"What do you mean you had doubts?"
Hermione's shrill voice went up another octave and seeing her that hysterical made Sirius glad that he had chosen such a secluded spot for them to have this conversation.
"Mione, I had no proof, nothing solid to even base my suspicions on and you had enough on your plate already" Sirius soothed.
She slumped against the tree in defeat. Ever since she had woken up, her world was delicate at best and now it was entirely thrown off its axis and she could only watch it crash all around her. She didn't want to cry though, not anymore.
That had indeed been her first reaction. The minute Sirius had confirmed the doubts that were beginning in her mind, as soon as he voiced aloud the possibility of Dumbledore having lied to her, she had felt the tears spring unbidden.
But the hopelessness was quickly morphing into fury. It wasn't fair, none of it was. Not knowing what happened, not knowing what was happening around her, not remembering magic, it had all been eating her up for weeks now but she had no one to blame before, no one to direct her anger at.
Now though, now she aimed every bit of her rage on the headmaster and it was quite a potent force at the moment. Sirius saw that of course and thanked Merlin that he had already given much thought to everything Dumbledore had said; it at least helped him stay rational for a while. It wouldn't do for both their tempers to be flying free when the situation was as grave as it was.
"How long?" Hermione questioned finally.
"Since the beginning" Sirius answered honestly.
She accepted it with a silent nod. She knew it wouldn't have helped if Sirius had questioned her past earlier, not when she had still been holding on to the fragile bits but it still stung to know he never possibly believed her.
"Why?" she asked after a while.
"It didn't add up" Sirius mumbled quietly.
Most of his doubts were based on instinct more than anything else. The picture Dumbledore had drawn was off. Something about it had screamed wrong to him from the get go but to put them into words and point out exactly what it was, wasn't easy.
"They asked me if I met you before. If there was any chance at all that I had told you my secret. For a moment, however brief, they had considered a scenario where we met." he began, his mind going back to that day as he tried to flesh it out and relive it for the hundredth time, searching for answers just as desperately as her.
"And powerful as Albus Dumbledore might be, there is no way he can simply extract students from the school and send them away Hermione. Hogwarts has rules too and even Dumbledore needs to follow them to an extent. The board of governors is formed by families like mine and the Malfoys and I don't see them agreeing to this. Sure, they'll be happy if its one less muggle born in Hogwarts, but letting them disappear? They take their duties more seriously than that. Hogwarts is also answerable to the ministry and defying both...it seems like too much trouble. What can children do that cannot be done by the aurors?"
Sirius was speaking faster now, questioning himself as he voiced his thoughts aloud and Hermione listened quietly. She could see what he meant by not having anything to base his suspicions on, but he didn't seem finished.
"Say all that works and for some reason, the academy really is needed. What then? Will Dumbledore really just hand a bunch of his students over and not even check on their well being? Its not like him to simply draw his influence out of anything. So when he said he knew nothing, when he couldn't give you a single name...I don't know. There was also the Priori Incantem, it came up...odd. All of it is vague Mione and I thought maybe it was only me that couldn't accept it because I couldn't explain how you knew, but when you couldn't see the thestrals...I'm not wrong" Sirius insisted.
"I don't think you are" She said coldly "And I think Dumbledore owes me a chat"
Sirius was grabbing her wrist before she had even made it away from the tree.
"No." he warned "Listen Mione, you know that if I thought it would help, i'd come with you right now. I'd like nothing more than honesty here but going to him now will be of no use"
"Why? I don't care for answers right now, I need to know from him if he lied and-" Hermione argued stubbornly.
"Hermione, No. Dumbledore...he's different alright? I respect him but he's rarely direct about anything. Whatever reason he lied for, he's going to stick to it. But at least, what he does, he does with good intentions that much I-" Sirius came to a stop mid statement when he saw her livid expression.
"Good intentions?" She screeched "I didn't know my own name Sirius! Tell me how lying to me about anything-"
"What would you rather have? Him telling you he has no idea who you are or how you ended up in his school an inch from death?" Sirius snapped.
"Yes" She growled.
"Albus Dumbledore has no idea who you are or how you ended up here, so there! Feeling better yet?" He hissed.
Their faces were inches away from each others, their breathing heavy and their expressions rigid but neither of them were willing to back down.
"Actually yes! Now i'm going to find him and have him repeat that for me!" She huffed, turning on her heel only to be spun back around forcefully by him.
"What then Hermione? You can't trust him, Fine. But he is not your enemy. He did not do that to you. Someone out there left you to die and this is the only place you are actually safe. So while Dumbledore might have lied, excuse me if I don't see anyone else trying to help you"
Hermione flinched away from the harsh words and Sirius regretted them for a fraction of a second before he saw her expression harden again.
"Alright. He's not the enemy. But he lied. He lied when I was defenseless and i'm going to damn well find out why or do you have a problem with that too Sirius?" She questioned frostily.
"You are a muggleborn who never attended Hogwarts. You have heartless and sadistic enemies if your arm is anything to go by. You showed up with the knowledge of my animagus, which is possibly one of the best kept secrets around. Your entry somehow breached every ward at Hogwarts and put you right in the great hall. Do I need to go on about the list of things that need answering or are you going to stick your efforts to finding out about Dumbledore's betrayal of trust?" He demanded.
