I knew I loved him Then: Part 2: Chapters 5-8
Chapter 5
When Hermione woke up the next morning, she felt the familiar feeling of excitement that today was the start of a new term. She hastily dressed and went down to the Common Room, where Harry and Ron came ambling down the staircase of the boys dorms, still rubbing sleep out of their eyes.
"Morning Mimi," said Harry. "Did you sleep well?"
"Totally refreshed and ready to start a new year," said Hermione briskly. Harry and Ron stared at her as if she was crazy. "Just perky I guess," she explained. The trio made their way down to the Great Hall, just as Professor McGonagall was handing out schedules. Hermione examined hers carefully. She remembered Dumbledore saying that there was something odd about the schedules, but that was an understatement. Classes now ended at two o'clock, Potions was cancelled, and they had Defense against the Dark Arts twice a day. In addition, there was an extra half hour tacked on to lunch and breakfast. Hermione was shocked and quite upset. Harry and Ron were nearly skipping. Suddenly, a first year next to her screamed as the owls came swooping in to deliver the mail. Hermione remembered her first morning when the mail was delivered. She had been peacefully eating her toast when suddenly she heard a whooshing sound and ducked under the table. She emerged a few minutes later to see an owl pecking at her toast with a note attached to its leg for her. Hermione chuckled to herself and reassured the first year that this was perfectly normal and that the owls were never harmed. Harry had received a letter from Sirius and she turned to read it to.
Dear Harry,
Again, your welcome for turning your relatives into what they hated most. Frankly, I'm surprised they all didn't turn into you. I'm going to come to Hogwarts with to help Dumbledore. Remus is coming as well. Stay out of trouble. If you need anything, come to Dumbledore's office. I'll be staying there. Give Ron and Hermione my regards. Buckbeak is fine.
From,
Sirius.
Hermione smiled. Now she understood why Harry's aunt had turned into dirt. She checked her watch.
"Guys we'd better get going. We have Defense against the Dark Arts in five minutes." They got up and headed out the door when Harry remembered he had forgotten his schedule at the table. As soon as he had gone, Hermione and Ron were bombarded by the squeaking ferret.
Chapter 6
"Hello mudblood," he sneered. "I'm surprised you made it over on the train ride."
"And why would that be Malfoy?" asked Hermione sweetly. "Were you spying on me for your big, bad, daddy? Is daddy to scared to come do his own dirty work?"
"First of all, I wasn't spying for my dad. Second of all, my father is scared of nothing. He's been put through worse by..."
"Who?" asked Ron.
"Why would I tell you Weasley?" sneered Malfoy.
"You don't have to," said Harry, who had just joined us. "They already know, and have known for a while, as does everybody else in this school. You might want to tell your dad to watch his back and not make it so obvious he's a Death Eater. Oh don't act so surprised," he said at the look on Malfoy's face. "I was there when Voldemort, " Ron flinched, "was brought back. I saw your father. Pity Fudge is too backward to acknowledge the presence of evil. Well, see you later Squeaky, unfortunately." I felt Harry's hand on my back pushing me away from Malfoy. It sent shivers down my spine.
"That Malfoy, ugh, can't we put one of Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts in his bed or something?" asked Ron. Harry and Hermione laughed.
"You'll be happy to know that Hagrid found a use for them," announced Hermione. "Blast-Ended Skrewts are highly useful when shipped off to Northern Canada." Harry and Ron didn't understand her joke for a while. Hermione shrugged and they walked to Defense against the Dark Arts. When they got to the door, Ron laughed.
"Oh, I get it, good one Mimi," he laughed.
"Bit slow today, aren't we?" Hermione laughed. They entered the classroom and sat down in front, to Ron and Harry's disgust (after having Lockhart in their second year, they learned that any teacher who assigns a book wrote by themselves might be a bit full of themselves). The rest of the class filled in and took their seats. Professor Custos came in a few minutes after the bell. She was a youngish woman, maybe thirty or so, and she looked very tired. Following behind her was a large, black dog that looked an awful lot like...
"Look guys," Harry whispered excitedly. "It's Sirius." The dog winked at Harry and took a seat behind the desk.
