"Quidditch!" James Potter declared as he sauntered over to the the group of girls trying to have a late brunch, the first weekend since Hermione's release from the hospital wing.
"Oh get lost James, practice isn't for another hour" Marlene complained, waving her cousin away.
"Not you Marls, I'm talking to Mione" James said brightly.
"No" Hermione said bluntly.
"You must be good if James is personally interested in your game" Cassie commented with interest just as the other Marauders joined in.
Hermione choked on air while Sirius fought to keep from laughing. James however considered this far too important to take the situation lightly.
"As the quidditch captain, its my duty to know everyone's skill set" he informed solemnly.
"Sorry to disappoint but I don't have any here" Hermione replied, not sounding sorry at all.
"I'll be the judge of that Mione, come on" James decided, grabbing her elbow and tugging her up.
"Leave her alone Potter" Lily defended, making James's hand fall off.
"Will you ever relax Evans?" Sirius questioned politely.
"Don't you two start!" Alice intervened.
"No one is getting me on the pitch again" Hermione concluded firmly before either of them could argue.
"Again?" James was quick to latch onto the word, making her flush slightly. It only took a minute for him to guess when that must have been.
"Moony, she's being discriminating!" He cried immediately.
"I know Prongs, I know" Remus sighed heavily, making every head turn to him in disbelief.
"REMUS!" Hermione protested, not having expected him to side with James. Though honestly, she should have known payback was due after the surprise she had given them before.
"Sorry Mione, but it hurts" He said dramatically even as Sirius burst out laughing. Hermione instantly switched her glare to the handsome Marauder, wordlessly making it clear that it was his fault.
"You got nothing better to do now anyway" Sirius offered, turning traitor with the other two.
"Yes, I do. I'm staying with Lily." Hermione told them immediately.
"Lily and I have to hold a meeting with the prefects in twenty minutes" Remus was kind enough to inform.
"The three of us have practice and Wormy, Cassie and Alice always come watch us" James added helpfully.
Hermione scowled. No one seemed to be helping her out just then and that was fine with her. She'll just go find Evanna. Just as she made up her mind, Alice decided to come to her rescue after all.
"Actually, i'll be spending the morning with Sprout" She informed.
"Then I'm going with you!" Hermione said without missing a beat.
"You'd rather watch the practice Mione. Trust me." Cassie warned.
"Yeah, Alice and plants... you don't want to go there" Marlene agreed.
"Please? I'll stay out of your way" Hermione pleaded, entirely ignoring both of them.
"I'd love your company Mione" Alice assured, even as she threw a dirty look towards her friends.
"There, its settled" Hermione grinned victoriously towards an appalled looking James.
"You'd rather be stuck in a greenhouse than fly?" He questioned incredulously.
"Yes, besides I can't have Remus mad at me" Hermione added cheekily as she turned towards the headboy who still tutored her on herbology.
"What does Remus have to do with anything?" Lily asked confused but the sandy haired Marauder was gaping at Hermione, trying to come up with a response and failing miserably.
"You just lost Prongs" Sirius announced with a clap on his best mate's shoulder, making James's expression morph into a pout.
A very happy Hermione however was quick to pat James's messy hair in an affectionate gesture, wishing him luck with the practice and dragging Alice as she hightailed it out of there before anyone could change their mind and force her on a broom.
An amused group watched the two departing girls, only Lily wearing a frown at the scene. Her new friend had taken almost instantly to the boys and while she could understand the friendship with Remus, she really couldn't see how Hermione was so comfortable with Black and Potter. The thing was, they seemed to return her easy friendship just as spontaneously...and it was confusing.
SBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHG
Alice was honestly intrigued. Hermione just seemed to have that effect on people. The brunette was interested in knowing about almost every plant as they walked through the many greenhouses in the castle and paused in front of nearly every species.
The girl had openly admitted that she had very little practical knowledge when it came to plants and that she hadn't seen most of the one's there. Some of them of course were fairly common in wizarding gardens and though Alice was more than eager to prattle on about everything around them, she still found some of it strange and couldn't help but wonder exactly what kind of place Hermione had grown up in.
Almost two hours in and currently discussing self fertilizing shrubs, Alice spotted Hagrid passing through and waved energetically towards the half giant. Hermione glanced in the direction too, frowning at the odd picture in front of her.
Alice did a completely different take on the frown as she realised for the first time that Hermione did not know Hogwarts' favorite keeper of keys and grounds.
"Come on" the shorter girl urged as she pulled Hermione away from the greenhouse and towards where Hagrid had paused.
"Hagrid, this is Hermione Granger. She's new here! and Hermione, meet Hagrid, the best person to go to about any magical creature" Alice introduced warmly.
Any questions the half giant might have had about her being new was lost as he flushed at the compliment.
"Nice to meet ya" He greeted.
Hermione smiled politely as she returned the greeting but her eyes kept straying away from the man himself and he seemed to notice.
