Chapter Fifteen

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As Hermione stepped over a pile of festering laundry and tripped on a suspicious looking crusty sock, she wondered if she had ever expected saving the world to be more glamorous than this.

The musty fug of sweaty males was ripe in the darkened Gryffindor dormitory. Hermione debated casting a bubblehead charm as she dodged the other detritus on the floor, a quidditch magazine crinkling beneath her high heel.

"Whaaaat...urgh…"

James Potter shifted in his sleep, and then broke wind loudly. With a contented murmur, he snuggled back down. Hermione gagged.

Lily Evans eat your heart out.

Stepping more carefully over a plate of half-eaten toast, Hermione moved towards the furthest end of the room.

Sirius lay on his stomach in the bed beneath the window, moonlight illuminating his aristocratic features. In his sleep he looked younger and more vulnerable. Hermione wished she'd been a real Black, then she might have stood a chance of inheriting those cheekbones.

But where was the map?

The Marauders were clever enough to make their map hard to detect with finding spells, and even harder to alter. Years ago during a long and boring six months spent defending Hogwarts under seige, Remus had very helpfully explained Hermione how it had all worked.

"It's encrypted, you see. Codes, passwords, and much more. We were only kids back then, but we weren't stupid. We knew war was coming; everyone did. The map was just our way of making trouble and not getting caught, but we always had it in our minds that it could be a weapon in the right or wrong hands."

Remus smiled sadly, and rubbed his tired eyes.

"Of course, we didn't expect to be still using it twenty years later."

In the darkened dormitory, Hermione glanced over at the sleeping teenage Remus, curled up on his side facing away from her, and felt her heart constrict. After Tonks had been slaughtered, Andromeda had taken baby Teddy and fled Britain. Nobody knew where they went - not even Remus.

Raising her wand, Hermione cast the modified finding spell that her old friend had taught her. A moment later, she saw a faint glow coming from beneath Sirius's pillow. She carefully spelled him into a deeper sleep before slipping her hand under his heavy head.

The Marauders Map was less worn, but otherwise looked exactly like Hermione remembered. It was nostalgic to see it again, conjuring up images of all the mischief Harry and Ron had used it for.

Unfolding it carefully, Hermione whispered.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

Harry and Ron, she thought, would have been tickled pink by what she was about to do.

\\/

Sirius caught up with the Slytherin's on the way to breakfast the next morning. He was unshaven, and dressed in robes that were buttoned badly, as though he had been in a great hurry.

"What did you do?" he growled, using his height to tower over Hermione.

"Get away from her," Rabastan snarled.

"Settle down boys, it's only Black." Hermione glanced up and down the corridor. Regulus was staying back, looking wary. Arabel and Alecto watched more eagerly.

Sirius pulled the map from his pocket, and uncrumpled it with furious hands, holding it up like a poster.

"What the bloody hell have you done to it?"

Rabastan took one look at the paper and burst out laughing, Arabel snickered, and even Regulus smirked. Sirius went red, and shoved it back in his pocket.

"Looks like some of your ex-girlfriend's have been swapping stories," Rabastan said.

"You're going to fix it right now."

"Am I?" Hermione pretended to think. "You're getting a little defensive Black. Is it true?"

"Mind your fucking business!"

"You mind your mouth," Hermione said, trying to keep a straight face. "Since, you know, it'd be a shame to lose the only feature witches at this school seem to like about you."

Brushing past her bodyguards, Hermione stood on tiptoes and whispered into the hollow of Sirius's ear.

"I'll put it back in a week if you behave. But I and my friends will never be on it again, and I suggest you don't try."

Sirius stiffened, and scowled down at her. Then he shook his head, the anger visibly leaking out of him and replaced by a reluctant grin.

"How did you do it?"

"I'll never tell."

Hermione marvelled at how fast Sirius had turned his temper around. Severus was a sullen wreck when unhappy, scowling and moping about for days. Rabastan was a burning rage, scorching everything in its path. Only Regulus had a temper like this; a thundering cloudburst, right before the sun came out.

