Chapter Two; First Lessons
*
Hermione woke with a start and found herself gasping for air. She went to
the window of the common room, doing her best not to cough and splutter and
wake the other girls. she opened the window and greedily breathed in the
cold night air.
It was snowing again: the scene was magical, the Hogwarts ground stretched out before her eyes caked in thick layers of snow, undisturbed by any footprints, in the dimness of early morning.
Feeling calmer she turned to look at the clock, only five o'clock. She could get another two hours of sleep before breakfast. Slipping back between the covers of her luxurious four poster bed she shut her eyes.
They flew open again instantly. She had dreamt about the Basilisk again and closing her eyes meant that the snakes round yellow eyes appeared to her again. Constantly mocking, constantly seeking to destroy her and constantly trying to break her down.
But Hermione Granger, head girl of Hogwarts was made of sterner stuff that that! If she could face Voldemort then she could defeat a silly dream! All the same she dressed and went down to the common room.
There was no-one about. Not really surprising at five o'clock in the morning. Sighing Hermione threw on her cloak and ventured out of the common room. The Fat Lady was grumpy to have been awakened but let her past all the same.
She wandered aimlessly not quiet sure where she was headed. The castle was eerily quiet and her own footsteps echoed: a strangely painful sound to her ears. There was not much light but somehow this didn't effect Hermione, she just carried on walking.
She was half thinking of going to the Library when she bumped into someone prowling the castle. It was all she could do not to shriek out in fright, and felt her heart beating faster.
"Hermione! What are you doing up?" The someone asked.
"I could ask you the same question!" She protested, relived to be looking up into the face of Sirius Black.
"Just thinking, that's all." He replied in an offhand manner.
"Same here." She replied.
"Do you want to come for a cup of tea in my office?" Sirius asked.
Hermione grinned, "Yeah that would be great." She replied. Sirius was so much like Remus, teaching wasn't all he was interested in- he was willing to be a friend as well.
They were soon sat by the fire in Sirius's' office sipping steaming tea.
"I have your class first lesson." Sirius said, "I'm looking forward to it."
"So am I," Hermione replied, "Are you nervous?"
"Extremely, but don't tell anyone." He chuckled.
"Is that why you're up so early?" She asked.
"No, not really. Like I said I had something to think about." He replied evasively.
"Oh." She said sipping her tea.
"What about you? Are you worried about your parents?" He asked her, changing the subjects.
"Yes, very. The attacks are getting nearer and nearer to where we live in the Lake District." She replied distractedly.
"You live in the Lakes?" Sirius asked surprised.
"Yes, in Keswick, why do you know that area?"
"I did know it very well. I haven't been there for years, not since." He trailed off, a far away look in his black eyes.
"What? Not since what?" She pressed, curious.
"Well, Lily, James, Remus and I'm ashamed to say. Wormtail used to go camping there a lot. With some other friends." Sirius said, trailing off again.
"Other friends?" Hermione asked, she knew that Harry was always curious about people that his parents had known.
"Oh just acquaintances." Sirius replied vaguely. He reminded her of Remus Lupin in their third year, never quite revealing the whole truth.
"Just acquaintances?" She asked lifting an eyebrow.
Sirius chuckled, "You're far too clever for your own good."
She laughed, but knew the subject had been dismissed and thought it wise not to question him any further. Anyway she felt a lot sleepier all of a sudden.
"Well, I better get back to the common room; I have a transfiguration essay I want to get a start on." Hermione said.
"Ok then, I'll see you in class." Sirius replied smiling knowingly.
"Bye."
"Bye."
* The journey back to the common room didn't seem to take as long as when she had walked that way half an hour ago. It was quarter to six when she got back but she suddenly felt extremely drowsy. She had to wonder what had been in the tea Sirius had given her. Sleepily she lay down on one of the coaches and before she knew it she were fast asleep.
*
Unusually Ron was the first person up that morning. He dressed quickly and went down to the common room.
"First up!" He muttered to himself amused. "And I could have had another ten minutes in bed!"
Then he noticed the heap of black sleeping gently on one of the couches. Brown curls spilled abundantly over the persons face but even this was enough to tell him who it was. Frowning, he walked over to the sleeping form, that was his best friend (well one of them), Hermione Granger.