"Yer can see them can ya?" He asked with a touch of sadness in his voice.
"I'm sorry but-" Hermione began to question when the giant man waved her off.
"They're gentle creatures, thestrals are" He informed and Hermione sucked in a harsh breath.
She had read about thestrals of course and heard about them being attached to the carriages. She also knew they were the sort of creatures that bordered the veil between this world and the next, becoming visible to anyone who witnessed death.
You didn't have to remember the death for it to be visible, Remus had told her that when she had asked if he thought she'd be able to see them. So that meant, yes, she was supposed to be able to clearly see the invisible reigns that Hagrid was holding to herd the invisible creatures to wherever.
Except, she saw nothing. They were all perfectly invisible to her.
Her, who must have seen her whole academy die out. Her, who must have surely witnessed at least a single death in her lifetime of being a child auror. Her, who was supposedly the only survivor…
"Hermione? Hermione? MIONE!" Alice was shaking her and it was all she could do to not sink to the ground right then.
"I've never seen thestrals" Hermione mumbled quietly.
"Its sad yer can see 'em now" Hagrid soothed gently and oh how she wished she could actually see them because then this would be simpler.
"But shouldn't they have been visible even if I don't remember someone dying?" Hermione questioned doubtfully.
"They are. If you were ever around someone dying, you can see them. Cassie could see them from the start" Alice told her.
Cassie could see them from the start? The sentence struck Hermione deep. She knew what that meant. The other girl had lost her mother when she was born and no child remembered that…
"Thestrals 'ave nothin to do with yer mind" Hagrid explained.
"But seeing them - I mean I have - before this -" Hermione could barely form sentences.
"There ain't no thestrals outside of Hogwarts. Yer can't have seen 'em before" Hagrid tried to reassure her.
Hermione nodded weakly even as she took a couple of steps back, away from the still invisible creatures.
"I need to go somewhere" She said quietly before adding a quick apology.
She managed to pace herself to walk across the grounds for as long as she could feel the confused stares after her, but the minute she was far enough away from Hagrid and Alice, she all but flew blindly towards the quidditch pitch.
SBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHG
There were a few Gryffindors who were scattered around the seats, simply chatting as their team practiced over head. Hermione spotted Peter and Cassie a few feet away, Remus and Lily having returned from their meeting to join them. At the moment though, she could barely slow herself back to a hurried walk, let alone pay them any attention.
She headed right into the middle of the pitch, attracting the attention of those above. She heard Cassie call for her and noticed Lily wave her way, but Hermione was facing the skies, trying to spot Sirius. It wasn't all that difficult, seeing as James and him both instantly swooped down, Marlene not too far behind while the rest of the team, whom she didn't really recognise, hovered uncertainly.
"I appreciate the sudden enthusiasm Mione, but you should wait over there till the team is done before you can-" James was saying as Hermione caught her breath.
She wasn't sure exactly what excuse to give for disrupting them this way but at the moment she had bigger problems, so the minute she could speak, she cut across James, turning desperately towards Sirius instead.
"Could you - uh can we - talk?" She asked urgently.
Her hair was messed up from her brief sprint and was splayed wildly around, her tie was out of place and her eyes screamed a wordless plea in Sirius's direction. He seemed to notice the plain fear and panic raging behind the calm Hermione was fighting to keep, as did James. Without question both boys made to get off their broom.
"No" Hermione grabbed for Sirius's arm "lets - we - I'd rather-" She motioned for herself to join him instead and he caught on easily enough; sliding backwards a bit as he allowed her space to climb in. James's eyes shone with unrestrained worry of course but she was too distracted to notice.
Hermione waved in the general direction of where she had come from and sure enough, Sirius didn't bother with questions. One quick glance towards James, asking him to stay back was all it took before he wordlessly obliged and directed them upwards, away from the pitch.
As soon as they put a safe distance between them and the others, Hermione pressed herself close and all but dissolved in his arms. She was nervous and had absolutely no idea what to tell Sirius. Her first instinct had been to go to him, but now she was here, she hadn't a clue how to voice her doubts.
Sirius didn't press for anything though and seemed content to just keep a tight grip around her and on the broom as he waited.
"Thestrals" she finally whispered.
Nothing, there was no reaction as he allowed her to speak. What started as hesitant words quickly became faster, longer sentences that obviously expressed her doubts.
"I mean really, what are the odds that all of them die and I didn't see any of it?" Hermione pressed.
"You think Dumbledore lied?" Sirius questioned quietly.
"I -" Hermione paused unsure "No, there's just - there has to be- I don't really know"
Sirius had had his doubts before but now he was absolutely sure and his certainty rung clear in his voice as he spoke next.
"Because Mione, I think he did"
A/N: I noticed I had forgotten to write Peter into the first conversation they had in this chapter, but i'm hoping no one cares enough to miss the rat...