A Dance Through Thyme (Harry Potter)

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Accepting

"Remus, for the last time, I will be fine!" Hermione cried out, more exasperated than ever. "I just need to get to Professor Dumbledore without being seen."

"Can't you wait until after curfew? All the other students would have gone to bed, and you would be free to go around the castle as you pleased."

Hermione sighed, rubbing her fingers against her temples.

"No, it can't wait. This is a major breakthrough in the research which Dumbledore wanted, and the sooner he knows about it the better. Please, you have to help me Remus."

Remus put his head in his hands, rubbing away at the tiredness of his closed eyes with the tips of his fingers. His shoulders were sagging downwards as he did this, and Hermione could almost see the cogs of his brain turning through the turmoil she knew she was putting him through.

"You don't know what kind of risk this is imposing on you... imposing on us," he let one final huff of air out of his mouth. "I just wish you would tell me why."

Hermione felt her heart sink at this, knowing that she could never tell him the whole truth. It would ruin too much of a future which was bleak at best. She could have had a chance at making it better, perhaps even fix it, but where was the guarantee that it would work? How could she justify her actions?

"Please, Remus?" she repeated.

There was something in Hermione's tone which made Remus look up at her. He could see the anguish in her face, and he was sure that this is what compelled him to do what he did.

"Promise me that you won't leave the room yet," he said, reaching forward to grasp her forearms in his hands. "Stay here until I come back."

Looking into his calming brown eyes, Hermione felt some of the tension in her body drain towards her feet.

"I'll stay," she said, her voice much softer than what it had previously been.

Remus lips curved upward slightly into a smile.

"I'll be back as fast as I can," he said, gently pressing his lips against her cheek in a kiss. "I love you."

Hermione fought to keep herself calm at his admission. Given the fact that he was no more agitated than before he had said those words; Hermione was not entirely sure that he had consciously made the decision to say them. Any previous joy she would have felt at hearing those words now made her heart ache.

Wanting to scream out to him that she loved him too, the logical part of her brain was taking over as it always did in these kinds of situations, and she kept her mouth tightly shut as she watched him turn and jog out of the Room.

She knew how to get home now, and by 'home' she meant the turn of the twentieth century. Well, not entirely, but now that she thought about it, of course she hadn't been able to find any information in any of the books. Rowle had created the sick and twisted spell himself.

Hermione's limbs felt like they had turned to jelly as her mind finally allowed her to sift through her memories and create a proper timeline. It only served to add a little poison to the metaphorical knife in stomach that the very person whom had tormented her in the future was the very person who was tormenting Remus in the present.

However, no sooner than she had contemplated this, another harrowing though crossed her already overloaded mind.

Rowle had been using muggles as guinea pigs to test his own brand of dark magic. He had been successful in sending them back in time, however, at that point, he had very little control over which time period he could send them to. More often than not, they were sent back to medieval ages, where they would be burned for witchcraft; or sent back to prehistoric times where they had no chance of survival against the dinosaurs and other mega fauna of the time. There was absolutely no evidence to suggest that she would be able to successfully get back to her old life.

The buzzing of thoughts in Hermione's mind got so loud at one point that she did not hear the door click open once more. Rapidly blinking several times at the sudden intrusion, she relaxed any muscles that she had tensed when she realised that it was only Remus that had re-entered the room; however, several parts of him seemed to be missing, and this only caused Hermione's heart to beat rapidly once more before she realised what he was holding in his arms.

"You have the Invisibility Cloak?" she inquired, slightly in awe. Of course, she now knew that it existed, and that in this time period James was its rightful owner; however, seeing something that was so much a part of her own time now firmly juxtaposed against this time was a little unnerving. It was like the two worlds colliding once more, and she was not sure how she was dealing with it.

In sight of recent revelations, every little piece of information seemed to hold so much more significance now that she was sure of the larger picture. She only hoped that she was piecing everything together correctly, and that what she was recollecting was the truth.

"How do you know about the Invisibility Cloak?" asked Remus, eyes wide in astonishment.

Immediately Hermione realised her blunder. Remus was still in the dark about her time travel. He did not know of the number of times she had protected herself under that exact cloak with Harry and Ron. He did not know that that cloak was actually one of the Deathly Hallows. Dumbledore may have had an inkling; but he would not have let any suspicions pass onto his students.

"Oh... ummm," Hermione thought hard and fast to create a simple lie which would deter Remus from asking anymore awkward questions. "I did a bit of reading after our date where you blindfolded me. I figured it was a cloak of invisibility after you covered me with something that made me disappear completely. The blindfold had slipped a bit and I was able to see it."

She silently held her breath, hoping that her lie made enough sense. She hated having to do it, but in light of recent events, it was the least of her worries. To her immense relief, Remus seemed to accept her answer.

"Well, anyway, this is how we are going to get you to Dumbledore's office without being seen. We will have to worry about what the password is when we get there."

Hermione nodded and stood to walk towards Remus, arms aloft, ready to hug him. Her head nestled gently against his chest as he completed the embrace, and Hermione loathed every fibre in her body for what she knew she was going to end up doing to this wonderful man.

"Thank you, Remus. You don't know what you've done for me, or how amazing you are."

She felt Remus' arms grip her body tighter against him as he spoke his reply.

"You're the amazing one. Whatever you're doing for Dumbledore, I just hope it's worth it. I'm not entirely stupid. I know what's happening outside the castle and I know that Dumbledore is doing his best to enlist people to fight. Just promise me one thing?"

"What?" asked Hermione in a soft voice, looking up towards his face as he spoke.

"Promise me that when you've finished whatever you can't tell me you're doing, you'll come back and we can relax and focus on ourselves for a little while. My NEWTs will be over then, and we will have the whole summer holidays ahead of us to do whatever we like. I can keep you safe."

Hermione's heart leapt up into her throat, knowing that she could never make such a promise. However, it was what he said next that truly made her want to dissolve into a puddle of tears.

"I meant what I said earlier... I love you, Hermione."

Standing on the tips of her toes, Hermione captured his lips with her own for the briefest of kisses.

"I love you too, Remus. That's why I have to do this. Do me a really big favour, and don't follow me to see Dumbledore. This is something that I need to do on my own."