Maintanence:
Thought
"Normal speaking"
"Spell"
Nonverbal Spell
"Parseltounge"
Disclaimer: Not mine
Yay for reviewers! Sylphides, Sofia7, Harry-Hermione Potter, Lysjknopp, Stashthesocks, Padslet, Kymie29, Fire Daughter, potterhead0013, XxXxJackBlackxXxX, Darkness-Lightness, pstibbons, digio, camya (anon), and Diespedes
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Hermione looked around the house and then over to where Harry was lying on a couch. "You grew up here?" she asked.
"Yea, since I was little. Sirius and Lupin have raised me since my parents died-" Hermione noticed a shadow cross his face when he mentioned his parents- "and I've lived here since I was one. I know it looks like an old house-"
"Because it is" Sirius cut in. He walked in with a plate of sandwiches and offered them to the second years. Hermione took one to be polite, but did little more than nibble on it.
Sirius noticed but didn't comment on it; instead he began to tell Hermione about the house, "It's been my family's house for generations of Blacks. I am the current heir, and Harry will inherit it when he comes of age. Now," he stood up, rubbing his hands together. "This is the base floor, the kitchen is through those doors, and the dining room is to the right of that. The basement has Severus' personal lab, and I don't think I have to tell you that you are only to go down there with his permission. The first floor is bedrooms; Harry will show you one that you can stay in. The second and third floors are for the Order. The meetings are held here and most of our documents and other such things are kept in rooms on the third floor. Some of the Order members have rooms here; those are on the second floor. Make sure you don't enter any room, especially on the second or third floor, without someone's permission. It is very important that you don't go up to the fourth floor or the attic, since that's where most of my family's old furniture is and the heirlooms that I couldn't throw aw-"
Here Sirius was interrupted by a loud wailing sound from the hall. Hermione looked around for the source of the noise, Harry grinned, and Sirius groaned and looked at his godson.
"Commence Operation Burga!" Harry shouted, and he and Sirius ran out to the hall where the velvet drapes were and Harry yanked them open. Hermione, having followed them to the hall, gasped when she saw what was behind the drapes.
A woman, well past her prime, was sitting primly in a portrait very similar to the ones at Hogwarts. But what made Hermione gasp was what the woman was doing.
She had risen out of her chair and jumped at Sirius, as best as she could, all the while shouting obscenities towards the man. Sirius just laughed and said, "Good old Mum."
Harry was laughing too, but he turned to the portrait and said, "Mrs. Black, would you mind not screaming, or should I get the caution tape out again?"
The woman- Mrs. Black- turned towards Harry. "I wouldn't mind, no. But for your sake I will stop yelling" she turned towards Sirius. "Luckily for you the boy is in Slytherin. Does my heart good to see a young Slytherin boy living here."
"What heart?" Sirius mumbled quietly. Harry sniggered, but Mrs. Black didn't seem to notice because her gaze had found Hermione.
"And who is that? Hopefully another Slytherin come to do the House some justice. Not another Muggle loving Gryffindor like those red headed freaks. I tell you, it's unnatural to have that many children who look so similar."
Harry glanced at Hermione nervously and then back at the portrait. Sirius had stopped laughing and Hermione unconsciously took a step back.
"That's Hermione Granger. She's in Slytherin with me."
"Good, another Slytherin. Now, dear, who are your parents? Hopefully one was a pureblood, as with young Harry here. He would have made a fine Black- strong, determined, powerful. The only thing my ungrateful son ever did right was make him the Black heir. And I can over look one Muggleborn parent-"
Mrs. Black stopped upon seeing the faces of the three people in front of her. Harry's eyes were downcast, Sirius looked nervous, but Hermione had a hard glint in her eyes and she glared right at the portrait.
"Actually I'm Muggleborn." Hermione said with an edge to her voice. Sirius and Harry both flinched in anticipation of the coming storm and took refuge in the living room. Hermione remained where she was.
