Chapter XI
Sirius
"There you are Pads!" James was running towards him in the snow. Sirius had literally just stepped out of one of the alleyways in Hogsmeade. Even though it was around six in the evening, the village was full of students, running about in different directions. Most were huddled in groups, although there were a few that were straggling down the road by themselves.
"Where've you been?"
"Oh, I went exploring this morning." Sirius explained. James' eyes lit up in recognition at the code that his friend uttered. They'd developed a way to talk about their misdeeds and adventures in public, after realizing early on that they all had a habit of getting into trouble.
"Find anything interesting?"
"Yes. I was hoping to find a place to go stargazing in case I wanted to woo a girl, if you know what I mean." Sirius said laughing.
"There are a few spots that would be interesting, although I won't know if they're any good until I try them." He added. James nodded, and while he didn't know exactly what was discussed, he did now know that Sirius had snuck out of the village to go see his cousin Andromeda. Any time astronomy was mentioned, it was generally a reference to Sirius' family, and Andy had often "chastised" them for their "misdeeds." At least that's what other people assumed. Generally she was covering for them, and found their antics hilarious.
"Where is everyone?" He asked after a moment. James gave an impish grin before beginning to explain.
"Well the original plan was to hole up in the Three Broomsticks, but that turned out to be pointless considering everyone else in the school decided to do that. Lily and Remus were more concerned with finding Hermione and so they decided to just go on a search for her. Wormtail is following some group of girls around because one of them said he was cute. A bit pathetic if you ask me."
"Where's Hermione?" Sirius had literally blocked out everything once he'd heard that Hermione was missing again.
"She slipped off early after breakfast this morning, even with Lily and Remus keeping an eye on her. I was rather impressed on the distraction that she used. She blew up every platter of food on the Gryffindor Table. Needless to say it was understandable when Lily and Remus got sidetracked for a minute."
"James."
"Oh right. She's fine, I found her earlier. She's at Hogshead."
"What?" Sirius asked. He immediately started moving in that direction, ignoring whatever James was trying to say behind him. Hogshead didn't exactly have the most spectacular reputation. Basically anytime someone wanted to not be noticed, or to make a shady deal, they went there. It was dingy and most of the time students stayed away.
"She's fine." James tried again.
"You said she's at Hogshead. Is that really on your list of "safe places" for a girl by herself?" Sirius growled at his friend. He didn't understand why he was so worried; after all he'd seen Hermione in action. She could take care of herself for the most part. Although there were numerous examples of what happened when she couldn't take care of herself. He knew in the back of his mind that his sudden over protectiveness was from the necklace, but at the same time he didn't care.
"Hermione's not exactly by herself." James muttered.
"What does that mean? Are Lily and Remus there?" Sirius asked, although his speed didn't slow down by any means.
"Sort of," James added.
"You're giving a lot of half answers Prongs." His voice had returned to a growl. His friend didn't answer, and Sirius assumed that he'd decided to just let him find out on his own. The bar came into view rather quickly and when they walked inside, Sirius was astonished to see how crowded it was. It was full of students, although there was a majority of guys. He noticed that there seemed to be a focal point by the right side of the bar, further away from the entrance, although it seemed normal to him. Sirius scanned until he found Remus and Lily sitting towards the middle of the room and walked over to them, with James on his heels.
"Where is she?" He asked worried. Remus didn't say anything, he just nodded towards the bar. Sirius turned, suddenly realizing why there were so many people surrounding the bar. Hermione was sitting by herself, towards the end.
"What is going on?"
"Apparently Hermione forgot to mention that she'd been asked by multiple people to accompany them to Hogsmeade this weekend." Lily answered with a slight smirk.
"This morning's antics seem to have made her rather desirable by most of the guys in the school. So now she not only gets to deal with the ones who originally asked, but every other bloke in the school." Remus added.
"You've got to be joking," Sirius said after a moment.
"Nope, sorry Pads. Oh look there goes another one. Every so often one of them tries to buy her a drink. My favorite was when she said yes, and then the bartender refused to sell it to him." James said grinning. Sirius pivoted before any of his friends could blink. He walked up to Hermione and some Hufflepuff who was stuttering his way through talking to her.
"I was wondering if you'd be willing to go grab a bite to eat at some point."
