I\'ll Forget You

A/N: I know, I know!! It\'s been forever since I\'ve update. Well, not forever, but a very long time. Blame it on school and lack of motivation. I seriously hope not to take this long next time to update, and the story will be finished. I promise. Also, I put updates in my livejournal, so if you want to know where I\'m at in updating and such, you can find it at: http://www.livejournal.com/users/cassie_snape/ . Also, please review!!!

One other thing, a few reviewers have been a bit hard on Hermione. Just remember that you don\'t know the entire story yet. Although, quite a bit of Severus/Hermione\'s earlier relationship will be told at times in this story.

And, thanks again to my beta, snapeaholic!!


Chapter Seven: The Case

Hermione sat in her office, pouring over the list of names of werewolves that she had gotten from the Ministry. Over half of them were crossed off. She sighed softly after placing down yet another letter of rejection and crossed off another name. Remus was the only werewolf so far who was fighting to get the Ordinance revoked. She just couldn’t understand why in the world the others wouldn’t follow against this injustice. She also knew she couldn’t force them to see reason either.

She sighed and smoothed down her hair, which had grown even frizzier than normal since it was a rainy day. She needed to go home for some lunch and to change clothes. Then she had to meet Mr. Stephen Smith in York to talk about the werewolf case. He was a Muggle who had been turned into a werewolf ten years ago, and his was the last known case of a werewolf attack in England.

She gathered her things in her suitcase and apparated home to keep out of the rain. She was startled to find Ron still there, sitting at the kitchen table eating a sandwich and looking over Quidditch strategies.

“Oh, hi, Ron. What are you doing home?”

Ron looked up at her, just as surprised in seeing her here as she was in seeing him there. “Quidditch practice was delayed until later, so I still have an hour before I leave. What are you doing back?”

She went into their small kitchen and quickly made herself a sandwich before sitting across of him. “I have to go to York later, so I figured that I would stop by here and change and get a bite to eat.” She began to eat her sandwich as Ron shrugged. “I don’t know how long I’ll be. Plus, I have more work at the office. I won’t be home tonight.”

He looked at her as he finished his sandwich. “Okay.” He was used to her not being home too much when she was on an important case. He wiped his hands on his pants while trying to ignore the soft tsk from Hermione. “So, you won’t be back until morning again?”

“That’s right,” she said as she finished her sandwich and went into the kitchen, getting a bottle of water out of the refrigerator. She unscrewed the cap and took a sip before placing it back on. “I’m sure you’ll find something to do by yourself,” she commented as she went into the bedroom and put on a pair of khakis and a nice shirt to go meet Mr. Smith in. He was a few years younger than she was, so she not only wanted to be presentable, but to also make him feel comfortable around her. She pulled her hair back into a loose bun and then went back into the kitchen. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” She gave Ron a slight smile and then left, apparating to York without saying anything else to her husband.

She arrived in front of an alley in York, glad that no one had noticed her there. She slipped out into the street as inconspicuously as she could and began to walk toward a house that was not too far from there. Once she arrived, she gasped slightly as she recognized that this house was considered haunted. She realized that it had to be like the Shrieking Shack back at Hogsmeade. She entered and went up to the third floor where Mr. Smith was supposed to live then knocked on the door.

She did not have to wait long before a man a few years younger than she answered. He had sandy blonde hair with a few distinct patches of pre-mature gray in it, and his eyes were a light blue. His clothes were dirty and slightly torn in a few places. “Mr. Stephen Smith?” she inquired hesitantly.

“Yeah,” Stephen said as he opened the door more for her. “Come in, Ms. Granger.”

“Thank you,” she said as she entered and surveyed the surroundings. There was hardly a piece of furniture that was completely intact in the room. She noticed scratch marks along the walls and especially on the door with its three heavy locks. She also spotted a few places with dried blood and other fluids that she would rather not know about. She paled a bit as she looked back to him. She noticed the suitcase packed and sitting on a table that had three legs and was using a shelf on the wall to hold up the other side. “Are you planning on going somewhere, Mr. Smith?”

Stephen took a seat on a wooden chair that had looked like it had been repaired one too many times. “What is it to you, Ms. Granger? And, please call me Stephen. Mr. Smith is my father.” He crossed his arms. “I thought you were here about the Ordinance.” He motioned for her to take a seat.

“You may call me Hermione, Stephen.” She knew from his posture that she would have to take this carefully. She then looked dubiously over to the chair that he offered. She slowly sat down in it, surprised that it
didn’t break, and if she hadn’t known better, she would have sworn that it had to be held up by magic.

“I am here about the Ordinance. I am petitioning to having the Ordinance repealed. It is a clear injustice to you and the rest that have lycanthropy to have to be treated like criminals. The thing is that I need more like you who will sign the petition.”

“How many do you have so far, Hermione?”

“One,” she admitted sadly. She had tried almost everyone now on her list, but no one else would sign the petition. “I need more or the court will never listen, and the court procedure will occur in a few days.”