"Get dressed properly Sirius," Regulus said wearily, shaking his head at his brother.

"Gotta take care of some business first."

Sirius shook his head at Hermione, with what looked like irritated admiration. Then he headed off, not towards Gryffindor tower, but in the direction of the Great Hall.

"I thought I was going to cry with laughter," Arabel said, wiping her eyes. "'Size isn't everything but a bit more might help Sirius Black. What did you do to that piece of paper?"

"Sirius Black has a tiny penis," Rabastan snorted.

Hermione tried to look innocent. She wasn't very good at it.

"All I did was cast a protean charm between the paper and the girls toilet door. Some of the graffiti was very harsh."

Regulus looked like he was fighting disapproval and amusement, but before he could say anything about his brother, there was a commotion down the corridor, which sounded like it was coming from the Great Hall.

A moment later the group could hear screams and gasps, followed by groans from the students eating breakfast. Professor McGonagall's voice rose over the cacophony; sharp and biting.

"MISTER BLACK! HOW DARE YOU! IN ALL MY YEARS AT HOGWARTS I HAVE NEVER SEEEN A STUDENT SO DISGRACEFUL -"

"What's my brother done now?" Regulus said. They all turned to stare.

A moment later, the doors to the Great Hall slammed open, and Sirius appeared again, sprinting down the hallway with his robes flying out behind him. It didn't take genius to work out he was making a run for it.

"Sirius!" Regulus raised his voice. "What did you do?"

When Sirius saw that the Slytherins hadn't moved, he paused and grinned at them.

"The Hogwarts ladies were having breakfast, so I pulled up my robes and showed them my knob."

"You did what?" Regulus opened and closed his mouth, and then covered his face with his hands, letting out a long suffering groan. Alecto flushed crimson, and seemed unable to look anyone in the eye.

"Can't have all these rumours about the size of my package," Sirius said, checking over his shoulder. "Had to set the record straight. Better dash. I think I hear Minnie's lovely voice."

Sirius pushed through a tapestry and vanished, just as Profesor McGonagall stormed out into the hall with her witches hat askew and her face thunderous.

"Sirius Black you get back here this instant! Detention until the end of seventh year!"

\\/

Summer was scorching the grounds and turning the lake into a popular swimming spot, and Sirius was serving his twenty second night of consecutive detentions before Hermione found an evening free to visit Slughorn's office.

The Potions Professor wasn't entirely delighted to see her when she did. Hermione smiled sweetly at the man opposite her, and he twitched nervously.

"Miss Black, I completely understand the point that you are making. However you must see…"

Hermione yawned, and stretched. Slughorn sweated. She knew that the rapid change of dynamics in Slytherin house had alarmed him, and that yet he was loathe to leave his cozy little nest of denial.

Hermione had watched throughout the term, as Slughorn began to gradually understand the full measure of the forces arrayed against him. The memory of the first night back was in Slughorn's eyes, and in his hunched shoulders. He wouldn't look Hermione in the eye, and glanced wildly around his plush office for something to fix his gaze upon instead.

"Miss Black I'm so sorry, but the Headmaster has been very clear in the past that a duelling competition would create unnecessary tension between houses. And Hogwarts simply does not have the resources to take part in overseas competition."

Hermione leaned on the desk with her elbows, and tilted her head.

"Doesn't have, or hasn't looked hard enough?"

"I…"

"I'm going to leave this with you, Sluggy. I know that you're a man of tremendous resourcefulness."

Hermione rested her hand on top of Slughorn's for a moment. He jumped, and she watched his colour deepen. With a wide smile, she stood.

"Oh, and as for concerns about house tensions - why then let's not run it along house lines! I'm all for inter-house unity, professor. Mixed-house teams could create a real sense of cohesiveness among the student body. Do put your best effort in, won't you?"

"I...best effort. Of course."

