A/N: back to Monday at Hogwarts! I'm skipping over the weekend and stuff.
Pretend there ain't no such thing as a weekend! At least for now. *shifty
eyes, cough*
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Sirius and Hermione didn't really stay up all night glaring at each other.
Eventually, Hermione had slipped unwillingly into a doze, and Sirius took that chance to do the same. He ended up waking up seconds before she did, and decided not to hurt her pride any more by pointing out he'd woken up first.
She glared at him for a bit more, then got up and went down to breakfast. He followed her.
"You really don't know when to give up, do you?" she asked incredulously when he sat down next to her at the semi-empty table.
"Actually, I was going to say the same thing," he announced, then helped himself to some food. Hermione watched him almost admiringly for a moment (the kid really didn't have any sense of 'stop' and 'go') then grabbed some toast and left.
She easily made it down to the fruit portrait and then into the kitchens where about a thousand house elves scurried around. She didn't bother with S.P.E.W. because even if she did succeed, their memory would be wiped anyway.
After waiting patiently for those crowded around her to calm down enough, she asked if they had any coffee or something with a large amount of sugar or caffeine.
Thirty minutes later she left with a mug in one hand and stuffed a number of things down her robes with the other. Madame Pomfrey gave her potions, then Hermione downed the rest of her (it wasn't coffee... something like butterbeer, she hadn't really been listening when the elves were telling her) and let Pomfrey deal with the mug.
She managed to stuff more purely-sugar things down her throat before first class, and she buzzed around until lunch. After her potions and eating the rest of her stuff, she found the house elves had kindly started putting coffee on the tables for drinking choices.
She stayed in the great hall long enough to down a couple mugs of the stuff (it was nasty, yes, but who cared when filled with more sugar than one can hold?) then ran out again like usual. She figured everybody that had seen her was in shock to see she had stayed in the hall for more than half a second.
The rest of the day continued like this, and Hermione chose to do her homework in the library. There wasn't a lot, so she finished it by the time the library closed. When she got into the common room, this time instead of Sirius or James bothering her, Remus sat down quietly next to her and didn't say anything.
It was quite unnerving, to say the least.
"How did you know about the kitchens?" he asked at last.
"Kitchens?" she echoed.
"Yeah. This morning you got into the kitchens through a secret passageway. How'd you know?"
She blinked slowly and spared him a glance.
"Erm," couldn't manage much more than that. finally, logical excuse thought up, Hermione said, "I didn't know it was a secret passageway. Being a trade student, I was given an extensive map of this school."
"Really? Can I see it?"
"Well, not exactly."
"You don't have it."
"Nope. Well, see, a friend of mine has it, seeing as it's his."
"The headmaster, you mean?"
"No-" Hermione you idiot! "Yes."
"Ah." He sounded sincere enough, but it was obvious he didn't believe her. "So, can you tell me about your home?" he gave her a warm, encouraging smile. Damn sense of sensitivity.
"It isn't really different from here." She mumbled, averting her gaze. The common room was almost empty.
"You said you were Muggle-born, right? Pretty cool when you got your letter, huh?"
"Yeah, it was."
"Were your parents happy?"
"Oh, I dunno. Yeah, I think they are."
"Interesting. Do you have many friends?"
"Just two, best friends."
"What are their names?"
"Harry and Ron."
"What are they like?"
"Oh, Ron has this red hair and freckles, the trademark of his family, and Harry..... looks kinda like James, except with green eyes. And maybe a little shorter, skinnier."
"Ah. Are they Muggle-born also?"
"Well, not exactly, no. Ron's family is all pureblood, and I think Harry's father is pureblood, I'm not sure. But his mother was Muggle-born."
"That's cool. So, is your real school as good as Hogwarts?"
"Educational system is a bit different, I think... and then there's all those little time tidbits... but otherwise, the same."
"Oohhhhhhhhh," he said.
"Are you done questioning me for Sirius?" Hermione asked after a moment's pause. Remus burst out laughing.
"You're a smart little prat, aren't you? Yeah, I'm guessing I'm done for now." He got up and stretched his legs. "Good night."
"Yeah. Right. Ditto."
Again, Hermione waited for the common room to empty before collapsing on her squishy armchair and zoning out.
