The Present Is Just A Pleasant Interruption To The Past

Chapter 2 –What Lies In The Tapestries

By: Euphony

Disclaimer- see ch. 1

A/N: thank you's, comments and the likes...

Shattered-destiny – the reason she was crying was b/c of Sirius' death. I guess I didn't make that obvious enough, I should have had someone read it before I posted oops. See I put about the seeing Harry in his bed with tears in his eyes and the whole library thing. And the Hermione probably not leaving after hours... I thought about that too that's why I slipped in the little comment about how she had become more daring and had less tendency to follow school rules because I needed it to happen for the plot line. Thank you for your comments and everything I really appreciate it, it helps me become a better writer! 

Jade – Wow thank you SO much I feel SO stupid. I can't believe I forgot to put a spoiler notice on the top. Thank you so much for pointing it out. It's on there now.

Saba-Chan – The marauders map isn't with her because she wasn't touching it when she got transported. The invisibility cloak was because she was wearing it. =) Thanks for your review!

Irish Lass

Dxdevlin

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Rossalinda

Killer Angel

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Rune Inverse

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THANK YOU ALL SOOO MUCH FOR TAKING THE TIME TO REVIEW. IT SERIOUSLY MEANS SO MUCH TO ME. I LOVE YOU ALL. *SHOVES A COOKIE INTO YOUR MOUTH* *tear* thank you again. You don't know how much I appreciate it. So this next chapter is dedicated to you!

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Hermione's vision was blurred as she blinked several times. She felt as if she were floating, light as a feather. Still not entirely in her right mind, she began to flail her arms about like a bird.

"Weeeeee!" She giggled.

"Ow! She just got me right in the eye." A boy whined.

"Yeah, she's nutters." Another boy chimed in as a few more voices laughed.

Suddenly, something inside Hermione's mind clicked. She looked down, and to her surprise she was being carried up the stairs by four very unfamiliar looking faces. She began to feel a growing knot of panic in her throat and she began to struggle with them and scream.

"GET OFF OF ME! What are you... what do you think... PUT ME DOWN!!" She screamed as she wrenching around kicking and shifting.

"Oof, she just kicked me in the face," One of the faces yelled.

"Just hold on tight to her." Another one responded.

By now, breakfast had let out and the stairs were becoming crowded. Now the parading five were getting a lot of attention and snickers. Now along with her distraught feeling, she was also suffering from humiliation. However, no one seemed to know who the insanely-raving-mad-girl, as she was so fondly nicknamed in the gossip of the corridors, was. No one had ever seen her before.

The boys continued their steel grip on the struggling girl. Her anger began to boil up. "Oh, you better let me down right now or I'll hex you to the next century!" She growled through clenched teeth.

"Oh, I don't think you'll be doing that," A boy, with shaggy, jet black hair that fell charmingly into his eyes, grinned as he held up a mahogany wand. "Seeing as how we have your wand." He cracked a giddy grin.

Hermione scowled at him. Just for that, she gave another sharp kick and got him right in the jaw. She couldn't help but chuckle at the expression on his face. Shock with a mix of fury and admiration. They made it all the rest of the way up to the hospital wing without much more event.

They finally made it to the door of the infirmary but discovered that they could not all fit through the door at once. An enlarging charm from Madam Pomfrey quickly fixed the problem and the boys came stomping in.

"What in the world did you boys do to this poor girl?!" Madam Pomfrey asked accusingly.

"Nothing! She fell down the stairs, hit her head, blacked out for a few minutes, and we picked her up to bring her here and she turned nutters... although she might have been nutters before that, I'm not quite sure," One of the boys gave a cheeky grin as the lowered the girl down onto the nearest bed. As soon as they had removed their hands the girl bolted upright.

"Oh no you don't," Madam Pomfrey whipped out her wand and cast a charm on Hermione that flung her back onto her bed and glued her to the mattress.

"Madam Pomfrey? Why in the name of all that is good are you doing this to me?" Hermione seethed. "I'm perfectly fine!"

'Except that my head is throbbing so bad it makes me want to gouge out my eyeballs,' she thought.

However, Madam Pomfrey just went to quickly shooing the four boys out of the room.

"Nonsense child. You fell down a flight of stairs and hit your head. Here," She said handing her a cup that had erupted with an emerald steam. "Drink this, it'll stop whatever pain you acquired after your fall. It will make you drowsy though. You'll be staying here for the night, I insist upon it."

Hermione just sat there looking at her blankly. So much had happened her mind was tripping over facts and details.

