Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or chapter titles 11 onwards
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Chapter 23: Little bit of soul
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Hermione and Sirius eyed Filch warily as the caretaker pondered what to do with them for the evenings detentions.
He pointed a long finger at Sirius "Hospital wing, chamber pots." He ordered.
Sirius sighed and started off towards the Hospital wing mumbling to himself, Hermione catching the odd. "Snivellus," and "Giant Squid."
"You," Filch snapped brining Hermione's attention away from a retreating Sirius. "Trophy Room, you can leave when all the trophies are spotless."
Hermione nodded and headed for the trophy room, a little disappointed that she wouldn't be serving her detention with Sirius. She reached the door to the room that contained all the Hogwarts trophies and muffled a groan at the size of it. Nevertheless she grabbed a polishing rag and set to work. At the beginning she didn't find it too bad, it reminded her of when she was little and used to help her parents clean their dental instruments for loose change. She smiled as she thought of her parents, if her calculations were correct they should have just started to see each other while studying at university.
After the first hour however Hermione was becoming extremely bored, there were only so many trophies one could polish before the novelty wore off. Her attention picked up, however when she reached a particular shield.
Tom Marvolo Riddle for Special Services to the School.
It hit Hermione then, all her friends she had made here, even Peter, were going to be affected by this person in the next few years. Peter will be corrupted, James and Lily murdered, Remus left alone without his friends for over twelve years, and Sirius, Sirius would spend twelve long years in Azkaban, her Sirius wasting away in that cold dark place, the young man who'd helped her with her problems, the young man she was falling in love with.
This revelation hit Hermione hard as she stared at the name in front of her. She knew the laws regarding time travel, that's why she hadn't revealed anything before now, but now she thought about it she couldn't not do anything.
Hermione pondered on her problem while heading back to the Gryffindor tower, her footsteps echoing in the silent halls. She had learnt from her friends however to pay careful attention to her surroundings, even when thinking as hard as she was now.
Lucius Malfoy however did not know this as he watched Hermione approach his position.
"Well, well, well," his sneer turned into shock when he received no reaction from the witch when he stepped out in front of her, quickly regaining his composure he continued, "out for a midnight stroll?"
Hermione glared up at the blonde. "Why the sudden interest in a 'mudbloods' activities Malfoy? Oh and I will just point out that you," she said pointing at him, "are not allowed to approach me."
Malfoy's eyes flashed angrily. "Stupid Mudblood, no one tells a Malfoy what to do, especially not that muggle lover Dumbledore." He snapped as he moved to grab her.
Hermione however was one step ahead of the Slytherin and grabbed his outstretched wrist and flipped him expertly over onto his own back, effectively using his own weight against him.
Hermione stepped back from the winded Slytherin and started to move away from him. Malfoy however was not going to just stand there and let a Gryffindor girl get away with what just occurred.
With a furious growl he lunged again at Hermione.
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Sirius made his way to the Trophy Room to see if Hermione had left yet. He was mad, no Sirius was seething; it seemed that whenever he was alone he was cornered by girls from the other houses badgering him about Hermione. 'What happened to the Sirius that was always available to date?', 'what happened to the 'I'm not a one girl guy'?'.
His present anger was caused by one of the seventh year Slytherin girls he had seen with Nott, black hair and deep blue eyes that did nothing for Sirius, Monique somethingorrather.
Sirius was still pondering his 'female' problem when he reached the Trophy Room; he stuck his head inside and found it empty. He made a mental note to congratulate Hermione on a job well done, he didn't think he had ever seen the Trophy Room so clean, and Sirius had seen the Trophy room many a time.
Just as he turned to leave he felt a very strong wave of worry flood through his veins. He stood for barely a second pondering it before his eyes widened suddenly.
"Hermione," he said to himself taking off in the direction leading to the Gryffindor tower. He rounded a corner just in time to see Hermione's palm drive upwards to meet Malfoys nose, he heard a sickening crack before the blonde Slytherin fell unceremoniously to the floor.
"Hermione," he managed to croak out as he moved forward toward the girl standing over the unconscious form of Malfoy. "Nice work," he said grinning. "Are you ok?"
Hermione smiled up at him. "Thanks, I had a good teacher, and yes I'm fine."
Sirius returned the smile and put an arm around her waist. "Come on, you need some sleep, Filch will find Malfoy sometime during the night, then we'll go and see McGonagall in the morning."
Hermione nodded yawning, she was shocked at how tired she was, and hadn't noticed it until Sirius pointed it out. They made their way back to the tower Hermione leaning heavily on Sirius as wariness overtook her.
When they reached the bottom of the girls stairs Sirius looked down and chuckled at her attempts to keep her eyes open. "Are you going to make it up the stairs?" he asked holding her steady.
