Hermione woke up the next day before any of the other girls she shared a room with did. Crookshanks was sleeping at the end of her bed. She took some clothes out of her drawer and walked into the bathroom, locking the door behind her. She showered and dried herself before moisturising. She got dressed into her school uniform. She magically dried and straightened her hair before tying it into a high ponytail. She put on some mascara and eyeliner and left the room, the girls were finally awake, though they were slouching in bed, rubbing the sleep out of their eyes.
"Good morning. Did you all sleep well?" Hermione greeted cheerfully.
"How are you so happy at this time of the morning?" Alice groaned.
"Come on, Alice. She's the daughter of the Headmaster, and Professor McGonagall. Of course she's a morning person." Marlene intervened.
"I'm just excited for my first day of lessons. Also, I've always been a morning person. Even before I was adopted. And you can't tell anyone that they're married, okay? And don't tell anyone you got that information from me, either. If Voldemort or one of their other enemies found out they had a child, even that they'd adopted a child, I would be in danger, too. Also, they'd probably kill me for telling you."
"You didn't tell us, we figured it out." Lily pointed out. "Also, we've been thinking that there was something more going on between them for a while anyway. The way they look at each other is pretty obvious. And they are always sitting together at the Head Table, and most of the time she is with him." The other girls nodded along.
"I'll see you at breakfast, I have to go with the Marauders." Hermione told them before grabbing the bag that she packed ready before going to King's Cross.
"Wait, why are you taking your bag? We don't have our timetable yet so we don't know what we have today." Lily questioned.
"The good thing about being the daughter of the Headmaster and Deputy is that you can find out your timetable before everyone else does. Lily, we have double Transfiguration, Potions, Arithmancy, and double Herbology. If you two have those subjects too then now you know." Hermione left the room.
When she entered the common room the only other person in there was Sirius. He was sitting, dressed and ready for the day, on the sofa in front of the fire, staring into the flames. She went and sat next to him, successfully pulling him out of his thoughts.
He smiled at her and she smiled back.
"Hi. Are you okay?" She asked him, concerned as he looked quite deep in thought about something that was clearly bothering him.
"Yes. I'm fine, thank you. How'd you sleep?" He replied, trying to get the conversation off him.
"I slept well, thank you. Are you sure you're okay? You looked very deep in thought about something. Care to enlighten me?"
"It's nothing, really. Just family stuff. I'll be fine. Why have you got your bag already?"
"I know what lessons I have today, so I packed in advance. Where's the others?"
"Getting ready, they'll be down in a bit. Do you know what lesson we have because you're a seer or because Dumbledore told you?"
"Dumbledore told me. We have double Transfiguration, Potions, Arithmancy, and double Herbology. Do you even do Arithmancy? If not you'll have something else then."
"Yes, I do Arithmancy. The only lesson which you do that I don't is Ancient Runes. James and Peter are the same. I'll go tell them so we can pack our bags, then we can all go to the kitchen."
Sirius sped up the stairs, leaving Hermione on her own.
Peter is the first to enter the common room. He looked at Hermione and scowled at her before prancing over.
"What do you know about me?" He asked quietly, just in case someone heard him.
"I know that you're betraying your friends to Voldemort. I know that you're a Death Eater. I know what you will do if I don't do something about it. And I will tell them, eventually. But not just yet, I need them to trust me more than they already do." She replied, just as quietly, glaring at him.
He looked scared for a moment, before his friends arrived, then he went back to his normal look, and so did Hermione.
"Let's go!" James exclaimed excitedly.
They all left the common room, bags on their shoulders, the potion in James' hand. They were nearly at the kitchen when Hermione noticed Peter was no longer with them. Then she realised he had probably gone to tell his Death Eater friends that she knew about him. But she didn't mind, she could protect herself, and before long she would have the Marauders and possibly all of Gryffindor on her side, as well as the teachers.
"Guys, where's Peter gone?" She asked as they were walking, trying to plant a seed of doubt in their minds, knowing that the sooner they started doubting him, the sooner she could tell them the truth, then the sooner they would be saved.
The three boys looked around for their friend, they were shocked that he wasn't with them.
"Where is he? I thought he wanted to see the house elves. He isn't going to start disappearing constantly again is he?" James pondered.
"What do you mean?" Hermione questioned, intrigued as to what James was talking about.
"Towards the end of last year he kept disappearing and we couldn't find him anywhere. We didn't know where he was or what he was doing. It was starting to worry us." Remus answered in a worried tone.