"WHAT?! A MUDBLOOD IN SLYTHERIN?! THE SHAME! WHAT WAS THAT DAMN HAT THINKING?! AND NOW SHE'S IN MY HOUSE! MY HOUSE! GET OUT, DAMN YOU, OUT! YOU HAVE DISGRACED THE NAME SLYTHERIN AND BROUGHT YOUR FILTH INTO MY HOUSE!"
Mrs. Black was beside herself with rage and Hermione waited until the yelling had transitioned into incoherent babble before she spoke.
"I will not leave. I am a Slytherin whether you like it or not. I am in your house whether you like it or not. And I will not have a two dimensional wench telling me what to do" although she spoke softly her words carried a weight that made Mrs. Black look at the young witch before her in surprise. She noticed that wisps of pure magic were floating off of Hermione and was impressed with her power despite herself.
She will be powerful indeed. A worthy addition to the Slytherin house despite her lineage. But she's hiding something, she's closing herself off. I can sense it. I should consider accepting her. She will prove to be a strong girl and can guard Harry, since I plan to have him carry on the Black name.
"Very well, girl. I will give you the chance to prove yourself and I will judge you from there" She turned to her son. "Give her my old room."
With that, the drapes shut themselves, and Hermione turned around to face a shocked looking Harry and Sirius.
"What?" she asked indifferently.
Sirius was the first to recover. "My mother was never a kind woman. She was never a quiet woman. And she always stuck to her first impression when it comes to people- she always judged based on blood status. I have never, never seen her react that way to anyone. She has never given anyone a second chance and has never reacted to anything anyone has said to her, including Severus."
Hermione thought about that for a second. Not even Professor Snape, hmm. I would have liked to see that.
She shrugged her shoulders, "I guess we'll find out her reasons eventually. So, Sirius, that was your mum?"
This time it was Sirius who shrugged his shoulders, "Can't choose your family."
Don't I know it Hermione thought.
Sirius walked out of the room and called for Hermione to follow him. "Harry, could you get your trunk upstairs and start unpacking?"
Harry nodded, clearly understanding that Sirius needed to talk to Hermione alone, and trotted to get his trunk.
Sirius led Hermione to a large tapestry that was stuck to a wall. Hermione glanced at it, noticing immediately that it was rather similar to a family tree, and assumed that it was Sirius' family.
"My family has been around for generations. This is the tapestry showing my lineage, although I'm not actually on it" he pointed to a small burn and Hermione squinted to read the name under the mark.
"But why?"
Sirius looked at her appraisingly, as if deciding what he should tell her, before he spoke.
"My family has, for the longest time, believed in the supremacy of blood over anything. We came from a long line of purebloods and most of my family believed that it made them better than others, regardless of their magical talent. I refused to believe what they did, and I eventually ran away. After that, my mom blasted me off of the tapestry. My other relatives-" here he waved to several other burn marks. "were guilty of various misdemeanors that went against my family's beliefs."
"Did your family follow Voldemort?" Hermione asked after a moment of studying the tapestry. She noted that he had a brother, but decided not to ask about him for the moment.
"They believed in what he's trying to do. He wants to separate the Muggle and Magical worlds, and to revive the old ways, where purebloods were one step removed from royalty and held control of the magical world. Some of my family was in favor of denying muggle born children the right to enter our world, but most of them recognized the necessity of allowing them entry.
"Most of my family believed that he had the right idea, but they didn't support the violence he created. With the exception of my cousin, Bellatrix, my family has stayed out of Voldemort's way. My brother Regulus didn't know what he was getting into when he joined the Death Eaters, and he paid the price for it. I don't think my mother has ever gotten over his disappearance."
"What happened to him?" Hermione wondered.
"Regulus was young and foolish when he joined Voldemort. Bellatrix and her group fed him false promises of power and forced him to join. I wasn't close to my brother, since he was in Slytherin and I was in Gryffindor, so nothing I said could convince him to change his mind. He came to me a couple months after his initiation, asking for my help. I took him to Dumbledore, who requested that I leave Regulus with him. I trusted Dumbledore to help my brother"
He broke off and took a deep breath, trying to maintain a calm face before continuing, "All I know is that Dumbledore asked my brother to do something for him. That was the last night I saw my brother. Kreacher is still loyal to him, although I am the current heir to the Black House and fortune and he has to listen to me."
