Disclaimer: Anything you recognize from the HP books and/or movies is not mine.
A/N: Alright, I realized that I haven't been such a good person by not updating much. I've been doing something that I'm against, actually, only updating once a month practically, so I decided to fix that. Instead of going along with my plans, I decided to stay home and write another chapter for my story, just for you guys who read my story and have loyally stayed with me the whole time. It is Christmas after all, and I might even get another chapter up a few days after this. After reading the reviews, I realized that most people will probably stop reading my story because of loosing interest if I don't update as much, so I think I'm going to keep up with my pace of updating. I hope you guys like the new change, though I can't promise that there wont be times when I don't update for a while.
Alright, now, please don't kill me over this chapter. I've realized I'm really bad with description paragraphs, but I'll do my best to get this chapter out as smoothly as possible. Near the end, there's a conversation that I had some trouble doing, so if it seems choppy, please just deal with it. I'll try to fix it up sometime in the future if people have problems with it. Also, I'm curious to know, does anyone even read these A/N's? Anyone who does, just out of my own curiosity and knowledge, please put x in a review, so that I know if I'm just waisting my time writing the author notes. Anyways, I suppose I'll get on with the chapter. So… Happy Holidays, guys! - Min
Thanks The Insane Imortal Dragon, wally4ever, Angelic Bladez, Artistgurl123, Cass, LunaLovegoss, Parvatti, little mimi, katsheswims, bluefire-elemental, Evil Cat Hater, as,jg, shannon, Ivory Black aka Torri-Chiobie, Black-rose23, larthawyn, Lala, and SpikesDreamer for the wonderful reviews!
Any questioned involving this story that you ask in your reviews will be replied to in emails due to the new rules of FF dot com
Poll for 'Should Hermione, Severus, and Lucius become to new Golden Trio?'
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I'm going to probably wait one more chapter before the final decision is made. The votes really do count, so please vote! Thanks to all who have already voted!
Seasons Change
By: Min
a.k.a. xScenex
Sirius Orion Black was not happy. No, no, no, he was not happy at all.
The beginning of the day had turned out to be a very unpleasant affair. First, he'd been awoken by a prank -- a prank of all things -- that wasn't done by another Marauder. That was unheard of. And done by girls? Even more blasphemy! After being awoken, he thought it had been pretty funny, but it still irked him to no end; he was the one that did the pranking!
That morning's fun didn't escalate either. After spending forever trying to find all of his belongings that had been thrown about his and the other Marauder's dormitory, nearly dying from hunger, and having to wait for James to finish packing, he was in a pretty sully mood; but he didn't want to show it so he put on his usual smile that would make girls swoon.
Upon arriving in the Great Hall, his mood hadn't changed. He would have thought that food would cheer him up, but the grinning faces of the girls that had played the prank irritated him -- and it didn't help that they had told their friends. He remembered his face turning red as they giggled at him. They were going to ruin his image with the other girls, for crying out loud!
He sat down along with his other three male companions, and began to eat. He was thinking of what him and James would do once they got to Godric's Hollow. Since his family didn't like him -- and he had convinced himself that he didn't like them either -- he had ran away from home and was taken in by Harold and Emily Potter. Since him and James had been friends since their first years at Hogwarts, it didn't prove to be a problem.
Of course, he remembered the conversation that all four boys had at The Three Broomsticks a while back. James wanted to go to the summer vacation home, and all four Marauder's were going to be allowed to be together for the holiday.
A Marauder's Christmas; oh the fun they would have.
Sirius stabbed a sausage with his fork and turned to say something to James but noticed him watching Hermione curiously. He looked at her too, trying to find out why James was staring at her oddly and it only took a few moments to realize why.
She kept looking over at the Slytherin table. A look of worry would ease itself onto her face every time she did and he was worried that something was wrong.
Ever since the time-traveler had shown up, he had grown attached to her, along with the others. She was smart, witty, clever, and she had an inner beauty to her that most people probably wouldn't notice. He hadn't really noticed it at first -- seeing only that she was a plain witch that was more into books and the library than anything else. But after a while, he realized that she was fun to hang around.
After he had found out about her absurd burden, he had made it a point to try and keep her spirits up, seeing that sometimes she would fall into depression, though she would always deny it. He couldn't begin to think of how she must feel about having to have left her friends and family behind. It bothered him to see her look worried about something, or anything, which brought him to say what he did to her after she looked over at the Slytherin's table once more.
"Hermione, why the bloody hell do you keep looking over there? Did Snivellus do something to you?"
