Hero of the Story || James Potter x Hermione Granger Fanfiction

36 | we left our date of birth and our history behind

xxxvi.

we left our date of birth and our history behind

(Mars by Sleeping at Last)

__________

January 4, 1979

Everything was a dizzying blur for Hermione.

At first, no one dared to move after Peter had spoken. Even Hermione held her breath, unsure as to why Peter had brought them to Potter Manor, of all places. Peter looked tense, his blue eyes almost icy under the lights in James' bedroom, and his jaw was clenched so tightly, that she wouldn't be surprised if his gums started bleeding soon. James gaped at them like a fish out of water, his raven-coloured hair sticking up at ridiculous angles with his thick-rimmed glasses askew on the tip of his nose.

Then, beside her, Regulus rolled over on the carpet once more and retched. The cursed liquid slithered out of his mouth - ominous green soaking the rich, velvety carpet on the floor.

This brought action back into the room as both Peter and James reached for Regulus and hauled him onto the bed. Hermione pulled out her wand and spelled the vomit away, her eyes trained intently on the carpet, as she knew the boys were now looking pointedly in her direction.

"What the bloody hell happened?" James harshly asked.

Hermione slowly stood up from the floor and hesitantly glanced at the other two. Peter's face looked tight and gaunt, undoubtedly still plagued by visions of what had transpired back at the cave. James looked marvellously confused and thunderous, his hazel eyes glinting at how dishevelled she looked. Her denim jeans were ripped in various places due to slipping on the jagged rocks. Peter may have spelled her dry and warm, but she was still filthy from her skirmish with the Inferi under the black lake.

The fact that she had almost died back at the cave crashed over her. Tears prickled her eyes and she hugged herself tightly at the feeling of hopelessness that had overcome her when she and Regulus were sinking farther and farther away from the surface of the water. Her skin still stung with the feeling of the Inferi's deathly grips. She kept replaying how they clambered on top of each other to do their master's bidding and drown Hermione.

She was quivering again, this time due to the horrors they had just gone through. Although she tried to convince herself they'd been successful - that they had gotten the horcrux... Everything that had happened back in the cave had awakened all of Hermione Granger's memories of the war.

Instantly, Peter was in front of her, holding her tight. "Shh, you're safe," he soothed, dropping kisses on top of her bushy hair. "It's all right, Hermione. You're safe. You're safe."

She didn't realise she was starting to breakdown until she felt Peter's warmth. She took huge, gasping breaths, the feeling of drowning in the lake seizing her whole. She tightly clutched the back material of Peter's clothes, as if it was the anchor she needed to get back to shore. Peter started to rub circles on her back, whispering incoherent words of comfort against her ear. He didn't stop until she could properly breathe once more.

"She needs to change out of those clothes," James whispered.

Peter stiffly nodded his head. "I'm going to let go of you now, Hermione," he said, peering down at her with unadulterated worry in his blue eyes. "We need you to change out of your clothes, okay?"

Dumbly, she nodded her head and allowed him to pull away from her. Her hand, however, instinctively grasped onto his sleeve as her blurry eyes met James' gaze. Through her tears, she wasn't able to see what expression he was making. All she knew was he'd donned a white shirt to cover his bare chest and that he was extending his favourite, worn Gryffindor jumper towards her.