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Hermione groaned as she tried to sit up, but in the end she gave up and let herself curl up on the floor. Her head was pounding. She lifted a hand to rub at her forehead, only to find that there was something warm and sticky there. She wasn’t a healer, but for some reason she didn’t think that was a good thing.
When she pulled her hand down and managed to peel her eyes open, she saw that the ends of her fingers were red. She took a slow, deep breath as she allowed her eyes to close again and tried to remember what had happened. A voice. That was what first came floating back to her, a wispy sort of thing. She couldn’t quite make out what the voice had said, just that it was soon followed by a flash of a room with a long corridor and some glowing lights.
It didn’t make sense and her brain was far too addled to try to make sense of any of it just now. She reached into her pocket in search of her wand - but didn’t find it. She tried not to panic as she tried to sit up again. Maybe she’d dropped it nearby? She forced her eyes open this time, ignoring their protests as she looked around. Not only did she not see her wand, but she didn’t recognise her surroundings either.
Great , she thought, I’m injured, potentially concussed, and lost.
“Um. Hello?” A voice startled her, even caused her to yelp. She had been so busy trying to figure out what was going on that she hadn’t even noticed the blue-haired boy who was just a couple of feet away. “Are you alright?” He asked slowly, an eyebrow slightly lifted as he walked over.
Hermione gave a small nod, though this caused her to wince. She knew she wasn’t alright but she knew better than to trust a stranger. “Yeah. I’ll be fine.”
The boy was kneeling opposite her now, a frown on his face. He looked familiar but even though she was slightly confused as to where she was - or how she’d got there - Hermione was pretty sure that she had never met him before. She knew she’d have remembered the vibrant colour of his hair for starters.
“You’ve got a nasty head wound there..” He said slowly as he gently pushed her mass of hair back so that he could get a proper look. “I think I’m going to go and get Harry.” He paused for a moment. “Can you stand?”
Harry. Hermione could only hope that he meant her Harry, though the last time she had seen him, he’d gone tearing off to find his godfather, so she honestly doubted that one. He wouldn’t have been able to do anything anyway. Her best friend was no more of a healer than she was.
“I - uh -” She started, unsure whether she could actually stand and quite reluctant to even try. She was pretty sure that her head was about to split itself open and that was grounds enough to stay right where she was - on the ground.
The boy looked around them. “I don’t really want to leave you on your own…” He said quietly before he pulled out his own wand, using it to summon a fully formed patronus which he instructed to go and get help.
Hermione frowned slightly as she watched the wolf slink off. He didn’t look that much older than she was but a fully formed patronus was magic that was technically above their ability. She had only just managed to master one with the help of Harry and the DA meetings that year, but she hadn’t seen this boy in those meetings, and she was the one with the list of all their members after all.
“Do I know you?” She heard herself asking before she could stop herself. The words sounded a bit rude, but she hoped that he would put that down to the ash on her head that she figured from his lack of panic must have stopped actively bleeding.
The boy gave a short laugh. “I was actually going to ask you the same thing. You seem really familiar. You’re not a cousin of the Weasleys or something, are you?”
Hermione blinked rapidly. “Um. No. Certainly not.” She wanted to laugh, but she didn’t. Her eyes took in his features. His eyes, his nose, that flamboyant hair colour. “Wait. Where am I?” She asked slowly. It should probably have been one of the first questions that she asked but the house behind him was finally starting to come into view.
“My godfather’s house.” The boy told her as he tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, his head still tilted to the side ever-so-slightly. “You’re not from here, huh?”
There were so many ways that Hermione could have interpreted that, but somehow this time it felt different. She stared at him for a moment before she shook her head slightly. “No, I guess not.”
“I still feel like I know you..” The boy hummed, his eyes fixed on her face for a time that should have been uncomfortable but Hermione found that she didn’t actually seem to mind.
“I feel the same way.” She said quietly. There was something about the boy that she couldn’t seem to put her finger on but she realised that she was going to have to push that out of her mind for now. “What’s your name? Maybe we have met before…”
“Teddy Lupin.” The boy told her, a sort of pride smile on his lips and Hermione realised just why he looked familiar. He had to be the son of her ex-professor.
Her eyes widened as she sat there, but all Teddy did was smile at her in a way that made her forget about all her worries and all the reasons that made her meeting someone that probably didn’t even exist yet problematic.