Chapter Text
Chapter 1 : Traveling with Three
Two little blue lines stared back at Hermione from the white strip in the bathroom. The pile of other tests in the bin beside her all had the same result. Hermione Granger was pregnant with Sirius Black’s child. While another war - a third fucking war - was brewing.
The gas lamp overhead swung back and forth, casting the dark grey and faded green tiles in an eerie light. The snake facets and gilded mirror shimmered. All of it gave off the impression of a haunted house, but Hermione couldn’t take her eyes off of the plastic tests.
She rubbed her hands up and down her arms. The nausea had been going on for a few weeks and she had thought it was stress. It was the logical conclusion considering they were receiving regular death-threats, but then it hadn’t let up even after moving back to Grimmauld. While she had worried what might become of herself in the ancestral home as a muggleborn, Teddy’s safety came first in her mind. And all that was left of the Order - Teddy, Andy, Harry, and Sirius - had Black blood apart from herself.
Grimmauld was a horrible place to call home but a fidelius cast by Dumbledore himself was the only place they felt comfortable with little Teddy. The townhouse moaned as wind blew through it, disturbing old wards and aged wood. Walburga’s portrait still attempted to spit on them as they walked by, there was a single elf head they hadn’t managed to detach from the wall, and there was no electricity, which meant she couldn’t play her stereo or even use a heating pad. But Teddy was safe. Hermione took a deep breath, this would likely be the only place her child could be safe too.
Hermione pushed her curls out of her face, wincing as her dainty engagement ring caught in her hair. She rested her ruby-ringed hand on her still flat stomach. Admittedly she and Sirius had not been very careful with contraceptive charms, but the healers had told her in fifth year she should come to terms with the fact she might never have children of her own.
It was why she and Viktor had broken up before his passing. It was why she pushed everyone away for so long, depending more on herself than anyone else. And it was one of the biggest hurdles that Sirius had helped her overcome; his insistence that he didn’t need a child of his own had been so comforting at the time that Hermione now had the completely opposite concern. Would Sirius want to be a father?
The two way mirror rang on the other side of the counter, signifying that little Teddy was crying from waking up from his afternoon nap. And soon there was going to be another one. She bit her knuckle keeping one arm banded around her middle and started towards Teddy’s room.
Her thoughts kept circling back to Sirius, and the unexpected development. Although, that seemed to be the definition of their entire relationship. One unexpected turn after another.
They’d first connected when Sirius fell back out of the veil, another 3 nearly four years stolen from him. Sirius was rightly pissed to know that not only had he missed out on the end of the war, and the rest of Harry’s childhood, but he was now the last remaining marauder. She’d found him sulking at Andy’s house, clutching Teddy to his chest and they’d spent the evening - and many to follow - sitting in silence.
While Sirius experienced too few years, locked in Azkaban and then the veil, Hermione experienced too many. She gnawed on her lip, eyes catching on the framed photos on the wall, and most notably the spaces where pictures were missing. Her hand went to the golden necklace resting above her sternum. When McGonagall had requested the TimeTurner back at the end of 3rd year Hermione had given her a fake, instead she continued to use it every day sometimes twice a day. Something deep inside her screamed that she was running out of time.
After the war Sirius and Hermione had become a matched, or mismatched depending on your viewpoint, pair. Both of them didn’t fit into the normal flow of time any longer, and what had been a 19 year age gap shrank to somewhere around 9-10 years.
How was she going to tell Sirius? What would she say? What would Harry and Andy say? Both were still a little miffed about her and Sirius’ relationship but most of the time it looked like they were longing for their old mates instead of truly opposing the match.
Her heart pinched for them. Andy had spent Tonks’ entire childhood keeping her family locked away only to lose them both at the end of the second wizarding war. Harry had grown up in a loveless household and shouldered the blame of both the first and second war. Then Ginny had been taken from him and he just… Froze. Harry ate only when absolutely necessary, and threw himself into his work.
Harry still wore a black band on his ring finger in honor of Ginny. Andromeda wore Ted’s ring on her right pointer finger, she had said it was so she remembered to make every action as though he was there standing beside her, watching. Hermione wondered how she would cope if she lost Sirius? Would she become a useless wreck?