Said girl turned to look at him quickly after he said that, and a scowl soon appeared on her face, "No, Severus hasn't; and it really isn't any of your business where I am or am not looking."
That took him by surprise. Why was she getting so defensive over those slimy gits? Did she have some weird fascination with them? Then again, he remembered all those times that he would find her speaking to Snivellus, or sometimes Malfoy. Borrowing one of their cloaks, disappearing for long periods of times each day, always exchanging glances with one or two of them… maybe there was more going on than he had actually thought.
He was bewildered by the mere thought at first, but then realized that it was all pointing to a few signs. Either she was working with them, or she had some weird fascination with one of them. He decided to take action and find out but what came out of his mouth wasn't what he intended to say -- and it was soon proved that it hadn't been such a good idea either.
"When it deals with slimy Slytherin's, then yes, it is. But then again, you seem to be quite taken with Snivellus. Maybe you fancy him?"
He nearly slapped himself right then and there for saying that, but decided to stand his ground. It wouldn't do him any good if he apologized for that -- besides, what if it was true? He shivered at the sheer thought.
He stared up into the furious eyes of the brown haired time-traveler. He gulped silently and nearly flinched as she shrieked, "How dare you! How dare you! Don't you ever speak about things you don't know anything about! Especially when it involves me!"
Silence ascended around them and he began to feel nervous, though his composure showed that he was perfectly in control and calm. He stayed quiet, weighing his options for what to say next. The way she had exploded at him might be a sign that she actually did fancy one of the Slytherin's, but there was a possibility that she was just angry at the thought of it; girls truly were a puzzle to figure out. He wasn't too sure about his own ideas, so he decided that he would go for the first option that he had thought up until he could find anything else out. How could she explain all those times she would disappear? Or the looks she send Snape and Lucius? Or even better, what about the borrowed cloak?
Before he could say anything, a feminine voice snapped through his thoughts, "Not all Slytherin's are bad, Sirius. You just have a childish grudge against them because of your family--"
That did it.
No one would speak to him about his family -- ever. He looked at her venomously and shouted, "You don't know anything about my family!"
He glared at her as she bent over, and he nearly jerked back as if he had been slapped when he heard her next words.
"When I've lived at Grimmauld Place for two summers straight, I think I might know more than you think."
The words were so quiet, he wasn't sure if he had heard her correctly, but he knew by the look she sent him before leaving told him he heard her right. He paled, feeling remarkably bad about what he had been accusing her of. He also felt anger at her for even bringing his family up, but fear eluded that emotion when he realized that she had the power to expose him to the school, telling them secrets that he might not even know about himself. He didn't know what to do.
He was vaguely aware of his best friend talking to him, but he didn't even spare the other boy a glance. He stood up, not even looking at his friends, then left the Great Hall, not really sure of what he was doing or where hew as going.
He found himself in front of the entrance to the Gryffindor common room soon after though, and nearly cursed himself for even walking in that direction. He gave the waiting portrait the password and slipped in quietly, unaware of any of the occupants in the room. He made his way up to his dormitory and flopped down on his bed, thinking over what had just happened.
That's how the other Marauder's found him about ten minutes later.
The rest of the morning was extremely depressing and he couldn't find it in himself to apologize to Hermione. He knew he shouldn't have jumped at her like that, but the fact that she had connections with Slytherin's made him seethe. Did she actually think that he or James would allow that?
Maybe she was actually a Death Eater in disguise. The thought wasn't that outrageous. She could easily deceive any of them, including Dumbledore. She could have been sent from the future to try and help Voldemort gain more power than he already had -- which wouldn't be good at all.
Sirius made a plan to find out her actual tactics in the previous time era, hoping that it wouldn't be that difficult. As long as he kept himself under cover, she wouldn't notice anything.
The next half hour proceeded slowly, if not almost painfully. But eventually, it was time to board the Hogwarts Express and leave the castle for the holidays. Sirius was more than ready to welcome the long train ride back to Kings Cross station.
Him and the others found an empty compartment at the end of the train and made themselves as comfortable as they could.
Remus had pulled out a book about Defense Against the Dark Arts and buried his nose in it, James took out his snitch and proceeded to play around with it while Peter watched in amusement. Sirius decided to lay across a few seats with his arms folded under his head. He stared out of the window across from him, watching the trees move past the window as the train cut its way through the landscape.
"So…"
The silence had been broken by James. Sirius ripped his eyes away from the boring window to stare at his friend, "'So' what?"
"I don't know. It's just depressingly quiet in here," he whined.
"At least Malfoy hasn't come around yet," said Sirius with a roll of his eyes. "Though I am getting bored."