He crouched down beside her, coming level with her face and shook her gently.
"Hermione?" He said, "Hermione come on wake up."
"What?" She muttered, her eyes blinking open. She stared at him sleepily, confused "Ron watch out the basilisk!"
"What?" He asked, looking at her. Her brown eyes were wide with fear, she had gone deathly pale and was shaking violently.
"I.oh. I must have fallen asleep!" She said, suddenly registering where she was and springing bolt upright. "What time is it?" She asked panicked, "Have I missed any classes? Oh and I was so looking forward to Sirius' first lesson!"
"But what did you mean, basilisk?" He pressed her, but the colour had flooded back into her cheeks and she wasn't shaking.
She simply smiled and said, "Oh nothing."
Ron nodded, concerned none the less. He made up his mind to keep an eye on her, although it wasn't wise to press her, but there was something up. Basilisk? What on earth had she been talking about?
"What time is it?" She asked again.
"Oh ten to seven" Ron replied.
She sighed relived and stood up, straightening her robes and used her wand to take out the creases. He watched her run her fingers through her mad and wild curls and felt suddenly very nervous of her. She pulled out a piece of elastic and tied them back, for some reason Ron felt the need to stop her doing so. Her hair was lovely, so wild and untameable.
He checked himself suddenly. What was he thinking? Chasing this thought from his mind he said; "So why don't we walk down to the Great Hall slowly, breakfast will have started by the time we arrive."
"Yes, ok." She replied smiling.
But somehow she seemed distracted. There was something she wasn't telling him.
*
Cassandra found herself seated right next to the man; she had hoped not to be seated next to, that morning at breakfast.
"Good morning," He said, before turning to talk to Professor Flitwick.
She scowled at his back. This really was too much to cope with!
"Good morning Cassandra!" Minerva said cheerfully sitting down beside her.
"Oh Good morning." She replied putting on a smile.
"So who do you have first?" Minerva asked.
"A group of third years, then seventh years" Cassandra replied.
"Oh the third years are a quiet lot. And the seventh years, I don't know much about their talents in Divination but they are a bright lot. You know I'm not prejudiced to my own house, but my seventh year Gryffindors are exceptional. Particularly the Head Girl, Hermione Granger. She's the cleverest student I've ever had and that's saying something!" Minerva said, Cassandra was taken a back Minerva McGonagall was rarely so full of praise about anybody.
"And will I be teaching her?" Cassandra asked.
"No, I'm afraid not. But you will be teaching her best friends, two young men who I hold in the highest esteem." Minerva said, and then frowned, "Of course talking about them as her best friends is something that you don't often hear. For you see, one of them is Harry Potter."
"Oh" Cassandra said, looking down into the hall to where the raven haired boy sat.
"I'm sorry Cassandra dear; you might find him a little difficult to teach. So many memories." Minerva said wistfully, "I know I did, and Remus in particular found him upsetting."
"I'll cope." Cassandra smiled, feeling tears prick in her eyes.
"Will you?" He asked his voce as deep and rich as ever. She gulped and turned to face him.
"Yes," She said, in what could have been barely more than a squeak.
"And what will you tell him?" He asked her.
"I. you don't understand. It's more complicated than you think..." She trailed off. How could she explain?
"No, all I see is someone frightened to face up to what happened in the past." His voice had a cruel harshness to it now, Minerva looked positively frightened.
"It's just the future that frightened me." She replied, standing up, "If you'll excuse me, I must go and prepare for my first lesson."
She left the hall feeling as though everybody's eyes were on her. He didn't know! He hadn't a clue! She was fuming, his tone had been accusative! He just had no idea!
By the time she had got to her office the anger had subsided, left in its place was bitterness, and she found herself crying. The picture of James, Lily, Remus Sirius and herself stood on a shelf. Looking at it only made her sob harder.
It was the only picture that didn't have Peter on it. He was taking the picture, laughing with them. All the time destined to betray them.
*
Sirius faced his first class, thoughts of Cassandra Vablatsky fresh in his mind. What was she hiding? Shaking his head, he concentrated on the lesson. Ron, Harry, and Hermione seated themselves in the front row. Harry in encouragement, Ron grinned. But Hermione looked somehow far away. Had the sleeping potion not worked?
