AN: Hello, AO3 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 52

Have you ever heard a sound that instantly made you want to vomit? That's what the Hogwarts rumour mill's whispers were to Hermione, vomit-inducing flinch-worthy annoyances that crept into her ear.

A rumour had been spread about her…again. She couldn't understand how people thought it was more interesting than the fact that their Minister of Magic was practically couped out of her seat, replaced with a never-heard-of justice fanatic. Poor James, his father was basically jobless. He kept a hopeful and positive smile at school, but Hermione knew James wasn't stupid. He knew what was going on. Although Mr. Potter hadn't technically been removed, the sanctions put against the DMLE for improper use of funds were lunacy. They were implying that Mr. Potter was embezzling money. More than half the employees within the DMLE were laid off leaving him with no one on his side as they did a 'thorough' investigation on the accusations. She imagined that Fleamont Potter was paying the remaining employees out of pocket to keep things running, but she did not doubt that he'd be found 'guilty' for whatever they wished him to be guilty of. They were edging him out; fast and aggressively.

But a girl who supposedly slept with two boys was a far more interesting story, right? Apparently, at the same time too. In honesty, it was impressive. Two of Hogwarts's most eligible bachelors at the same time? She was pretty, but she didn't think she was that pretty.

Remus and Sirius both denied the allegations fervently whenever someone had the gall to ask, but it didn't help. A juicy bit of gossip like this was like Greek fire on greased firewood. That shit would take a fucking hurricane before it died.

Oh Lily, sweet innocent Lily. For a while, it looked like she was trying not to ask, respecting her sister's privacy and all that, but it was the secretive glances, the shocked and curious expressions, the studying gaze whenever the boys were in the same room as she was. It was Hermione who finally gave in and invited her sister for a much-needed chat.

"Hey love," Lily sat down next to her in the library, "it's quite cold lately, makes me wonder how cold winter will be."

"Out with it."

"W-what do you mean?"

"So you weren't going to ask me whether I two-timed Remus and Sirius?"

"You heard? I was worried that I might be bringing up rumours you hadn't heard yet and hurt your feelings."

"Rumours don't hurt my feelings, Lily. I don't even care about the rumours that are spreading at the moment."

Her sister stared at her for a long while with a bittersweet smile, "What does hurt you, Hermione?"

Hermione's quill stopped writing.

"It's not like I think you should be crying your eyes out for a guy. I'm glad you're dealing with your breakup so well! But Hermione, I don't think I've seen you even tear up once, I haven't seen you get sad or emotional, hell, I don't think I even saw you get angry." Lily pushed her homework away. "You can talk to me. I'm a lot stronger than you think I am! You can depend on me! Stop pushing your emotions down and let me be your shoulder to cry on, yeah?"

These moments made Hermione realize how different and similar Harry and Lily were. Harry didn't know how to comfort anyone; he didn't wish to be the shoulder to cry on, rather, he often panicked when faced with a teary-eyed person. However, he never turned them away. Despite feeling uncomfortable and unsure of what he needed to do, Harry was the type of person to do anything to make sure that by the time he left you felt a lot better.

"Miss Evans, you must tell your family. Give yourself support at this time and allow them to say their goodbyes and mourn." Dumbledore's words echoed in her mind. Like a bubble trying to come up, the pressure to tell her dearest sister about her impending death pushed up her throat.

She swallowed it painfully down.

"I thought I was pregnant."

The gasp echoed so loud that it could be heard across the library. Hermione clamped her hand on her sister's mouth and gave her a pleading look, but Lily's eyes of pure shock did not relent for a full minute. Not trusting her sister to blurt the words back to her, Hermione kept her hands over her sister's mouth the entire time, waiting for her sister's stiff posture to relax as she processed the information she gave her.

Lily gave her a small nod when she was ready. Slowly removing her hand from her sister's face. Hermione placed a Muffling charm around them before gesturing to her sister to proceed with her line of questions.

"But you're not."

She shook her head.

"You thought it was Sirius?"

She nodded.

"Why was Remus there?"

"He connected the dots faster."

Lily rolled her eyes at this, "Of course he did."

"You must've been terrified," Lily hugged her sister. "Why didn't you tell me? Going through that alone…I can't even begin to…Hermione." She ended with a sigh of frustration.

"I thought it was just a stomach bug, the day I figured it could be something else, Remus and Sirius barged in." Hermione shrugged. "Then I found out that day that I wasn't, so nothing to tell."