Hermione didn't get a chance to answer the guy. Sirius pushed past him and slid a hand to her neck, before connecting his lips to hers. He kept it chaste, but not enough to make any bloke in the room think that they might have some kind of claim to the girl. His girl. The one thing that he didn't count on was the necklace activating. He had to force himself to separate from Hermione and he did so with a cocky grin.
"Hey beautiful. Sorry I'm late. Place is a bit crowded."
The Hufflepuff had taken the opportunity to promptly disappear, and Sirius was grateful that the entire school would know that Hermione was off the market by dinner tonight. She was currently staring at him wide-eyed, and for once was speechless.
"Can I get two firewhiskeys?" He asked the bartender, who was glaring at him as though he wanted to Avada him on the spot as he shook his head in a no for Sirius' request. He turned to look back at Hermione and commented on it.
"Worth a shot. So what's with that guy?"
"What the hell was that?" Hermione finally asked.
"What was what?"
"That kiss! What the bloody hell were you thinking?" She hissed at him.
"I was getting rid of the losers who insisted on asking you out. Relax it isn't like I kissed you in front of your dad or anything. Why won't the bartender serve us alcohol?" Sirius said nonchalantly.
"I was doing just fine on my own with those so called losers," she said stubbornly.
"Really, because this place is filled with them and they're all here for you." Sirius shot back. He looked at her empty firewhiskey bottle and raised an eyebrow.
"How did you manage to get this?" He asked. Hermione didn't answer him. Instead she caught the bartender's attention and raised two fingers. Sirius looked at her slightly interested although he knew that it wouldn't work.
To his shock two bottles were set in front of them a minute later. The bartender was staring at him angrily still. Hermione didn't hesitate to take a large gulp of hers.
"Sirius, I would like you to meet my dad. Aberforth Dumbledore," Hermione said after swallowing.
"What?" Sirius' response was incredibly ineloquent for him. He looked at the bartender noting, the blue eyes that was a trademark of a Dumbledore.
"This is my dad, Aberforth Dumbledore." Hermione repeated, before taking another drink. She seemed to be slightly agitated, and he noticed that the drinks she was taking were rather large gulps.
"Oh," Sirius said suddenly horrified. He nearly repeated himself once it really hit him that he had in fact kissed Hermione in front of her dad. Part of him was amused that he did exactly what he told her he hadn't done, yet he knew that she was probably upset. He turned to Aberforth, and introduced himself.
"Do all brats your age act with that level of inappropriateness?" Aberforth asked gruffly. Sirius shook his head immediately upon hearing the bite in the older man's tone. The pureblood in him was already calculating on how to fix the situation and repair the discretion. It was a habit that came in handy more often than not, and it allowed him to get out of trouble in school amongst the majority of teachers. McGonagall wasn't one of them.
"No sir, just me. It's a side-effect of getting disowned. The only way to soothe my wounded soul is to date your daughter." The words were out of his mouth before he could rethink them. Hermione looked absolutely aghast, which Sirius inwardly felt, although he refused to show it. When in doubt, fake confidence. To his surprise, but gratefulness, Aberforth threw his head back and started laughing.
"Interesting choice kid," He said to his daughter.
"We're not dating." Hermione protested, only to be ignored by both her father and Sirius.
"Lily, James, and Remus are sitting at a table towards the back, if you want to join them. They've been worried about you." Sirius said to Hermione. She looked back at him with a raised eyebrow, and Sirius hoped that she'd take the hint. He wanted an opportunity to do damage control and didn't need her help to do so. When she didn't respond to him Aberforth raised a bushy eyebrow at his daughter. Sirius couldn't help but notice the similarities between the two.
"Why have they been worried?" The bartender asked gruffly.
"How should I know?" Hermione answered defensively.
"Black?"
"Oh, well Hermione hear hasn't really been taking care of herself lately. Mostly it's been stress related, but we've been worried that she's pushing herself to hard." Sirius answered cheerfully. She glared at him angrily. Without saying a word, Hermione grabbed her drink and stalked away towards their friends. Sirius wasn't exactly expecting her compliance to be won that easily, he rather expected an argument to ensue.