Seeing Hermione's face he explained, "Kreacher is the house elf of the Black family. He is bound to the House and must listen to the Heir and his family. He doesn't listen to Lupin, but he will listen to Harry, since he's legally my heir."
Hermione nodded, trying to digest everything that Sirius told her. "So this house must have a lot of protection on it."
Sirius looked amused, "Of course, everything you could possibly think of. But how did you know?"
Now Hermione looked amused, "Well, it's an old pureblood house, which are typically hidden and protected, and it's the headquarters to the Order. I doubt that the meetings would be held here if everyone wasn't positive that they were safe here.
"Can I ask a question about the Order?"
"Sure, but understand that I can only answer certain things, and probably not to your satisfaction. I am bound by an oath, as are all Order members, to protect its secrets from non members. Although you will need to know most of those secrets, Dumbledore feels that it is too early to tell you some things, and you won't be inducted for a while."
Hermione nodded, she had expected as much, but she was annoyed that Dumbledore was making decisions for her.
"I was wondering about the role that the Order fills. Harry told me a little about its organization, but I'm curious as to the people that are in it and how they work to undermine Voldemort. I'm also curious as to my part in all of this, as the child of the prophecy, and what exactly that prophecy entails." She spoke flippantly, trying to get a reaction out of him to see how big of a secret the prophecy was.
Sirius choked, How does she know about the prophecy? It's one of the Order's most guarded secrets. Voldemort is aware of the prophecy itself and the general idea behind it, but he doesn't know the whole thing, how does she even know? Maybe Harry told her?
"Unfortunately, Hermione, I can't answer either of your questions, the identity of Order members is closely guarded, and the prophecy is one of our biggest secrets" he looked at her and held her gaze, "I know it's hard, but you should not speak of it, nor your involvement in it. One of Voldemort's top goals right now it to find and kill you. The Order will do all it can to prevent that, but you need to trust that we will tell you what you need to know."
Hermione nodded, and then stiffened as he put a hand on her shoulder. She forced herself relax as she looked up at him.
"Now, let's get the holiday started" he led her back to the living room. "You can unpack if you want, Harry should be up there, and I'll show you to your room."
Walking up the stairs, Hermione threw one last look at the space where Mrs. Black's portrait hung, before following Sirius.
"This is your room, Hermione, for as long as you need it" She looked at him, surprised, before nodding her thanks.
"Lupin should be back later, and dinner will be at seven. Take as much time as you need to unpack."
Sirius was half way out of the room when Hermione called him.
"We're allowed to use magic here, right?"
He smirked, guessing her intentions, "Of course. This house has so many protections on it that the Ministry won't be able to tell if you use magic at all. Feel free to change the room around if you want."
Hermione turned to survey her room. It's not unpleasant, but it could use some touching up. With a murmured cleaning spell, she watched as the dust and cobwebs disappeared, and then turned to the desk. It will do, I guess. I don't want to try to transfigure it yet. We haven't really gotten to transfiguring large objects yet. But I can change the color of certain things.
She pointed her wand at the desk, book shelves, and armoire, changing them from their previous black to a rich, deep brown. The wall was Slytherin green, and she decided to keep it. The bedspread, pillows, and sheets were similarly colored in the traditional green and silver. She put Lara's cage in one of the corners.
Hermione opened her trunk and moved her clothes to the armoire then took out her school books and placed them on the book shelves next to the desk. She took out the picture that Lupin had insisted on taking on their last day as first years and placed it on the desk. Then she pulled out the album she kept of articles that had appeared in the Daily Prophet, chronicling the rise of Voldemort and news on his raids and other activities.
Hermione knew, unlike the public, that the Prophet worked independent of the Ministry, and in opposition to Voldemort. She suspected that there were Order members working to publish the daily newspaper that informed the wizarding world, but her suspicions were unconfirmed. No one knew where the Prophet was based out of, and copies were circulated by owls and a one way Floo system so that they couldn't be traced.
