AN: Hello, fanfiction and Harry Potter fans. I do not own Harry Potter, but feel free to enjoy this or hate it. If you enjoy it, please leave a lovely comment, if you hate it, then leave some constructive criticism, thanks!

Can You Take the Jump?

Chapter 14

September 1st, 1973

He felt someone's eyes on him. He'd been feeling them since he stood on platform 9 ¾. Even on the train, the eyes were present, but it didn't matter if he flung the doors of his compartment open, no one could be found.

"Black, Regulus."

His ever-persistent stalker's eyes prickled the back of his neck. With a heavy sigh, he stepped up to the three-legged stool and allowed McGonagall place that wretched-looking hat on his head. He looked ahead to the Hogwarts population. People were watching him, anticipating, judging whether he would be like his disgraced older brother.

All the eyes that stared at him had some form of expectation in them, some challenged him, some hoped for him, and others had an evil desire to see him in another House just to watch the chaos it would bring.

It was exhausting.

Out of all the eyes, there was only one pair in the back, standing by the entrance of the Great Hall, that stared at him with absolutely no expectation.

Those were the eyes. He didn't know how he knew it, but he was sure that they were the eyes that had watched him all day.

"Slytherin!" The old hat shouted and the table underneath the green and silver banner erupted in cheer, but Regulus Arcturus Black only watched the eyes in the back of the hall.

"Good job." The owner of the eyes seemed to tell him before walking out of the Great Hall.

He wanted to follow her—his stalker—but he was distracted by the group of Slytherins beckoning him to their table. While his stalker's gaze was far more interesting, the ones sitting at the table were the ones that would report back to his mother, thus much more important, so he sat and accepted the questionable welcome by his fellow peers with a cool smile.

The rest of the sorting felt terribly long and the Welcome Feast even more so, but he knew his place. He joked and ate and scowled at the right times when people mentioned the muggleborn students. The older students even dared to mention Sirius, but he was flippant, claiming his disgraced brother was not a reflection of his own purity and superiority, and neither of his family's.

Once everyone was finally dismissed, he walked up to the room he would share with other boys his age. It was the first time he'd have to share a bedroom with others and he was not excited, but it was 'all part of the Hogwarts experience' Sirius had reassured him when he came back from Hogwarts after his first year. He observed his skittish roommates, a Rosier, a Bulstrode, and a half-blood that he hadn't bothered asking for a name. He internally grimaced, if this was the 'Hogwarts experience' that his brother was talking about, he'd rather do without it.

His mother's grand Great Horned Owl tapped the glass of his dormitory. He'd anticipated that his mother would have heard of his Sorting by now, seeing how cousin Bellatrix immediately sent a letter to his mother after the Sorting Ceremony was over, but to receive a response this fast was rather unexpected. His mother must've been nervous, worried, that he'd end up in Gryffindor just like his brother.

Don't bring us shame – WB

How sweet. How warming. Regulus repressed the urge roll his eyes at his mother 'gushing' affections and reached for the window to close it when he saw a hooded figure walking on the grounds. He stuck his head out to get a better look only for the person to turn around.

It was his stalker.

"I'm going out. I'll be back soon. If anyone asks, tell them that I'm in the shower." He turned to his roommates, making sure they knew that it wasn't a request, but an order.

He calmly walked through the common room, trying to grab as little attention as possible. He stayed near the edge of the room, hiding in the shadows while Malfoy spoke to a group of older Slytherins, laughing and joking about some matter. Never in his life did he think he'd thank a Malfoy for something, but he supposed there were always firsts.

He stumbled around the corridors, lost and unsure of how to get to the grounds where he last saw the hooded figure.

"Reggie?"

Regulus swore. He was the last person he wanted to see tonight.

"Sirius."

The two brothers stared at each other in awkward silence. Regulus knew Sirius had wished him to be in Gryffindor with him, but Regulus also knew that if he was also sorted into Gryffindor their mother would become even more ruthless towards Sirius for 'poisoning the mind of her last son'.