Hermione figured that probably meant he was speaking with Death Eaters last year as well, or at the end of the year at least.
"Have you ever tried asking him where he goes?"
"We've tried to, but he always changes the conversation when we do. It's like he's keeping a secret from us. How good or bad the secret is we don't know." Sirius replied.
Hermione nodded in understanding, trying not to let the anger show on her face.
They soon arrived at the kitchen and James tickled the pear to let them in. The house elves were all working on breakfast, but when they saw the boys they all stopped working and rushed over to them, all bowing and smiling in delight.
"Hello friends. How are you all on this fine morning?" James greeted, smiling brightly at the elves.
"We're good, thanks Master James. How is the Marauders?" A young female house elf replied in a high pitched, squeaky voice.
"We are also good Pinky, in fact we are fabulous. We have someone for you to meet. House elves, meet Hermione, the newest member of our group, Hermione, meet the house elves." Sirius introduced.
"Oh, we knows each other already, Master Sirius. We met her during the holidays. Master Dumbledore introduced her as his new daughter." Pinky told them.
"Hermione, why didn't you tell us you had already met them?" Sirius groaned.
"Because I wanted to see how you went about introducing us. Now, why don't we get on with what we're here to do?" Hermione replied, smiling.
"Okay, Pinky, we need you to put a drop of this potion in every students' drink, except ours. Don't put it in the teachers' drinks though." Remus told Pinky as James gave her the potion.
"Of course, Master Remus. Where is Master Peter?"
"He's checking on something for us." James lied.
Hermione wondered how many times they had to lie about his whereabouts to people. She felt sad for them, and angry at Peter. But she tried not to let it show.
They talked with the house elves for about half an hour before walking slowly up to the Great Hall, excited to see their prank work. They sat at the back of Gryffindor table and Peter soon joined them, apologising for leaving them.
"Where did you go, Pete?" Remus asked.
Peter looked shocked, his eyes flickering to Hermione briefly before looking back at Remus.
"I remembered that I had left my parchment in our dorm so I went to grab it." He lied. Hermione could tell that he was lying by the fact that he was biting the inside of his cheek and his hands were shaking lightly.
They ate breakfast, talking about whatever came to mind.
It wasn't long before people started drinking their drinks and their faces morphed into that of a lions. The Slytherin's were the most annoyed. The Marauders were laughing, the few teachers that were supervising breakfast looked slightly annoyed, but awed at the cleverness of the infamous pranksters.
McGonagall soon started handing out the Gryffindor's timetables and when she got to the end of the table she smiled at them.
"I like the choice of animal, but how long will this last?" She asked, she sounded slightly annoyed, but Hermione could tell that she was, in a way, proud of her students' cleverness.
"In an hour, Minnie. Don't you worry. Actually, it was Hermione's idea." Sirius explained.
"I see you've made quite an impression on these boys, Miss Dumbledore. Have you joined their little group?" Minerva asked, smirking at Hermione who smiled back.
"Indeed I have. But don't worry, I'll make sure they don't do anything too dangerous." Hermione replied, smirking also.
"I'm sure you will. I'll see you all in class, be sure to have the correct book this time, Mr Pettigrew." Minerva said before walking away, Hermione could see the hint of anger at Peter in her eyes before she left, though.
"What was that about, Peter?" Hermione questioned, intrigued.
"Oh, that was hilarious. Peter brought his Charms book to our first Transfiguration lesson last year and because he wasn't really paying attention…" James started.
"He was checking out some Hufflepuff girl." Sirius added.
"He didn't have a clue what we were doing, so instead of turning the cat into a teapot, he sprayed a bucket load of water at it and it ran away. I don't think the cat has been found since, poor thing." James finished and they all burst out laughing, excluding Peter whose face was turning a bright red colour.
When they were done eating they made their way to Transfiguration. They were the first students to arrive as everyone else was still in the Great Hall, trying to change their new faces to their normal faces. Minerva looked at them and told them to take a seat. They sat at the table in the front of the class. Hermione sat between Remus and Sirius.
"I take it everyone's going to be in the Great Hall trying to change their faces back to normal for a while." Minerva said to them with a small smile on her face.
"Probably." Sirius answered as they got out all of their needed equipment.
"Okay, then. I want you all to read and take notes on what is on page one of the book whilst we're waiting for everyone else to arrive. Also, can you give me your summer homework please?"
