Chapter VI

6th Symptom

Overwhelmed

As soon as she entered the dormity, the girls who had been talking in hushed tones turned off the light of their wands and closed their bed's curtains in a curt and harsh noise. She furrowed her brows before advancing toward the only empty bed, sighing and tugging on her tie.

The girl's dormity was not exactly the same. Hermione could tell the differences even as the moon's glow was the only light in the room. It seemed more authentic and better kept. The ancient furnitures were shining with novelty, the covers and pillows were of a cream color and looked cosier, and the Gryffindor's banner was of a more vibrant red, as if made of a different material.

She was cut from her reflexion by the apparition of a new light. She immediately turned toward the wand who had just lightened up and saw a young witch already dressed for the night, a mischievous smile playing on her lips and a curious gleam shining in her bright blue eyes.

"Well, well...Here is the new girl ! Come, come closer so I can have a good look at you !" she started.

Hermione stopped her work with her tie and hesitated before making her way toward the girl. She was a pretty girl, in a roguish and uncaring way. Her long dark hair were a mess and several braids played with the rest of her wavy strands pushing them out of her face. Her mouth was a little too big to fit the standard beauty image but it was full and made to smile.

She stopped in front of the witch's bed, considering her options one more time, before accepting to sit where her new housemate was patting. They spent a moment in silence before the girl started to laugh.

"You really aren't who I thought I would see when I was told Black had gotten engaged...But you kinda make sense. In a weird way. You seem a little bit...intense yourself."

The thought of being upset by this affirmation crossed her mind but was soon replaced by a much more dreaded conclusion. "Everybody already knows ?" she asked, furrowing her brows.

"It's Black we're talking about. Rumours of what fricking underwear he's wearing spread faster than the dragon pox. What did you think the girls were giving you the silent treatment for ?"

"Then... Why aren't you part of it ?"

Her new housemate laughed again, and her laugh was so strong that Hermione could feel the bed shake. "Oh please ! Me ? Interested in Black ? The boy already has enough love for himself without me giving him some. I mean, seriously, the wizard is a real tosser. No offence, though. He is just a jerk. Even though more half of the wizarding population is quite ready to build him a shrine because of that face of his, I know that he is a jerk. Not the worst, though ! I don't mean to insult your beau, or anything... just saying that I am having to much fun to plan your murder like the other harpies" she intervened raising her hands in a calming gesture.

Hermione felt a smile curve her lips before her antics. It was quite evident that this girl said absolutely everything that passed through her mind without a care of how it would be received but for some reasons, she was comforted by it. She had always prefered hard truth to soft lies, that was one of the reasons why she was at home in Gryffindor.

She straightened herself and said in a clear and articulated voice. "I am Hermione G-Black. Pleased to meet you."

Another roguish smile twisted her mouth as she shook her hand "Emmeline Vance. And just the same, girlie."

§§§

Emmeline Vance proved to be a very fortunate encounter.

They seemed to be opposed in practically everything. Emmeline was rash, impulsive, very talkative, not so studious, and more importantly a real Quiddich fan. She also swore like no other, laughed and talked very loud and was the fatal opposite of a morning person. But they were similar for what Hermione would say to be the most important details. The girl was intelligent and talented, eager to know more and to better herself, not afraid to voice her opinion or state her mind, confident and she had her heart in the right place.

They left the dormity together and when they passed the rows of angry female gazes, Hermione felt relieved to have some compagny. She hadn't really thought of what being with Sirius Black would imply. Now of course, it seemed evident to her. And for some reason she could not stop herself to smile when hearing Emmeline calling him a pretty jerk.

She soon understood that she really didn't mean it as an insult. And in fact she quite admired the fact that he was such a proud addition to the house of Gryffondor with his...family background, his abilites as the quiddich team beater and...Actually that's it. Because for the rest, he did come from old money, did not think that he should be denied everything or that someone could say no to him and stick to it. Apparently he and James Potter were also party animals and liked to prank people, sometimes in a funny way and others in an uncaringly cruel way. He also liked to drink a little bit too much and if he was not the man-whore that some claimed him to be, he was a right flirt.