"So…Slytherin."

"Yeah, mother is pleased."

His brother frowned. "Reg, did you do this for Walburga? Did you go to Slytherin because of that bitch?"

Regulus shook his head. "No." I did it for you. "Slytherin isn't that bad, maybe to other Houses, but we're good to our own."

Sirius frowned again. "You haven't met her, have you?"

Her?

"You're right, not all Slytherins are bad." Sirius's admission surprised Regulus. He always assumed his brother thought that all who wore the green and silver tie and bore the Snake crest were the next devil incarnate. "Our uncle was Slytherin. Cousin Andromeda was also Slytherin. You're in Slytherin. She is as well."

Again, with this ominous female.

"You'll know who I'm talking about when you see her. She's the one that showed me while not all Slytherins are bad, but the bad ones…Reg, the bad ones are really bad."

Regulus thought of his fellow Slytherin peers who were laughing and chatting in the common room with their friends. He wondered which ones were the really bad ones that Sirius was talking about.

"I'm just on my way to the kitchens for some treacle tart." Sirius clapped his hand, stopping any opportunity for deeper conversations. "Do you want me to show you where the kitchens are?"

A light sparkled in Regulus's eyes at the thought of an adventure with his older brother, just like when they were younger and would sneak around the house in search for cool knick-knacks or just a prank on Kreature.

He took a step towards his brother, but remembered the reason he'd stepped out of his dormitories in the first place. His stalker was also a female, maybe the person Sirius was mentioning was the same person. With that thought, his curiosity grew deeper than his desire to traverse around the castle with Sirius.

"No, I'm actually out because I—I'm writing a letter to mother. Telling her that I've gotten into Slytherin."

The lie came unwarranted and unexpectedly, therefore delivered poorly. His brother saw through the lie immediately and narrowed his eyes with suspicion.

"If you were one of my mates, I'd think that you were sneaking off to see a girlfriend, but even our looks can't hook a girl on the first day and the first night in Hogwarts."

"I am going to meet a girl." Regulus spoke with indignation at the idea that he couldn't do something just because Sirius couldn't.

"Oh?" This time Sirius leaned against the stone wall, smirk on his lips. "What's her name, is she also a first year? What does she look like? Do you even know where to hide in case you're out past curfew?"

"You're not going to let me go alone, are you?"

Sirius draped his arm around Regulus and let out a barking laugh, "absolutely not, Reggie."

…

"I thought the Slytherins didn't have windows because they live in the dungeons."

Sirius walked through the forest with absolute ease in the direction Regulus had last seen the mystery girl go.

"They're not actual dungeons." Regulus was about to roll his eyes, but nearly fell by tripping over a root. "We're not trolls or goblins, lurking in the basement of the castle. We have windows, the ones in the common room can't be opened because it's underwater, but the dorms have windows that we can open. We're not that far off the ground, but we can see the grounds and the sun."

"So this girl…" It wasn't a question, yet a question nonetheless. Sirius turned his body towards his brother with interest whilst casually side stepping some uneven ground like he could easily see in the dark.

"She's—" Regulus tried to side step like his brother, but failed miserably when his foot landed on a slippery rock instead, causing him to tumble down. "Arg! How are you walking so effortlessly?"

Sirius hushed him, "You shouldn't yell in the forest. It can attract unwanted visitors. It's called the Forbidden Forest for a reason." Sirius advised. "Are you sure it was this way?" He asked as he pushed forward.

"Why? D'you know what's here?"

"Nothing much. If we keep walking this way an open field will come up and if we go even deeper, we might encounter some beasties, but this is more a passage route than a specific territory."

"Then I guess we'll go to the clearing and if she's not there, I'm going back to my dorm. Its freezing out here at night and I didn't bring a cloak."

