Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Thanks for the reviews. Here’s the next chapter.


A week later, Hermione found herself sitting in a nice comfortable chair in Lupins rooms. In front of her on the coffee table was her new pensive, the murky blue/white substance in it swirling gently, waiting for her to start adding her memories and reflecting her image back at her. She could see her face was glowing, flushed from the excitement of having one of these. Across from her sat Lupin, his own pensive sitting in front of him, swirling with the ghostly images of his past.

She was almost tempted to ask if she could have a look, but thought better of it, knowing he had some very bad memories. Also knowing he was usually a very private person.

“Okay,” Lupin said, bringing her attention to him. “Are you ready? Take out your wand and I’ll show you how to store your memories.”

Nodding, she reached into her robe pocket, pulling out her wand and brandishing like the weapon it was. Lupin gave her an amused half smile, raising his eyebrow at her in silent laughter. She blushed and muttered a small nervous ‘sorry’.

‘She’s quite breath taking when she blushes,’ Lupin thought to himself, before shaking his head to clear it.

“Now that you have your wand ready, first you simply need to think of something that has happened. Once you get a clear picture in your mind, place the tip of your wand next to your temple and tap your finger once. Then simply pull the wand away. Though not to fast, or the memory won’t stick.

“You should feel as if someone is pulling on a piece of your hair. After the memory is free, tap your wand against the side of the pensive, and it will fall right in. Give it a try.”

Lupin watched as she struggled to find a memory. He knew she found one when she had a small smile on her face. Place the wand against her temple, she gave it a light tap with her finger. Then slowly, she pulled her wand way, watching out the corner of her eye what looked like a piece of her hair come away, hanging of the tip. She lowered her wand and tapped it against the side of the pensive and watching it fall into the bowl.

“Very good,” Lupin said. “Before you add anymore, I’ll tell you how to extract them to view them.

“Take your wand and swirl it around inside the bowl. This will make all your memories come to the surface. Once you see the memory you want, poke your wand into the middle of it. Right now it will be easy with only the one memory; but once you have more in there, you might have to stir it around a few minutes to get the one you want up at the top. Just poke it again when you‘re through.”

Hermione nodded to let him know she understood then stirred the proto-plasma, or whatever it was, inside the bowl. Once her memory came up to the top, she poked it and watched as it floated out the bowl.

Once it came to a stop, Lupin watched as a much younger and very frightened Hermione sat frozen under a sink in a girls bathroom, starring at something in horror. Harry and Ron were there, too. He seen Harry on top of something huge, then Ron pulling out his wand, waving it around and saying ‘Wingardium Leviosa’. The club shot up into the hair, hung suspended for a moment or two, then came crashing down on the trolls head, knocking him out.

Hermione poked the memory and watched it float back down into the bowl, another smile on her face.

“When did that happen?” Lupin asked.

“It was our first year here. Ron and Harry didn’t like me much at the time. Ron called me a bossy know-it-all and said it was no wonder I didn’t have any friends. He didn’t mean for me to hear, but I did. I spent that evening crying in the girls bathroom. Ron and Harry came to find me when a Troll had been let in my the DADA professor that year. Prof. Quirrel. If it wasn’t for them, I’d probably be dead now. They saved my life, then I saved their hides when I lied to McGonagall about how we all came to be there.

“I told her it was my fault. That I thought I could take care of the troll since I’d read all about them. Needless to say, Harry, Ron and I have been best friends every since.”

“I can understand that,” Lupin replied. “Okay, now that you got the gist of it, why don’t you try adding some more?”

For the next hour, they sat together, each adding memory after memory. Sometimes taking a break to bring one of them back up to the surface to view it.

From Lupin, she got to view the first year that she met him. The boggart in the closet, catching Harry with the Mauraders map, the night he used it to follow them down to the Shrieking Shack via the Whomping Willow.

From her, Lupin got to see the end of her first year working out all the puzzle to get to the Scorers Stone, how she blanched in the Devils Snare, Ron having to remind her that she was a witch and didn’t need wood to make a fire. The night was petrified in her second year from the basilisk. Third year figuring out he was a werewolf, down in the Shrieking Shack when she, Harry, and Ron stunned Prof. Snape before he could apprehend an innocent Sirius, Harry making a perfect Protronus to save himself and aforementioned godfather. Fourth year and helping Harry with his spells, charms and hexes to get past the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

Then when he least expected it, he seen the night she was attacked by the werewolf. But what surprised him most was that he seen himself, in werewolf form, attacking the other werewolf and saving her life. He didn’t know how he knew it was him, he just did. After she poked the memory and it dropped away, she looked at him with tears of sorrow and gratitude in her eyes.

“I never did thank you for that. If you hadn’t come along, he/she would have killed me.”

Blushing, he gave her a small nod. There wasn’t anything else to say so she went back to putting more memories into her pensive. He couldn’t help but notice when her face turned beat read at something she was thinking. Before he could even try to hazard a guess, there was a knock on the door.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

She nodded when he got up to answer the door, pulling the embarrassing memory from her mind. She looked up when she heard Dumbledore’s voice.

“Ah, hello, Miss Granger. I need to steal Remus away for a bit. I hope you don’t mind?” He asked, that infernal twinkle in his eyes.

“Oh, no problem, Prof. I’ll just head on back to my room now and finish filling this.” She said, pointing at her pensive, then dropping the memory in. Only she wouldn’t realize, until it was to late, that she had actually dropped it into Lupin’s pensive while she was looking at the headmaster.

TBC: So.. What was that memory all about? Guess you’ll just have to wait till next chapter. Or the one after that. Not sure which way I’m gonna go yet. Anyway. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and again, thanks to those who have reviewed.