A.N.: Hello to all of you, who want to join me on this exciting journey. I am happy for each one of you and grateful for all the love and support you are giving me. For those of you who are wondering about the pairing: I honestly can not say which pairing we will have in the end, as I am only in chapter 5 by now. This could either be Hermione/Fred, Hermione/George or Hermione/Fred/George. So if any of those possibilities bother you, you probably shouldn't read any further.
Chapter 2: The grim old place
Grimmauld Place wasn't at all what Hermione had expected it to be. She'd not heard much about Sirius Black's family, but through Harry, she knew that his godfather had run away as a teenager. As soon as she set foot in the house, she knew why. It took mere seconds until the nasty portrait next to the front door started berating her. She looked at it with wide eyes, frozen in shock.
"Oh, shut up!" the voice of Sirius Black roared from inside, and a moment later, the man was in front of her, his figure gaunt and his eyes wide. His black wand was drawn in his right hand and for a moment she was brought back to seeing him in the Shrieking Shack, insanity clearly shimmering in his eyes. Before she registered what she was doing, she stumbled backwards until her back hit a warm body behind her.
"Oi, careful Hermione," Fred mumbled behind her, but for a second she just leaned closer, fumbling for her wand. It was only a moment until the others registered what she was doing, and Sirius Black immediately froze and looked at her with a sheepish smile.
"Sorry, Hermione, I really didn't mean to scare you," he said as he scratched the back of his head and took a step back.
Hermione looked at him with burning cheeks. "I… you just startled me, that's all," she admitted. She forced herself to step away from Fred, whom she could feel looking at her. His eyes on her did nothing to reduce her embarrassment.
"It's all right. We didn't start off on the best foot after all," Sirius said, rubbing his neck. "But I promise— I'm totally friendly to anyone who isn't related to me." He smirked and winked at Tonks, who must have been standing somewhere behind her. "Do come in, you lot. This place is a shithole, but I'm so happy to have you stay here. There's enough room for all of you, as soon as we get the place cleaned up a bit."
With that, he turned around and led them through a dimly lit hallway that had a massive staircase at its right side. Hermione looked up and realized with horror that shrunken house-elf heads lined the wall, presumably as a decoration. It took all her willpower not to turn around and start running from this place (and, by the look of it, she wasn't the only one feeling that way).
"Can we share a room, Hermione?" Ginny mumbled behind her and Hermione nodded mutely. She was sure, even with Ginny next to her, she would have trouble even closing her eyes in the evenings.
"I bet there's lots of dark stuff hidden in all of these rooms," Ron mumbled behind her with something like awe. "Let's go exploring for a bit after dinner," he suggested, and she could see the twins clapping his back in excitement.
"Brilliant idea. Count us in, Ronnekins," they said with matching grins on their faces. Hermione couldn't help rolling her eyes at them.
"I'm going to the library. Don't fancy getting myself into trouble on the first day," she said, and turned to Ginny. "Shall we go and see if there's a room for us?"
The redhead nodded eagerly and followed her up the stairs after a moment. "She's such a killjoy sometimes," Hermione heard Ron complain to the twins, but she didn't turn around to see their reaction. If they wanted to get themselves in trouble, then so be it. She had better things to do with her time. The school year hadn't even started, but she had a feeling that trouble wouldn't wait for long to find her again. When it did, she wanted to be prepared.
The library at Grimmauld Place was a dark and dusty place, but it was also a place where Hermione could feel at home, so she buried herself there as soon as she had a minute of free time. The place was like a huge restricted section, and as all the adults seemed to trust her, she was left to browse the shelves in peace.
It was her way of getting away from all the madness around her. The adults were usually busy in the kitchen or cleaning out room after room of the house. Most of the rooms were stuffed with dark artifacts, and Ron and the twins had learned on their first evening that it was a bad idea to browse these rooms without backup. Hermione still felt an air of satisfaction when she remembered Ron's panicked face as he came rushing into the kitchen the first evening, sporting some sort of pink moving bulges that seemed to roam all over his body. It took all her willpower not to rub in his face that she had, of course, been right to warn them, but it seemed he and the twins were expecting her to tell them off, and so she bit her tongue.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a voice behind her. "Mind if I join you?" Without looking up, she knew that it was Sirius Black talking to her.
"Not at all," she lied because, to be honest, she still felt slightly uncomfortable in the man's presence. But she couldn't just send him away in his own house.