Sirius laughed teasingly. "We're in Hogwarts, little brother, we can use magic." He lifted his wand and placed a warming charm on him.

Regulus grumbled with discontent, but was secretly thankful.

As they continued, Regulus nearly fell several times, but refused to take his brother's offered hand like some damsel in distress. He'd rather have a bruise on his arse than hold Sirius's hand.

"The clearing should be a few meters away. Let's scope out the area before just walking into the clearing. This could be some kind of trap."

"Who'd trap me? What would they want?"

"I told you, there are some students in Slytherin that are bad." Sirius told him as he stepped off the narrow path and slowly started making his way to the clearing with the cover of bushes and trees. Regulus rolled his eyes, but followed his brother nonetheless.

The two brothers approached the clearing only to stop breathless. The female hooded figure stood in the clearing with large clumps of raw meat in her hands. To a normal kid, the hooded figure would seem insane, holding clumps of meat in an empty field with a ghost of a smile on her face. However, being a kid with the Black name meant there was no such thing normalcy, but the sight they were faced with seemed far from sane nonetheless.

"What in hells…" Regulus whispered, as a skeletal winged horse cuddling with the girl as she hand fed it large chunks of raw meat. He turned to his brother, but found him stepping out of the woods and into the clearing. His appearance apparently frightened the large beast, causing it to flap its wings threateningly.

"Shhh," The girl comforted the thestral. "Easy."

"You're not the Black I was waiting for." Her voice was soft, but clear and suspicious, "but seeing how the two of you suck at covering your footsteps, I expect your brother is close behind you."

Regulus took that as a sign to step out onto the clearing. When she turned around, the sight of her was shocking to the eye; dead rodents strapped to her waist to feed the beasts that coddled her, her intelligent eyes shining through the darkness with cold curiosity.

"You've been watching me."

"I have." She admitted easily.

"Evans…" Sirius looked back and forth between his brother and the girl. "What's going on?"

She pulled down her hood to reveal her flowing red hair, her fair skin, and a hint of green necktie.

"I've never heard of an Evans before."

"No, you wouldn't have since I'm not Pureblooded." She started circling the brothers.

"Half-blood then."

"Does blood matter so much?"

"No." "Yes." The two brothers answered at the same time.

The disparity between the similar looking boys made her smile, but it felt unnatural.

"It must've been a long day for both of you. I simply wished to see Regulus. You don't know this, but you helped me once. I wanted to express my gratitude in person."

"I helped you?" Regulus looked confused. "I think I would remember meeting you and I would definitely remember helping you."

Her mouth twitched with a secretive smile.

"I thank you. Sincerely." She told him, but this time her voice was different, like warm butter, comforting, loving, and kind. It stirred something in him. This time, when she smiled it was much warmer, like her voice. Not just her smile, but her harsh beauty melted off her face and transformed gentle. Adorable even.

"You can see them?" Sirius broke the silent conversation the two were having with their eyes as he drew their attention back to the great beast with large bat-like wings.

"So can you." It was not a question.

"It seems none of us had a pleasant childhood." He surmised, but she shook her head.

"I had a lovely childhood and equally lovely parents. But enough talk, we'd be a horrible influence on your little brother if we got Regulus a detention on his first day." She tossed the rest of the meat to the eerie animals. "Good luck with school. Make sure you make the right friends, the ones that seem the most powerful aren't always the answer."

With that ominous advice, she casually walked out of the forest, leaving the two brothers watching her with the same dumbfounded expressions on their face.

…

"Good morning students! My name is Professor Goldstein and I'll be your new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor."

"Good morning, Professor Goldstein." The students chorused back.

"I see that a lot of you have gotten quite comfortable in your current seats, but I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to get up, so that you can sit in the seating arrangement that I've made. Be forewarned, I do not change the seating plan unless absolutely necessary, so I hope you learn to be respectful to your seat partner."