.
the next morning, up early as usual, Hermione ran over ideas to get herself back in her own time. She certainly couldn't stay here any longer, that was for sure. She needed a way to contact Harry.
But how?
If she were to leave a note, say, under Harry's bed, what was to say he'd find it over twenty years later? Or, what if it was found before then, and she was given away? It was too risky, to do something like that.
But she couldn't think of any other way of contacting them. She sure as heck couldn't grab a telephone and ask for a pickup.
She went through the day silently, as usual, but couldn't focus on her homework. She took her medications early, then settled in the library. She bullied her mind into writing part of an essay on the behavior of a teething octuai, how to and the effects of mixing love potions with clover leaves instead of mint leaves, and exactly why Muggles needed airplanes and how they used them.
Eventually, the librarian kicked her out and she ended up staying late in the common room once more, struggling with the parts and components of the first-ever made wand. She couldn't focus, her mind kept on shifting back to Harry, then how she'd end up dying in this timeline anyway... before she'd even gotten a chance to tell him her feelings... her vision blurred, and Hermione sniffed, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand.
Her already sleep-blurred vision only blurred even more as tears pooled between her eyelids and began to leak out, dropping onto her essay and ruining it. She shoved it away and curled into a ball, as tight and little as she could make herself.
She was really stuck here. There was no way she could get back home, and she'd die... there was really no point... oh, Harry...
'Don't cry, Herms,' she thought, almost angry with herself. 'Don't weaken yourself and sink so low that you give up completely......... they'll find a way... if they don't, you will... you'll get back, somehow... somehow...' she grabbed a pillow to muffle her sobs almost soundless.
~
"So, what'd you figure out?" Sirius asked that night, plopping down on Remus' bed. James and Peter did the same. Remus, seeing he wasn't going to get any more peace (and the look on Sirius' face was to die for!) put down his book and sat up.
"She's a smart girl," he started. "She knows some secret passages, though how she found out I don't know. You might be interested to know that she's a Muggle-born, like Lily Evens, right? She has two friends, and says their names are Harry and Ron. Both male, in other words. She doesn't seem to be from around here, but she acts as though she's been attending this school from the start." He paused, exhaling slowly. "You're right, Padfoot. There's something strange about her that I don't like."
"I think that she may know about you, Moony. I forgot to tell you guys, the other day, she was writing an essay on werewolves. I asked her how much she knew, and she said one taught one of her classes in her third year and she's seen one - transformed - up close. Could she know about that?" Sirius threw in quickly, almost anxiously.
"If she does know about Moony, and she's seen him transform (which I doubt) then she'll probably know about us." James mused. "What do ya think, mate? Ever smelled any human girls in your third year?"
Remus shook his head. "No. I could tell there were humans close by, but I don't think any of them were distinctly female... or young, for that matter."
"Maybe she's a spy?" Peter put in squeakily. "From the Ministry, to try and dig up dirt on Hogwarts and then shut the school down."
"Don't be silly, Wormtail," Remus said, rolling his eyes.
There was a moment of silence between the four of them. "Well, I'm ready to try some Veritaserum. How about you guys?" Sirius suggested lamely.
"What? And take out all the fun and challenge out of figuring a mysterious and rather cute girl out?" James asked, but he turned his gaze eagerly to Remus. "Can we do it, Remmy? Moony, ol' pal?"
"I don't think so," Peter said, answering for the werewolf. "It takes a whole month to mature, I've heard..."
"So we get some from what's her name the potions master," Sirius said brightly, dropping his voice a few notches. "And if that's not possible, then I can wait a month to get the truth out of her. The only /real/ challenge will be getting her to drink it."
"True," James agreed. Peter looked momentarily baffled by the proceedings, then nodded his head vigorously and looked to Remus as well. Remus clicked his tongue against his teeth, closing his eyes and shaking his head lightly.
"You guys, you're all stupid idiots, all of you." You muttered.
"Does that mean it's possible?" James asked, thrilled. Remus opened his eyes and directed a (vicious) glare in Sirius' direction.
"It's only /possible/ because I pity Padfoot's inability to snag a date with her." He said, sighing.
