Disclaimer: I do not own or have any rights to Harry Potter, or most of my chapter titles, they belong to the lovely JKR and the very lovely Bon Jovi.

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Chapter 27: I'll be there for you

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Hermione ran as fast as she could, she was numb; her heart was breaking with every footfall. She could hear Sirius call out her name from behind and knew he would catch up with her eventually. She ran blindly to the Pink Lady, gasping the password with Sirius right behind her.

"Hermione!" he called again as she crossed the busy common room. Their friends looked up from their positions next to the fireplace when the pair ran into the room, concerned expressions etched on their faces.

Hermione managed to reach the foot of the girls' staircase before Sirius caught her arm and spun her around.

The resulting slap of Hermione's hand across his face resounded across the room, bringing everyone else's attention to the scene.

"Let me go," Hermione ordered, her voice low and threatening.

"You have to let me explain," Sirius reasoned, his grey eyes pleading, ignoring the stinging sensation left by the slap.

"I don't have to listen to a word you have to say, I saw you, you promised you wouldn't let anyone hurt me. Not in a million years did I think it would be you doing the hurting!"

James, Remus and Lily started to move forward through the other Gryffindors, heading towards their friends.

"It wasn't what you think," Sirius tried to explain.

"You had your lips on hers, what else is there to explain? Let me go, now." Hermione ordered, eyes flashing.

"Hermione…"Sirius started to reason not letting her go. The next thing he knew Hermione had her wand in her hand and he found himself flying across the room, before slamming painfully into a bookcase on the far wall.

"Don't you come near me," Hermione told him quietly as she turned and ran up the stairs.

James and Remus ran over to help Sirius up as Lily ran up after her distraught friend.

Lily knocked quietly on the door but didn't get a reply, she tried the doorknob and the door swung open easily.

"Hermione?" Lily asked approaching her friends bed.

No response.

Lily moved closer and saw Hermione bundled under her sheets, her face pale, eyes emotionless.

"Hermione what happened?" Lily asked kneeling down next to the bed and stroking Hermione's bushy hair from her face.

Hermione didn't answer, but got up and walked out of the room. Lily tired to follow but was cut off by Hermione slamming the bathroom door in her face. Lily sighed and turned to head down the stairs.

Remus was standing at the far end of the room repairing the smashed bookcase while eager chatter about the recent scene flooded the room. Lily glared at the students as she walked up to Remus.

"James took Sirius upstairs," he explained. "How's Hermione?"

Lily shrugged. "She seems really upset but she won't talk," she said sighing running a hand through her fiery hair, "she just locked me out of the bathroom."

Remus let out a breath. "Let's go and see if Sirius can tell us what happened," he said leading the way towards the boys' staircase.

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James watched from the side of the room as Sirius paced, talking to himself.

"Paddy, what happened? What was all that about?" he asked.

Sirius stopped pacing as Remus and Lily entered the room. He looked hopefully at the redhead. "Did she say anything?"

Lily shook her head. "Nothing," she answered glaring slightly at the teen. "But she did seem awfully upset, what happened? What caused that scene down there?" she asked gesturing in the direction of the common room.

Sirius returned the glare and explained what had happened when he thought he was going to meet Hermione. The others listened wide eyed as he finished his account.

"It's simple then," James said shrugging. "We just have to tell Hermione the truth."

"I don't think it's going to be that easy," Lily replied, Sirius nodding in agreement.

"You saw her down there," Sirius said running his hands agitatedly through his hair, "she doesn't want to come near me."

"Maybe Lily can tell her," James suggested but Lily shook her head.

"Not at the moment, she's isolated herself, and I think it should come from Sirius."

Sirius groaned and started to pace again. "Why did this have to happen? Things were going so well." he moaned sinking to his bed.

James went over to his friend and placed a comforting arm around his shoulders. "I know mate, I know, but Hermione's smart, the logical side will want to talk soon." he said glancing uncertainly around at the others.

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Hermione stood staring at herself in the mirror, she wanted out, she wanted to go home, and she wanted her own Hogwarts. But what she wanted most right now was the one thing that was the hardest to get.

Harry.

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The next day Hermione made her way down to breakfast late, wanting to avoid confrontation in the common room. When she walked into the Great Hall half the conversations hushed. It was obvious to her that most of the school had heard about the incident in the common room and was presently top gossip.

She walked over to her table avoiding curious gazes and sat next to Louise and Marie, who were now uncomfortably positioned between Hermione and the others. Hermione could feel five pairs of eyes on her as she ate and she purposely ignored them as she finished, collected her books and walked out of the room.

