Thank you for taking the time to read my story! I know there's a lot of grammatical errors, and inconsistencies scattered all over. Sorry about all that, I know it can take away from enjoying the read sometimes, but I write for fun, and in all truth am not all that interesting in editing. Though maybe someday I'll come back and have a look over everything, touch it up a bit ^.^. All of my chapters are horribly short as well, I feel bad sometimes, I know how great it is to read a nice long chapter and feel satisfied after waiting so long for an update. And here I am making everyone wait ages and updating little tibits most of which arn't more than 1500 words long. Also, I'm very jealous of people who actually know how to work word processors properly. The layout of my fics are driving me insane. I can't seem to get it to look the way I want. lol well now that I've gone of on a tangent I'll let you get to reading. I'm glad most of you have been enjoying it so far! And I hope you'll enjoy the rest! Thank you very much for all your wonderful review!
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They had been back at Hogwarts for a few weeks now, but Hermione still felt uneasy whenever Sirius was near. She couldn't get what Sirius had said out of her head. It was touching really, that he was so concerned. At the same time it had brought up something that had almost been put to rest in the shadows of her mind. Was it possible that she could somehow be a liability? That she could put the people around her in danger? In truth she had no idea. There was no real reason that she would be targeted by Voldemort in this time. She was of no interest to them… Unless someone found out she was from the future. As long as that secret was kept safe there was no reason for any concern she reasoned.
James had eased off on being her perpetual shadow and somehow, Hermione thought, had become a real friend. Though it boggled her mind to thinking about it. Harry would have a fit if he ever knew.
"Ready?" Remus asked with a smile, fixing his scarf.
Nodding Hermione followed him to the carriages which would bring them to Hogsmeade. "Will James and Sirius be meeting us there?" she asked, wondering where the boys had gone off too, Peter (once again) had managed to get himself detention somehow.
Reums laughed a little "They'll turn up eventually I guess."
The two chatted about classes for a while, comfortable pauses in the conversation popping up occasionally. Hermione had been looking out the window for most of the ride, peeking at the young Remus Lupin out of the corner of her eye.
"What do you think you'll do when you graduate Remus?" Hermione questioned. Although she knew what would happen, she still wondered how he would answer.
"I… I'm not sure. I was thinking about going into some form of research… medical research perhaps." He said thoughtfully.
"That's an excellent idea!" Hermione finally looked at him. "The magical world has so many quick fixes, potions to heal broken bones, spells to heal cuts. But there are still so many things that need more attention… Things that are more problematic than a broken arm or a paper cut. Don't you think?"
He looked puzzled for a moment before answering with a quiet 'yeah'.
Suddenly the carriage rocked violently, sending Hermione to the floor with a loud thud as she landed on her knees. It kept moving, Remus had managed to brace himself with a hand on the ceiling but looked bewildered. "What was-"
There was a loud crunch, the sound of wood splintering, and screams. The carriage came to a dead halt and in what felt like less than a second Remus was lunging for the door in an attempt to see what was happening out side. Panicking Hermione grabbed his legs and pulled sending him crashing down on top of her.
"Stop! Stop! Stop!" Hermione half yelled at Remus who was now cursing at her and trying to pull himself off her.
"What are you doing!" he yelled as he found she was holding him in place.
"Idiot! Anything could be out there!" Hermione hissed inches away from his face. She had him by the collar and cloak.
Remus quieted, blinking as though he was suddenly able to see things clearly. Hermione's eyes. He thought. Are those really her eyes?
More screams could be heard. Letting go of Remus Hermione pushed him away until she was able to kneel and shuffle to one of the windows. Between the snow and the moisture she couldn't see what was happening outside. Death Eaters? She wondered. It had to be, who else would be attacking Hogwarts carriages.
"What's going on out there?" Remus whispered.
"I… I don't know." Hermione looked over her shoulder at him. Then back out the foggy window. "Fuck."