The four old Marauders gave her their homework and they all got to work, reading about turning a hedgehog into a pincushion and making notes about it. Eventually people started to gradually file in, they shared the class with the Hufflepuff fifth years.
Lily, Alice and Marlene sat at the table behind the Marauders and Hermione, who were all done making notes at that point and were waiting for the class to begin. The Hufflepuff's sat at the back tables.
"Now that you are all finally here, we may begin. The people who actually turned up on time know what we are doing today and will begin on the charm once I have discussed what we are doing. We will be turning hedgehogs into pincushions, today. If you could all turn to page one everything you need to know about the charm is there. I would like you to read the page and take notes on what you read, when you are done and have fully understood the process put up your hand and I will give you a hedgehog for practise. Please note, that if the pincushion has a pin in it you haven't done it correctly. I would also like to have your summer homework on my desk by the end of the lesson, please. Get on with it, then. Are you five ready for a hedgehog?" Minerva asked, looking at the five students in the front row who all nodded.
Minerva levitated five hedgehogs over to them and placed one in front of each of the five students. They started practising and Minerva sat on the chair behind her desk, watching the students as they worked, but mostly her new daughter.
Hermione managed to do the spell correctly on her third try, faster than any other student she had ever taught. Minerva was proud as she watched her daughter who, after doing the spell correctly the first time, kept doing it correctly, again and again, but changing the colour or style of the pincushion each time. Occasionally she purposefully left some pins in, but most of the time she didn't. James, Sirius, Remus and Lily were the next to perfect the spell. But her eyes were mostly on her daughter. The daughter she loved as if she was her own already, the daughter she was incredibly proud of.
The double lesson flew by, everyone had perfected the spell by half way through the second period, so they moved onto the next thing they were going to learn.
Hermione had fun on her first day of classes. Her and the Marauders had the same lessons and stuck together all day, getting to know each other more. They ate lunch together as well, sitting in their usual spot at the Gryffindor table. Peter was mostly quiet, but Hermione talked with the other three a lot. Enjoying herself, knowing that there wouldn't be any major trouble for the first time in her education.
After lessons they had an hour before dinner, Hermione told the boys she needed to go and speak to Dumbledore and left them in the common room for a bit, but really she went to see Minerva. She wanted to ask the question that had been bugging her since the previous night.
She knocked on the door to Minerva's classroom, hoping she was still there. And she was, she called for her to enter and smiled when she saw Hermione coming into the room and closing the door behind her. Hermione smiled back at her as she made her way towards her new mother, who was sitting on the chair behind her desk, marking summer homework.
"Hermione, I was proud of your work in class today. You were very good." Minerva told her, smiling proudly. Hermione blushed.
"Thank you. I just thought I should let you know that Lily, Alice and Marlene know that you and Albus are married. I didn't tell them. They guessed. They had been suspecting that you two were more than friends for a while. I made them promise not to tell anyone, though."
"That's okay. People are going to find out eventually. Especially your friends. Is there anything else you want to talk about?" Minerva asked, still smiling.
"Yes. I was wondering… I mean, you and Albus adopted me, and… I was wondering if you wanted me to call you mum and dad. I mean, I am your daughter now. And…" She broke off, not knowing what else to say.
"Hermione, you can call us whatever you want to call us. So long as you call us Professor in front of people, except maybe Albus as you took his last name. We understand that it is difficult for you, being here, without your friends and family, so we understand if you need time to get to that. You don't have to call us 'mum' and 'dad' if you don't feel comfortable doing that. It's an honour to have such a wonderful daughter whether you call us those names or not. Honestly, neither of us mind." Minerva explained. "Just know that I love you as if you were my own daughter already, though. Albus loves you also. And we will always be here for you. And we will try and be the best parents possible."
"You already are." Hermione told her, smiling.
"How are things going with the Marauders? I see you've already gotten quite close to at least three of them."
"Yes. Peter doesn't like me because he knows that I know he's a Death Eater and plan on telling the other three at some point. James, Sirius and Remus, however, like me. They're great people. It's weird being around James though when Harry didn't get the chance to know him. And Sirius, Remus and Peter considering I know their older selves. But I'll get used to it. I did find out something interesting, though."
"What?"
