Changes Can Be Made
Disclaimer: I shall say this again… I, Kimzy_Bubble, do not own Harry Potter…
Hey Guys! I read reviews and PMs and I thank you for your support, patience, ideas, and awesomeness! Thanks guys! I'm gonna try and make up for the four months I didn't update… Again, I'm really sorry…
Chapter 23: Determination Takes Flight
Hermione enjoyed the company of the Marauders and Lily. It was like being with her gang back in her time. It just felt so right, and before she knew it, it was time for her next subject, Transfiguration.
"Alright! Time to go to class! Mi, Sirius, let's go!" announced her red headed friend. "And you," she yelled towards James, "let go!" Lily pried James' hand from hers –since he never let go of her hand when he proclaimed his 'undying love' for her. Hermione couldn't help the giggle that escaped when she saw how flushed Lily was. 'Ah! Soon enough Lily's going to give in,' Hermione sighed. Coming to think of it, Hermione realised she never actually had that special somebody. She always wanted it to Ron.
"Mi? What's up?" Lily peered at her curiously.
"I-I'm fine," she blushed.
"You can't fool me, Mi," she lectured, "I know we've only known each other for a day and a half but I read your expressions like a book." 'Now I know where Harry got that ability,' Hermione mused.
"Alright, alright… I was just thinking about… you know… a… relationship…"
"What kind of relationship?" Lily asked, obviously she wasn't catching on as quickly as Hermione thought. Hermione sighed and gave her a look that gave Lily all the information she needed. "Oh… do you fancy anyone here already?" she asked a bit shocked.
"No. I was just thinking of someone I-"
"Used to fancy," Lily finished for her.
"Yeah…" Hermione suddenly felt very depressed. She told Lily of Ron. "Now I've come here and I have no chance with him ever again. He was one of my best friends but he was too dim to realise my feelings…. Now, I'll never…"
"Oh, sorry Mi… but you know, there might be a small possibility that you'll see each other again."
"You don't understand. When I came here there's absolutely no chance I'll ever see him again… Let's just not talk about it anymore," Hermione finished. She could feel tears pricking the sides of eyes. They threatened to fall but Hermione remembered what Sirius said. She blinked the tears away before they could spoil Lily's good mood.
Hermione watched Lily carefully just to be sure she didn't press on for further details. Instead Lily's lips suddenly changed into a knowing smile, "You know, there's plenty of guys here, so maybe one of them will get my little Mi's heart all stirred up."
Hermione took into consideration. She thought back to all the boys she's met. 'James? No way! Peter? Um… I don't think so, he seems like a little brother… Lucius? Hmm… no, no, no, definitely not.' But then her mind started to calculate the others. 'Remus? Severus? Sirius? Regulus?' she could feel heat rush through her cheeks as she thought it through. This didn't go unnoticed by Lily. She started to giggle, "So who are you thinking about now Mi?"
Just then Sirius catches up. He casually walked beside Hermione and noticed her flushed face. "What's this? Miss Hermione Grace! You're turning into a tomato! Oh good heavens, no!" he feigned despair. He suddenly winked when Hermione and Lily laughed at his antics. "Just kidding, so what's going on?"
Lily smirked evilly before debriefing him.
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'Hermione has someone she fancies?' Sirius was immediately intrigued, but decided not to say anything further since she was already glaring daggers at both Lily and I. He sniggered at her reaction a ruffled her hair. "Relax, 'Mione, we're just having a bit of fun with you," he winked. He watched her reaction. Her glares immediately switched off and she smiled back at him. Her big chocolate brown orbs gazing back at him. He felt as if he could get lost in those shining, sparkling eyes. She looked utterly innocent. He hadn't noticed they had stopped walking. Sirius so wanted the world to disappear. She made it seem as if the world was slowly fading into nothing with just a smile but he knew better. He sighed and made movements to leave, when he felt her small, soft hand catch him.
"Sirius," she said with such a sweet voice. She always had the ability to make his poor playboy heart jump out of rhythm. She moved closer. His mind went blank when her small hand reached towards his face…
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Hermione suddenly ruffled his hair wildly. He was so unprepared for that. Hermione knew the player was expecting something from her, but she wasn't a snog-a-good-looking-guy kind of girl. She was saving her lips for her special someone. She couldn't help but laugh loudly at how confusion, surprise, and –finally- horror crossed his face.