She placed the album on the desk as well, then took a last glance around the room. It won't last. Something will happen and they'll want me gone.
She picked up a book on potions theory, her notebook, and a quill, and made her way back to the living room, where she curled into a chair to read.
She scratched notes and ideas into her notebook as she read. Various ideas for potions, things to be cross referenced, and important facts for brewing found their way into that notebook.
She had a section for each of her subjects at Hogwarts, a section for the Order, the war, Voldemort, the Death Eaters, the prophecy, students at Hogwarts, and the teachers. She recorded facts, thoughts, and ideas in each section to keep everything straight.
All in all, the notebook was huge, and Hermione was incredibly grateful that Ben had left her several spells that she had adjusted in order to make the notebook more manageable. She had a spell on it to minimize the sections not in use, a spell that bound the notebook to her so that no one but her and anyone she keyed to it would be able to open it or see what was written, a spell that made it water and fire proof, and a spell that made it resistant to summoning spells.
She continued to jot notes down until she heard a knock on her door. She closed her notebook and placed it down, with the book and quill on top of it, then turned to see who had knocked.
It was Lupin, looking more tired and pale than she remembered seeing him at school.
"Hello Hermione" he greeted, just as cheerful as ever.
"Hello Professor" she responded in kind.
"Please, Hermione, just Lupin while you're here. No need for formalities"
Hermione assented and followed him to the kitchen, where Sirius and Harry were charming marshmallows to hit each other. Hermione laughed; it was definitely not what she expected, and saw that Lupin sighed. I guess he's used to them doing this sort of thing.
Upon seeing two new targets, the marshmallows were directed at them, and Hermione and Lupin found themselves being pelted by the sugary treats. They were quick to counter attack, though, and Sirius gave up shortly after that.
"Good to see you back so soon Remus. Dinner will be ready soon" Sirius said as he crawled out from under the table he had hidden in.
"Good. I see that Harry and Hermione are settled in. And Severus will be joining us for a little while" he cast a significant glance at Sirius, who seemed to understand.
Harry didn't seem surprised by this, so Hermione decided not to ask yet. She would see why the Professor came when he arrived.
"Can I help with anything?" Hermione asked, feeling useless.
"Nope, Kreacher makes the meals around here and no offense, but he wouldn't welcome any help. It's a miracle that Molly takes hold of the kitchen when she's here."
"Sirius, I think you are greatly underestimating Molly Weasley. She can be very fierce when she wants to be. And she's a great cook" Lupin said with a laugh.
Harry noticed that Hermione looked confused so he explained, "When the Order comes over Mrs. Weasley cooks for us for as long as she's here. She only comes over when there are meetings, though."
"Actually there will be a meeting some time next week" Lupin said. "I just spoke to Dumbledore-"
Whatever else he was going to say was cut off by the sound of the Floo being activated. "Lupin?" a voice called.
"I'm coming, Severus" Lupin said as he made to walk out of the kitchen.
"No, don't bother, I'm already here" Snape said from the doorway. He held a steaming goblet in his hands. He passed the goblet over to Lupin, who took a sip and grimaced at the taste before downing the rest in three quick gulps.
"Thank you, Severus" Lupin said, but Snape just waved his hand.
There was an awkward silence until Hermione asked, "Will you be staying for dinner, sir?"
"No, I don't think I will. I have some brewing to finish, and then I suspect I will have a meeting" he nodded to Lupin and Sirius as he walked to the fireplace and Flooed back to Hogwarts.
"Pro- Lupin, what was that potion for?" Hermione asked after the green flames had died down.
Harry, Lupin, and Sirius traded a panicked glance before Lupin said quietly, "She has a right to know." He sat down next to Hermione and looked at her before speaking. "That potion was the Wolfsbane Potion, and I take it because I am a werewolf. I was bitten when I was a young boy." When he had finished he was looking at the floor instead of at Hermione.
"Oh, ok" Hermione said. "What does the potion do?"
