Disclaimer: Not my characters said the author. Merely running amok in JKR's sandbox.
Chapter 4
Moirai's Assignment
Hermione considered flooing Harry to see whether he still had the Marauders' Map in his possession. For the first two weeks of term, Hermione only saw Sirius at meals. Other than when he was ignoring her presence in the Great Hall, she never saw him. Considering she made rounds nearly every night and kept exceptionally late hours as the Gryffindor head of house, this was incredible. For two weeks the two of them completely ignored the situation that had occurred in the club.
As this venture had succeeded for two weeks, both the parties involved thought it could continue indefinitely. This was the assumption they labored under until the fifteenth day of class. The two were then summoned to the Headmistress's office.
Sirius was silently sitting with perfect posture in the seat to the right of the large desk. Minerva McGonagall was chatting with him as Hermione entered. She took the seat an arm's breath away from Sirius. It was the only option.
The Headmistress happened to glance up at the portrait of her predecessor. 'Must he wink at me?' she asked herself. The former Headmaster looked quite amused and had a sort of oil-based twinkle to his eye.
As Hermione settled herself in the chair, the Headmistress began. "I know you both are quite busy and so I will keep this brief. I am instituting some changes in the curriculum. For those in years two, four, and six I am arranging for interdisciplinary classes. Few things in life are as clear cut as our classes are. By combining two classes and coordinating the assignments, the students will see how the various aspects of the curriculum intertwine in the broader world."
Here Hermione felt the damp, dank cloud of doom hanging over her head and slowly filling her marrow.
"I am combining such classes as History of Magic and Muggle Studies to show how our two worlds at times interact or isolate each other. Potions and Herbology will combine. I would like Transfiguration and the Defense Against the Dark Arts to form a joint curriculum. As it is now only September, I would like to see a proposal for the second term's course on my desk in six weeks. I will review it and it will be instituted after the Christmas holiday."
Here the Headmistress paused looking for a response from the two disparate professors sitting across from her. "Well?" she asked with an edge of impatience.
"That sounds like a fine idea, Headmistress," Hermione ventured. "How long will each of the join class sessions be? With what frequency will they meet?"
"I am willing to let that be determined by the instructors. Any conflicts with scheduling can be dealt with as they arise. I would like to give you a fairly liberal hand with this. Sirius, any questions?"
"Not at this point, Minerva," Sirius said in a surprisingly professional tone of voice. "If I think of something, I am sure it can be resolved."
"Very well then," the Headmistress concluded, "I have a meeting with a few other professors so please see yourselves out."
Hermione and Sirius sedately made their way out of the office and down the staircase. Before Sirius could speak, Hermione jumped into the silence.
As students were about the halls, she addressed him, "Professor Black, as I have an appointment coming up, would you say that Tuesday evening following supper would be a good time to begin working on the project?"
"Though I do often have quite the busy calendar, I do believe I am free on Tuesday," Sirius said with no little cheek. A prompt eye roll from Hermione gave Sirius cause to smirk.
"I am so pleased you could clear your social life for this spot of work," she snarked.
"Well, I am going to go see Professor Lupin in the library. Do let me know if you need to change the arrangements. Shall we plan to meet in your office or mine?" Sirius asked.
"Let's meet in my study," Hermione jumped.
With that Sirius strode off to see Remus who became the librarian at Hogwarts. It was less rigorous than the DADA professorship and people were slowly overcoming their prejudices. After all, having one of the many war heroes as librarian does look good on the school record. As the Ministry periodically sent him on 'special missions', whatever those were, the flexibility was appreciated by all. Of course, these 'special missions' worried Tonks nearly as much as his monthly transformations.
Hermione stalked to her chambers. She luckily did not have to patrol that night. Instead she felt it necessary to floo Tonks.
"Tonks!" she bellowed into the fireplace.
Tonks brightly colored hair was powdered with some white substance and there were smudges on her face.