"Are you okay?" Remus was suddenly very aware of just how traumatic this could be for Hermione. After all she had come from a school attacked and destroyed by death eaters. "Hermione, it's probably just a broken wheel on one of the carriages I'm sure everything's fine. Just let me go out and-"
"It's not. It's not a broken wheel." She stated firmly. What was going on out there? People were yelling but she couldn't see properly, she heard someone approaching their carriage. Her heart beat in her ears; she could swear it'd taken up residence in her head. More yells. Whoever had been approaching turned around running back in the direction they came from.
"Common… Be ready to run Reums." She clenched and unclenched her wand hand. Looking once again over her shoulder at Remus to make sure he was ready. And once again he was stricken by the look in her eyes. Slowly she cracked open the door, looking in the direction she'd heard the yelling she seen flashes from curses being sent, black cloaks. "Under the carriage Remus. Be quick." In a flash the door was open and she had thrown herself under the carriage, scrambling to the other side hidden from the sight of the attackers Remus who followed quickly behind her.
"You have your wand?" Hermione asked.
"Y-yes. Hermione? Are those?"
"Death Eaters." She stated. This was bad, really bad. Half of her wanted to charge out and start shouting curses, the other half knew she'd be killed or worst yet captured, in an instant. "What are they doing attacking school children?" Hermione seethed. "What's the point?" She was silent for a moment.
"BY ORDER OF THE MINISTER OF MAGIC YOU ARE ALL UNDER ARREST!" Hermione gave a start at the seemingly supernatural booming voice. Suddenly the yelling became louder, the flashes of light became more intense, and within minutes she heard the unmistakable cracks of people disapperating. "It's alright! It's alright children! More aurors are on their way to accompany you back to Hogwarts." She heard someone say.
She looked at Remus and felt a kind of relief she didn't know she was capable of. She had no idea what would have happened if they hadn't shown up. They couldn't very well have hid behind the carriage the entire time. Remus moved to make his way out in the open when Hermione grabbed him by the arm. What if it was a trick?
"It's okay Hermione, that's Kingsley Shackelbolt, I've seen him a couple times in the paper and heard him on the radio… He's definitely one of the good guys." Remus knelt in front of her.
For the first time Hermione realized that it felt like her body was on fire, every muscle was coiled and tense. Am I shaking? She wondered.
"Are you okay?" Remus asked. Hermione had suddenly grown very pale. Eyes closed tightly Hermione took a deep breath.
"Yeah… I think. Just… too much adrenalin I guess." Hermione laughed and shook her head.
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"Death Eaters?" Sirius stated, looking back and forth disbelievingly at the griyffindors who were seated in the common room. "Death Eaters? Seriously?" Everyone nodded silently. Sirius and James had arrived only moments ago after wandering around Hogsmeade all day wondering where everyone was and not getting any answer from the locals, they turned back, only to find that the hallways and great hall were empty as well. They had returned to gryffindor tower and were incredibly shocked to hear the goings on.
There was a quiet "We're seriously serious Sirius." Everyone snickered. And Sirius directed a chilling glare in the direction of the offender. "Margret's being pulled out of school by her parents, as are a few others I think… After today." Lily despite her dislike for the marauders, had joined in the houses discussion on today's events. It seemed after the attack the whole house had gathered in the common room, and would remained there late into the night. Lily at this point was one of the few who were left awake besides Hermione, James, and Sirius. The others had all gone up to their room's ages ago.
Hermione sat quietly, she rubbed her wand hand. How hard had she been clutching her wand? Her hand felt like she had punched a wall. Thinking back the whole thing had been rather stressful not just for her for everyone involved, she knew what it was like to be on the wrong end of a death eaters wand, and she was horrified to think that everything that had happened to her during her time at Hogwarts was about to happen all over again. She had managed to hold it together until the ministry's aurors got them back to the school, it was about then she slipped away to bathroom and lost her breakfast.