"Right!" He said, "Professor Lupin has already told me what a talented class this is- so I have high expectations." Sirius began. "Seventh year Defence against the Dark Arts is very complex and extremely difficult as no doubt you've been learning with my good friend Professor Lupin. You should be covering the Speed Spell, am I right?"
There were general murmurs of descent. Many in the class were still afraid of him.
"Well I'm going to take it to the next stage, the Speed Spell whilst casting a spell for light. Now can anyone tell me why that might be useful in fighting a dark wizard?" He asked.
Hermione's hand shot up.
"Yes?"
"So that you can blind them temporarily while using the speed to put some distance in-between the dark wizard and yourself."
"Very good! Now wands at the ready..
* Cassandra had dreaded her lesson with the Seventh years. They would be coming straight from one of Black's lessons and worst of all Harry was in that class. She knew it would be difficult teaching him. She had glimpsed him at dinner times; he looked so much like James that for one breathtaking moment she had thought it was him. Then she notice that he had Lily's eyes- and that awful scar. They were dead and he represented to her a painful reminder of what they had suffered.
But when it came to it she couldn't help but like Harry Potter. The class was lively and willing to learn. The girls- Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil seemed to have some talent but more the art of Sybil Trelawney than Cassandra Vablatsky. Far too showy for her liking!
"Right, now I understand that you are very far on with text book divination?" She asked the class.
They looked at her blankly and she laughed: "What I mean is that you're far ahead in your textbooks?"
"Yes," A boy named Neville Longbottom said.
"In that case you can't mind too much if I set you back a bit, and recover a chapter with more practical work involved."
There were murmurs of discomfort and uncertainty, this just made her more determined.
"Well we'll be looking at card predictions."
A girl shot her hand up.
"Yes Miss..?"
"Brown. Lavender Brown. We can't do that again! We did that way back in September!"
"Well it'll be a little bit of revision won't it?" Cassandra asked, the rest of the class laughed nervously as Lavender stuck her hand down red- faced.
"Anyway, if I could have a volunteer?" She asked. The class fell silent, somehow nervous of her. She realised that she must be so different from Professor Trelawney that they couldn't help it.
Finally somebody put their hand up. Harry Potter.
"Thank you! Now then Harry if you could come up here and choose a card from this pack, but don't tell me what it is. Cassandra shut her eyes and went through the familiar process of drawing up and image of the card in her mind. "Aha"" She said, "It's the Ace of Spades!" Harry looked a little surprised, "But, when Professor Trelawney did it, she had to ask questions!" He said. Cassandra smiled.
"Ah yes but I'm not Professor Trelawney!" *
"Are you all right Hermione?" Ginny Weasley asked when they sat at dinner that evening.
Hermione looked up, "Yes," She said hurriedly.
"Just you look a little pale, I hope you aren't coming down with anything," Ginny said looking concerned.
"No, really I'm fine!" Hermione insisted,
"If you say so- are you sure you don't want to see Madame Pomfrey?"
"I'm sure!" Hermione repeated, "I'm just worried that's all."
"Oh, I see." Ginny said lowering her eyes. There had been news of another muggle attack- twelve dead- right outside Hermione's home town.
Hermione couldn't stand the thought of her being safe at Hogwarts and them being in the middle of it all. It wasn't fair- death eaters targeting people who didn't know how to defend themselves against magic!
Harry and Ron came in, after running yet another errand for McGonagall.
"You heard about the latest attack?" Ron asked.
"Yes," Hermione said, feeling tears of panic enter her eyes, "It was right outside my home town."
"Really? Oh I didn't know where it had happened, I'm sorry." Ron said, turning an ashamed red.
"You weren't to know. Oh what will I do? I thought my Mum and Dad would be safe, being in the Lakes. Keswick's only a small town and more touristy than anything else!" She said feeling utterly helpless.
"No where is safe anymore Hermione." Harry said, "Not anywhere."
"Not even here?" Ginny asked suddenly.
"I don't know.maybe it isn't." He replied darkly.
*
Cassandra sat in her room, putting off going down to dinner. She didn't want to have to face Sirius again. That was the only time she ever saw him- and what must he think of her? She hadn't spoken to him for years, not even since his name was cleared.
