A/N: Sorry for the almost two week delay! A combination of laziness, schoolwork, and writer's block are to blame for that but I'm back :) Hope the beginning of the chapter gives some insight into the Sirius/Hermione relationship. Thanks to everyone who read/reviewed/favorited/etc, especially my good friend TheOneAndOnlyGlitter, who helped me get back on track! Okay, enough with my rambling. On to the chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Chapter 7 – Discovery
Still lightly smiling to herself, Hermione rounded the final corner and faced the portrait of the Fat Lady.
"Caput Draconis," she said. The faint smile quickly slipped off her lips as the portrait door swung open. An onslaught of voices met her ears as dozens of worried Gryffindors surrounded her, wanting to hear about the attack.
"Hermione, do you know what happened?"
"Is anyone hurt?"
"Did Dumbledore make them disappear?"
"I heard dementors showed up-"
"Oi! Leave the poor girl alone!" Hermione sighed in relief as she heard the beautifully familiar voice. The face followed only shortly after.
Sirius looked down at Hermione, smiling at the sight of her. Ignoring the qualms of the Gryffindors, he grabbed her hand gently and wove their way through the crowd. Leading her up a flight of stairs, they reached the oak door of the boys' dormitory. With his available hand, Sirius pushed it open and peered in, making sure the coast was clear. Satisfied to see that the room was void of people, he led her in and sat her firmly on his bed.
"Thanks, Sirius," Hermione said, attempting to smile at him but failing.
Cautiously, he sat down next to her. Ignoring her thanks, he said, "I imagined our first date going much more smoother than that." He smiled roguishly at her.
Hermione blushed, her heart thudding rapidly in her chest. Her eyes connecting with his, she forced herself to say what she knew was right, even though it pained her. "Sirius, about that... I don't think we should date just yet. I like you, more than you like me probably, but I want to get to know you better first." She looked down at her entwined hands, sadness settling in her stomach. She knew it would be impossible for them to ever be together, and felt terrible at giving him false hope.
Sirius' smile faltered as he sat silently, mulling over what Hermione said. Slowly, he answered, "I understand. I just want to let you know that I really like you, even though we haven't know each other for long. If you were to ever agree to date me, I promise I will be faithful."
At Sirius' words, guilt washed over Hermione. Swallowing her feelings, she forced a smile on her face. "Thank you," she said faintly.
He nodded before saying, "Are you alright? After the battle, I mean? You looked rather...distraught when you said you had to go find Dumbledore."
Hermione looked up into Sirius' worried face. "I'm fine. It just reminded me of what happened the night I came here," she said with a shiver. Hermione never spoke about what happened on that night that left her so injured and heartbroken. Although Sirius, and James for that matter, were concerned about Hermione as well as curious about the event, they hadn't asked out of respect.
Hermione flinched slightly in surprise as Sirius lent forward and took her in his arms. Relaxing into his hold, she inhaled his distinct smell of minty soap and cinnamon. As she lent her head on his muscular shoulder, he lightly began threading his fingers into her hair. Hermione felt surprise at Sirius' feather light touch as well as his apparent compassion. The Sirius in her time was toughened by his stay at Azkaban and showed affection to no one but Harry. However, it was surprisingly easy for her to look to him for comfort.
Reluctantly withdrawing herself from his hold, she looked up at him, one side of mouth curved upward into a light smile. "Thanks again, Sirius. I should probably get some studying done. It's still early, you know."
Sirius shook his head, an incredulous look on his face. "How you could do work on a Saturday is astounding."
Hermione just smiled at him as she lithely got off the bed and left the room.
A week had passed since the event at Hogsmeade, but it was still one of the most talked about subjects among Hogwarts students. The other most talked about occurrence was James and Lily's newfound relationship.
"I told you that I would ask James out," Lily said to Calenna, smugly. The girls were walking to Defense Against the Dark Arts on the Friday after the failed trip to Hogsmeade. Lily had pulled her lips off of James' long enough to walk with the other girls. Lily continued, "I think its about time you did the same."
Calenna feigned ignorance, "Do what, ask James out too? I didn't know he was a polygamist in training."
Lily sighed, "You know what I mean. Remus is still single, you know."
Hermione pointedly stood silent the whole debate. She knew that this conversation must have occurred before she had burst into the past and that saying anything could change the course of the whole discussion. Hermione breathed a sigh of relief as they reached the DADA classroom. Muttering an unintelligible sentence to the girls, Hermione hastened over to where Sirius was already lounging in a chair, tipping it back carelessly.
"Hey, Sirius," she said quietly as she sat down next to him. They had been spending a lot of time together since last Saturday as Hermione wanted to "get to know him better." Sirius hadn't pushed for her to go out with him at all, something Lily said meant that he really liked her. Hermione had pushed aside anything Lily said, refusing to believe Sirius really liked her that much.
Sirius grinned her, "Hey, 'Mione. Take a seat."
Hermione slid into the chair next to him and began taking her supplies out. "Has James stopped his 'blabbing about Lily', like Mari and Callie said he would if they began dating?" Hermione said, a smirk on her face.
Sirius let his chair fall with a bang as he said, "No! If anything, he talks about her more! How good she kisses, how much he wants to shag-"
"Mate, if you finish that sentence, I will have to kill you," James said as he sat down at the table behind them with Remus and Peter.