"That's…crazy." Lily sounded breathless. "Was he relieved?"

"No."

Her eyes bulged once more, making Hermione lurch forward to cover her mouth again, but this time Lily put her hand forward to stop her. She contained her loud shock this time.

"He—" her green eyes looked around before lowering her voice to a nearly undetectable level, even for Hermione. "He wanted the baby?"

Hermione nodded, "I think he thought it'd fix us."

"Oh," Lily's shocked face turned sad. "Oh, Sirius." The pity was palpable in her tone. "I want you to know that whatever reason you had to break up with Sirius, I'm on your side. You shouldn't reconcile with him and date him again if you don't want to, but I hope you forgive Sirius for wanting…" Lily's eyes flickered down to her belly, "for the wrong reasons. In a way, I get him. If I were Sirius, I'd also want to hold on to you in any way possible. You're incredible, Hermione. It's impossible to not love you absolutely. To be with you like Sirius was, then to lose you… it'd be torturous." She squeezed her cold hands, but was surprised at how cold they were, so she started rubbing them together with her own to warm them up. She took off her sweater and placed it on her sister's lap.

"You're freezing."

No, Hermione hadn't been quite so warm in some time.

Lucius walked around her begrudgingly amazing room. If the existence of the room hadn't been so incredible, he would feel quick uncomfortable standing in the private room without the owner there, but he was too distracted by the complexity of the magical room.

Her note had told him to make himself comfortable, so while he uncomfortably sat in her little sitting area next to her private fireplace, he thought how nice it would be to have a glass of water for his unusually dry throat. Just like that, a glass of cold water appeared on the coffee table in front of him. It didn't take him long to realize that the room gave him everything he wished for, within reason. He couldn't ask for alcohol (not even butterbeer), weapons, or poison. He couldn't ask for foods that weren't in the Hogwarts kitchens such as caviar or foie gras, and he couldn't turn the room into somewhere he hadn't seen or been to. He couldn't make the room into an ocean or a mountain, but a small section of a forest, or the shores of a beach with an optical illusion, making it seem like the endless horizon was captured within the room was possible. The room had natural Legilimency features, meaning that it took images, words, desires, and expectations straight from your mind, and created it as you imagined it, long as it was reasonable and within the school code.

He finally understood how Hermione Evans was able to survive 9 months out of the year, barely interacting with anyone. Even her personal library had an extensive collection of magic and knowledge that extended far outside of Hogwarts's curriculum.

He knew that she was never as dumb as she appeared in school, but to see the vastness of her intelligence was impressive.

"If I had a room like this…" he muttered out loud, his thoughts turning much less innocent as he thought back to what he would do with a room like this if he was 16 again.

The room suddenly shifted. The lights dimmed as soft music started playing somewhere in the corner. A bed appeared in the center of the room, larger and grander, with 4 posters and the curtains open. He knew in his heart that it would be soft and so very comfortable. The scent of something sweet drifted in the air.

"When I said make yourself comfortable, I didn't mean this comfortable."

Lucius turned so quickly that he got whiplash. Hermione Evans stood in the doorway of the room with a brow suspiciously raised as she looked around the room.

Like a fish out of water, Lucius's mouth opened and closed as his mind tried to make up a reasonable excuse for the state of the room.

"It's-It's the room's fault."

Fuck.

Her lips quivered as she tried to suppress the outright desire to laugh. "You're right, the room is far too intuitive for its own good sometimes. Makes the changes before you can even change your mind."

He gulped. "Exactly."

"But I think you'll agree that this…ambience, isn't the right atmosphere for the conversation we need to have."

"No, of course not."

The room changed, but not to her loft-style living space with her bedroom and everything attached, but into an empty room with a table and two uncomfortable-looking chairs. It was like the interrogation rooms in the Auror headquarters. She gestured for him to sit down. A cart with some tea rolled towards them.

"Do you know that there's a legend about the Founders? They each gave a gift to the future students of Hogwarts. Salazar left the Chamber of Secrets for his students, only the truly worthy would be able to enter. Godrick left the Great Hall, it's used as the hall where we eat today, but back in medieval times when the castle was first made, it would be the location of the greatest defence from invaders both magical and non-magical. It's located at the center of the castle, surrounded by thick stone walls to create a protective barrier while the ceiling shows possible dangers. Rowena left the library filled with books of all different types of magic so that future students wouldn't be limited and could expand their knowledge to however lengths they wish to go. And finally, Helga left this room. The others had given the students what they wished, just like how they sort their students for their House, but sweet Helga Hufflepuff left the Room of Requirement for all. When students, house elves, and whomever else sought a warm welcome and refuge to rest and simply be, the room would appear to them like a warm hearth." (AN: Can you guys tell that I'm a proud puff?)

