Chapter 5:
December:
"Miss Snape," Dumbledore said as Hermione walked into his office, "Lemon drop?"
"Have you found a way to send me home?" Hermione asked immediately asked as she waved away the candy.
"Unfortunately, I haven't," Dumbledore peered over his glasses at Hermione, making sure he would be able to see and evaluate how she reacted to the false news he was about to give her, "I will just tell you exactly what I have learned, and nothing less," Hermione nodded, "There is no way to have you go back to your own time." Hermione forced herself to keep a straight face. Even though this was Dumbledore, he had tried to use Legillmancy on her when she arrived.
"Very well, Professor," Hermione said, keeping her poker face on, "I suppose that means that I should make the most of my life here?" Dumbledore nodded, "If that is all you have to say, Professor, I must finish my essay for Professor McGonagall right now." When Dumbledore raised no objection, Hermione walked out the door, and to the Room of Requirement to think.
'Why didn't she react?' Dumbledore wondered, now he wanted to learn about this time traveling girl more than ever, 'Screaming, shouting, a tantrum? Anything except sit there looking like the world could be ending around her and she wouldn't care. It was obviously not a good idea to align her with Mr. Snape, especially now that he is dating the Mudblood Evans. Now I just have to wait for the girl to be happy, then send her back to make her thoroughly miserable, and I will be in charge again.' Dumbledore smirked, it was a good thing that he had more patience than most men, and would be able to see this plan to completion.
SBHGSBHGSBHG
'Why me?' Hermione asked as she lay sobbing on a couch in the Room of Requirement, 'I may not have been terribly happy with my life then, but at least when I was in my own time, I legally existed.' Hermione's face was grim as she realized that even though everything seemed to be going wrong, she would probably see Harry and Ron again. 'Unless, of course, Harry is never born because Lily is with Severus, and not James.'
"Hermione?" Hermione looked up to see Sirius standing in the doorway, "What's wrong, Hermione?" now Sirius was sitting beside her on the couch wiping away her tears.
"It's nothing," Hermione mumbled with one last sniffle.
"Nonsense," Sirius stated with conviction, "If it was nothing, you wouldn't be up here crying. Now, tell me what's wrong."
"I miss them, Sirius," Hermione said, and Sirius could easily see the haunted look in Hermione's chocolate eyes, "I'll never see them again."
"Shh," Sirius pulled her into a hug as she began crying again. "It will be all right. I'm here for you." Sirius continued to whisper nonsense in Hermione's ear until she fell asleep. When he heard her breathing even out, Sirius smiled, it hurt him to see Hermione look so hurt. Carefully lifting her, Sirius carried Hermione back to the Gryffindor Tower. Wishing that he could take her up to her dorm so she could sleep in peace, Sirius decided that he would do the next best thing, and let her sleep in his bed. It was around eleven at night, so most people were either in bed, or sneaking out. After carefully laying Hermione down, and transfiguring her robes into pajamas, Sirius realized he had nowhere to sleep. Sighing, he stripped down to his boxers, and tugged on his baggy pajama pants before lying down next to Hermione. He knew how this would look, and that Hermione wouldn't be happy, but right now he was too tired to care.
SBHGSBHGSBHG
Hermione woke to the sounds of people getting ready. Instead of waking up, Hermione decided that her bed was much too comfortable, and snuggled into her pillow. However, when her pillow moved, Hermione's eyes shot open. Right in front of her face was a perfectly defined, well-tanned, and extremely masculine chest. Hermione stopped herself from admiring the gorgeous piece of man before her when she realized what position she was in, and who exactly was lying next to her.
"Sirius Black," she hissed, "You'd sure as hell better have a good explanation for this."
"I do," came Sirius' quiet voice. Hermione was startled, she hadn't thought that Sirius would be awake; she had assumed that he was one of the guys that would sleep until the last minute, and then rush. However, from the way Sirius' voice sounded, he either woke up with no sign of being tired, or he had been awake for a while. Blushing at the last thought, Hermione lifted her head to meet Sirius' steel grey gaze.
"What is your explanation, then?" Hermione questioned, still keeping her voice quiet, but now she was more curious than angry.
"You fell asleep in the Room of Requirement, and I carried you back. Being the chivalrous gentleman I am," here Hermione snorted, and Sirius shot her a small glare, "I didn't want to leave you on the couch, and I couldn't very well take you up to the girls dorms, so I brought you here."
"Why didn't you just leave me in the Room of Requirement?" Hermione asked slightly miffed that Sirius affected her the way he did, and she didn't even have a good reason to yell at him.
"Hermione," Sirius took her hands in hiss, and looked her in the eye, "I wanted to make sure you were okay," Hermione nodded and tried to pull away, but Sirius wasn't done, "I care about you, Hermione, and I wouldn't leave you someplace if I knew that you were distressed," Sirius decided that he had to make her smile, so he smirked, and continued, "Besides, your brother would kill me for leaving you so vulnerable."
