A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews, favorites and follows after last chapter! I was not expecting so much Adrian love :D You can follow me over on tumblr (nauticalparamour) where I post sneak peeks, story updates and answer questions.
Please let me know what you thought of chapter two and be on the lookout for chapter three soon!
Hermione had been unable to get the mysterious stranger that had appeared in the library out of her mind since she and Pucey had left him in the care of Madam Pomfrey. He had still been unconscious when they had left him there, and she was left with more questions about him than she could imagine reasonable explanations for.
Most importantly, she had not forgotten that he had called her mum.
Reasonably, she knew that she should just let it go, but deep down, she knew that she wouldn't be able to until she got some answers. The morning after, she didn't have a class after breakfast, so instead of heading to the library, she headed off in the direction of the Infirmary, intent on getting them.
She was glad to see that the stranger was still there, sleeping in one of the beds along the wall. The rest of the room was empty, so Hermione crept forward quietly, hoping to get a good look at him. On a second look, she was disappointed to realize that he didn't have some defining characteristic that would tip her off to who he was. His hair was light brown, bordering on blond, and it had just the suggestion of a curl in it. His nose was straight and fit his face well.
But, she still couldn't shake off the feeling that he was familiar somehow.
Before she could ponder it much longer, she jumped in shock when his eyes suddenly opened, staring right at her. She pressed a hand to her galloping heart. "Merlin, you scared me," she said.
The young man cracked a smile. "You frightened me, too," he quipped. "I wasn't expecting to wake up to someone inspecting me."
Hermione felt herself flush. It was pretty rude of her to be staring at him, especially if he was asleep and didn't know. "I'm sorry," she said in a rush. "I just wanted to make sure that you were doing okay. I don't know if you remember, but I was one of the people who found you in the library. Madam Pomfrey wasn't able to give us an update last night."
"Then I owe you my thanks," he said, before sitting up better in bed, pulling the covers with him. He was no longer wearing his unusual Slytherin uniform, and instead was in one of the regulation nightgowns that you were required to wear in the Infirmary.
"It was no trouble. I'm sure that you would have done the same," she said, only she wasn't sure why. Why should she know that he would have done the same? He could be a horrid person.
A beat of silence hung between them.
Hermione was unable to resist filling in the space. "So, did Madam Pomfrey tell you how you are?" she asked.
"She thought it was just a shock," he explained. "That the surprise of my unintentional appearance in the library was too overwhelming. Nothing is wrong with me, and even my head didn't sustain any damage from the fall."
"You called me mum," she said, biting her lower lip, wondering what he was going to say.
"I apologize for that - you certainly aren't my mum," he said with a grin. "My vision was a little bit blurry when I arrived here, and as I said before, I was a bit confused. I don't know why it just slipped out. A bit like calling your professor mum, I suppose."
Hermione thought that sounded perfectly reasonable, if she was honest. Of course, there was no way that he could be her child - she was only nineteen after all! But then she quickly realized that she hadn't even introduced herself to him.
"I'm Hermione, by the way. Hermione Granger," she said, sticking out her hand to offer him a shake. "So rude of me to not introduce myself earlier."
His eyes widened for a minute, before he smiled widely at her. "Pleased to meet you Hermione Granger," he said, taking her hand in his. "I'm Max. Max Puuuu-er. Max Purney."
Hermione found his behavior a little bit cagey, but she was sure that he was still just adjusting after...whatever it was that had happened to him. But, what did happen to him? "So, how did you end up in Hogwarts? I know that you aren't a student here. Where did you come from?"
His easy-going smile fell at her questioning. "Um, unfortunately, I've been instructed not to talk to anyone about particulars until I am able to speak to the Headmistress," he answered. "Sorry that I can't be more forthcoming at this time."
"Oh, I understand completely. Headmistress McGonagall will know exactly what to do," she replied, knowing that it was perfectly reasonable. Though, she could admit that it didn't stop her curiosity one bit. "I hope that you'll be able to share some information with me soon, though."
"Maybe you could give me some information," he said, his eyes dropping to his hands in his lap. "About the guy that you were with in the library."
Hermione snorted, unable to help herself. "Oh, Pucey?" she asked. "What do you want to know?"
"Who is he?" Max questioned, eager to hear whatever she had to say on the topic.
"Adrian Pucey," Hermione explained. "He's not a student here, although he did graduate a few years ago. He's working on behalf of the Ministry to oversee the cleanup of the library, after the war, you know?"
Max nodded, looking rather like he did know what she was talking about. "So he works for the Ministry then," he said, shrugging his shoulders.
"Well, not exactly," Hermione said. "He's working on a mastery, actually, and this is his apprenticeship. The Ministry had to send someone, I suppose. I am sure that they are getting cheap labor out of him. It's a big job."
"You really seem to know a lot about him," Max quipped, a little smile on his face.