The unified groan echoed in the class, but the new professor smiled jovially, unconcerned about the discontent amongst his students. The seating arrangement was smart, at least on paper. Boys and girls, as well as a mix of Houses were seated next to each other, but attempting to solve interhouse animosity as well as centuries old blood prejudice by forcing students to sit together for hours was better in theory than in reality.

Lily sat with Mulciber, Mary sat with Severus, Alice sat with Travers, James sat with Zabini and so on, but for once in Hermione's life, luck was on her side.

"So, we meet again, Evans." Sirius's tone was cool, but there was a glint in his eyes that couldn't be missed.

"Yes, we do."

The two stared at each other, but when the time came for the other person to break eye contact, neither of them did. Sirius raised his brow at her, which caused Hermione to smirk, but she didn't blink.

She didn't know where this was coming from, but the sudden urge to be incredibly childish was elevating. Hermione couldn't remember the last time she'd played 'Don't Blink'. She resisted the instinctual urge to close her eyes when they started to sting from being dry. Her eyes were watering, telling her that she was close to losing.

"Mr. Black." Professor Goldstein called out, but Sirius ignored him and continued with their little competition. "Mr. Black." Goldstein spoke a bit louder this time, but again, Sirius was adamant to win. He could see the tears welling in the corner of Hermione's eyes. He could taste the victory.

"Mr. Black!"

Sirius let out a low growl, but turned his head, breaking eye contact. "Yes, Professor."

Hermione couldn't hide her smirk. She'd won.

The rest of the class went by, but Hermione was too distracted by Sirius's antics to pay much attention. He spent the first twenty minutes trying to reengage her to another round of Don't Blink by making funny faces, slipping her ridiculous little notes, poking her, even playing with her hair. By the end, he seemed to get bored and started throwing spit balls Travers's head. Enchanted by the pure stupidity in his game, Hermione rummaged through her bag and pulled out a vial of ink and slid it towards the boy.

'Permanent ink' The label read.

There was a devilish glimmer on his face, and before she knew it, they were secretly throwing tiny swabs of permanent ink pellets to any Slytherin they could reach. They even made a score chart; body was 5 points, their desk of 2 points, their head was 10 points, and right into their ear was 100 points.

This time Sirius was winning, by 50 points. He was shocking good at aiming projectile ink pellets to people, but Hermione supposed his beater aim and his years of pranks and rule-breaking behavior had prepared him for this.

She'd never had this much fun losing.

Sirius couldn't help but let a small laugh peak through when Hermione had gotten one on Traver's neck making him look like he had a gigantic mole. He turned to her with new found respect.

It'd been the first time in years that he'd been this physically close to her. The last time was at while they sat on the bench after working out during their first year. The day he'd heard her laugh for the first time and he was enchanted.

From the outside, Hermione Evans was as cold as ice. She barely cracked a smile, her emotionless face always seemed to be judging you, as if she knew better. While it was well known that the Slytherin Evans wasn't the biggest enthusiast about her academics, he always assumed she would be a stickler for the rules just like her twin sister. But he'd apparently been entirely wrong. She snuck around the school grounds at night to feed thestrals, she could be childish, she had a wicked mind for pranks and an impressive aim (at least for ink pellets).

She turned to him with a proud smile on her face, as if to say, 'Can you beat that shot?'

With her face and her body fully turned towards him, Sirius could see the differences from Lily. Where Lily's hair was straight and had a coppery hue, like a knut, Hermione's hair was wavy and a deeper auburn, looking brown in dimmer light and red in the sun. Kinda like the Firewhiskey his father drank from a fancy crystal decanter. Lily was covered in freckles, like a thousand kisses from the sun, while Hermione had only the tiniest sprinkle of the palest freckles that scattered across her nose.

And those eyes.

Merlin those eyes. They looked into your soul.

Never the type to turn down a challenge, Sirius ripped up an entire foot of parchment into tiny balls and started throwing them to the best of his discrete abilities.

