The Present Is Just A Pleasant Interruption To The Past
Chapter 3 – Arguments
By: Euphony
Disclaimer- see ch. 1
A/N – Thank you's go out to...
Saba-Chan – I thought of the pajamas as I wrote this chapter, but I wish I would have thought about it last chapter so I could have put in some sly comment from Sirius! That was a good idea. Oh well, good idea though! =) Thanks for commenting!
OBXglider
ilukaiba
Ryunne Inverse
Jasmine Black
OneOfaKind92
Irish Lass
Jade
Killer Angel
Frigg
^^Gracias, merci, vielen dank, ringraziarlo, dank u, obrigado, and thank you in plain english! Honestly, there's nothing more gratifying then getting a review from someone who likes my story. THANK YOU! If I could give you all a present I would! *tear* I LOVE YOU ALL!
THANK YOU! As always, this chapter is dedicated to the people previously mentioned.
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"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.
'Is he bluffing?' She thought desperately. She began to panic and upped her pace. Luckily, she didn't run into anyone else on her way back to the infirmary. She got to the door and bolted into her bed, pulling the sheets over her head. All she could hear was her racing heart and her heavy breathing. She concentrated on trying to make her breathing even.
A few minutes passed and her heart dropped to a normal rate. She laid frozen in the silence and still no one came.
'That bastard,' she thought bitterly. She snuggled down into her sheets and closed her eyes. 'Wait until I tell Harry and Ron about him, that'll be a good laugh, yeah that'll be a laugh...' And with that she dozed off into a blissful sleep.
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Hermione awoke the next morning to the sharp sounds of Madam Pomfrey bustling around the room.
"Oh good deary, you're up," Madam Pomfrey immediately appeared at Hermione's beside holding another cup erupting with steam. "Drink this and than off you go. Here are some plain Hogwarts robes." She said, handing Hermione a plain black robe with the Hogwarts symbol embroidered on the chest. Hermione looked up at her blankly.
"Well, you can't go off in just your pajama's now can you?" She asked rhetorically. "You can bring those back to me when you change." She added before leaving Hermione's beside in a rush.
Hermione took the cup and drank it in one gulp and pulled the robe over her head, anxious to go off and meet up with her friends.
"Thank you Madam Pomfrey, it was nice seeing you again!" Hermione called out and dashed out of the room.
"Your welcome dear..." Madam Pomfrey called out after her hesitantly. "But I've never seen you before," she added as an afterthought to herself. She shrugged and went to tend to the next afflicted child. Never a dull moment in the hospital wing.
Hermione glanced down at her watch and raised her eyebrows. She must have slept in very late. 'I better grab my books for Charms before I go to breakfast, that way I can just go to class after I eat.' She decided and made her way towards the familiar old portrait of the Fat Lady.
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"I'm telling you it's snigglewopple!" Hermione nearly screamed at the portrait. She had been standing there for nearly ten minutes fighting with the Fat Lady about the password.
"It's NOT! As I've told you before, that's not the correct password and it hasn't been changed in the last week. I'm sorry, I can't let you through." The Fat Lady said emphatically.
"But YOU KNOW ME. How many times have I come and gone through your portrait? You know perfectly well I belong to this house... I was a prefect last year for goodness sake!" Hermione challenged.
"Actually, now that you mention that, I've never seen you before. What are you up to girl? What kind of mischief are you planning to pull. You don't look like a very trustworthy person, and I happen to be a very good judge of character." The Fat Lady adjusted her position in her big easy chair and stared Hermione down.
Hermione stood with her mouth open in disbelief. Then a wave of revelation flowed over her. "Harry and Ron put you up to this, didn't they?" Hermione said glancing around suspiciously. "Where are they hiding? They're probably laughing too hard to jump out and scream "boo!" to top it all off."
The Fat Lady stared at her blankly.
"Oh all right, was it Peeves then? Was I just the unlucky person today? All right Peeves, funny ha ha..." Hermione was unable to finish her sentence as the portrait flung open and nearly knocked her off her feet.
"Oh my gosh, I'm terribly..." Sirius stepped out of the portrait hole and got a good look at the person who had stumbled a few steps back to avoid falling on her rump. "Oh, it's just you. Serves you right than, doesn't it?" He snickered.
"What are you doing in the Gryffindor common room?" She asked tartly.
"I think the correct question to be asking at this moment would be, 'Why are you trying to sneak into my common room?'" He looked genuinely interested in what kind of a cockamamie answer he would get from the mysterious girl. Her eyebrows furrowed for a moment and she looked a bit confused and then opened her mouth to retort.
"Have you decided to become the new Gryffindor statue? Well, I'm glad of the career choice mate, but I think you should consider a new location before someone decides to set your hair on fire." A voice inside the portrait hole in which Sirius was blocking, cut Hermione off.