Lupin looked up, surprised by her reaction. "You're ok with my being a werewolf?" he sounded pained, and Sirius was saddened that Lupin was so used to rejection that he had come to expect it from people who knew of his ailment.
Hermione, too, was upset at his tone. "You've never given me a reason not to trust or respect you. Being a werewolf doesn't change anything in my view. You don't judge me for being muggleborn, so why should I judge you for something you obviously have no control over?"
Lupin was too surprised to say anything. This girl has given me something that precious few have before. It took many years before most of the Order accepted me. And although most of the staff hides their discomfort, I can tell that they're a little unnerved at having me teach at Hogwarts. I know Minerva supports me, and Albus of course. I suspect that Severus does, even though he claims to make the Wolfsbane on Albus' order I want to believe that we are friends, of a sort. Sirius and James accepted me, but I had no other friends that knew of my condition. Harry took it in stride, but he had known me for years before we told him. Hermione is one of the only people to have accepted me for who I am.
"Hermione. Thank you" Lupin managed to say.
Hermione nodded, unused to such an emotional display. She tentatively reached out to touch his hand and he clamped on to hers.
Harry watched Hermione curiously; he suspected that she had known, or guessed, that Lupin was a werewolf, either that or she was better at hiding what she was thinking then he had previously thought. He would wait, though, and ask her when they were alone.
Kreacher popped in a moment later to announce that dinner was ready, and the four of them moved to the dining room to eat.
Hermione's appetite had improved greatly, but she ate nothing compared to Harry and Sirius.
"So, what do you kids have planned?" Sirius asked once he had finished his third helping.
Harry looked over to Hermione, "Well, we should probably finish our assignments so we can enjoy the rest of the holiday. When are the Weasley's coming over?"
"Well, the Mandrakes are almost ready, so Ron will be revived in the next day or two. The Weasley's will probably join us in about five days. My, um, transformation will be in four days, so you two will be on your own with Sirius for two days. There is an Order meeting a week from tomorrow, so that will be on the 21st. That will give us time to plan our actions for a possible attack on Christmas" Lupin explained.
"You guys won't be allowed in the meeting, but you won't be kept in the dark either. And there are some tasks that you can do that would help the Order" Lupin looked over at him and Sirius hastily added, "Once you've finished your school assignments, of course."
Hermione and Harry dutifully nodded. Hermione knew that her own work wouldn't take that long and neither would Harry's.
Harry glanced at Hermione as he said, "I don't think our work will take that long, and you know that we can use magic here. There's a room on the second floor that has been turned into a sort of gym, for the Order to train in. It has been magically expanded, and we can train there if you want."
Hermione brightened at the prospect of continuing their training over the holiday. "That would be great Harry. When can we use it?"
"Since there aren't any Order members here you can use it whenever you like. If you don't mind, I would like to be there the first couple of times you two train, just to see what you're doing and see if I can help at all" Sirius said.
Harry nodded and Hermione thought of something that she had been wondering since she learned that this was an old pureblood house, "Sirius, is there a library here?"
"Of course. But I never use it and some of the books are dangerous, especially for muggleborns" seeing Hermione's confused look he explained. "Some of the books are very old and carry curses that would be harmful only to anyone who was not a descendant of a pureblood family. But I think I may be able to lift the curses. Why don't we go check?"
Hermione followed Sirius- Lupin and Harry came as well- past the tapestry and into a large room that she hadn't noticed before. The library was huge and filled with books on every magical subject imaginable. Looking around, she recognized some titles that were also in the library at Hogwarts, many of them were listed in the Restricted section, and Hermione was anxious to read them.
Sirius was looking around the library, shaking his head. "I'm not sure how to get the library to accept you. I guess I should ask my dear mother."
He shot a pleading look at Hermione who said quietly, "I can't tell you what I will be looking for, but I think it could help the Order."
Sirius' head slumped in defeat and Hermione followed him to Mrs. Black's portrait. Lupin and Harry went upstairs to start training.
"Mrs. Black," Hermione called politely.
The drapes opened to reveal the Black matriarch. "What do you want?" she sneered at Sirius.
