Disclaimer: I'm too busy trying to find a value of x in a matrix in order to have a non trivial solution after a multiplication with a transpose… I have no clue what I'm talking about. Basically I don't own Harry Potter.
This is a longer chapter!! *claps hands in delight* It wasn't supposed to be but I got carried away. Thanks to kit for beta reading. Enjoy!!
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Sirius saw a row of flashing green lights at the side of his eye. Craning his neck to see the boxes of the four houses, he found them decorated with pieces of clothing and other items from the Slytherin team. He made his way closer to Slytherin's balcony and noticed that most of them were boxers with the owners' names engraved in bright green lights. Replicas of the boxers were hanging around everywhere. Malfoy's boxers had more radiance than the other male players of the Slytherin team did. Some of the female players had their teddy bears or pieces of clothing hanging from the emerald string.
He laughed at the sight before him and realized that James was floating near him, watching the scene. The teachers were frantically attempting to remove the garlands.
"The game is already looking good," James said, grinning.
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Sirius' POV
Some students carried Sirius into the Gryffindor common room alongside James. They had won their game against Slytherin by more than two hundred points, making it their most victorious game in the season so far. Both of them felt their feet touch the ground and were harassed by many students who were hugging them.
He spotted Hermione sitting calmly on the windowsill with Lily and a few other Gryffindors. The joy from the win evaporated and he soon recalled with mortification that Hermione had slept with Snivellus. She caught his eye and smiled at him. Ignoring her, he glanced over at James who opened a bottle of champagne that had been sneaked into the party.
A few minutes later, he felt someone touching his shoulder. He turned around, only to find Hermione smiling back at him, "Congrats! It was a great game!"
"Really? Or are you just saying that to cover up your fucking escapades with Snape," Sirius muttered angrily.
Her face paled, "What are you talking about."
"So then it's true!" he said, "Why don't you go play around with your prissy boyfriends."
Before he could walk away, she screamed, "I wouldn't talk! You're nothing but a stupid prick yourself, Sirius Black! And I hope you die." Her eyes welled up with tears and she grasped her mouth, regretting the words. She ran up the stairs to the girls' dormitories.
Sirius tried to push the people around him but each foot he took forward only seemed to add more people to the mosh. Lily approached them after he joined Moony, Prongs and Wormtail.
"Well what did you think about the prank?" she asked them casually.
"This must be a trick question," Peter said, rolling his eyes.
"No," Lily said, "I think it was brilliant."
"Am I hearing right?" Sirius said, wincing his eyes, "Lily Evans is not
condemning it as an act of mischief?"
Lily smiled and glanced around uncertainly to make sure that no one else would be able to hear. "Only when I'm partially responsible."
"WHAT?" James said, not believing his ears. "You're joking." Lily shook her head.
"Congrats," Remus said, "Mrs. Head Girl…but what do you mean by partially responsible?"
"Well Hermione did most of the work," Lily commented.
"I doubt it, she would rather kiss the Slytherins' arses than be caught betraying her allies," Sirius said indifferently.
Lily shot Sirius a perplexed look, "What are you talking about?"
"She's been dating Malfoy and now she's even having Snape on the side," Sirius scoffed. Peter nodded his head in approval while James and Remus decided to not take sides.
Lily smacked herself in the head, "It was all part of the plan! Trust me, Hermione's been has been dating Lucius involuntarily and the same goes for Severus!"
This time it was Sirius, James, Peter and Remus' turn to be bewildered by this new information.
"So you mean to say Hermione really isn't dating anyone?" James asked, hoping for the affirmative.
Lily nodded fervently. "By the way, where is Hermione?"
Remus and James looked at Sirius condemningly.
"Oh great, now what did you say?" Lily asked, glaring at Sirius.
"It's bad," Sirius said, really regretting his words to her earlier, "Very bad."
Lily shook her head disapprovingly, "Well aren't you going to apologize?"
"He'll be luck if she doesn't put an unforgivable on him," James remarked, patting Padfoot on the back.
They all accompanied Sirius to the girls' dormitories, where they found Hermione lying on her bed.
She turned her back against him when she saw him, "What do you want?"
"To apologize," Sirius said simply, fidgeting with his hands.
"And we're acting as shields," Remus added, "In case you try to kill him."
"Look Hermione, I was just upset when Snape said that you two had -," Sirius said firmly.
"HE WHAT?" she rolled around and waited for his response.
"That you had slept with him," Sirius finished.
"I DIDN'T!" Hermione screamed, throwing herself against the pillow.
Sirius exhaled after what seemed like a thousand minutes of torture.
