A/N: mh21-here's your latest fix ;) and to all of you other lovelies who have reviewed, you make every word worth it!
Part 2: HOGWARTS
Chapter 28
Gallant Retreat
The Feast of Michaelmas was a wickedly festive affair. Much akin to Christmas decor, the dark, imposing house was bedecked with winter garlands and yuletide. Hundreds of floating candles lined the available passageways on the ground floor and swarmed the great ballroom where the feast was held. Yet no amount of festive decor could shield the dark atmosphere of the Gothic structure. Dark magic had clearly held its taint over the family for many generations.
Hermione and James could feel its seductive pulse through their bond even now.
Hermione clung to James' arm and took comfort, sandwiched between her two best friends. While inside she was cringing every step that took them deeper into the house's foundations, on the surface she greeted her Housemates with cool ease.
Whispers followed the two Gryffindors.
Sirius Black had his own reputation to thank for his notoriety of course, judging from the longing stares half the men's dates were flashing him. The fact he chose to show his face at all was enough insult to the host and hostess Lestrange, that they completely ignored him altogether, not even announcing his presence. Then again, this might have been due more to the fact the young Mrs. Lestrange was formerly a Black. And everyone knew Sirius had been disowned by his large and influential family.
Yet there were plenty others interested in the infamous, star-crossed match of Potter and Dumbledore, as well. Though they had done their best to hide the full nature of their relationship, their ambiguity made them even more alluring. And there were all those rumors about what really happened in Hogsmeade. Tonight, most of these whispers included the unexpectedly beautiful Dumbledore heiress.
Hermione flinched every time she was met with, instead of the usual open and calculating stare, dark curiosity and knowing. As if these young Dark Wizards in training wanted her to know, they knew what really happened the day they defied the Dark Lord.
It was soon clear that Sirius had made it his personal mission to steal everyone else's dates for the night, to the outrage of many old purists included in the feast. Many of his estranged family was in attendance and did their best to paste false indifference over their anger filled handsome faces.
Several Aurors had been invited over as well, thanks to Dumbledore's insistence. Ever since the Hogsmeade attack, even more care and caution had been given to the Wizarding World's finest and upcoming members, yet the great Headmaster himself was nowhere to be seen.
Not everyone's guardians were present just yet however. This was an invitation only affair, sans the Aurors, so more than one Gryffindor and Hufflepuff was left out of the loop. Only the most talented and rich purebloods were granted attendance.
James pointed out a few names Hermione had not been expecting. Nodding to a tall bespectacled brunette laughing at the center of yellow dresses, he said, "That's my cousin, Vivian Potter. She's our year in Hufflepuff. Her two younger sibs are privately tutored now that they're living with our great-aunt Coraline."
"Cousin?" Hermione had heard little of the Potters, perhaps because there was only a handful left. As if reading her thoughts, James smirked.
"Bastards haven't exterminated all of us blood traitors yet. We Potters have a nasty talent for surviving…and then getting blown up." He chuckled darkly but Hermione shivered.
"Vivian's my Uncle Edward's eldest. Wish you could have met the bloke."
"What happened to him?"
"Wouldn't join his cause." He pointed out several other distant kin and a few disowned Black cousins in attendance. Andromeda Black Tonks laughed with Sirius in front of a tapestry of a garden of snakes. Their colorful laughter drew some of the chill from the hall. It was easy to see how they could be related.
"I wonder if we should have come tonight." Hermione clutched James's upper arm as he led her through the din.
James turned and smiled over her, promise of the night to come in his hazel orbs. "I got my own reasons for wanting to be here. But I promise, as soon as possible, we'll sneak out and have a real party, yeah?" He winked and leaned forward, his hand slipping about her neck.
Hermione pushed him back with a gasp and frantic glance. "No! James they'll see!" she hissed, missing the flicker of annoyance and frustration in his eyes.
"Miss Dumbledore! Mr. Potter! What a superb delight it is to see you two here, together, ha!" Slughorn appeared from midair it seemed, dragging his circle of society mongers behind him. They flocked around the couple as he began to list his star pupils' many attributes.
So engrossed he was in his description, James whispered in Hermione's ear, "Maybe we should have joined the Slug Club sooner?" He winced from her jab to his ribs.
"Delighted to meet you," Hermione offered. She threw them her most winning smile, thanking Dorea again for the charms that enhanced her beauty to more influential heights.