James looked at him for a moment before saying, "Malfoy was staying at the castle over the holidays. Didn't you read the sign-up sheet?"
"What!"
Sirius sat bolt upright, his mind whirring. Malfoy was staying for the holidays? Did this have something to do with Hermione? He never stayed at Hogwarts for Christmas. "Who else was staying?"
"Uh," his friend looked at him uncomfortably, "I believe Snivellus, Parkinson…" James trailed off for a moment before saying very quietly and quickly, "Your brother, and your cousin, Narcissa."
Sirius fell off of his seat with a loud and resounding thump. He gaped up at his best friend, "Are you bloody serious?"
His friend glared at him, "Why would I lie to you about that?"
He sent his friend an apologetic look and got up. He began pacing around the small compartment, thinking things over once more.
If they were all staying at Hogwarts over Christmas break, what was going on? Surely mother wouldn't have let Regulus stay at the castle with 'that muggle loving fool'? He thought to himself.
Regulus, his younger brother, was pretty much a spawn for the dark side. He had always shown loyalty to Voldemort and the rest of the Black family, whom were all involved with the Dark Arts. What would their -- his mother say when she found out he wasn't going home? He almost laughed at the thought.
"Padfoot, would you please quit pacing about. It's really getting annoying," Remus said from where he sat.
"Sorry, Moony," He mumbled and sat back down.
Whatever was happening with the Slytherin's, he had an idea that Hermione might be behind it all,; but Sirius Black just didn't quite k now what exactly it was that would be happening.
The next morning dawned drearily and rather quietly. It had stopped snowing the previous night, but the sky was still overcast. The steely gray clouds hovered heavily over the castle, seeming ominous and foreboding against the terrain in which the magical school lay.
The lake was frozen along its bank, going out several yards before thinning out until the arctic lake waters overlapped the ice. What water that lay unfrozen reflected the gray sky above and rippled as the glacial wind picked up, howling through the surrounding trees.
No one was out that morning; it would be like suicide walking about in the sub-zero temperatures. Rather than that, the remaining occupants of the castle were all gathered in the Great Hall for the morning breakfast -- which was beginning to turn into a very unusual and amusing affair.
"I will not sit with those insolent Gryffindor's."
"I'm a Gryffindor and you have no problem with hanging around me."
"Hanging around a Gryffindor and dining with Gryffindor's are too different things."
"Oh, come off it! You don't mind the Hufflepuff's!"
"Said who?"
Silence.
"Ugh! You're hopeless, you know that, Lucius?"
Hermione stomped her foot on the stone floor in one of the halls leading into the Great Hall. In front of her stood the pallid form of Lucius Malfoy. Beside him was a sully Severus, and behind them was Jason Parkinson, Regulus Black, and Narcissa Black.
The latter of the group looked at her warily, but didn't attempt anything, seeing that their 'leader' was being civil towards her; though they all had looks of disgust on their faces at the thought of eating breakfast with the remaining Gryffindor's and Hufflepuff's.
"I'm not hopeless, I just don't want my to lose my dignity," sneered the boy.
"If you don't sit with them, I'll have them sit with you," Hermione told him dryly, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Stubborn Gryffindor," Severus rolled his eyes.
"Hey--"
"Alas, what's this?" A voice asked from down the hall behind the group of Slytherin's. They all turned to find the twinkling eyes of the Headmaster walking down the hall towards them.
"Nothing, sir. Just a little inter-house bonding," Hermione grinned, "All of us agreed to sit with the rest of the remaining Gryffindor's and Hufflepuff's for the remainder of the holidays, so I believe only one table will be needed for meals for now on until the rest of the students get back."
Dumbledore clapped his hands together and beamed at each of the students, whom all looked tartly at Hermione. She just looked innocently at them.
"I believe that that could be put in order. It's always lovely to see students from opposing houses getting along. Now come along, breakfast is beginning."
The old man began walking away, all the while humming along to some unknown tune. Hermione stared after him, wondering if his last name was just a coincidence; Dumbledore means, in the Old English, bumblebee. She shook her head in an amused way before motioning for the disgruntled Slytherin's to follow them into the Great Hall.
Upon entering, they saw that Dumbledore had done the deed, taking away all house tables away and leaving a solitary one in the middle of the hall where quite a few of the Gryffindor's already sat with the three Hufflepuff's.
When the Gryffindor's saw the approaching Slytherin's, they grimaced and scowled at them, almost threatening them to do something out of character in front of the professors up at the high table. The opposing house just sneered or scowled back and took seats at the far end of the table, as far away from the others as possible.