Chapter 7
"I'm Professor Victoria Custos. I hope none of you mind my dog staying here with me during class. He's always been good company and is extremely well trained. Now, as I understand from Remus, or Professor Lupin to you, you have gone into Vampires a bit. Would anyone..." she trailed off when she caught sight of Harry. "James?" she whispered.
"Excuse me?" asked Hermione.
"James, oh Lord I'm losing my mind, of course it's not James. Harry, how do you do? I'm Victoria, I taught your parents and I was there when you were born. Lily was a very good friend to me. Never mind, Harry, could I talk to you after class?"
"Sure," said Harry, not exactly sure what he had done.
"Right, good. Moving on, can anyone tell me the ways to kill a vampire?" Hermione's hand shot straight into the air.
"Hermione, what are the ways to kill a vampire?"
"Well, you can drive a stake through its heart, you can keep it out too late so that it gets caught by the sun, and you can use garlic as a protective agent. Vampires hate the smell of garlic, so do I for that matter," she laughed. For once, Hermione didn't sound as though she were reading from a text book. She sounded like someone who knew the answer to a question. Harry and Ron stared at her. Professor Custos was easily the coolest teacher they had. Harry, Ron and Hermione now knew where Lupin had learned how to be such a great teacher. Unlike other teachers, save Hagrid, Professor Custos called them by their first names and allowed them to call her Victoria.
"Very good, take five points. However, there are other ways to kill a vampire. There's holy water. If you throw a glass of holy water in a vampire's face, it melts. Quite cool actually, I've done it a few times. Oh dear me, I've forgot your quiz, hold on a second. I'm so absent minded sometimes." She rifled through her bag for a few minutes while everyone, except Hermione, looked around nervously.
"I thought she was going to be cool," whispered Ron. "A quiz on the first day? She is another Lockhart I bet."
"Here we are, these won't be graded. It's just a quiz for me to get to know you better. Hermione, be a dear and pass these out for me?"
"Sure." Hermione passed out the quizzes and was surprised to see that the quizzes were short, not even half a page. Not only were the quizzes short, but they had easy questions. The looked like:
Name:
Age:
Birthday:
Height:
Favorite color:
What you hope to learn this year:
Hermione was puzzled, but saw Harry and Ron grin. Hermione scribbled down her answers and handed her quiz in. Professor Custos was an extremely interesting professor and was now tied for first with Hagrid. She had hunted vampires in Romania until teaching here for ten years working undercover as an Auror.
"This year, as you saw on your schedules, you have two Defense against the Dark Arts classes a day. One is for the regular curriculum, your basic defense. The second class, which takes place right after lunch, may not actually be taught by me. There will be a few teachers here, teaching you defense against Voldemort," half the class flinched. "The teachers are myself, Remus Lupin, Arabella Figg, Mundungus Fletcher, Caitlin Buckley, and another will join us if he can make it," she winked at Harry. Hermione knew that she was talking about Sirius. She was sure that Dumbledore was working harder than ever to clear his name so that he could again resume the fight against Voldemort without having to flee for his life. (A/N: I use the characters from my L/J fic as the teachers because I'm too unoriginal to think of new characters. By the way, part 11 should be up soon.)
"All of these teachers were in Gryffindor, and that is why they have been selected to teach Gryffindors. You'll be taught with the sixth years until the other teacher is available. Any questions?"
"Who's the other teacher?" asked Dean.
"I'm afraid I can't tell you that. He has a long way to come before he can get here. You probably won't see him until after Winter Holidays."
"What's your dog's name?" asked Lavender, cooing at a now growling Sirius.
"Snuffles," said Professor Custos. "For homework, I'd like you to read chapters 1-5 in your text book and draw a picture of what you think happened to any of the vampires. Class dismissed. Harry, if you would step into my office please." Ron and Hermione followed Harry to Professor Custos's office. When they reached it, she jumped back a little. "Do they know?" she asked, motioning to Hermione and Ron.
"Yeah," said Harry. "Hurry up, I haven't seen Snuffles since that little incident at the Dursley's and I want to shake his hand."
Chapter 8
"Sirius! It's so good to see you," said Hermione.