Sirius watched her walk away, only turning back to Aberforth when he heard a loud clink on the bar. There were several bottles of firewhiskey sitting in front of him. He looked up at the bartender slightly confused by the meaning of the action.
"I reward honesty, as well as loyalty." Aberforth said brusquely. Sirius gave a short nod, which conveyed his thankfulness.
"You're the only guy in here that she even glanced at twice. It could be the necklace or it could be that she likes you. Don't think I don't know what that means. Either way if you hurt her, I'll gut you." Aberforth walked away, towards other customers, who were trying to order. Sirius stood there stunned for several moments, trying to process what he was just told. James clapped him on his back, and he looked over slightly before handing him a few of the firewhiskeys to help carry.
"How the bloody hell did you manage to get this?" James asked excitedly.
"Hermione's dad is the bartender. He apparently likes me." Sirius asked still slightly dazed at the fact that he was about ninety-percent sure that Hermione's dad had given him permission to not only date, but marry the girl. He knew in the back of his mind that people would recognize the necklace at some point. Sure not everyone would, but those older purebloods would on sight. Lily grinned at Sirius when he and James set the alcohol down in front of her. Remus frowned disapprovingly while she took a large drink. He still didn't approve of underage drinking, and Sirius would never forget the day they had all found out that Lily not only liked to drink, but could drink them under the table. They never expected it of her. Unfortunately James and Sirius had learned the hard way that she wasn't just having them on.
"I knew there was a reason to keep her around," Lily said grinning.
"Wait." Remus said confused, suddenly turning to Hermione.
"I thought the headmaster was your dad," the lycan said.
"No, he's my uncle."
"Then why did you say he was your dad?" James asked curiously. Hermione raised an eyebrow at him before taking another gulp of firewhiskey.
"I didn't. If you'll recall, I didn't even give anyone my last name. No one bothered to ask whether I was related to him. Everyone just assumed." She explained. Lily started laughing at Remus and James before telling them to lighten up. Remus refused any of the firewhiskey, muttering to James that his furry little problem wouldn't react well to it. Hermione forced herself to pretend that she heard nothing, and instead chose to look at Lily who was giving her an odd grin.
"So how long have you and Sirius been dating?" The red-head asked laughing. Sirius watched carefully as Hermione's face went blank for a moment before she shrugged.
"We're not." She said simply. Sirius wasn't prepared for the burn of jealousy that settled in his stomach the moment the words left her lips. Lily didn't seem to believe her friend's statement.
"Really, so you kiss every guy like that then?" Lily asked with a undertone of a challenge. Sirius didn't like the direction that this conversation was heading towards suddenly. He watched warily, half expecting Hermione to react negatively. What he didn't expect was for her to set her bottle of Firewhiskey down on the table loudly, and march over to Remus. She was standing in front of him before Sirius had really realized that she'd moved. Remus had been talking to James, not paying attention to the conversation between the girls, and Sirius knew that he was even less prepared for Hermione's sudden behavior.
Sirius suddenly found himself unable to move as a violent rage burned from his stomach to his upper chest and back. There was an outline of electricity which no doubt was fueled by his anger, and his upbringing told him that his magic was reacting very loudly. Logically the fact that Hermione had just shoved her tongue down his best mate's throat wasn't something that should make him react in this way.
After all, she was right and they weren't dating. It was all he could do to focus on not letting his magic explode around him, and he was succeeding. While Lily stared open mouthed at Hermione, Sirius was trying to contain his rage. Seeing Remus wrap his arms around the brunette's waist, before settling on her hips spurred Sirius' anger. He heard several glasses shatter, and only could guess in the back of his mind that his movement had sent a wave of magic spinning away from him. He yanked Hermione away from Remus, before dragging her from the bar.
Sirius knew that she was protesting, as he moved, but he blocked her voice out, still trying to shake the haze from his mind. It was futile. The next thing he knew, they were in an alley, and her back was against the wall, her legs wrapped around his waist. They were kissing with such a ferocity, never coming up for air until they had long ran out of breath. All he could hear through the haze in his mind, was Hermione moaning from time to time. It diffused his anger little by little, until he was no longer driven by anger, but just lust. He finally managed to break from their frantic movements, before they went to far, and rested his forehead on hers.
"Would you like to explain why the bloody hell you kissed Remus?" The words were spewed venomously, which had not been his intentions at all.
