James is recovering well and should be getting discharged either today or tomorrow. Harry's staying with his Aunt and Uncle until James is released."

She released her breath. "The Dursleys, I hate those people," Hermione muttered and he raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. "You didn't say where Sirius was."

"He's in Azkaban for the murder of Peter Pettigrew and ten muggles. They're saying he went crazy after betraying James and..."

"No, Remus, it wasn't Sirius. It was that piece of shit rat, Pettigrew, and I know where he is. He'll not get away with what he's done and I'll get Sirius out of Azkaban whilst I'm out."

She threw the flimsy blanket off herself, climbed down from the uncomfortable bed and walked behind a curtain where she found her clothes from the day of the battle. As dirty as they were having not been cleaned, she still slipped them on before stepping out from behind the curtain, placing her beaded bag over her shoulder and fixing her hair into a pile of tangled curls on top of her head.