"As are ve, Miss Dumbledore," replied a pasty, thin, and dark figure whose visage practically screamed vampire.
His lingering kiss on her wrist made James' fingers dig tighter onto her waist. Gritting his teeth together, he pulled her away. "Well this has been a pleasure, gents, madam, but I'm afraid we're ignoring our friends. Excuse use."
"Of course my boy! Do be delicate with her, mind you! She's clearly the eye of every bachelor present, wouldn't you agree Armande?"
"Indeed," the dark vampire replied. When Hermione glanced over her shoulder at him, he smirked and licked his lips. She averted her gaze quickly, afraid James might see the flush on her cheeks.
They were stopped three more times by Hermione's own Housemates. Travers and Wilkes were flanked by the Carrows and their escorts, a formidable group, even without Severus Snape leading them. Desdemona Lefay and Pervincia Macbeth were thankfully present and eyeing James with equally wicked grins.
Looks as though Wilkes lost his chances with Mona.
Hermione pasted on an almost bored look as Pervincia swooned on Wilkes' arm and he glanced longingly at Lefay more than once in their conversation.
"Sweet Salazar, Miss Dumbledore I believe we should have paid more attention to you had we known you had this hiding beneath those school robes…" crooned Travers with a bat of his pale green eyes.
"Muzzle your foul mouth Travers," Mona sneered.
James's fingers clenched into a fist and she pushed them safely away from causing a scene.
"I believe you shall have to learn to live with regret then," Hermione offered over her shoulder and caught Mona's approving icy stare.
Supper was heralded with announcements from the elder Mrs. Lestrange. Her husband was out of town on business affairs but the blonde matron carried on the traditions proudly. They droned on and on over the history of the Gala, all the way through the second course. Finally, music filled the hall and several off handed couples danced in circles around them.
Sirius sat on Hermione's left side soon after the meal began and upon her questioning he simply shrugged and chucked her chin. "You'll find out soon enough, love."
James and Hermione laughed with the small crew of familiar faces they found afterwards.
"I finally had to threaten him to keep him from bringing a Muggleborn tonight," her private boyfriend said. James was in stitches over the idea.
Hermione didn't know Frank Longbottom or Alice Greengrass very well, but both of them met her with kind smiles and a few teasing jabs for James.
"Keeping her all to yourself tonight, Potter?" Alice grinned. Longbottom meanwhile, stared at the tiny Witch as if she were his entire world.
James drew Hermione in closer by the waist and she glanced round them to find her Housemates were watching. "Damn straight," he replied. "Snakes keep her locked in the dungeon too often, eh Mione?"
She tried to smile when Desdemona Lefay met her eye from across the banquet hall.
James rounded on her the next instant, while Longbottom and Greengrass cooed nonsensically to one another. "Mione? What is it, love?"
His anxious eyes were too telling, Hermione knew. Was it just her imagination or were they slipping already? Were they really as clever as she believed? Could they fool the Dark Lord into thinking they were no threat? She struggled to breathe, her vision blurring as the thought struck her.
You both ruined that when you fought him in Hogsmeade. He invaded your mind, Dumbledore. What if he saw something else he wanted?
Gasping for air, she was startled by the warm graze of James's broom-calloused palms. He stood in front, bent over her, with concern bleeding from his eyes and through their bond. His magic unknowingly caressed hers as if to seek any tears or breaks in their weaves. His eyes were a hazel blend of amber and emerald flecks and right now, laughter gone from his face, she knew he was just as concerned as she was.
The difference between them, was that James Potter could care a flying fuck what anyone thought of him.
"Breathe, love…just breathe," he whispered, so low, she almost didn't hear over the din of people.
So she focused on him until the lights stopped dancing in her vision and she saw his slow face splitting smile and knew she could make it through the night.
"Well look at that. Selwyn making even more a spectacle of himself than usual." Alice Greengrass mused somewhere in front of them. They turned their heads at the same time to follow the scene unfolding. A very pink faced Selwyn was pining after the younger Mrs. Lestrange like a lovesick fool.
Hermione's eyes narrowed and darted through the crowd of confused faces until she found the culprit laughing heartily in the corner. Sirius must have felt her disapproval across the way because he met her eye and winked, lifted and teased her with a shake of the love potion vial in his hand. And it was then she realized James was trying too hard not to laugh.
"What's so funny Mr. Potter?"
