Disclaimer: I do not own anything Harry Potter. I only own some of the characters and situations that J.K. Rowling would not recognize.(Unless she is a major fan fiction reader!)
A/N: Ahh...this has been such a year so far. Well, here is chapter 7. It is the longest one I have written yet.
Chapter Seven:
Sirius walked out of Dumbledore's office with Hermione following close behind him. When they got to the base of the stairs, he rounded on her.
"Alright. Now on to the next thing on our list. To the library!" He said, throwing his finger into the air and pointing it in the direction of the library. He started marching and she amusedly followed him.
As they approached, she shushed him. "There could be students working in there!" She scolded.
He laughed. "Yes, Ma'am." He told her. She playfully slapped him on the arm and they went thorough the doors.
Madam Pince spotted Hermione at once and rushed over to her aid.
"Oh! Ms. Granger! How wonderful to see you again! It's been so long already. Look how you've grown! Time sure fly's, doesn't it?" She said, hugging her old student.
Hermione smiled. "Yes, it has been. I've really missed this place." She answered, returning the friendly hug.
Amidst all the excitement, Sirius cleared his throat.
Madam Pince just looked at him for a minute, unable to place his face. Then, it clicked. Hermione could only step back and watch as she laid into him.
"Sirius Black! I should have spotted you at once! Get out! Out! Out!" She said, pushing him towards the exit. "A life long ban means life long."
Hermione hurried over. She couldn't lose her search partner. "Uh, Madam Pince, what are you doing? Calm down." Hermione told her.
"Nope. This man is a danger around books. Why, he'll take everyone of them from under my nose!"
Hermione looked at him." You stole books?" She was shocked.
Sirius face grew red with embarrassment. Oddly enough, it wasn't from all the eyes watching them, but from Hermione's questioning stare.
"No...I...I just borrowed them." He said. From both of the womans death glares, he could tell that the information wasn't enough to satisfy them. "I had an image to withhold while I was in school! What would the girls think of me if I read as much as I liked to?" He asked.
Hermione snorted. "That you weren't illiterate, possibly?"
He rolled his eyes. "Anyway, that was Moony's territory. Don't worry, I have them all at my house." He reassured them.
Hermione, anxious to try and do what they came for, took matters into her own hands.
"Ok. How about this. I promise you, Madam Pince, that I will find every single book that this man ever took, er, borrowed, and bring them back to you."
Madam Pince pondered over this for a minute before coming to her decision.
"Alright. But only because I trust you, Ms. Granger. And you, Mr. Black, " She said, rounding on Sirius again, "Don't you dare touch one book, you hear?"
Sirius nodded. "Scouts honor that I won't."
"Ok. Now, Ms. Granger, is there anything that I can help you with before I go tend to these students?
Hermione nodded. "As a matter of fact, there is. Have you ever heard of something called a Serpantitheus?"
Madam Pince closed her eyes as if searching an index in her head.
"No. Can't say that I have. Why?" She asked, naively. She hadn't any clue that Hermione was connected to the recent murders.
"Um, no reason. Just some research." Hermione answered, not wanting to go into details of her letters with the librarian. "So, you're sure that you have no records here of anything of that sort?"
Madam Pince shook her head. "I have Serpents. That's about all that I can think of that would be related. Would that help?"
Hermione shook her head. "No, but thank you anyway." She turned to Sirius. "Well, it appears our research is done."
He smiled half-heartedly. He know that even though she acted like it didn't affect her, it really did. She liked to be the one on top of things, to know all the answers. This had to be killing her.
As they retraced their footsteps out of the library, Sirius put a hand on her shoulder.
"It's alright. You'll find it. Somebody has to have some clue as to what these things are, or they couldn't exist, now could they?" He reassured her.
Hermione smiled at him. She could tell that he knew that this setback
had upset her, but if he thought that she was going to give up without a fight, he was sorely mistaken.
"I know. Thanks for bringing me here. I doubt that they, as in Harry and Ron, would have allowed me to come had it not been anyone but themselves or you who had taken me. I'm just sorry that I wasted your time in vain."
He looked into her eyes. "You didn't waist my time. On the contrary. You've been helping me to bide it." He told her.
By the very confused look on her face, he deducted that he needed to explain.
