Title: The First Meeting

Pairing: H. Granger and OC, Orion

Summary: Orion helps third year Hermione.

Glancing around the library as I packed away my things into my back pack I was hardly surprised at how empty the place was, the only living souls in the library were Madam Pince and I.

I had somehow avoided getting on her bad side, I wasn't certain how I had accomplished this near impossible feat but I was glad that I had. She had never directed one of her infamous hawk like glares at me.

With a nod to the stern librarian I left the library, taking the first staircase I came across up to the seventh floor.

I was on patrol duty tonight; it was one of my tasks as a prefect. But it was something that I found to be a waste of time; the hours always seemed to drag by no matter what.

New rules were in place due to Sirius Black having entered the castle; tension was high in the magical community. And who could blame the people, after all Black had been sent to Azkaban over a decade ago on numerous charges.

Sirius Black was said to be the Dark Lords right hand man, had even betrayed the Potters by giving their secure location to the Dark Lord. And had murdered multiple people.

He was the first person to ever successfully break out of the wizard prison that sat in the middle of the freezing ocean.

People were worried, on edge; the tense atmosphere in the common room had been the reason for me fleeing to the library. I couldn't stand the ridiculous stories any longer tonight.

Black may very well be insane due to having spent over a decade with Dementors, horribly foul creatures, but I truly believed that the man wasn't stupid. I didn't share the opinion of my fellow classmates that he was waiting behind the next suit of armour in the corridor to pounce on some unsuspecting student.

Or hiding behind the classrooms door with a feral grin and wand in hand ready to blow someone's head off, they were utterly ridiculous to me.

Black was smart and I had formed this opinion on the fact that he had broken out of Azkaban successfully, was eluding the authorities and had broken into the castle right under Albus Dumbledore's nose.

Something that the Dark Lord had not even dared to do at the peak of the last war, so even if the man was insane I truly doubted that he was stupid.

As I made my way through the corridors one by one clearing each floor, my mind wondered away trying to make the hours as productive as possible. My thoughts were all that I had to distract me, and right now I was thinking about the latest Rune Project we had been given just this morning in class.

I was less than twenty meters away from Ravenclaw Tower when I heard a sound, some sort of odd noise; in the blink of an eye I had my wand in hand.

My ears were strained as my eyes searched the corridor for anything out of place, just as I was about to write the sound off as nothing I heard it again.

Moving quietly to the partially open door that housed the Charms class during the day, I peered around it my eyes immediately landing on the source of the noise.

It was easy to name the sound now, sobbing, quiet yet body wracking sobs. They tugged at my heart for some reason; I couldn't see a lot of details of the girl in the near dark room though.

She was sitting opposite the door, right against the wall, her knees drawn up against her chest while her arms were wrapped tightly around them with her head bowed down.

The red in her robes identified her as belonging to Gryffindor House; I stepped into the room silently, leaving my back pack at the door as I made my way further into the room.

The girl was probably crying about something silly I thought to myself as I approached her, the moment she noticed my presence was easy to tell. Her entire body stiffened, for some reason I felt sympathy for her.

I sat down beside her instead of scolding her and taking away House points, sitting beside her I got a better look at her profile out of the corner of my eye as I stared straight ahead.

She had long very curly almost bushy hair that was a soft chestnut colour, her eyes were red and puffy, and tear stains covered her cheeks that were flushed red.

I was grateful that the sobbing had stopped though, instead she was crying quietly as she kept her head bowed. I tried to think of something to say but no comforting words came to me.

So I instead waited her out, sitting quietly beside her as her tears slowly but surely lessened. I almost let out a sigh of relief when she was done crying, but instead I simply handed over my handkerchief to her.

The moment she took it I got to my feet and picked up her bag that had been sitting on the other side of her, I resisted the urge to ask what was in it as it was much heavier than I had expected.

But I managed to remain silent though, I held out my hand to her while standing in front of her, her gaze locked onto my hand briefly before moving up to my face.

I resisted the urge to pat down my hair or even flush, it felt as if though I was being evaluated. Finally after what felt like hours her gaze moved back down to my hand.

Her hand was tiny in mine, so very small and fragile, I helped her to her feet and then moved towards the door where I collected my own bag. Looking over my shoulder I was surprised to see her standing in the middle of the class.

Swinging my bag onto the same shoulder that held her one I slowly approached her, she looked so very lost in the middle of the room.

I wrapped my arm gently around her shoulders and steered her out of the classroom, the only sound between us as we made our way to Gryffindor Tower were our light footfalls and soft breathing.

The entire way though I kept my ears strained, trying to detect any sound that would indicate that we weren't alone. The last thing I wanted to do was run into a teacher.

She would no doubt get into trouble, and I would probably have to explain my actions which were something that I didn't even want to think about much less share.

When we finally arrived at Gryffindor Tower I gave the current password to the guardian, who didn't even stir in the slightest. The common room was mercifully empty at this hour.

Thinking desperately for something to say, I handed the girl her bag back, but even as I tried to stall for time I made my decision. Actions spoke louder than words, and so I would have to go with actions instead.

I leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek, straightening back up I conjured up a mug of steaming hot chocolate which I immediately handed to her.

"Get some sleep little lion." I said quietly, turning her around by her shoulders and giving her a small nudge towards the staircase.

I quickly left the common room, not waiting for some sort of reply, the door closed quietly behind me with a faint snap.

FIN.