Hermione brushed open the nursery door, wandlessly flicking on the old gas lamps, and strode over to Teddy’s crib. The little metamorphmagus shifted his hair from the angry black color to soft curls like hers – only in a powdered blue – as soon as she lifted him into her arms.
It was funny looking at him, especially first thing in the morning with his face scrunched up like this. He looked so much like Remus had, that Hermione found herself tearing up. She blew out a slow breath, there had been one day where she’d found a baby sweater with patches on the elbows and sobbed herself to sleep seeing Teddy in it. Grief and joy spun in circles around the tot and they doted on him.
Merlin, what would Sirius, Remus, and James have been like if they’d been able to raise their kids together? She couldn’t even imagine how loved those kids would be. Although, Hermione mused glancing around Teddy’s sage green nursery, she could imagine just how spoiled they would be. There was a delicate enchanted mobile hanging over his crib, and murals of tiny dragons crawled and soared over the walls. There were three chests filled to bursting of vibrantly colored toys and in the corner over his changing table there was a large hanging net of ‘extra’ stuffed animals.
“There we are sweet boy.” Hermione pressed a kiss to his curls, “Did you have a nightmare?”
Teddy was just passed his first birthday, and already decently ahead of the curve with his vocabulary. But he still had trouble pronouncing some things. She tried to bite back a grin, thinking about how he was still struggling with Dragon, Chicken (Sirius snorted firewhiskey up his nose the first time Teddy said Dicken), and several other fruits, vegetables, and other foods. Hermione pressed a kiss to his cheek, soaking in how his little legs scrunched when he was first picked up.
He sniffed loudly, “M’scared Mimi.” Hermione instantly ran her hand up and down his back. “Scared about Bracly.” Teddy burrowed tighter to herself. His little hand fisted around the only necklace she wore anymore.
She had to fight not to laugh. The had introduced him to Broccoli and Cauliflower last week, and while he liked Cauliflower he screamed bloody murder until the Broccoli had been moved out of sight. He was still too little to realize that he was an orphan, or that there were a great deal of monsters in the world. And Gods did she want to keep him that way.
Hermione turned towards the door and froze. Leaning against the doorway with sleep mussed hair, and a soft grin was Sirius. Her heart sped up as he pushed off the frame and closed the distance between them. He stretched out his hand and ran it through Teddy’s curls - the little boy changed his eye color to match his grey eyes.
“Understandable, it’s a fearsome vegetable.” Sirius said very seriously and Teddy nodded with his head still against her chest. Hermione looked between the two of them, her thoughts circling back to the bin full of tests downstairs. Sirius was clearly a good father - as much as he didn’t want the role in place of what was his only remaining friend - but she couldn’t help but worry he’d be angry with her.
Sirius clapped his hands, “Right. How about Blueberry pancakes and lots of whipped cream?” He waggled his eyebrows until Teddy giggled. Sirius plucked Teddy out of her arms and pinched her arse in the process. “And then you can watch cartoons while I make sure Mi has her whipped cream.”
Hermione’s cheeks heated. The last time there had been whipped cream involved she hadn’t been able to walk for days. In fact she wouldn’t be surprised if her current condition was a result of that night.
Her entire body shivered as images of that night flooded her mind. Hot sweat, filthy words pressed into her ears, licking and laving his sinful tongue over her breasts. The way her body arched as he worshipped her with his tongue and how she begged for his cock.
She swallowed hard, “I’ll see you downstairs then.” She shut the nursery door behind her and pressed her back to the door. That man was… Gods, he was better than every book she’d ever read. If she had to pick between being him and the sun she’d praise every night she could touch him.
Her heart fluttered as she pushed off the door and made her way downstairs. Every other stair creaked so she wasn’t surprised when Harry tipped his mug in her direction with a muted, “Morning,” before she made it into the kitchen.
“Hi Harry.” She smiled at her friend. His hair had grown longer and more shaggy. He’d begun pulling it back into a high knot on the back of his head, and his skin had darkened considerably, his lightning scar taking up more than a quarter of his face. At only 19 he looked every bit the savior of the wizarding world.
“Did I hear Teddy crying?” Harry asked, he dropped the paper he was reading with a sigh. He picked up his black coffee and looked over it at her. There were deep, purple circles under his green eyes, and she forced herself not to ask if he was alright.
