In Silence Sealed

Chapter Two


Half past two, and the pub was silent. She heard the stairs creak as Aberforth ascended to his room. He'd left a candle for her on the mantelpiece. It lit the room with flickering light- just enough to gaze into Arianna's smiling face.

"I'm going to see your brother." She told her, and the portrait slowly opened.


"Yeah, he's not coming." Sirius said.

He let his head fall back against the stone. He wished he'd thought to bring a fag. The wind felt good in his hair, and it was nice to look at the stars, but he was just so, so-- Ugh, he just didn't feel good, and he wanted one, damnit it.

"He's probably held up or something. Maybe he's, I don't know… Maybe one of the other snakes is still up and he can't leave."

Sirius cut his eyes to James and glared. "What'd he say, James? He said 'Astronomy Tower, 2 o'clock'. And you know what? It's fucking three in the morning, and he's not fucking here! He's not coming." He crossed his arms and scowled. It was petulant and juvenile and he didn't give a shit. He'd have punched something if he wasn't surrounded by stone.

James didn't say anything, just sat there, cross-legged and composed. He kept fiddling with the map, fluttering the pages curiously and tracing things with his finger. The gears of the clock tower went tock, tock, tock.

"Are you going to fucking say something, or-?"

The moon was out, and if James didn't think he saw him roll his eyes, than he had another one coming. "I don't know, mate. Are you going to calm down or do you need to yell at me some more?"

"Fuck you."

"Would it make you feel better if I yelled back?"

He groaned and slumped into the wall. "No, I'm done..." He looked at James out of the corner of his eye. He'd changed a lot lately. Sometimes it felt like it came out of nowhere, but he'd been changing for a while, really. Sirius smiled, and he hoped it didn't look too bitter. "Since when were you the level headed one, Prongs?"

James laughed. "Compared to you? Always." He looked up from the map, chin propped on his fist. He flashed him one of his half smiles- practically patented for mischief, and always guaranteed to lift the mood. "Just give it till three, alright? Ten more minutes."

"Yeah, alright."

James went back to staring at the map, and Sirius went back to nightdreaming about girls and cigarettes. After a minute James asked him, "Do we have a Granger at this school?"

"Uh, I don't know." Sirius squinted his eyes and pretended to think about it. When in doubt, deflect. "You're Head Boy. Aren't you supposed to know people's names and shit?"

"I usually do, that's why I'm asking." He frowned at the page and thoughtfully tousled his hair. "Hermione Granger… Well, whoever they are they're talking to Dumbledore in his office."

"Huh, weird."

"Yeah…"

They ended up lingering in the tower until a little while after three. Regulus never showed.


"Good evening, Miss Granger." Said Dumbledore behind the safety of his desk.

Hermione sat down on the edge of a spindly blue chair. She gazed around the room, eyes catching on the sleeping portraits and his shining silver instruments. Anywhere but his eyes. "I think it would be best if you called me by my assumed name, Professor." She said.

He clasped his hands on the table. She was fascinated by his right hand, the skin healthy and unblackened. "If that is what you would prefer…"

"It is, sir." Her words came out sharper than she'd intended. She bit her lip and looked out the window. The moon was nearly full.

"You needn't call me 'sir', Miss Gremillon." He said, his voice achingly gentle. "We're equals, you and I."

Ah, and he had her. It felt like a lifetime ago that he'd first said those words to her- and it had been, hadn't it? But to her, it had only been three years. Surrendering, she made herself meet his clear blue eyes with her own. She couldn't even bring herself to be angry at the manipulation, Dumbledore was a master at his craft, after all. Hermione would need that skill on her side in the coming months. Hopefully, with the two of them, it would be enough this time...

She sighed, tucking an errant curl behind her ears. "Would you prefer I call you Dumbledore? I admit, I'm more comfortable calling you Professor."

"Professor will more than suffice." He smiled at her, the lines around his eyes creasing.

Hermione couldn't bring herself to smile back. "You asked for me?" She said, and though she didn't intend to, she sounded even more waspish than before. She tilted her head, thoughtful, and asked, "Has there been a change in the plan?"

"No, nothing so dire as that. In truth, I summoned you here to ask about your well being. It has been some weeks since your arrival. How do you find your accommodations so far?"

She shuffled awkwardly in her seat, anxiously twisting a loose thread on her star-spangled chair. "I appreciate all the assistance you've given me, Professor…"

"You are more than welcome. It is the very least I could do for you, knowing what you've done for us." And what you will do. She was getting better at filling in the blanks. "And I presume things are going well with Aberforth? He speaks well of you."