Sirius moved out of the way and three more figures emerged from the hole. One of the boys whistled. They were all looking up and down at Hermione. She had begun to blossom as a young woman and was anything but hard on the eyes.
'What in the hell is Harry whistling at and why is he hanging out with Sirius' Hermione thought. Upon a second look Hermione was shocked to discover that the boy whistling was definitely not her best friend. However they did hold many similarities... in fact all these boys looked oddly familiar. 'Impossible... it can't be.' Hermione as unaware that she had balled up her hands into tight fists and was clenching them so tightly her knuckles had gone white and her nails were digging further and further into her sweaty palms.
"Whose your friend Sirius? I haven't seen her before..." One of the boys grinned giddily at Sirius.
"I'm terribly sorry, where have my manners gone." Sirius shook his head. "Hermione Granger," He paused to add emphasis to her name.
'How does he know... the Marauder's Map. He must have seen my name on it last night,' She deduced.
Sirius went on, carefully noting the shocked expression that dissolved quickly into a understanding one. "these are my best friends, Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin and," He added with relish, "my very dear friend Potter, James Potter but I gather you two have already met?"
"No sadly, we haven't." James moved closer to Hermione taking her hand gently. "It's a pleasure to," he brought her hand dangerously close to his lips before Hermione yanked it away. Sirius outwardly laughed. Remus chuckled and quickly turned it into a badly faked cough and Peter sort of half laughed, half fake coughed not sure whose lead he should follow.
"Oh really, because I was under the impression that you had met before, I guess I was right," He looked Hermione right in the eye with a little I-was-right-you-were-wrong smirk. "I mean, I guess I was wrong." He directed at James.
Hermione scowled. Her assumptions were right. She had to get out of here as soon as possible.
"Anyway, back to the first question that has been left so painfully unanswered, what are you doing here?" Sirius cocked his head to the side slightly and waited patiently for an answer.
"I, well, I..." Hermione tripped over her words. Her tongue seemed to be tied in four million complex knots. The portrait of the Fat Lady quickly flew closed behind them.
"I'll tell you what she was doing," The Fat Lady volunteered, a little bit miffed about how long she had to be kept open. Hermione sighed. "She stood her for a good ten minutes arguing with me about the password. She seemed to think that I had become mixed up in the head and didn't remember what it was. Now does that seem right to you? Don't you think I, being the keeper of the password for centuries before you were even a thought in anyone's mind, would know the password? Well anyway, then she started talking about how I had known her and how I had seen her come in and out of my portrait forever, and she was a prefect last year, and I've never seen her before in my life."
Sirius raised one eyebrow and looked at Hermione. She could see the wheels turning in his head. "You see, this is the girl that fell down the stairs and hit her head yesterday." Sirius leaned in closer to the Fat Lady and she bent her head down in her frame. He dropped his voice down a notch and continued, "she hasn't really been in her right mind ever since." He winked at her knowingly.
The Fat Lady nodded, her mouth forming a little 'o'. "I was just about to suggest she broken out of St. Mungo's."
Hermione saw this as her chance to escape. She had to figure this whole mess out. She shuffled a few feet without anyone noticing and then took off in a slight jog. After she had taken a few steps she stopped dead in her tracks. A realization had struck her. She turned around.
"It was nice meeting you all," She said, they all looked at her as if she had lost her mind. She couldn't be rude to people who were actually her elders, not to mention her teachers, her best friends parents and godparents. There was one exception she could make but she would find a way to get back at him soon enough.
She whipped right around and ran as fast as she could, nearly knocking down a gossiping trio of first years. In a few seconds she was running the all-to-familiar trek to her one and only haven. The one place she could always count on in any situation. Finally, she saw the entrance a few feet ahead of her. She slowed down to a speed walk and walked in, careful to avoid all the curious stares.
She collapsed in a solitary easy chair positioned in a far deserted corner of the library. She dropped her head into her hands and let her index and her middle fingers massage her temples.
'James Potter, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew...Sirius Black' She thought, her mind lingered on the last name. 'It can't, I mean it has to be, unless someone is playing a very mean, twisted, sick joke, but how? How did I travel to the past without even knowing?" She fell back into the soft chair in thought. 'The book, it's the only reasonable explanation. I must have fallen asleep and the book transported me here. So I'll just find the book, and go back and all will be right again.'
Hermione hoisted herself up from the chair and went in search of the mysterious bookshelf. She scanned ever nook and cranny of the library, twice. She even found herself sneaking into the restricted section. Again, another disappointment. Hermione's hands started to tremble involuntarily.
Then it hit her like a cold breeze on a stifling hot August day. 'Madam Pince! Even if she won't give it to me maybe she'll give me a clue as to where it is.' Hermione nearly ran to old, stiff librarian's desk but she forced herself to go at a brisk walk. She didn't want to look too suspicious.
She got to the desk and Madam Pince was bent over a huge book with a red quill. Hermione cleared her throat before beginning. "Excuse me, Madam Pince?"