"Well, I may have helped him to make the potion a week ago." At her glare he shrugged. "Maybe I was desperate to liven the prank war up a bit? Look, it's not like he told me when he was planning on using it tonight! I didn't really do anything!"
"Of course you didn't, you only encouraged him to make an arse of himself," Hermione deadpanned. "James do you know how dangerous those potions can be?"
Holding his hands between them, he said, "Before you start listing every side effect, love, why don't you just sit back and enjoy the show?"
Hermione frowned and blushed when she realized Frank and Alice were watching the scene with amused grins.
James grinned roguishly with his former bunk mate.
Alice nodded to herself. "Now that I see you two together, I can see how she's perfect for you, Potter."
Once supper was over with the games were allowed to begin. James and Sirius tried to get Hermione to join the transformed banquet hall, now life sized Wizard's chess board, and failed repeatedly.
"No, I shall not be put on display James Merlin Potter! Sirius, stop tugging at my dress! For heaven's sake " Hermione swatted them away.
Sirius laughed, eyes gleaming with mischief. "But you've only seen half the chaos I intend on causing! Why not join us where it's safe?"
James cut in. "Yeah, especially since your Housemates are still reeling over the fact someone smuggled those potions past the house wards."
"Don't think I'll ever forget the sight of Selwyn throwing himself at Bella's feet!"
Hermione shivered at the mention of Sirius's wild-eyed cousin and watched her boys dart off to help start the game.
Ironically enough, the darker half of the life-sized chess board was occupied by Slytherin House both new and old, the lighter by the otherwise sorted.
Wizard's Chess was barbaric in Hermione's opinion and she couldn't stomach the suspense of watching James and Sirius go against her own Housemates, not when she was supposed to be on both sides.
Dorea's words carried in back of her mind,"We Snakes are not all cold in our hearts, but we must never allow these emotions to breech the surface."
Wizards stood on their respective squares and instantly their clothes were charmed to fit their stations. Sirius was a rook and James the bishop. The crowd gathered around the square edges and threw out cheers and the occasional wandless confundus on the players they disliked.
Disgusted and torn between Lefay's expectant stare from the dark side, Hermione backed against the wall until she found her way to the women's toilet.
The empty corridor between the banquet hall and restrooms was so high, not even the lamplight penetrated its depths. And the lamp light was dimmed with smoke around its glass edges. Hermione held her breath as her heels clicked across the black on white marble.
Cheers and jeers from ahead echoed her way and she hesitated several paces from the banquet hall, which so happened to be in front of a peculiar alcove, housing a mysterious wind.
Hermione knew she should return to the game, find some way to hex her boys so they were out of the game and could go home. The longer they stayed inside this manor, the longer she mingled with those people, the harder her mask was to maintain and the harder it was to ignore the tug of dark magic. The same magic, whose sister curse had wrapped her memories in an dark veil months before.
The tapestry covering this alcove rippled with the wind and Hermione found her fingers pulling its edge aside to uncover a narrow, dimly lit passageway. And deep within the passage, voices whispered dark and sinister things, terrible things.
No…turn around and walk away Dumbledore…
Hermione let the fabric drop as if burnt and turned away. Walls and corridors could not speak, she firmly reminded herself. She laughed inwardly at her own foolishness, only to gasp as she collided with a tall, dark figure.
"James, I'm sorry I was just…" He steadied her with leather gloved hands, stunting her first guess. Her gaze rose to meet a smug pair of sapphire orbs. "Black! What are you doing here? You aren't even in our year!"
Regulus Black held her at arm's length, though by the way he leaned into her still hinted of darker intentions. Though she would never admit it to anyone, Hermione had been unconsciously looking for him all night, wondering if he would manage some way to come.
Tilting his head to the side, so the nearby lamplight cast half his features in the light, he replied, "Miss Dumbledore, I would advise you return to the feast and not ask any difficult questions."
He was teasing her, baiting her as he always did. Hermione was instantly indignant that he was here, that he had caught her, and above all that talking with him made her feel guilty, for some reason. Then again, James had already given a full ear his opinion of "Reggie" Black.
Yet looking up into his eyes now, while pursing her lips and searching for a reason to stay angry with him, she glimpsed a flash of the boy she had met in Diagon Alley. When she did not budge, he smirked his crooked smile and grabbing her by the arm, dragged her the opposite direction from the party.