"So then why did you turn it into an interrogation room?"

She smirked, "To prevent further distraction."

She had no idea that she was the distraction. With the blind state of panic gone, Lucius took his time to observe her. She lost a significant amount of weight that she didn't have to begin with. Her clothes hung loosely, her bones jutted out of the clothes like odd protrusions through her uniform. She looked like a strong wind to knock her over.

When she turned around to place his teacup in front of him, she noticed his stare.

"Oh," she pulled her sweater closer to her. "Sorry, my glamour charm faded as I was walking back from class. I can put it on again if bothers you."

Before he could tell her that it was fine, she grabbed her wand and placed the charm on herself. The difference was astounding. Within seconds she gained a healthy 3 stones, colour returning to her cheeks and overall skin. She was the Hermione Evans that he knew.

He didn't know anyone who could do such a transformation with a simple glamour charm. It was night and day. He couldn't help but wonder if her previous sickly appearance was how she always looked and she'd simply been hiding it from everyone since the beginning.

"So," Hermione sipped the tea. "Voldemort's got some sort of plan?"

He blinked, "Yes. He's planning an attack during a Hogsmeade village trip."

Her teacup clattered against the table. The glamour charm couldn't hide the way her face paled.

"Hogsmeade? The students? When?"

"I'm not sure, we're simply expected to show apparate to the village when we're called. The only person who'd know is the Dark Lord and the attack leader."

"Who's leading?"

"Bella."

"He's unleashing Bellatrix. On students." Hermione's jaw dropped. "Why? Why would he do something so reckless? Did you advise him against it?"

"Evans, he's fucking Voldemort. Do you think he's the type to listen to criticism of his plans? Or anything along the lines of 'no' to his orders? I tried my best without risking my life, but he's determined to go through with it."

"Lucius, you must try again."

"Not without risking death."

She opened her mouth to argue but quickly shut them again, but he was right.

"What are you going to do?"

"I must…" She stood up and looked as if she'll bolt out of the room but stood frozen in place. "No… I can't go to Dumbledore, he'll stop the trips, then Voldemort will know that there's a mole. Your Occlumency isn't ready if he starts digging through your memories."

He schooled his face, but he was touched that she would keep his secrets to such an extent.

"The better plan is to find out when it's happening. If he's willing to incur Dumbledore's wrath with such a plan, he's trying to make a statement. How would you make the biggest statement?" She turned to him.

"More casualties." They both said at the same time. With just one look into his eyes, she knew he'd figured it out too. Voldemort was going to attack at the last Hogsmeade trip before the winter holidays, when all the students would be in the village, shopping for Christmas gifts before heading home for the holiday.

A silence stretched between them for a while. Keeping quiet about this could mean the death of many students, students not equipped to fight a battle with cruel fighters such as Bellatrix and the other Death Eaters. However, to tell Dumbledore would mean losing Lucius as an informant, a vital player in the long run of this war.

"This means that you will send your people into battle knowing that it is a trap and that they will likely not come back alive… That is the burden and weight that you must shoulder."

The words she told Dumbledore stabbed her in the gut.

"You should keep your sister away."

"My sister has never missed a Hogsmeade trip since she was allowed to go."

"So you're going to let her go?"

"Don't be ridiculous. Of course, not," she snapped at him. "I'm trying to think of a way to stop her from going."

"You could tell her the truth."

She knew it was the logical option, the most convincing reason, and the only way Lily would take her seriously. It wasn't that Lily didn't know the events that were happening outside of Hogwarts, Hermione couldn't stop her from reading the papers, but the papers barely scratched the surface. Reading something on paper versus it becoming a reality was very different. Just like the difference before and after Voldemort's revival and Cedric Diggory's death…everything would change.

"Do I have the right to ruin her childhood like this?" She whispered.

"Ours is ruined, why not hers?"

"And didn't you wish someone fought harder to keep it from being ruined?"

He did, but it didn't change reality.

"Tell her." He stood up from his uncomfortable seat and willed a fireplace to appear.

