A/N: Thank you for the lovely reviews! Hope you enjoy!
Hogwarts ~ 1977
"Mate you need to slow down."
Sirius was trailing behind James as he rushed up the stairs in Potter Manor.
They had arrived home from Kings Cross Station just moments ago. Mrs. Potter had barely put the kettle on when James had asked what he'd been itching to all morning.
"Mum, where's your bracelet?"
Sirius rolled his eyes in response, but he did notice the absence of the family heirloom James had insisted his mother never took off.
Mrs. Potter lit the stove with a flick of her wand. "Oh, I snagged it on my jumper right before we left to get you boys and the clasp broke. It's upstairs in my room."
James had shot up from his spot at the table before she had finished speaking.
"What are you up to, James?" his mum's voice rang out from behind them as Sirius followed after his friend.
"Nothing Mum!"
Which is how Sirius ended up in this situation, hesitantly standing in the doorway of Mr. and Mrs. Potter's bedroom.
"Don't just stand there looking stupid," James said as he parsed through the various trinkets on the nightstand.
Sirius continued to stand there awkwardly. "Isn't this an invasion of privacy?"
James shot him an incredulous look. "Since when do you care about privacy?"
"This is different! It's your mum!"
"She's your mum too."
"That doesn't make it any better! She opened up her home to me and now I'm going to snoop through her things?" He took a hesitant step into the room.
"Please, she knows exactly what we're doing. I wasn't exactly subtle," James said as he began opening the chest of drawers.
"You noticed that did you?"
"Shut up," he said, chuckling.
Sirius reluctantly started looking around the room.
"Here!" James exclaimed.
Sirius moved toward where James was standing, holding a delicate gold chain in his palm.
"I told you!" he said, shoving the bracelet in his friend's chest.
Sirius inspected the bracelet. Sure enough, there was a stag engraved on the gold plate. It looked strikingly similar to the one Hermione wore, or what he saw of it.
He handed it back to James. "Well, what does this prove then? She obviously didn't steal it. Your mum's had it the whole time."
James' mind obviously hadn't gotten that far. He scrunched his eyebrows together. "I dunno." He groaned, flopping face down on the bed. "I think I'm going crazy," he said, muffled by the pillows.
Sirius walked over to him. "Look, you were right to recognize it. I'm not saying you acted in the right way," he said quickly when James looked a little too happy. "But it looks an awful lot like it. She said it was a knockoff from a friend. You know there're loads of those all over London."
James sat up quickly. "But that's what I mean. This girl we don't know transfers to Hogwarts, which never happens, and she just so happens to have a copy of my most recognizable family heirloom! You can't tell me that's not weird!"
"It's a hell of a coincidence."
"But what if it's not!"
"Prongs, just cool off okay. You're suspicious of her, I get it. The world is shit right now and we don't know who to trust. But if you can trust anyone, it's Dumbledore, right? He wouldn't let just anyone into the castle."
James nodded.
"Just, cool off, alright?"
Sirius rose from his seat next to James, leaving him to continue sulking on the bed. He got to his room at the end of the hall and went in, closing the door behind him. Getting on his hands and knees, he pulled out the trunk under his bed and opened. He pushed the elegant silk scarves and mismatched silverware to reach the heavy books at the bottom.
Sirius looked at his door, thinking of his best friend in the other room. Should he have told him that he still planned to give Hermione his family's books? James obviously forgot or else that fact would have definitely made it into his latest manic episode. He shook his head. No, that would only get him more riled up.
He placed the books at the bottom of his school trunk and slammed it shut.
It wasn't that he was blindly trusting someone he didn't know. But there was something about Hermione that he recognized in himself. Resilience of someone who'd endured too much at too young an age.
Even so, what was the worst she could do within Hogwarts' walls?
Hogwarts ~ 1978
As quickly as they arrived, the holidays came to a swift end, bringing a train load of students back into the castle on a chilly Sunday evening.
Hermione had had a nice and quiet Christmas. As promised, Lily and Alice had sent her a handful of letters, telling her about their respective Christmases with their families. Even Remus had sent her a letter inquiring about her Christmas in the castle.
Surprisingly, she had woken up to an owl at her window Christmas morning, a package held in its beak. In the box was a new set of quills, high quality even by 1998's standards. She was surprised to see that they were from Professor Dumbledore, no doubt concerned she wouldn't be receiving any gifts this year.
Though not technically a Christmas gift, there was one item she was expecting to receive, which was why she was now sitting on the sofa in the common room, awaiting her friends' arrival.
