DISCLAIMER: All characters and settings are the property of JK Rowling. I'm just the girl who likes to play in her world.

ChapterThree: Suspicions

Hermione and Sirius sat in a comfortable silence around his bedroom table while they ate the roast chicken, gravy and potatoes that he had brought up. It was now late evening so she kept thinking to herself that she only had a few hours before she could get to Dumbledore. She hoped that he had some answers for her about this whole mess that she currently found herself a part of.

"So how old are you Hermione? You look about my age but you somehow seem to be older. I can't put my finger on it." Sirius asked her as he finished his dinner and wiped his mouth with his napkin. He knew that she was hiding things from him. There were major flaws in what little story she had told him, but he wasn't going to push her.

"I'll be 18 in a few months." She said delicately avoiding the whole seeming older bit. Of course she seemed older, if you grow up with war around you then you have to grow up fast, especially if your Harry Potters best friend. But she couldn't exactly tell him that now could she.

"Ah, so you'll be in my year. Don't worry I'll take you under my wing and show you the ropes. You'll get the special treatment if you're with me." He said cockily and puffed out his chest proudly. She rolled her eyes.

"Thank you, I think." She replied to him.

"Um, when does the train leave tomorrow?" she asked trying to sound clueless, though she already knew the answer. The train always left at 11 A.M, no matter what decade one might find them self in.

"11 A.M, so there's no need rush in the morning. Oh and about that, I'll have to sneak you out of here, nobody knows that you're here and I don't particularly feel like explaining it, and I'm guessing you don't either. My family isn't exactly the type to let in strangers." He gave her a half hearted smile; it made her heart hurt for the boy that sat before her.

"That's fine; I wouldn't exactly take lightly to some stranger in my house either. Could I take a shower please Sirius? I haven't had one for two days." Laughing he replied with a nod and she got up walked across the room and went through the door she knew led to his bathroom.

"It's through there, but you obviously already know that." He said to the closed door she had walked through. He pulled out his wand and pointed it at the empty plates sending them back downstairs.

He found himself sitting down on the couch and thinking about what could have happened to the girl that was currently showering in his privet bathroom. She must have been through something frightening or disturbing for her not to remember how she got in his house. He could tell from the way she acted around him that she was comfortable with him and trusted him. But he couldn't for the life of him figure out why. Hopefully once she had seen Dumbledore she might tell him what had happened.

-Break-

Hermione awoke the next day wishing she had never gone to sleep at all. She had been dreaming fitfully all night and she now had a headache to go along with the feeling of anticipation that she couldn't shake.

She got dressed while Sirius was downstairs doing god knows what, but from the sound of all the bangs and muffled shouting she guessed it couldn't be good. She walked into the bathroom and looked in the mirror at her reflection. Her hair was a mess this morning, she looked like she had been dragged through a hedge backwards, scratch that, she looked like a girl who had been dragged back 20 years and had hardly slept a wink all night due to nightmares of seeing Sirius Black fall and disappear through the veil. She shook her head pushing them thoughts to one side; she didn't need to re-live her terrors in her waking hours as well as her sleeping ones. Grabbing the hair band that was around her wrist she tied her hair up into a tight ponytail.

The door was pushed open forcefully and slammed back shut as Sirius came in muttering to himself, she was sure she'd heard him swear at every other word. Hermione come out of the bathroom and up to Sirius, she could see he was visible upset.

"Hey Sirius calm down, what's up?" she asked him and placed her hands on his shoulders, effectively stopping him from pacing and making a hole in the floor. He turned angry eyes on her and when he spoke it was with pure hate.

"I can't wait till that old hag kicks it and is out of my life. She's always in my face about everything. If it isn't about my friends then it's about her friends and joining them, I wouldn't go near them unless it was to permanently damage the sick bastards." She knew straight away what sort of 'friends' his mother had, so she didn't interrupt him and didn't stop him from saying that he'd like to permanently damage them, that would make her the world's biggest a hypocrite.

"As soon as I can leave this place, I'm gone. I don't care is she cuts me out of the family fortune; I don't want anything to do with this bunch of maniacs." His eyes seemed to soften and when he spoke again his voice was full of defeat.

"I'm sorry Hermione; you wouldn't believe what my family are like and what they do. It's just hard to believe in what they believe in and they don't understand that it's wrong. You don't even know what I'm talking about do you? I'm sorry. We should get going in a minute the others are meeting us at the train station." She certainly knew what he was talking about but now wasn't the time to say. She turned sad eyes on him, she'd never known how much the rest of his family affected him, he never talked about it in the future, she truly felt that he deserved better.

"Others?" She asked feigning ignorance.

"Oh I forgot to tell you that we are meeting my friends at the station, you'll love them I promise. Not as much as me but that's neither here nor there." He said smugly giving her a wink. She just rolled her eyes and nodded; it seemed that this boy and his cheekiness would be the death of her. He took out his wand and pointed at her and muttered and invisibility charm. Grabbing a hold of Sirius's arm, so he knew where she was, she followed him down the stairs. Along with Regulus Black, Sirius younger brother, she grabbed a hold of the port key which was to take them to the station.