"It turns out that towards the end of last year Peter started disappearing occasionally and the boys couldn't find him anywhere. So I'm guessing he spent that time with the Death Eaters. I found out because he disappeared this morning when we were on the way to the kitchens to give the potion to the elves. I think he might of told them that I knew the truth about him and plan on telling his friends. He also might have told them that I'm a seer that has valuable information for Albus and his cause. Possibly that Albus adopted me also, so Voldemort is probably assuming Albus is married and trying to guess who his wife might be. He lied when he joined us in the Hall, saying he forgot his parchment and had to go back and get it. But the others brought the lie, at least I think they did. I could tell he was lying because his hands were shaking and he bit the inside of his cheek. He also looked at me briefly." When she finished speaking, Hermione noticed that Minerva looked angry and smiled at how much she cared about the three true Marauders.
"Well, whatever happens Albus and I are here to protect you. So are your new friends. When are you planning on telling them the truth about Peter?"
"I don't know. I want to soon, so that he can't give away any more information about them, but I need them to trust me fully first. And I don't know how to tell them. How can I tell them that one of their best friends is betraying them to Voldemort?"
"It will hurt them, they have been as close as brothers since their first year. But I'm sure you'll figure out a way. But, as for the trust issue, I think they already trust you, I mean you did help them pull off a successful prank. Did you get the idea from one of the books you brought?"
"Yes. I did. They're very interesting books actually."
"I'm sure they are. Just try not to prank me or Albus."
"What about the other staff members?" Hermione smirked.
"So long as it doesn't hurt them I'm okay with you pranking them." Minerva smirked in return.
She liked this Minerva, she liked the Minerva in the future as well as she was her favourite teacher, but this Minerva, who wasn't as strict, and a lot more cheerful was better. She was still strict, but she wasn't as so. Hermione presumed that the fact she lost the ability to have children and the fact some of her favourite students had died had something to do with her change in demeanour.
"It's nearly dinner time, I should probably get back to the common room so that I can walk down with the boys. Thank you, for everything."
"You don't need to thank me, Hermione, it's my job to look out for you."
They smiled at each other before Hermione left the room. As she left she found Albus walking down the hall towards her. He was smiling brightly at the sight of her.
"Hermione, how was your first day of lessons?" He asked.
"It was good, thank you. How was your day?"
"Oh, you know, same old, same old. Paperwork, followed by more paperwork. Were you just speaking to Minerva?"
"Yes, I wanted to ask her something."
"Good, good. Why don't you wait here whilst I grab her, then we can walk down to the Hall together?" He suggested.
"Sure." She smiled, she can meet the boys at their spot on the Gryffindor table.
He smiled brighter and entered the room after knocking. Soon he came back out with Minerva at his side. She smiled at her daughter as she saw her and they started walking together.
"I see you've made some friends, Hermione?" Dumbledore said, smiling down at his daughter.
"Yes, I have. Every Gryffindor I have met are great. I haven't had much chance to meet other people, but I'm sure everyone else is good also."
They talked about random things along their way. When they arrived all of the Gryffindor's were already there, and some members from the other houses, as well as all the staff. Hermione bid her parents goodbye before making her way to the Marauders who were talking amongst each other whilst they ate their food. She sat next to Sirius and started helping herself to the food on the table, joining the conversation.
But when she took a sip of her orange juice a sharp pain filled her body and she cried out, falling off the bench and onto the floor as her body started twitching uncontrollably. Tears filled her eyes and she cried through the pain as the Marauders, Lily, Alice, Marlene, Dumbledore, McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey surrounded her with worried faces, except Peter, who tried to look worried but she could see that he knew this was going to happen to her.
Her teary eyes widened at him before she fell asleep. The pain exhausting her.
Poppy conjured a stretcher and levitated the unconscious Hermione on to it. She levitated the stretcher up to the hospital wing, everyone that had surrounded Hermione following behind her. Minerva and Albus were at the back of those following, holding hands, trying to comfort each other, hoping their new daughter would be alright.
Poppy levitated Hermione onto a bed and started casting diagnostic spells on the girl as the others watched, most of them watching in fear, one of them watching, hoping he had done some serious damage.
Poppy gasped at what she found, looking up at the others in fright.
"Poppy, what's going on? Is she okay?" Albus asked, worriedly.
"She's been poisoned."
The others looked shocked, and scared. Well, Peter was trying to look those things, fighting back the grin that was building up. He had destroyed the girl who could ruin everything.
"Is there a cure? Can we fix this?" Minerva asked as tears filled her eyes, not bothering to cover them as she cried for her daughter.
