Just Too Tempting

By Avadne

Chapter 19: A Display

Hermione opened her eyes and woke up to the sound of loud thumping. She groaned as someone shook her vigorously. Sitting up reluctantly, Hermione realized that that someone happened to be Lily, an expression of impatience on her face.

"Come on, Mi!" Lily yelled in exasperation, trying to drag Hermione out of bed. Without much luck, it seemed.

Hermione was just about to get up, but then fell back down.

"I'd really rather not," moaned Hermione as she remembered her first class of the day; History of Magic. She was regretting ever taking it.

"Come on, it won't be that bad," Lily tried to coax Hermione away from the dorm and down for breakfast.

"Yeah, for you. You have, what, Runes? Completely enjoyable," Hermione replied, burying her head into her bed.

"Hey, it's not as great as it sounds, ok? I do have bloody Black in my class, which makes it so much worse," Lily told Hermione. Hermione only grunted in response, too tired to defend Sirius. Usually, she would have been up and ready. But History of Magic first thing in the morning, plus all of the recent excitement had a different effect on Hermione. Now she just wanted to stay in her warm, comfortable bed and not face the world. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Lily scowl heavily. A second later, Lily had ripped the sheets off Hermione and literally dragged her off the bed, grabbing onto her leg.

"Lily!" Hermione exclaimed scandalously. Lily winked in response. Hermione sighed but got up and headed for the bathroom.

"You better hurry up! We still have to go to breakfast," Lily reminded Hermione.

"You go on ahead, I'm not really hungry… my stomach isn't very happy," Hermione told Lily, placing a hand on her churning stomach.

"Ok, well have fun in History!" Lily yelled wickedly before running off. Hermione sighed again and got herself ready for the day.

-

"Once again, we have another major problem," Hermione said gloomily as she sat down with Draco in a deserted classroom. He had not been happy as Hermione dragged him away on his way to breakfast and that hadn't changed. He groaned again and cradled his head in his hands.

"What now?" he muttered darkly. "You're pregnant? Remus bit you? This shit can't really get any worse."

Hermione glared at Draco, but it bounced right of. "Sirius knows. I told him,"

"What?" Draco exclaimed, praying he had heard wrong or it was just a joke. Anything for it not to be true.

"I told Sirius," Hermione repeated as clearly as she could without bursting into tears.

"What the hell did you do that for, you bloody mad woman!" Draco yelled angrily. This was not how things were supposed to go.

"He already knew something was up! And I couldn't do it anymore, Draco! I just couldn't…" that was it. Hermione couldn't control it anymore. She let out a muffled sob before giving up and letting the tears flow.

"Hey… um, don't cry," Draco was looking more and more awkward by the second. He obviously had never comforted anyone before.

"It was too much, I had to tell someone," Hermione wailed. Draco groaned and conjured up a tissue for Hermione. She stubbornly refused to take it. Sighing, Draco muttered a spell and waved his wand. Instantly, Hermione felt cheery and content.

"Cheering Charms… we'd be dead without them," he said in satisfaction. Hermione looked outraged, but had a silly smile on her face anyway.

"Why you lit-" she began angrily cheerful, but Draco shook his head and interrupted.

"Oh, shut up for a second. I'll take the Charm off when I'm done. But you better realize that you're not the only one with news,"

Now Hermione was intrigued. "What news?"

"The Dark House news; Sirius would have given you the basic outline, but let me fill in the details, shortened version: fight, two sides; me against Lestrange. 5th year and up, in the Common Room, mostly guys. About two girls; got them both on my side. Marlene obviously, and some Meadows girl helped me. And from the guys, the Prewett brothers; they saved me ass,"

"So that's why Slytherin suddenly had 200 House points less?" Hermione asked. Draco nodded.

"But that's not all. Wait until you hear this. Snape, as in Severus Snape, future Potions master, decided he liked me better than Lestrange. Got him on our side, so he probably won't ever become a Death Eater in the first place; would never have won without him. And the other surprise… Regulus Black,"

"Sirius's brother?" Hermione asked, shocked.