"Tell her, but no one else, right?" She whispered, knowing that they were placing more value on those they loved than the innocent lives that may be lost that day. They were knowingly allowing children to walk into a death trap, foolishly hoping that thinking about the bigger picture would absolve them of this most grievous sin.

Your burden.

"How's the wife?"

He froze.

"What's wrong? Is she all right?"

He sighed. "Do you remember what my requirements for marriage were?"

"Magical, from a good family, healthy enough to bear" he grimaced. "…children," her eyes turned soft. "I'm so sorry. It must've been difficult."

"Do I not give her all the best elves and care? The best foods? The most beautiful clothes and jewels? I fulfilled my duty as her husband, yet she cannot do this one thing that—!"

"Enough." The softness of her eyes was gone in a moment. "Watch your mouth and choose your words carefully. Narcissa didn't lose the fetus on purpose, Malfoy. Things happen. The development of a baby is a complicated process where a thousand things can go wrong at any stage. None of which are her fault. It's why a healthy child is a miracle."

"I—"

"Blaming her won't help any matters. Stress is bad. Support her during this loss because if there's anyone that's pointing a finger at her for blame, it's going to be herself."

He scoffed, "Blaming herself? Please, she's too busy spending my money in overpriced cafés in Paris."

Hermione remembered when she also had a miscarriage when she was Hermione Granger. Acting like she wasn't devastated. Acting like she was fine. Working overtime so that she wouldn't have to face Ron. Avoiding Sunday dinners at the Weasley's home to that the famously fertile Molly Weasley wouldn't dote on her trying to comfort her about a problem that she couldn't relate to.

"I don't know Narcissa personally. Let's say she is truly fine, which I don't think is true, but let's say she is. She's young. Perhaps she isn't quite so eager to get pregnant just now with a husband that doesn't love her."

"Then she asks too much."

"Your wife wanting you to love her is asking too much?" Hermione let out a puff of air of disbelief. "Maybe she isn't even asking that much! Maybe she's simply asking you to stop fucking that redheaded Diagonalley whore."

His neck snapped towards her.

"I saw a piece of red hair in your bedroom. It sure the fuck wasn't mine. It doesn't take a genius to figure the rest out."

Fireplaces appeared on every corner of the walls.

"Bloody room," he muttered as the room read his desperate desire to leave. Now faced with an issue of pride, even if he did want to run away from the conversation, he couldn't.

Hermione knew his twisted affection towards her, but she thought that once he was married and saw Narcissa's devotion to him, he'd be swayed.

"Lucius," she was gentle. "I'm not it. I don't know when or why this started for you but stop. I truly mean this with the sincerest affection for you when I say, I'm not it."

"But," he approached her. He looked honest? Hopeful? Scared. "What if you are?"

He stopped in his tracks when she dropped her glamour charm, revealing how she actually looked. Her cheeks were hollow, her vibrant eyes dead. The fullness of her hair was gone leaving stingy straw-like strands. Her soft and youthful glowing skin faded to an odd shade of grey and yellow. She reminded him of his father lying still and dead in his coffin.

"Then your heart has cursed you. My illusion has tricked you and I have lied to you. You love a falsity. Something that is not real cannot give you what you desire. I cannot give you a family filled with warmth and lasting love. I can give no one that." She touched his cheek, her ice-cold hands jarring him in a multitude of ways. "Don't give up the beautiful thing you have with Narcissa for something that is a hallucination."

He searched for something in her, of what she wasn't entirely sure. He gripped her frozen fingers and kept them against him. He kissed the inside of her wrist and held his lips where her artery pulsed beneath her thin skin.

"Then how do I let you go?" Tears welled in his eyes, unsure and scared. "What if I can't?"

"You can." She smiled. "Let her love you and learn to love her. Grow with her and I promise you, Lucius. I promise you, you'll know love far greater than you've ever known."

A fireplace burst into flames behind them.

"Go." She gently pulled her hand out of his grip. "And we will meet again on the day of the attack, though I'd rather not."

Lucius walked away, his slumped shoulder straightening with each step. He never let the tears fall as he grabbed a handful of Floo powder.

"Goodbye, Hermione Evans."

"I can't believe that we never thought of this!" Lyana exclaimed as she carried several bottles of drinks up the stairs. "A Christmas party! I mean with our Common Room being so red, it's practically the easiest holiday for our House to decorate."