He wouldn't understand. He'd think she didn't trust him. He'd think she thought he was guilty. He'd think she'd forgotten him. But it wasn't so! She knew that he wasn't guilty- but who would have believed her? Remus hadn't; he'd just thought that she was in denial. And how could she explain why she'd left Harry to the mercies of his Aunt and Uncles, and never even let him know that she existed?
Cassandra wiped a tear from her eye determinedly; she knew the reasons why, wasn't that enough?
She jumped violently when there was a knock at the door. She hesitated, half expecting it to be him before opening the door.
It wasn't, it was the curly haired Head Girl- what was her name? Hermione? With a tray of food.
"Good evening Professor." She began. "Professor Dumbledore told me to bring this for you, dinner has already finished."
Cassandra smiled, "Thank you!"
"You're welcome. I'm just glad you don't use Professor Trelawny's room, I'd have never climbed all those stairs without spilling something." Hermione said, smiling.
"No, well I found it far too hot! What an awful to atmosphere t work in!"
"Yes I suppose it is," The girl replied, "Anyway, enjoy your dinner!"
"Goodbye, and thank you again." Cassandra said, watching as the girl retreated.
She was obviously friends with Sirius, as soon as dinner had finished on the night that they had arrived, she, Harry and the Weasley had rushed up to the staff table and had left the hall with him. Cassandra felt a twinge of jealousy at that thought.
*
Sirius didn't go back to the staff room. He found himself wandering aimlessly. Teaching at Hogwarts had seemed like a welcome break from fighting, but her being there made it feel extremely stressful.
How could she just ignore him? Did she think that he was guilty; Cassandra had always stuck up for Pettigrew when he was getting teased. Was she scared of him? Or was she simply hiding from the past?
That's what he'd accused her of at breakfast. But was she? He regretted blowing up at her. Maybe he didn't know the full story.
*
OOC- So what do you think?? Please review, and thanks to aims80 and hermioneandron4eva for your lovely reviews. I don't know about Tom Riddle though maybe I could work him in somewhere. And I'm not one for giving answers straight away I like to hint at them a lot first. Anyway I know this story is slow in starting but the pace will quicken soon!
It was snowing again: the scene was magical, the Hogwarts ground stretched out before her eyes caked in thick layers of snow, undisturbed by any footprints, in the dimness of early morning.
Feeling calmer she turned to look at the clock, only five o'clock. She could get another two hours of sleep before breakfast. Slipping back between the covers of her luxurious four poster bed she shut her eyes.
They flew open again instantly. She had dreamt about the Basilisk again and closing her eyes meant that the snakes round yellow eyes appeared to her again. Constantly mocking, constantly seeking to destroy her and constantly trying to break her down.
But Hermione Granger, head girl of Hogwarts was made of sterner stuff that that! If she could face Voldemort then she could defeat a silly dream! All the same she dressed and went down to the common room.
There was no-one about. Not really surprising at five o'clock in the morning. Sighing Hermione threw on her cloak and ventured out of the common room. The Fat Lady was grumpy to have been awakened but let her past all the same.
She wandered aimlessly not quiet sure where she was headed. The castle was eerily quiet and her own footsteps echoed: a strangely painful sound to her ears. There was not much light but somehow this didn't effect Hermione, she just carried on walking.
She was half thinking of going to the Library when she bumped into someone prowling the castle. It was all she could do not to shriek out in fright, and felt her heart beating faster.
"Hermione! What are you doing up?" The someone asked.
"I could ask you the same question!" She protested, relived to be looking up into the face of Sirius Black.
"Just thinking, that's all." He replied in an offhand manner.
"Same here." She replied.
"Do you want to come for a cup of tea in my office?" Sirius asked.
Hermione grinned, "Yeah that would be great." She replied. Sirius was so much like Remus, teaching wasn't all he was interested in- he was willing to be a friend as well.
They were soon sat by the fire in Sirius's' office sipping steaming tea.
"I have your class first lesson." Sirius said, "I'm looking forward to it."
"So am I," Hermione replied, "Are you nervous?"
"Extremely, but don't tell anyone." He chuckled.
"Is that why you're up so early?" She asked.