"Yep. Bloody good dueler, too. So congratulate me, since I've just stopped 2 future Death Eaters," Draco looked onto Hermione expectantly.

"And McKinnon… Marlene McKinnon was a member of the Order. Hang on, so was…" Hermione trailed off, thinking hard.

"The Meadows girl! Doracs!" Draco realized. Hermione nodded.

"And the Prewett brothers. They were famous; died a hero's death. Actually, there's quite a few members of the Order here. I bet Dumbledore's already thinking of recruiting," Hermione explained.

"We have to figure all this out. Now," Draco said sharply, dropping the subject of his victory quickly. Hermione clearly agreed.

"Right. We have to tell Dumbledore all of this; me telling Sirius, the fight, everything. We'll go see him son, ok?"

Draco nodded in agreement, knowing what was coming.

-

"Well, as you must have realized, this is the last day before Christmas break. So today is our last day of lessons for a while. Which means we have to celebrate," Sirius explained, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"And you know what Sirius's idea of celebration is…" Remus trailed off, scowling at Sirius.

"Drinking, girls, late night party, girls…" James began to elaborate, but Remus elbowed him and gave him a pointed look. James's mouth formed an O of understanding before saying, "of course; the other way Sirius celebrates!" James realized, grinning.

"One word; pranks," Pete put in. Hermione groaned and rolled her eyes while Sirius grinned and nodded wickedly. In simulation with James. And Remus. Once again, Hermione was rather unnerved at how they could just do that.

"Ok, well I have Runes… that would be with Pete, as well. And Evans is in our class. You guys all have History. That's going to be dead easy," Sirius said thoughtfully. James nodded in agreement and the two groups set off in different directions.

"Take a seat… at the back. We'll be there in two seconds," James whispered in Hermione's ear before him and Remus left. Hermione shrugged and walked towards the back of the class. True to their word, James and Remus joined her in only moments, James on her right and Remus in front oh her.

"Please take out your quills and parchment. Today we will be revisiting information about the Goblin…" Professor Binns had begun talking, but Hermione tuned out as soon as she could. What was going on with Remus and James was far more interesting. She could catch up later.

"Now," James whispered. Remus nodded. He took out his wand and performed a complicated squiggle, muttering words under his breath furiously.

The effects of the spells were instantaneous. The legs of chairs collapsed, ink pots took a mind of their own and students found themselves with overly long, brightly coloured hair, whiskers, obscure make-up or a sudden urge to yell out Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy-warty Hogwarts!

Hermione herself found that her own inkpot and quill had flown up and were working together to splatter as much ink and poke as many people in various places as they could. She noted that James and Remus had their own equipment doing the same thing.

"…in 1462, the war had truly…" Binns, as usual, had no clue. He simply went on in his monotonous voice, telling the class what had happened in some historical reference. But people were a bit too busy to notice.

But the fun didn't stop there. None other than Sirius Black had just burst into the classroom and waved his hands around signaling to come with him.

"Let's get out of here!" he yelled eagerly. Remus and James grinned and got up to follow. Hermione began to protest, but James grabbed her and dragged her away too. Hermione couldn't believe her eyes as she stepped out. The walls of the corridors were now flashing ludicrously bright pinks, blues, purples, greens and every other colour imaginable. Inside of the hard floor, Hermione found lush green grass.

James didn't hesitate as he picked Hermione up. Him, Remus and Sirius, with Pete on their tail, ran out of the castle and onto the grounds. The students took the hint and followed. Hermione was set back down on her feet to observe. The trees had been charmed to have their leaves constantly shed and re-grow. The ones that fell to the ground, on contact, transfigured into random items of candy. Fireworks had been let off and they bound around happily outside, circling every corner and bursting near someone's ears in a loud BANG!

"And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you end the last day before Christmas break!" Sirius yelled out. There was a massive uproar from the students as the Marauders grinned their heads off and others laughed. It would only be a matter of seconds before McGonagall or someone came out here and ruined their fun after all.

"Although this must have broken, oh only 235 school rules, I must admit it's the most spectacular display I've ever seen," Hermione said in amazement, taking in the scenes around her. James grinned and threw his arm around her.