"He's exaggerated it way too much," Hermione whispered.
"What do you mean by exaggerated?" he asked faintly, holding his breath again.
"Padfoot, give it a rest. She's innocent," Remus said.
"Yes now how exactly did you pull that off?" James inquired keenly.
"What?" Hermione asked.
"The special effects at the game," Peter said, grinning.
"Excuse me-but she still hasn't answered my question," Sirius said hopelessly.
"Oh shut up Padfoot! Must have been very complicating," Remus said. Sirius surrendered and waited for Hermione's answer.
"No of course not," Hermione said.
"Hermione just gave Lucius some verisaterum to get the passwords," Lily said indifferently.
"And used some Polyjuice potion to change into Lucius during the last Quidditch game," Hermione added.
"Never mind the times she had to put a memory charm on Lucius and… Snape when he caught her in the act," Lily said.
"What?" Sirius said.
"You see I had to tell him that I'd come to see him to explain why I was there," she said, blushing, "Which I will ummm… let's say Snape's boxers are the only ones which didn't really land up on the field."
"WHAT?" Sirius said in disbelief, "YOU SHAGGED HIM?"
"No," Hermione said innocently, "He's just good at the kissing."
"What," Sirius said in a whisper, hoping that he had heard her wrong.
"It's a joke," Hermione said, not quite sure with herself if she was telling the truth.
"And we then put it up last night, with the help of James," Lily said cheerfully to stop the tension between Sirius and Hermione.
"I reckon we've had a bad influence on them," Sirius said to the other Marauders, who all nodded in agreement.
"We learned from the best," Hermione said, smiling happily.
"I must say, Hermione, to have handled all those things … you definitely are mind boggling. First, you're getting Sirius to visit the library. Second, that trick you pulled off..."
"So then you're not dating Lucius," James said.
"Only part of the plan," Hermione said, beaming at him.
It felt as if a huge load had been lifted off Sirius' shoulders. "That's too bad that all those things have been probably destroyed by now."
"Nahhhh, I kept Lucius and Snape's boxers," Hermione said to the amazement of the others, "I need a souvenir when I go back, right?"
The others laughed, while Sirius thought dreadfully of the day that she would have to return.
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Hermione's POV
Two days later, Hermione was stacking up a few of the new books that had arrived. She was incredibly relieved that this whole prank had ended. Sirius still acted a little distant towards her but seemed thankful to know that she wasn't in love with Snape or Malfoy.
Lately, she had been reflecting over the 'disadvantages' of the whole thing being over. Lucius had been stalking her in the hallways, waiting for her to be alone. He obviously didn't like the thought of her reclining towards the Gryffindors and ignoring him completely. Snape, on the other hand, was not giving her the slightest clue of what he was thinking. He had not tried to talk to her in class. That probably could be explained with the fact that Lily or some other Gryffindors always surrounded her. It was quite uncomfortable knowing that there were two psycho cases – make that one hot psycho case and one greasy haired but good kisser psycho- chasing after her.
She cursed herself for not apologizing to Sirius for what she had said. She had been too cruel in her words. No, the last thing she wanted was for him to die. The summer following her fifth year had been a nightmare because it was all hard for them to get over Sirius' death, especially Harry.
She reached for a small navy book on the corner of the table. A cold hand stretched out over the table and grabbed hers. The person spun her around with his free hand, "Hermione."
Snape stared back at her with an expressionless face, his dark beady eyes boring into the back of her head. She quickly looked down at the floor, afraid that he might try to use occulmency on her.
"Severus!" she said in her chirpiest voice. Inside, she was gradually collapsing. His hands were preventing the blood circulation in her arm.
He forcefully raised her chin with his fingers, "I was wondering when we could end what we started…" His grip slowly weakened on her but his eyes remained steadily focused on her.
She hastily moved around the desk and her hands fidgeted with the books to stack them, "Well you see I'm quite busy at the moment."
"Can't it wait?" he said, approaching her and cornering her with his arms and the table.
She glimpsed on both sides of her in hopes of seeing someone she knew in the library. 'You're not going to get out of this one so easily.'
"I need to work for the money," she said plainly to stall him.
"I'll give you some money," he said, leaning in to kiss her.
He closed his eyes and she started counting the small little hairs on his cheek.
"HOW DARE YOU THINK THAT I WOULD SINK DOWN TO THAT," she screamed, pushing his face away and budging aside.
He leaped into the air at her voice, "What?"
Hermione could see that a couple of students were staring at them and listening in to their conversation. 'This is an excellent place for the 'official' break up between Hermione Granger and Severus Snape… although they were never together. I can already see myself giving tour guides to people in the future of the exact occurrences. Yes students, this is where it all went down, between the professor and I.'