"The thought just came to me, while I was taking a nap in the library, studying with my sister." Lily giggled at her friend's giddiness. "Also, weren't you the one who was yelling at us that the food was the most important part of the party? You barely contributed to the decorations!"

"Because our Common Room is bloody red! What's there to decorate?"

"Christmas decorations aren't just red, Ly." Marlene rolled her eyes.

"Sure, but are you the one who is going to try and convince our Housemates to put GREEN in our Common Room?"

"Maybe we should have, that way it's inclusive. I mean, we invited the other Houses. Isn't it fairer to invite the others as well?" Alice asked.

"No! They're only going to scoff at our Common Room, our food, our music, the people, etc. etc." Lyana waved her hands. "Absolutely not. They aren't just prejudiced, they're also bloody judgemental. No one will be able to have any fun. They wouldn't have fun. We wouldn't have fun. It'd be terrible. No offence to your sister, Lils."

"I guess," Alice nodded. "But it's Christmas, innit? The spirit of Christmas is togetherness. It just doesn't feel right to just…not invite them."

Lyana rolled her eyes, "C'mon. I can't be the only one who thinks the way I do!"

Mary sighed and put her arm around Alice, "Listen, dove, it's not like I don't understand where you're coming from. I do. But it doesn't change the fact that what Ly is saying is true. We're not throwing this big party, using our allowances and everything, just so that Travers can bitch about muggleborn kids, and Josephine Zabini whisper cruel remarks on our ugly Christmas sweaters when they're SUPPOSED to be ugly! I mean it's in the bloody name!"

"Besides," Marlene interjected. "The real Christmas spirit is about getting sloshed with tons of good food and having one hell of a great time."

Lily laughed while Lyana and Mary cheered Marlene on, carrying their own hidden bottles of lager and Firewhiskey.

"Can we at least invite your sister and Snape?" Alice pouted.

Lily linked her arms around Alice's, "I already did, but the Slytherins have their own Christmas thing going on."

"Really?" Their smallest blonde friend's eyes twinkled with relief. "Oh, that must be nice. I wonder what they do."

"Sacrifice young virgins and bathe in their blood?" Lily thought to herself. "I'm not sure, but I'll be sure to ask my sister later. It's her first year attending as well."

"That's good! I'm so glad your sister's finally getting along with her House. It must've been tough being so isolated from people you live with for 9 months out of the year."

Lily gave her friend a smile before continuing up the stairs, but her thoughts weren't as sweet as Alice's. Her sister and best friend may be part of that House, but she did not trust the snakes. She assumed her sister was up to something, but what, she wouldn't know until her sister willed it to be revealed.

"Oi!" Mary stopped when she saw the Marauders walking down the steps. "Where you lads going?"

"Didn't you get the memo? We're throwing a party? There'll be lots of food and drinks!" Lyana coaxed.

"I heard," James laughed at the little jig that Pearson did with her feet. "Quite ambitious. What if you get caught by Minnie?"

"Psh," Lily scoffed. "Amateur."

"Excuse me?" James let out a chuckle.

"I happen to be a prefect with a great rapport with the Head Girl and Boy. Both of them along with the other prefects will all be in attendance. We all signed it and gave it to Professor McGonagall with the promise that nothing will get too crazy."

"I don't remember signing everything." Remus frowned.

"Are you sure about that?" Lily asked with a wink.

"Ah," Remus nodded. "Now that I think about it, I'm sure I signed that exact paper? Document? List?"

"Exactly. You were the second person to sign it almost a week ago. Right next to my name." Lily reassured.

She even managed to get Sirius to let out a small laugh. James shook his head, but his shoulders moved up and down with laughter.

It was good to see him laugh. He didn't do it much after his father was accused of embezzlement. In fact, Lily had never seen James be so good. He never played pranks, he was always early to class, he helped out with peer tutoring, he volunteered to help Hagrid bring in the evergreens for the season's festive decorations, and so on. It was good to see. No, it was great to see, but she couldn't help but think he was doing it because he was scared people might think of him like the way the media was describing his father. Arrogant, greedy, a moneygrubber, and apathetic to those whom he considered 'lower' than him. He didn't have to try so hard to prove them wrong. Anyone who knew him knew he was none of those things.

"Whew," he wiped the mirth from his eyes. "That's good, Lily. I never pegged you for someone to forge documents for a professor. For a party no less."

"Then I guess you're just going to have to attend to see how radical it is."

