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

11 | forgiveness is a lesson he cursed you to learn

After another huge sweep, Hermione was convinced that no one was there to witness her rule breaking. With a twirl of her wand over her head, she murmured a soft incantation and instantly blended in with her surroundings. She wished that her Disillusionment Charm would hold until she walked out of the castle.

Luck may have been with her that day, for she was able to roam through the empty corridors without encountering any authorities. By the time Hermione had burst through the oak doors, a gust of warm wind brushed her flushed cheeks. The full moon above was huge and ominous, and Hermione fervently prayed to whomever could hear that Severus wasn't stupid enough to go to the Shrieking Shack.

'Might as well get this over with,' she told herself, as Hermione purposefully sped through the huge expanse of the Hogwarts grounds until she spied the Whomping Willow in the distance.

Dread grew in the pit of her stomach when she saw that it was unmoving. She was able to make out a silhouette, both hands pressed tightly against the giant knot on the bark of the tree. Hermione urged her feet to go faster and swore under her breath when she saw Severus' pale face.

"I bloody well knew you were going to be an idiot!" she harshly whispered, cautiously eyeing the immobilised Whomping Willow in case it started to move again.

"Hermione?" Severus called out, wildly looking around to locate her.

Realising she was still under the Disillusionment Charm, Hermione waved her wand once more to undo the spell. The Slytherin's eyes instantly landed on her when she became visible.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he angrily snarled. "Go back inside, Pettigrew. It's— I have a bad feeling that this is going to be dangerous."

"What the hell are you doing here then?" she sniped back. He scowled at the thunderous expression on her face. "You promised you would not come here tonight, Sev."

He angrily looked away from her glaring eyes. "I was curious, all right?" he drawled back. "It was suspicious why Black specifically said those instructions." His narrowed, black eyes landed back on her. "Admit it, Hermione. You were curious too."

Hermione wanted to scream bloody murder for the sudden turn of events. "Let's just go back, Sev, please," she begged. "Black is a berk. He's just pulling your leg."

"No," he grounded out. "There's something—"

His words died down from his lips when a loud howl somewhere in the distance resounded in the whole, empty field. Severus' eyes widened and he instantly ducked inside the tunnel. Hermione shot forward and closely followed behind, already pulling her wand out to defend them.

"Sev, please," she tried once more, blood now pounding loudly inside her ears as they neared the ground floor of the Shrieking Shack. Memories of her third-year adventures came crashing back to her like a huge tidal wave, drowning her deeper and deeper with harrowing thoughts of werewolves and danger and... and... bloody fucking hell, they should go back.

Hermione tightly wrapped a hand around his arm and tried to pull him away, but the idiot was stubborn and continued to trudge on.

They finally arrived inside the ground floor of the Shrieking Shack. It was relatively cleaner than the last time she'd been here. It was obviously recently occupied, too, because there were half-eaten plates of treacle tarts and mugs of lukewarm coffee scattered on the dusty floor. Hermione was also able to notice decent pieces of furniture that weren't there before, even some fluffy pillows and clean blankets dumped haphazardly on a worn, squashy, maroon couch.

"Where the hell are we?" Severus harshly whispered.

"The Shrieking Shack," Hermione deadpanned.