Hermione nodded sleepily and Sirius leant in for a quick goodnight kiss before she turned and stumbled up the staircase and into the welcoming softness of her bed.
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Sirius and Hermione made their way silently to the Great Hall. Hermione cast a quick glance at the boy walking beside her, he looked mad and betrayed at the same time. The pair had gone to see McGonagall earlier about the previous nights events, the Transfiguration Professor had taken them immediately to Dumbledore who confessed that there was nothing he could do, Malfoy hadn't been found last night and his father held a lot of influence over the school governors.
That's when Sirius had become angry. "But he'll try again, he learns from his failures, you have to do something!" he had said.
But Dumbledore didn't reply, just looked sadly at the couple sitting in front of him.
Now Hermione struggled to keep up with Sirius' angry strides as they made their way down the hall.
"Sirius slow down," Hermione asked "Sirius" she called again trying to grab his attention.
When this tactic didn't work however Hermione reached out and grabbed his arm pulling him to a stop.
He turned around and avoided Hermione's eyes, focussing instead on the wall over her head.
"Sirius," she said, "look at me." He didn't move his gaze, his jaw was clenched and his eyes were hard. "Sirius please look at me."
The black haired boy closed his eyes and sighed heavily before opening them to meet Hermione's, he looked lost for words so instead of talking he pulled her into a tight embrace.
"I don't know what to do," he whispered into his ear. "I cant be around all the time, and I know you just proved you can defend yourself but Malfoys not that stupid, he will learn from this."
Hermione pulled back and looked Sirius in the eye. "I'll be fine, you're my knight in shining armour, you'll always be there for me no matter what."
Sirius flashed Hermione a grin. "I don't know about shining armour, maybe supple black leather, all that metals just not really my thing."
Hermione laughed as she moved closer for another hug. "I wont let anyone hurt you Hermione, I promise," he murmured to her.
Hermione didn't reply but held onto him as tightly as she could, Sirius had just made a promise that was almost impossible to keep but he would try, and for Hermione that was enough.
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Later that morning Hermione and Sirius; who was in a slightly better mood, made their way down to the Quidditch stadium with the others. Today Slytherin was playing Ravenclaw in the semi-finals, whoever won this match would be playing Gryffindor who had won against Hufflepuff a few weeks before.
Presently the Marauders were in a debate on what would be the best outcome for them of today's match.
"Slytherin," James stated, "as much as I hate to see them win I always think the wins are that much better when we beat them."
Lily rolled her eyes at James. "I still hold what I said about your antlers."
James looked down confused at the redhead next to him. "What do you mean?"
"You don't win every game against Slytherin, you do realise that."
James grinned. "But we do win most of them."
Lily sighed and dropped the conversation. Sirius however picked up form where James had left off earlier.
"I'd rather play Ravenclaw," he said. "They're easier to beat and I'd rather have that cup again for our last year."
James stepped forward and began to walk backwards so he could talk to Sirius without doing it over Lily and Hermione. "But think of how good it would be to beat the snakes in our final year," he said waving his hands around as if to illustrate his point.
Sirius thought about this for a minute then shrugged. "I still think Ravenclaw would be easier to beat, but I don't mind playing either team."
James' eyes shone. "Imaging the look on Malfoys face when we win."
Hermione saw Lily roll her eyes again at this remark, but was more concerned with the way she felt Sirius tense beside her when Malfoy was mentioned. James noticed this too and sent his friend a puzzled look.
"Has something happened?" he asked.
Sirius sighed. "We'll tell you later," he said as they started to make their way up the stairs to the stand. James sent Sirius another concerned look before falling back to ascend the stairs with Lily.
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The game was a long one with both teams being evenly matched in almost everything. Three hours into the match and the score was 500 Ravenclaw 475 Slytherin, with no sign so far of the snitch.
Hermione was beginning to wish she had brought a book and was sure Lily and Remus' thoughts were on the same wavelength as hers. James and Sirius however were still bouncing in their seats, the excitement of the match still in their eyes. She watched as the Slytherin seeker took a sudden dive to the ground. Hermione stood with everyone else to get a better look. James and Sirius were arguing over whether or not the snitch was really there before Remus confirmed that it was. Hermione watched as the seeker closed in on the little golden ball that she couldn't see; suddenly the Slytherin pulled up and raised his hand into the air.
The commentator confirmed what everyone wanted to know "Slytherin wins 625 to 500"
James looked happy at the result while Sirius seemed indifferent, either way for James it was an excuse for one thing.
A party.