"I'll definitely catch the latter half. We're just going down to the village to get some Christmas shopping done."

"Boo!" Mary gave them the thumbs down. "You should have done it before, like us. That way, you guys could help us set up."

"We'll bring some drinks on our way back, how does that sound?" Peter suggested.

Lily glanced down at the smallest friend, trying to hide her expression of distaste. She hadn't told the rest of the Marauders that it was likely Peter who started the rumour about Hermione. She didn't know if the two had grudges against each other. She barely remembered them interacting, but Peter was a good friend to James. With the news of his father's investigation, and Sirius's depression after his breakup with Hermione, the Marauders were on rocky roads these days. It didn't feel right to add even more tension to the group.

Hermione didn't even care about the rumours, meaning Peter's petty little attempt at knocking her sister down had resulted in no real damage. The rumour lasted a total of 2 days, record time by Hogwarts's standards.

"You girls have any specific requests?" He asked, puffing his chest up, like he was doing them a big favour, despite them all holding a casing of heavy drinks in their arms at that very moment.

"Maybe some firewhiskey?" Mary shrugged.

Peter, who's had a not-so-secret secret crush on Mary for a long time, perked up at the request.

"You got it!"

Sirius smirked knowingly, he put his arms around his mate's shoulders and started walking down the steps once more, bringing Remus along. "Let's get going, mate. Can't keep the ladies waiting now that you've made a promise."

James lingered behind, glancing down at the drinks in their hands. He pulled out his wand and cast a feather-light charm.

Lily let out a sigh of relief when the weight came off her shoulders and sore fingers.

"Thanks. Why didn't I think of that?" She laughed, feeling silly.

"You would have eventually. I just beat you to it," he shrugged. "Have fun ladies."

"Bye Potter," the rest of the girls continued up the stairs, but Lily caught his cloak.

"I will see you later, right?"

"Absolutely." He smiled. "Wouldn't miss it for the world."

A small blush bloomed on her cheek, "Good. I'll hold you to that."

Music boomed in the Gryffindor Common room as students from three Houses mingled with one another. It was probably the first time the younger years from different houses were able to interact with older students from Houses that weren't theirs. It was a grand, albeit, chaotic, affair.

"Hey guys," Marlene greeted her roommates with one of the Gryffindor common room lamps under her arm, probably taking it from a younger student goofing off, or a drunken older student goofing off…it was hard to tell.

"I think this was a bloody smashing success!"

"Too much of a success if you ask me," Lyana looked around equally stunned and impressed at the large gathering of people. "We're out of ice every 10 minutes, and for some reason, people always call me to fill it up, as if they don't have wands themselves to refill the bowl!"

"Alice has gone down to get more food from the kitchens," Lily explained.

"D'you know when the Marauders are getting here?" Marlene asked worriedly. "We're okay for now, but I think we're going to run out of butterbeer pretty soon."

Lily glanced at the door with uncertainty. "I'm not sure. James promised he would come, but he never specified when… I could go down to the kitchens, but feel bad for taking the elves' secret stash. Maybe I should go down to the village now so that I'll be back before what we have runs out."

Marlene and Mary looked at yet another casing of butterbeer being opened by a Hufflepuff 7th year.

"Yeah. I think you should run."

"I'll come with you," Lyana offered, hopping off the armrest of the sofa and extending her hand to Lily. "C'mon. James taught us a secret passage that leads right to the back streets of the village."

They walked side by side, talking animatedly about their party as the loud party behind them cut off as the Fat Lady's portrait closed behind them.

"Hmm," Lyana touched Lily's long red hair. "What's it like, having red hair?"

Lily laughed at the ridiculous question. "I assume it's the same as having any other hair?"

"Is it?" Lyana touched her coiled black hair. "But natural redheads are rare in the world. You've also got green eyes. A muggleborn with magic… I'll bet you're one of the rarest human beings in the world."

Lily sensed a tinge of sadness in her friend's voice. "All people are rare, Ly."

Lyana's large, pursed lips twitched with an attempt to smile, but it didn't reach her eyes, "I guess."

"Hey," Lily stopped her. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"No!" Lyana brushed her off. "I guess I'm just a little drunk. Now that the people, noise, and holiday cheer aren't bombarding me from every angle, the alcohol is making me a little emotional. That's all."