"No, not really. Like I said I had something to think about." He replied evasively.
"Oh." She said sipping her tea.
"What about you? Are you worried about your parents?" He asked her, changing the subjects.
"Yes, very. The attacks are getting nearer and nearer to where we live in the Lake District." She replied distractedly.
"You live in the Lakes?" Sirius asked surprised.
"Yes, in Keswick, why do you know that area?"
"I did know it very well. I haven't been there for years, not since." He trailed off, a far away look in his black eyes.
"What? Not since what?" She pressed, curious.
"Well, Lily, James, Remus and I'm ashamed to say. Wormtail used to go camping there a lot. With some other friends." Sirius said, trailing off again.
"Other friends?" Hermione asked, she knew that Harry was always curious about people that his parents had known.
"Oh just acquaintances." Sirius replied vaguely. He reminded her of Remus Lupin in their third year, never quite revealing the whole truth.
"Just acquaintances?" She asked lifting an eyebrow.
Sirius chuckled, "You're far too clever for your own good."
She laughed, but knew the subject had been dismissed and thought it wise not to question him any further. Anyway she felt a lot sleepier all of a sudden.
"Well, I better get back to the common room; I have a transfiguration essay I want to get a start on." Hermione said.
"Ok then, I'll see you in class." Sirius replied smiling knowingly.
"Bye."
"Bye."
* The journey back to the common room didn't seem to take as long as when she had walked that way half an hour ago. It was quarter to six when she got back but she suddenly felt extremely drowsy. She had to wonder what had been in the tea Sirius had given her. Sleepily she lay down on one of the coaches and before she knew it she were fast asleep.
*
Unusually Ron was the first person up that morning. He dressed quickly and went down to the common room.
"First up!" He muttered to himself amused. "And I could have had another ten minutes in bed!"
Then he noticed the heap of black sleeping gently on one of the couches. Brown curls spilled abundantly over the persons face but even this was enough to tell him who it was. Frowning, he walked over to the sleeping form, that was his best friend (well one of them), Hermione Granger.
He crouched down beside her, coming level with her face and shook her gently.
"Hermione?" He said, "Hermione come on wake up."
"What?" She muttered, her eyes blinking open. She stared at him sleepily, confused "Ron watch out the basilisk!"
"What?" He asked, looking at her. Her brown eyes were wide with fear, she had gone deathly pale and was shaking violently.
"I.oh. I must have fallen asleep!" She said, suddenly registering where she was and springing bolt upright. "What time is it?" She asked panicked, "Have I missed any classes? Oh and I was so looking forward to Sirius' first lesson!"
"But what did you mean, basilisk?" He pressed her, but the colour had flooded back into her cheeks and she wasn't shaking.
She simply smiled and said, "Oh nothing."
Ron nodded, concerned none the less. He made up his mind to keep an eye on her, although it wasn't wise to press her, but there was something up. Basilisk? What on earth had she been talking about?
"What time is it?" She asked again.
"Oh ten to seven" Ron replied.
She sighed relived and stood up, straightening her robes and used her wand to take out the creases. He watched her run her fingers through her mad and wild curls and felt suddenly very nervous of her. She pulled out a piece of elastic and tied them back, for some reason Ron felt the need to stop her doing so. Her hair was lovely, so wild and untameable.
He checked himself suddenly. What was he thinking? Chasing this thought from his mind he said; "So why don't we walk down to the Great Hall slowly, breakfast will have started by the time we arrive."
"Yes, ok." She replied smiling.
But somehow she seemed distracted. There was something she wasn't telling him.
*
Cassandra found herself seated right next to the man; she had hoped not to be seated next to, that morning at breakfast.
"Good morning," He said, before turning to talk to Professor Flitwick.
She scowled at his back. This really was too much to cope with!
"Good morning Cassandra!" Minerva said cheerfully sitting down beside her.
"Oh Good morning." She replied putting on a smile.
"So who do you have first?" Minerva asked.
"A group of third years, then seventh years" Cassandra replied.
"Oh the third years are a quiet lot. And the seventh years, I don't know much about their talents in Divination but they are a bright lot. You know I'm not prejudiced to my own house, but my seventh year Gryffindors are exceptional. Particularly the Head Girl, Hermione Granger. She's the cleverest student I've ever had and that's saying something!" Minerva said, Cassandra was taken a back Minerva McGonagall was rarely so full of praise about anybody.