"Hermione, Ron. Harry, did your relatives ever change back?" asked Sirius, gruffly. He went to Harry and gave him a hug.
"They were human long enough to kick me out of the house, but I stayed at the Leaky Cauldron again. You should have seen their faces when they turned back, it was nice, however, to have a whole month without the Dursley's."
"Professor Custos..." Harry started.
"Call me Victoria out of class," she said.
"Well, Victoria, how did you know Sirius was innocent?" Harry asked.
"I was there when they performed the Fidelus Charm. That-" even Sirius gasped at her use of language, "- Peter. Your parents trusted him. I know Sirius would have rather died then betray your parents Harry. Peter was a slimy little worm, literally," she scowled. "But Harry, enough about that sorry excuse for an entity. How've you been for the past, my it must've been fifteen years?"
"Save me from Hell," Harry said. "For the first eleven years of my life, I lived at the Dursley's, strange stuff happening left and right. Then I got my letter, and everything changed for the better. For the first time, I had friends. But at the end of my first year, I went to face Voldemort for the first time in eleven years and defeated him again. End of year one at Hogwarts. In second year, everyone thought I was the heir of Slytherin until Hermione found out, frozen though she was, that there was a Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets. Ron and I figured out the entrance was in the girls bathroom and I went down to face Tom Riddle, aka Voldemort, to save Ron's little sister, Ginny. End of year two."
"Good Lord Harry," said Victoria. "You poor thing. That was only two years, too. I know all about year three. Sirius had finally escaped from Azkaban and I hid him at the end of the school year. I heard about last year at the first meeting of the League in July. So, nothing so far this year?"
"Other than the fact I'm positive Voldemort is after me? Nah, not much," he said sarcastically.
"Well, Sirius, Victoria, we'll help in any way we can to clear Sirius, and to get Voldemort," said Hermione.
"That's another thing I wanted to talk to you three about. I've heard from Dumbledore, and Arthur Weasley that you three are real mystery solvers, and will go to almost any lengths to get a friend out of help. This is especially to you Harry, as Voldemort will do anything to make you crack, don't do anything like that. You have to be really careful this year, and be on the look. Hermione, Ron, you two have to have counter-curses and healing charms ready at all times, and don't let Harry out of your site. Got it?" asked Victoria. "Don't try to do anything in the fight against Voldemort except keep Harry safe. If we need you, we'll ask. However, help with Sirius's case would be greatly appreciated. I think I speak for Dumbledore when I say he has enough on his plate right now, trying to get Sirius clear and trying to fight Voldemort and getting older is not helping. Stay out of trouble this year, got it?"
"Yes Victoria," Harry, Ron and Hermione chorused, sounding extremely sing-songy. They burst out laughing at the way it came out. "Okay, we promise," said Ron, still laughing.
"Oh, Harry, if you ever need to talk to me, I'm staying in Dumbledore's office. The password is 'Voldemort' this year so not many people will come into his office unless he brings them or a teacher does, or like you, can say the name (A/N: That was a long, nasty annoying sentence wasn't it? We're walking, we're walking(lol jenny!)...). Great plan huh?" asked Sirius. "Victoria will bring me to class everyday. I'll be keeping an eye on you this year too. I'll be following you a lot in dog form. That way people can just pass it off as me liking you a lot. Got it? And always call me Snuffles when you talk to me."
"Got it," said Harry.
"Okay, you guys can go now. I might see you later today, but I know Sirius will," said Victoria. "You're free to go."
"Hermione, can I talk to you for a sec?" asked Harry, gulping.
"Sure," Hermione said with a quizzical look. Ron gave a thumbs up, to either Harry or Hermione, it wasn't clear. Hermione glared at him, then turned to Harry. "Yeah?"
"In private," Harry said, pulling Hermione into an empty classroom. "Jeez, how do I say this. It might be better if I put it like this," he said. Harry gulped, and pulled Hermione into a long kiss. Sirius, in dog form, barked.
A/N: Right, cliffie! Ha, second one in two days! Hehehe, j/k. next part up soon, I'm gonna try to post a part every other day of this and a part every other day of When James met Lily. You recognize it? I don't own it, unlucky me! Ha! Happy Holidays!