It took a shocking long period of time for anyone to call them out for their behavior, but it was Josephine Zabini who finally raised her hand to tattle on them when she found her beautiful crème-coloured cashmere beret looking more like the skin of a Dalmatian.

After being heavily reprimanded by Goldstein, the duo promising they'd be good, but the class ended with neither of them having any idea what the lesson was even about.

"So Evans, I have a general rule in class that I don't bring textbooks unless I absolutely need to."

"I've seen you with textbooks in Transfiguration, Black."

"James's."

"Charms."

"Remus."

"DADA."

"You."

"As if." Hermione shook her head. "Why should I bring the book. Gryffindor Tower is closer to this class than the Slytherin Dungeons."

"How about we do rock paper scissors and loser brings the book."

She narrowed her eyes, but nodded. "Deal."

"Rock, paper, SCISSORS!" Sirius shouted, as if screaming the last word would somehow make Hermione forget the premise of the game.

"NOOOOO!" Sirius stared at his fist in shame, then glared at her open palm.

"I'll see you next class with the textbook."

Hermione walked out of class for the first time in years, with anticipation for the next class.

…

Lily and Hermione sat across from each other studying like they always did on Thursday afternoons. It was their own little sibling ritual ever since the second semester of first year. One of Lily's goals in Hogwarts was to raise Hermione's grades so that they could be Prefects together by 5th year, but little did Lily know, Hermione had no plans of being a Prefect. She did, however, enjoy spending time with her sister and appreciated Lily's intellect when it came to their discussions.

Bored with her Charms homework, Hermione looked up from her books to see Lily slaving over the Transfiguration homework given to them earlier that day.

At 13 years old, her sister was still very much a young girl in her tomboyish phase. Her long straight hair was pulled up into a low ponytail. Her brilliant green eyes shined through, barely framed by her silvery lashes. There was childish aura around her, despite her attention to rules, that made Hermione think of giggles and frolicking around a field.

Hermione smiled in amusement as the same sign of frustration furrowed between her sister's brows as Harry's. It was a nice reminder that Harry Potter may look like James Potter, but he was still his mother's son.

"How's fit Diggory?" Hermione asked, referring to Amos Diggory, Lily's Transfiguration tutor, long-time crush and now recent boyfriend.

Lily blushed as her impenetrable concentration broke at the mere mention of her new beau. Diggory was Lily's first real boyfriend, not that Lily didn't have boys interested before, but the for some unknown reason, the day they showed any interest was the same day they ended up in the hospital wing.

Although Hermione had no soft-spot for the Hufflepuff prefect, she had to admit that Diggory was an ideal first boyfriend. Not only did Lily have a massive crush on him for over a year, but he was smart, handsome and sweet to her sister. Too bad he was horribly dull and moronic, despite his book smarts.

"He's…great. Wonderful even." Lily ducked her face to avoid being caught with her fiery cheeks.

"Hm." Hermione attempted to smile, trying to appear supportive.

"Oh, that reminds me." Lily pulled out a few strings of twine from her bag and handed Hermione one of them. "It's a love bracelet."

"Excuse me?"

Lily laughed, "You heard me. Don't look at me like that."

Unaware that she'd been giving Lily any 'look', Hermione returned her eyes to the piece of string in front of her.

"Please tell me you didn't spend money on this."

"What are we talking about?" Someone asked from behind the bookshelves. The twins turned to see a horribly messy mop of hair and 3 other boys emerge from the bookshelves with wicked grins on their own faces.

The 3rd year Gryffindor boys, coined as the 'Marauders' by dear old McGonagall, attracted the type of attention that most teenagers around their age would never admit to wanting, but desperately desired. They had an ease about them, and a coolness that couldn't be ignored. It grabbed the attention of their fellow Hogwarts peers regardless of age like moths to a flame.