Because he wasn’t.
“Yes,” Hermione opened cabinets and pulled out mixing bowls, and two frying pans. “He had a bad dream about Broccoli.” They shared a look and she was able to pull a tiny laugh out of him.
“Oh to be so little,” Harry sighed fiddling with his ring. “Do you think we love him enough? I don’t want -” Harry paused and glanced out the window. He took a deep breath, “I don’t want him to think he isn’t loved you know. I know everything is mad right now but, I don’t want him questioning that.”
Hermione set down the dishes and took the seat to Harry’s left. “Oh Harry, I don’t think Teddy wants for anything now.” She swallowed, throat suddenly dry. “We’ll get rid of those pricks and then we’ll take him out, make sure he’s even more spoiled than he is now… And when he gets old enough to ask about them, then we’ll make sure he knows them. They’re always with us.”
Harry rolled his eyes. “Sure.” He threw back the rest of his coffee with a wince. “I’ve got to head out. There’s supposed to be a lead on R-” Harry glared at the table as he stood up. “There’s supposed to be a lead on him.”
She frowned. The deatheaters weren’t particularly organized at this point but they were doing a fair amount of damage. All in all there were a dozen or less deatheaters left, but they’d managed to knock out half the DMLE in one go.
Hermione gave Harry a hug he didn’t return, “Be safe.”
Harry patted her arm but didn’t say anything. Harry never promised to return. It was nearly a taboo in their house. Because if you said it you were a liar or you were just stupid.
Still, Hermione sighed watching her friend leave. It killed her to look at Harry anymore. She was fairly sure Teddy was the only reason he got up in the mornings. And she was fairly certain it was either a sense of duty or sheer spite that kept him going into the office.
Her hand rested on her stomach - she couldn’t stop touching in now that she knew. Her heart pinched even as Sirius came down the stairs, a freshly changed Teddy in his arms. Harry had given up everything and was still fighting. They should be having kids at the same time, her eyes caught a small carving in the great oak table, but Ginny was gone.
Hermione pulled Teddy out of Sirius’ arms while he started cooking. She bounced him up and down and tried to keep a straight face while Sirius talked Teddy’s ear off about everything and nothing. He kept looking at her and she had to distract herself with Teddy or dishes or anything to keep from word-vomiting out her great discovery.
Andy had gone out for some last minute shopping in Hogsmeade and Hermione figured now would be a good time to break the (hopefully good) news. But for once she didn’t have the words. Her entire day was spent wondering how she was going to tell Sirius and what he was going to say.
She didn’t have to wait long to find out. Hermione was sitting in their room bundled in a loose Black Sabbath hoodie when Sirius came in with a fist full of the tests. Her eyes widened at the evidence and her fiance’s unreadable expression.
“Hermione, what is this?”
She bit her lip rolling it back and forth. Hermione wasn’t planning on hiding it from him but she had hoped she had more than a few hours before she had to come up with a way to spring it on him. But then she’d been too distracted with Teddy and his developing fever to remember to hide the tests.
“Hermione?”
“Pregnancy tests.” She couldn’t look at him. Instead she fiddled with the fringe of the tapestry blanket over her lap. Hermione could hear Sirius’ boots as he approached the bed. “I didn’t think it could happen, so I’d ignored my symptoms, but then the nausea has gotten worse and I just didn’t know what else it could be so I figured, ‘what’s the harm in buying a box of tests,’ except then they were positive and -”
Sirius cut her off using one finger to tilt up her chin. “You’re pregnant?” Hermione nodded slowly. “With my child?” His eyes roamed over her, gaze flicking between her face and stomach repeatedly.
She squinted at him with the same ‘are you stupid’ expression she always did when something was obvious but nodded again anyway. There were few people in the world that could suitably match her intellect but sometimes the man, like right now, asked stupid questions.
The deatheaters had resurged nine months ago and had already wiped out the rest of the Order several months back. Besides Sirius, Hermione had had only one other boyfriend and he died in 1997. Viktor may have taken her virginity but Sirius was the only one she’d slept with since, and the only one she ever planned on sleeping with again.
