A/N- I'm trying to make up for my infrequent updates on this story by working solely on it for a little while. Review! –Phoenix
Sirius whooped in delight as he scored a goal on Remus in the Potter's Quidditch pitch. It was the last week of summer and the four Marauders were hanging out at James's house until they went to Diagon Alley in a couple hours as per tradition ever since they became a tight knit group.
They played until ten o'clock when Remus pointed out that they needed to get going. When the brooms were put away, they went inside and headed to the fireplace to use the Floo.
"Are your parents coming this year James?" Peter asked as he took a handful of powder.
James laughed and put the jar back on the mantel. "We don't need babysitters Peter, we're sixteen. All they want is for me to pick up more Floo powder."
Sirius threw an arm around Peter's shoulder. "Lighten up Peter. We're gonna have a blast today! We're starting our sixth year in a week!"
Peter rolled his eyes and shrugged Sirius's arm off good-naturedly. "Let's go you prats," he laughed.
Laughing, the four friends entered the fireplace one at a time and Flooed to the Leaky Cauldron. When they were all through the fireplace and dusted off, they entered Diagon Alley.
Like it always was during the last week of summer, the Alley was crowded with students who were shopping for their school supplies. Their first stop was Zonko's Joke Shop where they stocked up on supplies for the new year of pranking.
With their arms fuller and their pockets emptier, they left the shop and did some more shopping. New robes were needed as theirs were now too short. They stopped at the robes shop and while their robes were being made, they decided to get the necessary school supplies.
After they purchased refills for their potions kits, they decided to go to the bookstore.
"I hate the bookstore," James grumbled. "It always smells so dusty. Only a real nerd could love being in the bookstore for longer than necessary."
"You know, Lily loves the bookstore," Peter pointed out. "She and Jean told me that they love the smell of old books."
James scowled at Peter. "And I needed to know that why?"
Peter, to his credit, stood his ground. "Because if you fancy Lily, then you shouldn't go on insulting the places that she loves."
Remus nodded in agreement. "Peter is right. Plus, I like the smell of old books too."
James scowled for a moment longer before shrugging. "Whatever. Let's just buy our books and be done with it."
The four friends went into the bookstore and quickly got their required texts. Sirius was laughing at something that James said when a voice that made his stomach stir echoed from the back of the bookstore.
"Lily, that book definitely seems to be the better purchase," it said. "Look at all of the information that there is compared to the other one."
"But Jean," Lily protested. "Look at the variety that this one has."
"I believe that quality is better than quantity," Hermione responded.
Sirius quickly grabbed James's arm and dragged him, protesting, along the bookshelves. When they got to the back, Sirius stopped short as he felt his heart skip a beat.
Hermione was standing next to Lily as they poured over their texts. She had gotten fit over the few short months that they had been apart. Sirius had thought that she was beautiful before, but now he thought that she was just plain gorgeous.
Her normally pale skin now had a nice tan and her arms looked nice and fit in the t-shirt that she was wearing. Her bottom looked very firm in the jeans that she was wearing, nearly turning Sirius into a drooling moron. Sun had turned her brown hair a shade lighter and her hair had somehow become tamer. Now instead of bushy, it was really wavy.
Next to him, Sirius could tell that James was having a similar reaction to Lily whose appearance had changed similarly to Hermione's, but at that moment, Sirius only had eyes for Hermione.
"Lily," James breathed out, snapping Sirius out of his spell.
The two girls whipped their heads around and Sirius noted sadly how Hermione's eyes narrowed disapprovingly at the sight of them.
"Hello boys," Lily said politely. "How was your summer?"
James smiled stupidly. "It's been great. You look like you got a lot of sun."
While Lily and James exchanged pleasantries, Hermione gazed at Sirius with her cool, chocolate-brown gaze.
"Jean," Sirius said softly, remembering at the last second to use her alias's name. "Can we talk?"
Hermione gazed at him for a moment before nodding. "Fine. I'll be right back," she said to Lily.
They went to a private corner where Hermione crossed her arms and looked at him expectantly. "Well?" she said after a few moments of silence.
Sirius ran his hand through his hair anxiously. "I just wanted to say…that I'm sorry that I've been such a prat this past year, even if it wasn't to you. I may not like Snape, but that doesn't give me the right to torment him like I did. Will you give me another chance?"
Hermione's eyebrows rose in surprise, but she didn't say anything. "I'm not the one that you should apologize to," she pointed out crudely.
"I know, and I'll apologize to Snape when I see him," Sirius said begrudgingly. "But, I just can't bear the thought of you thinking me a poor man."
