Hello my dears!
So...HOW HAS DALLIANCE GOTTEN ALL THE LOVELY REVIEWS AND SO MANY FOLLOWS AND FAVOURITES ALREADY?
Thank you all. Just thank you.
I do hope you'll enjoy this chapter, welcome properly to day two in the past. There may be a few time skips in the future, but they won't be too harsh I don't think. Either way, I am having way to much fun writing this.
I just updated Fall Through Time, which has moved into its' Remione stage, and my Sirimione (Time Travel? Piece of Cake) if you wish I'd like it if you check them out, of course you don't have to!
Please leave a review and let me know what you think ;)
My tumblr: indiebluecrown. tumblr. com
Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, and only the story line and any OC's belong to me.
As always, for Sable and Lais xxx and also for my other dears (especially you Henny, Calebski and worthfull!)
Friday, February 9th, 1979
Potter Manor
Hermione, Ron and Harry head downstairs when the house is quiet. Everyone else is probably asleep, but their stomachs woke them up-twisting painfully in knots and pulsing with hunger pangs-so they decide to go in search of food before anyone can come fetch them.
They get lost a few times, taking a wrong turn here and there, only for there to be a dead end ahead of them most of the time.
Eventually they find the kitchen, and they briefly hesitate in the short doorway, catching a glimpse of Mipsy cooking. Her fingers dance as she multitasks-beating eggs in one bowl over her shoulder, a knife chopping up some chives with neat precision, and Mipsy herself is standing on the counter next to the stove, peering into a pan where Hermione can smell and hear bacon sizzling.
Back around the corner from where they came is a large, long maple oak table-with room to seat twelve people comfortably; there are twelve navy blue placemats with silverware already laid out on the table. The room is square, and on the far side of the room there are floor to ceiling windows on either side of the wide, seven foot tall white French doors. The walls are a powdery blue colour, and a smaller chandelier than the one they saw earlier is hanging from the ceiling, sparkling and glinting in the morning sun. The walls are lined with torches to match the rest of the house.
"Mipsy heard you come downstairs, now go and sit and Mipsy will bring food," Mipsy says, not looking up from her task-she's taking a pitcher of orange juice out of the ice-box.
Hermione, Ron and Harry all jump at being caught, but dumbly they follow her instructions, sitting at the closest end of the table; Hermione at the head and Ron and Harry on either side of her.
Mipsy comes in minutes later, and glasses and plates appear in front of them.
"Now, Mipsy doesn't know what you all like yet, or how you like it, so she made most everything-" Mipsy pauses and looks at Ron, who is dreamily watching the platters of food that are floating into the room land on the table, "-though I suspect that you will eat everything Master Weasley."
"D-Did I tell you my name?" Ron stutters out, snapping out of his daze and no longer salivating over the delicious smelling food.
Mipsy laughs then, unabashedly, and shakes her head in amusement, wiping her hands on the front of her crisp white apron and says sweetly, "Mipsy knows things Master Weasley...now please use your utensils, you shall behave in a proper manner in this household."
Without a further word, she vanishes with a pop and Hermione then hears a gay tune coming from the kitchen, and the sound of a gas stove being turned on.
Harry, Hermione and Ron are well into their meal when they hear footsteps and turn in time to see James and Lily walking towards them.
Hermione swallows thickly when she sees that James is shirtless. He is very, very fit. She has to pry her eyes away from the way his muscles move as he walks. She frowns as she notices some spidery, pink scars moving across his chest, they look newer, like they were now almost done healing.
"Morning," James yawns, running a hand through his hair. Hermione repeats the greeting, but she notes that his shoulders look stiff, as if he's uncomfortable and on his guard.
When he goes to sit down a couple seats down from Ron on the right hand side of the table, Hermione catches a glimpse of his back.
A massive stag's bust is there, on top of some wide, white scars that are almost unnoticeable due to the ink he'd covered them with. They look much older than the ones on his chest, and curiousity is needling her and pressing her to ask how he got them.
Instead however she sees how the stag looks like it's breathing, shaking its coat-which was greyish brown-and she is lost in its beady black eyes, and how its antlers stretch from the middle of James's back to the base of his neck. His tattoo covers the majority of his back.
She feels the breath on her ear before she hears the voice, but she doesn't register either until he's finished speaking, "magical tattoos are a lot more fun I find."
Hermione flinches harshly and turns to her left, heart beating out of her chest. Coming face to face with Sirius. She glances past him and sees Remus in leaning against the wall from the corridor at the entrance to the room. She frowns the smallest amount because they too, are both shirtless.
What in Merlin's name? Do they all walk around shirtless? Hermione thinks, her frown deepening.
"Good morning to you too, Sirius," Hermione smiles wryly, turning back to her plate, busying herself by cutting up her sausage. Using everything in her not to look back at Remus and oogle.
She watches Sirius as he saunters over to the left side of the table, sitting at the furthest seat on that side, he plops down into the chair, throwing his right leg over the chair arm and shifting so that he's looking directly at her. Hermione narrows her eyes a fraction since he's looking at her like he knows something she doesn't, and he's enjoying every moment of it; grey eyes sparkling with mischief, an arrogant smirk fixed on his face.
Sirius was attractive. Deadly so, but there was something about Remus that drew her in. Fuck it, I'll take a peek, Hermione thinks, and then her head is turning to her left and her lungs shrivel as she's robbed off all of her oxygen.