Slowly, Gryffindors started trickling in, many excited to be back but even more melancholy that the break was over. Finally, she found the familiar faces in the bunch and called out to them.
"Hermione!" Alice said, rushing over to give her a hug. "How were your holidays?"
"Good! You?"
She nodded, excitedly. "Frank came over Christmas Eve and met my family. Him and my dad got on really well!"
She could feel the excitement pouring out of her. "That's wonderful!"
Lily untangled herself from James and sat on the sofa. She pulled out a tin from her bag. "I brought you some of my mum's shortbread," she said, handing it to Hermione. "I feel awful you didn't get to have a proper Christmas." Her bright eyes shined with eager sincerity.
"She's been worrying the whole train over," Remus said, shooting a wry smile at Hermione from his spot in the armchair across from them.
She grinned. "This is lovely, Lily. Thank you."
Lily looked relieved, finally relaxing into her seat.
"How was your holiday then?" Mary asked.
"It was nice. I caught up on some reading. Went to Hogsmeade a few times."
"Shall we carry on this conversation over dinner?" James asked, clapping his hands together. "I'm starved." He wasn't deliberately ignoring Hermione as she had expected, so that was a positive start to the new year.
"We just ate about half of the trolly, Prongs," Peter said, shaking his head in amusement.
James slapped his hand on his friend's back. "Ah, but that was just sweets, Wormtail. We need some real food to keep our strength up."
They all laughed as they made their way out the door.
Before Hermione could stop herself, she pulled Sirius aside. "Did you bring them?" she asked.
"Aren't you an eager one?" he said, cheekily.
"I'm serious."
He raised his eyebrows. "That's my line."
She huffed, rolling her eyes. She should have seen that one coming.
"Okay, okay. Relax." He pulled out the shrunken trunk from his jacket pocket and, with a wave of his wand, it returned to its original size. He opened it and thrust his arm all the way to the bottom, digging past jumpers and robes, before pulling out two large and very old books. He handed them to her.
Slowly, she reached out and took them from him, handling them carefully. She devoured the covers. She hoped against hope the answer to her way home was located in these books.
"You're welcome," Sirius smiled.
She looked back up at him, having almost forgotten he was there. "Thank you," she said, hoping to convey the amount of gratitude she felt. Sirius could have easily taken James' side and distrusted her. She wasn't very subtle, and with his family's history, she wouldn't have blamed him for being cautious. But despite all of that, he chose to lay his trust in her and offer her his help.
He nodded, seemingly uncomfortable with the level of sincerity in her eyes.
After a moment of silence, as Hermione continued to inspect the books in her hands and Sirius stood there uncomfortably, rocking back and forth on his heels, Hermione started. "Oh! I nearly forgot."
She placed the books carefully on the sofa and picked up the box of chocolates lying there. "Happy Christmas."
He took them from her, obviously shocked.
"Well, mostly it's a thank you to you, but-"
"I didn't get you anything," he said.
"Don't be silly, you just did. I didn't want to be empty handed. It's for you and the boys to share. I got the girls some wine from Madam Rosemerta." She paused. "You're welcome," she said, smiling at his shock.
"Thanks," he said, still a little stunned at the gift, but resumed his usual demeanor and shot her a grin. He headed to the door but noticed she wasn't following. "You coming?"
She seemed to be having an internal argument, looking at the door then back to the books. "I'm going to look at these now, actually. I ate before you all got back."
"You sure?"
She nodded eagerly, already scooping the books up and heading towards the steps to her room. "I'll see you tomorrow!" she called from over her shoulder, disappearing up the stairs.
"Odd witch," he muttered, shaking his head.
Hermione carefully laid the books on her bed once she made it to her room. The titles, Grimoirium Furvus and Deorum Temporis, jumped out at her in gold writing laid stark against the faded brown leather binding. She opened the first, running her fingers down the pages, soft from generations of use.
Before she knew it, an hour had gone by and she had barely gotten beyond the first few pages. The others would be back any minute now, so Hermione hurriedly packed up the books in her bag, along with her new journal and quills. She scribbled a quick note to the girls, and with an easy sticking charm, placed it on the bottle of wine she had gotten them.
With everything in order, she grabbed her bag and set out for the seventh-floor corridor. Counting on the fact that no one would disturb her in the Room of Requirement, she'd have hours to herself to dive headfirst into the Black books. Surely there was something useful to her inside.
She stepped inside and got to work.
xxx
The soft glow of sunlight seeped into Hermione's closed eyes, nudging her out of sleep.
Wait, sunlight?
There were no windows in the Room of Requirement. How could that be?
Wait. Sunlight!