"Well, drink up child." Madam Pomfrey stood over Hermione tapping her foot impatiently. Hermione obediently downed the contents of the cup slightly wincing at the bitter taste. "Now that's better, isn't it?" Madam Pomfrey asked rhetorically. Satisfied that Hermione had drank the potion in its entirety, she bustled off to take care of the next patient who had stumbled into the door. He appeared to be sprouting tulips from his ears and nose.

Hermione struggled to keep her eyes open. She had to wait for Harry and Ron to get here so she could talk to them about what had happened. Surely they would be up any minute to check on her. They had to have seen the whole fiasco on the staircase . She felt a rosiness returning to her cheeks. How embarrassing... being parading up the staircase being held by four boys. Four boys she didn't know. She had thought she had known everyone in the school... strange... Finally Hermione had to give into her heavy eyelids. She drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

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Hermione's eyes snapped open abruptly. 'Where am I?' The past events from the day came flooding into her mind. "Ugh," She groaned out loud and slightly slapped her forehead. She then realized that she was no longer magically glued to the mattress. She got out of bed and stretched hearing some bones lightly crack. Her eyes started to become accustomed to the darkness and the room started to come into view.

"I wonder what time it is," Hermione thought out loud to herself. Looking around, she spotted a clock above a cabinet full of bottles. "I don't remember that clock being there, or that cabinet any other time I was here," she furrowed her brow in confusion. "Oh darn, I think the clock says 1:15 but I can't really tell. I need some light..." Hermione trailed off groping for her nonexistent wand.

He had it. "That annoying little prat." Hermione growled. "Wait till I find him, I'll give him a piece of my mind about humiliating me. Harry and Ron will back me up...Harry and Ron!" She had to go see them. She had to tell Harry about the book she found and, her stomach gave an uneasy lurch, about the Marauder's Map.

"Should I wait until morning? It is really late. I don't have the map, what if I get caught..." Hermione contemplated. "Harry would want to know as soon as possible. I owe it to him as his friend." She decided resolutely. "I'll just grab the invisbil..." She stopped mid sentence her mouth hanging open.

Those boys must have taken it too. "That's it. They are really going to get it now. All four of them." She muttered. "Harry's going to slaughter me. Hey wait, maybe they didn't see the cloak and left it on the staircase." She thought hopefully.

"No, someone would have already picked it up sometime during the day." She figured, the painful reality slap still stinging. "I have to try though."

She opened the door to the infirmary and peeked out. She listened silently and decided it was clear. Her heart was beating twice it's normal rate and it felt like it had relocated itself right in the middle of her throat.

'Am I crazy?!' Hermione thought, peeking around a corner and, deciding it was safe, tiptoed further down the corridor. 'This is something Ron and Harry would be doing and I'd be trying to talk them out of it. That hit on the head must have really jumbled your brain Hermione Granger,' She considered turning around and going back for a second and than continued on. 'I'm this far already, I might as well finish the job. Plus, I've got to do this for Harry. I'll just go to the dormitory after... I wonder if they...'

Her thoughts ceased for a second as she focused on listening. She could have sworn she heard footsteps. Her heart raced and she stood still as a statue.

Clunk, clunk.

There it was again. She knew she wasn't imagining it this time. Her eyes darted around for an escape route. An invisible hand shot out of no where and grabbed her wrist. She was pulled clear off her feet and dragged backwards to a nearby tapestry hanging on the wall. Hermione started to let out a small screech before another hand clamped tightly over her mouth. She heard the footsteps stop abruptly and then quicken their pace.

"Shut up." A disembodied voice hissed in her ear. She obeyed mostly because her mouth was so dry and there seemed to be some kind of huge awkward lump in her throat that caused her not to be able to form any words anyway.

The tapestry swung aside and Hermione was dragged into a secret little inlet. The tapestry swung closed behind her and the person holding on to her sat down and pulled her down too. She could feel she was sitting on someone's lap.

"Keep quiet, unless you want to get detention for the rest of your life," The masculine voice whispered in her ear. The voice sounded oddly familiar. She could feel his warm breath on her ear and her neck. She felt a weird sort of excitement and thrill in her stomach that traveled all through her body.

They heard the footsteps right outside their tapestry. They stopped. Hermione could feel the boy holding his breath and she followed suite. Her heart stopped and she was sure he must knew where they were. She squeezed her eyes shut waiting for the inevitable moment when the person would rip open the tapestry and laugh triumphantly as they dragged her to be punished.

The moment never came. The footsteps started again and they both waited in silence until the footsteps were well out of sight.

"Well, that was quite a close one now wasn't it?" The boy's tone was a lot lighter now. Hermione immediately got up, appalled at herself.

"Who are you?" She asked sharply looking into the bleak nothingness of the inlet. "Invisibility cloak I see." She added knowingly.