All four boys had somewhat matured out of their cute childish ways and had grown more into their looks, reminding Hermione glimpses of who they would be in the future.

James, the unspoken leader of the pack, was the sporty type. He was friendly to most, but had an obnoxious amount of arrogance. Most people didn't seem to care about James's big-headedness and laughed it off or awed at his talents.

Sirius was a pretty-boy type of handsome, where his fair skin was contrasted with dark eyes and hair, paired with devilishly handsome grin that girls swooned to. Sirius was also arrogant, but he was less obvious about it. He might have been the black sheep amongst the Blacks, but there was no doubt that he was raised with the same sense of self-importance like every other member of his family that Hermione ever met.

Remus was the shy and nerdish type. Unlike his boisterous friends, he hung in the back with a book in his hand, but Hermione knew better than to underestimate Remus Lupin's mischievousness. It was his intelligent jokes and quiet pranks that caught the eyes of the rambunctious Nymphodora Tonks, not his sweet professor side.

Even Pettigrew had his general pick of girls with his cute approach, though Hermione cringed in disgust whenever he was near.

The four reminded Hermione of a boyband, which was enormously hilarious since the boys loved to think themselves as original and unique individuals, but in truth, their appeal was typical.

"Do you mind?" Lily asked annoyedly when James made a step to sit in the seat next to her. She blocked him by placing her arm on the chair, as she pointed to their table that ended up being filled with mostly her belongings.

"We were here first."

"Come on, Evans. Your sister has no objections." James pointed out to Hermione who was moving to the side to make room for Remus to sit. Lily frowned, feeling slightly betrayed.

"Can't you just sit over there?" Lily pointed to the empty table next to them.

"SHHHHHHH!" the librarian hushed them from the front of the library. Lily gave Madame Croft, an apologetic smile, but turned back to her work muttering something about bat ears.

James used the distraction to ignore Lily's protests and sat down at the head of the table. "What's this?" He held up the strings Lily had taken out of her bag.

"Mind your own business, Potter." Lily glared as she attempted to snatch the bracelets away, but James's quidditch honed skills were quick to dodge her hands. Lily grumbled and looked over to the empty table next to her, wondering if she should move, but then stared back at her table that had all her belongings scattered everywhere. Even if she made all the effort to move her belongings to the other table, she had a feeling that Potter wouldn't leave her alone. She gave her sister a helpless look, but when Hermione shrugged, she slumped in her seat.

"It's a love bracelet." Hermione responded to James's earlier question.

"Hermione!" Lily complained.

"A love bracelet? How does it work?" James's eyes shined with interest as he indiscreetly glanced over at Lily then back at the piece of string repeatedly.

"I think it's something along the lines of; you tie it, and once it breaks off naturally, you'll meet your true love. Am I right?" Hermione checked with Lily to confirm her assumption.

Lily huffed, "I got it near the cottage this summer. A little old woman sold it to me, she weaved the twine herself. It was just few quid."

"A few quid?" Hermione blinked. She held up the string to her sister's face. "You gave more than a quid for this? Lily!"

"You can't put a price on true love." Lily protested, but managed to look slightly guilty.

"Ay, Evans. You're too right." James nodded vehemently.

"This isn't magical, Potter. She's was swindled."

"I was not! I bought it in the beginning of summer, but it broke earlier this month and now I'm seeing—"

Lily's mouth clamped shut. Oh right, Lily and Diggory was still a secret.

"Would you like one?" Hermione quickly changed the subject, handing the twine to the boys. "My sister is insistent that it works, so let's see." She handed each of the Marauders the string and helped them tie the string around their wrist.

"Here Evans, you should be a test subject too." Sirius pulled one string from the pile and tied it around her wrist. Hermione couldn't help but notice that the color of her bracelet was the same as his.

"You're really seeing someone?"