"Good, because I'd like to talk to you if you don't mind," Sirius said, sitting down in the wing chair across from her.
Hermione put her book away with a sigh before forcing a grin. "How can I help you, Mr Black?"
He frowned. "Would you mind calling me Sirius? Everyone does and, to be honest, I feel kind of old when you call me Mr Black." He smiled and, for a moment, Hermione could see that he must have been handsome once, but she crushed that thought immediately. Merlin, what was wrong with her recently? She closed her eyes for a second, in hopes of hiding her embarrassment.
"Alright, Sirius," she said after a moment and forced herself to look at him again. She realized that he was watching her with a curious expression.
"What's wrong, Hermione? I don't want to intrude, but I have the feeling that something is bothering you."
Hermione sighed. She really didn't want to have this conversation. "No, I'm alright, thanks for asking," she said quickly, but she could see that he wasn't buying it.
"Is it the house? Because believe me, I can understand. I hate this place more than I can verbally express, but my parents had the house well secured. Grimmauld Place has all the protections money —or magic— could get, and that's why we're stuck here." Sirius smiled apologetically.
Hermione shook her head with a sigh. "That's alright; don't worry, Sirius. It's… I just feel a bit off lately. I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong impression."
"So you haven't been avoiding me?" he inquired with a knowing smile. Hermione groaned inwardly. Had she been that obvious?
"I…" she didn't know what to say. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to offend you or anything, it's just…"
"…that you don't know me and I seemed a bit crazy when we last met?" he concluded with a snort. "Don't worry, I get it. I surely haven't made the best of impressions, but I'd like to change that. You're one of Harry's best friends, which means we're likely to see a lot of each other in the future, and I'd hate it if you felt like running every time you caught sight of me." He winked at her and Hermione couldn't help but snort.
"That would definitely be awkward," Hermione admitted with a smile.
Sirius grinned. "See? So could you imagine being friends with this old dog instead? I swear I don't bite." For a moment she could have sworn the man was making puppy dog eyes at her. Within the blink of an eye, it was not Sirius Black but a huge black dog sitting in front of her on the wing chair, wagging its tail excitedly. Hermione looked at the dog with a stunned expression.
"Uh…"
That didn't seem to be the response Sirius had been expecting because suddenly the dog leapt out of the chair only to put its head in her lap, where it looked at her with wide pleading eyes while making a whining noise.
Hermione snorted. "Alright, alright. We can be friends," she agreed with a huff. The black dog lifted its head and looked at her with happy eyes and tongue lolling out of its mouth. Hermione shook her head with a chuckle. She couldn't help but be under the impression that she had just fallen victim to Sirius Black's charm. She also had the impression, somehow, that he had known exactly what he was doing.
sssssssss
George hated Grimmauld Place. The house was dark, dirty and emitted an air of depression and hate that was seeping into his bones. They had been in the place for a week now, and he could feel that it was having the same effect on his twin: Fred rarely smiled now, and that simply wasn't right. This house was pulling them down, crushing their happiness, making it hard for them to be their usual cheerful selves. Nevertheless, they had made it their mission not to let anyone notice that they felt off. Still, Fred and George had renamed Grimmauld Place "the grim old place" in their heads because, really, that's what it was. Using that name among themselves helped to cheer them up (a bit, at least). It got harder day after day.
George was not sure why he and his brothers had been so keen on exploring the rooms of this place. By now, they must have cleaned out four or five of them, and apart from a bunch of Puffskeins —which they could use for some breeding experiments—, there was nothing remotely of interest. By the fifth day, they wished they could find a reason to stay in their room. Maybe if they got themselves sick somehow? That wouldn't be very beneficial, would it? But what if they found a way to appear sick without actually suffering the long-term effects? That would be something to put a bit of thought to... and wouldn't that be a product they could sell to desperate Hogwarts students, too?
George and his brother rarely ever felt down, as they always kept each other standing up and in good humour, but that wasn't easy after their mum had found out their plans to open a shop, burned their stash of order forms, and kept them busy with cleaning the dingy place while lecturing them on the importance of school work. It was enough to make even them grumpy, and that was saying something. But Grimmauld Place itself seemed to take its toll on all of them, with Sirius suffering the most. He was a grumpy bastard now, and there wasn't much left of the daring Marauder he was known as in his youth. Azkaban had almost snuffed out that light and, it seemed, this bloody house was trying to finish the job. What a shame.
