A/N: Thanks for your reviews, favorites and follows from last chapter. You can follow me over on tumblr (nauticalparamour) where I post sneak peeks, story updates and answer questions! Huge thank you to lanamarymack for alpha/beta reading this chapter!
Please let me know what you thought of chapter six and be on the lookout for chapter seven in a few days!
Hermione woke up on Sunday feeling lighter than air. All the negative feelings of being sized up by Tom Riddle the day before was nothing compared to the thought that Sirius would be stopping by with her things — clothes, real pajamas, books.
She felt like at this moment nothing could get her down, even a rather awkward talk with her Uncle Rabastan. He'd brought over brunch — a rather nice gesture, if she was honest, and the first honest meal she'd had since she'd been returned to her family.
Her Uncle Rabastan had been barely older than she was now when he was hauled off to jail with her parents. She had vague memories of him taking her to the cinema once, to a show that was probably not entirely age appropriate, but he'd gotten her the biggest bag of popcorn she'd ever seen and let her eat so many sour gummy worms that her stomach had ached for over a day. An ideal fun day for a little girl...in the light of her budding adulthood however, it seemed far less enticing.
Maybe Sirius hadn't been wrong when he told her how irresponsible Rab was.
The man that he was now was a blank slate. She knew almost nothing about him, but he seemed pretty friendly. He asked her a lot of questions, but didn't seem too interested in the answers, which didn't bother Hermione as much as she thought it would. She didn't need any of the Lestranges to be too interested in her just because they happened to share some blood.
Her parents woke up well after the styrofoam containers were in the trash, but they weren't upset. In fact, they didn't seem interested in breakfast of any kind and instead just launched into a discussion with Rabastan about some man that needed talking to. They also didn't seem to care that they were doing all this talking about the situation in front of her.
Didn't they know that she could go blabbering about this to anyone? That she was not beholden to or interested in keeping Tom Riddle happy? That she had been raised by a bloody cop for the past ten years?
A not so small part of her wished that her parents would clear out of the townhouse with Rab in time for Sirius to come over. She didn't want them intruding on the only happy experience that she was going to have in who knows how long. But, fate was apparently not on her side. There was no way that they were going to let her be alone with Sirius — a man who her Mum professed to hate with all her being.
Hermione knew she could live with it.
She retreated to her bedroom in the early afternoon to pack away her old tiny clothes and irrelevant trinkets. She also made a list of necessities to give to her Dad for him to buy. First order of business was new sheets. She could handle a twin sized bed, but she needed to get rid of the unicorns. The only other thing she was in dire need of was a larger desk. She was going to be studying a lot and she didn't need to spend her days cramped in a child's desk.
Every time she heard a car pull up, she would run to the window and look down at the street, disappointed not to see Sirius walking up the steps.
It was almost evening when he finally did show up. Hermione was a bit annoyed with her former guardian. She had started to worry that he wasn't going to keep up his half of the agreement. She practically squealed when she saw Harry get out of the car, too.
She sprinted down the three flights of stairs to meet them in the living room. As soon as Sirius walked through the door, Hermione threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly. Tears swam in her eyes as she breathed in his familiar smell.
"I can't believe it's only been three days," she said, feeling her heart break again.
But then, her parents were ruining the moment when they saw Harry carrying a large suitcase. "How could you have brought him here?" her Mum demanded of Sirius, her voice shrill and upset.
"He missed Hermione, too," Sirius said, sounding a bit smug. "Plus she had so many boxes of books. I thought you'd want this done as quickly as possible. I needed an extra hand."
The explanation was not satisfactory to Bellatrix, who proceeded to berate her cousin. A brief thought about Draco flitted through Hermione's mind at the sight.
Sensing that this was going to be a larger fight, her Dad pulled Hermione aside. "This could take a little while to sort out," he said, before giving Harry a frown. "Why don't you and your friend take your things up to your room and start unpacking."
Hermione did not need to be told twice and grabbed one of the boxes of books that Harry had carried in, leaving the suitcase for him. Even though she liked to think that she was a capable girl, she knew that it was probably heavier than she could carry.
She shut the door to her room behind her, but she could still hear her mother's voice between the floors. Harry dropped the suitcase to the floor and looked around the overly pink room, his hand rubbing his jaw.
"So this is the real you then?" he asked, clearly amused.
Even though she knew that he was trying to tease her, Hermione could not pretend like the sentiment didn't hurt. Like she didn't belong with him and Sirius. "I very much doubt that my parents knew the real me, even when I was six," she snapped, more upset than Harry was expecting.
He held up his hands in surrender. "Hey, it was just a joke, put your claws away," he commanded. "I just meant...I've never thought of you as a pink sort of girl. Or a unicorn sort of girl."