"Ly—"

"I'm fine, Lily. Honestly," she laughed. "We're just nearing the end of Hogwarts and you're probably going to an amazing Charms developer, Mary's going to marry some rich dude and live her life as lavishly as she can before moving on to some other poor bloke," they both laughed at the accurate assessment. "Marlene is going to get a Quidditch scholarship and get scouted by so many Quidditch teams. Even sweet and meek Alice is going to be an Auror and marry Frank, but I'm…" her voice trembled. "I'm probably just going to work in my parent's boring shop for the rest of my life."

She wiped her eyes, then laughed, trying to push the hurt away.

"And, really, I'm okay with that! You know, because I'm not as ambitious and smart as you, or as pretty as Mary, or talented as Marlene, or as just and good as Alice! I'm…me."

"And what in seven hells is wrong with being you?!" Lily cupped her dear friend's face, wiping her tears with her thumb. "Ly, you…" she felt breathless from even trying to describe the incredibleness of her friend. "Ly you are so much more than you give yourself credit for. Just look at this bloody party! I may have brought up the idea, but you gave it life! Two-thirds of the whole bloody school showed up all thanks to you! You connect with people in ways that I could never. Your Quidditch teammates trust and rely on you, that's why James made you Vice-captain. The Marauders tell you their secret passages because you're bloody awesome! You're the glue that holds our friendship together because if it wasn't for you, the Hairbrush Incident of '74 would have decimated our dorm."

The girls laughed at the memories of that explosive fight in the girls' Gryffindor dorm room that caused McGonagall to show up at 6 AM.

"You are smart, beautiful, talented, and good. NEVER sell yourself short like that again. If I hear that from you again, I'm going to get mad."

Lyana pouted, but her spirits were lifted. "I still kind of want red hair though…"

Lily laughed out loud, her voice echoing through the halls of the castle. "You're a bloody witch, just do it then!"

At the same time. Hogsmeade Village.

"Hermione, are you sure that it's today?" Avery pulled at his defensive cloak, battling the sweat he was building by wearing the thing inside. It was an early Christmas gift he'd given himself at Madam Malkin's in Diagonalley. Weaving defensive spells into the fabric of clothing were difficult to maintain, making it expensive, and sometimes impractical, but Avery had gone and ordered himself one when she told them of her plan.

"Stop fidgeting," Severus snapped at him, but he couldn't look away from the window. Tension was sitting high on his shoulders.

"It's today," Hermione told him, but she was getting less and less sure. They'd been sitting here since the morning, even before the eager 3rd years who came down right after breakfast, but nothing was happening despite it being nearly 3 PM.

Did she get the day wrong? Had Lucius given her fake information? Was this just a test?

"It has to be," Harry told her knowingly. "It's not like you can manipulate Lily's thoughts to having another party after the winter holidays. What would that party even be celebrating?"

"What if they changed the plan because they noticed how empty the streets were?" Regulus asked astutely.

She bit her lip with worry. Hermione hadn't anticipated how massively successful her sister's party would be. The streets were close to deserted.

"I'm going to canvas the village," she sighed as she stood from her secluded spot in the corner of Three Broomsticks.

Severus caught her wrist.

"Don't worry Sev, like Regulus mentioned, no one's around and I'll keep my hood on the entire time."

He still looked hesitant, but he reluctantly let her go. "Constant vigilance."

The wise words of Moody, the ones she repeated to her Slytherin trainees echoed back to her.

"Has the student become the master?" She joked, making Severus crack a smile. "I know, Sev. I'll be right back."

She pulled the hood of her cloak over her head and stepped out into the brisk cold. Ice and gravel crunched under her feet. The cold air felt nice after spending hours in a warm pub, sitting idly by, waiting for disaster to hit, however, she didn't stand around for long. She kept her eyes and ears open for hidden figures in the corners and dark alleyways that could burst through to attack her.

"I think we might have made the wrong call on this one," Harry looked around the village with her. "If they were going to attack today, they'd already missed the high-traffic timeframe. Staging an attack now would be useless, wouldn't it?"

"The boys are tired," Hermione Granger advised. "Let's call it a miss and head back."

Hermione didn't want to admit it, but it was starting to get dark.

"Just one more round around the village, and I'll call it quits.

The village was quiet and peaceful, unaware of the threat that it had been placed under. Or perhaps there wasn't a threat, at least today. She put her hand in her pocket for her Protean charm galleon to feel if Lucius had sent her a message, but only felt the cool metal against her cold hands.

Hermione turned the last corner to tell the boys that they could go back to their dormitories when someone grabbed her and pulled her into an alley.