"He could also kill you for sleeping in the same bed as me," Hermione pointed out, but even as the smirk slid off of Sirius' face, he was happy that he had gotten Hermione to smile, even if it was miniscule.
"True," Sirius conceded, and then flashed his trademark grin, "but I am hoping that you will put in a good word for me to prevent him from inflicting permanent damage." Hermione smiled, Sirius' easygoing attitude was probably the only thing that could make her do anything but want to curl up and cry, at least for now.
"Thank you," she said it sincerely, and Sirius nodded his head in acceptance. Despite what petty quarrels they had had, in this moment, Sirius and Hermione understood one another perfectly.
SBHGSBHGSBHG
"You should do something for the talent show," Lily told Hermione as they were studying. It was a week before said show, and the last day anyone could sign up, "and if you don't sign up, I'll sign you up." Lily warned. Hermione saw that the threat was real, and sighed.
"Fine. What do you think I should do?"
"Can you sing?" Lily asked, she was curious, and she thought that that would be a great way to set Hermione up with Sirius, without being overly obvious.
"I used to," Hermione said after a pause, "but I haven't in years." Lily squealed, disrupting Hermione from her thoughts of when she had last sung.
"That's great! What do you want to sing?" Lily demanded, and Hermione laughed. In any other circumstances, Lily's determination was a plus, but when Hermione didn't want to do something, and Lily wanted her to, she almost always lost.
"I don't know," Hermione sighed, "Why don't you pick something out for me?"
SBHGSBHGSBHG
"Padfoot," James said, he had just listened to Sirius extol Hermione's beauty for almost an hour, "Why don't you sing a song to her?"
"I can't sing, Prongs!" Sirius' eyes were wide, and he looked afraid.
"We both know that you can," James pronounced with a snort, "You just haven't had the guts to sing on stage." Sirius snorted.
"I could perform on stage if I wanted to," Sirius stuck out his chin, looking for all the world like a pouting five year old, and James had to stifle a grin at his friend's antics.
"Then why don't you?" was the inevitable question.
"Fine," Sirius said, "I will."
SBHGSBHGSBHG
"Remus," Lily asked when she walked up to the table Lupin was sitting at in the library, "Do you have any talents for the show?"
"Erm," Remus quickly looked around before answering, "I'm singing a song for Cissa."
"Great!" Lily's smile looked like it was going to break, "Are you able to play, and maybe sing back up for Hermione?"
"Of course," Remus smiled mischievously, "Are you going to be singing a song?"
"Maybe," Lily smirked as she walked out of the library.
SBHGSBHGSBHG
"If you're forcing me to sing," Sirius proclaimed, "Then you are doing something too."
"Fine," James said as he was dragged towards the sign up sheet by his best friend, "but what will I do
"I don't know, tell jokes?" Sirius said, "Dumbledore said magic was forbidden, pity that."
"Can't I just sing back up for you?" James asked, and a hint of begging crept into his voice.
"Fine," Sirius sighed, he highly doubted he would win this argument against James, "but you have to play the drums." It was a little known fact that when he wanted to be, James Potter could be a ridiculously good musician who specializes in playing the drum set. Sirius looked thoughtful for a moment, then he asked, "Do you think Peter will play the piano? 'Cause with you playing the drums, and Remus on guitar, I need someone to play piano if I want to just sing."
SBHGSBHGSBHG
"Hey, 'Mione," Hermione looked up from her homework to see Sirius standing before her desk in the library. He shifted his weight in an uncharacteristic show of anxiety before continuing, "Erm," a small blush crept across Sirius' cheeks, "Would you like to go with me to the Hogsmeade weekend?" There was to be a Hogsmeade weekend, after the talent show, but before Christmas to allow students to do their Christmas (or other holiday) shopping. Sirius quickly continued before Hermione had a chance to speak, "I know that you've probably heard horrible stories about me, and how much of a womanizer I am, but I swear to you, Hermione, I have changed." Hermione was hiding a smile at how insecure Sirius was being, she had never seen, or heard of him being, this unsure of himself about anything.
"Sirius," Hermione put a hand on his arm to keep him from talking, "I'll go with you." Sirius flashed a huge smile, and looked as though Hermione had just given him the best gift ever.
"Thanks, Hermione," Sirius began walking away, but called over his shoulder, "You won't regret it!"
A/N: If anyone has ideas about what all of them should sing, let me know! I will try to be more prompt about writing this story, however, it is hard for me to take the time to write this part of the story. So I am apologizing in advance for any slow updates. Kinda random, but do you prefer more frequent, but shorter updates, or longer, but less frequent updates? If you guys let me know, than I will do that.