"I'm not going to let you pay for my… my… SERVICES!" Hermione screamed at him, pointing a finger at him threateningly.
"I didn't intend to-," he said, trying to calm her down.
"Didn't intend to pay me!" she said, trying her best to confuse him or make him hate her, "YOU THINK THAT I'M SO WORTHLESS THAT I'M FREE?"
"NO!" Snape shouted, tapping his hand uncomfortably against his leg, "Wait didn't you just say-,"
"I'M AN INDEPENDENT WOMAN, SEVERUS SNAPE!" she roared on, "Get it? IN- DE-PEN-DENT."
"Okay! Fine," Snape said, looking nervously at everyone who was watching them, "Now can we just go?"
"I'M WORKING!" Hermione said loudly, hoping that he would just give up and leave.
"Then I'll ask you now," Snape said in a change of tone, picking up one of the books and dusting it off to read the title, "Want to be my date for the ball?"
Hermione dropped the books she was carrying, making Snape wince. 'Great, she failed at making him hate her.' She bent down to picking up the books.
"Bothering Hermione again, Snivellus?" she heard Sirius say. She saw a pair of polished black shoes approach the table.
"For your little idiotic brain's information, Hermione was about to say yes to joining me to the ball! Isn't that right, Hermione?" he said, observing at her amiably.
She stood up to the inquisitive looks of Sirius and Snape.
"Hmmm… about that… ummm you see, I've already said to yes to someone a long time back," she lied.
"Who?" Snape asked, "It can't be Lucius. He would have told me."
She began moving around the books on the table to distract Snape.
"It's a lie," he hissed, grabbing her arm.
"Let go of her, Snape," Sirius said, his wand already touching Snape's neck.
Snape's hand returned to his side. Sirius kept his wand pointed towards Snape. "She's going with me," Sirius said proudly.
" What?" Hermione said in disbelief, glancing at Sirius in a mix of anger and confusion. Sirius shot her a look that made her understand right away, "Yes, Sirius asked me two weeks ago."
"That's impossible!" Snape said, more to himself, "You two can't even get along properly, never mind be in each other's presence for long."
"I beg to differ- she's going with me," Sirius said, looking at Snape in contempt. "Now Hermione, can we work on the project tonight?"
"Sure," Hermione answered, glancing at her watch with relief. "I'm finished working! I'll see you later." She picked up her bag and after looking at Snape and Sirius shooting daggers at each other with their eyes, she left the library.
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Hermione strolled around the Hogwarts grounds alone, reflecting about the pains of being away from her time. She missed Harry and Ron more with each day but somehow was finding a replacement for them in James, Sirius and Lupin.
Peter still freaked the hell out of her and she did not like remaining in the same room as that shrewd fat rat. A few days back, she had seen a rat running behind the bedposts in the girls' dormitory. Sure, she couldn't be sure that it was him... but it seemed that the same rat was following her around the school. Whenever she entered the showers, she would check ten times to be certain if that creep was trying to peep. It was even harder being the only person in Hogwarts who knew him for his true identity. It was painful to see how James treated Peter and would actually stand up for him some times. She only wished that Harry and Ron could be with her because they knew his character very well.
A brisk northern wind blew across her face, making her pull her scarf more closely around her face. When heading towards the school's doors, she found all four Marauders walking from the direction of the Whooping Willow. They obviously had not noticed her yet since they were talking very rapidly.
That's when she realized that the full moon was approaching, which would explain the additional paleness in Remus' cheeks and the excessive bags under his eyes.
"Hey," James called out, stopping their discussion to acknowledge Hermione. His seemed very worried, contrary to what might be expected of James Potter if Lily Evans had recently said yes to a date.
"Is something wrong?" Hermione asked, stuffing her hands into the depths of her pockets for warmth.
"No," Remus replied quickly, "I mean- well my grandmother is sick." His three other friends nodded in agreement as if Remus wasn't convincible enough.
"Going to see her soon," said Remus, shaking his head in an attempt to sound dramatic.
"Yes, very sorry to hear Moony," Sirius said, patting his friend on the back sympathetically, "I hope that she recovers from the diarrhea. It must be hard for her… with all those aching joints to… you know."
Hermione suppressed herself from laughing by biting on her lip, "I hope she gets better."
Remus nodded in thanks, while glaring at Sirius for his comment.
"Heard that Sirius and you have a date tonight," Peter said, reminding her of the rat's ominous presence.
"Yes, our date," she said, grinning at Sirius who glanced up at her recognition of the meeting as a 'date.' "Our date with DADA."