Instead of filling the silence by bringing that up she observed him. Sirius was typically a loud, vibrant person. It was only when he was deeply considering murder that he was quiet, or when his grief was so heavy he couldn’t breathe. Her mouth ran dry, watching him slowly inhale and exhale without saying anything, or making any sort of expression.
As a rule she tried not to compare Sirius and Remus. They were best friends, and the two men she’d felt the safest around. But they were inherently different men. Hermione swallowed hard and dropped her eyes back to her lap, twisting her fingers. Remus for all his protective instincts, had attempted to abandon Dora when she was pregnant siting that he wanted to go on the horcrux hunt with them.
Was that something that Sirius was considering?
Finally he said, “So we’re going to be parents?”
“Are you angry?” She asked in a whisper.
He laughed, “Angry? How could I possibly be angry? Terrified obviously but we have each other - neither of us have to do this alone.” Sirius leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers.
Her hands shook as she reached out to touch his face. Sirius turned his head to kiss her palm. “Promise?” Hermione ran her other hand through his hair, her nails dragging along his scalp.
Sirius kissed her hand again, “I promise. I’m not going anywhere. You and I are going to do this together and I’ll protect you and our little one from everything.”
He carefully maneuvered himself in between the headboard and her, tugging her back to his front. As soon as he settled she deflated, melting into his arms. His hands and hers settled over her belly.
The weight of the day had almost slid off her shoulders when Andy’s owl patronus flew into the room. For a moment nothing happened, the ghostly bird stared at them, unblinking.
“Do you think -” Hermione started, when suddenly the owl’s head did a 180 and tiled like a broken doll. The room suddenly felt 10 degrees colder, and unnaturally still.
“Get to Hog’s head now.” Andromeda’s voice gasped. Her labored breathing echoed through their bedroom. With a great heaving breath, the patronus choked out, “Lightning has fallen.”
The small amount of food that Hermione had managed to eat earlier threatened to make an appearance. Surely Andy didn’t mean… But then there was a rock against the wards. Harry had been the secret keeper after all.
“Sirius if they’re here then he’s -” Hermione started but Sirius cut him off.
“No.” The word was strangled. He was pale as a sheet. “He’s not.”
Another crack against the wards echoed Sirius’ words.
Tears slipped down both of their faces. They stood frozen for a minute before leaping into action. Hermione summoned her beaded bag, and ensured the time turner was around her neck before sliding on her jeans and boots. She tugged on the matching leather jacket Sirius had bought her for their anniversary, and bolted into Teddy’s room.
Sirius pulled on his knock off auror armor and dashed in behind her. Hermione pulled Teddy into her arms and Sirius grabbed his little go back slinging it over his shoulder. In less than 5 minutes they were out the door, disapparating with a snap.
Hermione and Teddy, landed in Hogsmeade. On their next breath Sirius was landed behind them, the trio attempted to carefully navigate the now warzone. As soon as they rounded the corner, the direness of the situation nearly knocked them over.
Civilians scattered in the streets. Spells whizzed through the air. A few aurors were pinned down between the town square and the bookshop. Their red uniforms seemed to be melting off of them as more and more blood spilled onto the ground.
Everything happened so fast.
“Somebody help, hel-” A woman screamed to their left before falling with a thump. The air was tinged crimson with an unnatural sulfur smell - likely from yet another round of fiendfyre.
Screams were heard from the farside of town. There were shattered windows in every shop and broken glass all through the streets making Hermione glad they were both wearing thick boots.
Teddy cried into her shoulder. They raced through the little village Sirius only a hlaf pace behind her, hastily disillusioned, darting between buildings for cover. Hogshead was just coming into view when a green spell whizzed past her ear. Sirius tugged Hermione closer to himself, pulling her and Teddy off the street. They peered around the corner of Honeydukes and Three Broomsticks towards the wizard throwing spells.
Hermione’s heart clenched as she spotted a head of red hair wearing deatheater robes. There standing in front of Hogshead, was what was left of Ron Weasley, with a dead Harry, and bleeding out Andy, at his feet.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are, you mudblood bitch.” Ronald spat. He cackled like Bellatrix and they could see spit flying. Hermione’s heart clenched looking at him.