Without thinking, she pulled her wand out and shot a stupefy right to the attacker's abdomen. They went flying back, hitting the stone wall and crumbling to the floor. Her hand immediately went to her pocket to warn the other boys when her eyes caught the red and yellow of his scarf.

That wasn't a Death Eater uniform.

She took a step closer to see black hair sprawled on the floor from the distance.

"Sirius?" She ran toward the unconscious body. "Fuck, Sirius!" She cradled his head, but her heart lurched when she felt a warm liquid from the back of his head.

"Shit! Shit. Shit. Shit. No no no. I'm sorry." She pulled him gently to his side and inspected the wound. It wasn't deep, but he was definitely going to wake up with a concussion. "Adurendum." The cauterizing spell stopped the bleeding. "Tergeo," she cast to clean up the blood.

Knowing that his fight and flight response would active as soon as he woke up, she placed his sitting up against the wall and took a few steps back before restoring his consciousness.

"Ennervate!"

"Ahhh!" Sirius's grey eyes flew open, fists flying. His wild eyes finally focused on her who stood a few meters away with her hands in the air. "You—ahh," the pain in his head registered. He grimaced as he touched the back of his head. "You fucking attacked me!"

His voice was filled with hurt and disbelief.

"You fucking Stupefied me! At that close of a distance!"

Wounded, both body and pride, he slapped her helping hand away.

"You grabbed me first. I just reacted. It wasn't personal, Sirius."

"Well, it fucking feels personal!" He shouted, but the stress of it caused his pounding head to hurt more. He grabbed his head, his balance teetering. She stepped forward to help him again, but he raised his hand to stop her. "Especially considering that my girlfriend, who NEVER comes to Hogsmeade is found fucking sitting in Three Broomsticks, not with me. Nooooo, never with me, but with my fucking brother, and her Slytherin friends!"

She ignored the fact that he called her his girlfriend. "Sirius, you have a concussion. It's why your head hurts so much."

"You don't fucking say?! I was flung to a damn stone wall!"

"Calming down will help with the headache."

"Cal—" he let out a bitter laugh. "Calm down. Oh, Miss Ice Cold wants me to calm down. Big surprise."

Hermione glanced around, making sure Sirius's meltdown wasn't attracting too much attention. There weren't a lot of people in the village, so they were okay for now, but if he didn't stop shouting, they'd have an audience, which is something she didn't want.

"Why aren't you at the Gryffindor party?" She asked, this time ignoring his protests against her help. She grabbed one of his arms and put it over her shoulder to help him balance as they walked out of the alley. "Where are your friends? Let's get them to help you get to the Hospital Wing."

"Why are you here with them?" He asked as they walked down the village. "Why is it okay with them and not with me?"

"It's not like that, Sirius."

"Then what is it?"

"I—" she sighed. "I can't…"

"Can't explain, right?" He asked. He pushed her away. "I think it's easier to list the things you can explain. You know what?" He looked pained in a different way than he was before. "I'm done. I'm done with you. I can't do this anymore."

Her chest constricted painfully. She felt like a giant was squeezing the life out of her. The irony of how she was the one who initiated the breakup but now felt distraught about the fact that Sirius no longer wanted her was not lost to her. However, that's how she felt. Distraught. Sorrow. Regret. Hopeless.

He turned around and started to walk away, and she trembled with fear. Her feet were taking steps toward him before she could stop herself, her arms reaching out to grab him.

Something burned white hot in her pocket. Lucius's warning.

"They're here," Harry told her.

"Sir—!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Her blood froze in her veins, turning colder than liquid nitrogen.

AN: Hey guys! Sorry for not posting last week! School, work, and life kind of caught up with me, ripping me away from my fantasy cocoon, which is where I spend most of my time writing. I had maybe 30 words down on paper by the time Thursday rolled around? Haha

I'm kinda sorta proud of this chapter though? So, I'm not really mad at myself for not posting last week. I think it flowed nicely between all the characters, got some resolutions, got some character building, and got some solid relationship building.

Also, if I was Lucius and someone walked in on me while I was creating a sex room…a MAGICAL sex room? Dude. Just unalive me at that point…because I could never.

Anywho, yes, I ended it with a cliffhanger. Don't kill me!

I might post next week? Might not? It really depends on my school/workload. Hopefully, I will, but I might not bc qualityweekly uploads. Right?