"Would you like to explain why you think it's any of your business?" She answered back. He wasn't surprised that her tone matched his in sharpness, and her eyes were narrowed into slits.
"You are—"
"—Single and free to do whatever the hell I want." Hermione cut him off. Sirius felt his blood boiling, and before he knew it, they were back in a frenzy of heavy kissing. He had to focus on calming down, and he finally did so seconds before Hermione bit him painfully, although he hadn't acted quickly enough.
"Hermione!" He yelped as he roughly dropped her. She landed delicately on her feet and glared up at him. He quirked an eyebrow up and wondered at how she managed to move so sprightly all the time.
"You don't own me Sirius. We're not in a relationship, and I'm not going to take orders from you just because you think you have a right to do so." Her hands were on her hips and Sirius found her enticing with her frazzled hair, and this electricity that just surrounded her. He took two steps towards, her, so that her back was against the wall, and their chests were touching again. Hermione was looking up at him with her large round eyes.
"You're mine." He whispered heavily into her ears.
Hermione
"You're not trying hard enough." Aberforth's voice was hard and unforgiving. ermHermione pushed herself back up off of the floor and clambered to her feet. Her wand was at the ready and Aberforth resumed the fighting stance that he had previously held, before she'd been knocked onto her ass.
"Maybe I'm trying to take it easy on an old man like you." She grumbled. Aberforth chuckled and rolled his eyes at her.
"Girl if you had the talent to push me out of your mind, you would've done it already."
Hermione couldn't help but wonder if this was how Harry felt trying to study under Snape. Although she supposed in some ways, she had it easier than her best friend. At least Aberforth liked her. They had been working on her mental barriers for the past six hours. Her adoptive father didn't believe in taking breaks, considering anyone trying to break into someone's mind wouldn't be so thoughtful. She totally understood why he was adamant that they didn't quit, but at this point she was beginning to fall to pieces. The more exhausted she grew, the harder he pushed her. Following their first session she nearly collapsed, from the lack of energy. Now she was grateful for the technique that Aberforth was using. It allowed her to go farther, and longer with each session. He was helping her to build tolerance up at a faster rate.
"Legilimens." It was whispered so quietly that Hermione nearly missed it altogether. She didn't have the time to defend against it before her mind was slammed with a brutal force. It was as though a wind was rifling through her mind, blowing past memory after memory until stopping at one. It was the first day of term, when she had been called to by her Threstal. She didn't fight it. In fact she watched it again, and she could see the Threstal, however that wasn't what caught her attention. Rather it was the look on everyone's face. Three of the four boys were watching her with terrified and confused expressions. It was Sirius' expression that drew her attention. He was observing her with the utmost rapture, as though he was intrigued and captivated all at once. She didn't need to see the memory to know that they had regarded her as unnatural and freakish that day. No one their age could see Threstals, and if they did they certainly didn't let anyone know.
The memory she was standing in jumped again to the day before when she kissed Remus. Hermione pointedly ignored the main picture, rather, she focused on Sirius' face, at least as much as she could see it for the brief moment, before she closed her eyes and kissed Remus. There was a mixed emotion that she couldn't place. Partially between jealousy and admiration; if she had to guess, based on the behavior of Sirius in her time, he didn't think she'd actually do it. She wanted to claim that she didn't know what "made" her kiss Remus, but the truth was that she did.
Sirius' behavior reminded her too much of Ron's inane jealousy, and from her experience with that particular relationship, the only solution was to provoke him further. It was a very childish resolution which only worked with Ron, because he didn't have the stones, to actually do something about it. What Hermione wasn't counting on was the fact that Sirius would act. She knew if she kissed one of his best mates, it would piss him off, but she assumed that he'd do nothing. Her assumption was based on her previous experience with jealous boys and which unfortunately was only Ron Weasley. Yet now everyone in Hogwarts believed that they were dating, and there were even rumors of their betrothal. Hermione still didn't understand where those had cropped up from. The scene started morphing, but it fast forwarded to the moment that he had informed her that she belonged to him. Even in the memory she felt herself warm at the words, oddly starting near her collarbone. One of her hands flew to her collarbone, before pulling her out of the memory altogether.