He scoffed slightly when he heard that she had only one. “It doesn’t look likely that you will win and repeal the Ordinance as it is. Your Ministry does not like werewolves, and if they had a chance, they would just kill each one of us. Of course, that is probably what is coming next,” he stated.

She was slightly taken back by his bluntness. “I do not work for the Ministry of Magic, Stephen. I work on my own. I believe that you and the others had been given a grave injustice, and you need someone to fight for you. There are only two ways to stop them. One is this petition. The other is to find a cure for lycanthropy. I understand that this can’t be easy on you.”

“Well, I doubt that there will be a cure. There hasn’t been one yet. And, I doubt that you can even understand how hard this is.” He knew that she had never been through a transformation like he had or anything like this. He paused and looked down at his hands. “I’ve been a werewolf since I was thirteen. My friends and I were camping out in the woods, and the next thing I know I’m waking up in the leaves with my arm almost torn off while my mates are standing around me, gawking because they think that I’m dead.”

He rolled up the sleeve of his shirt that showed the horrid scar marks before rolling it down again. “Then, I get to the hospital, and I think that everything is going to be all right. Then the Ministry of Magic comes shortly before the full moon and tells my parents that I’m a werewolf. Since the time that I was thirteen, I’ve been locked away. You would think I would be use to it by now, but I hate it every bloody full moon.”

He leaned in a bit closer to her. “I just don’t see what it is going to help to have this Ordinance overturned. I’m still going to change every month.”

She had gotten that excuse before. A soft sigh fell from her lips. “I do know of someone who is doing his best to find a cure for lycanthropy. Until then, it is not right to take you out of your homes and make you stay in cages during the full moon. Plus, you are already being collared and tagged.” She looked at the collar around his neck, and it disgusted her how the Ministry was taking care of this.

He lightly touched the collar. He reluctantly admitted that she might have a point. He didn’t want to be collared and tagged. He wanted to transform in his own home and not in some cell with other werewolves in cells beside of his. “I’ve thought a million times of taking this off actually,” he admitted. Then he paused thoughtfully. “If I sign this petition, I won’t get into any more trouble if it doesn’t work, will I?”

“No, of course not! This will help you, especially if we can repeal the Ordinance.” She looked at how he was tempted to take the collar off. “I suggest that you do obey the Ordinance, Stephen. The Ministry is very clear about the part that they will kill those who go against it.” Her eyes flickered over to the suitcase again. “And, if you are thinking about leaving, I strongly suggest that you don’t.”

He gave her a defensive look, wondering how she could know. “I’m not planning to leave,” he lied. “I’ll sign the petition. I figure it can’t hurt, I guess.”

She smiled brightly when he said that and completely dismissed all thought of whether or not he would leave. “Good.” She took out the papers. “Sign here and you’ll be all set. Feel free to read them over.”

He took the papers and signed them. “I trust you on this,” he stated as he handed the papers back to her.


She stood up, glad that the chair hadn’t broken. She took the papers, trying to hide her slight gasp when she saw a rat scurrying into one of the small holes in the wall. “Thank you, Stephen.” She placed them back in her suitcase. It was about dinnertime, and he didn’t look like he had too many good meals. “For signing these papers, would you like to have dinner with me? It’s my treat to thank you.”

He nodded. “I would like that.”

Then the two of them went to dinner. She told him afterwards to be ready to come to London if she needed him as a witness in court. He had agreed, and she left him to go back to her office.

Once there, she turned on the lights with a flick of her hand. She began to work on a few other cases, but couldn’t keep her mind on them. She kept thinking about the werewolf case. She hoped that Severus could get the potion to work.

Severus.

She sighed as she thought about him. She should have never kissed him. She didn’t even know what she was thinking. “Of course you do, Granger, you weren’t thinking,” she told herself. She knew that she should have never gone back to him that day of her graduation. She had just hoped that they could work things out. She thought that if she could have him one more time then he wouldn’t have wanted her to leave. He was receptive, but she realized after enough time had passed that it was a goodbye. She should have just listened to him that night when he kicked her out and told her that it had to end.

Another sigh fell from her lips, and she lightly rubbed her temples as a headache began to form. She had to call it a night. True, she wasn’t expecting to go home, but she didn’t feel like sleeping on the couch tonight. She just wanted to relax, have a hot bath, and then go to bed.

After gathering her things, she apparated to her and Ron’s flat. She noticed that it was extremely dark, and she heard a moan coming from the other room. She paused in her spot, wondering what in the world that could be. Slowly, she walked in, trying not to run into any furniture as she opened the bedroom door. She stood there as she saw her husband’s red-flaming hair in the candlelight and then a long trail of blonde hair. Her jaw dropped. She turned and quietly walked out, leaving the flat. She couldn’t even comprehend what she saw at first. She just continued to see her husband having sex with some blonde-haired woman as she walked aimlessly on the dark streets of London.


A/N: Reviews are greatly welcomed and appreciated!!!