Not only does he have lickable abs-his body too is littered with scars and slightly raised tissue, some looking more like scratches, others looked like teeth marks-but he looks powerful and dangerous in a completely different way to Sirius. She licks her lips as she notices that he's watching her too. Except his hazel eyes are speckled with amber and gold.
She blinks a few times and then she returns to her food, mentally berating herself for giving in. Oh, but why does he have to look so damn good? Hermione whimpers internally.
She is terrifyingly aware as he walks past her on her left to the other side of the table, where Lily and James are sitting across from Sirius. The seat at the other end of the table is of course, available.
Hermione steals a glance upwards and notices that Sirius is directly on Remus's right, Lily and James on his left, and he's languidly leaning back in his chair-looking as if he owns the place.
So to distract herself, she turns to Harry and asks him if he had any nightmares last night.
"No, think it's cause we were sleeping in the same bed, you know they don't come as often when we're together," Harry smiles weakly, but Hermione sees how tired he looks and she's not sure she believes he's being entirely truthful.
"What about you, Ron?" Hermione asks curiously, whipping her head around so there's no chance she'll meet his eyes again.
"Nope, none," Ron responds, taking a bite of his buttered toast.
Hermione was about to say something else when Lily's musical voice spread across the room, "sorry to interrupt...but if you wouldn't mind dreadfully...we're all in the same place, so perhaps now would be a good time to talk?"
Hermione, Ron and Harry stare blankly at the pleasant redhead, and they share a secret look.
"I think it best we show you," Hermione says softly. "It'll...it'll be easier to understand everything that way."
A sudden voice from the corridor makes them all jump, and Hermione's hand is on her wand behind her ear in a split second, "I think I can arrange the pensieve in the study to be taken down for you all," and Hermione relaxes when she sees it's Dorea.
The Golden Trio nods and after tidying up their breakfast dishes-Mipsy shooes them away with a dish towel before they could clear them entirely-they follow the raven haired witch.
Hermione looks directly at Remus as she says, "we'll see you in a bit." She swears she sees the corners of his lips turn upwards, but she's walking away before she can figure out what she saw.
Dorea pats Hermione's shoulder, moves to brush Harry's cheek with the back of her hand, and stops to squeeze Ron's hand on her way out of the study.
The study is a smaller room back from whence they came, but to the left of the foyer and not too far away from the sun room-a few doors down.
The walls are a dark chocolate brown, the far wall is lined with bookshelves-organised by author from what she can tell by a quick onceover, there's a long mahogany desk a few feet away from them, a brown leather chair tucked under it, and there are a few matching armchairs on either side of the room, feet in front of the bookshelves so there's ample room to move about as one pleases.
Dorea had retrieved the pensieve, leaving it hovering over the desk; it was wide, shallow looking and made of dark grey stone, intricate carvings-words and curling and twisting vines-are covering the sides, working their way around the bowl's circumference. The top is looks like smooth glass, an inky blue colour.
Hermione, Ron and Harry slowly approach it, and Hermione begins to nibble on her bottom lip.
"What are we going to put in it?" Ron asks softly.
"Well...everything we can about our third year that you think is important," Harry responds, face flickering with doubt-most likely remembering how he had thought that Sirius had wanted to kill him, and how the hatred he had felt when he thought that Sirius had betrayed his parents.
"This is going to be rather tedious and intense isn't it?" Ron groans, "Not that I mind really...and I guess it gives us time to be by ourselves, though I feel like we'll be here all day at this rate."
"I think a little space is going to be good for everyone," Hermione finally pipes in, "the only real question, is who wants to go first?"
There's silence as no one volunteers, and then Ron says, "how about someone works on labelling the vials that Missus Black left us, and the other two start pulling memories?"
"I think maybe a little more organisation that that is necessary, but something like that can work," Hermione agrees.
"Well, guess it's time to get started," Harry sighs.
"Any rules on what we're not showing them?" Hermione asks as she looks into the dark depths of the bowl-which looks much deeper than physically possible.
"Anything personal that we don't want to, and nothing about the horcruxes, until we figure out what we want to do about them, then I say we keep that to ourselves for now," Ron offers.
"Agreed," Hermione and Harry chime.
Hermione stiffens out of habit as she feels fingers touch her the side of her face, but she relaxes instantly as she reminds herself that it's just Ron.
Hermione angles her head towards him, and sees concern in his bright blue eyes, and then his fingers tenderly tuck some curls behind her ear, and he steps forward, arm moving to encircle her shoulders from behind and she feels his soft lips against her temple. "You don't need to put anything about Malfoy Manor in there if you don't want to," Ron whispers, and Hermione smiles sardonically, her hands moving to wrap around him, his bigger frame engulfing her.
"I know...but I need to, it'll be easier to explain the scar on my arm," Hermione murmurs, and Ron squeezes her to him tighter.
"As long as you're sure, Mione," Ron exhales softly, she can feel his chest moving as he breathes.
Not for the first time since they got here yesterday, Hermione finds herself thankful that Ron and Harry are with her. It would be unbearable otherwise, she just knows it.
Ron releases her, and she shoots him a small smile before she turns back to the pensieve, "okay, let's get to work."
As per usual, all my chapters are unbeta'd so if you wish to point out any mistakes, or grammatical errors then please send me a PM to inform me of any mistakes :)
Love you,
Indieblue xxx