A jerk, seemed the right summary. But a loved one. It seemed no matter what he did, not liking him was an almost impossible feat. Slytherins hated him but some still hoped he would come to reason and do what was expected of the heir of the Black family. Gryffindors and Hufflepuff mostly worshipped the ground he walked on and if Ravenclaws were not servants in his cult, they still admired his strange abilities to acheive some of the highest grades without doing...Well with doing nothing to be honest.

And this was without a doubt the reason why Hermione smiled at Emmeline's rantings. For she also had been annoyed by the immature and uncaring attitude of the adult Sirius and sometimes shocked by his rash and even cruel affirmations on Snape and some slytherins. But at the same time she had been even more confident about the fact that his heart was good, and even more concerned about her inability to say no to his grey eyes.

"Black, Hermione Black, right ?"

Hermione turned to her left as she was almost ready to leave the common room. A boy in Gryffindor uniform had just stopped her. He was tall, had straw colored hair carefully styled and a square jaw. His typical pretty boy appearance and leering smile made her think for a moment of Cormac MacLaggen.

"Yes, that would be me."

" Heard you just got here yesterday ? If you feel a little bit lost, don't hesitate to call me. I'm Sturgis Podmore." he finished with a smile big enough to show his straight white teeth.

Podmore ? Podmore...Wasn't that a member of the Phoenix Order ? She furrowed her brows as she was looking at him, trying to link him to the old picture she saw of the original constitution of the order. He did seem familiar.

Hermione felt an arm fall on her shoulders as another voice intervened in the conversation.

"I don't think that's good for your health to make that kind of offers, Podmore." said James Potter a amused gleam shining in his mischievous brown eyes. His smile was as charming as always, full lips spread seeming made for it. "Hey paddy, I think Podmore is asking your girl something !" he then exclaimed in a louder voice.

She forced herself to turn her head toward the stairs, her neck still ensared by James's arm. Sirius, Remus and Peter were effectively going down the stairs of their dormity, and, hearing James's exclamation, she saw Sirius arching an eyebrow, a slow smile then coming to cover his lips at her sight.

Hermione broke the eye contact immediately, looking around and seeing that the scene had gathered quite a lot of attention. Most of the students had stopped speaking to look at it, and some even came closer with all of their Gryffindor's discretion, so literally none.

For the first time, she also noticed from the corner of her eyes that a lot of others male students had tried for an imitation of Black attire, leaving their hair fall before their eyes and tying their tie as loosely as possible. Her observations were cut again as she felt arms surrounding her waist and hands spreading on her stomach in a slow gesture.

"Hey Black, you were good on the Quiddich Pitch last week !"said Sturgis while stepping back, raising his hands in a calming gesture.

The black haired wizard let a dry smile appear on his lips as he put his chin on the top of Hermione's head. "Thanks Podmore, I'm really good at hitting stuff."

James and Peter started to laugh and Hermione furrowed her brows before freeing herself from Sirius's embrace. The atmosphere was quickly changing and there was something deeply upsetting with the way James was twirling his wand in his right hand, and in the way more and more students gathered. And the most upsetting thing was this twin light that she saw both in the eyes of James and Sirius, this vicious and delighted light at finally finding a new victim.

Jerks, Emmeline Vance had said. And she was just realizing it.

"Right", she intervened, "do whatever you want I am going to eat."

She shook her head and left the common room, violently slamming the door behind her.

"Doll ! Doll, wait for me !" called Sirius as he opened the door to follow her. "Damn, she walk fast..."

§§§

Hermione was furiously putting toasts in her plate when she felt legs surrounding hers and arms encircling her waist. She sighed and closed her eyes as the now familiar smell of whisky and leather surrounded her. "Do you have any notion of personnal space ?"

Sirius put his head on her shoulders and grabbed a piece of toast in her plate. "Why should I ? We'll get married soon, so you know, your space is my space, your body is my body and all that stuff"he finished while munching on a piece of toast.

She let her head fall into her hand and took calming breaths before saying. "We already agreed that I never agreed to marry you."

"And we already went over the fact that it will still happen."

He made her want to pull at her hair, scream and flip the table at the same time. She half turned around to see his face and noticed that, again they seemed to attract quite a bit of interested looks from various students passing in the Great Hall. She lowered her voice and said in a still angry tone.