She swallowed, unsure of how to respond to that. While it was true that she'd grown out of those more childish interests, it wasn't as if Sirius and Harry ever invested the time in learning what she actually did like. They knew she liked reading, but that was a solo pursuit mostly. It was easier to leave her to her own devices while they tinkered around in the garage, working on Sirius's motorbike. She had learned early on that if she wanted to participate, she would need to mold her interests into something they found palatable.
Which usually meant going along with whatever they wanted.
"I'm sorry," she apologized, if only to not rock the boat. "I'm just...on shaky ground still. My parents spent a lot of time foisting me off on their neighbor when I was little and it feels like the same thing is happening now. Only this time, I won't have a Sirius shaped light for me at the end of the tunnel."
"I'm the one who should be sorry," Harry said sheepishly. "I mean, just because you had to go back to your parents doesn't mean that you've changed in any way. You're still our Hermione. Right?"
"Yes, of course," she answered, relieved that he seemed to understand it. "I am the same Hermione I've always been and three days here isn't going to change that. I'm not going to let my parents change me."
"I get that, Hermione, I really do," Harry rushed to reassure her, having sensed that he'd hit a nerve.
The relationship between Hermione and her parents was more than just fractured. The fissures were so deep that they extended down into the foundation and she wasn't sure if the relationship could be repaired. She also wasn't sure that she wanted it to be repaired. But, she did know that her parents' plans of just papering new wallpaper over the cracks wasn't going to fix anything between them.
Maybe if they had never been arrested in the first place — if she hadn't grown up with Sirius's positive influence — she might be more like Theo, eagerly participating in whatever little task Tom Riddle asked of her. But as it stood, she despised the life that her parents lived and wanted nothing to do with it. The suggestion that she was more like them was an insult of the highest order.
"Can I...help you unpack?" Harry offered, kneeling down to unzip the massive suitcase that was bursting with her clothes, looking for some topic that would allow them to move on from his misstep.
"Sure," Hermione agreed, before pulling out the empty hangers from her closet.
Harry pulled out the first stack of clothes from the bag and put them on her garish pink comforter. They started hanging her clothes — glorious cardigans and well-loved jumpers, smart dresses and blouses — on the hangers with Hermione occasionally stopping to arrange them up in her closet.
She gave a sigh when she saw her favorite brown cardigan hanging — back in her room where it belonged. Only, this wasn't really her room, she reminded herself. She knew she should resist feeling at home here, but knew that it was likely a lost cause.
When she turned back around, Harry was pulling out more clothes from the suitcase, including her pajamas. At that moment he held up a frilly pair of knickers, his cheeks going pink in embarrassment.
"Give me that!" Hermione insisted, snatching them out of his hands, wondering why he'd thought that he should be handling her intimates. "Ugh, I just realized that you or Remus or Sirius had to pack these all up in the first place," she added, pressing her hand to her face. She didn't think it was possible to be so humiliated.
"Yeah, well, Remus packed everything up while I was at school on Friday," Harry explained, sheepishly. "So I didn't know that you wore...things like that until just now."
Of the three men she'd been living with, Remus was by and far the most preferable person to be assigned that task. But, it also hurt a little bit to hear how quickly they had packed up any and all reminders of her in their home.
"Well, don't think about me and those things, please," Hermione insisted, with a sniff. "Just...I don't know, empty my shoes or something."
Harry was happy to take the direction from her and started telling her about some show that the three of them had started watching and trying to convince her to watch it as well, so they would have something to talk about at school. Hermione didn't really think it sounded like something she was interested in, but she was so desperate to hold onto her connection with them that she found herself agreeing.
Then, they talked about Ron's latest attitude with her at school, which resulted in Harry begging her to give him some time to come around. Hermione was mostly hurt and annoyed by his reaction.
"It's not like he didn't know who my parents were all along. I told him about why I lived with you and Sirius multiple times," she insisted. "And it's not like I want to be here."
Harry ran his hand through messy hair, nervous. "Shh, Hermione," he hissed. "What if they hear you?"
Hermione didn't care if her parents heard her saying that she didn't want to live with them — it was the truth after all. "Oh, don't be a coward, Harry," she scolded him. "I'm not afraid of them one bit."
"I think there is a difference between him conceptually knowing who your parents are, and actually realizing that they are your parents and you are living with them," Harry continued. "They are pretty infamous."
"But I haven't done any of the things they've done," she insisted, more annoyed than ever. "It's not fair of him to find me guilty by association — an association I'd rather forget!"
Before Harry could try to calm her down, they were startled by the sound of the front door slamming shut. Heavy footsteps approached on the creaky staircase, before her door was pushed open without warning. It was only Sirius, carrying a heavy box of books.