"Excellent."

\\/

Later that same night, Hermione gazed at the ceiling, and mused how things were shaping up. It wasn't enough; her group was held together by the ties of friendship and mutual favours, and she was genuinely close to Severus, but they didn't present a cohesive whole.

Regulus was still held back by misguided family loyalty, and the girls still held onto some ridiculous pureblood witch ideas about staying out of the fight. She couldn't rely on them to be her eyes and ears, let alone a spare wand in a fight.

"Arabel?"

A sleepy mutter. "Yeah?"

"You free tomorrow night?"

"Mhmm, why?"

"Witches night in the dorm."

Hermione decided it was time to do a team bonding exercise, following the kind of example that Mad-Eye Moody had demonstrated back when he still ran the Order. It shouldn't be hard; it was never difficult to manipulate her contemporaries.

\\/

"Give me a hand with this hair, Arabel?"

Arabel, who managed to slouch across the room even in a tightly laced black corset, nodded and sat down behind Hermione. She picked up an ivory handled brush, and stared disapprovingly at the mop of brown curls.

"Thanks. Took me forever to get it looking good when I met the Dark Lord. I'm shite at this stuff."

Alecto let out a frightened squeak, and almost fell off her bed. "Is that why people are acting like this?"

"Oh do get with the picture Alecto!" Arabel snapped. But as she resumed brushing, her hands shook slightly.

"Alecto just doesn't understand certain kinds of subtlety," Hermione commented. "But that's not necessarily a bad thing. The world needs people who don't fuck around."

Alecto was stubborn. "Get with what picture?"

Arabel met Hermione's eyes in the mirror.

"Hermione's been asked to take the Mark. Nobody has ever taken the Mark while they were still in school," Arabel said in a low voice. Alecto gasped.

"Didn't you already know? Come on, your brother's going to take it too," Hermione said.

"Yes! But this is different. My parents wrote to me, telling me to never make you angry, and stay out of your way or they'd - or they'd -"

Alecto subsided. Hermione leaned forward, trying not to look too eager. "Or they'd what?"

"They'd leave me to Amycus over the holidays," Alecto mumbled, flushing an ugly red.

Hermione, unable to help herself, smiled.

"That wasn't very nice of them. How would you feel if we all had a little chat with him before the Summer?"

\\/

Hermione wrote a note, and signed it with her name. Then asked Severus, without explanation, to hand deliver it to Amycus Carrow. She trusted him not to read it, but the worry in his dark eyes as he took it almost made her change her mind. Doubts were not good; so far Hermione had survived by being utterly resolute.

"Be careful," Severus said quietly, touching Hermione's shoulder. He tucked the note into his pocket and walked away.

Then she passed a message around her circle, keeping it casual, almost as though it was a request. Nobody questioned her, and she knew they would all obey.

\/

Having fallen asleep shortly before midnight, Hermione broke out of a nightmare, fully awake at 4am She hadn't gotten enough sleep to be refreshed for what lay ahead, but she wasn't going to get a minute more just then.

She showered, dressed in practical robes and the lowest heels she owned, and walked down to the Great Hall while the shadows of the night still stretched across the corridor.

"Is that you?"

The voice from the darkness was quavering.

"It's me. Come on Alex, let's go."

"I - I don't think I can."

"Oh you can."

A second voice emerged from behind Hermione, cool and sure like quicksilver. Alecto gave a squeak, but Hermione didn't react.

"You knew I was here."

Arabel sounded more disappointed than surprised, as she dropped a disillusionment charm.

"Please. You're as bad as the marauders - cast a silencing charm on your feet but forget about your breathing. I thought I said to meet outside?"

Arabel scowled.

"Who listens for breathing on their morning stroll?"

"Most of my enemies."

"That's just -"

"Shh. If you want to come, stop talking and keep up."

Hermione spelled the front doors open, and glided silently across the grass. Alecto stumbled on the steps, but Arabel, who seemed to understand a great deal without being told, took her arm with unexpected gentleness and led her towards the shadowy trees.