"Where are we going? Take your hands off of me Regulus Black or I swear to Merlin I'll…"
He rounded on her suddenly, shoved them into a shadow clenched corner and braced himself against the wall beside her face. "You'll what? Hex my balls off? Yeah, real original Dumbledore…" he deadpanned with the effort of humor, rather a mask of curiosity.
Tilting her chin up, Hermione clenched her fists and remembered she didn't need her wand to best him. "I should prefer something worse actually, but I doubt you'd want to spend the rest of the term as a rat, would you?"
His laugh was short, akin to the barking quality of his elder brother, only breathier, deeper. "Couldn't help me with homework if you did that, Dumbledore."
She could see the gleam of his teeth in the distant light of the lamps.
The banquet hall erupted into cheers and cries of near pain.
"The rate you are slipping, Black, I'm tempted to revoke our arrangement. I'm no longer convinced it is in the best of both our interests. Now, before I change my mind, why don't you tell me why you just dragged me into a dark hallway, after telling me to go back to the party?" Placing her hands on her hips, she reminded herself he was two years her junior at least.
"I have my reasons for not wanting to be seen tonight."
"Afraid Sirius will hex you for me, if he sees you?"
Regulus's eyes traveled from her lips down her throat and the space between them. All confidence she had just built up disappeared in the instant his eyes caught hers and told her he knew he'd won their silent game for now.
"Something like that," he admitted. His posture shifted from threatening to relaxed against the wall by her side as he shoved his hands into his robe pockets. "But what I want to know, Miss Dumbledore, is why you've been avoiding your own Housemates all evening?"
Hermione froze and refused to meet his eye. Only a subtle twitch of her fingers betrayed her. "I'm here as Mr. Potter's escort."
Regulus grinned, then turned to face her. "You and I both know your brilliance far outweighs his. You could be so much greater than this. Everyone knows it. I would have thought you would start listening to Lefay by now…"
She rounded on him in an instant, fire in her eyes and her heart. It was a side of Hermione, Regulus was intent on drawing out.
"And just how would you know what Lefay says?"
Rolling his eyes, he sighed. "Hermione, you're able to fool most of these sycophants, who only want your money and title and—other desirable assets—but Lefay is intelligent. And despite my mother's meddling implies, I do care about more than adding your name to my family tree." He suddenly paused and glanced both ways down the hall. Drawing out his wand, he cast a silent spell.
Hermione gasped. "You aren't allowed to magic outside school grounds Regulus! You'll be expelled!"
He chuckled. "If Potter told you anything about the family whose home you were about to see, I shouldn't have to explain."
He waited for her to sort through this newest piece of information before diving in for the reason he had come this night in the first place. She barely felt the brush of his fingers on the enchanted skirt of her dress. The night sky still gleamed over the fabric, only now it was covered by thick gray clouds.
"All I am telling you, is you need to be more careful. I've seen the way Potter looks at you." Disgust filled his voice.
"And what way is that?" She bit back.
"Like he already owns you…and the first thing you should know about our House, Hermione, is that we do not tolerate being made fools."
Snatching her fingers in his, she was too surprised to swat them back.
"I know more about you than you realize…"
Her eyebrows rose and he laughed at her unspoken question.
"I know that you have dark magic around you. I felt it that day in Diagon Alley. No one can see the other side of hell and not carry the scars, love."
"I don't know what you're talking about…"
"I think we both know you do. But you should know you can trust me Hermione, no matter what else happens or is said in the future, know that much. I will always be here to look after you, Salazar knows you're going to need it."
Narrowing her eyes at his cryptic words, she said, "What do you mean?"
He forced a grin. "Choose the right side, Hermione. And make it less obvious you're in love with Potter, unless you want to make his life a living hell."
She opened her mouth to ask more and was instead interrupted by a high laugh and the clash of magic in the air. Hermione rushed to it without a second thought, leaving Regulus behind in the shadows though she didn't know it. Because she felt his panic through their bond.
James!
They couldn't use magic outside Hogwarts, but if she guessed right, the Lestrange's had set something in their wards that made them unplottable to the Ministry. Which meant there really was another reason for the Aurors present.
Shit!
She ran faster and ducked to miss a stray chunk of rock explode near her head. The two wizards stood several feet apart in front of her in the empty hall she had just left. James faced off the man Hermione remembered naming off before.
Lucius Malfoy...
Their magic exploded from the tips of their wands and clashed together in a tug of power.