Hermione felt horrified that Max might think she was in some way interested in Pucey. "Oh no," she told him. "He and I don't really cross paths at all. The only reason I know so much is that he is so very rude about his purpose here, and he is always being a real pain in my arse about letting me borrow the books that I want."
"That's what you two were arguing about?" he asked, incredulous, watching her face for a reaction. "Books?"
She flushed once again, thinking that it seemed a really petty thing to argue over when he put it that way. "Well, yes," she said, looking out the window. "He wouldn't let me borrow a book that I needed for a Potions essay. He thinks that it's far too fragile for someone to take out of the library, but he should also know that if there is anyone who would understand that it would be me!"
Max tried to keep a straight face, but he couldn't hold it. He cracked a smile at her expense.
"Sorry, I'm really passionate about...about books," Hermione added, lamely, knowing that it sounded odd. But, it was the truth, and she wasn't going to pretend as though she didn't care about them.
"Well, Pucey must be too," Max countered. "You have that in common."
Hermione couldn't help but roll her eyes. "No, I don't think that he does particularly care for the books," she said darkly. "I think he knows just how much it irritates me, and so he likes to pick fights just to frustrate me."
Maybe she had been approaching the situation with Pucey all wrong, she thought, now that she was talking out loud about it. Perhaps if she didn't get so upset with him, he wouldn't go out of his way to prevent her from borrowing books.
When she looked back up, Hermione realized that Max was frowning at her. "What is it?" she asked.
"You and Pucey really don't like each other do you?" he asked, almost seeming disappointed in her. "The argument wasn't just a one-off."
Hermione shook her head. "No, we certainly are not friends. I wouldn't say we hate each other, but..." she trailed off. "But it's really sweet that you are so concerned about it. Don't worry, though, I can hold my own in arguments against him," she added, before pressing her hand to his hand. She didn't need Max to go after Pucey just because they argued occasionally.
"I'm sure you can," he answered, but he didn't sound too convinced. She knew, though, that he didn't know her, not really. He might not know her reputation.
"Anyway, I should really be running to class," Hermione said. "Hopefully you can get everything straightened out with the Headmistress."
Max nodded. "Yeah, it's time for me to be getting up anyway," he said. "So that I can go talk to her. I hope that I'll see you around again."
Hermione hoped that she would as well. Even though she didn't really know him yet, she did want to talk to him again. She still hadn't gotten to the bottom of where he came from, just winking into existence in the middle of the Hogwarts library. Hopefully the next time that they spoke together, he would be able to tell her a little bit more. "I'm sure I will," she said brightly, before turning to leave for her first class of the day.
She wasn't really able to focus in Transfiguration, too busy mulling over what they had talked about. Maybe things with Pucey had really gotten out of control. Perhaps they had just gotten off on the wrong foot?
But then Hermione only dug her heels in more. Pucey had absolutely nothing to hold against her. They had never interacted until this year, and as far as she knew, he didn't have a family member who was a Death Eater who she might have dueled or put in Azkaban. Pucey seemed to have all sorts of impressions about her and he obviously let them color their interactions. It was him that had started the arguments and so she wasn't going to let him tell her what to do, it wasn't right!
With that decided, Hermione went off to lunch in the Great Hall. She looked around for Max. It was undeniable that he was wearing a Slytherin uniform, so it was obvious that he was a student...at some point. Had he come from the past or the future, she wondered? Or maybe he was a first year who had some sort of accident with an aging potion and didn't want to tell her his real name out of embarrassment?
In any case, a niggling little feeling of suspicion took root inside of her. Max had been very friendly and nice to her, but she was left feeling like she shouldn't trust him at all.
"Who are you looking for?" Ginny asked, having taken the seat next to her.
"Oh, um, no one in particular," Hermione lied, hoping that she could get her friend onto another topic. She didn't want to have to explain Max to her, especially not when he hadn't spoken to Professor McGonagall yet.
"Are you sure?" Ginny asked, saucily. "You've been looking up and down the Slytherin table for like ten minutes now. Is it Pucey?"
Unbidden, Hermione's eyes darted down to the end of the table where her nemesis was sitting by himself, eating alone. He didn't even talk to any of the seventh years, probably feeling a bit too disconnected from them because of the age gap. He might even be lonelier than she was, Hermione mused.
"Pucey," Hermione said, with a shrug of her shoulders. "Why would I be looking for him?" she asked, turning to face Ginny.
Her redheaded friend hid a smile and looked down at her plate. "Maybe it's because he's basically all that you talk about these days?" she asked.
The words didn't really sink into Hermione's head, though, as she was too busy observing Pucey now that he'd caught her attention. She wondered if he'd even bothered to check up on Max yet. Probably not, considering the way he'd floundered the night before.
"I'm just...he wouldn't let me take another book," Hermione finally said to Ginny. "That man...he's insufferable. He dares to question my treatment of library books, when he is constantly carrying around heavy stacks of books? Just to, what? Show that he's strong? It's pathetic."
Ginny smirked at her. "Whatever you say, Hermione," Ginny placated her. "Whatever you say."