Hermione just rolled her eyes at their antics before sitting down next to Narcissa, who was sitting closer to the Gryffindor's, leaving a small gap large enough for about three people to fit in. The older girl looked at her with distrust and shifted uncomfortably in her chair but nonetheless turned to her food instead of complaining.
Ten minutes into the meal, a small group of owls entered the hall. Hermione noticed the worried glances that the students at the end of the table gave each other, and found out why when three owls swooped down towards them, each carrying a crimson letter.
Howlers.
One was addressed to Lucius, one to Jason, and the other to Regulus. They began to smoke, and Hermione realized that they were all going to go off at once and quickly covered her ears with her hands.
Within seconds, two male voices and a female voice shouted through the hall, each sounding very angry and venomous, causing the entire hall to quite down.
"HOW COULD YOU--"
"YOU'VE DISCRACED THE MALFOY FAMILY--"
"NOT COMING HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR FATHER THINKS OF YOU? AND YOUR COUSIN NARCISSA--"
"AND TO THINK THAT YOU WERE--"
"TOUJOURS PUR!"
"YOU JUST WAIT! WHEN YOU COME HOME--"
"THIS SUMMER YOU'LL--"
"FILTH! SCUM! THOSE HALF-BREEDS--"
Hermione winced, along with the others. Mrs. Black's voice was louder than the rest, and high pitch. She had a feeling that she might get a headache by listening to her shrieking, and was surprised that she wasn't already used to it since she had spent summers over at Grimmauld Place, where Mrs. Black's painting would yell at them constantly at any abrupt loud noises in the hall.
Eventually, the howlers finished and shriveled up into ash, leaving three very nervous or annoyed teenagers looking at one another before they resumed eating their breakfast.
That rest of that morning was an awkward affair, but Hermione preferred it compared to the previous day's breakfast. Before long, it was just Hermione, the Slytherin's, and Michael Benson from Hufflepuff. Hermione, Severus, Lucius, and Michael all exchanged glances before nodding slightly to one another and stood up, the others following suit. They had all planned to meet up down in the 'brewing' room as Severus called it -- the room where him and Hermione had first met -- where they would be able to make plans for what they would do now that the parents knew their loyalties. This procedure had been discussed between them all; Severus and Lucius had the job of passing it on between their house mates and Hermione had spoke with Michael.
Hermione got up first, motioning for Michael to follow her. The others would come down to the dungeons after about ten minutes, so as not to make the professors suspicious. However, the silent agreement and conversations didn't go unnoticed by the Headmaster, who watched with twinkling eyes and an almost knowing look about him.
As the duo walked down the halls while exchanging some 'small talk' but nothing more. The sandy haired boy seemed nervous to be around her, much to Hermione's annoyance.
After about fifteen minutes, they found themselves standing in the abandoned room located down in the dungeons where she had first brewed the wolfsbane potion in that time era. She transfigured a group of comfortable chairs out of wood chips from the fireplace and sat down, awaiting the arrival of the others.
It didn't take long until they showed up. They were talking amongst themselves about the howlers and what they would do. After all of them had settled down in the room with the door closed so that no one would eavesdrop if they were nearby, they began the discussion.
"It's time to start taking action," Hermione began, looking at each individual pointedly, "We can't just sit here and do nothing. Now that some of your parents have voiced their opinions about what they think of you staying home, there is no doubt that you will be in trouble during the next summer in which you go home."
They all seemed to be thinking along the same lines. Narcissa looked at her, then said tartly, "And what will we do once we go home for the summer? Surely they would find it fit to punish us for not coming home to receive the marks, and they would force us to be brandished with them during that time."
Hermione brushed the rudeness away and replied, "I've already given this thought. Unless you want to go to Dumbledore and ask for his help, I have a plan that may or may not work."
"And what would that be?" Lucius asked dully, though his eyes betrayed his voice, showing that he was interested in what she had to say. Hermione got the distinct feeling that he was amused by her antics.
"Most of you, if not all of you, are not going to like what I have to say," she began.
"Well, what is it?" Severus asked dryly.
"Hold up and I'll tell you," she mock-glared at him. He rolled his eyes and motioned for her to continue, "So, as I was about to say, if you all don't want to get punished during the summer, when the school year ends, we can group up and go into hiding. It's not like we can't take care of ourselves, and we're smart enough to not get caught. I'm pretty sure we can all rack up enough money to get through the summer, right?"
"What? You want us to run away from home and hide?" Severus nearly shouted.
"In a way, yes," she huffed.
"What good will that do?" Jason snapped.
"What good will staying do? You'll get branded with the dark mark and you'll get punished by your families. What is there to lose? We've already discussed that much."
