Who: Hermione Granger and Remus Lupin When: Backdated: Tuesday, March 5th. Late Afternoon Where: Library in Irvine What: Talking about Wizardy things Rating: Low Status: Complete
Ever since his dream on the full moon a week earlier, Remus had been attempting to do research on Werewolves and Lycanthropy, but the problem was that google was far too broad and it was difficult to figure out exactly what was real lore and what was made up by fangirls of those books. In the end, Remus had decided that instead of going to a bookstore to look for books on the subject, he was better off going to the library, because it might be easier to find actual reference books. Of course Remus knew that the chance of there being actual reference books on Lycanthropy was fairly low, considering they lived in the real world, but it was worth a shot. And besides, this was Remus and if there was a chance that he could learn something new then he was going to spend a couple of hours looking through the stacks.
Hermione was in the library. Again. Like always. She had so much studying to do, she used every spare moment to do so. When she was single, she would eat a leisurely breakfast with a book in front of her, and get a few chapters in bed before turning out the light. Now she was a married woman, she was having sex with her husband almost every morning and almost every night, so it cut down her reading time considerably. But she wasn’t complaining. Actually, she’d be bragging if it didn’t feel like a social faux pas.
In the moment that Remus came into the library, Hermione was switching from one text to another. She just happened to see him out of the corner of her eye, and turned to stare. “Professor Lupin?” She said aloud before she could stop herself.
Hearing his name, Remus turned towards the voice. He’d never actually gone by Professor; it had mostly ever been Mr. Lupin at most of his teaching jobs, so it was more hearing Professor before his name that had caught his attention. As he turned, he recognized the girl and understood why she had called him that. Hermione. “Miss. Granger. It’s nice to see you.” He hadn’t expected to run into anyone he knew at the library, but now that he had, he was actually quite glad, because from what he knew, Hermione’s dreams took place in the same world as his own.
Hermione’s cheeks went a little pink at his voice. Wow. That was so strange. Just like from her dreams. She sat up a little straighter, and gave him a smile. “It’s really nice to see you, too, Professor.” ...beat. “I mean, Mister Lupin?” Was she allowed to call him Remus? That felt strange. “How are you?”
“I’m...alright, and yourself?” Unlike in his dreams, Remus didn’t have an accent since he’d been born in Seattle instead of the UK, but if James’ accent had begun to bleed over then he was fairly certain that there was a high likelihood that it would happen to him at some point as well. “And you can call me Remus.” Only his students ever called him Mr. Lupin.
“A little swamped, actually,” Hermione admitted with a sheepish grin. “This semester has been a bit more busy than usual. I got married over New Years, and I’m trying to figure out how to split my time between school, sleep, studying and wifely duties.” She motioned for him to take a seat at her table if he wanted to. “And only if you call me Hermione,” she said, giving him a smile.
“What is it that you’re studying?” Remus asked as he took a seat at Hermione’s table then added, “And congratulations on your wedding. I suppose I shouldn’t call you Miss. Granger any longer.” It was a little strange, when he thought about it, that Hermione knew him from her dreams, but he had yet to see her in any of his. Either way, talking to her felt right.
“I’m doing my general education requirements right now. First year undergrad. Though, I’ll probably go pre-law? That’s what I’ve been thinking about for a long time, but now I’m wondering if I shouldn’t be more focused on science.” Hermione said, then blushed a bit. “Thanks. Technically it’s still Granger. I haven’t changed my last name... You can call me Hermione.” What’s what she he called her in the dreams, anyway.
“Good luck with that. You seem like someone who is quite goal oriented. I’m sure you’ll succeed.” Remus couldn’t help but feel like she was very similar to himself. Of course, one difference was that instead of staying in the relationship he’d been in while he was working towards his goal, he’d broken up with Sirius in the most cowardly way possible. “In that case, you can call me Remus.”
“Thank you, Remus.” Hermione said, giving him a smile. “I bet you have about a hundred questions for me as far as what you’re up to in my dreams.” She added, raising an eyebrow at it.
“I do actually. I had intended to attempt to contact you sooner, but I...” Remus was unsure what exactly Hermione knew about him besides the fact that, according to her, he’d been her teacher and he didn’t want to say the wrong thing, “I’ve been preoccupied with work and my own dreams.” The last thing he wanted to do was mention the Werewolf business and scare her.
