A/N: Heyy guys! For this fanfict, I'm trying to make a "muggle" world with magic that fits more comfortably together. I hope that you're enjoying it!
Disclaimer: The specifics belong to J.K. Rowling, not me. I am going to use an excrept from the fifth book to serve as a memory. Only the plot belongs to wonderful me!
I found my way up the narrow, winding staircase to my personal room. The cauldron was like I've always remembered it, unkempt but clean at the same time. The room was small; its entirety was made out of pure timber, save the bed linens. It was of country design, very comfortable. Across from the bed on the wall was an old, dirty mirror with a thick, oak frame. I sat on the foot of the bed, reflecting on the past year...
It seemed t take Sirius an age to fall. His body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backward through the ragged veil hanging from the arch....
And Harry saw the look of mingled fear and surprise on his godfather's wasted, once-handsome face as he fell through the ancient doorway and disappeared behind the veil, which fluttered for a moment as though in a high wind and then fell back into place.
Harry heard the Bellatrix Lestrange's triumphant scream but knew it meant nothing-Sirius had only just fallen through the archway, he would reappear from the other side any second....
But Sirius did not reappear.
"SIRIUS!" Harry yelled, "SIRIUS!"
I was in a circular room. When I regained consciousness, I felt as if there was a heavy weight pressed upon my shoulders and I couldn't find the strength the stand. I heard voices, terrible voices yelling numerous spells all at once. I needed to be there, to fight, and to support my friends... I crawled on all fours inch by inch blindly in the dark, seeing whatever my hands felt. I landed at a doorway in a heap of robes. My limbs went numb when I saw all of the people that I cared about for so long, fighting these...monsters.
I raised my wand with my fingers against the ground, directly aiming Lestrange. I muttered, "Risio." Lestrange found herself giggling and laughing like a schoolgirl.
Before I could help Sirius any further, Lestrange helped him out first. Then, all went black.
I shuddered involuntarily at Harry's voice that echoed throughout my memories. I haven't heard from either of the two boys all summer, which was odd, considering the fact that I usually try to see them as often during the summer as possible. I didn't hear of any news of the Order, which is probably for the best. I don't know how much more Harry is supposed to take. There was a soft knock on my door, then a second one. I opened the door to find a floating silver platter carrying an envelope made of old parchment paper.
'In the lavatories, you may find quick and easy butterbeer powder, compliments of the Leaky Cauldron.' I sat on my bed later that night reading one of my summers reading books that I assigned for myself to read before September started.
As I took my first sip of butterbeer, I felt a large noise from downstairs. It was so large that I noticed my candle was shaking slightly. I blew out the candle and wandered downstairs in my nightdress. There was Malfoy, sitting at one of the tables. Across from him, standing up, was Pansy Parkinson. It was quite a sight, really. There Malfoy had hands over his ears, while Pansy was crying, her chair on the floor behind her.
"Damn it, can you get any louder?" He screamed, trying to make her go away. As if a command, Pansy went yet one octave above the previous wail, and now louder with every sob.
In between her dramatic tears, she hiccuped into words, "DRAKKKKKKYYYY......WHY....W-WHY DON'T YOU LOVE.....ME?!?!?!" The other customers in the tavern must all have some sort of serious hearing problem if they couldn't hear this fantastic performance.
Malfoy ignored her the best that he could, though that proved to do nothing whatsoever. All of the sudden the noise stopped, as if on cue. Pansy closed her eyes, then opened them once more, as if she was looking at Malfoy for the very first time.
"I should never have kissed you with my eyes closed that tight." With that, she opened the door and walked out into the night. I couldn't seem to stop myself from smiling. Wait until the guys hear about this one! Ron will probably cherish it as much as the ferret incident in fourth year.
I quickly went back to my room and closed my eyes.
"Why is it so fricken' light in here?" I muttered from beneath the thin bed sheets. The curtains were opened, even though I closed them the previous evening. I turned my head slowly, trying not to wake up.
When I turned around to look at the other side of my room, I found two pairs of eyes staring back at me.
"Harry! Ron? Not cool. Did you welcome the sun as well? Shut the bloody curtains Ron before I have to give you your own homework planner." I whispered in a sarcastic tone.
"It's not our fault Hermione," said Ron "we thought that you might have stopped breathing, you were sleeping so hard." Harry didn't say anything in a long time, well thirty-seconds, but to me, that's an extremely long time this early in the morning without a book in front of me.
I sat up in my covers and motioned the two-quidditch maniacs to sit in front of me. They looked the same from last year, but I know that inside they couldn't be any more different.
At last Harry said, "We can't even do any thing to try and find him, or if he is really, really gone, we can't even do anything for him without causing suspicion in the ministry." Harry never took his eyes off of the plain white linen, as he spoke; it was as if he didn't even acknowledge Ron or me.