She raised an eyebrow at that. His eyes twinkled. "As well as he can."

That sounded more likely. "Yes, we work well together. He's been very generous to me." She frowned, her lips pursed in thought. It had only been a week since she and Aberforth had spoken of loss, and she'd realized some things since then. "But you knew he would be kind to me, didn't you?"

He nodded. "I did. My brother can be gruff, but he is a good man."

She pinned him with a querulous look. They both knew it was more than that.

He chuckled at her expression. Dumbledore was the only person Hermione knew that could convey sadness, sobriety and approval with just one simple smile. "Sometimes I forget just how much you know." She doubted that. It sounded nice, though, to be able to forget. "I'm relieved to hear you're settling in. Have you learned anything of note since we've last spoken? Or have you run into any complications?"

"No, not yet." She chewed her bottom lip, lost in thought. "Not… necessarily."

"Oh?"

"I spoke to some people. From before. Nothing important, or that could change anything but…" Her shoulders slumped. What had she been thinking? Only about herself, apparently. She should have let Aberforth talk to the Marauders, she should have stayed in the back room. For god's sake, she had to follow the plan! "But they are important. And I shouldn't have meddled. I don't want to change anything..."

"I presume you're speaking of the seventh year Gryffindors?"

She frowned, wondering how he knew. "Yes."

Dumbledore steepled his fingers, a considering look on his face. She waited for him to respond, reminding herself to breathe. She knew it wasn't rational, but the idea that she'd ruined everything already filled her with dread- she only had this one chance, and she'd just gotten here.

"I don't believe speaking to people you knew before will endanger our mission."

His words startled her from her reverie. "Are you sure?"

He nodded. "Yes. I would not seek them out, but if your paths are meant to cross than I see no harm in allowing it, so long as you remember your limitations. I trust your judgment."

"Alright." She agreed hesitantly. She still felt accountable, but the weight was lighter now. It was so hard to trust Dumbledore, but she found herself doing it all the same.

"Hermione," He began, and her eyes narrowed at her name. She had just told him- but then, that's why he used it, didn't he? She gave him all of her attention. "Whatever happens, good or ill, this is your world now. Do not stop yourself from living in it."


Regulus looked miserable but well rested that morning. Sirius glared at him the whole time, and Reg was smart enough not to look over. Fucker. Who needed him. Yeah, keep talking to your Death Eater chums, picking at your brekkie like a self-conscious schoolgirl you fucking lying piece of-

"Are you going to eat that?" Peter pointed at his plate, which held the last slice of bacon. Sirius stared him dead in the eye as he shoved it in his mouth, chewing viciously, mouth open and everything.

Remus rammed his bony elbow into his ribs with bruising force. "Ow! Why are you always so physical, Lupin?"

"Because you respond poorly to verbal criticism." Remus said, leafing through the pages of his book. "Stop picking on Peter, it's not his fault you're pissed. And chew with your mouth closed, you look like an animal." Eating breakfast, reading, and playing nanny, all at once. How did Moony find the time?

"Whatever, mum."

Remus huffed a laugh and waved a gently admonishing finger in his direction, "Don't forget your scarf and hat today. It's cold out there."

Sirius snorted into his pumpkin juice. "Shut up, you're not funny. Anyways, where's James? It's almost time for them to let us go."

"He's doing Head Boy stuff. And don't you remember? He's not coming with us." Remus was looking at him as if he were a little daft. "He's going with Lily."

He smacked himself on the forehead. What a moron, of course James wasn't coming with them. The poor sod had only been talking about the epic date he had planned with Lily for the past three weeks. "Right, right, you're right. Then I guess it's just us three. We're going to Honeydukes, right? Then we'll hit Zonko's after?" And maybe after that he could bully them into joining him at the Hog's Head.

"Well, actually…" Remus and Peter exchanged a glance, "The Hobgoblin's are going to be at Dominic's, so I was going to get my record signed. And Pete here has a date, so."

Sirius' mood crashed and burned, which was really saying something, seeing as he was in a shit mood to begin with. "Oh. Well, that's… Yeah, ok." He said like the socially challenged idiot that he was.

"I mean, you can come with me if you'd like. I'd have asked you earlier but I know you're not the biggest fan."

The pity on Remus' face sealed the deal. Fuck that, he wasn't a charity case. "Ugh, no. Stubby Boardman is a giant twat. I'd rather listen to screaming mandrakes." Remus looked relieved, and Peter muttered something about that being a great band name under his breath. Sirius forced a laugh. "We'll meet up later, though, yeah?"

