THE VEIL

Chapter 5

21st April 1973 - Easter Surprise

Behind the veil Hermione drifted timeless. She felt weightless almost like being underwater and falling through the air at the same time. The whispering moved around her ebbed and flowed, sometimes loud sometimes softly and sometimes not at all. Though, even at its loudest she felt like she was just out of earshot to what was being said. The whispering never sounded angry or sad. It just was. Whispering. She knew she slept in the greyness and felt the wind weave around her almost playfully it teased at her hair and ghosted across her cheek. There was a peace in the grey, and emotions faded into a calmness of her being. Her curiosity and logical mind came up with several conclusions; she had endless opportunity to process. The greyness around her made her feel like she could have been there for a decade yet only a few minutes at a time. She was beyond time yet, in it as it drew her down a long path back to her own time.

In an age and no time at all the wind whispered calling towards her again, the breeze blowing harder. Hermione opened her eyes and watched as the greyness around her changed into colours as she was swept back into the world, where time still marched its slow path forward. Hermione was standing behind a tapestry. One she recognised. She was standing in Hogwarts. Her brain went into overdrive at the potential dangers of being seen by people that could potentially remember her face. Dumbledore for example had an uncanny knack of knowing things, which he shouldn't possibly know. She didn't want to think about what she would do if she ran into him.

Her thoughts were cut off as she heard whispering voices behind her. Remembering this tapestry was a shortcut from the east and west staircases she turned and slowly crept towards the voices. From growing experience she knew that if she was back in the world Sirius would be very near.
"Mother is so angry we didn't come home for holidays. We were meant to go to Bella's Engagement party" A boy's voice whispered loudly.
"I don't care Reggie. I refuse to be at home if I can help. And I only have to go home at summer" Sirius's voice came out of the darkness.

Hermione edged herself forward and tripped on a stair in the dark, the sound of her stubbing her toe cutting off the boys whispered argument.
"Who's there?" Sirius called to the dark.
Hermione moved a little closer, "Lumos" She whispered lighting the passage revealing two familiar black haired, grey eyed boys.
"Well this is curious place to meet" She said, smirking at them both. Sirius's face lit up and he grabbed her in a tight hug. Hermione hugged him back before gently stepping him away. Regulus looked on his eyes hooded watching warily. Looking over to the younger brother, she smiled and pulled out a piece of parchment, holding it out to Regulus.

Regulus looked for a long while at the parchment before taking it and opening it up. Hermione watched as surprise flashed on his face as he looked at her again.
"Hermione?" Finding his voice at last. Hermione Snorted, "Of course. Don't I get a hug from you as well?"
Regulus took a tentative step forward, taking the hand she held out for him. His eyes widened again as he touched her, but still didn't hug her.
"You are real!" He exclaimed softly.

"Of course she is real. She always was real." Sirius huffed. "She is my fairy princess after all." Winking cheekily at Hermione.
Hermione snorted again, "By now you should realise I'm a witch not a fairy."
Sirius shook his head. "Nope, Fairy" he confirmed, as if that was all the argument he needed. Regulus shook his head at his brother, his gaze falling back onto Hermione.
"He said that you were appeared in Diagon Alley before he started school. I didn't believe him. Told him we made you up when we were little."
"I was in Diagon Alley. Made sure he didn't forget to buy his school supplies and not spend the afternoon drooling over a broom." Hermione looked as emotions flashed briefly on Regulus's face before he made it blank.
"That is definitely something Sirius would do." He mused.

Silence lapsed and they shifted uncomfortably until a sound made them jump. Hermione's stomach had grumbled.
"I don't suppose you both wanted to join me in sneaking to the kitchens for a late night snack?" She asked fiddling with the material on her dress.
The boys looked up at her with surprise.
"You know where the kitchens are?" Regulus asked incredulously. Hermione Smirked.
"Of course" She moved past them down the hall stopping and turning.
"Are you going to follow or stand there and get caught?" She queried. Both boys looked at each other. Sirius grinned and followed her Regulus somewhat reluctant to follow but curiosity seemed to have gotten the better of him.

Sneaking through the castle with the two boys reminded her of Harry and Ron, and she felt a pang of sadness She didn't know if she would even see them again. She also felt a little guilty for encouraging rule breaking, but her stomach grumbled again and she realised that it had been a very, very long time since she had last ate. They had to dodge a prefect and Peeves, before making it to the statue of the bowl of fruit. She tickled the pear and the wall beside it slide open to a bright space, smells of cooking wafting out. Hermione stepped into the kitchen followed by the two brothers, staring in open mouthed awe as a group of elves gathered around them.