"And will I be teaching her?" Cassandra asked.
"No, I'm afraid not. But you will be teaching her best friends, two young men who I hold in the highest esteem." Minerva said, and then frowned, "Of course talking about them as her best friends is something that you don't often hear. For you see, one of them is Harry Potter."
"Oh" Cassandra said, looking down into the hall to where the raven haired boy sat.
"I'm sorry Cassandra dear; you might find him a little difficult to teach. So many memories." Minerva said wistfully, "I know I did, and Remus in particular found him upsetting."
"I'll cope." Cassandra smiled, feeling tears prick in her eyes.
"Will you?" He asked his voce as deep and rich as ever. She gulped and turned to face him.
"Yes," She said, in what could have been barely more than a squeak.
"And what will you tell him?" He asked her.
"I. you don't understand. It's more complicated than you think..." She trailed off. How could she explain?
"No, all I see is someone frightened to face up to what happened in the past." His voice had a cruel harshness to it now, Minerva looked positively frightened.
"It's just the future that frightened me." She replied, standing up, "If you'll excuse me, I must go and prepare for my first lesson."
She left the hall feeling as though everybody's eyes were on her. He didn't know! He hadn't a clue! She was fuming, his tone had been accusative! He just had no idea!
By the time she had got to her office the anger had subsided, left in its place was bitterness, and she found herself crying. The picture of James, Lily, Remus Sirius and herself stood on a shelf. Looking at it only made her sob harder.
It was the only picture that didn't have Peter on it. He was taking the picture, laughing with them. All the time destined to betray them.
*
Sirius faced his first class, thoughts of Cassandra Vablatsky fresh in his mind. What was she hiding? Shaking his head, he concentrated on the lesson. Ron, Harry, and Hermione seated themselves in the front row. Harry in encouragement, Ron grinned. But Hermione looked somehow far away. Had the sleeping potion not worked?
"Right!" He said, "Professor Lupin has already told me what a talented class this is- so I have high expectations." Sirius began. "Seventh year Defence against the Dark Arts is very complex and extremely difficult as no doubt you've been learning with my good friend Professor Lupin. You should be covering the Speed Spell, am I right?"
There were general murmurs of descent. Many in the class were still afraid of him.
"Well I'm going to take it to the next stage, the Speed Spell whilst casting a spell for light. Now can anyone tell me why that might be useful in fighting a dark wizard?" He asked.
Hermione's hand shot up.
"Yes?"
"So that you can blind them temporarily while using the speed to put some distance in-between the dark wizard and yourself."
"Very good! Now wands at the ready..
* Cassandra had dreaded her lesson with the Seventh years. They would be coming straight from one of Black's lessons and worst of all Harry was in that class. She knew it would be difficult teaching him. She had glimpsed him at dinner times; he looked so much like James that for one breathtaking moment she had thought it was him. Then she notice that he had Lily's eyes- and that awful scar. They were dead and he represented to her a painful reminder of what they had suffered.
But when it came to it she couldn't help but like Harry Potter. The class was lively and willing to learn. The girls- Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil seemed to have some talent but more the art of Sybil Trelawney than Cassandra Vablatsky. Far too showy for her liking!
"Right, now I understand that you are very far on with text book divination?" She asked the class.
They looked at her blankly and she laughed: "What I mean is that you're far ahead in your textbooks?"
"Yes," A boy named Neville Longbottom said.
"In that case you can't mind too much if I set you back a bit, and recover a chapter with more practical work involved."
There were murmurs of discomfort and uncertainty, this just made her more determined.
"Well we'll be looking at card predictions."
A girl shot her hand up.
"Yes Miss..?"
"Brown. Lavender Brown. We can't do that again! We did that way back in September!"
"Well it'll be a little bit of revision won't it?" Cassandra asked, the rest of the class laughed nervously as Lavender stuck her hand down red- faced.
"Anyway, if I could have a volunteer?" She asked. The class fell silent, somehow nervous of her. She realised that she must be so different from Professor Trelawney that they couldn't help it.