She was staring at her adoptive father, who was breathing heavily. It took her several moments to realize that she wasn't exhausted, at all. Hermione looked at Aberforth confused, but before she could voice her questions, Aberforth began speaking to her.
"You, girl, are quite the conundrum."
Hermione didn't quite understand what he meant by the statement. She found herself attempting to respond several different times, and she could easily admit that this was one of the rare times that she was actually speechless.
"I'm confused," the words finally had tumbled for her mouth as she cocked her head to the side and looked at him.
"For a girl who has zero experience with this particular form of magic, you have quite the grasp on it." He said as he regained his breath.
"I wasn't known as the Brightest Witch My Age, for nothing," Hermione answered. Aberforth cracked a grin. Hermione noticed his wand twitch and she threw up a protective shield with a silent Protego.
"Well done."
"Are you going to explain to me why I'm such a conundrum?" Hermione asked him.
"So you didn't realize what you were doing." Aberforth said as he sat down.
"You girl, were controlling those memories. It demands an enormous amount of strength to drag someone else through the memories that you want when they are forcing their way into your mind. You have to prevent them from looking freely, and summon the memories which you want them to see." He explained.
"It's different from sharing memories, because you have to contain the violence that the other person is willing to use against you." Aberforth added.
"What does this mean?" Hermione asked.
"It means you're pretty fucking powerful." Aberforth answered.
"You're pretty fucking powerful."
"I need a room where I can hide things."
"You're pretty fucking powerful."
"I need a room where I can hide things."
"You're pretty fucking powerful."
"I need a room where I can hide things."
The statement that Aberforth made kept echoing in her head. Despite how much she tried to stop thinking about it, the statement kept cropping up again. She was trying to clear her mind in order to open up a room in the Room of Requirement. She'd been pacing for the past fifteen minutes because she couldn't remove the comment from her mind.
If she were honest, Hermione could admit that it was motivated by pride. Aberforth rarely gave compliments to anyone. When they had met in her own time, he was gruff and rude. His personality made it obvious that he believed she, Ron, and Harry were on a suicide mission. So to hear him bluntly tell her that she was brilliant made her want to straighten her spine and strut around. However at the moment the fact that she couldn't stop thinking about it was beginning to grate on her nerves because it was inhibiting her present goals.
"Hey," Remus said. His voice had sounded from out of nowhere, and Hermione flinched whipping around with her left hand on her throat and her wand pointed at him with a spell on her lips. His hands were thrown up in a surrendering position and he had a soft smile on his face.
"It's just me. I apologize for startling you." The lycan teen said.
"I was hoping that we could talk about the other day," Remus said after a moment of Hermione not relaxing her position. She nodded and slowly lowered her wand, although it took her a few moments to put it away.
"Um, I guess that I wanted to just discuss the whole, Sirius, situation with me and you, you know which happened at the bar the other day." Remus said. Hermione smiled at the fact that he was babbling somewhat incoherently.
"Remus, I only see you platonically," She said. He didn't seem to hear her, rather he continued to talk nervously until he abruptly ceased.
"What?"
"I apologize for my behavior, but you don't have to worry. I'm not secretly crushing on you or anything like that. I just assumed that if Sirius saw us kissing, he'd back off," she explained.
"Why would you want him to back off?" Remus asked. His tone held a large amount of genuine surprise which pushed Hermione to question him.
"Why wouldn't I?"
"Well it's Sirius." Remus answered. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Come on, I mean you've seen the bloke. All girls love him." Remus added defensively.
"His personality leaves something to be desired," Hermione countered. Remus raised an eyebrow and so she plunged ahead, knowing that this would be a conversation which she would regret.
"Can you imagine how irritating it is to have multiple people ask you on dates—presuming that you're automatically going to say yes—when you've never spoken to them before in your life? That was my entire week leading up to Hogsmeade, and then the entire day. People refused to leave me alone. I was there to see my dad, and just hide out. No one goes into the Hogs Head. Yet the day that I do, everyone and their mother turns up.
"Add to that the fact that I was literally followed around all day long, and the second that Sirius Black shows up he decides to make a show of "claiming" me. As a friend he should have asked me about my day, but instead he just decides to act like a Neanderthal. Then my other friends sit there and start making fun of me over the entire situation!" Hermione said.