It didn't get better when one evening Dumbledore stormed into the house and a shouting match erupted downstairs in the kitchen. They didn't even need Extendable Ears to hear that Mundungus Fletcher had fucked something up spectacularly. They weren't the only ones listening in, though, as a moment later their wide-eyed sister stumbled into their room with a grim-looking Hermione Granger in tow.
"Do you know what this is all about?" she asked them in a whisper, throwing herself onto his bed. George moved aside to make room for her.
"They were obviously keeping tabs on Harry," Fred explained. "Looks like people from the Order were standing guard around his aunt's house, but Mundungus left early today and there seems to have been an attack."
Hermione nodded grimly. "I've never seen Dumbledore this angry. It was absolutely scary," the little witch admitted, shifting from one leg to the other while standing in the middle of the room.
"Argh, would you please sit down, Hermione?" Ginny huffed in annoyance. "You're making me even more nervous than I already am."
Hermione sighed before she sat down next to Fred on his bed, looking at them with a tired expression. "Sorry, I just feel like I need to do something, you know?" she said while gnawing at her bottom lip. It was a nervous habit George had seen her indulge in from time to time, and he smiled at the familiarity of it.
"Absolutely," Fred agreed with a determined nod. "But we asked the adults and they won't let us join the Order, even though we're of age. They said we have to finish school first— ridiculous, if you ask me. As if the Dark Lord is going to ask you how many NEWTs you got before he kills you."
George couldn't help but snort, and even Hermione couldn't resist a hint of a smile.. "I know," she said, back to her dark expression, and looked at them with furrowed brows. "But there isn't much we seem to be able to do right now. The library of the house has some useful books on curses and counter curses, but some of them sound really dark, and I'm not sure if I should try them without an instructor. I tried to talk to Professor Lupin one evening, but he seemed busy and didn't really have time to listen." She sighed and rubbed her forehead.
For a moment they sat in silence before George suddenly felt his little sister lean against him with a sigh. "Do you think Harry's alright?" she asked in a small voice that he recognized from when she was scared or a small child.
"I'm sure he's fine," George consoled her, pulling her close. "He's a skilled wizard, and even though shit seems to follow him around, he's gotten away over and over again."
Ginny nodded mutely and leaned her head against his side. "I hope you're right," she mumbled and Hermione nodded towards her with a smile.
"I'm sure he is. Harry can look after himself, Ginny. Don't worry. Maybe they'll now finally decide that it's best to bring him here. I swear, if I have to write another meaningless letter to him…"
She scowled, and even though she hadn't said anything remotely funny, her expression put a little smile on George's face. It was his first one in what felt like ages, and for that fact alone, he could have hugged her.
sssssssss
Hermione would be happy when they were finally able to leave Grimmauld Place behind. The days there hadn't been anything like she had expected or hoped them to be. She liked the Weasleys, of course —they were like a second family to her—, but Ron's parents seemed constantly busy. Fred and George mostly hid in their room, when they weren't cleaning dingy drawing rooms alongside herself, Ron, and Ginny. There wasn't much of a chance for her to learn anything that would help her defend herself from You-Know-Who and his followers. This was more than disappointing, considering that she was living in the headquarters of probably the only resistance group in the budding wizarding war. Frustratingly, the adults seemed busy planning whatever, and there wasn't any training going on. So Hermione spent her days cleaning and secretly mourning the time she could have spent with her parents and a good book at their pool.
When Harry finally arrived, Hermione hoped for a moment that things would change. But even though Harry had been angry and had demanded answers, they didn't learn much except that there was some kind of secret weapon in need of protection. The cleaning sessions continued, and it wasn't until Harry's hearing at the Ministry that the spirits at Grimmauld Place seemed to lift. Everyone was happy that Harry had avoided expulsion. Despite how ridiculous they believed the Ministry's accusations, it had been a close call.
"Can't wait to get back to Hogwarts," Ron mumbled next to her, lounging in a wing chair in the dark library. "I swear, if I have to clean another fucking drawing-room…" he moaned and stretched his legs. While Hermione didn't agree with his language, she did very much agree with what he was saying. Merlin, she felt like these weeks at the Headquarters had almost been a total waste of time.
