Chapter 7
"Have you read the newspaper today Hermione?" Was the first thing she heard every morning.
"Death eaters attacked again last night, and close to my house. They killed 29 muggles. I'm so glad my family wasn't home, my parents and my younger sister Jade are in Ireland visiting my grandmother. But I do worry about them, every day. You must be worried about your family too" Jane was talking, seemingly upset.
She was still looking through the newspaper as they were walking to their class. They had Herbology with Ravenclaws next. Death eaters were on all headlines every week. Last week they attacked a small village and killed a bunch of wizards. The week before that they hit London and killed or injured over 300 people, both wizards and muggles.
Hearing of all this was one thing, but living it was another matter entirely. It was both closer yet much more distant than you would expect, but Hermione put it down to them being at Hogwarts, which was safe from any attacks. It was still very bizarre and terrifying, reading of all the attacks and deaths every morning.
"Yes, I do worry. They live in the countryside through, Death Eaters are less likely to attack there but who knows these days." Hermione replied.
Jane kept on talking but Hermione found she wasn't listening to her anymore. As cruel as it sounded, she had other things to worry about, like getting back home.
It's not like she could stop or change what was happening, this was past, and the most important thing was that the future seemed brighter.
Hermione shook her head. Who was she trying to convince?
Countless times she wondered if there was a way to save them but it was one thing to save one life or two, and another thing entirely to save millions. Interfering in life and death never ended well, and doing so at such a scale was insane.
Thinking so passionately about what she could and could not do, Hermione forgot to look where she was going, and we all know how that ends. Usually with walking into someone else who was just as much not paying attention to their surroundings.
"Will you ever stop walking down these corridors with your head in the clouds?" She looked up to see Regulus frowning at her. He was holding an open book. Who reads a book in a busy corridor?
"You could have dodged me" She replied in a steady tone of voice.
"I wasn't looking Hermione, usually everyone keeps their distance from me and for a very good reason" He hissed.
She could feel Jane, who was now standing a step behind her, stiffen in fear. Looking at him, he did look quite intimidating but she had time to get used to his overbearing act.
What was his deal with all the dramatics anyway?
"Indeed, your mood swings are quite excessive my lord" She sneered, and watched how he tried to keep himself from smiling.
She missed the time they spent together during the summer. They were free to act as they wanted but here at Hogwarts, things were more complicated. Regulus was so tense all the time around her, never letting his guard down.
"Well, at least you have learned how to speak to your superiors" He said with a straight face but Hermione could see the mirth in his eyes.
"Is sarcasm a foreign language to you?" She hit back not paying attention to the little crowd that began to form as other students stopped in their way to watch the confrontation between the notorious Slytherin, soon to be death eater, Regulus Black and the muggle born Gryffindor girl nobody really noticed before.
"You think you're so witty, don't you Granger" She noted the emphasis he put on her surname. He did it often to tease her.
"Yes, as a matter of fact I do, Black" She said smugly.
"You're very reckless, I'm not someone anyone should be talking to, especially somebody of your kind. I suggest you don't leave your common room late at night, you might find yourself looking over your shoulder"
"If you're trying to threaten me then you're not even close to succeeding. I could defeat you with my eyes closed"
"Is that a challenge?"
"What?"
"I accept. Meet me tonight after dinner. Don't be late" He said and walked away leaving her stunned.
Soon the audience began to leave and go on their way. Hermione turned to Jane who stood frozen in her spot, with a shocked look on her face. Hermione grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the few people that were still staring. Besides they were already late to class.
"Did we just run into Regulus Black? Hermione, you were so rude to him! We are so dead! What if he tells his friends to kill our families?" Jane was whispering frantically as they walked fast.
"What are you talking about? He's not a death eater Jane! Why is everyone so afraid of him? He's just a kid our age"
"He's dangerous Hermione! Where have you been for the past three years? He acts like a model student but you must remember when in second year he made that potion explode? It burnt Ernie and Rowan and gave them that nasty pink pox for weeks after the burns have gone down. That potion could not have done that to them no matter how badly they messed it up. He added something to it because they said something about his family. He told them to watch their mouths or he will burn them.
And last year! Surely you must remember how he cursed that stupid 5th year who attacked him after Regulus refused to let him sit in the seat next to him in the library. Or that time he sent three 7th years to the hospital wing when we were in our 2nd year! Everyone knows he did all of that but none of the victims ever told on him so he always got away. Even the teachers are wary of him, so, why aren't you?" Jane said with desperation dancing in her eyes, making Hermione sigh.
Why wasn't she wary of him? Should she be? Given everything she has been hearing about his and the distance which everyone kept from him it, her behaviour towards him has been pretty careless.