Chapter 5
When Hermione woke up the next morning, she felt the familiar feeling of excitement that today was the start of a new term. She hastily dressed and went down to the Common Room, where Harry and Ron came ambling down the staircase of the boys dorms, still rubbing sleep out of their eyes.
"Morning Mimi," said Harry. "Did you sleep well?"
"Totally refreshed and ready to start a new year," said Hermione briskly. Harry and Ron stared at her as if she was crazy. "Just perky I guess," she explained. The trio made their way down to the Great Hall, just as Professor McGonagall was handing out schedules. Hermione examined hers carefully. She remembered Dumbledore saying that there was something odd about the schedules, but that was an understatement. Classes now ended at two o'clock, Potions was cancelled, and they had Defense against the Dark Arts twice a day. In addition, there was an extra half hour tacked on to lunch and breakfast. Hermione was shocked and quite upset. Harry and Ron were nearly skipping. Suddenly, a first year next to her screamed as the owls came swooping in to deliver the mail. Hermione remembered her first morning when the mail was delivered. She had been peacefully eating her toast when suddenly she heard a whooshing sound and ducked under the table. She emerged a few minutes later to see an owl pecking at her toast with a note attached to its leg for her. Hermione chuckled to herself and reassured the first year that this was perfectly normal and that the owls were never harmed. Harry had received a letter from Sirius and she turned to read it to.
Dear Harry,
Again, your welcome for turning your relatives into what they hated most. Frankly, I'm surprised they all didn't turn into you. I'm going to come to Hogwarts with to help Dumbledore. Remus is coming as well. Stay out of trouble. If you need anything, come to Dumbledore's office. I'll be staying there. Give Ron and Hermione my regards. Buckbeak is fine.
From,
Sirius.
Hermione smiled. Now she understood why Harry's aunt had turned into dirt. She checked her watch.
"Guys we'd better get going. We have Defense against the Dark Arts in five minutes." They got up and headed out the door when Harry remembered he had forgotten his schedule at the table. As soon as he had gone, Hermione and Ron were bombarded by the squeaking ferret.
Chapter 6
"Hello mudblood," he sneered. "I'm surprised you made it over on the train ride."
"And why would that be Malfoy?" asked Hermione sweetly. "Were you spying on me for your big, bad, daddy? Is daddy to scared to come do his own dirty work?"
"First of all, I wasn't spying for my dad. Second of all, my father is scared of nothing. He's been put through worse by..."
"Who?" asked Ron.
"Why would I tell you Weasley?" sneered Malfoy.
"You don't have to," said Harry, who had just joined us. "They already know, and have known for a while, as does everybody else in this school. You might want to tell your dad to watch his back and not make it so obvious he's a Death Eater. Oh don't act so surprised," he said at the look on Malfoy's face. "I was there when Voldemort, " Ron flinched, "was brought back. I saw your father. Pity Fudge is too backward to acknowledge the presence of evil. Well, see you later Squeaky, unfortunately." I felt Harry's hand on my back pushing me away from Malfoy. It sent shivers down my spine.
"That Malfoy, ugh, can't we put one of Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts in his bed or something?" asked Ron. Harry and Hermione laughed.
"You'll be happy to know that Hagrid found a use for them," announced Hermione. "Blast-Ended Skrewts are highly useful when shipped off to Northern Canada." Harry and Ron didn't understand her joke for a while. Hermione shrugged and they walked to Defense against the Dark Arts. When they got to the door, Ron laughed.
"Oh, I get it, good one Mimi," he laughed.
"Bit slow today, aren't we?" Hermione laughed. They entered the classroom and sat down in front, to Ron and Harry's disgust (after having Lockhart in their second year, they learned that any teacher who assigns a book wrote by themselves might be a bit full of themselves). The rest of the class filled in and took their seats. Professor Custos came in a few minutes after the bell. She was a youngish woman, maybe thirty or so, and she looked very tired. Following behind her was a large, black dog that looked an awful lot like...
"Look guys," Harry whispered excitedly. "It's Sirius." The dog winked at Harry and took a seat behind the desk.