I couldn't say anything to propose a solution; I didn't have a clue what to do. Ron started to talk about his summer vacation to get Harry in a better mood. I just sat there and smiled.
I spent the rest of the day in that room with Harry and Ron, just looking at each other. Finally, we came up with an agreement. Harry swore that he would read whatever he had to, or research to clear Sirius's name. Ron promised to stay in contact with his brothers to keep up with the Order. Me? I promised to set up Sirius's own service, without revealing any information to the death eaters.
The next day was time to board the train. During breakfast, the mood seemed to change around us. Ginny was trying to talk her mom into buying the latest dress robe in style. Mrs. Weasley was trying to ignore her and read the newspaper at the same time. She jumped from her seat in happiness when she read about the success in the Weasley brothers' shop. Ron was trying to see whom he would resemble more if he made himself a beard of grits- Dumbledore or that Wizard named Santa. Harry was trying to through bits of his sausage in the air and catches it in his mouth. All the time I was reading to Crookshanks.
We were so late on time to get to the train, that we simply ran there instead. After much sweat was spent, and I no longer had a need for blush, we were standing in line, waiting to enter the train. I never really cared how my hair resembles a bush, but now I just got myself an afro. Ties were thrown over shoulders, eyes tearing, and scrapes being attended to. Finally at the end of the train, the three of us found an empty compartment to sit and relax. We looked at each other and just started laughing.
But, as always, being different has its price; nothing stays the way that you expect it to. I picked up one of my favorite classical book, Fantastic Beasts and where to find them. The two blokes started babbling in an unknown language to my ears, Quidditch.
I looked at the shelf above me, holding our entire luggage.
"Oh no, Crookshanks, oh where did you go? He must be so scared, all alone on the train surrounded by strangers!" I started to search every where; Harry and Ron didn't even notice. That was until I got right in Ron's face looking the key to open his trunk.
"Bloody hell Hermione, what are you doing?" Ron asked, almost suffocating from the massive amounts of hair being put in his face, "Aacch, I almost choked you know!"
"Yes, I got it! Honestly Ron, you should keep your key safe. It's used to store your belongings, not serve as jewelry." I mumbled, as I fiddled with the many keys on this one key ring.
"Hey," Ron said, trying to defend himself, "It's too easy to lose Hermione. Plus this chain was made from coiled dragon scales. Not that you should be afraid to go to Romania now that you destroyed it." Ron looked at the small smudge as he spoke, using his maroon sweater to try to make it shine.
Harry could barely stop laughing, there were so many stitches in his sides that when he fell off of the seat he couldn't leave the floor. When Ron was satisfied with the chain's condition, he asked, "Why do you need to go into my trunk for, anyway?"
I opened the trunk, felt through the many socks and said, "Oh, Ron.......you...know how...how much Crookashanks... likes to play with your underwear." After all of the pulls and heaves in between my exclamation to Ron, I pulled out a giant blob a ginger fur, that thanks to Ron's foot went flying in the air.
Just then, the compartment door opened and Malfoy walked in to brag about his life styles. Unfortunately, he never got to set foot in the compartment, due to Crookshanks. Malfoy regained himself, threw the cat back on the seat.
"Weasle, do you mind? Most people don't use their garbage to show their potential." Malfoy said, picking off all of the ginger hairs and in turn, placing them on Ron's head.
It took both Harry's and my own strength to hold Ron back from doing a hit-and-kill.
"Ron, Harry," I murmurred, trying to get their attention, "just don't listen to him, he's getting the attention that he's looking for." I tried to find a source to that statement. I looked at Malfoy for a moment, as if he was a new book with an old cover.
"Someone just has to be the bigger person here and show this little boy some manners." I said, letting go of the few sweater threads that my fingers were clung to. Malfoy looked at me with curiousity in his eyes.
"And I'm supposed to believe your theory? No thanks mudblood. I am more of a wizard then you ever could be." Malfoy said as he straightened his posture, his jaw set out with determination.
"Oh, I agree with you on that one, Malfoy." I said, eyeing a certain something below his belt. Harry and Ron started to snort, trying to disguise their sniggers behind clenched hands.
Malfoy took one step closer to me, it's was particulary intimidating really. Malfoy now stands at least 6.' Me? 5'4" His very breath smelt of disease. He took one look at my face, and spat on my shoes.
As I said before, I was raised to ignore people who have poor impulse control. My father told me to assert myself, but to never do something that I might regret. But, to this day, I still don't feel sorry for the following events.
I took one step further, holding my breath, as if I was testing my lung capacity. With one slight lift of my knee, Malfoy was sent back to his compartment across the hall.
I turned back to my friends with a large smile on my face I sat down beside Harry, took a bean, and asked; "I wonder why he has his knickers all in a bunch?"