Was it because he saved her life and was helping her find a way to return home? Was it because they knew each other's secrets? Or maybe because she saw that on the contrary to what he's been showing publicly with his cold demeanour, he does have feelings.
She would never forget the broken boy who came to her during summer, utterly devastated after his older brother ran away from home.
Ultimately, Hermione decided not to worry about it for the time being.
Before she knew the word got around, and now everyone was talking about how Hermione asked Regulus Black to a duel. Some older Gryffindors even came up to her offering to take her place but she declined.
They were seriously blowing this out of proportion. Hermione kept getting concerned looks thrown her way and some 'who does she think she is' ones too, but those she received mainly from Slytherin. Jane looked frightened for the rest of the day but Hermione just did her own thing totally unbothered which seemed to stress Jane out even more.
After dinner Hermione noticed a group of people began to follow her. She shook her head. What were they expecting? Did they think Regulus and her would duel? Surely not?
To their disappointment she made her way up to the library confusing the lot of them, but those who decided to follow still, were surprised to discover there was no actual duel like they imagined, as Hermione sat down with Regulus Black to a game of chess.
The wit and competitive nature of both players made the game pretty exciting to watch and soon enough the audience split into two and were cheering their chosen player on. It was mainly Gryffindor vs Slytherin but a few Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs joined in too.
Engrossed in the game, everyone seemed to forget who the players were, forgetting all the animosity between them. Just like Hermione knew from the start, Regulus was the winner. She was after all horrible at the damn game, and Regulus was very aware of that, the snake.
"How does it feel to lose against me?" He asked after the game was over.
"Like a set-up"
"Oh, you wound me" Regulus made a hurt face. He must have read up on what sarcasm was at lunchtime.
"Drop the act, you know I'm bad at chess. You're such a Slytherin!" Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Thank you" He smirked.
Hermione couldn't tell if people were disappointed or relieved that there was no duel. She could only hope she wouldn't be subjected to the wrath of her housemates for losing a game of chess to a Slytherin. The vendetta between the two houses was something else.
Right as she walked in to the common room she was tackled down by Sirius, Remus, Peter and James demanding to know what the evil Regulus had done to her and if she really duelled him and who won.
They seemed to have only just found out about it and looked to be on their way to find her. She explained to them what really happened and returned to her room promptly, where she was interrogated by her roommates.
After that, the weeks went by fast, soon they turned into months.
Dumbledore's focus has been on Voldemort and the death eaters, so her return home has been pretty much on hold.
Despite the Order of the Phoenix's best efforts, Voldemort continued to grow in power and influence. His attacks, whether carried out personally or by his Death Eaters, became more frequent and brutal. It was clear that Dumbledore was the only wizard in the world who rivalled Voldemort in ability, and the general wizarding public was starting to lose any hope for his defeat.
Hermione and Regulus spent more time together and gradually the other students stopped paying attention to them. But Sirius and James appeared very interested in her friendship with him.
She once sat on the sofa in the common room, reading a book when the marauders surrounded her, trying to engage in a conversation. They wanted to find out what Regulus was up to, but as crafty as they were, they were no Slytherins.
"What is it with you, the library and my brother?" Sirius asked.
"It's called studying but I don't really have time to explain to you what it is or how it works so you're better off asking Professor McGonagall about it" She replied with a smile. He really was making it too easy for her.
"You're mean Granger" Sirius frowned at her dramatically. Feeling they have failed, the gang quickly left her be.
For Regulus not much has changed.
Others were still wary of him. Spending time with Hermione had not much impact on anything until that one potion lesson where Slughorn paired Hermione with him.
They were making Garish pink blended poison in pairs. He paired them together previously because the two of them were the top of their class, and he was happy seeing them work well together. But that day was not a good day for Hermione, and Regulus noticed she was in a foul mood.
She got pranked by some brave individual the day before and was still suffering the effects of it. Her hair was hot red and she couldn't work out how to reverse it. Regulus suspected his brother and his not so subtle gang had something to do with it.
Either way, in an effort to make her feel better he added a few different ingredients to the potion which was meant to produce colourful laughing bubbles, but he miscalculated as didn't notice that Hermione already added an ingredient that made the potion steam cold.
In that moment, someone opened the door and the wind caused the cold steam to fly into Hermione's face turning it blue. The lesson ended with the angry Hermione chasing him around the class, which landed them both in detention.
After that incident, a few courageous individuals tried to talk to him. But it all went down the drain after a nasty argument he got in with his brother. They have avoided each other for many months, but one afternoon had it that they ran into each other outside, when Regulus was on his way to meet Hermione.