Hermione jolted upright. She must have fallen asleep while she was reading. She cast a quick tempus charm and saw that she had class in five minutes.
"Damn," she cursed. The sunlight must have been the room's way of getting her to wake up.
She hurriedly grabbed her things, luckily having her Charms book already in her bag, and rushed out the door to class.
Barely making it before the start, she collapsed in a seat next to Alice.
"You alright? You look like you spent the night in the Whomping Willow," Alice whispered.
"Yeah where were you? You were gone before we woke up this morning," Mary said, looking slightly concerned.
She quickly tamed her hair, just now noticing how dreadful she must've looked. Never mind that. She'd come to class looking worse.
Hermione nodded. "I fell asleep in the library," she said sheepishly.
"We've all been there," Remus said, smiling from his seat behind her.
"We all most certainly have not," Marlene said. Hermione noticed the lack of usual warmth underlying her snarky words.
"Must've been a good book," Sirius said, the hint of a question beneath his words.
She looked back at him and grinned. "Really good."
And it was. Once Professor Flitwick began his lecture, Hermione found she couldn't focus at all on his words, too distracted with what she'd found the night before.
As soon as class was finished, she shot up from her desk and headed for the door.
"More reading?" Lily asked, standing with the rest of their friends, an amused look on their faces.
"Oh, no." She stumbled upon a half-truth. "I have a meeting with Professor Dumbledore."
"Is everything alright?" Remus asked as they all walked out the classroom door.
She nodded, already a few steps ahead of them in the opposite direction. "Just wants to check in and see how I'm doing, adjusting and all."
They accepted the lie and waved goodbye, leaving Hermione to race to the Headmaster's office until she was knocking at the door.
"Come in," he said. Upon seeing her, he offered her a seat. "Miss Granger. I trust your holidays went well?"
She nodded, slightly out of breath. "Yes, sir. Thank you for allowing me to use your floo. And for the gift. You didn't have to do that."
He waved a hand at her. "The holidays bring out the giving spirit in us all. Which is why I trust you're here. You have something to show me?"
She would have attributed his words to his general all-knowingness if she hadn't already been pulling out the large books from her bag.
"I think I found it," she said, flipping open her journal and the larger book to the correct page.
He raised his eyebrows in surprise but urged her on.
"A while ago, Sirius mentioned that he had, um, borrowed some of his family's books when he left for the Potters'."
"Those are Black Family books?" he asked, shifting closer and examining them from behind his spectacles.
"Yes. He brought them back with him yesterday after I asked if I could take a look at them."
"Why did you think the answer would be here?"
"Well, I'd already looked at all of the relevant books in the library, so there was no harm in looking elsewhere." She paused, subconsciously reaching out to scratch her arm. "And, I have reason to believe that the Black family might have something to do with me being here."
He finally raised his eyes from the book to look at her. After examining her for a moment, he spoke, "And what is it you've found?"
She directed him to the open page. In exilium ignotum, it read.
"This book is filled with ancient spells the pureblood families developed. They were never published anywhere else, and with the only true pureblood families being so few, they eventually just never got translated and remained on the shelves in various family libraries.
"I came across this spell. It's written to only be used on enemies and when in immediate danger. I still have to cross-reference and translate the description and effects, but so far what I've found is that it banishes one to an unknown and unfamiliar state."
Dumbledore hummed, reading over the text slowly. "And how are you sure this is the same spell?"
"Right here, it mentions a flash of light," she said, pointing to the text.
He looked up at her, catching the satisfaction in her eyes.
"I still have to translate the book further," she continued. "It's an odd variation of Ancient Runes the pureblood families used in what seems to be the eleventh century. Hopefully there's a counterspell located in here that will send me back." She felt a hope blossom in her chest that she hadn't felt in months.
"This is remarkable work, Miss Granger," he finally said, still examining the tomes.
She beamed at the compliment. "Thank you, sir."
"Please update me on your progress. And if there's anything I can help you with, please don't hesitate to ask." He handed the books back to her.
She smiled at him, feeling for once that things were finally starting to turn around. A sudden thought occurred to her before she stepped out the door.
"I forgot to ask, sir. How were your holidays?"
He looked up, a worn expression crossing his face. He suddenly looked a lot more like the Professor she'd known. "I had some Order business to attend to on the continent. I did what I can, but I fear, well, I know," he continued, looking at her, "that this war will go on far longer than most realize."
She gave him a weak smile, before turning to leave. For her, when she left, she'd be returning to the end of the war. But for those she was leaving behind, the war had only just begun.
A/N: Thanks for reading! Please leave a review! Hope you are all staying happy and healthy.