Chapter 7
"I'm Professor Victoria Custos. I hope none of you mind my dog staying here with me during class. He's always been good company and is extremely well trained. Now, as I understand from Remus, or Professor Lupin to you, you have gone into Vampires a bit. Would anyone..." she trailed off when she caught sight of Harry. "James?" she whispered.
"Excuse me?" asked Hermione.
"James, oh Lord I'm losing my mind, of course it's not James. Harry, how do you do? I'm Victoria, I taught your parents and I was there when you were born. Lily was a very good friend to me. Never mind, Harry, could I talk to you after class?"
"Sure," said Harry, not exactly sure what he had done.
"Right, good. Moving on, can anyone tell me the ways to kill a vampire?" Hermione's hand shot straight into the air.
"Hermione, what are the ways to kill a vampire?"
"Well, you can drive a stake through its heart, you can keep it out too late so that it gets caught by the sun, and you can use garlic as a protective agent. Vampires hate the smell of garlic, so do I for that matter," she laughed. For once, Hermione didn't sound as though she were reading from a text book. She sounded like someone who knew the answer to a question. Harry and Ron stared at her. Professor Custos was easily the coolest teacher they had. Harry, Ron and Hermione now knew where Lupin had learned how to be such a great teacher. Unlike other teachers, save Hagrid, Professor Custos called them by their first names and allowed them to call her Victoria.
"Very good, take five points. However, there are other ways to kill a vampire. There's holy water. If you throw a glass of holy water in a vampire's face, it melts. Quite cool actually, I've done it a few times. Oh dear me, I've forgot your quiz, hold on a second. I'm so absent minded sometimes." She rifled through her bag for a few minutes while everyone, except Hermione, looked around nervously.
"I thought she was going to be cool," whispered Ron. "A quiz on the first day? She is another Lockhart I bet."
"Here we are, these won't be graded. It's just a quiz for me to get to know you better. Hermione, be a dear and pass these out for me?"
"Sure." Hermione passed out the quizzes and was surprised to see that the quizzes were short, not even half a page. Not only were the quizzes short, but they had easy questions. The looked like:
Name:
Age:
Birthday:
Height:
Favorite color:
What you hope to learn this year:
Hermione was puzzled, but saw Harry and Ron grin. Hermione scribbled down her answers and handed her quiz in. Professor Custos was an extremely interesting professor and was now tied for first with Hagrid. She had hunted vampires in Romania until teaching here for ten years working undercover as an Auror.
"This year, as you saw on your schedules, you have two Defense against the Dark Arts classes a day. One is for the regular curriculum, your basic defense. The second class, which takes place right after lunch, may not actually be taught by me. There will be a few teachers here, teaching you defense against Voldemort," half the class flinched. "The teachers are myself, Remus Lupin, Arabella Figg, Mundungus Fletcher, Caitlin Buckley, and another will join us if he can make it," she winked at Harry. Hermione knew that she was talking about Sirius. She was sure that Dumbledore was working harder than ever to clear his name so that he could again resume the fight against Voldemort without having to flee for his life. (A/N: I use the characters from my L/J fic as the teachers because I'm too unoriginal to think of new characters. By the way, part 11 should be up soon.)
"All of these teachers were in Gryffindor, and that is why they have been selected to teach Gryffindors. You'll be taught with the sixth years until the other teacher is available. Any questions?"
"Who's the other teacher?" asked Dean.
"I'm afraid I can't tell you that. He has a long way to come before he can get here. You probably won't see him until after Winter Holidays."
"What's your dog's name?" asked Lavender, cooing at a now growling Sirius.
"Snuffles," said Professor Custos. "For homework, I'd like you to read chapters 1-5 in your text book and draw a picture of what you think happened to any of the vampires. Class dismissed. Harry, if you would step into my office please." Ron and Hermione followed Harry to Professor Custos's office. When they reached it, she jumped back a little. "Do they know?" she asked, motioning to Hermione and Ron.
"Yeah," said Harry. "Hurry up, I haven't seen Snuffles since that little incident at the Dursley's and I want to shake his hand."
Chapter 8
"Sirius! It's so good to see you," said Hermione.