Sirius frowned for a second and recovered immediately, "Shall we?" He offered her his arm, which she took willingly as he escorted her into the castle.
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Sirius' POV
James, Peter and Remus said their farewells to Hermione and Sirius before disappearing in one of the many corridors on the second floor. Hermione tried to walk in the same direction as them but was yanked back as he headed towards a staircase that led to the third floor.
"Aren't we going to the common room?" she asked timidly.
"No, it's too crowded to do spells," Sirius said, unknowingly entwining his hand with hers while he searched the floor levels as if looking at the Marauder's map before him.
"Right, especially with your aim," Hermione said blankly.
His eyes turned sharply towards her, only to see her lips parting into a smile. "Yes, Mrs.-I-can-take-on-a-death-eater-any-day-cause-I'm-so-smart."
She swiftly looked away at the staircases revolving below them and muttered something that sounded like, "Been there, done that."
"Pardon?" he said, studying her conscientiously.
"Nothing," she murmured, leaving both of them silent for a few minutes. When she finally cleared her throat, he anticipated that their conversation tonight was not completely fruitless with his comment. Instead, he found her staring down at his hand. Sirius released his hand from hers and murmured a quick apology before quickening his pace and leaving her behind.
He could hear the struggle of her footsteps to keep up with his long strides and the many turns he was taking in the corridors. When he unexpectedly stopped midway in a dark corridor, she banged right into him.
"Sorry," she said, rubbing her head, "Where exactly are we?"
As an alternative to answering her question, he pulled her into the small crack in the wall after saying a few incantations and tapping the wall with his wand. A door slammed shut behind them as soon as both were inside. Hermione peered around while he added more light to the room.
"I'm very much interested in knowing how you discover these… places," she said, sitting on a chair located at the far end of the room.
He gleamed proudly, contemplating the Marauders' achievements over the years. "Lots of late nights…. We're not your average students. Thought you'd know that by now!"
She shrugged while preparing herself, "Who starts?"
"Ladies first as usual," he responded, bowing down to her mockingly. Before he could even straighten up, he found himself hurtled across the room. He moaned and slowly tried to get up, "I'm your partner for Merlin's sake! You're not supposed to kill me!"
Hermione smirked, twirling her wand in her fingers. "Well how do you expect to improve and face our opponents if you can't fight a measly spell like that?"
Sirius groaned and lifted his wand, "Rictusempra."
Sirius' recovery was too quick for her as she buckled down to the floor in laughter. Her cheeks became rosy and a few tears fell out of her eyes. "Sirius- please-stop-it."
"How do you expect to face our opponents?" he said, mocking her.
The spell began to die out and she muttered a few words that made all the furniture in the room attracted to him like a magnet. After reversing the spell and sending the furniture to their proper places, he sent another spell towards her that froze the victim to their place.
"James can't stop talking about his date with Lily. He's already gone over different scenarios of their future date," Sirius said, hoping to catch Hermione off guard with the addition of conversation.
With the wave of her wand, the spell was deflected and he noticed a pink light zapping towards him. He jumped out of the way in time.
"That's nice. As long as they don't kill each other when it actually takes place," Hermione commented.
"Stupefy," he screamed, as she missed his spell again, "How about us?"
"Us, what?" she said apathetically, sending him another spell to lock his legs together.
"Protego," he said, "What do you say to a date with me?"
"Preposterous," she said calmly.
"How come it's not preposterous to accompany me to the ball as my date," he said, sending another spell that finally caught her off guard as one of her arms swelled up.
"I'm not. It was only a cover up for Snape and you're the one who brought it up," she said, her voice becoming tenser.
"Really? So your agreement to it was only to save your ass," Sirius said, his anger apparent in his voice.
"I would never date someone like you," Hermione said, "Scourgify."
"Why-," he asked heatedly. Sirius' mouth was suddenly filled with water and soap as a huge brush was stuffed into his mouth to clean it.
"You're nothing but a player," she said angrily, resting her swollen arm against her chest. "I'm not going to fall to my knees just because you've found another girl at Hogwarts who you want to test… see how far you can push her."
Sirius spit out the liquid in his mouth, "I'm not like that! Why do you always blame it on me? Maybe you're the one to blame if you can't handle a guy who fucking likes you."
Hermione bit on her lips to cease the quivering. "Arggggggghh…I hate you," she said in an inconvincible tone. She aimed her wand and he found his clothes being slashed by an invisible knife. A huge cut flew across the part of his cloak in front of his pants.