"Yeah, and you also seem to know a lot about invisibility cloaks," the boy said pulling off the cloak unceremoniously. Hermione struggled to see him in the darkness. A ball of fire sprouted from the tip of his wand and rocketed off it onto an unlit torch on the wall.

Hermione finally got a good look at the boy under the flickering fire, and took the opportunity to study his features. From the unceremonious black hair that was charmingly swept into his cerulean eyes to his strong male form. Hermione's breath caught in her throat. He looked just like... no. She stopped herself. You just think that because you miss him so much.

She suddenly felt an unfamiliar rage inside her. "YOU'RE THE GIT THAT TOOK MY WAND!" She nearly screamed.

"SHUT UP!" He gave her an exasperated look. "What is it with you? Do you want to get caught out of bed in the middle of the night?"

"That's my invisibility cloak too, isn't it?" She seethed, her voice dripping with venom. How dare he take her stuff?

"No, actually it isn't." He replied shortly, giving her a smug look.

"Well then, where is my cloak and my wand?" She asked crossing her arms in front of her chest angrily.

"How should I know? Maybe you should take closer care of your things," He grinned mischievously.

Hermione grunted in frustration. She crossed her arms tighter and broke her glare right into the boys roguish eyes. She had to plan out her next words carefully. Her eyes rested on the boy's hand. He had a piece of parchment in his hand... her eyes got wide.

Following her gaze into his hand, the boy hurriedly wiped the parchment clean, hoping she hadn't already seen too much.

"You have MY MAP!!" Hermione's voice shook with anger.

"YOUR MAP?" The boy matched her tone. "Look!" He waved the, now blank, parchment tauntingly in front of her face. "It's just a piece of blank parchment, you silly girl."

She made a desperate grab for it but the boy held it above his head triumphantly. There was no way Hermione could reach it now, the boy was almost a good foot taller than she was.

"Listen to me," Hermione reasoned, trying to keep the anger out of her voice as much as possible.

The boy grinned, "Go on..."

"We both know perfectly well that the piece of parchment is a map so stop pretending it's not," She rolled her eyes and continued. "That map is my very good friend's and so is the invisibility cloak and the wand, well that's mine and I need all of them back right now," She demanded.

"You say the map is your very good friend's, do you?" The boy asked trying not to laugh.

"Mmhm," She said through clenched teeth, impatiently waiting for him to go on.

"That's quite funny you say that because it's not," He said. "I would really like to know who your friend is trying to take our idea though."

'Oh, I have him here," Hermione thought triumphantly. "Potter." She said resolutely with a smug look of satisfaction on her face.

At this, the boy nearly started to roll on the ground with laughter. "That bump on your head must have really messed you up," He choked out through bursts of laughter.

Hermione was nearly shaking with anger now. "And what, may I ask, is SO funny?" 

"That boy, 'Potter'," He mocked her. "Happens to be my best friend, and I know everyone he is friends with and that doesn't include you, at all. You'll have to come up with a better lie."

"Actually, I am his best friend and I don't recall you ever even talking to him," She spat back. The boy just broke into another fit of uncontrollable laughter.

Hermione felt like ripping his vocal cords out. "This is ridiculous! I don't even know WHY I'm having this conversation in the first place." She said spinning on her heels preparing to open the tapestry. She peeked out and made sure that there was no one coming.

"Hey! I think you owe me a 'thank you'," The boy sputtered out as he began to gain control once more.

Hermione glowered at him. "I'm going to get my stuff back, you just wait." Her voice held an intriguing, menacing tone.

The boys eyes sparkled. "Hm, that sounded oddly like a challenge. I don't believe we're properly acquainted for a challenge. I'm Sirius," He said holding out his hand.

Hermione stared down at it in disgust. "It's not a challenge," She said, ignoring his hand which was suspended in midair, "It's a fact. I'm out of here." She said pulling the tapestry back.

"Fact, threat, promise, call it what you like. It's all a challenge to me." The boy retorted still grinning.

Hermione rolled her eyes, stepped out of the inlet and pushed the tapestry back into it as hard as she could. She heard an 'oof' and a soft thud of someone falling on their butt.

She smiled to herself. "Hermione – 1, Sirius – 0."

She continued to creep down the corridor as quietly as she could and was startled to hear a voice calling down after her.

"You might want to hurry up, Madam Pomfrey's on her way to the hospital wing."

Hermione whipped around to see Sirius' head poking out of the tapestry grinning devilishly. She swallowed hard.

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There's chapter numero dos! Lil espanol for yah. Sorry it took so long to get out... It's 5 pages longer than the first chapter! YAY! You said you wanted longer so you got it!

Please review... the reviews inspire me to write which means I write more faster and then you get to read it faster =)