"I need to know how to make the library accept Hermione" he said with a sigh of defeat. Mrs. Black smiled and said, "Leave us, I'll tell Ms. Granger what to do."
Sirius gladly left the two women and went upstairs to join Harry and Lupin in the training room.
"What do you need the library for?" Mrs. Black asked once she heard Sirius on the second floor.
"I'm looking for information on Horcruxes" Hermione decided that honesty was best with the tough woman.
Mrs. Black sucked in a breath, "You don't know what you're dealing with child"
Hermione snorted, "Which is why I need the library. I see I'm correct in assuming that it has information on them. I also need it for other things, but that is my main reason."
Mrs. Black looked at the girl for a minute before nodding, "Very well. Kreacher!" she called.
The house elf appeared next to Hermione, "Yes Mistress?"
"Bring me the Keys to the Wards"
"Yes Mistress" Kreacher left and returned in less than half a minute with a role of parchment.
"Ms Granger, on that sheet you will find a list of the wards that surround this house. Locate the ones on the library and sign your name in blood next to the one that repels muggleborns."
Hermione searched the paper and found that the Black House was protected with more wards than she had anticipated. She located the ones for the library and summoned a new quill from her room. She used the tip to cut her finger and signed the paper.
Looking at Mrs. Black she asked, "Is there a copy of this in the library?"
"Of course," she answered primly.
"And I have full access to any and all books, papers, and objects in the library now, right?"
Mrs. Black smiled at that, "You are a true Slytherin. Yes, signing that paper in blood allows you full access to anything in the library."
Hermione gave her a small smile and decided that she would go train now. She had all holiday to look at the books in the library, and she was willing to bet that Sirius wouldn't mind if she borrowed some books and brought them back to school.
She walked in to see Harry practicing a spell on a dummy, trying to increase his accuracy. Hermione gave herself a mental pat on the back for suggesting to Harry that he have Madam Pomfrey fix his eyes. Lupin had agreed and her friend had been glasses free for almost a year.
She and Harry passed the time quickly, practicing their spellwork for school and then holding a mock duel between themselves. Sirius and Lupin, impressed with their skills and determination, had left them to their own devices. They continued until Kreacher popped in and informed them that Sirius told him to see that they went to bed.
They walked to their rooms, tired from their efforts, but pleased with the progress they were making. Hermione bid Harry and Kreacher goodnight, earning a confused look from the ancient house elf, and walked into her room.
She changed into her night clothes, but didn't sleep. She hadn't told anyone, but she had been having trouble sleeping for a while now. She would sleep three or four hours and wake up refreshed. She didn't know why, but as long as she wasn't tired and there weren't any visible side effects she wouldn't worry about it.
She opened her notebook and curled on her bed with the album of Daily Prophet clippings, perusing the articles for any details she might have missed.
Hermione awoke at 3:00 in the morning and decided to head down to the library to begin looking for books about Horcruxes. She had suspected that Voldemort was using them to ensure his immortality, but there had only been a sentence on them in the Hogwarts library. In two separate books, the general idea behind making a Horcrux and its purpose was outlined, but it never gave a name, making it very hard to make the connection.
Hermione found her connection by chance when she was reading about unicorn blood. It mentioned the ability to postpone death but only at a severe cost, and the author had likened the idea to a Horcrux, but made no further mention of it. From there she was able to piece together that Horcruxes used extremely dark and powerful magic to channel a person's soul into something else, so that the person may live even if their body is destroyed.
Sorting through several dozen books, Hermione decided to make piles dedicated to specific topics that she intended to research. The first pile, which she kept in the back of the library, was dedicated to Horcruxes. There was a stack next to that with books on dark magic that she thought would be useful.
In a separate stack were books that traced the lines of the old pureblood families and several books dedicated to the history of the Ministry of Magic and the wizarding world. One of those books toppled the pile over and Hermione glanced at a family tree that the book had opened to.
It was opened to a tree that traced the descendants of Godric Gryffindor. She studied it a moment longer before curiosity made her turn the page. The next page traced Salazar Slytherin's descendants. With a gasp, she noticed the name at the bottom of the page- Tom Marvolo Riddle.
