𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭 𝘖𝘧 𝘚𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝄂︎ ☠︎︎ 𝄃︎ 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘗𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳

𝟷𝟸. 𝚂𝚎𝚕𝚏𝚒𝚜𝚑 𝙵𝚘𝚛 𝙾𝚗𝚎 𝙽𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝

Bit of a longer one for yall ;)

Harry stayed by Esme's side the entire day. She'd eventually woke up around 2pm. It was honestly the longest sleep she'd gotten in a long time. But part of her felt oddly safe. And when she woke to Harry snoozing, sitting on the floor with his head back against her legs, she realized why.

She slowly sat up, wincing at a surge of pain that went through her middle. "Fucking hell..." She muttered.

Hermione had noticed she woke up and quickly went to grab the small plate of toast Harry had set out earlier and put a stasis charm over. She neared Esme, holding the plate out to her. "Here, you need your strength."

Esme seemed to tense at Hermione being so close. But when Hermione gave her nothing but a small smile, she took the plate. "Taking pity on me then, are you?" She set the plate in her lap, picking up a piece of toast.

Hermione's smile turned to a slight frown. "Is anyone that wishes to help you simply taking pity?"

"Is every person you Gryffindors meet in need of a savior?" Esme bit back. Hermione didn't pay attention to her bitterness, likely an after effect of the moon.

"We patched you up as best we could with the supplies we found. Most of it was in Regulus' room." Hermione continued on, ignoring Esme's comment.

Esme took a small bite of the toast, simply testing her stomach's ability to hold it. "Well, after Sirius ran away Regulus got all of the beatings and his parents' anger. So I'm not surprised he has a medkit."

"He even had a book on how to get rid of some curse scars." Hermione had read through the book extensively since finding it. None of her friends knew of the purple curse lines that were on her side from the Department of Mysteries attack.

Esme looked back to the girl, taking another bite of the toast. "I can get rid of it, y'know. The thing on your side."

The muggleborn looked quite surprised at Esme's mention. "How... How do you know about that? Not even Harry or Ron knows.." She lowered her voice to a whisper.

"Oh, I caused it." She said rather simply.

Hermione took a step back. "You... you were there?"

Esme slightly nodded. "My first mission, actually. Had to prove myself. What better way than to send a curse at a muggleborn." She looked slightly ashamed at herself, looking back to her legs where Harry still slept soundly. "I watched Sirius die just before I left... heard Harry's screams. When I was home, that same night, was the first time I met Sirius. He appeared to me as a ghost."

Hermione stayed silent for a good while. Esme really did have to do a lot of horrible things just to survive. Fifteen... and having to watch the man that loved her mother and, if the fates hadn't decided otherwise, could have been her father.

"I never knew him in this world. But he made sure I did when he made it to the next." Esme had set the toast down, her hand starting to move over her dark mark and beginning to itch. "But.. like i said, I can remove it. Shouldn't have caused you any internal damage."

"I..uhm.." The girl needed a minute to process. "Someday, maybe." She decided on a subject change. "How are you feeling, otherwise?"

Esme shrugged, still scratching at her mark. "Bones hurt. The new scratches hurt.....oh Merlin." A realization hit her. "How...how naked was I when Harry found me?"

Hermione's cheeks flushed just a tad. "Completely, I'm afraid. But he covered you with a blanket and kept his eyes away while I fixed up your wounds. We saw the.. the bites."