Sirius's hand stopped when he heard James's question. Everyone in at the table froze, eyes shifting from side to side, trying to gauge the situation. The Evans-Potter fights were quite the common phenomenon. Both of them were ridiculously prideful and were opinionated. With Lily's fiery temper and James's lack of coolness to everything regarding Lily, they were often at arms against each other.

As soon as Sirius finished tying the knot, Hermione's hands moved quickly trying to get all her books, quills and ink pots securely into her bag before one of them exploded.

"Yes."

The group grimaced at Lily's answer; she really should have denied everything.

"Actually, we… heard Lyana and Mary talking about Diggory planning something for his girlfriend for tomorrow's Hogsmeade trip." Remus informed Lily. Unhelpfully.

"And by heard, he means James purposely listened in a private conversation between Pearson and MacDonald." Pettigrew corrected. Again, very unhelpfully.

Lily looked at James angry face with an inquisitive look on her face. "Why? Do you think I'm too ugly or too much of a swot to date someone like Amos Diggory?" Lily challenged.

Hermione wanted to groan. Lily was smart about everything except when it came to James Potter's feelings. In the beginning, Lily's ignorance wasn't entirely her fault considering how much James annoyed her and picked at her when they first met. By the time he was being much more open and honest about his feelings at the start of this year, it was no longer James's improper method of showing his interest, but Lily's mentality that whatever James Potter said to her was just to make fun of her.

"No! I'm just looking out for you Evans," James shifted in his seat, turning fully to Lily. "If you really want to be appreciated and loved, Diggory's not the right guy."

"Oh, and who is supposed to be the right guy?"

James ran his fingers through his hair and his signature smirk formed on his face.

"Well, I'm avail—"

"No."

"Oh come on! I can be a good boyfriend." James insisted.

"You can't even have a good conversation." Lily fired back.

James clenched his teeth, "He's not the right guy for you."

"That's not for you to decide!"

"Lily." Hermione warned in a whisper about her increasing volume, but it was too late.

"OUT! ALL OF YOU OUT!" the angry librarian stormed into the corner and pointed her stern finger towards the exit. The Marauders, minus James, quickly picked up their belongings and ducked their heads to avoid being identified as they scampered out of the library.

Although Hermione was fully packed, she stayed behind and helped Lily pack her belongings, accepting the detention that came along with staying behind and getting caught by the Madame Croft. After she packed up the last piece of parchment, she gently tugged on her sister's arm. "Come on, you guys can finish this outside."

"No," Lily shook her head, then stared defiantly at James. "I'm done with this conversation."

Lily took her bag from her sister's arms, then stormed out of the library. James took a step to chase after her, but Hermione stood in front of him.

"Evans, move." James tried to push her to the side, but Hermione stood her ground.

"No." She blocked his path. James took a step forward, but this time, Hermione physically pushed him back. "You may think that Diggory's not the right guy for her, and… you may be right." James's eyes widened. "But right now—" she emphasized "you're not the right guy for her either."

"But I actually—"

"I know," Hermione reassured, "but despite popular belief, she's not obligated to like you back. You ruined your chances by ruining your first impression. She's with someone now and you need to accept that. You need to respect her relationship because it shows that you respect her and her choices."

"But that bracelet—"

"Is a lie. It's a cheap scam to earn a few quid from romantics like Lily."

"No, you don't understand. Unless Diggory came to King's Cross Station with you guys, there's no way Lily could have met Diggory before I saw her. Don't you remember? I waited for her at the entrance of the muggle station platform. She didn't have her bracelet on then. I'm sure of it. She just doesn't want to admit it."

James stormed out of the library, leaving Hermione to stare down at the thin piece of string that was on her wrist.

"Well fuck."

…

AN: I genuinely contemplated doing every year, but thought it useless to the plot. It would be a lot more filler chapters and unnecessary conflicts just to have a purpose to write those chapters. It would also make the story much longer than I'm willing to write. I hope the time jump wasn't too jarring on anyone.

Thanks for reading and leave a review!