James yielded first and cast a shield around himself with the lift of his free hand. He growled at the smug Lucius. "Go to hell! I'll be damned before I'll join you cause!"
"So hasty in your decision Potter…Perhaps you aren't worthy of his consideration after all. Such a pity! You know he will take the Dumbledore heiress from you, unless you join us."
"She'll never join you bloody bastards!"
Lucius stood several inches shorter, but held his head in such a way that he seemed to tower over James. "Why would she not? I have it on good authority she has already begun to give true credit, for the first time, to her family name."
James's eyes darted briefly to hers. He knew she was there. She could feel his magic caressing hers and yet it wouldn't calm the fury in her heart, or her intent. Regulus's warning be damned, she wasn't about to embrace that heartless fool.
She appeared out from the shadows, startling Lucius with her words and outstretched hand. "Avis Oppugno!" Birds appeared from midair and attacked the Wizard's perfectly combed hair, pecked at his skin and his eyes.
James gave him no time to recover from Hermione's attack. He threw a full body binding hex over the former Slytherin and took her into his arms.
"Where the bloody hell have you been, Witch? Padfoot's still looking for you in the banquet hall and we're leaving before the Muggle burning starts up."
She trembled in his arms, ghostly pale and wondering why that particular spell felt so familiar and so foreign at the same time. She could not recall the image of the text behind that spell in any book tucked away in her mind.
When she gave no reply James continued to drag them away, past the banquet hall and for the front. He snatched a hand mirror from his robe pocket. "Padfoot? We're leaving now mate."
"Be joining you, soon as I convince Travers to kiss Snivellus on the lips tomorrow morning!" Sirius laughed.
Muttering to himself, James wrapped her in her cloak and barreled out of the dark house. "Blacks and their stupid family curses…"
Hermione was secretly glad that he didn't try to question her any farther. Even after he wrapped her into himself and disapparated back to Potter grounds.
She was too overwhelmed with the things Regulus had told her, with the fact that Malfoy was sending them messages from him. It made her realize how careless she had allowed herself to be in the last two days, how real the danger they found themselves was. It made her reconsider keeping all of this from her Uncle and the boys. Should she really trust Regulus? What else did he know about her?
Who remembers me from my life before I woke up at the Potters?
James did not let go of her until they had slipped through the silent hallways and locked themselves in his room. Only then did she realize he was still mumbling nonsense about Slytherin and secret agendas and the War that was nearly upon them.
He fell silent, concentrating on the clasp of her cloak as he unhooked it and brushed the fabric off her thin shoulders.
"James?" she began softly, wondering whether he too knew more about her than she did herself.
"What is it, love?" He smiled shakily at her, thinking thoughts as dark if not worse than she.
Biting her lip, she asked the one question she had least expected to escape her thoughts. "Do you think I'm more than books and knowledge?"
"What?"
Her eyes widened, slightly glazed with her words. "I mean…do you think I have a—a soul?" Memories from behind the veil, emotions and feelings rather than images slipped through the cracks then.
Failure, despair, longing, loss…
My fault!
She was sinking into the dark abyss Regulus had revealed to her, confirming her own suspicions all along. She was altered because of the curse. She would never again be who she had been before. Could she ever hope to find more? Would she ever stop grieving for a person, a future she could not remember?
"Mione, look at me!" James assaulted her fiercely, grabbed her face with calloused hands and bore his gaze so deeply into hers, he pulled her back out of the pit. Though they were inches apart his voice carried and shook her deepest fears.
"You are the most beautiful—the most pure soul I've ever known! No one could make me feel like this who didn't feel just as strongly back."
Their magic was twisting between them, invisible tendrils curling and tightening his hold on her.
Hermione blinked back tears.
"Don't you dare give in to whatever sick fuck cursed you. You'll always be more than what's up here." He shook her head between his hands, and suddenly his hands slipped down over her neck, everywhere.
She gasped at the feeling, choked on her sob as she felt him stitching her back together.
"You're mine, and I'm yours. That's all you need to know, love. And if you ever do lose yourself, I'll come after you, no matter how long or hard a way you make it."
His lips brushed over hers, breathed life into her limbs. She clutched onto him and understood now what Albus had meant.
When she kissed him, it wasn't with desperation or pure lust to satiate their desires. It was to cover the dark abyss inside of her mind with new memories and feelings, of James.
Review: If you love Reggie Black as much as I secretly do ;)