They were planning to sneak away to the Forbidden Forest but the confrontation cancelled their plans. Some nasty comments must have been exchanged because when Hermione got there, both boys were covered in awful bruises and cuts. Sirius who seemed to have been in a worse state than Regulus was taken to the hospital wing by James, Peter and Remus.
Regulus stood there glaring at the spot where Sirius was few minutes ago, he looked scary, much more than usual. There was a small audience observing the entire exchange but nobody dared to come up to him or touch him. He looked ready to kill. The students that were present warned her away from his but Hermione ignored them and went up to him with confidence.
She grabbed his hand and felt the danger radiate off of him. He looked at her with hostility as if trying to scare her off. He hissed at her to go away and leave him alone but she grabbed his hand firmly and pulled him away from the prying eyes. He resisted less and less the further away they walked. She took him to the platform at the lake where they first met.
They sat in silence for a while, looking at the peaceful surface of water before them. Hermione then cleaned his wounds and patched him up a little with some brilliant spell work.
"Are you not going to ask?"
"There's no need, you will tell me when you're ready" She replied focused on fixing his handsome face, but she felt his eyes on her.
"He started it" he said after a few minutes, sounding like a child which made Hermione chuckle.
"What did you argue about? I got there too late to watch the entire spectacle" She was done with fixing him up. Regulus noticed she didn't move away.
"Blood, what else" He tried to laugh it off but the smile didn't quite reach his eyes. His mask was slipping away, and he looked clearly upset about what happened between him and Sirius. It seemed to become a pattern that every time Regulus was this miserable and crushed in front of her, it had something to do with his older brother.
He didn't dare to tell her what he said to Sirius about her. His brother told him to stay away from her, because one day he might find himself being ordered to kill her and Regulus snapped.
In anger, he told Sirius horrible things he realised he didn't mean after it had already left his mouth. Between that and fighting over some family matters, insulting match and some other unnecessary comments, they ended up throwing curses at each other.
Regulus couldn't remember who threw the first one but he wished he could take it all back.
Sirius was the most important person in the world to him, someone he always looked up to, someone he trusted and believed in. Choosing between his parents and his brother was tearing him apart. He couldn't feel any more guilty towards Sirius and towards Hermione who ever since she came to this time, was always there for him, and even now she sat with him, tended to his wounds and listened to him.
He wanted to tell her to leave him, that he wasn't worth her time but he couldn't. He was a coward and he was weak. He didn't deserve her. In the midst of all this afternoon mess, he found himself questioning whether his pure blood beliefs were worth any of it?
"It feels like so long ago, doesn't it?" Hermione suddenly said looking into the water. "If it wasn't for you that day I would have drowned"
"You wouldn't have drowned, I made a massive air bubble down there, you would have probably fell into it" He replied without thinking about what he had revealed.
He came here a few times since the start of the year but the merpeople wouldn't allow him down there. He didn't plan on revealing details of this little project of his but it was too late now.
"You have? But that's very difficult, how did you do it?" She isn't going to like the answer to that, he thought.
"There is a round reef down there. Last year I placed twelve dark artefacts in it, making them reflect each other like the numbers on a watch, depending on their properties and err some other stuff"
"But that's dark magic"
"Then I suppose I am a dark wizard"
"But it's dangerous, dark magic always comes at a price!" He watched as she got all worked up and it brought a small smile to his lips.
"Not to us, druidic blood is soaked in dark magic" He told her looking away with a smug look on his face.
"I thought you didn't know you had druid blood in you before your mother told us that time"
"I didn't" He smirked and earned himself a smack to his arm.
"Regulus! You're incorrigible" She exclaimed. "What did you built it for anyway?"
"Experimenting and self-education. I did manage to test it out a little and it makes spells more powerful, although I'm sure it has many more uses than just that" Then the sudden realisation hit him and he kicked himself mentally for not thinking of it sooner. He turned to Hermione who was looking at him with eyes wide open. She must have come to the same conclusion he did.
"That would make so much sense as to why I was bought here exactly at this time. Maybe whatever spells you tested out that day somehow activated those objects creating some sort of a portal and if you won't take it down, then it means it must still be here in the future and when I fell into the water, I must have fallen into it and the time tuner I had on somehow reacted to it bringing me here"
"But that's amazing!" He exclaimed. "Maybe you can return home the same way! Just we need to work out how to make sure it drops you off at the exact same time you came from. But we can't tell Dumbledore about it, promise me you won't tell anyone Hermione. The ministry would destroy it and it took me forever to put it all together"
"I promise! Merlin! I can't believe you Regulus Black. You don't even care you could be punished for doing something like that on school grounds. You're unbelievable… but you're a genius!"