Hermione asked for a few select dishes, and a flask of pumpkin Juice. The elves lead them to one of four long tables situated directly under the ones in the great hall. Taking a seat, Hermione and the boys watched the elves bustled about, setting three places for them and placing dish after dish down for them to eat their fill.
"Wow. This is the best thing since, James transfigured McGonagall's hat into a Pelican." Sirius said in awe. Hermione choked on her pumpkin juice. Regulus who was sitting next to her patted her back sniggered.
"H-he what?" Hermione gasped. Sirius told them about the dare he gave James to see if he could do it without being caught. He apparently managed, until the pelican pooped onto her head, just before Sirius transfigured it back into a hat, which squawked.
"Unfortunately she seemed to have had an inkling it was either me or James. We both got detention. But said that we didn't need to do homework, for such excellent transfiguration."
All of them laughed together.
"What was the punishment?" Asked Regulus, who recovered first, wiping tears from his eyes.
"Cleaning the poop from the owlery." Sirius replied, grimacing at the memory of it. Hermione giggled into her soup. "Fitting punishment"

They continued to eat, both boys telling Hermione the houses they got into, and their progress in classes, and in Sirius' case, pranks that he and his three best mates pulled on various school and faculty. When they couldn't eat another bite the thanked and bid the elves good bye and left the kitchen. At a staircase they bid Regulus goodnight. Regulus surprised Hermione in giving her a quick hug, before dashing down the stairs towards the Slytherin common room. Hermione and Sirius moved up the stairs towards Gryffindor's Common room. As they reached the corridor it was on, both paused.

"Thank you for sending me and Reggie the cards." He said quietly. Hermione beamed at him. "I'm glad you received them."
Sirius looked at Hermione, "Everyone has thought you don't exist. They say you are a figment of my imagination. But you are real aren't you"
Sirius blurted out his face now showing turmoil from a life where his family were cruel and dangerous, when they should have been loving and caring, and also as she realised her own appearances in his life making him question their cruelty and his own sanity on what is real and what is not.
"Sirius of course I am real." Putting a hand on his cheek, "I am as real as this castle as real as your brother, as real as the wand in your hand."

He looked up at her, confusion still in his storm-grey eyes his face reminding her again of a lost puppy.
"Then why can't you stay? Why must you disappear and leave me?" he whispered. Tears leaked out of Hermione's eyes.
"Because I have no control on when I come or when I go." She replied and choked back a sob of her own.
"I- I feel like I am like a leaf caught on a breeze. The wind, tossing me into the air whirling around, not allowing me to land or rest." She put her hand to her mouth and sobbed harder. She cried for the suffering Sirius and his brother suffered at the hands of their own family, and the harshness of what her visits were also doing to a boy already conflicted on realities of life.

Sirius now was also weeping, crying for the bedazzling young witch in front of him he knew could not help how or when she appeared, and the cruel reality that he and his lived through each time he returned to twelve Grimmauld Place. Sirius put his arms around her as they both cried themselves of the torments of raw emotions, until both were cried out.

"Hermione, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you to cry." He reached out and wiped her last tear from her face. Hermione did the same to him.
"I know Sirius. I know. If I could I would come more frequently. Please know that." She pleaded softly. Sirius nodded at her wiping his face on his sleeve the smirked at her, "So will you be my girlfriend then?"
Hermione's eyes widened, looking at him incredulously.
"Sirius. I – I think that I am a bit too old for you. Or at least that you are definitely too young for me." She stuttered. Sirius smirk became a grin.
"So when I am old enough?" He asked winking at her. Hermione blushed. She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. A look of triumph crossed his face. He grabbed her shoulders and kissed her right on the lips. Pulling back to whisper to her "When I am older then"
He stepped away and walked to the portrait of the fat lady. When he reached it he looked back at her, "Goodnight my Fairy Princess" disappearing behind the portrait, leaving Hermione in the corridor to recover her senses.

She leaned back against the wall. Shock and confusion still swirling within her. She looked back toward the portrait and sighed heavily. Sirius was besotted with her. And Hermione didn't want to think about the implications of that just yet. Straightening up, Hermione had one more place to go before she could allow the winds to sweep her away. Feeling like the whispering was right behind her, Hermione ran to the seventh floor walking three times past a particular wall thinking of what she needed.

On the third pass the door appeared and Hermione burst into the room of requirement. Inside were rows upon rows of Hogwarts uniforms. She moved between them pulling out items that were the least stained or worn. She changed quickly and found a bag in which to put the dress and purse into. As she closed the bag and slung it on her shoulders, she heard the whispering drift around her. The wind made the clothes on the racks creak as she was swept away again into the grey.