Now Hermione had heard tales that if you have a problem, rather than looking for a solution the answer would pop up in the most unlikely situation. That's what happened on the way to Defence making her stop in her tracks.

"Why didn't I think of that before," she said to herself as she continued to walk.

As soon as classes for the morning were over Hermione wandered to the library but was disappointed to find the reference material she needed was in the restricted section. Not having an excuse to get a pass from a Professor Hermione realized there was only one way to get what she wanted.

James' invisibility cloak.

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The days passed slowly that week, Hermione was busy trying to figure out a way to get her hands on the invisibility cloak as well as avoiding conversation with anyone. She wasn't angry with her friends, she knew that they were concerned about her, but she couldn't even trust her own voice for the time being, she preferred to suffer in silent agony as she watched Sirius go about his day to day life. He had tried to talk to her a number of times but she had given him the cold shoulder on every occasion, her tears spilling when he was out of sight.

Sirius was also busy, Sirius had a mission, Sirius shared his mission with his friends, the Marauders were full of activity, the Marauders were investigating.

The Marauders were on a manhunt.

Sirius had decided that the only way to prove to Hermione that nothing actually happened was to prove to her that someone had set him up, and to do that he had to find who sent him his letter; he had a feeling that Monique was somehow involved but he was going to go through the right channels to prove it.

Sirius walked through the halls looking for a familiar face; he found it outside Professor McGonagall's first year transfiguration class.

"Hey mate," he called approaching the Gryffindor who had given him his letter. "Care for a word?" he asked not waiting for and answer as he manoeuvred the young boy through the throng of students.

When they reached the other Marauders at the end of the corridor the first year started to look around in fear, who wouldn't he was only surrounded by the most popular group at Hogwarts, a group who had a reputation for seeking revenge?

"What's your name buddy?" James asked the slightly trembling Gryffindor in front of him.

"Jack," he squeaked out.

"Right Jack," James continued, assuming the boy would rather answer the head boy than an angry Black. "Who gave you that letter you passed on to Sirius here at the beginning of the week?"

"It was a Ravenclaw, I'm not sure of their name, they weren't in my year," he answered calming down slightly.

"Would you be able to point them out?" Remus asked.

Jack nodded.

"Ok, at dinner tonight you can show him to us," Sirius suggested.

"Her," Jack corrected.

"Ok, point her out."

"C-can I go to class now?"

James nodded and the young Gryffindor took off down the hall. "One down, Merlin knows how many to go."

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Two days later and Sirius had cornered a Hufflepuff fifth year with the other Marauders, this was getting ridiculous; he still couldn't find the source of the letter.

"Who gave you the letter?" Sirius repeated, his voice growing increasingly steely with every word.

The Hufflepuff raised a shaking hand and pointed across the hall. The four boys turned and were confronted with a blonde head of hair.

"Malfoy?" Sirius asked the Hufflepuff, who nodded before ducking away and speeding off down the hall.

"I should have known," Sirius said advancing towards the group of Slytherins, ignoring the warnings from his friends Sirius walked right up to Malfoy, grabbed his collar and shoved the Slytherin up the wall, making sure his toes weren't even touching the ground.

"Black," Malfoy spat. "Bit stupid coming up and attacking me with my friends isn't it?"

Sirius ignored him and pulled him forward slightly so he could shove him against the wall again. "I would ask you why but that would be a stupid question wouldn't it? What I will ask is how you did it, I never thought someone like you would have the brains for that," he growled his temper rising.

Sirius could feel the Slytherins around him but his instincts told him his friends were there also so he proceeded to ignore his surroundings, concentrating his attention on the blonde in front of him.

"Now I may have given a few people some parchment, where's the harm in that?" Malfoy responded.

Sirius growled and let Malfoy fall to his feet before swinging a punch. He was about to slam his fist into Malfoy's face again when someone caught his wrist. He turned to see Remus shaking his head while glancing at the growing number of Slytherins surrounding them.

As Sirius walked away with his friends, the Slytherins sending random threats in their direction, he thought back over the past few weeks and one image crept into his head. A certain troublemaking witch collecting assignments.

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Hermione sat in the library, glancing every so often at the restricted section while studying for her NEWTs.

"Hermione?" a somewhat familiar voice inquired.

Hermione turned around and frowned slightly at the girl in front of her.

"I've saw something happen that I think you should know about, can I talk to you in private?"

Hermione nodded and followed the Ravenclaw out of the room.

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