"Then we'll do it," James decided, finishing the conversation. His hazel eyes sparkled venomously. "This'll be /way/ more fun than hexing Snivellus into the next dimension..."
.
.
.
Sirius and Hermione didn't really stay up all night glaring at each other.
Eventually, Hermione had slipped unwillingly into a doze, and Sirius took that chance to do the same. He ended up waking up seconds before she did, and decided not to hurt her pride any more by pointing out he'd woken up first.
She glared at him for a bit more, then got up and went down to breakfast. He followed her.
"You really don't know when to give up, do you?" she asked incredulously when he sat down next to her at the semi-empty table.
"Actually, I was going to say the same thing," he announced, then helped himself to some food. Hermione watched him almost admiringly for a moment (the kid really didn't have any sense of 'stop' and 'go') then grabbed some toast and left.
She easily made it down to the fruit portrait and then into the kitchens where about a thousand house elves scurried around. She didn't bother with S.P.E.W. because even if she did succeed, their memory would be wiped anyway.
After waiting patiently for those crowded around her to calm down enough, she asked if they had any coffee or something with a large amount of sugar or caffeine.
Thirty minutes later she left with a mug in one hand and stuffed a number of things down her robes with the other. Madame Pomfrey gave her potions, then Hermione downed the rest of her (it wasn't coffee... something like butterbeer, she hadn't really been listening when the elves were telling her) and let Pomfrey deal with the mug.
She managed to stuff more purely-sugar things down her throat before first class, and she buzzed around until lunch. After her potions and eating the rest of her stuff, she found the house elves had kindly started putting coffee on the tables for drinking choices.
She stayed in the great hall long enough to down a couple mugs of the stuff (it was nasty, yes, but who cared when filled with more sugar than one can hold?) then ran out again like usual. She figured everybody that had seen her was in shock to see she had stayed in the hall for more than half a second.
The rest of the day continued like this, and Hermione chose to do her homework in the library. There wasn't a lot, so she finished it by the time the library closed. When she got into the common room, this time instead of Sirius or James bothering her, Remus sat down quietly next to her and didn't say anything.
It was quite unnerving, to say the least.
"How did you know about the kitchens?" he asked at last.
"Kitchens?" she echoed.
"Yeah. This morning you got into the kitchens through a secret passageway. How'd you know?"
She blinked slowly and spared him a glance.
"Erm," couldn't manage much more than that. finally, logical excuse thought up, Hermione said, "I didn't know it was a secret passageway. Being a trade student, I was given an extensive map of this school."
"Really? Can I see it?"
"Well, not exactly."
"You don't have it."
"Nope. Well, see, a friend of mine has it, seeing as it's his."
"The headmaster, you mean?"
"No-" Hermione you idiot! "Yes."
"Ah." He sounded sincere enough, but it was obvious he didn't believe her. "So, can you tell me about your home?" he gave her a warm, encouraging smile. Damn sense of sensitivity.
"It isn't really different from here." She mumbled, averting her gaze. The common room was almost empty.
"You said you were Muggle-born, right? Pretty cool when you got your letter, huh?"
"Yeah, it was."
"Were your parents happy?"
"Oh, I dunno. Yeah, I think they are."
"Interesting. Do you have many friends?"
"Just two, best friends."
"What are their names?"
"Harry and Ron."
"What are they like?"
"Oh, Ron has this red hair and freckles, the trademark of his family, and Harry..... looks kinda like James, except with green eyes. And maybe a little shorter, skinnier."
"Ah. Are they Muggle-born also?"
"Well, not exactly, no. Ron's family is all pureblood, and I think Harry's father is pureblood, I'm not sure. But his mother was Muggle-born."
"That's cool. So, is your real school as good as Hogwarts?"
"Educational system is a bit different, I think... and then there's all those little time tidbits... but otherwise, the same."
"Oohhhhhhhhh," he said.
"Are you done questioning me for Sirius?" Hermione asked after a moment's pause. Remus burst out laughing.
"You're a smart little prat, aren't you? Yeah, I'm guessing I'm done for now." He got up and stretched his legs. "Good night."
"Yeah. Right. Ditto."
Again, Hermione waited for the common room to empty before collapsing on her squishy armchair and zoning out.
