The Tune Of Time

Chapter 9

Hermione found herself setting into a routine at Lunarville. She would wake up every morning and go on a jog with Sirius who had to keep himself fit for his job as an Auror. Then after her bath, she would prepare breakfast for everyone so that Lily could use the extra hours to sleep. Then she would spend some time helping Lily cleaning the house. Lunch, she wasn't allowed to cook so she would sit in the library to read in peace, then after lunch, both she and Lily would go to meet her friends , Alice, Hestia and Marlene, while James and Sirius did the dishes. It was a everyday routine for them to have a get together. Hermione found liking the woman. In her previous life, she never had the opportunity to befriend any girls. Ginny was the only girl she had as a friend and that too was because she spent most of her holidays in her home. She had spent all of her years surrounded by her boys. So, she had never known how girlfriends were. And they were fun to be around.

Alice was a sweet woman. She was sweet and quiet. Even without having any reason to be good to her, Alice was exceptionally kind to her. She had already invited her to her home after their first meeting. Hermione couldn't help but think of Neville whenever she laughed. Her chubby pregnancy face was similar to what Neville had with his baby fat in his early years in Hogwarts. Hestia was just opposite of Alice. She was loud and determined woman. Marlene was the female version of Sirius Black. And Lily was what brought balance to the group. She was the best of all the other woman. Hermione had known her as a symbol of love and sacrifice during the war. But Lily was much more than that. She was a kind woman, she had a temper that rivaled the Weasley matriarch, she was strong headed and determined, and Hermione knew she would have been a great mother , if she had the chance. This time around she will.

Dinner was usually the leftover from the lunch and if not, they would go out to a restaurant nearby. After dinner was the favorite part of the day for Hermione , as she spend it with Remus sitting in the library. Remus spent his day working in a bookshop, so he would always be absent after breakfast and before dinner. She looked forward to the part of the day when he would come back from work with a smile plastered on her face. Sometimes he brought some books for her for her personal collection, other times she would give him a copy of hers. These were her treasured moments. They would read together, sometimes him on her lap , other times she resting her head on his chest. Hermione never remembered going to the bed , but she would always wake up wrapped in her blankets in her bed.

It was the full moon day when Hermione woke up to find Remus sitting beside her bed holding her hand. It looked like an uncomfortable position as his ankles were crossed and his head was adjusted on the pointed edge of the bedside table. He had dark bags under his eyes and his skin looked pale. Hermione knew that Remus suffered a lot during these transformation especially when there was no wolfsbane potion. She felt angry with herself for taking almost a month to recover. If only she had woken up early. The advanced Wolfsbane took fifteen day to brew and had to be taken on the day of the full moon. It was a new version of Wolfsbane that Severus had brewed and it was much much useful than the standard Wolfsbane. It was time for her to go shopping in the apothecary. She planted a small kiss on his palm before removing hers from its grasp and left for a shower.

When Remus woke up he was surprised to find a soft blanket over him and a bed under him, instead of the cold floor. He panicked thinking that somewhere in the night he had climbed in bed with her. The girl would hate him now for it forever, he thought. However , with a small look and he knew he was alone in the room with a smell of vanilla and roses. He grunted as he buried his face in her pillow basking in her scent. the stiffness in his neck and back told him that he had not been on the bed for long. Perhaps, Hermione had levitated me when she woke up, he thought. But this thought did not help to ease the distress of the werewolf. He was ashamed to be found by her like that. She was understanding of his need to stay close to her but it was downright creepy of him to spend the night in her room.

He was sitting with his head down for the breakfast when he smelled her walk in. His treacherous head looked up without his permission to look at the witch. she looked as beautiful as ever. He was more than comforted when she gave him a bright smile and combed her fingers through his disheveled hair on her way to take the seat beside him. Remus had taken a day off his work , so he spent most of the day sitting the library with Hermione by his side. He knew that one of these days he was going to be off her generosity but he couldn't help himself. no one knew why but having her around him had helped him immensely. Before her, the week before the full moon was filled with pain and insomnia and with her, he felt much better on the day of full moon itself. His friends have noticed this too because Lily was too adamant on not using Hermione's help in work that day.

At night , boys left to have a all boys 'night out' while Lily invited her friends for a sleep over. Though Remus had expected Hermione to object on the idea of him going out when he looked so ill, she didn't. It was good but still Remus was disappointed. He thought she had cared for him and she usually did but why not today. It was confusing how his head worked.

A few days after the full moon, Hermione found herself walking through the Diagon Alley. It had been very difficult to convince everyone to let her go alone. She wanted the potion to be a surprise for Remus on his birthday. The 10th of March was a few day before the full moon , and she was going to make him very happy. She made her way into apothecary to collect the ingredients for her potion. She was looking through the ingredients for myrrah , already having acquired Aconite and pulverized Black quicksilver when she found a man in dark robes and greasy black hair looking at two jar of ashwinder eggs.

"You don't seem the one for Love potion, so are you brewing Felix felicis?" She asked him in hope that he would answer.

The man sneered at her. Once upon a time, the very sneer used to silence the whole class and Hermione would swallow down the questions that she wanted to ask. However, she had grown up since then and this man, was clearly not her potions professor. He still had to work on his sneer a bit more. That man had lost everything. His only purpose was to save the son of the woman he loved. It wasn't the case for the Severus Snape standing in front of her. He still had hope.

"Well, if you are hoping that" she pointed at his face , "that will scare me, you are wrong." She informed him. And started looking for the myrrah. He was still standing there collecting his ingredients when she gave a huge sigh and asked , "Severus, do you know where they keep myrrah?" She asked.

"Why would you need that and how do you know my name?" He asked without moving his eyes from the jar of flobberworms that he was now studying.

"Can you keep a secret?" She asked excitedly. It was a chance to befriend Severus Snape. His curiosity for a potion will overcome his self imposed solitude.

"Why would you think I would do anything for you?"

"Because I am creating a new potion which can be revolutionary." She told him and saw his eyes flicker to her face studying her.

"I won't do any such thing." He said and left the store. However , crossing the door, he said in a low whisper , " third aisle, top shelve." Hermione doubted he intended her to even listen. She was well aware of the games that Snape played. But she was thankful that she didn't have to look anymore. Though she was disappointed that Snape hadn't paid her enough attention. they still had time for it. And she had known from before that breaking this 'nutcase' was going to be difficult.