"What is there to gain?"
"A lot of things!"
"Like what?"
"Do you really want to live the rest of your life doing something that you were forced to do? Do you want to live life the way you want to, or do you want to be ordered around? I thought you were Slytherin's," Hermione looked at the said house occupants, each of who were practically glaring at her. "This is your chance to prove yourselves by doing what you think is right. This is the chance that you all have to make a difference!"
"What difference?" Narcissa questioned loudly.
"The difference in the upcoming war," hissed Hermione. "Do you really think this will be a walk through the park? There is a God forsaken war going on, and we can't just sit here while it happens. One way or another, we will be dragged into it."
"How can you be so certain?"
Hermione looked at the speaker. Regulus, looking so much like his brother, was so different. The girl smiled, almost menacingly, before saying, "Trust me, I know a lot of things, and this is something I am absolutely certain about."
"What's that supposed to mean? How can you be 'absolutely certain' about that?" Severus asked her quietly from her left.
She turned to face him, her face almost impassive. He, of course, didn't know about her secret time-travel escapade. She had always wondered what would happen if him or Lucius found out about it. A few times, she had thought about passing herself off as a seer, but snorted at the very thought.
"You'll just have to trust me with this."
"Trust you? A Gryffindor?" Jason practically sneered.
"If I'm willing to trust you, you should be willing to trust me," the time-traveler shot at the boy, who shut up almost immediately.
"Alright, let me get this straight," Lucius said slowly, staring at her from where he sat. "You want us, all of us, to go into hiding at the end of the school year? Where would we go? It would be noticeable for a group of teenagers just hiding about somewhere. Someone is bound to notice."
"We will find a place to go. I have some contacts that I could get a hold of to find a place to stay at without being noticed. They can also provide us with information concerning us."
"Is this even going to work, Granger?"
"Yes, Black, it is. If we all put our all into it, it will."
"I still don't see how this will work," the blonde haired girl said.
"Cissy, it's worth a try," Lucius responded, surprising the rest of his housemates. "What would there be to lose? I surely don't feel like being scolded by mother or father. It might be a bit fun to be independent for once. No rules."
"But Lucius, you can't be serious! You're actually trusting this Gryffindor?"
"Not really trusting, it's more like I'm agreeing."
"How can you agree to that? It's unbelievable!"
Rolling her eyes, Hermione butted in, "Remember, we still have a while to go until summer. It doesn't have to be the only option, you know."
"She's right," Michael finally spoke from across the room. "We have a few months to figure out another plan."
"Here we go with the 'plans' again," Severus muttered to himself.
Hermione almost laughed but settled for a cough, earning small glares from the others. She shot the raven haired boy a look and whispered, "Severus, you can be so naïve sometimes."
He shot her a poisonous look and scowled deeply, causing her to break out into a large grin.
"Alright, we get that you're smitten with each other, but you can flirt with your bird another time, Severus."
"WHAT!" They both shouted at the same time.
Lucius smirked. Two red spots appeared on Severus' face and Hermione stared at the blonde boy as if he'd grown another head. "We are not smitten with each other."
"Deny it if you will, we have better things to discuss."
The girl glared at him, but nonetheless dropped it, though she made a note to get him back eventually for saying something like that. She shivered at the mere thought of her and Severus together. It was just… wrong.
Come to think of it, she figured that any relationship here in this time era would be weird or just plain wrong. Everyone was, by all means, supposed to be twenty years older or more than her. She was dimly aware that the talking had resumed in the room as she thought about her newly found feelings for a certain boy.
She had noticed that when she was around Remus, she always felt safe and secure. He was smart, funny, kind, and by far, good looking. He never lost his temper at her, he never accused her of things, and if his friends thought something she did was wrong, he wouldn't side with them until he heard her side of the story. Most importantly, he respected her.
But he had been her professor. All thoughts of him in any other way than a friend would be awkward, if not wrong. What would everyone say if they found out about this?
More importantly, what about her feelings towards a certain red-headed boy? Could she forget about her not-so-small crush on Ron Weasley? She had accepted the fact that she wouldn't be able to get back home to her own time era, considering that there was a lot to do around this one, and all of her and Dumbledore's research had proved that there wasn't a way for her to get back.
But it always took some time to get over a crush -- especially when she was starting to feel overly homesick and heartsick for him and the others. But no matter how hard she convinced herself that nothing would happen with her and Remus, there was a small part of her that had lit up with hope.
A/N: Alright, there it is. Another chapter! I'll continue the conversation in the next one, but right now, I need to get some sleep so I found this the best place to stop. I hope you guys don't mind!