"Of course."

The Great Hall was starting to clear out, kids of all ages getting up from their seats in swarms. It was nearly time to line up to leave, and Minnie hated stragglers. Sirius started digging into his breakfast in earnest. He looked up, chewing around a mouthful of eggs, and realized Peter was still staring at him.

"What?" He asked before swallowing. Remus sighed in the distance.

"Congratulations on your date, Peter," Peter grumbled sarcastically, "I'm really happy for you."

"Oh, sorry Pete." He smiled wickedly and asked, "How much is she per hour?"


Hermione broke the ice on the water trough with a simple spell and lazy flick of the wrist. Aberforth's goats seemed loathe to leave the warmth of their paddock, but one brave soul pranced through the gates and butted her in the thigh. She scritched him absently behind the ear as she gazed down the hill towards the rest of the town below. It was a Hogwarts day- clumps of underage witches and wizards in school uniform wandered the ice-white streets, laughing and chatting.

Seeing the scene filled her with a sickly feeling. The students looked happy, and she was glad of it, she really was, but that didn't stop her from bitterly wanting what they had. She missed Hogwarts with a fierce longing. She missed the castle, with its ancient library and it's airy classrooms; she missed her coursework and the satisfaction of learning; she missed the direction from her teachers and the security of knowing what was expected of her; but most of all she missed chatting in the common room with her friends, falling asleep with Harry in front of the fireplace and fixing Ron's abhorrent essays.

She smoothed her face with her hands- that was enough of that.

Hermione pushed the goat's nuzzling head away and went back inside. It was the weekend, so the pub was at it's busiest- there had to be at least six people milling around the shoddy room, seven if you included her. Practically a full house, by their standards. Although most of them hid their face from view, Hermione was getting quite skilled at recognizing the regulars.

The wide woman nursing a firewhisky at the bar was a smuggler and a potioneer. Hermione often saw her pass stoppered flasks and opaque bottles under the table, and her patrons always paid in gold. The two men lounging in faded orange cloaks seemed to come in every Friday. They never bought anything, seeming only to come to whisper furtively with Aberforth before leaving angry. Order members, she presumed.

And in the corner sat the tall, strange man who had placed his hand on her his last visit. He entered with a 'friend', just as he had last time- this one had a slight figure, and she noticed the winking shine of patent school shoes as they peeked out from beneath his robes.

The tall man felt her eyes and turned his head to stare. She looked quickly away, but she couldn't shake the feeling of being watched.

Sirius parted from Remus with a jaunty wave. He turned back and pulled his scarf over his red nose, burrowing his hands deep into the depths of his robes. If only Remus had reminded him to bring along gloves as well. Ah, well. He trudged through the snow, crusty and old, and set his sight on the Hog's Head.

He'd been thinking of that girl, Helen. Not in a creepy way, not the way James used to go about things before he'd stopped being a prick, but in a normal and healthy fashion. There were lots of pretty girls in the world, but she'd also seemed lonely, and he sort of liked the way she'd looked at him that night- like he was the only person there.

It wasn't like he had a crush on her or anything. He was just… interested. Maybe even a little concerned for her well being- what was she doing, looking so depressed in a shitty pub? He'd wanted to talk to James about it, but he'd been busy with Lily and his head-whatever duties. And then there'd been the thing with Reg, and the detention on Thursday, and trying out the motorbike, and, well… maybe he did like her a little bit like that- he was a sucker for damsels, sue him.

Still, Sirius wasn't going to leave himself wide open for ridicule. He was going to be keeping all that funny business to himself for now, thank you very much.

It didn't take long to reach the inn. He knocked the snow off his boots, made uncomfortable eye-contact with a goat behind the fence, and pushed open the heavy wooden door. It was warm inside, but far from welcoming. There was something different about the atmosphere this time, something heavy and foreboding. He wondered if he should have waited for Remus after all.

Sirius did a quick scan of the bar and, ah- there she was. She was just as pretty as he remembered, but her hair was down this time, trailing down the line of her spine. He could only see half her face; she was turned towards the old man from last time, talking or something. The old man saw him first, eyes narrowing a sliver, and Helen turned her head to the source.

She blinked, her eyes widened, and then she walked calmly and quickly into the backroom.

Well, that was encouraging.

Merlin, but if it didn't feel like everyone on earth was going out of their way to ignore him. Was he red? Ugh, he was. Sirius braced himself, teeth clenched, and took a seat at the bar. He definitely, definitely wasn't embarrassed, and he wasn't angry either. He was just a normal bloke, sitting in a shitty pub, and she had probably just forgotten something really important in the back and would be in front of him shortly.