The hard gaze softened and Hermione smiled. "Well, you're making it difficult to think that when you get all remorseful," she teased. "If you apologize to Severus and if you leave him be, then maybe I'll start believing what you say."
Sirius smiled. "It's a start," he said cheerfully. "So what have you been doing this summer? Obviously you've spent a lot of time in the sun."
Hermione gave a secretive smile. "Lily and I have been working out this summer. We decided to take something into our own hands and we dedicated our summer to it."
"What?" Sirius asked curiously.
Hermione shook her head. "I won't tell you, at least not yet. Now excuse me, Lily and I need to get going."
Sirius frowned sadly when Hermione left him alone to join Lily. Not wanting to give up, he followed her.
"Do you girls want to get ice cream with us?" Sirius asked quickly before they could leave.
The girls looked at each other hesitantly. "We're meeting someone shortly," Lily answered. "We have to get going."
"Quickly then?" James asked hopefully.
Lily shook her head. "Another time perhaps. See you later boys."
The two girls grabbed their pile of books and quickly went to pay. They gave Remus and Peter a cheerful greeting while they handed over their money and put their books in their bottomless book bags. After a cheerful farewell, the two girls left the bookstore without looking back.
Sirius frowned at the abruptness of their departure. "Why wouldn't they tell us who they were meeting?" he wondered out loud.
James shrugged. "Girls," he said simply.
"Do you have your cloak?" Sirius asked.
"Of course."
"Then let's find some answers," Sirius said softly.
James looked uncomfortable. "I don't know mate. Spying doesn't really seem like the best thing to do to the girls that we fancy."
He had a point there, but something was nagging at Sirius's gut to find out Hermione's secret. "You don't have to go then," he said. "But I have this gut feeling that they're up to something."
"It's not really any of our business," James pointed out. "But, I have the same feeling. Should we involve Remus and Peter?"
Sirius hesitated for a moment before shaking his head. "I hate lying to them, but it's probably for the best."
James nodded in agreement. "We'll tell them that we're going to check out the Quidditch store, you know how they hate going in there with us, and that we'll meet up with them later at the ice cream shop."
They were in agreement and after they told the lie to their two friends, they left the bookstore and crept to a secluded space where James threw his family heirloom over both of them, rendering them invisible.
It took them a little while to find the two girls in the large crowd, but Lily's red hair was like a beacon in the wave of dark colors.
"It looks like they're heading to Gringotts," James whispered.
He was right. The girls confidently towards Gringotts, but at the last second, they turned and walked into a dark alley. Worried, the two boys followed them. They were shocked when they entered the dark alley to find it empty.
"What the…" Sirius started to whisper before he was interrupted by a leg-locking curse from behind.
Cursing, the two boys fell to the ground, the cloak falling off as they went down. Sirius and James fumbled for their wands, but their attackers silently summoned them before they could reach them.
They both heard two exasperated sighs in front of them. When they turned towards the direction of the sound they were shocked to see Hermione and Lily appear seemingly out of midair.
"Didn't your mothers ever tell you that it's not polite to follow someone?" Lily asked in amusement.
Hermione giggled and twirled Sirius's wand in her hand. "We knew that you were following us from the beginning."
Sirius frowned and struggled to no avail to move his legs. "You didn't need to hex us," he mumbled.
"You were the ones following us," Hermione pointed out.
"Because I know that you're hiding something Hermione!" Sirius barked before he could stop himself.
Silence filled the alley. Hermione's eyes showed her hurt while Lily's betrayed anger.
"Who's Hermione?" James asked.
Sirius gaped in horror at what he had done. "I-I," he stuttered.
Hermione shrugged. "My real name is Hermione," she told James. She turned to Lily whose eyes were blazing. "It's alright Lily."
"No it's not Hermione!" Lily snapped. "Sirius betrayed your trust!"
"You know?" Sirius asked Lily.
Lily rolled her eyes. "She told me over the summer. But that doesn't make it okay to betray her trust like that."
Sirius bowed his head in shame. It seemed that no matter what he did, he always hurt the girl that he liked. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I don't want to hurt you anymore."
Hermione's eyes softened. "It's alright Sirius," she said softly. Turning to James she said, "My real name is Hermione. I had to lie about my name to protect myself. I plan on telling Peter and Remus eventually, but not yet."
James nodded silently. "I'm sorry that you felt that you couldn't tell me sooner," he said sincerely. "I know that you think that I'm a bit of a prat, but I'm not a bad guy."
"I know you're not," Hermione said with a smile.
"So what are you doing?" Sirius asked, unable to ignore his gut feeling.