She sighed. "Yeah. You see, Harry, there's really nothing about our time here of which you need to be jealous," she soothed her friend, who still seemed more short-tempered than usual. She had been walking on eggshells around him for the last few days, as it always seemed his anger was constantly simmering below his surface. Having one of her friends angry at her again wasn't something she thought she could deal with right now.
"Yeah, I know," Harry admitted with a scowl. "I just felt so left out. Maybe you didn't get to do anything exciting, but at least you had each other while I was rotting away in Privet Drive." Hermione sighed: that much was true.
"I get what you're saying, mate," Ron said with a smile. "Well, tomorrow we'll finally be back at the castle and then it's just the usual craziness of another year at Hogwarts."
Hermione laughed. "You mean trolls, dementors, and basilisks that are out to kill us?"
Harry laughed. "Just the usual, then. For some reason I've got the feeling that this year might be special. I dunno why…"
She smiled nervously. "I hope you mean special in a good way. I know you boys love the excitement, but I really wouldn't mind a year of uninterrupted studying."
The boys snorted. "I don't think we'll be so lucky," Ron said and Hermione, against her deeper wishes, silently agreed.
Sssssssss
Severus Snape didn't have a good summer holiday, not at all. Since the Dark Lord had returned at the end of the last term, his already shitty life had turned even shittier, which was really saying something. Though more than half of the wizarding world didn't believe the brat and the old fool (also known as Harry Potter and Headmaster Dumbledore, respectively), Severus Snape had daily proof of the veracity of their story. He had done a lot of cowering and kneeling and pleading in the last weeks, and he wasn't sure if his ageing joints would ever recover. Not that it really mattered, because if things kept going south as they had been, he wouldn't see the end of the upcoming school term.
"You may raise, Severusssss," the snake-like man hissed from the makeshift throne he had built himself in Lucius's house. Snape didn't envy his old friend Lucius for the questionable honour of playing host to his important guest. Severus could only guess what it would mean for Malfoy to displease the Dark Lord in any way. His master had definitely lost even more of his patience since his miraculous resurrection a few weeks ago.
"Thank you, my Lord," Severus replied in a most devout voice, rising from his place on the cold marble floor, where his Master had had him kneel for several minutes while staring at him through small, red eyes. It was always the same: he would try to read his thoughts while Severus would block him with his Occlumency skills— and so far, he must have been successful, because of the unmistakable fact that he was still alive.
"I have a task for you, Severussss," Lord Voldemort said, and looked at him with an expression that implied that Snape should call himself lucky for being chosen in the first place. It was an unambiguous hint that he was in trouble. He bowed his head, plastering a grateful smile on his face, before mumbling something about being grateful for receiving such an honour.
"The Ministry just discovered the appearance of an Open Link, Severussss… Such a thing hasn't happened in 102 years."
Severus blinked in confusion. He had never heard of such a thing and he prided himself to be a well-read wizard. "An Open Link, my Lord? I don't understand…" he confessed, fearing it would bring him another round of Crucio, yet his master seemed surprisingly pleased with his confession.
"There is no shame in that, my faithful servant. It is quite a rare phenomenon that only establishes itself in witches or wizards on the brink of adulthood. You see, usually, the magic is locked inside of our magical core but in case of this anomaly, the person is able to connect themselves to a witch or wizard of their choosing and share their magical power with them. Notably, it only works as long as there's some kind of emotional attachment involved."
Severus contemplated the Dark Lord's words. Having such a person at hand would have definite advantages for whoever was able to conquer the Open Link. It was no surprise that his master wanted to get a hold of this living anomaly. "I can see how this would help us with our course, my Lord. But how am I supposed to find this person? Is there any kind of trait I could use to identify this Open Link?"
The pale man in front of him stroked his chin while casting him a mysterious smile. "That, I fear, is the complicated part, and the reason I have chosen you to perform this task for me. The child might not even be aware themself, but you should look out for someone experiencing strong emotions, as the Open Link will try to connect themself to someone else as quickly as possible. It will most likely be a virgin, or someone who hasn't been in a relationship before, as these feelings are just awakening. But be careful, as I am sure you'll not be the only one searching for this secret weapon. I'm sure the Ministry will also try to get its greedy fingers on our prey, not to mention your meddlesome Headmaster."
Severus cursed inwardly. How was he supposed to find somebody like this when the halls of Hogwarts were filled with nothing but emotional teenagers? It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. In other words: he was positively screwed.