In the place where the moonlight touched the grass beside the lake, the others were waiting. Rabastan and Regulus looked confused, but Severus gave Hermione a piercing stare. He was asking permission, but she didn't let him enter her mind. This was for him as well.

"Come on, let's go."

The Forbidden Forest felt primeval; like a green church, hushed as any place of worship. No wildlife stirred, and luminous veils of fog still lay motionless in the deeper hollows.

The only sound was the crunch of crisp pine needles underfoot, and the rhythmic breathing of the walkers.

Hermione would have spoken, but even as the sun rose it penetrated through the trees only in narrow shafts, and the morning chill dissuaded speech. In silence, they reached their destination shortly before 7am.

The clearing was large, and water rushed somewhere close by. Hermione had taken a winding route following natural paths and centaur trails, but the place was right. In her time, Hagrid had kept his giant half-brother close to here.

A valley dropped away to the right, but it wasn't a natural incline. One side of the clearing gave way to a sheer drop, only a rocky outcrop giving away the danger. Hundreds of feet below, the trees resumed their path and rose gently on the far side of the valley.

"How is that possible? The forbidden forest isn't this big!" Arabel said, staring out over the valley.

"Mind the edge."

"I've been here before," Regulus said, stepping closer to get a good look. "The valley only appears under certain circumstances. I read in Hogwarts, a History. It's magic."

"No shit," Severus said drily.

Alecto was breathing fast, although the walk had not been strenuous. She looked at the ground, oblivious to the grey trunks, frothing ferns and creeping moss that circled them, barely giving the drop-off a glimpse.

Arabel sidled over to Hermione.

"Are you sure Alecto is ready for this?"

"What do you mean?"

Arabel shot Hermione a look that was both sharp, and disappointed.

"Why does Alecto thinks she's here?"

Hermione looked at Arabel, wishing she dared to invade her mind with legilimency, but suspected the other girl would notice the attack.

"I told her the same thing I told you. I told her that we were going to confront Amycus about what he's done. Make sure he knows she's under our protection, so that he doesn't do it when they go home for the summer. Then let her teach him a lesson."

Arabel nodded. She glanced at the group, and then asked seemingly without concern:

"Is somebody going to die this morning?"

Arabel's eyes met Hermione's, and even without legilimency, they were clear to read. In their depths Hermione found none of the cunning or malice she had expected, but instead an understanding that surprised her.

"Potentially."

"You've done it before, haven't you?"

Once I killed to defend myself. Then I killed to defend others. Now I'm making others kill to bind them to me.

"Yes."

Arabel nodded, and if she found something disturbing in Hermione's voice she gave no indication.

"Alecto is weak. She's been hurt for too long. Sometimes these cowering, abused creatures only need a taste of blood to bring them back to life."

Hermione and Arabel looked at each other with perfect understanding. Beyond the circle of trees, crunching footsteps could be heard.

"Hermione!"

Alecto sounded panicked, as she stumbled back towards her companions.

"I can't do this. I can't stand up to him."

"We're right here next to you. I promise, he won't hurt you again."

Hermione turned to the three boys, who wore a varying range of expressions. Rabastan looked eager, Regulus inscrutable, Severus concerned.

"Everybody except Alecto, I want you invisible."

There were nods, and then one by one the Slytherin's faded out of view. Only a slight shimmer gave away their stations around the clearing, like guardians.

The footsteps came closer, paused, and then a man pushed through the ferns and into the clearing.

"Merlin Black, I had a hell of a time finding the place. This better be good."

"Oh yes," Hermione said stepping forward. "It will be very good."

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Yes I believe it's perfectly natural to take the story from Sirius's willy to plans for murder in less than a thousand words. Once again, to those who have commented, thank you for justifying my ramblings. My dissertation is being handed in this morning so I'm uploading this to celebrate.

Thanks for reading,

Cas