Finally somebody put their hand up. Harry Potter.
"Thank you! Now then Harry if you could come up here and choose a card from this pack, but don't tell me what it is. Cassandra shut her eyes and went through the familiar process of drawing up and image of the card in her mind. "Aha"" She said, "It's the Ace of Spades!" Harry looked a little surprised, "But, when Professor Trelawney did it, she had to ask questions!" He said. Cassandra smiled.
"Ah yes but I'm not Professor Trelawney!" *
"Are you all right Hermione?" Ginny Weasley asked when they sat at dinner that evening.
Hermione looked up, "Yes," She said hurriedly.
"Just you look a little pale, I hope you aren't coming down with anything," Ginny said looking concerned.
"No, really I'm fine!" Hermione insisted,
"If you say so- are you sure you don't want to see Madame Pomfrey?"
"I'm sure!" Hermione repeated, "I'm just worried that's all."
"Oh, I see." Ginny said lowering her eyes. There had been news of another muggle attack- twelve dead- right outside Hermione's home town.
Hermione couldn't stand the thought of her being safe at Hogwarts and them being in the middle of it all. It wasn't fair- death eaters targeting people who didn't know how to defend themselves against magic!
Harry and Ron came in, after running yet another errand for McGonagall.
"You heard about the latest attack?" Ron asked.
"Yes," Hermione said, feeling tears of panic enter her eyes, "It was right outside my home town."
"Really? Oh I didn't know where it had happened, I'm sorry." Ron said, turning an ashamed red.
"You weren't to know. Oh what will I do? I thought my Mum and Dad would be safe, being in the Lakes. Keswick's only a small town and more touristy than anything else!" She said feeling utterly helpless.
"No where is safe anymore Hermione." Harry said, "Not anywhere."
"Not even here?" Ginny asked suddenly.
"I don't know.maybe it isn't." He replied darkly.
*
Cassandra sat in her room, putting off going down to dinner. She didn't want to have to face Sirius again. That was the only time she ever saw him- and what must he think of her? She hadn't spoken to him for years, not even since his name was cleared.
He wouldn't understand. He'd think she didn't trust him. He'd think she thought he was guilty. He'd think she'd forgotten him. But it wasn't so! She knew that he wasn't guilty- but who would have believed her? Remus hadn't; he'd just thought that she was in denial. And how could she explain why she'd left Harry to the mercies of his Aunt and Uncles, and never even let him know that she existed?
Cassandra wiped a tear from her eye determinedly; she knew the reasons why, wasn't that enough?
She jumped violently when there was a knock at the door. She hesitated, half expecting it to be him before opening the door.
It wasn't, it was the curly haired Head Girl- what was her name? Hermione? With a tray of food.
"Good evening Professor." She began. "Professor Dumbledore told me to bring this for you, dinner has already finished."
Cassandra smiled, "Thank you!"
"You're welcome. I'm just glad you don't use Professor Trelawny's room, I'd have never climbed all those stairs without spilling something." Hermione said, smiling.
"No, well I found it far too hot! What an awful to atmosphere t work in!"
"Yes I suppose it is," The girl replied, "Anyway, enjoy your dinner!"
"Goodbye, and thank you again." Cassandra said, watching as the girl retreated.
She was obviously friends with Sirius, as soon as dinner had finished on the night that they had arrived, she, Harry and the Weasley had rushed up to the staff table and had left the hall with him. Cassandra felt a twinge of jealousy at that thought.
*
Sirius didn't go back to the staff room. He found himself wandering aimlessly. Teaching at Hogwarts had seemed like a welcome break from fighting, but her being there made it feel extremely stressful.
How could she just ignore him? Did she think that he was guilty; Cassandra had always stuck up for Pettigrew when he was getting teased. Was she scared of him? Or was she simply hiding from the past?
That's what he'd accused her of at breakfast. But was she? He regretted blowing up at her. Maybe he didn't know the full story.
*
OOC- So what do you think?? Please review, and thanks to aims80 and hermioneandron4eva for your lovely reviews. I don't know about Tom Riddle though maybe I could work him in somewhere. And I'm not one for giving answers straight away I like to hint at them a lot first. Anyway I know this story is slow in starting but the pace will quicken soon!