"Can you just do one thing without attracting the attention of the entire school ?"

The black haired raised an eyebrow and looked at her with a mischievous glint in his grey eyes before saying. "Doll, look at me." he passed a hand in his silky black hair and winked at her "Do you really think I can ?"

She felt her mouth pull itself in a smile, and she repressed a laugh. Just like that she knew it was impossible to stay mad at him. A jerk, but a loved one. It seemed to be a very good summary. She turned toward her plate again, loading her as she saw more and more things disappear under the attacks of Sirius's hands, like her eggs, and her fork.

"You know that I have a name, right ?"

Warm breath brushed her neck as he sighed. "But it's too long, doll. And everybody is calling you that. I don't want to call you like everybody."

She hesitated and scored a piece of bacon before it too disappeared. "Well, my friends call me 'Mione."

"Mione ?" he let out a thoughtfull humming sound before saying. "Then I'll call you Minnie, it kinda sound like Mine."

She furrowed her brows again and got ready to call him out on this when another weight on the bench. "Hey there girlie, still mad ?" Hermione turned to fall in the absolutely unrepentant and bright gaze of James Potter. "Ho there are still some bacon left !" he said in a happy tone before serving himself in her plate too.

"Can you guys please leave the girl some breathing space ?" intervened Remus in an annoyed tone as he too took place on the bench. He then turned toward her and smiled, handing out her timetable of the week. "I think you'll need this." he said in a soft tone.

"Yeah" continued James, his mouth full. "I am the prefect so I actually I was supposed to get it for you but Moony was faster than me."

"I wasn't faster Prongs you just forgot about it and she never would have had it if I didn't think of bringing it to her."calmly answered Remus while filling his glass of pumpkin juice.

"And that, that, is why you are the smart one, Moony !" said James theatrically while pointing him with an invasive finger.

Remus pushed the finger away with a smile and started to fill his plate. And all of sudden, James sat up straight and the corner of his mouth rose in a charming smile as he passed a hand in his hair, messing them further. "Hey, Evans...Slept well ?"

Hermione rose her head at the speed of light. Evans ? Lily Evans ? Just as she thought that, her gaze fell in green eyes. All too familiar green eyes. The same. The exact same. They were just in a very feminine face. Pale, smooth, with harmonious and regular features, red lips and surrounded by hair almost as red. How pretty she was...

The red haired witch arched an eyebrow before saying curtly "Potter." and turning her heals toward the exit, her arms full of books.

James looked struck by thunder at the simple reminder of his name. He stayed, open-mouthed, looking at her disappearing figure with big howlish eyes before starting to hit Remus on his arms in a repetitive way. "Guys, guys, did you hear that ? She answered me. I like told her : Slept well ? And she said : Potter. She...She acknowledge me. She said Potter ! Not, piss off Potter but..." his tone changed in a more feminine way and he said in a much more sensual tone "Potter."

Remus started to repress a laugh in his pumpkin juice as James started to put hair behind his ears and check out his teeths in the silver plate of oatmeal. "What has changed ? Do I look different ? What...?"

He then stopped himself and turned to look at Hermione as if having an epiphany. "You ! You are what changed ! You are like my one damn lucky charm !"

Before she could react he gripped her head and put a sounding and reasonning kiss on it, before Sirius free her from his grasp. "Hey stop harassing Minnie, you have your girl !" said the black haired wizard in an amused tone.

James straightened again. "That's true ! You..." he said pointing to Hermione "You stay here, I am going to bring back Evans and ask her to have my babies !" he said before dashing out of the room.

Hermione felt the rumble of Sirius's laugh in her back as she looked at her plate, putting back the piece of her toast she managed to grab and trying to make sense of what just happened.

§§§

When the night fell, she felt so tired that she almost fell asleep while making her way back to her dormity. Emmeline laughed at seeing her stumble in the corridor, making fun of her by making her belive that the boys had caught up to her. She shuddered just at the thought. She had thought that a life of adventures with Harry and Ron would have prepared her to that. But never in her life had she met boys more draining than them.

When she fell on her bed, she was dead to this world and would have stayed so for the next eight hours if she hadn't felt something hot passing in her back repetitively as if to awaken her. Her suspicions were confirmed when she opened her eyes to silver ones.