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Hermione's chocolate eyes searched the room for their grey companions. She found the owner of said eyes across the room talking to James. Hermione wandered up to Sirius and stood close to his side. Without taking his eyes off James Sirius automatically snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her closer. Not really wanting to join the boys Quidditch conversation Hermione felt herself get lost in her own thoughts. She thought back to the previous night and about her decision to help her friends, she would have to think long and hard about the situation before she revealed anything. What she did know was that no matter how many laws she would be breaking she would help her friends.
Hermione felt Sirius attention shift from James to herself and chocolate eyes met stormy grey.
"Hey," he greeted. "Thought I'd lost you there for a sec," he said with a smile.
Hermione shrugged, she knew Sirius was aware of her moments of deep thought and was glad he didn't ask what they were about.
Suddenly Hermione didn't want to be in a crowd, she pulled away from Sirius who gave her a confused look.
"I'll be right back," she said grinning at the ebony headed teen standing before her.
Remus came up and stood next to a confused Sirius and watched Hermione walk up the girls staircase.
"Where's Hermione going?" the sandy haired boy asked.
"Uhh pass," Sirius answered turning his gaze away from the stairs.
Five minutes later Sirius found himself absorbed in a conversation with the werewolf about plans after Hogwarts.
"I think I'll ask Hermione…." He stopped and looked around, he didn't see Hermione enter the room but knew she was there.
"Padfoot?" Remus asked confused by the sudden lack of speech emitting from his friends mouth.
"Hermione's back"
"Where?" The werewolf asked looking around the see of Gryffindor heads.
"I'm not sure," Sirius said continuing his search.
Remus stared at his friend. "Um how?"
Sirius turned his gaze back to his friend. "I don't know, I just know she's in the room." the Animagus looked just confused as Remus did.
"You boys look awfully lost," Hermione commented stepping up beside Sirius.
Sirius didn't respond however as he stared at Hermione, or rather what she was wearing and what she was holding. She had donned a pair of jeans with a matching denim jacket, what really caught his attention was the shiny black helmet she was holding in her hand.
Hermione raised an eyebrow at Sirius. "You best go get ready before I change my mind."
Sirius snapped out of his shock placed both hands on the sides of Hermione face giving her a quick kiss before running towards the boys staircase.
Hermione turned to Remus who was chuckling at his friend. The lycanthrope turned to his new companion and smiled at her. "So you really going to go on that thing with him?"
Hermione nodded. "I trust him Remus."
Remus smiled. "I know you do, that much is obvious."
Hermione raised a questioning eyebrow.
Remus gently placed a finger on the top of her cheek, pointing at one of her eyes. "I can see it there, clear as day."
Hermione flushed but before she could reply to Remus Sirius came bounding up, leather jacket in place, helmet in hand.
He grabbed Hermione's hand and started to pull her away. "Sorry Moony, got to steal my girl away for the night."
Remus just smiled and shoved them gently on their way before moving to join James and Lily who were watching the departing couple.
Before the pair reached the portrait James came running up.
"Hey Pads, thought you might need this later on." he said handing over his invisibility cloak.
"Thanks Prongs, we'll see you later," he said ushering Hermione out of the door.
Sirius was beaming as Hermione laughed at the excited bounce in his step.
"Maybe I should call you Bugs instead of Padfoot." She remarked.
Sirius raised a confusing eyebrow. "Uhh Bugs?" he asked slowing down to a stop and pulling Hermione close.
Hermione put her free hand on his chest, the other still clutching the helmet, and laughed. "Muggle thing," his expression bid her to continue. "Bugs Bunny, is a cartoon character."
"A bunny," Sirius said with a small smirk placing his forehead on hers. "You just compared moi to a bunny?"
Hermione grinned. "Yep."
"Well, thanks," he said as he pulled her close.
Hermione decided she'd never get used to Sirius' kisses; the touch of his lips against her own constantly made her knees weak. Sirius however always had a firm grip on the beauty before him just so she wouldn't fall to the floor.
Sirius pulled back and let out a moan of protest. "Come on," she said slipping his hand through hers. "My bikes going to be collecting dust."
Hermione followed as he lead the way to his second most prized possession.
They reached the witch and Sirius tapped it with his wand opening it up to reveal the shiny metal muggle machine.
"Sirius?" Hermione asked. "Why did you thank me for calling you a bunny, I mean it didn't sound very sarcastic."
Sirius shrugged. "Bunnys are cute," then he grinned. "And they procreate a lot."
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Malfoy was angry, he was more than angry he was livid. The was no way that Mudblood was going to get away with everything that had happened to him this past year. As he paced a black haired witch with cold eyes watched his movements and stepped forward.
Malfoy studied the witch in front of him and raised a blonde eyebrow.
"I think I can help you with that little problem of yours," she said.
"And what problem would that be?"
"The one with the Mudblood and the blood traitor."
Malfoy thought about this for a minute before nodding. "Alright, I'm listening Monique, tell me your plan."