With Ginny and the twins dead, Ron had lost it. But this was beyond the pale. Hermione gripped the front of Sirius’ robes soaking in the smokey campfire smell of his cologne and the cut of his jaw. She couldn’t loose him but he wasn’t looking at her.
“Don’t,” she whispered. “Please don’t go.” She felt him pull away from her anyway. Sirius kissed her hair and handed off Teddy’s bag.
Soon it was just her holding Teddy in the little alley.
Screams continued to ring out from further down the street. Ronald might had spat something at Sirius but her old friend was literally frothing at the mouth, his taunts unintelligible. Hermione tugged Teddy closer to herself as a red spell, then pink spell whizzed up the street.
Sirius and Ron faced off, tossing spells back and forth neither letting up. Sirius spun dodging a burst of greenlight, knocking a stray deatheater off their perch. Ronald screamed as a slicing hex thrown by another deatheater sliced off his ear. Sirius had the upper hand, with his skill and sanity but Ron wasn’t alone, even though the deatheaters weren’t being careful about tossing spells. Another masked man approached Sirius from behind.
Her heart stopped. Then it happened. Hermione moved to shield Teddy. The deatheater poised to strike. Ron flung Dolohov’s Violet Death, and Andy cast a Bombarda. Sirius and Hermione were flung to the ground at the same time. And Hermione watched the light leave his beautiful silver eyes as the world spun, and spun, and spun around her, a shattered time turner crushed between Hermione and her babies.
Hermione woke up in a bed that smelled like brandy and rosemary. Sunlight poured through the windows and little sparrows chirped outside. Their sweet sound pulled her out of her dazed state, and she bolted upright.
Sparrows. Andromeda. Sirius. Harry. Sirius. Teddy. Sirius. Ronald. Green light. Silver eyes. Silver eyes with the light fading them. Sirius. Sirius. Sirius. Hermione’s breathing stuttered, her heart clenched. Sirius!
Tears slipped down her cheeks. Sleeping soundly next to her was Teddy Lupin, his small fist jammed into his mouth. Half of his hair was messier than Harry’s and bubblegum pink, and the other half was thick waves like Sirius’ in a powdery blue. On his little leg there was half an imprint from an ever familiar time turner, almost like a little moon. But beyond that there wasn’t a scratch on him.
Hermione checked herself over. Her lip was split. Her jeans had torn at the knees and her knees were scraped underneath. On her breast bone off to one side was a matching but inverse mark to Teddy’s left over from the shattered time turner. Her knuckles were bruised but her ring was still in place and her abdomen was….
She gasped, more frantic tears slipping down her cheeks. Her eyes darted around the room till she found her bag and she immediately dug out the books she had on magical pregnancies and healing spells. Her hands flew so fast over the pages she ended up with several papercuts but she didn’t slow down.
Hermione finally found the pregnancy detection spells and had to recast them a dozen times before she could finally get it to work with her hands shaking horribly. When the little ball over her stomach lit up gold with a healthy green pulse she sobbed in relief. The baby was okay.
Then, the realization hit and Hermione couldn't stop the harsh cries wracking her body. The baby was okay but she was fucking alone.
Promises pressed between cotton sheets. A beautiful ruby ring sitting on her finger. The heart beat she had felt twin with her own - even more than when she’d completed her Animagus training. Hermione gasped fighting for breath but an invisible oppressive weight kept all meaningful air out of her lungs.
‘I love you.’
‘I’ll follow you anywhere Kitten.’
‘My life was yours long before this and will be to my dying breath.’
“You were supposed to do this with me, you bastard.” A deep sob wracked her body. She cursed at her engagement ring. “You promised.” Every muscle in her face tensed, her grief seemed to be beating its way up her throat and shredding every inch of her.
Next to her, Teddy started to stir. Hermione hastily rubbed away her tears and ran her hand through his hair, the mismatchedness shifting until the colors and texture blended together to look like kinked thick waves, with powder pink roots and blue tips. The toddler mumbled in his sleep then stilled again.
Hermione held up her wand but hesitated. From the state of the room she was in, coupled with the shattered timeturner she knew she was in the past without checking the date. Magic thrummed through her veins and in the air, she was in Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley for certain. She banded her wand arm around her middle, using her spare to comb through Teddy’s hair.