"Nooo..." she whined while trying to cover herself up with her covers. "Just let me sleeep..."

"Shhhh..." he covered her mouth with his right hand, putting a finger against his mouth with his other one. "You don't want to wake up the other girls. Here, put this on and follow me." He tossed one of his jackets to her and she caught it, making a tentative to kick at it with her covered legs as she said. "Sirius Black, I don't want to follow you anywhere ! What I want is to sleep at least eight hours."

Hermione covered her eyes with her right arm and sighed, determined to ignore the wizard. She first rejoiced of the newfound silence that followed her complaint but her distrust soon rose again as she felt a stange warmth above her, a strange warmth with an all too familiar smell.

She furrowed her brows under her arm before finally abdicating and taking it off of her sight. And then she regretted it. He didn't leave, of course he didn't, she knew him, but it seemed her sleep induced mind made her forget just how stubborn Sirius Black was. He was just above her, a smile playing on his full lips and when he saw that she was looking at him he went even lower taking support on his arms until his long hair teased her face in a ticklish caress.

"What ? Are you trying to avoid me ? You know girlie, avoiding me could be real dangerous for you..."

She then did the first thing she could think off and kicked him hard in the leg. Suprised, he lost support and rolled of the bed, swearing in a muffled voice. She then put the leather jacket on as quickly as she could, raising it in hope of it hiding her red cheeks while saying in a tentative of a harsh tone. "Here ! I am coming alright !"

His head rose from the floor and he looked at her with an owlish gaze before starting to laugh. "Damn, girl...I think this is the first time I was ever kicked from a bed. Remind me to be more careful with you next time !"

Next time ? Did he intend to sneak into her bed often ? And how did he even entered the dormity ? Before she could voice her interrogations he had already taken her hand dragging her reluctant form out of the comfort of her warm bed.

"Come, 'Minie ! You'll like it !" he finished with a wink that would have seemed ridiculous on every other face than his awfully handsome one.

She almost snorted at his assertion. She doubted that she would like whatever surprise he had planned for her.

§§§

She was right.

And this fact echoed strongly in her mind as she looked at the quiddich pitch in front of her. Panic started to swell in her chest as she saw the wizard a broom in his hand and a mischievous smile on his face.

"I don't fly" she slowly said, pronouncing each word as clearly as she could.

The black-haired man seemed surprised and looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Why ?"

She cleared her throat and looked at the sky intently as she repeated what she had always said to get out of this kind of situation. "Because flying is completely unnecessary and illogical. I mean if we were meant to fly, surely we would have been created with wings, like a veela, an hippogriff, a phoenix or even the common bird ! But we were made with two feet to walk upon the earth. Plus we-..."

"Right, just stop right here. I am sure you have a very...well-thought off speech about why you shouldn't fly. But here the thing : you're a witch, so not flying is actually the less logical thing about all of this. Okay, now we have discussed it nice and all, come on." he cutted, taking her hand in his.

"I can't !" she intervened trying to take her hand back from his grasp.

"And why is that ?"

"Because ! Because..." she took a deep breath and her eyes fixed on the ground mumbled. "I am afraid of hights..."

A silence followed her statement, and she closed her eyes ready for a mockery of some sort but only heard a very calm "Okay".

She raised her eyes, surprised and almost let out a sigh of relief as she saw how calm and understanding the silver gaze was. But just as she prepared herself to thank him and apologize, a smile came to play again on his full lips as he pulled her closer, his hand firmly enclosing her's.

"Now that it's all settled and clear, let's go."

A sharp breath escaped her and a high-pitched whine threathened to fall from her lips as he put her forcefully on the broom. She tried to bat his hands away as she almost screamed "Black, didn't you hear what I just said ?!"

"I did." She felt his long form settling behind her, his arms positioning themselves around her as long-fingered hands come before her, holding the handle. "Then why am I on this bloody broom ?!"

She felt him shaking with laughter behind her before he said close to her ear, his warm breath tickling her. "Because fear is the dumbest reason not to do stuff."

Even if she would deny it later with all her strenght, she didn't remember having ever screamed that loud in all her life.

To be continued...

Sorry for the wait : life happened