.
the next morning, up early as usual, Hermione ran over ideas to get herself back in her own time. She certainly couldn't stay here any longer, that was for sure. She needed a way to contact Harry.
But how?
If she were to leave a note, say, under Harry's bed, what was to say he'd find it over twenty years later? Or, what if it was found before then, and she was given away? It was too risky, to do something like that.
But she couldn't think of any other way of contacting them. She sure as heck couldn't grab a telephone and ask for a pickup.
She went through the day silently, as usual, but couldn't focus on her homework. She took her medications early, then settled in the library. She bullied her mind into writing part of an essay on the behavior of a teething octuai, how to and the effects of mixing love potions with clover leaves instead of mint leaves, and exactly why Muggles needed airplanes and how they used them.
Eventually, the librarian kicked her out and she ended up staying late in the common room once more, struggling with the parts and components of the first-ever made wand. She couldn't focus, her mind kept on shifting back to Harry, then how she'd end up dying in this timeline anyway... before she'd even gotten a chance to tell him her feelings... her vision blurred, and Hermione sniffed, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand.
Her already sleep-blurred vision only blurred even more as tears pooled between her eyelids and began to leak out, dropping onto her essay and ruining it. She shoved it away and curled into a ball, as tight and little as she could make herself.
She was really stuck here. There was no way she could get back home, and she'd die... there was really no point... oh, Harry...
'Don't cry, Herms,' she thought, almost angry with herself. 'Don't weaken yourself and sink so low that you give up completely......... they'll find a way... if they don't, you will... you'll get back, somehow... somehow...' she grabbed a pillow to muffle her sobs almost soundless.
~
"So, what'd you figure out?" Sirius asked that night, plopping down on Remus' bed. James and Peter did the same. Remus, seeing he wasn't going to get any more peace (and the look on Sirius' face was to die for!) put down his book and sat up.
"She's a smart girl," he started. "She knows some secret passages, though how she found out I don't know. You might be interested to know that she's a Muggle-born, like Lily Evens, right? She has two friends, and says their names are Harry and Ron. Both male, in other words. She doesn't seem to be from around here, but she acts as though she's been attending this school from the start." He paused, exhaling slowly. "You're right, Padfoot. There's something strange about her that I don't like."
"I think that she may know about you, Moony. I forgot to tell you guys, the other day, she was writing an essay on werewolves. I asked her how much she knew, and she said one taught one of her classes in her third year and she's seen one - transformed - up close. Could she know about that?" Sirius threw in quickly, almost anxiously.
"If she does know about Moony, and she's seen him transform (which I doubt) then she'll probably know about us." James mused. "What do ya think, mate? Ever smelled any human girls in your third year?"
Remus shook his head. "No. I could tell there were humans close by, but I don't think any of them were distinctly female... or young, for that matter."
"Maybe she's a spy?" Peter put in squeakily. "From the Ministry, to try and dig up dirt on Hogwarts and then shut the school down."
"Don't be silly, Wormtail," Remus said, rolling his eyes.
There was a moment of silence between the four of them. "Well, I'm ready to try some Veritaserum. How about you guys?" Sirius suggested lamely.
"What? And take out all the fun and challenge out of figuring a mysterious and rather cute girl out?" James asked, but he turned his gaze eagerly to Remus. "Can we do it, Remmy? Moony, ol' pal?"
"I don't think so," Peter said, answering for the werewolf. "It takes a whole month to mature, I've heard..."
"So we get some from what's her name the potions master," Sirius said brightly, dropping his voice a few notches. "And if that's not possible, then I can wait a month to get the truth out of her. The only /real/ challenge will be getting her to drink it."
"True," James agreed. Peter looked momentarily baffled by the proceedings, then nodded his head vigorously and looked to Remus as well. Remus clicked his tongue against his teeth, closing his eyes and shaking his head lightly.
"You guys, you're all stupid idiots, all of you." You muttered.
"Does that mean it's possible?" James asked, thrilled. Remus opened his eyes and directed a (vicious) glare in Sirius' direction.
"It's only /possible/ because I pity Padfoot's inability to snag a date with her." He said, sighing.
"Then we'll do it," James decided, finishing the conversation. His hazel eyes sparkled venomously. "This'll be /way/ more fun than hexing Snivellus into the next dimension..."