The two girls shared a pointed look for a moment, looking uneasy. Finally, Lily nodded.
"More help would be nice," she said. "And we can make them keep the secret."
Hermione still looked uneasy and Sirius remembered how hard it was for her to trust people.
Unable to bear Hermione's pain, Sirius literally dragged himself over to her as his legs were still locked. Pushing himself into a kneeling position, he grabbed Hermione's hand and pulled her down gently so that she too was kneeling.
Ignoring her stunned look, Sirius gently stroked her cheek. "I know that trust is hard for you," he said softly. "And that I haven't helped you in that regard. But, will you give me another chance?"
Hermione blushed and looked away. "I'm not sure," she whispered.
"Sometimes you need to go with your heart instead of your head," Sirius said teasingly.
Despite herself, Hermione chuckled. "I do tend to follow my head," she admitted. Seeing the devoted look in Sirius's eyes, something in her melted. With a smile, she stood up and canceled the hex on both James and Sirius. "Alright, I'll take a leap of faith with you two. But, you two also need to keep an open mind with what you're going to learn."
Sirius stood up and took his wand back. "I will," he promised.
"Me too," James said as he stood up and took his wand back from Lily. When he took it back, their fingers brushed for the briefest second, causing them both to blush. James looked happy about it while Lily looked confused.
"Let's go then," Hermione said with a smile.
The four of them walked into Gringotts and followed Hermione as she led them up to one of the goblins. "Hello Gripfang," Hermione said cheerfully. "You're looking well. Ragnok is expecting us," she told him.
To Sirius's surprise, the goblin smiled. "You look well as well. Follow me."
They were led to a small office which Hermione seemed to feel quite comfortable in. She sat down in the comfortable chairs and the others quickly followed her example.
They waited for a few minutes when the doors opened and Sirius saw an intimidating looking goblin walk in the room. He stopped at Hermione and gave her a small bow and a kind smile.
"You are looking well Hermione," he said happily. He looked at the rest of the group and nodded. "I am glad to see that you have gathered friends whom you trust enough."
Hermione smiled. "I have one more that will be here in a moment and we're all going to take precautions to protect the secret."
Sirius and James raised an eyebrow at each other. Apparently they had agreed to this by coming with them.
"Will your other friend be here shortly?" Ragnok asked.
Hermione and Lily nodded. "He had to come separately to avoid detection," Lily explained.
"Who is your friend?" James asked, a hint of jealousy in his tone.
The door opened and closed. Sirius and James whipped around and Sirius felt as if his jaw had dropped to the floor.
Walking into the room confidently was none other than Severus Snape. At least, Sirius thought that it was Severus Snape.
The pale, greasy, wimp of a boy that Sirius remembered was not the one who walked into the room. Instead, the person who walked into the room was a man. He no longer had pale skin and the grease that had always seemed to plague him was gone. Now, his hair was a rustic looking black and was cut short. He wore regular wizard's robes, but Sirius could tell by his gait that he was more athletic than he was when he left Hogwarts.
"Snivellus?" James gasped beside him only to be interrupted by Lily stamping firmly on his foot.
"Never call him that again," Lily ordered. "If you want to be included, then you need to accept Severus. Do you understand?"
"Yes ma'am," James mumbled while he rubbed his sore foot.
Severus smirked at Lily's actions and confidently took the seat on the other side of her.
When they were all comfortable, Ragnok took out a goblin-made knife and laid it on the table.
"Before we go any further," Ragnok said. "We will all take the goblin secrecy oath. It is similar to your Fidelius Charm, but it is done with blood magic so it cannot possibly be broken. A Fidelius Charm can be broken by the secret keeper, but once you take this oath you keep the secret forever."
"And who will be the secret keeper?" Lily asked.
Ragnok looked at Hermione who nodded. "I will," she said.
"It is dangerous," Ragnok warned her.
The thought of Hermione being in danger made Sirius's heart clench in pain. "If its dangerous then let me do it," he proclaimed.
Hermione giggled. "You have to know the secret to be the secret keeper. But thank you for the offer."
"Then tell me the secret first," Sirius stubbornly cried. "Don't risk yourself!"
"I'll be fine," she assured him. Turning back to Ragnok she said, "Let's do it."
Ragnok walked over to Hermione and gave her a piece of parchment and to Sirius's surprise, a muggle item known as a pen. "Write down the secret. Don't miss any details," he instructed.
Hermione went to the corner and spent five minutes furiously scribbling down on the parchment. When she was done, she folded it up multiple times so that there was no way to read through the parchment. Keeping the parchment clenched in her hand, she walked back to her seat and sat back down.