How was she supposed to do this? Just exist with the start of all this death and destruction and being a mom. A single fucking mother, a muggleborn, with no NEWTS or OWLS to work with. The sheets moved as Teddy shifted and it pulled against her scraped knees.
“Maybe I’m not too far back.” Hermione sucked in a deep breath, “If it’s only a few years this could turn out fine.”
Hermione tried to still her rushing heart. She kept one hand on Teddy and swung her eyes around the room. The sheets were a terrible orange paisley, and the bedframe was about a queen size log bed. The bed was pushed against the one window and there were dark brown drapes pulled half closed.
Outside the window there were children laughing, a stark contrast to when they’d come from. Which was a great thing. They were safe, relatively. A pair of faceless nobody’s in the crowd.
“The good news is I don’t have to feel bad about killing anyone that would hurt you in this era do I?” Hermione sighed. She cast a tempus with her wand watching the date read out as July 29th 1977. 3 years before her best friends were going to be born. 2 years before she was supposed to be born, and a world shattering prophecy would be foretold. 1 year before Regulus Black was supposed to die. And the same year that Harry’s parents graduated.
Her heart stuttered in her chest. She was in the past with Remus’ son in her custody - she’d kill the minister himself to keep it that way - while being pregnant with Sirius Black’s baby and they were just… Walking around living their 18 year old lives completely oblivious to their existence.
A knock sounded at the door, and she froze. The smell of rosemary was stronger now. “Just me, love.” A woman called out, “Rosie and Poppy.” Rosie’s voice was melodic and familiar but not?
McGonagall’s warning about terrible things happening to those who messed with time rang in her ears again. But at this precise moment Hermione was only experiencing devastating loss, tremendous rage, and a blistering headache.
“The girl has no idea who you are, Rose.” Another woman muttered at the first. The names rang a bell but her head was pounding and it was hard to place them by what she could only assume were nicknames. Hermione slid out of bed and with her wand in hand she answered the door, careful to keep Teddy out of sight.
While the names were hard to place, the two women’s faces were not. Hermione gasped looking at a much younger Rosmerta and Madam Pomphrey. They looked to be in their mid-thirties, both with blonde hair, and blue eyes. Their noses were different, Rosie’s was slightly upturned and Poppy’s had a faint hook to it, but otherwise they were almost identical. Hermione blinked several times. “You two are sisters?”
Rosmerta laughed. “Aye, we are.” She flashed her sister a knowing grin her pink painted lips parting, “And I told you the cards never lie.”
Cards? Hermione wracked her brain and very limited knowledge of divination. Surely Rose wasn’t actually referring to Tarot cards like the carnival fortune tellers used.
Poppy rolled her eyes. Their clothing was the biggest difference between the pair of them, as Poppy was still wearing her uniform, and Rosie was dressed in an alluring bar wench get up in forest green.
“You and the cards are ridiculous.” Poppy gestured towards Hermione, “A splinching incident does not mean she fell through time. That would be impossible, Rosmerta.” The school nurse rolled her eyes heavensward and Rose just winked at Hermione. Pomphrey turned back to Hermione, “You will let me examine you right dear? I can’t just let you pop off without fussing.”
Hermione smiled. She’d heard Madam Pomphrey saying the same thing at countless quidditch matches over the years; it had been a while since Hermione had been talked to like that. She glanced over her shoulder to where little Teddy was resting and nodded, letting the pair of them into the room. Rose carefully approached the little boy, gingerly sitting beside him while Poppy steered Hermione towards a rocking chair.
Hermione kept her eyes locked on Teddy while Pomphrey cast a series of diagnostic charms over the time-traveling witch. Rose tucked the blankets up around Teddy and a look passed over her features too quick for Hermione to place when Poppy gasped. “My word. You apparated while pregnant?”
Hermione glanced up at the nurse then back towards Teddy. Her arm started stinging again and she rubbed at it absently - even fully healed the damn thing itched, and stung, and demanded attention often. Hermione shrugged, “I didn’t have much of a choice.”
Hermione turned her eyes back to Poppy. “I found out today, or I suppose it was yesterday. I’m not even sure how far along I am.” But she’d wager it was 2 months since it had been that long since she’d had a period and she wasn’t showing yet.