"My hair!" he growled in despair.
This only elicited a giggly "Payback~" from Hermione.
Hermione ran towards the Gryffindor head girl who was watching the whole scene from the door of their transfiguration classroom, 99.
Sirius ran after the two girls who disappeared into the room.
"Nice one," Lily giggled.
"Oh, don't think you're off the hook Miss Head Girl."
Lily threw her hands up in surrender, "Just don't do anything as cruel as what you did to Sirius," she nodded over to the grumpy boy beside her. Hermione peeked over Lily's shoulder to Sirius. He was busy with a mirror and comb. She giggled as he struggled to make his hair just as attractive as it was before.
Hermione noticed movement in her peripheral vision and slowly turned to see what it was. There she saw a beautiful black cat land carefully on the floor and slowly morph back into human form. 'Professor McGonagall,' Hermione thought in bliss. Oh how she missed McGonagall. She was like a motherly figure to the golden trio. Hermione had to fight the urge to run straight down to Professor McGonagall and hug her. It was like being reunited with a piece of her past. She knew Professor Dumbledore had told Professor McGonagall about the current situation, hence the melancholy yet comforting smile she gave Hermione.
Hermione felt a tear escape and quickly, but subtly, wiped it from existence. McGonagall started the lesson at that moment. "Good day wizards and witches, you all know who I am except for one of you I see," she smiled kindly at Hermione. "Hermione Grace, I am Professor McGonagall and I'll be your Transfiguration teacher for this year."
Hermione didn't know how to respond but decided on a simple smile and small nod should do the trick. Hermione was asked about transfiguration and she answered flawlessly. They continued on with the lesson from there. They recapped spells. For Hermione the spells came natural to her since she had years of experience in putting them in practise. Though, she was not aware of the attention she was receiving from three particular people.
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Minerva McGonagall watched the future girl that Albus spoke of carefully. She was a very nice girl. She felt she would become acquainted with the bright young witch very quickly. Minerva noticed a few things swiftly. 'This girl is very good at Transfiguration,' she thought, 'her articulation and movements are perfect!' But she also noticed the determination, the fire, the hurt, and the anger that bubbled in her soul whenever she made an incantation. 'Albus did say she had been through many nightmarish situations; but it seems like this girl has been through hell…' Nobody else seemed to notice this. Not even the quick-minded Lily Evans picked up on anything. Then her mind shifted back onto her skill in transfiguration. 'Was I her teacher?' she pondered.
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Sirius transformed his bag into a bird. He called it over and it perched gently on his arm. He watched Hermione from the corner of his eye. She was so talented. There's no denying it, she would certainly win 'best witch in school' hands down. He jolted out of his admiration when he felt the bird take flight. "Watch out!" he exclaimed as he jumped over the desk to get the bird back. A girl pointed her squiggly wand toward it, "NO! WAIT! THAT'S MY BAG!"
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Lily was wandering where Hermione got the amazing skills in her classes. At first she thought, 'Hey, it must be natural talent,' then, 'Hey, it's nothing, she probably had an AMAZING private tutor…' but now? She couldn't find any excuse to here skills. It was like she knew everything they studied in Hogwarts, but how was that possible? She never went to school here before. 'Maybe her private tutor was in touch with Dumbledore? Yeah that's it,' Lily told herself. But there was a nagging voice in the back of her head that kept thinking, 'But if that was so, then why didn't she just COME to school earlier?' Lily started feeling uneasy. She was so frustrated. Hermione was so… so… secretive. She kept to herself about, well, herself. She gave vague answers when it came to her past; she just seemed fishy. Suddenly Lily was alerted to a very big problem. "NO! THAT'S MY BAG!" Sirius shouted.
'He's definitely going to get an earful,' Lily chuckled.
She watched as McGonagall turned the bird back into Sirius' bag. Sirius jumped and caught it mid-air. This made some girls gasp and sigh in adoration. Lily looked to Hermione and they both rolled their eyes at their exaggeration and obvious infatuation. McGonagall then got Lily's attention when she said, "This is a warning but next time I will take five points from Gryffindor, Mr. Black."
'Argh! That Sirius Black!' Lily thought angrily.