"How did everyone get out alright? That's beyond lucky! Did they catch anyone?" James asked. Hermione stared at the fire, why hadn't she done something? She had just sat there and not did a thing, it was true no one was hurt, but that could have easily been much different. And she was the only one in the group of students who had any idea how to fight in a situation like that. She was the only one with experience. Was. She sighed. Supposing she should answer his question seeing she was the only one of those who had been on the trip left awake she spoke.
"Yeah, I think. One guy was hit by a stunner and arrested. So I suppose they'll question him or something. It just… seems so strange now that I think about it." Hermione wondered if maybe they just didn't have the time to do it, or perhaps simply forgot. "There was no dark mark… It's like… it's like they didn't want anyone to know they were there or something. It's unusual."
"You talk as though you know quite a bit about how they operate." Sirius stated almost scathingly. She looked at him with a calculating eye, did he thing she was the reason they were attacked?
"Sirius." James warned. They sat in silence for quite some time until James said good night and made his way up stairs. Only Hermione and Sirius were left in the common room, the only light left was that from the embers slowly burning inside the fireplace.
Sirius was watching her as covertly as he could. Remus had said she looked like death when the Aurors arrived. As though all the happiness and life had left her. He kept talking about her eyes. Sirius looked carefully at her eyes as she stared into what was left of the fire. He had said it was as though someone different had appeared in those eyes. Sirius couldn't see it.
"You must have been pretty shaken up with all that, what with everything you've been through." Sirius stated.
Hermione spared him a glance before looking back into the fire. "Yeah." she responded. She really had no interested in having another conversation like the one on the hill that day. She had no interest in having a conversation at all really. But Sirius seemed to have other idea.
"Were there other survivors? From your home I mean?" He asked. Slowly Hermione brought herself to look at him. Some how… she knew that he knew that her whole story was a lie. He didn't believe a word of it, and was determined to find out the truth. Not in the same way James had been, he'd merely been curious, mildly concerned maybe. No Sirius was suspicious on a whole other level, he was acutely aware of how precarious a situation it was between the light and the dark forces of the wizarding world. And he was intent on being involved in the whole affair, weather he realized it or not.
"I don't know." Hermione said in a whisper. "I… I haven't been able to contact anyone." At least that wasn't a lie.
There were a few more moments of tense silence, Sirius obviously wanted to say something but either couldn't bring himself to do it or couldn't think of how to say what he wanted to say. Finally he stood and without a word climbed the stairs to his dormitory.
Hermione stretched out lazily on the couch closest to the fireplace, letting her feet dangle and soak up the warmth emitted. What a lousy day. At least no one was hurt. She supposed the headmaster would gather them together for a assembly tomorrow sometime to let them know what was going on. As thoughts such as these drifted through her head she didn't notice her eyelids growing heavy. And without noticing, within minutes, Hermione was asleep.
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It had been at least two hours since James had retired for bed. It was like his brain wouldn't shut down, it just kept going over and over what had happened again and again until he felt like tearing apart his pillow in sheer frustration. Of all the times they had to be late for the carriages to Hogsmeade this would be it. Kicking off his sheets James hauled the hangings from around his bed away and planted his feet on the cool stone floor.
He wasn't about to sleep anytime soon it seemed, might as well wander for a bit. Quietly he gathered his invisibility cloak and made his way down stairs. The fire in the common room had died out to a dull glow. "Hermione?" he said her name before he even thought about it. She must have fallen asleep on the couch he thought. Edging closer with the invisibility cloak tucked under his arm he paused and looked down at her. She looked so peaceful, it was as though the girl in tatters who he'd first seen had completely disappeared. He wondered what she'd been through and how she'd managed to keep herself together so far.
Then another thought, unbidden entered his mind. As he gazed down at Hermione, with the soft orange glow casting shadows over her small frame. He wondered if he could hold her, just for a moment… if she'd feel safe. The overwhelming need to touch her pushed him but he couldn't move, like a current of water against a dam he remained where he was looking at the sleeping mystery named Hermione Granger.