"Hermione, Ron. Harry, did your relatives ever change back?" asked Sirius, gruffly. He went to Harry and gave him a hug.
"They were human long enough to kick me out of the house, but I stayed at the Leaky Cauldron again. You should have seen their faces when they turned back, it was nice, however, to have a whole month without the Dursley's."
"Professor Custos..." Harry started.
"Call me Victoria out of class," she said.
"Well, Victoria, how did you know Sirius was innocent?" Harry asked.
"I was there when they performed the Fidelus Charm. That-" even Sirius gasped at her use of language, "- Peter. Your parents trusted him. I know Sirius would have rather died then betray your parents Harry. Peter was a slimy little worm, literally," she scowled. "But Harry, enough about that sorry excuse for an entity. How've you been for the past, my it must've been fifteen years?"
"Save me from Hell," Harry said. "For the first eleven years of my life, I lived at the Dursley's, strange stuff happening left and right. Then I got my letter, and everything changed for the better. For the first time, I had friends. But at the end of my first year, I went to face Voldemort for the first time in eleven years and defeated him again. End of year one at Hogwarts. In second year, everyone thought I was the heir of Slytherin until Hermione found out, frozen though she was, that there was a Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets. Ron and I figured out the entrance was in the girls bathroom and I went down to face Tom Riddle, aka Voldemort, to save Ron's little sister, Ginny. End of year two."
"Good Lord Harry," said Victoria. "You poor thing. That was only two years, too. I know all about year three. Sirius had finally escaped from Azkaban and I hid him at the end of the school year. I heard about last year at the first meeting of the League in July. So, nothing so far this year?"
"Other than the fact I'm positive Voldemort is after me? Nah, not much," he said sarcastically.
"Well, Sirius, Victoria, we'll help in any way we can to clear Sirius, and to get Voldemort," said Hermione.
"That's another thing I wanted to talk to you three about. I've heard from Dumbledore, and Arthur Weasley that you three are real mystery solvers, and will go to almost any lengths to get a friend out of help. This is especially to you Harry, as Voldemort will do anything to make you crack, don't do anything like that. You have to be really careful this year, and be on the look. Hermione, Ron, you two have to have counter-curses and healing charms ready at all times, and don't let Harry out of your site. Got it?" asked Victoria. "Don't try to do anything in the fight against Voldemort except keep Harry safe. If we need you, we'll ask. However, help with Sirius's case would be greatly appreciated. I think I speak for Dumbledore when I say he has enough on his plate right now, trying to get Sirius clear and trying to fight Voldemort and getting older is not helping. Stay out of trouble this year, got it?"
"Yes Victoria," Harry, Ron and Hermione chorused, sounding extremely sing-songy. They burst out laughing at the way it came out. "Okay, we promise," said Ron, still laughing.
"Oh, Harry, if you ever need to talk to me, I'm staying in Dumbledore's office. The password is 'Voldemort' this year so not many people will come into his office unless he brings them or a teacher does, or like you, can say the name (A/N: That was a long, nasty annoying sentence wasn't it? We're walking, we're walking(lol jenny!)...). Great plan huh?" asked Sirius. "Victoria will bring me to class everyday. I'll be keeping an eye on you this year too. I'll be following you a lot in dog form. That way people can just pass it off as me liking you a lot. Got it? And always call me Snuffles when you talk to me."
"Got it," said Harry.
"Okay, you guys can go now. I might see you later today, but I know Sirius will," said Victoria. "You're free to go."
"Hermione, can I talk to you for a sec?" asked Harry, gulping.
"Sure," Hermione said with a quizzical look. Ron gave a thumbs up, to either Harry or Hermione, it wasn't clear. Hermione glared at him, then turned to Harry. "Yeah?"
"In private," Harry said, pulling Hermione into an empty classroom. "Jeez, how do I say this. It might be better if I put it like this," he said. Harry gulped, and pulled Hermione into a long kiss. Sirius, in dog form, barked.
A/N: Right, cliffie! Ha, second one in two days! Hehehe, j/k. next part up soon, I'm gonna try to post a part every other day of this and a part every other day of When James met Lily. You recognize it? I don't own it, unlucky me! Ha! Happy Holidays!