Oh, Hermione knew all about the werewolf business. It wasn’t scary for her, though she wasn’t sure what could be done about it in this world, though she knew that in her dreams the Potions master made the Wolfsbane potion for him to take... could that even be done here? So much of the magic was crossing over, but how much could?
“It’s okay,” Hermione said, giving a little shrug. “I’m glad you’re here now. I’ve been preoccupied myself, I just got married. The dreams are quite the distraction and dealing with being a wife and a student... at least I’m not working anymore. That was pulling me in several different directions all at once.”
Remus nodded, now that he’d begun to have the dreams, he knew how difficult it could be to balance the aftereffects of them and other everyday things, “It can be rather difficult, can’t it?” He ran a hand through his hair, “I’ll admit, in my dreams, I’m still in school myself, so I’ve yet to meet you there, but I am glad that we’ve met here already.”
“You’re still in school? So... late 1970’s?” Hermione asked, trying to remember the exact dates that Harry’s Mum and Da were at school. “You’ll get to the point where we meet eventually.” She added, “it’s not until the 1990’s. I’m your favorite student.” She said, grinning proudly. Okay, playfully. And proudly.
“I’m fairly certain that in my last Hogwarts-related dream, I was in my Fourth Year.” He was quite curious as to what would happen next in the dreams about Hogwarts. James had mentioned something about a map, which he had yet to dream about. “Is that so? I suppose I can see why.” Remus smirked then glanced down at her books, “What is it exactly that you’re working on today?”
“I’m in my Fourth Year, too,” Hermione said, nodding. “Well, my dreams jumped around quite a bit at the beginning. I had some when I was older, and some from different parts of school. Now they seem to be going in some semblance of chronological order.” She said, then glanced down at her books. “Right now I’m working on my General Education requirements. I’m at UCLA, pre-law. Though, I’m considering switching majors. I’m really interested in Outer Space right now.” ...wonder why.
“Mine have gone in order for the most part. Although, my most recent dream did take place well before my time at Hogwarts.” Thinking about the dream of the attack caused Remus to bring a hand up to his shoulder where the scars were. It was quite obvious by now that they weren’t going away. “What is it about Space that interests you? I myself have a sudden renewed interest in Astronomy.” He would have to begin keeping track of the Full Moons, wouldn’t he? Even if he wasn’t a Werewolf in the waking world at the moment, it was only a matter of time.
Hermione nodded, watching his hand move to his shoulder. She raised an eyebrow, but logged that away for later. She knew that Remus reappeared later in her dreams, maybe she’d learn more about... well.
“My husband is... very involved with space exploration.” That was putting it lightly. Hermione was planning on being on his mission to Mars when it happened. “Sudden renewed interest?” She asked, sounding interested.
“That must be extremely exciting,” Remus said, smiling, “Is he an astronaut?” Remus didn’t think that there were any current space missions going on, but NASA probably had many secret plans that they hadn’t shared with the public. At her question, he nodded, “I was interested in astronomy, among other things, when I was younger. When I decided to become a teacher, it was rather difficult to narrow down exactly what I wanted to teach. In the end I chose History.” He had gone back and forth many times trying to decide exactly what he wanted to teach, but was glad that he had decided on History. “And with the recent events with those marks appearing in the sky last month, I decided to take up an interest in Astronomy once again,” That was only half true of course, but he wasn’t going to tell her it was because of his dream where he’d been attacked by a Werewolf.
“Um, I’m not sure what his specific title is. Besides Captain.” Hermione said, breaking into a bit of a grin. “His name is James T Kirk, if you can believe it.” She wondered if Remus could or would make the connection to Star Trek. Hermione might not have if Jim hadn’t shown her the Captain’s Chair on one of their dates. Now it just came as second nature to compare her husband to the captain of the Enterprise.
“The Dark Marks, you mean.” Hermione said, nodding gravely. “Very very bad stuff. I don’t know who put them there, but... well. I guess it’s better that I don’t know. So long as they weren’t … true Dark Marks.” Probably just a prank. There hadn’t actually been that many mysterious, magical murders that day.
If Hermione didn't know who did it then Remus wasn't about to tell her his theory. He didn't want to scare the girl. "Yes, it's probably for the best that we don't know. It's been long enough since they were made without incident that I'm sure they were only meant to rile us up. Get us and everyone else talking about it." They certainly had talked about it, but mostly in private messages or texts. He only hoped that Bellatrix didn't decide to do something much more drastic in an attempt to get their attention in the future.