"What d'you want?" The old man asked, more hostilely than the situation warranted.

Unfortunately for him, Sirius was a veteran school boy, long used to unfriendly elders. He flashed him his pearly whites, "I'll have firewhisky."

"We don't have any."

The lady to his right looked down at her drink -firewhisky, of course- and to him, a smirk on her face. It was just enough to light the fire under his temper. Eyes narrowed he snapped, "Well then what do you have?"

"Not much."

"Mead?"

"Gone."

"Butterbeer?"

"Out."

"Water?"

"Hmm."

"Is there a problem?" Sirius growled, "Or are you this shit with all of your customers?"

The old man did the absolute worst thing he could have done. He ignored him; turned his back and wandered away, charming a few logs into his fireplace. "Fine. Fine!" Sirius launched himself away from the bar, a scowl on his face.


Dumbledore had said it was okay, but it didn't really feel okay. It didn't feel right, knowing Sirius knew her. Sirius Black was too important to get wrapped up in, he was too ingrained in her possible plans, in the future!

But his eyes had lit up when he saw her. Sirius wasn't a perfect person, but she knew him, and she knew that although he could be difficult he was ultimately kind. From the sound of it, he was in an awful mood. He'd given up so much for Harry, before, and he'd always been kind to her… She felt compelled to help.

Hermione peeked out just in time to see his straight back retreating out the door. She followed after him, ignoring Aberforth's exasperated groan. She blinked in the bright winter light, shielding her eyes and staring down the path, but he was nowhere in sight. Had he run all the way back?

"Helen?"

She whirled around. Sirius was by the goat pen, slouched over the fence. He held a cigarette with one hand, smoke swirling curly-cues in the air, and was petting a goat with the other. He sat up in a rush, turning around and leaning questionably-casually against the fence.

She suddenly realized she had no idea what she wanted to say. "You shouldn't smoke, you know."

The startled look fell off his face, a slow smile taking it's place. "No?"

She colored under his stare. There was something very confident about the way he was looking at her, like he knew something she didn't. The old Sirius had never looked at her like that. "No… No, it's very bad for your lungs, you see. And it ages you prematurely."

"Well, we can't have that." He dropped the cigarette to the ground and smashed it with the heel of his shoe.

Hermione hadn't followed him all the way out here to lecture him about his health. She still wasn't entirely sure what she was doing, but she knew it wasn't that. She was… she was going to try and help him, wasn't she? She cocked her head to look at him. He didn't look angry anymore, but she couldn't shake the feeling of concern. "Are you alright? You left in quite a rush. You sounded…"

"Angry?"

"...Yes."

He ran a hand through his dark hair and chuckled, "Yeah, well. I've been in a bit of a mood all day. It's not your fault." He opened his mouth and closed it, "Not that it could have been your fault. It's just-." He looked down at his feet and laughed. Hermione didn't see what he found so funny. "It's nothing you need to worry about, love."

"Are you sure?" She needled, "If you'd like I can get you a drink. Aberforth should apologize…"

"It's fine."

"No, no it's not." Hermione bit her lip to hold in the sigh. This was getting complicated. She shouldn't have listened to Dumbledore. But she was lonely, and he was familiar. "I'm sorry I ran away when you came in. It wasn't fair of me. If you'd let me get you a drink, to apologize…" She trailed off.

He smirked. "You really want to buy me a drink, don't you?"

The way he said it was so self-satisfied and arrogant that for the first time in weeks -maybe even months- she was actually, truly irritated. "To apologize." She said, mortified.

He laughed again, but this time it sounded like he meant it. It was a much nicer sound. She rolled her eyes, but she couldn't hide the twist of her smile. "Alright, Helen. I think I'll take you up on that offer."

She motioned for him to lead the way. He sat up from the fence and walked back for the Hog's Head. He reached his hand out to open the door, but it pulled open from the other side, and out barrelled the thin man from earlier, straight into Sirius' chest.

"Oof." Sirius recoiled but held his ground. His attention snapped to his assailant, gray eyes flashing. "Watch where you're going you-" His jaw dropped and his brows furrowed. The thin man made to bolt, his hood sliding down his head, but Sirius grasped him firmly by the arm and yanked him back. The hood fell, revealing a face Hermione had only seen in photographs.

"Reg?"


EDITED 3/12/17

You might not believe it, but I actually deleted a few of Sirius' "fucks". Someone give the boy a swear jar.