checkmate | remus lupin.

chapter one | 1.

CHAPTER ONE

Hello guys! This is my first story that I will hopefully finish! This is a time-travel fanfiction, so if that's not your cup of tea, please move on! This will also be a Hermione/Remus pairing, with hints of other pairings with Hermione!

The plot is the only thing that belongs to me! Everything you recognize belongs to JKR! Bless that... problematic but brilliant woman.

May 2nd, 1998

Silence had never been as loud as it was right then. The calm breeze in the air, the early morning mist covering the blood-soaked grounds and across the Black Lake. She stood at the crumbling edge of the ruined bridge that once connected Hogwarts to Hogsmeade, taking in the overwhelming quiet as her gaze settled on the captivating mist.

The war was won. After thirty long years, the Light finally conquered. But at what cost? Hermione learned very early in her introduction to the Wizarding World that war would take lives, however, knowing how many of her classmates, professors, shop owners, children, and muggles were killed was what truly got her.

Lavender Brown, Nymphadora and Remus Lupin, Severus Snape, Sirius, and Regulus Black, Fred Weasley, Alice and Frank Longbottom*, Marlene McKinnon, Dumbledore, James and Lily Potter, Cedric Diggory, Mad-Eye Moody, Peter Pettigrew, Dobby and so many more that she couldn't think about.

Hermione closed her eyes in despair as the tip of her nose started to sting with unshed tears. She lazily flicked her wand to clear a small space at the edge of the bridge so she could sit down. The eighteen-year-old girl took a deep breath to calm her frazzled nerves only for a sob to escape her throat when she exhaled. She covered her mouth to smother her cries back inside her. She had to be strong for Harry, Ron, the Weasley's and for little Teddy Lupin. Teddy wasn't even a year old and he lost both his parents. Remus and Tonks had gifted her the role of Godmother along with Harry's Godfather.

The thought of having to raise a nine-month-old made her gasp for breath as she let her walls crash down. Her knees involuntarily raised to her chest and she secured her spot on the bridge by wrapping her arms around her shins as her face buried itself in her knees to muffle the oncoming break-down. The war didn't just kill people, no. It also turned many children into orphans, the population was down by more than half, Wizarding Britain was a wreck. No, Voldemort took more than just life. He took life, economy, family, innocence, trust, and happiness.

The mere thought of what he had left behind in his supposed domain was almost like a dementor itself.

She didn't know how long she was sitting there crying before she was joined by her two boys- no, they're men now. Ron wrapped a single arm around her waist as Harry wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She leaned her head on Harry's shoulder while her palm rested on Ron's thigh. They sat in almost complete silence as Hermione continued to gasp for breath as tears ran down her cheeks in a river.

The rest of the day was spent levitating bodies- dead and alive. Hermione managed to shove her feelings back into a compressed box in the back of her mind. It wouldn't due to be a sobbing mess as she was delicately moving heavily injured witches and wizards.

The injured patrons were shown to their cot in the Great Hall. (That was the first order of business after all; cleaning up the Hall, free of debris. Larger chunks of stone or concrete were transfigured into cots to hold the tens* of injured.) While the dead were laid peacefully near Dumbledore's own grave on the Hogwarts ground. Those that were moving the bodies made sure to lay those loved ones next to each other so even in death, they were near the ones they fought for.