"I'd like to leave with that part, thank you very much!" he sneered, removing his robes angrily and throwing them to the ground. He stalked towards her, not caring if she tried another spell. Hermione cowered against the wall, still pointing the wand defiantly at him. "Put it down."
"No," she said stubbornly.
"Then I'm carrying you kicking and screaming to Madame Pomfrey if you're not going to allow me to heal it," he said, lowering the tone of his voice and trying to ease his heavy breathing.
She stared at him frustratingly before her arm dropped and she stretched out her left arm to him in pain.
"Why didn't you tell me it was hurting you?" he asked angrily, checking the arm that was turning a dark shade of red. He was angrier with himself for using that spell on her when he knew better that any spell taught to him at home when he was younger was definitely not suitable.
"Finite Incantatum," he said, watching as her arm returned to its normal side. "I'm sorry about that."
"It's no problem," she said feebly. She looked up at him oddly, "Looks like I got you bad also."
Her soft fingers slid across his lower lip, sending chills up his spine. The area around his mouth was feeling sore after the brush had forcefully entered his mouth. There were several scratches from the bristles, which he could evidently feel from the soap. But that all didn't matter to him, since her fingers were running over all the aching spots. Never had he ever felt like this towards a girl's touch, which was quite odd after dating nearly all the girls in Gryffindor close to his age. For his sake, he was thankful that it wasn't in any other place or she surely would have seen his vulnerability for her. All he wanted to do was to kiss her senseless.
She glanced up at him as he reached for her hand, retaining it to its position. Her finger moved away from his lips and across to his jaw, giving him the perfect opportunity. Bending down to her height, he pressed his lips against hers. His tongue teased her lips open as he sank his fingers deep into her hair. The strawberry odor drifted from her hair, only empowering his kiss even more. His lips curled up into a smile as she returned the kiss and let her hand wrap around his neck while stroking his hair.
His hands began to slip under the shirt she was wearing. He had barely placed his fingertips on her when she suddenly pushed him away, breathing heavily.
"Sorry," he said, saying the first word that came to his head.
"No I am," she said, lowering her head, "This shouldn't have happened."
"Well it did," Sirius said.
"We can't-," she began to say before being interrupted by Sirius.
"We can," he said, pressing his forehead against hers.
She bent down and moved to the right. "No," she said, shaking her head, "Sirius, you don't understand. We're from different times-."
"Who bloody cares," Sirius whispered, seizing her hand in his.
"It's more complicated than you think," she said, "And I should know better than to… be kissing you of all people."
"Thought we'd stop with the insults," Sirius said grimacing at her words. "How can it be complicated? I'm just asking for one date at least- for my well being." He smiled at her comfortingly.
He took one-step towards her and she stepped back, "It's not an insult," she said plainly. "I would prefer if we could just forget about this-."
"FORGET?" he said loudly, running his hands through his hair in frustration.
"I'm so sorry," she said, slipping her hands around her bag on the table. Her eyes were filled with tears. "I don't feel the same way," she said, in the most inconvincible voice he'd ever heard from her. The distraught look on her face even betrayed her emotions.
She gave him one more look before rushing to the door and shutting the door behind her. Before he could recuperate from what had happened, he only could find a dark empty hallway and the soft clattering of her shoes as she turned down one of the endless corridors on the third floor.
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Hermione's POV
It doesn't mean much
it doesn't mean anything at all
The life I've left behind me
Is a cold room
I've crossed the last line
From where I can't return
Where every step I took in faith
Betrayed me
And led me from my home
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Thanks for reading and reviewing!!
ShadowWriter-55
Artisia
swiss miss: *cries,* I guess that I am a wicked creature
tigress12
SilverKnight7
Avestia
Natyslacks
Crazy steph
Romm: I feel sorry for Sirius too… if I were Hermione-which I'm not, sadly- I would have shagged him the moment I laid my eyes on him
Evilive
Mystripedskirt: yup, in a way it is ewwwwwwww for Snape. I like men with nice hair. Huh.
Urg! : I love linkin park but I still have to get their new cd. I love that song too!
Maeri: Thanks I'm honored
Shadowsong11
Cookie moonsta : No this isn't from any challenge. Just me challenging myself hahaha
Hallie Walker
Vasquez 1987: I agree with your theory concerning the cause of Snape's limp hair. Yes Alan Rickman… I saw him in 'Sense and Sensibility' and he was so sweet. Snape, Sirius (especially him) and Lupin all look like heavenly angels to me but GARY F--KING OLD-MAN,k. YUCK. Nice theory for Snape's 9''…hmmm hehehe. Your idea about the Animagi is very interesting, we'll just have to see how it all turns out.