"You see, I brought you here to do the research, yes, but I also decided to mix a little pleasure with all that work. So, I planned other activities for us to partake in."
She laughed. "I should have suspected an ulterior motive. How very marauder-like of you." At her last statement, he laughed that familiar bark-like laugh of his.
"That's the best complement I think I've had in years." He said.
She smiled. "Well, I'm happy to feed your ego. Now, what exactly are these plans of yours? I thought we were just going to grab a quick bite to eat after we did our research and then head home."
"Well, I never said quick, so where did you get that idea, huh?" He joked.
"I...Well, you never said. I just assumed. So, what are they?" She pressed on.
He grinned mischievously. "Wouldn't you like to know?" He walked away from her, leaving her staring in his wake, shaking her head amusedly.
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Tyler put down the Daily Prophet with a satisfied look on his face.
"I take it this pleases you, sir?" Wyatt asked his boss warily.
Tyler looked at him. "Yes, it pleases me greatly, Wyatt. Isn't everyone pleased when things go as they planned them? And this went off without a hitch."
"It has, sir. I made sure that the creatures were reminded of their orders. I hoped that they would not to disobey you."
Tyler placed his chin on his steepled fingers.
"No, Wyatt. You did excellent. Things are going according to schedule. You may go."
As Wyatt turned to walk out of the room, Tyler raised his wand to him.
"Oh, and don't call them 'creatures'. Crucio!" He yelled. Wyatt screamed in pain. When he lay on the ground, shaking in pain, Tyler spoke to him again.
"They are pets, not creatures. Next time, your punishment will be worse."
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Symon watched all this from the doorway. The pure ruthlessness with which Tyler behaved sickened him. Silently, he vowed to himself more than ever to one day gain his revenge.
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In Hogsmeade, the leaves had just begun to fall, causing the beautiful city to look even more spectacular. People were seen sporting light jackets and slacks. Hermione took in all these sights as they entered the quaint town.
Sirius heart melted at the look on her face. It was a look of pure elatement. It enticed him how she was entranced by the simplest of things.
He reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her out of her stupor.
"We're almost there." He said. She smiled.
They turned left off the main street and Sirius led them up a rocky road that led to a series of caves. They looked strangely familiar to Hermione.
When they entered a cave, it donned on her where he had led her. Before she could voice it, however, Sirius spoke.
"This is where I spent most of yours and Harry's fourth year. I don't know if you remember it, but..." He began, but Hermione interrupted him.
"This is where we followed you to! It's where we brought you all that chicken." She exclaimed. She looked at him seriously. "I was so concerned that you would do something stupid and be caught."
He looked at her. He admired the concern she gave to him even when she was a 14 year old girl with everything on her mind but an old man. "You remember that?" He said. "I thought for sure you would have forgotten."
She shook her head. "You'd be surprised at how good a memory I have." She looked around. Suddenly, everything looked different to her than when they entered. So different that it took her breath away. There were flowers, now, growing out of the ground in every color imaginable. In the corner of the cave, there was a small table set up. It was adorned with a pure white table cloth and a single candle set atop it. On the ceiling, there were a bunch of lights that she wouldn't swear wasn't actually a bunch of firefly's. It was beautiful.
"Hermione, breath." Sirius said.
She didn't even realize she had been holding her breath until he spoke.
"Do you like it? I was afraid it was a bit much." Sirius asked her. He looked at her skeptically.
"Sirius, I...It's beautiful. I love it. Thank you." She said. He walked over to the table and pulled out a chair for her.
"Milady." He said. She went over and sat down. As he sat, she couldn't help but chuckle slightly.
He looked at her." What?"
"Nothing." She lied, giggling harder.
"Come on. What is so funny?"
"Well, I was just wondering when you became such a romantic, that's all."
He winked. "Forever, my dear. Have you not heard of my reputation with the ladies?"
She snorted. "I'm sorry, but the love record of a seventh year boy doesn't provide much good reading material."
He looked at her, playing as if he were offended. He put his hand over his heart. "That hurts. That hurts there, Hermione."
"Don't you mean here?" She asked, pointing to his head instead.
He laughed this time. "Ok, ok. You got me there. Now, I'm starving. Let's eat, shall we?"