"There is a cure, but it depends on how long Slughorn takes to make it. We only have two hours to get it into her system or she will..." She didn't want to finish that sentence, knowing how much it would pain her best friend to hear the last word. She told them the name of the potion that can cure Hermione and Albus conjured his Patronus and spoke to it a message to Slughorn, telling him to hurry in making the potion and bringing it to the hospital wing. He then told the students to go to the common room and he would tell them when he had some news.
When the students were gone Minerva and Albus sat on either side of their daughter and took one of her hands in one of theirs, both crying.
"Who do you think did this?" Poppy asked them.
"Peter." Minerva said. They looked at her in shock.
"Peter Pettigrew? Why would he do this?" Poppy questioned, confused.
"He's a Death Eater. Hermione told me before dinner that he disappeared this morning and has been disappearing since towards the end of last year. But he lied when he came back about where he went. She told him this morning that he knew what he was, that she was planning to tell the other Marauders. This was before he disappeared. She thinks he disappeared to speak to the other Death Eaters about her, telling them she knows who he is, that he's Albus' adopted daughter, and that she is a seer who knows important information for our cause. He had to be the one to do this. It doesn't make sense for it to be anyone else. He's the only Gryffindor in their year that doesn't like her."
Poppy looked more shocked at this.
"How are we going to find out if it was him or not? We need proof." Poppy said.
"We could tell the whole school what happened and that they have to be submitted to questioning under Veritaserum to find out who did it, just in case it was one of them. Then Peter wouldn't be too suspicious." Albus suggested.
"But he would know that he would be found out. We could secretly question people. Just call random students up to your office and question them. Start with the Gryffindor's in her year, though." Poppy replied.
"Or just ask the Marauders to come up to your office with us, spike them all with Veritaserum, secretly, and ask them questions. Then they will find out the truth without Hermione having to interfere, and they will be saved."
"Saved? Saved from what?" Poppy asked.
They told her the truth about where Hermione came from, knowing they could trust her as she was Minerva's best friend. Poppy was shocked nonetheless, but she understood that it had to be a secret and knew that this was the best way to save the three Marauders, and to save Hermione part of the job she was asked to do.
Slughorn rushed into the infirmary with the potion ten minutes before the two hours were up. He gave the potion to Poppy and she spelled it right into the girls body. Hermione had gotten paler the more time the potion was in her. Minerva, Albus and Poppy getting more and more scared.
Hermione's colour started coming back to her and her eyes moved. She slowly opened her eyes, blinking a few times before she started crying. She was still in pain. But she wasn't twitching anymore.
"Mummy." She whimpered quietly through the tears. "Daddy."
"Hey, sweetie, we're here. We're right here. You're alright." Minerva said as calmly as possible as she gently wiped away her daughters' tears with the pad of her thumb. She tried to ignore the joy at being called 'mummy', and it wasn't hard in this circumstance.
"It hurts." The girl whimpered again. Poppy spelled a pain relieving potion into her and she breathed a sigh of relief, but she was still crying. "It was Peter. He did it. He knew it was going to happen. He…"
"We know, sweetheart. We know. Don't worry, everything will be okay. We'll sort everything out." Albus reassured her. "We'll make sure he can never hurt you again."
"Where's Crookshanks?" Hermione asked.
"Probably in the common room. Do you want me to get him for you?" Albus replied.
She nodded and Poppy spelled a light sleeping potion into her, causing her to fall asleep.
"I'm going to go to the common room and tell them she's okay, then ask them to come with me to my office and I'll question them. Horace, do you have some Veritaserum I can use?" Slughorn was still there, watching in amazement.
"Yes. Accio Veritaserum." He said, his wand pointed in the air.
Soon a vial of Veritaserum was in his hands and he gave it to Albus.
"Thank you. Poppy, can you come with me and get Crookshanks for her. I know you don't approve of pets in the hospital wing, but she needs him." Poppy nodded.
Albus, Poppy and Horace left, the first two walking to the Gryffindor common room and the latter heading to his office. Minerva stayed with Hermione.
When the door to the common room opened the nervous huddle of Gryffindor fifth years looked at it to find Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey stepping into the room.
"She's okay. Lily, can you help Madam Pomfrey find Crookshanks for Hermione, please. Boys, I would like you to follow me to my office, please." The boys nodded, looking nervous. Even Peter looked nervous now. But they stepped out after him anyway.