Poppy pursed her lips then cast a different charm over Hermione’s stomach. “8 and a half weeks.” The nurse fished out of her apron pocket a notepad and quill. “You’ll need prenatal and nutrient potions for the next month, this amount and then again half if you end up with twins. Though it’s much too soon to tell.”
8½ weeks. Harry’s birthday would be in two days. Her own would be in 52 days. Teddy’s would be in 256. And unless something went wrong the little boy or girl in her stomach would be here in 192 days. Roughly.
Hermione was always a girl with a plan. A plan to get rid of the scars on her arm. A plan to take down the deatheaters. A plan to get them out of England so the people she cared about would live this time.
She nodded at the nurse, mumbling a thank you, and she crawled back into bed with Teddy. Hermione had kept the time turner with her in case of emergencies. She’d had a plan a year ago, a silly one, that maybe if she got everything she needed she could use enough time turners to jump back to 1981 and kill Voldemort herself. She had all sorts of tools and notes in her bag just in case.
But she had given up that plan before Sirius had proposed. Because she wanted her life with him. With Harry and little Teddy and the fucking lot of them. To raise a crazy family together and sort out the straggling deatheaters and build the future they’d fought for. Except the deatheaters kept growing in number; while their numbers shrank.
But now, now she was pregnant with, at best, a school nurse and pub owner as allies. Her eyes pinched shut, and Hermione took a few steadying breaths. If it was just her then maybe she’d drink away her existence but for the kids she’d do what Hermione Granger was known best for. She’d make a new plan and she found she didn’t care how many war crimes she’d have to commit to achieve it.
A cold fury built in her. Hermione had lost track of the number of times her world had been flipped on its axis, leaving her to pick up the pieces. It wouldn’t be happening again.
Hermione’s eyes burned with unshed tears and determination as she turned to face Poppy. “Is the headmaster in?” Gears in her head began shifting, spinning, and hissing towards a solution. Possibly an illegal, possibly bloody one. But a damned good one.
The pair of sisters looked at each other then they slowly nodded. There was something about the way both women looked at her that should have had an effect on her. Like how Poppy stared at her eyes looking for signs of a break, or the way Rosie tilted her head a wry grin stretching over her face.
“Then I believe we have lunch plans.” Hermione stated.
Harry Potter would not be the chosen one this time around. Even if she had to be the one to write a prophecy herself. Wasn’t that what their teachers had told them? That it wasn’t the prophecy itself but rather if people believed in it that made it legitimate?
Teddy rosed from his nap about then pushing himself up to a sitting position. He rubbed his little eyes and Hermione’s heart swelled when he made little grabby hands for her.
He was still so small and pure and sweet. Another thing that made her angry with Albus, Harry was about this age when he lost everything. And now Teddy had lost his parents and Harry, and Andy, and Sirius.
Her blood boiled.
Not only had Harry lost too much. Not only had she lost to much. But Sirius had lost nearly 20 years of his life, between the veil and Azkaban, not to mention the years he spent in that shite-hole Grimmauld. Where was Albus Dumbledore then?
Remus too, spent decades, too poor, hungry, and beaten and for what? What excuse did he give Remus when he stole Harry away, Hermione wondered. How did Albus convince Remus that placing Harry with the Dursleys was a good idea? Whatever reason he gave it wouldn’t happen this time.
Albus’ greater good could kiss her arse.
“Mimi?” Hermione immediately pulled the little one into her arms. Two. There were going to be at least two little ones depending on her. Sadly it would be a few weeks yet before she could tell if there were more than one baby on the way. “Mimi? Paddy?”
Hermione inhaled sharply. She kissed his forehead pointedly ignoring the questioning looks from the other two women. “Oh Teddy Bear are you leaving me already?” She blew a raspberry to the boy’s cheek making him giggle. “We are going to go to Hogwarts - isn’t that exciting?”
Teddy clapped and she smiled, a sharp edge to her eyes. Albus mother fucking Dumbledore was going to get off of his pompous ass and wrap up this war or he would spend the rest of his life in azkaban. Afterall she was the brightest witch of her age - and he was a crooked hack that she’d watched crumble once before.
“We have a few little stops to make first.”