She felt the familiar tug but it was gone in a second and she found her feet firmly on the ground once again. She noticed Regulus looking around and when he caught sight of a group of males he just walked off towards them, without a word to Sirius.

"Bye Reg, see you in school" Sirius shouted to him only to be given a glare from the boy over his shoulder, Sirius shook his head the turned to walk towards the train. He froze mid stride and turned to where he knew Hermione was standing and whispered to her.

"Oh Merlin, what am I going to do? Oh great she's spotted me, and oh Merlin she's coming over here. Help me Hermione." He pleaded. She raised an invisible eyebrow at him and turned to see a blond haired girl coming towards them. He was scared … of a girl! She burst out laughing but quickly sobered up when she heard something close to a banshee shriek.

"Sirius Black!" Sirius narrowed his eyes towards Hermione and then turned back to face the girl.

"Alyson, how have you been? Had a good summer holiday?"

"Yes thank you, no thanks to you. Where was my owl Sirius? You said you would write and we could meet up. Not one single owl. That's the last time I wait around for you, we're finished. Do you hear me Black? FINISHED!" The girl finally finished screeching and slapped him hard on the cheek. Hermione watched this Alyson girl turn around on her heals and storm off, putting a little too much sway in her hips for Hermione. Sirius just stood there stunned but relieved look on his face.

"Wha-" She didn't get to finish her question as she was interrupted by 3 boys running towards them laughing their heads off.

"That was classic Padfoot. After three years you've finally got rid of that tramp and all it took was for you to ignore it." Said the tallest one who she knew must be James because he looked exactly like …

"Harry." She whispered to herself so quietly that nobody with human hearing could hear her above the crowd around them. But apparently it wasn't quiet enough for the boy with sandy blond hair, his tired but youthful eyes turned to face the exact point she was standing and her breath caught in her throat. He looked so different, there were no deep scars on his face, not a grey hair on his head and he looked as strong as a brick wall. She couldn't believe this boy would grow up to be the man she knew, they were so different. She nearly reached out her hand to touch the boys face but restrained herself when she realised where she was. It also didn't help that Remus had taken a defensive step backwards. Sirius had apparently noticed his friend and herself tense up.

"Remus trust me, it's fine." He grabbed his friends arm and shook his head. Remus seemed to calm down somewhat and gave her one last look before smiling trustfully at Sirius.

"Guys, let's go get on the train I have something I want to show you." Hermione rolled her eyes at him; she wasn't some possession to be showed off to his friends. Snatching her hand away from his arm moodily she followed after him and got ready for the assault of questions. She knew there was no avoiding them this time.

Once the four boys were sat down she sat next to Sirius. He had left a space next to him for her.

"So what's the –"

"Who is she Padfoot?" Remus asked quickly in a dangerous tone interrupting James's question.

"She a friend of mine, we can trust her." He replied just as quickly and she was grateful that he was defending her.

"How do you know her? Why is she here on the train with us? I've never meet her before." He pointed to where she was sitting, though nobody else could see her. Hermione thought it was quite rude to talk about her as if she wasn't in the compartment, when she knew that the both of them knew very well that she was.

"Whoa, hold up you two. What on earth are you talking about, there's nobody there Remus." James said cutting through the argument and the tension that was building.

"Sirius, you need to take the charm off me, they can't see me." She said to the boy sitting next to her who was glaring at the boy opposite him, obviously forgetting that he hadn't took the charm off her. She watched everyone jump at her voice, even Remus. Peter, who she had avoided looking at so far, was sitting in the corner spluttering; he looked disgusting.

"Sorry Hermione." He took out his wand and muttered the counter spell

"Finite Incantatum. Everybody this is Hermione Granger, she's my friend and she's new to Hogwarts this year." Silence descended upon the cabin until Remus reached out his hand to her. She thought this was weird seeing as how a moment ago he was arguing about him not knowing her and why she was here. She knew that his suspicious nature would serve him well though, so she didn't mind.

"Hello, I'm Remus Lupin" she took his hand and gave him a warm smile that he returned.

The others introduced themselves; she shook James's hand but just gave a curt nod in the direction of where Peter sat. The rest of the journey was simple and not many questions were asked about her, which she was grateful for. She realised that it was amazing how close they were. Just because Sirius trusted her, his friends automatically did as well; but then again she knew that trust could be easily misplaced. Her eyes wondered over to peter for a moment but she felt sick just looking at him; so she didn't for the rest of the ride. She sat back on the comfort of the padded seat and listened to the others catch up on their summer holiday. Her mind was nagging at her asking whether or not she should tell Dumbledore everything or just what was necessary. How do you decide if you should tell somebody when, where and how they are going to die?

Author's Notes- I know, I know! But it had to be done. I know I promised Hogwarts but I wasn't ready to write that today, so the next chapter Hogwarts!
Same as last time about spelling mistakes... Just tell me where they are and I'll fix them. Sorry, I'm so crap and too tired to look.

Review (Click the button. Any criticism good or bad is appreciated.)
Next chapter maybe tomorrow maybe not, it'll be a long one and I might not have time to type it up in just a few hours (I get distracted by MSN too easy.)

Hugs and love Destiniex