"What are you doing?" Hermione asked.
"Well, Remus always craves chocolate after his transformations so I was attempting to bake a few items prior to his next one. He has to work late tonight so I have the flat to myself. Why are you so red in the face?" Tonks asked.
"I would have thought that no Headmaster or mistress of Hogwarts could be quite as odd as Professor Dumbledore was. However, tonight I was proven wrong. You will never believe what Professor McGonagall has concocted!"
A skeptical look came from the hearth. "Oh, hang it all. Give me a minute and I'll pop over. I'm not meeting much success here. I'll stop by the bakery round the corner tomorrow afternoon."
A few moments later Tonks came through the fireplace after Hermione said the incantation to allow her through, a recent addition to the transportation options in and out of Hogwarts. The combination of war hero and brightest witch of her age means she gets her way quite a bit and can create the mechanisms to make it feasible.
"So, what is all this drama about, Hermione? You've pulled me from the kitchen," Tonks said with her hands on her hips.
"Oh come off it, you are more than happy to be out of the kitchen. Likely you even planted this ridiculous plan in Minerva's mind to further your own diabolically despicable plot!" Hermione spat as she paced.
Tonks calmly sat in the nearest chair and watched the irate witch stalk about her quarters. A slightly raised right eyebrow was all that belied Tonk's immense amusement at the sight.
"For the sake of argument, let's pretend I haven't the foggiest idea what you are on about. Why don't you tell me what diabolically despicable plot Minerva and I have hatched?" Tonks evenly said.
A short huff of annoyance sputtered from Hermione before she briefly outlined the interview with Sirius and the Headmistress.
"Oh, Hermione! That is fantastic. Isn't Luna the new Potions Mistress this year? Can you imagine poor Neville trying to get her to focus enough to coordinate a project? That is priceless!" Tonks chuckled at the thought.
"Focus here Tonks. Amusing as Neville's plight might be, we are, for once, discussing my life," Hermione pulled the conversation back.
"Honestly Hermione, being a bit self-centered? I am sure that our illustrious Headmistress did not formulate this new curriculum solely for your discomfort. With all the changes going on, it is perfectly understandable that she would want to make sure that the students have an integrated understanding of the information and the world at large."
Hermione paused and stared at Tonks with an expression of mild shock. "What? Contrary appearances, there is more to me than brightly colored hair. Plus I listen when Remus talks," Tonks shrugged.
At this point, Tonks was saved from further moments of profound dialogue by a knock on Hermione's door. Before she could open it, the door opened and Sirius walked in full of his usual confidence.
Tonks quickly rose, "Well, it was fantastic chatting with you Hermione. I really must get back to things at home. See you soon."
As Tonks disappeared in the fireplace, Sirius asked, "Since when did she become such a homebody?"
"Since she wanted to avoid having to deal with me," Hermione muttered. More loudly and more indignantly she said, "And why exactly did you insist upon barging into my quarters? More importantly how did you get past the portrait?"
"The lovely portrait you have adorning the entrance to your chambers happens to be one that fell prey to my charms during my years as a student. James and I found it useful to befriend the portraits. Between the support they could lend to alibis and ability to offer passage to otherwise inaccessible locations, it was invaluable to the Marauders. As to the barging in, I simply surmised that you would likely not allow me in so I should just take matters into my own hands," he explained as he examined his fingernails.
'Of all the presumptuous, self-absorbed cretins to wander this earth, I have to work with him!' Hermione thought. She was not going to enjoy this new responsibility.
"I also thought that as Remus was busy with some seventh years, I would come to find you to see if you wanted to get a start on the new coursework we need to arrange."
This was likely one of the few things Sirius Black could say to Hermione Granger that would surprise her. Wanting to get an immediate start on work was so responsible, so mature that Hermione had a nearly irresistible urge to take the man's temperature. Surely he must be ill. Deciding to take a mature stance herself, she took on a cool air.