“I was hoping it was just someone trying to get attention,” Hermione said. “And that they weren’t... real. They don’t have the same meaning here that they do in the dream world.” At least, they couldn’t possibly have done that day. “Talk about breaking Magical Law. Though, I suppose there’s no Statute of Secrecy here in this world.”
Remus recalled hearing about the Statute of Secrecy in his dreams, “I suppose not. Hopefully whoever it was, they’ve gotten the attention they were craving and won’t try it again,” It had been long enough now that it was possible that attention was exactly what Bellatrix had been after and now that everyone had mentioned the marks when they happened, she’d stop.
Hermione nodded. “That’s the hope, anyway.” She responded. It was so strange to be sitting across from Remus Lupin, almost as an equal. He wasn’t her professor here, he was just a man. A friendly, well-read, soft spoken, handsome man. “... do you have your wand here? In this world?” She asked, leaning in a little and lowering her voice conspiratorially.
Remus shook his head. He knew that James and Lily had theirs and he knew that Severus was also from the same dream world, but didn’t know whether or not he had his. And Sirius had only just come back to town. “I don’t. Do you have yours?” He had to admit, when the time came when he did get his wand, he wasn’t entirely sure how he’d react.
Without a word, Hermione drew her wand from here she kept it in her jacket, and laid it on the table in front of him.
While Remus knew that James had his, Remus had yet to actually see it and seeing Hermione’s there on the table, in front of him, caused his hazel eyes to widen slightly, “Can I...?” He didn’t reach for it right away, despite the urge to do so, not sure if Hermione would want someone else handling her wand.
Hermione nodded. “I wouldn’t try anything too intricate.” She cautioned. Not only because it wasn’t his wand and the wand might not want to obey him, but because she wasn’t sure how much magic actually worked in this world. Everything she’d tried so far worked, but that may not be the case for everyone and everything.
“I wouldn’t even know where to start.” Remus said as he reached for the wand and wrapped his fingers around the hilt. He had yet to show even the slightest hint of magical ability, so he doubted that he could do anything with her wand at the moment besides study it. He turned it over in his fingers, hazel eyes scanning the intricate carving along the handle, “This is beautiful.” He set it back down on the table in front of her, “Are you able to do anything with it?”
“Thank you.” Hermione said, smiling fondly at her wand in his hands. It was more of an extension of herself than anything else. Even though she’d only had it in this world for some number of weeks (months, maybe?) she’d had it in the dreams for years. And she’d been dreaming over and over, living and re-living those experiences. She knew it like the back of her hand, and knew her lessons, too. She accepted the wand back, picked it up, and gave a gentle swish and flick. One of the books on the table began to levitate.
As the book began to levitate, Remus stared for a moment, almost unable to believe that it was really happening, “That...is extraordinary.” Well now Remus hoped that he got his own wand soon. Making things levitate as well as the other spells he’d seen in the dreams would be incredibly cool to be able to do.
Hermione gave a little nod, then summoned the book to her hand. “I’ve talked to quite a few people from our world--people you wouldn’t know yet--who have their wands. I think Mr. and Mrs. Potter have theirs, and Ginny, Fleur, Ron... Harry hasn’t had any dreams yet,” she added, her voice sounding a little sad when she mentioned Harry’s name. She glanced at the clock.
“Oh, goodness! I’m going to be late for class.” She said, then stood and started to pack things up. “But we should continue this discussion another time...”
“I’m very aware of James and Lily being in possession of their wands.” Remus said, nodding. He didn’t know the other people she’d mentioned and he had wondered if Harry would wind up being a part of their dream world and that confirmed it. “Well then I don’t want to make you late.” Remus stood as well. He still needed to check out a couple of books on on Lycanthropy, “Weekends are best for me until school is over.”
“Good. Sometime soon, we’ll continue this conversation.” She really wanted to give him a chance to try out her wand. Something simple, a levitation spell or transfiguring a button. But for now she really had to dash. “You can find me on Valarnet if you... need anything.” What a silly thing to say. She finished collecting up her things.
“It’s really good to see you, Professor Lupin. Remus.” She grinned, then headed out of the library in a rush.