A/N: I'm sorry that this is so late, I can't even explain to you how crazy shit has been in my life. I know this chapter is short, but I will make it up to you in the next one! As always, thank you so much for reading.

oOo

"Your brother?" Hermione asked when it seemed Sirius would offer no more on the subject.

She waited as the wizard put his fork down on his plate and licked his bottom lip before pulling it between his teeth with a hard grimace. She waited while Sirius clenched his jaw and folded his arms across his chest, shifting his grey gaze around the room. Hermione waited as he leaned back into his chair and sighed heavily.

She waited until finally he spoke. "Yes, my brother... Regulus."

Work with me here, Black. You have to give me more than that. "The one whose room I am currently occupying...?"

Sirius looked over at Hermione, eyes suddenly wide. "Oh, don't worry, I cleansed the place myself." He reassured her.

A snort escaped from Hermione before she could stop it. She brought a hand over her mouth, but it was no use- she was giggling uncontrollably now. "I'm s-sorry," Hermione got out between giggles. "but are you trying to say that you... you cleaned that room?" Hermione raised her eyebrows. "The room I'm staying in? It was cleaned? When? During the Jurassic period?"

"Hilarious." Sirius growled.

"I could build a human with all the dust and cobwebs in that room." Hermione continued.

"No appreciation for my tea or for my cleaning." The wizard mumbled looking quite sullen.

"Perhaps two humans even, and small dog."

"You're an arse." Sirius said dryly.

Hermione shrugged. "I've been called worse."

"Like...?" Sirius inquired.

The witch rubbed the scar under the sleeve of the jumper she had slept in. "Worse."

Sirius sighed with a dramatic roll to his eyes. "I didn't dust or scrub or what have you, I cleansed it. I mucked up all the dark energy and magic that was brewing in there for who knows how many years. This whole house was infested with nefarious arcana." Sirius waved his hand through the air. "It was everywhere- in the baseboards and wooden beams. In the bricks and stones and-and floors. Generations of the darkest and oldest magic. The legacy of the Noble and Ancient House of Black."

Hermione's amber eyes surveyed the room around her with new interest, her mouth practically salivating at what Sirius's ramblings could mean. Dark magic? Old magic? Harry had never mentioned any latent sinister energies prowling about after he and Ginny had moved into Grimmauld Place. Well, except Walburga's awful portrait. Hermione reminded herself, shuddering at the memories of the old crone's screeching voice.

"Don't worry." Sirius reassured, apparently misinterpreting Hermione's shudder. "I've just about finished with the whole house, that's why you can't feel the dark magics now. Only place I haven't quite gotten to yet is the basement, but I did thoroughly ward it."

Hermione glanced at the unassuming door that lead from the kitchen to the basement. Good to know. Don't go into the basement. Sounds like some sort of warning from a horror movie. I'll probably end up in the basement at some point just because of the currently insane narrative of my life.

"I'll try my best to avoid it." Hermione considered her next question for a moment, opened her mouth and shut it again. Then, she decided to be bold. "Don't you pureblood types have house-elves to do the cooking and the cleaning?"

Sirius's disdain was quick and palpable. "I can't stand house-elves." He all but spat.

Hermione clenched the quill in her hand until her knuckles turned white, anger rising in her blood. Keep it under control, Granger. We can't throttle him. Yet.

Logically Hermione knew she'd have to save her lecture on house-elf rights for another day, but that didn't stop her from literally having to bite her tongue to keep from launching into a well prepared diatribe on the injustices house-elves have suffered at wizarding hands.

I need time to update my presentation anyway. She reassured herself. And some of my sources don't even exist yet. I'll have to cite texts and studies only completed- wait...gods... will all my sources even exist? Does this timeline have the same books?

"My family had a house-elf, awful little thing. Loved my brother, I mean loved my brother. It was very weird." Sirius was still talking and Hermione was struggling to pay attention while simultaneously mentally cataloguing every book she needed to ensure existed.

History of Magic, Numerology and Grammatica, every single Standard Book of Spells...

"It's name was Kreacher, which was creepy unto itself. House-elves normally have cute names like Dipsy and Wheezy, not Kreacher. The name fit though. Always had these terrible little eyes following you around, banging it's head again and again against the wall."

Oh gods, does Hogwarts: A History exist?!

"Loved my mother too and trust me when I tell you no good and wholesome creature could love my mother. It used to-"

"He." Hermione finally cut in.

"What?"

"House-elves have genders, they're either male or female, therefor Kreacher was not an 'it,' he was a 'he'." Hermione stated lifting her chin ever so slightly.

"Trust me, if you had known it, you would know that it was definitely an it."

Hermione lifted her lip in the ghost of a snarl. "You realize of course that by stripping Kreacher of his natural born identity as a male house-elf and referring to him as 'it,' you have in essence turned him into an object and not a living, breathing creature with emotions and thoughts worthy of your consideration."

So much for saving the lecture for later.

"This thing didn't have emotions or feelings." Sirius insisted.

"Did you not just tell me that Kreacher loved both your brother and your mother?" Hermione pointed out. "Is love not an emotion?"

"Fine, it didn't love them. It had an unhealthy obsession with them."

"Is obsession not also an emotion?"

Sirius ran a hand down the side of his face. "Listen, you didn't know Kreacher, it was fucking evil."

"As a matter of fact I-" Hermione stopped, mouth open.

Crapity crap crap.

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "You what?"

"I..."-am too fucking hungover for this conversation-" have read extensively on the lives of house-elves and I can assure you with no amount of uncertainty that they are no more evil than your average witch or wizard."

"Ahh..." Sirius began slowly. "But you see, kitten, some witches and wizards are evil, truly evil. So by your logic, could a house-elf not also be truly evil?" Sirius was grinning now, self-satisfied and smug.

Not to be bested, Hermione countered matter of factly. "No one is completely evil, Sirius."

"If you honestly think that, then I envy you." Sirius said solemnly flicking his wand to send his dirty dishes to the sink.

Hermione narrowed her eyes. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"You must have lived an easy life to have never met an evil wizard." Flicking his wand again, the dishes began to wash themselves in the sink.

Hermione bit the inside of her cheek until she could taste the metallic tang of blood, she tightened her fist until her nails dug into her palm, and all the while she forgot to breathe. Rage flowed through her like the magic that was constantly at the tip of her fingers- an energy she could all but harness. Perhaps that's what will working is, what magic is: the ability to exploit one's emotions and focus them. One cannot cast lumos unless one truly desires light, one could not conjure a patronus unless one knows happiness. If that were the case- if magic was emotion- then Hermione Granger was alive with magic, alive with rage. Her throat was dry and her pounding head, normally awash of uncanny logic and reasoning, was a torrent of emotion.

But all this she buried. She grabbed it with a fist like iron and choked it down her esophagus into the churning acids of her stomach. Hermione's face was hard, chiseled of dark stone, and in that moment she made a judgement.

Sirius knew nothing. And she did not need him.

"I see." Hermione gathered her parchments and stood. "Thank you for your help, Sirius, I do appreciate it."

"Not going to make yourself that cup of tea?" Sirius asked, his tone teasing and it made Hermione want to slam her first into his face.

"No, I think I'd rather take a bath for now." Hermione turned to go but not before she caught Sirius wiggling his eyebrows at her.

"Enjoy your bath!" He called as Hermione headed to the stairs.

"Fuck off, Black." Hermione yelled over her shoulder to Sirius's boisterous laughter. "Prick."