"Put the parchment on your palm," Ragnok continued to instruct. When Hermione opened her palm, leaving the precious parchment exposed, Ragnok held the blade in front of him and began chanting in goblin. The blade glowed blood-red, and Sirius felt his heart quicken in fear.
"Are you ready?" Ragnok asked.
Hermione nodded determinedly. Ragnok raised the dagger and Hermione clenched her eyes shut. Without hesitation, Ragnok drove the dagger into the parchment, right through Hermione's palm.
Immediately, the red on the dagger climbed up Hermione's arm and up her neck. Tears of pain escaped Hermione's eyes and she began to draw blood from her lip as she bit it harder and harder to keep from crying out. It wasn't until the red reached her head that she screamed in pain.
Unable to bear it, Sirius leapt forward and made a move to pull the dagger out of her palm. Before he could, he was immobilized by a strong pair of arms.
"Let me go!" he shouted to Severus. "I have to save her!"
"If you interrupt now, then she will die," Severus said firmly as he restrained one of his least favorite people in the world.
Sirius stopped struggling and looked back at Severus angrily. He was surprised when he saw that Severus's eyes were pained at Hermione's screams just as his own were.
"You care for her," Sirius stated in shock.
"Of course I do," Severus answered. "She's my friend."
"She is," Lily said in agreement. Sirius looked at her and saw tears were leaking from her eyes. "We've spent a lot of time together this summer."
Hermione's screams stopped abruptly, causing Sirius's arms to almost stop. Her breaths were ragged and brief and her skin was turning pale.
"Is she?" Sirius gulped.
The red suddenly crept back down her skin and back into the dagger. When the red vanished from her skin, Hermione opened her eyes, gazed at Sirius with a glazed over expression, and started to fall forward in her seat.
Immediately, Sirius was there to catch her. He effortlessly picked her up and laid her on the ground.
"Hermione, wake up," he pleaded. He smoothed the hair away from her face and put his cheek right above her face to check for breathing.
"Sirius," a soft whisper said from beneath him. "You're holding me too tight."
Sirius laughed in relief and loosened his grip. He looked down and saw that Hermione was gazing up at him with an exhausted look on her face, but other than that she appeared okay. He looked at her hand and saw that the parchment was reduced to nothing but ashes. The stab wound on her hand was still bleeding profusely, but Ragnok gently placed his hand on it and used his own type of magic to sort of cauterize the bleeding. When he removed his hand, there was nothing but a bad burn on Hermione's palm.
Ragnok went to his desk and grabbed a small pot and a roll of gauze. He carried them over to Hermione and quickly opened the pot and dabbed its contents on the burn. When it was covered, he gently wrapped the wound with the gauze.
"Thank you Ragnok," Hermione said tiredly. "Let's get the rest done."
"Will that hurt you?" Sirius demanded instantly.
Ragnok chuckled. "Do not fear young Black, the dangerous part is over. If you wish, you could be the first to be told the secret."
Sirius quickly agreed. The secret telling, to Sirius's displeasure, involved blood. Hermione took a fresh blade from Ragnok and sliced it across her uninjured palm, ignoring Sirius's protests.
"Stop being a baby," she teased as she cleaned the blade with a wave of her wand and handed it to Sirius.
"I'm not a baby," Sirius said with a grin.
"Draw the blade across your palm," Ragnok instructed. "Hermione's secret is bound to her blood, and if both parts are willing, the secret can be transferred between blood."
Sirius nodded and grimaced slightly as he drew the blade across his own palm. Hermione then took Sirius's bloody hand in her own. When their hands touched, Sirius felt his own hand warm up and a bout of knowledge force its way into his brain. The sensation only lasted for a moment and when it was over, Sirius stared at Hermione with a mixture of hurt, shock and horror plastered on his face.
"Sirius, what is it?" James questioned.
He couldn't answer that question, so Sirius just stayed silent. As everyone else in the room took part in the blood ritual, all of them except Ragnok sat down heavily with a look of shock and horror on their faces at the new information.
"I'm sorry that I lied to you all for so long," Hermione said softly as she struggled to stand. "But, this is the truth. We have the information that we need to prevent my future from happening. I know how to defeat Voldemort."
"How?" Lily croaked out as she rubbed her bandaged hand.
Hermione nodded to Ragnok who opened his desk and took something out. He held it up to reveal a gold cup which he put on his desk.
"This is one of Voldemort's horcruxes," she said. "There are four more besides this, and if given time he will make more. These need to be destroyed and I need your help."
A/N- My math may be off for how many horcruxes were made at this point, but oh well. Review! -Phoenix