She glared for a long moment, knowing that going to the headmaster would be futile but wanting to anyway. When she could see no way to test the theories and saw no give in Sirius's eyes, she broke free from his grip and stormed away, leaving a frustrated Sirius standing alone.
SBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHG
No one could tell what had happened.
Sirius and Hermione had left the quidditch pitch together and both James and Remus had dodged the questions about why she had demanded for him as best as they could. Well, not dodge so much as deflect really.
So that meant the two worried boys were waiting in the common room with Peter and three highly confused girls. Alice had joined them sometime later, asking for Hermione and then going on to tell them about the thestrals. That at least cleared a little up.
The boys weren't bothered anymore but as far as the girls were concerned, they were going to wait and find out everything. Lily especially insisted upon it because she didn't understand why Hermione went directly for Sirius.
James and Remus had no doubts as far as that went. They both knew quite well that even without the whole bit about her initially asking for Sirius and everything, Hermione's attachment was primarily to him.
He might not have made any declarations like James had done and she might have chosen to artfully ignore the existence of romance the way Remus did but both Marauders knew that there was a wordlessly agreed upon relationship between the couple that was definitely more than platonic.
That theory however was tested when Hermione stormed in about an hour later, her fury evident in her gait as she ignored all of them and headed directly for her room. Cassie had jumped to follow, only to be restrained by Alice who suggested that Lily should go alone and find out.
Before the argument could begin though, the portrait flew open and Sirius stepped into the common room, making Lily jump at the chance of demanding answers.
"Black!" She called sharply.
"Not now Evans" He had snapped, not bothering with the head girl in the slightest as he headed for his own room.
The only time either of them were spotted after that was when Hermione returned five minutes later with a bunch of books and proceeded to arrest herself within the library, while Sirius seemed to prefer the comfort of his bed.
SBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHG
A good six hours later, the tension was still evident amidst the unusually silent group. Marlene's insistence in keeping her cousin and thereby the rest of the Marauders with them only made it worse for the stewing head girl and every sensible Gryffindor kept away from their end of the dinner table.
Sirius was the first back this time, wordlessly joining the group but stopping any possible questions with a sharp glare. Cassie, as tempted as she was to ignore his look and demand for answers anyway was spared the trouble when they saw Hermione approach.
Almost without thinking about it, she walked right past the empty seat next to Alice and slipped in next to Remus instead, putting herself diagonally across Sirius. Not meeting anyone's gaze, she turned her attention to filling the plate in front of her.
"Mione?" James ventured. She looked up once to meet questioning hazel eyes before ducking her head again.
"So I spoke to Dumbledore" Hermione said quietly, her eyes fixed on her food.
"How did it go?" Sirius questioned neutrally.
If any of them had planned to ask what it was about, they stopped the minute Sirius had responded. Regardless of whether this was a truce or an attempt at being civil for the sake of company, they weren't going to disrupt it.
"Surprisingly well" She replied, sounding anything but pleased.
"Good" he responded in a low voice.
The silence that followed was brief but not to be tempered with.
"And you aren't curious?" She asked, sounding slightly annoyed.
"Actually I am" Sirius replied evenly, looking up from his own plate to finally meet her gaze. She held it for a moment before looking away.
"You are impossible" Hermione huffed, stabbing her fork into the food.
"Mione, what do you want me to do?" He questioned reproachfully when she glared at him again.
"Dumbledore thinks going to Diagon alley tomorrow should be fine" She replied a little coldly.
Almost all of them were surprised of course but Sirius seemed the most taken aback of the lot.
"Diagon Alley? You are going shopping?" Marlene asked, unable to contain herself anymore when Sirius continued to gape.
"The excuse of needing books helps and I really need to leave the castle for a bit for the sake of my own sanity and I didn't know where else to go either and-" Hermione was rambling when Sirius cut across.
"That's what you - Diagon Alley? Really?" he questioned incredulously.
After all the anger, she had gone to the headmaster and requested permission to go shopping? Hermione saw his disbelief clear as day and wondered how he could even think she'd demand answers from Dumbledore without Sirius there to actually support her.
"Your lack of faith in me hurts, especially when i'm trying to apologise" She told him petulantly.
His lips quirked up in slightly response. That was the best part about Hermione. One minute she was all fire and righteous anger, glaring unflinchingly as she challenged him and the next, she was sweet and innocent, needing his support and unintentionally kindling every protective instinct he had.
"You already know that i'm sorry too doll" He apologised softly and just like that, the storm had passed.
A/N : THIS CHAPTER WAS EXPERIMENTAL. Sirius and Hermione are both strong personalities. They are both equal parts of smart and loyal and Sirius is fiercely protective of her, while she trusts him above all else which means they already have a steady relationship, though they haven't said as much.
Now, when things spin out of control, Hermione is known to get hysterical. Not being on top of things simply doesn't suit her and Sirius is no saint with that infamous temper of his. That makes disagreements between them heated, intense and pretty much like a storm but it always passes when they take a moment to think and rationality sets in again, which in turn means compromise is given.
I'm rambling...but that's because i'm nervous...was this chapter a complete disaster?