"Of course. Why don't we begin by looking at what our syllabi for each year outlines? From there we can see how they relate to the other field as a starting point for joint projects." Hermione returned to the well-practiced school-marm persona. She waved her wand and her papers appeared on her desk. She said a few other spells creating a table to work from and the necessary items to assist them. Taking a quill, she quickly knotted her hair and stuck the quill in to hold it in place. Sirius was amazed that such a small feather could hold that mass of curls in place. Hermione was oblivious to his thoughtful gaze.
"Right then, here's my first year course outline. What is yours?" Hermione asked. The two began the first of many long sessions.
After two weeks of periodic work sessions, Hermione had to admit that Sirius Black took his duties as a professor seriously. She still only saw him during these sessions. Outside of their work, the two might as well have lived on opposite sides of the world. This bizarre game of hide and seek was grating on Hermione's nerves. The night out with Tonks did nothing to relieve her stress. In fact the insinuations and taunts of the young woman were enough to drive Hermione mad.
Thus, as she walked into the fifth work session with Sirius Black, Miss Hermione Granger was overtired, emotionally unstable, and generally ready to pick a fight. Later, Sirius would look back and wish that Ron or Harry had been present to warn him what to expect when Hermione walked into a room with that particular expression on her face. He would later wish that he fully understood what that particular flash in her eyes meant. Yes, later Sirius would find himself in a long, deep conversation with his godson and the youngest Weasley boy.
Unfortunately, that would be later. Now Sirius was himself a bit tired as he still accompanied Remus on his transformations. Sirius was also a bit annoyed as his sixth year class had gone horribly awry and resulted in three students in the hospital wing and a stern scolding from the Headmistress.
All told, the pieces were set for a dramatic and likely volatile scuffle between Hermione and Sirius.
"Alright, let's get this done with. I am on duty tonight and those seventh years are at the point where they think the rules don't apply. We left off with the second year coursework, so I think we can move on to the third year class now." Hermione said as she arranged herself and her papers.
"Do you ever just say hello? Do you know how to even have a pleasant chat with a bloke?" Sirius asked as he reclined in the seat in his study.
"Perhaps if I thought my conversation would not be wasted I would make the effort to say something witty or intelligent. However, I prefer to save my energies for where they would be valued," Hermione spat as she pulled more items from her stack of books and parchments.
"If I am such a horrible waste of your precious time, I wonder why you even deign to share your presence with me. Perhaps it would be better if we arranged the classes through correspondence," Sirius replied getting riled up by Hermione's cold, harsh words.
"I would if I thought you could read them," she snarked, this really was becoming a habit for her.
"Ah yes, I'm simply the ill-educated, trouble-making Neanderthal. I could never be on an intellectual level with the all knowing Hermione Granger. I will simply have to continue my existence as an amoeba in her intellectual food chain," Sirius spat.
"What I don't understand is why you even care? It seems the mere thought of having to associate with me as more than a distant acquaintance is so repulsive as to move you to be a spluttering fool. You run away from me and any sort of potential problem. So why bother to insult me or to sit here? Why not just go?" Hermione reasoned. Her voice was low and haunting. There was a current of deep seated emotion.
"First off, child," Sirius spat, "I care about many more things, much more deeply than your overly intellectualized mind could ever fathom. I have seen and felt things that you will never know. Second, though you may never condescend to notice, I take my duties as a professor as a serious undertaking. Even if such duties include working with a snobbish, bookish, brat I will attempt to be as professional as possible. All of this is because anyone who really knows me knows that I will always keep my word. Those I care about and care for can always depend on me. So until you think you can overcome your childish problems, I would ask Miss Granger that you keep your poorly founded insults to yourself and do not darken the doorway to my rooms again."
With that Sirius turned and left the staff workroom where they had been meeting. Now it was Hermione who sat in her chair, numbly staring at the door Sirius had just slammed