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'Uh-oh, Sirius has just made the head girl angry~' She took a step away from Lily and waited for the lesson to end. She was facing away from Lily and Sirius, who had returned to his seat, but she could still see what was going on. She could hear Lily scolding Sirius for 'having no respect for Gryffindor's reputation'. She could picture Lily standing above Sirius pointing down at him as she scolded him, and Sirius sitting down fiddling with his wand absentmindedly. When she took a quick look she was dead right.
Finally class was over. But before she could leave McGonagall called her over. "Miss Grace, may I have some of your time?" she smiled.
Hermione nodded and told Lily and Sirius that she'd meet them in DADA after. They agreed and left, but Hermione caught them look back worriedly. She smiled and gave them a look that told them to just go.
She made her way down to the kind woman. "Yes Professor McGonagall?"
"You do know that I have been told by Professor Dumbledore of your origin, correct?"
"Yes, I guessed so."
McGonagall smiled, "I knew you were a bright girl." Hermione blushed and humbly thanked her. "Now, young lady, I just wanted to welcome you to Hogwarts and let you know that I'll be here if you need to talk, you know, lady-to-lady," she smiled. "I can only imagine the pain you went through and are currently feeling having to leave your life behind to come here…"
Hermione felt her smile fade and tears fall. 'You promised Hermione! Don't cry!' she scolded herself. She then abruptly wiped her tears away frantically. She felt warm hands catch hers. She looked back at the old teacher. "My dear, you can cry if you want it's nothing to be ashamed of, you've been through a lot."
Hermione smiled and said, "Professor, it's just that I promised at lunch to my new friends that I won't cry anymore…. I have to be stronger…"
McGonagall smiled, "They're good people, your friends. Keep them close. They'll always be there for you… Have you told them?"
"No… I don't want them to be burdened with this at this time. Maybe when they're older I will."
"You are a very kind girl. It's all up to you but I'm sure they'll want to know soon, so think about it, dear."
Hermione nodded to the old witch. "Alright, well, you best be going. You still have class."
Hermione turned on her heel and approached the door. She had almost exited the room when McGonagall called out one last time. "Wait! Hermione, I just have one last question."
"Yes?"
"Who was your Transfiguration teacher?"
Hermione grinned, "You Professor." With that, she left McGonagall looking quite impressed and satisfied with herself. 'Now for DADA.'
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Lily and Sirius walked down the corridor leading to their DADA classroom in silence. Both minds were preoccupied with the same thing, Hermione Grace. Finally, Lily broke the silence. "Sirius?"
"Yeah."
"Do you find Hermione… strange?"
Sirius looked at James' future girlfriend suspiciously. "What are you getting at Evans?"
"Not strange in a bad way," she denied. "It's just she seems so secretive, you know?"
"Yeah, and? Everyone has secrets Lily," he stated simply.
"Yeah git, I know that! I just mean, there's a lot she's not telling us about herself. She cries randomly and isn't fazed by the Slytherins. It's like she's waiting for something… Like she's challenging them… When she's in argument with a Slytherin she's… different."
"Of course she is, they're dimwits," he shrugged it off.
"You don't get it! Something's just don't add up, don't make sense…. Sometimes when she's angry she looks as if she'd be willing to… to do horrible things."
This shocked Sirius greatly. He never thought of her like that. And he could tell that it was bothering Lily. "Lily, death eaters killed her parents, and those Slytherins are children of death eaters and future death eaters. She's just angry at them, blaming them for the death of her parents. Doesn't that make sense?"
Lily thought about it for a moment. Her expression softened. Lily took a deep breath and calmed down. "Look, I know I get a bit paranoid sometimes, I just… I just…" she sighed deeply, "It doesn't matter. I like Hermione, she's wonderful, but I still want to find out about her. Don't say anything to anyone, you hear Black."
Sirius sighed and gave up, "Fine."
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'So I'm not the only one curious…' thought the hiding Slytherin. Regulus wanted to know more about the muggle-born Hermione Grace. And he was determined to find out sooner rather than later.
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How was it? I know it's a bit short but I'll try to make a longer one this weekend. (I'm aiming for a word count of 4000… wish me luck!) Oh and I'm currently writing another HP Fanfic for my friend. The Pairing is Hermione x Fred, it shall be called "Can't Jinx Love". I'll post as soon as I've gotten two or three chapters done.