Sirius opened his mouth to respond, but the professor started speaking before he could do so.
"Okay, class. Today we will begin learning how to conjure Patronuses," Professor Warren said, flicking his wand at the board, where notes on Patronuses starting scrawling themselves. Hermione hurriedly grabbed her quill and copied down the notes carefully, despite knowing all about Patronuses from Harry's tenure as teacher of the D.A. during their 5th year. Frowning at the thought of her best friend, she focused all of her attention on her notes.
When the class finished getting all of the notes down, Professor Warren resumed speaking, "As you can see by your notes, the incantation for conjuring a Patronus is Expecto Patronum. I'm not expecting anyone to manage to get the spell perfectly on the first day of practice, seeing as it is a highly complex bit of magic. I am going to give you the rest of the class period to practice. All you need to do is think of a very strong, vivid happy memory and say the incantation. Go on, now."
Professor Warren swept aside the desks with his wand as the class stood up, giving them a wide space in which to practice in. The class immediately pulled out their wands and fruitlessly began attempting to cause Patronuses to appear.
Sirius turned to Hermione. "This spell sounds easy. I don't know what Professor Warren is on about," he said, a careless grin on his face.
Hermione crossed her arms and smirked, "If it's so easy, then why don't you give it a try."
Sirius rolled his eyes and pulled up his sleeves. Closing his sparkling gray eyes, he screwed his face in concentration. Hermione stifled a laugh as he shouted "Expecto Patronum!" and nothing issued from his wand.
"What – why - huh," Sirius spluttered, flabbergasted. His eyes narrowed with mock outrage at Hermione's muffled giggles. "Why don't you try then?"
Hermione mimicked Sirius' earlier actions, rolling her eyes and folding up her robe sleeves. Holding her wand out delicately, she snapped her eyes shut. Images of returning home, to a world not ravaged by war and death, flooded her mind. Harry and Ron's smiling faces floated into the picture. An involuntary smile spread across her face as she said, "Expecto Patronum!" A bright silver otter erupted from her wand and frolicked across the room. The other students froze in their actions. Sirius' wand clattering to the floor as his mouth dropped open in disbelief.
Hermione blushed, her stomach clenching in fear. Performing magic beyond her school age as if she had been practicing for years was not helping her plan to remain insignificant. As she was mentally cursing herself, her concentration on the Patronus waned, causing it to fade and disappear. Professor Warren recovered from the initial shock that someone had gotten the spell on what he thought to be her first try.
"Great job, Miss Granger. Take 20 points for Gryffindor. Class dismissed," he said, sweeping the desks back into place. The class had tentatively resumed its chatter, although now the chatter only concerned one topic: Hermione. Keeping her head down, Hermione gathered her things together rapidly and fled the room.
"Wait up!" Hermione heard a voice yell behind her. Expecting to see Sirius, she slowly turned around and was surprised to see Remus jogging after her. She waited until he fell into step with her before continuing her journey out of the Defense corridor.
Remus looked at her with suspicion in his eyes and said with a puzzled tone, "How did you do that? You seem to know an awful lot for a 7th year. First in Potions with the Polyjuice and now, with the Patronus. And its not only there either. It's in the rest of the school too. You know your way around the school like you've been here forever."
Hermione tried to mask the alarm on her face at Remus' accusations. She said evenly, "I just enjoy studying and learning as much as I can. I knew the concepts of both subjects. That is all, Remus."
"How about knowing your way around the school?" he countered, still not convinced that Hermione was being truthful.
"I have a good memory. I've been here for almost a month, Remus. Don't you expect me to have learned how to navigate from class to class by now?" Hermione demanded, allowing some of her annoyance to tinge her voice. She knew Remus was suspicious of her, and she didn't blame him; if an unknown person just showed up in Hogwarts unannounced she would have done the same as him. But she knew she was not going to do anything to hurt anyone; why couldn't Remus just accept it?
Not allowing him time to answer, Hermione said curtly, "I'm going to go to the library now. Goodbye." She turned and walked away as quickly as she could without looking suspicious.
Hermione breathed a sigh of relief as she rounded into the library and plopped into one of the familiar wooden chairs. She unslung her bag from its position on her shoulder and rummaged through it, pulling out a book out from between two of her textbooks. Her eyebrows furrowed, Hermione read the title of the book. A Travel Through Time. Her heart jumped into her throat. How did she forget about this book?
Quickly placing the book on the table, Hermione leafed through it, her eyes racing back and forth as she began reading the small text.
She had been reading incessantly for only a half an hour when she caught two words on the fiftieth page of the tome: Glacialis Tempore. The words formed an incantation that seemed eerily familiar to her. Grabbing the book in excitement, Hermione concentrated on the text below the spell, reading in a nervous fervor, hoping that the paragraph would provide the answer to her problems.
The book slipped from her grasp as she read the one sentence that sealed her fate. The loud noise that resonated as the book slammed on the table did not break her out of her reverie as her eyes widened and her body froze in shock.
"Oh my God," she whispered. They were the only words Hermione could say as she slowly trained her stare back onto the page that so clearly stated to her that she would never be able to return home.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed the story, as well as my weak attempt at a minor cliffhanger. Please review! :) Thanks for reading!
~Amanda aka leafhouse