"Of course; it's what we do around here,"

-

With the pandemonium going on, no one really realized if a person or two was missing. So as quietly as he could, Sirius Black attempted to sneak away. He caught James's eye, gave him a thumbs-up and signaled that he'd be right back. James's face clouded over, but he nodded anyway.

Sirius tried to look inconspicuous as he ventured into the Slytherin part of the castle crowd. His grey eyes constantly scanned the area for another head, also with black hair, grey eyes and similar features. Where was his brother when you actually wanted him?

"Regulus," Sirius called out as he spotted his target. He was seated with two other boys Sirius recognized as the Prewett brothers. Regulus looked up. His jaw dropped as Sirius's eyes met his. Without a word to his companions, Regulus got up and slowly walked over to Sirius until they were less than a meter away.

"Sirius… what do you want?" Regulus asked, looking around in case anyone was here.

"To know whether you still consider me brother. I heard about what happened in Slytherin," Sirius began cautiously, not wanting to scare his little brother off.

"I'm sorry, Sirius. You don't know how much," Regulus looked so lost, so guilty. And that's when Sirius saw a trace of his brother before. Before the influence of their mother really kicked in. Before, the times when he and Regulus had stuck together as best friends and brothers. Before, when they were still kids…

"Me too, Regulus," Sirius answered. Each boy's words held more weight than they would ever truly know. But for now, it was enough that they both said it.

"Why did you leave, Sirius?" Regulus asked miserably, looking at his brother in hope of what he would hear. Sirius seemed to pick up on what Regulus really meant.

"Because of Her. Not because of you, it was never your fault. Just know that, ok? I'll explain it to you one day, what it was like…" Sirius answered urgently, trying to get the message through to Regulus. Not your fault…

"Of course I still consider you my brother. Always have," Regulus replied softly, all coldness and misery gone from him. A pure smile lit up his face, and Sirius did too.

"Then brothers forever," Sirius replied, hugging Regulus. Not the gruff, one arms thing, or an awkward pat on the back. But a full out hug. And Regulus didn't hesitate in returning it, this time not caring at all who was around and watching.

-

End 19

Apologies for lack of posting, as always. Ya'll know my situation; I'm at Annie's this time, posting… I shudder every time I see/think of an internet café.

Sorry again. A few more chapters before the Epilogue and Conclusion; nearly done with this

I'm kind of slowly, tentatively working on a maybe-sequel to this story. I'm thinking it's going to be called When Heroes Fall; chapters of about the same length, but a lot more of them. Will feature… well, I can't really tell you what it features without giving away the ending. I'll keep you all posted though, so tell me what you think.

I am also working extremely slowly on Saving Auror Ginny. Although for the little I have done, it's coming along nicely. See my profile for more details.

MASSIVE thanks to all the reviewers. I am now past the 100 mark, something I never imagined. Love you all.

Patricia Luksich, sorry I don't think I replied to you in the previous chapter. I hope you like it, and I hope your computer doesn't suffer too much damage!

megafreak, hmm…. I don't know if I should be telling you this, but what the hell. In my planned sequel there is considerably… less Pettigrew. Whether he dies or not, I won't say, but if I do it, I think you'll be pleased! I'd quickly like to take the chance to say that I have been reading your story still, and I absolutely adore it. I'm sorry for the lack of reviews, but there's this weird thing going in my computer at the moment; I can view some pages ok but other functions such as reviewing, logging in I'm dead. Thanks.

Monkeystarz, hello I hope you're doing good! Good that you've been busy with that er… cow. Moo it is. Thanks mate.

Surrounded By Idiots, haha I didn't think some people would see the points of interludes; but the thing is, I have very little actual clear perspective and pure feelings of the characters, which is why I write Interludes. Don't worry I think that was the last one.

Krstna, haha yes it is sort of dull, pale blue-purple, isn't it? Bloody review button. Expect a review (or more) from me today!

kitty, don't worry there's still a few more chapters to go. I hope you'll be satisfied with the ending! Thanks very much for the positive feedback!

Avadne