The rigid librarian looked up at Hermione. She waited for a few seconds and then said, exasperated, "Yes?"
"Oh, well I was just wondering if you could point me in the direction of a book. It seems sort of like a muggle yearbook, it has the pictures of every student that has ever been at Hogwarts..." Hermione trailed off.
Madam Pince straightened up from her book and took off her glasses. "I'm sorry, we don't carry any books that fit your description." She looked at Hermione strangely.
"No, you must be mistaken." Hermione stated bluntly.
Madam Pince puffed up her chest and said scornfully, "I am never mistaken about what books are in this library."
"I know it's here! I know it. Please this is an emergency, please point me in the direction of the book. I'll get Professor Dumbledore's permission if you want it." Hermione pleaded with the already-offended librarian.
"How many times do I have to tell you, there is NO such book in this library." Madam Pince looked Hermione straight in the eye.
Hermione closed her eyes for a second, regaining her composure. "Madam Pince, you surely are mistaken. I know that this book is located somewhere in this library..."
Madam Pince cut her off. "No it isn't, I've never heard of such a book!"
"Yes there is! It's in this library I'm telling you..." Hermione trailed off as she heard a familiar snickering coming from nearby. She wheeled around to find the Marauders clumped in a group a few feet away from Hermione staring at her and laughing.
She scowled at them and began to walk away from Madam Pince's desk, eager to get away from them. She could talk to Madam Pince later. However, she had to walk right by the group to get to the door and out of the library. She started to walk, careful not to make eye contact. She was almost past the group when the familiar voice called out to her.
"Why is it that every time I run into you, you're arguing with someone. And every time, you've been wrong? Do you have some incurable I'm-always-right-no-matter-what-even-when-it's-obvious-I'm-wrong disease?" Sirius piped up, standing right in the middle of the close knit group.
"Ha, ha," Hermione faked a laugh badly. "That was terribly clever of you Sirius, did you think of that all by yourself?" Hermione retorted sending him a glare before walking briskly out of the library, head up, and delicate slightly curly mahogany hair flowing behind her. As she turned the corner, she dared to peek a look behind her. As she had anticipated, Sirius stood with his mouth open dumb struck. She knew from his future self that no one usually challenged him, in anything, ever. Except possibly, James, but that was very rarely. She felt slightly guilty for acting so rudely towards someone that in the future is her elder. She reasoned with herself. That's the future. The Sirius Black in the past and in the future are two different people. I should probably just act normally. After all, I'm their age now. Feeling satisfied with her reasoning she continued on.
She smiled in triumph but the triumph was short lived as she felt this cold wet sensation overtake her entire body. She looked down in horror. She was soaking wet. She whipped around, her wet hair slapping her in the face and sticking to it as she did so. She looked back at the four boys rolling on the ground in laughter. She pulled the wet hair off of her face and growled at them. She was too angry to even form any words.
She was attracting many stares in her current state and she couldn't even use a simple drying spell on herself, or for that matter a revenge hex, because she didn't have her wand. 'Just wait until I get my wand, they'll get this back ten fold.' She thought to herself comfortingly as she stormed off down the corridors, ignoring all of the curious stares and snickers.
She found herself in front of a place she should have gone a long time ago. She looked around to make sure no one was coming and started rattling off various candies.
"Chocolate frog, licorice, lollipop..." She racked her brain. Why was it that when you needed to think of something quickly, your mind goes blank?
"Excuse me young lady. Dumbledore was called off urgently a few nights ago."
Hermione turned her head in shock. A tall, slim woman stared back at her. Hermione was slightly reminded of her own head of house except this version was a lot older.
Hermione smiled wanly. "Right, I knew that." She shook her head.
"Then just what do you think you are doing?" The woman asked raising one eyebrow. "And why on earth are you dripping wet child!" The woman flicked her wand and instantly Hermione was dry as a bone. She was instantly grateful for that.
"I....was... just..." Hermione had to think fast to get out of this one. "...looking for the lavatory. Yes, that's it. Well, I gather this isn't it so I'll just be off to go find one, it really is an emergency." Hermione smiled wanly, before turning on her heel and bolting off in the opposite direction.
"Wait!" The woman called out after her. "What house do you belong to child?"
"Um, I'm Dumbledore's niece." The words just shot out of Hermione's mouth like it wasn't hers. She instantly regretted speaking. She should have just ran. Now she had a monumental lie weighing on her shoulders. She smacked her forehead.
Dumbledore's niece?! What was she thinking?
That lady was sure to go off checking to see if she was telling the truth. She may even contact Dumbledore.
Hermione needed a plan. And fast.
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I sincerely hope you guys liked this chapter. Hermione... what have you gotten yourself into girl? Haha. I guess you'll have to wait for the next chapter.
Please review... the reviews inspire me to write which means I write more faster and then you get to read it faster =)