"How's it going in here?" he asked, surveying the now empty suitcase. "Say, Harry, why don't you head down to the car and grab the other box and bring it up here. Don't worry — Bella and Dolph have left for the evening."
Harry looked like he wanted to protest, but quickly realized that he was being sent away so that Sirius could talk to her.
"I think I've made your mum quite angry," he said, sitting down on the corner of her bed, blessedly not making a comment about the pattern. "She left in a tiff."
"I wouldn't worry about it too much," Hermione said, taking a seat next to him. "She is...mercurial."
"A trait shared by all members of my family, I'm afraid," Sirius said with a smirk. "Even me and you."
"I am nothing like her," Hermione insisted, crossing her arms over her chest, her good mood completely evaporated at this point. "I resent the suggestion."
"See, even now you are doing it," Sirius answered. "It's not meant to be rude, it's just... a part of who we are. Me included."
She felt a lump form in her throat and took a seat next to Sirius, willing herself not to cry. "I hate being here. I feel like everyone expects me to become a completely different person overnight," she revealed. "I don't want to be here."
Sirius wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her face to his chest so that she could cry. "I know, Hermione," he said, his voice a gentle rumble in his chest. "I wish that things had turned out differently. I would change things if I could."
"But can't you?" she begged, letting her tears fall freely. "Can't you like...petition the court for an appeal? Slughorn knew the judge and...I think that influenced his decision. Please, Sirius."
He gave her shoulder a little squeeze. "Remus and I looked into it, but we can't even get a hearing until after the New Year. You'll almost be out of school by then anyway. It just doesn't seem worth it," he answered. "By the time we got to an appeal, you'd probably be eighteen anyway."
Hermione pulled back so that she could look at her former guardian's face. She bit her lower lip, thinking about her options. "What if...what if I run away?" she questioned, vague plans already forming in her mind. "You could just let me live with you then — if I left of my own accord."
Sirius sighed, before he looked away from her, unable to face her. "You know that I can't do that, Hermione," he said, growing frustrated. "I'm a cop. I can't be found to be harboring a runaway. It's just...not an option."
"No one would have to know," she whined, annoyed that he wouldn't even consider it. Her heart was hammering away in her chest when she realized that Sirius wasn't as willing to fight for her as she'd assumed.
"You know that's not possible," he said, gruffly. "End of this discussion, Hermione."
Anger burned in her veins when she realized how much Sirius was letting her down. She couldn't believe that just because she was nearly eighteen he wasn't interested in helping her — that he didn't think she was worth it. Would he have even let her stay with him and Remus after she turned eighteen to begin with?
"Well, then — end of all discussions," she said, standing up from her bed and opening the door. Harry was waiting on the other side, with a box in hand, looking guilty.
Hermione pointed to her desk and barked orders at Harry. "Just put the box down and get out," she snarled, turning to face Sirius once again. "You did your basic duty bringing me my stuff. No need for the two of you to linger any longer than necessary."
"Hermione—" Harry started, only to stop short when he saw her glare.
"I'm sorry," Sirius said, looking guilty, like a puppy who'd gotten into the garden. Only this wasn't a hurt that was easily soothed.
She didn't give him the benefit of a response and instead just stood at the door until both Sirius and Harry had left her room and started down the stairs. She waited until she heard the front door close to start crying again.
God, she was so angry — furious, really. She couldn't believe that she'd ever let herself believe that she was actually part of their family. Collapsing on the bed, she pressed her face into her pillows and let herself sob.
She wasn't sure how long she had been there when a pounding on her wall caught her attention. Hermione sat up and wiped the wetness from her face.
"Hermione? Hermione?" Theo's voice came from the other side of the wall.
She felt her cheeks heat up at the realization that he must have heard everything. Damn the shared walls for being so thin! "What?" she demanded, still feeling prickly.
"That sounded pretty rough," he said, sounding apologetic. "Want to talk about it?"
Biting her lip, she thought about it for a moment. "No," she answered firmly.
A beat of silence passed and Hermione wondered if Theo might have taken the hint and decided to leave her alone with her misery.
"Hermione?" he asked again.
"Yes, Theo?" she answered, wondering what he'd have to say next.
"Want to go get drunk?"
She laughed despite herself, not having expected him to say that. Besides, it was a Sunday and she had school tomorrow. It wasn't really a great time for her, even if she was considering it.
"Come on, it will be fun," he said, encouragingly. "We are having a little party not too far from here. I promise to get you home at a reasonable time. And...it will get your mind off of things for a while at least."
Wondering if she had truly lost her mind, Hermione found herself agreeing. "Alright," she answered, surprise in her own voice. "I'll meet you out front in five minutes."