"I am so exhausted," she whispered.
"People either need to go away or start paying attention." Hermione finally said as she stared at the ground.
"Hermione, we are paying attention," Remus said quietly.
"You're not letting us in. You're pushing away as much as possible, because you think that will eventually work. Why do you think there's always at least one of us around? We watch you react to people and loud noises; it scares us."
"I'll give you the point you made about Sirius not making the right call all the time. Yes he can be overbearing, but he cares about you. You thought he'd go away by making a move on me? What you didn't count on was the fact that no one makes him jealous. Jealousy isn't something that Sirius feels. If a girl isn't interested he moves on to the next.
"With you it's different. He nearly punched me afterwards. I could see him fighting with himself. I know that position well—to be at war with yourself. You know that position well."
Hermione's eyes locked onto his suddenly terrified.
"You don't think I have that look memorized? The one where you know that despite how dangerous the world and people around you are; that you're the real threat? I live that. It's paralyzing—worse than any fear that could manifest in your mind or reality."
She knew that he was being honest. Remus had once told her that very same statement, albeit it was eons ago to her. Ironically they were talking about Sirius and how it felt to be trapped in his house. The conversation had taken a turn into a darker discussion when she'd mentioned that she was worried he might do something drastic. Unfortunately six months later, Sirius had fallen into the veil.
This was different though. She was different. She wasn't locked up in a manor. She was just trapped.
"We can only help you if you let us," Remus said softly.
"You can't help me," Hermione whispered.
"Why not?"
"You can't save someone from hurting themselves," she answered.
"That doesn't mean we can't help protect you along the way. Even the most powerful need help now and again. People were made to work with other people. We need something larger, more comprehensive than living alone. Think of it like a large body. A body isn't just a single part blown up into something huge. It's all the different-but-similar parts arranged and functioning together" Remus said. Hermione looked at him confused for a moment.
"How do you know that?" She asked.
"Because it's true," Remus answered. Hermione shook her head.
"No. You're quoting the bible. How do you know about that verse? It's from 1 Corinthinans."
Remus looked at her surprised as he nodded.
"My mom's a muggleborn. She grew up in church, despite the whole magic thing she kept with it." He answered.
"How do you know?"
"Mum found it after she left home," Hermione answered. It wasn't a lie. Her mom hadn't grown up with church, but her father had introduced her to it shortly after they had met. She was grateful that it was long before their marriage when her mother had embraced the faith. It was comforting to know that she didn't screw that up.
"It's true. We're meant to have relationships. Whether you're religious or not, you know that there's a reason you're drawn to other people. No matter how much you push other people away, there will always be a void." Remus told her.
"I used to think that the isolation was worth the price to obtain it. It took me years to realize the damage I was doing to myself and it took even longer to fix it substantially," Remus said. Hermione looked at him surprised that he was talking with her about this.
"Why do you care? You made it pretty clear when we met that you thought I was off-kilter," Hermione pointed out.
"It was wrong of me to judge, and to be honest I trust very few people which is why I am able to recognize the same reactions that you have. I've had them. I've been terrified of myself just as you have, and I was blessed to have friends who were willing to pull me out of those spirals." Remus explained.
"Those same people are trying to do the same thing for you."
Hermione watched him for a minute, wondering what Remus was attempting to do with this conversation. For a moment she thought of her Remus who had long learned how to learn secrets from other people by connecting with them and getting them to relax. She remembered him mentioning that he had perfected this gift by the time that Harry was born.
"Remus," she said quietly.
"I don't trust you at all."
He didn't look surprised by the statement at all; instead he broke out into a smile.
"Aren't all Dumbledore's supposed to trust blindly?" He asked teasingly. Hermione cracked a grin as she rolled her eyes. She glanced at the wall which hid the Room of Requirement, and knew that she wouldn't be getting inside today.
Author's Note:: Hey guys. I'm sure a lot of you are surprised by the new format for Lacero Contrafaco. I've been unable to update it all summer because of writer's block and working two jobs. I decided to change it up in order to help jog my desire to continue writing it. It seems to have helped quite a bit considering I've been ignoring all the hmwk I should be doing instead. Please let me know your thoughts. The majority of the content is still the same, although there are some things that have changed.
Aalis