When they arrived at his office Albus conjured four chairs and made them sit in front of his desk whilst he sat behind it, wordlessly and windlessly spelling the Veritaserum into them.
"Sir, what is this about? Hermione is okay, isn't she?" Sirius asked, worried.
"Yes, she's fine. Or she will be. What I brought you here for was to find out if you had any idea who did this to her? Does she have any enemies or anything?"
"I did it." Peter spat out, before looking shocked and scared that he said it. Not meaning to say it.
The boys looked at him, shocked.
"What?" Remus growled, angry.
"I did it. I poisoned Hermione." He looked shocked again.
"Professor, you can tell when people are lying, you know everything. You can tell us he's lying, right?" James hoped.
"I'm sorry James, but I just drugged you all with Veritaserum. I hoped he wouldn't have done it, but now I know that it is the truth."
The three boys turned back to their friend looking angry, and scared.
"Why? Why did you do this?" Sirius yelled. "You could have killed her."
"That's what I was meant to do." Peter retorted.
"Why? Why would you want to kill her?" Remus growled, his inner wolf coming out slightly.
"Because she knew. She knew that I am a Death Eater. She was going to tell you. But that would have ruined my plans. I told Voldemort, that's where I was this morning. I was telling him that she knew about me, that she was going to tell people, that Dumbledore adopted her, that she was a seer. I couldn't let her ruin everything. He gave me the poison, and I drugged her at dinner, putting it in her drink."
The boys were shocked, tears filling their eyes as they heard him speak.
"You're a Death Eater?" James questioned quietly.
"Yes. I've been telling Voldemort about you three, all of the other students, and the staff since the end of last year. I got the Dark Mark during the summer. I've been one of his spies in this school. I was also spying on your family, James."
"Who else is a spy in this school, Peter?" Dumbledore asked.
"Avery. Nott. The Carrow twins. Some other Slytherin's. He's also trying to get Snape and Regulus to join, but they won't."
"Why did you join?" Remus wondered. Sirius looked too shocked to speak.
"Because compared to you three I am nothing. I'm not good looking, or smart, or talented. You are the ones who get all the attention. Not me. I want to be noticed. I want to be appreciated. The Dark Lord promised that. With him I am appreciated."
"He appreciates no one, Peter. He just uses people to do most of his dirty work. He's using you. We were your friends, your brothers. We appreciated you. We loved you. We trusted you." Sirius said, glaring at his old friend.
"Have you hurt anyone else for him?" James asked, not really wanting to know the answer, but needing to know.
"Yes. I tortured Regulus the first time he refused to join. To get the Dark Mark you need to kill and torture at least one person. I killed a Muggle and tortured Snape for refusing to join."
Sirius punched him after losing control of his anger. They were all furious with him.
"Mr Pettigrew, I am sorry, but I will not allow you in my school any longer." Dumbledore told the boy who now clutched his cheek, trying to reign in his own anger.
"No, sir. You can't. If you do he will torture me for being foolish enough to get caught. Please, you can't kick me out of here."
"Mr Pettigrew, you have tortured two of my students, poisoned my daughter, and killed someone. I will not allow someone who commits those crimes in my school and around my students."
"What about the other Death Eaters?" Peter retorted.
"I will also remove them from the school. You three can go to the hospital wing, the serum will wear off in about ten minutes." The three boys nodded and left the room, more tears sliding down their cheeks.
Albus conjured his Patronus again and gave it a message to give to Horace.
"Professor Slughorn will accompany you home, I will send your things over tomorrow. You are hereby banned from this school." Albus told the boy who was still clutching his cheek as Horace stepped through the floo, looking gravely at the boy.
"Is your home connected to the floo network, boy?" Slughorn asked him.
Peter nodded and stepped into the fireplace, dropping the floo powder he grabbed and speaking the address clearly. Horace followed after him.
Albus walked back to the hospital wing, wanting to see his wife and daughter again.
When he entered he found his daughter still sleeping in her bed, Minerva was still sitting next to her, holding her hand. Crookshanks was cuddled into Hermione's side. The three boys were sitting in chairs next to the bed, looking at Hermione guiltily, obviously thinking it was their fault for not knowing the truth about their old friend.
He walked over to them and sat on the other side of his daughter, looking down at her sadly.
"Is he gone?" James asked in an angry tone.
"Yes." Albus answered before they sat in silence.
All of the hoping that Hermione would be okay.