Chapter 12. The Talk

Hermione blew softly on the cup of hot chocolate that warmed her hands, and then watched as the steam rose up into the air and disappeared. She took a small sip of her hot chocolate, the hot liquid warming her body that was covered in a thin layer of clothes and a blanket.

She sat in an abandoned house, and across the table at where she sat, where Prongs, Padfoot, Moony and Professor Snape. The four men watched her curiously, and she felt dwarfed by their presence. She had not yet learnt the names of the three men; she only knew them by their nicknames. Moony was the nicest, if not a bit wearied and tired. Prongs and Padfoot were very handsome, but Padfoot was more violent and was not as trusting as the other two. Prongs was nice enough, he did not talk much, but stared into the distance, a saddened look on his face. Hermione got the feeling that he had lost someone dear to him, or several someone's.

He was doing it now, looking out of the window, at the rolling hills and the grey clouds overhead. Occasionally, he would run a hand through his hair, stop half way, look at his hand, and smile secretly to himself. He constantly fiddled with the wedding band on his finger.

Snape and Padfoot argued constantly. They did not get on at all, their mutual dislike was evident. However, they worked together well enough, and seemed to ignore their grudges when it was important. Prongs did not seem to like Snape either, and Snape returned the feeling. Moony was the referee in their arguments.

They weren't arguing now, they were watching Hermione as she drank. Padfoot especially kept staring at her lips, her bottom one which still bled from time to time. Snape's eyes were on the large purple bruise on her left wrist. Moony watched her through narrowed eyes.

Hermione placed the steaming cup of hot chocolate on the table, and coughed delicately. This brought the attention of Prongs, who immediately looked at her and asked if she was ill.

Hermione smiled, and said no. Prongs nodded, and smiled, in an almost fatherly way, and Hermione could not help but think that Prongs would be a really good father, if he had a child.

"Who gave that to you?" Padfoot asked, gesturing to the purple bruise. Snape and Moony let out a sigh of relief, glad that someone had asked.

"No one." Hermione lied, covering her wrist with the blanket they had given her.

Padfoot frowned, and glanced at Snape. "Who do you serve?" Snape asked thoughtfully.

"Malfoy. Draco Malfoy." Hermione said, trying to keep her voice steady.

Her voice shook, however, and Prongs laid a hand on hers. "Did he do that to you?"

"Does it matter?" Hermione said, indifferently. "I've had worse."

Three of them nodded, and looked away, as if they did not want to be reminded of that unpleasant fact. However, Moony continued to look at her thoughtfully. "It does matter to you." He concluded after much thought. "Because Malfoy matters to you."

Hermione shifted under the four men's gazes. "No he doesn't."

"Hermione, my dear, you aren't a particularly good liar." Moony said. "Not when your lying to people you know, anyway."

"He treated me normally. Like anybody would do to a slave." Hermione said bitterly.

"Draco Malfoy is a good kid." Snape said quietly. "He's different from the other children that I have taught."

"Different? How?" Hermione asked, interested.

Padfoot smirked.

"For one, he actually likes to learn. He pays more attention to the counter-curses than to when I teach about the actual, brutal, cruel curses. And two, he was never as cruel as the rest of them are. He's a good actor, I grant you that, but no one can disguise their true feelings when someone else is looking for it." Snape said, knowingly. "He had a lot of pressure on him from his father, but loved him anyway. When Lucius died, a burden had been taken off his shoulder, the pressure from his father had disappeared, but of course, that was instantly replaced by a larger amount of pressure, a bigger burden, from the Dark Lord."

Padfoot snorted. "He's still a Malfoy, above everything else."

"It's just a name, Padfoot." Moony said quietly, off Hermione's defeated look. "Look at you, look at what you did."

"What did he do?" Hermione asked, interested.

Padfoot sighed. "I don't like to talk about it-"

"Oh, sorry." Hermione said, apologetically.

"But perhaps he should." Prongs said, kindly.

Padfoot rolled his eyes and looked into Hermione's eyes. "My name is Sirius Black."

Hermione choked. "Black? You're a Black? But Black's were death Eaters!"

"Oh good, she's heard of me." Sirius said sarcastically. "My family were Death Eaters, and held the beliefs of similar to those of the Malfoy family. Purebloods are better than no other, so on and so forth. I, on the other hand, did not believe in such things. When I went to Hogwarts for the first time, I met Prongs, who belonged to a family of purebloods, but were not prejudiced against muggle borns and the like. I was sorted into Gryffindor, even though my family had all belonged to Slytherin. Well, they did not like where I had been sorted into, and who I had made friends with. They disowned me."

"I'm sorry." Hermione said, softly.

"Are you kidding?! It was the best thing that ever happened to me! Being stuck with family like that was terrible! And I certainly did not want to belong to Slytherin house, otherwise I'll be with bastards like Malfoy, and idiots like Snape."

"Padfoot." Moony scolded, butting in before an argument could start.

"The point is, Hermione, people can change. It's rare in cases like Sirius and Draco Malfoy, but it can happen." Prongs said sincerely. "What did he do to make you think he had rejected his father's ways?"

Hermione blushed, and looked away. Sirius rolled his eyes. "I can't believe it. The girl has gone and fallen in love with Draco Malfoy."

"I'm not!" Hermione protested loudly. Her eyes widened as she realised how loudly she had said it, and she cowered in her seat, a frightened look on her face.

Snape recognised it, and sighed. "We're not going to hurt you, Hermione. We're not like them."

"She thinks we were gonna beat her for talking like that?" Prongs asked, horrified. "You thought that?" He asked, the question directed at Hermione.

"Old habits die hard." Hermione said softly.

Prongs huffed, and looked out of the window. "The sooner we get you out of that place, the better."

"What has he said to you…what has he done to make you," Sirius winced, "fall in love with him."

"I'm not in love with him." Hermione corrected. "I have never been: that I know for sure. There was just…I don't know. It's kind of difficult to explain."

"We being grown men sure does not help that." Moony said insightfully. Hermione smiled wryly. "You need a woman friend for this. This is out of our territory."

"You're a smart girl Hermione." Prongs said thoughtfully. "You got your head on your shoulders. When the time comes, you'll know what to do."

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Next chapter shall be up soon. Thanks as always to your wonderful reviews! I'm so glad that you're sticking with this for the time being! Till next time…