Voldemort is the last descendant of Salazar Slytherin? How can that be? According to this, he's a half blood- his dad is a Muggle. I wonder what happened.
Hermione looked at Tom's mother's line- tracing it to the Gaunt line- and searched through the book for more information on them. Finding nothing, she went back to the family tree and noticed the dates of birth and death of each member of the Gaunt family.
Tom's mother, Merope, died the day Tom was born. Tom's grandfather, Marvolo, was dead as well. But what really caught her attention was the fact that Tom's father, Tom Riddle Sr. and his parents were killed on the same day. At first she was surprised that a book on pureblood lines kept records of Muggles, but she saw that the Black family tree was intact and decided that the book was meant to keep a complete record and did not differentiate between blood statuses.
Hermione opened her notebook to the section on Voldemort and carefully copied the family tree, and was making a note that he was a descendant of Salazar Slytherin when a thought struck her.
Basilisks can be controlled by someone who speaks Parseltongue. Slytherin has been well noted to have been a Parselmouth- it's how I made the connection between the Basilisk and the monster in the Chamber. But what if that trait was passed to his descendants- like Voldemort? Maybe my lie to the Headmaster wasn't so far off. Maybe he really is attacking the school from the inside. The next question is how he got into the school.
Hermione wrote her thoughts down under the heading: Research More. She carefully stacked the books again and moved over to the Horcrux pile in the back of the room. She opened the first book and started taking notes. She got through one book and half of another one when Harry walked into the library.
"Hey Hermione?" he called.
Hermione walked around the stack, leaving her closed notebook on top of the book that she was currently reading.
"Hey Harry" she said, seeing her friend and smiling at his particularly bad case of bed head.
Harry self consciously tried to flatten his hair before remembering that it was a lost cause and shrugging, "Breakfast is ready."
During breakfast Hermione and Harry decided that they would dedicate the day to homework in order to get it out of the way. They pulled out their textbooks and quills and set up in the living room, each taking one of the large armchairs and dragging a book over with them.
Hermione started with her Potions essay since she knew it would be the easiest for her. She hardly had to look at her text book for help as she answered the questions set by Professor Snape.
Lupin walked into the living room and stopped in surprise- here were two second years, home early for the holidays, voluntarily doing their homework weeks before it was due. He backed out quietly so as not to disturb them from their work and went to find Sirius.
Harry snapped his book shut with a groan, "I hate History of Magic! Professor Binns isn't even going to read these! Why bother?"
Sirius, alerted to their break by the sound of the book snapping shut, walked into the room with a plate of sandwiches, "For the pure joy of learning something new, Harry. You should want to do your school work because you are a tiny bookworm who will never grow taller."
Harry threw a pillow towards his godfather, who ducked and laughed, only to get a pillow in the face which Harry had magicked to fly at him. Mrs. Black, who had seen it from her portrait, laughed, "That's why he's in Slytherin. Hahaha. Good boy"
Sirius growled, "Shut up before I make your curtains stick shut permanently."
Harry just laughed and reached for a sandwich. Hermione, too, reached for a sandwich, and ate it slowly as she added the finishing touches to her Charms essay.
"Alright, that's enough work for today, you two need some exercise. So let's go to the training room and I'll put you through a work out" he grinned maniacally, "Especially you, young Harry. I will show you what happens when you throw a pillow at me."
Harry mock groaned and then ran up the stairs, happy to be done his work for the day. Hermione stood slowly, shaking out her limbs, and placed her books carefully on the table. She took the stairs slowly and called, "Good day to you, Mrs. Black."
The portrait was surprised for a moment before she returned the girl's greeting. That girl may just prove me wrong she thought amusedly.
Sirius was already drilling Harry in a series of drills meant to improve reflexes. Hermione jumped in, knowing that as good as she was with spells it was better to be prepared. They continued these drills for half an hour, then Sirius clapped his hands and an array of large blocks appeared.
Sirius told them to put their wands on the table in the front of the room and to enter the maze like room. "I will have my wand and will be aiming to hit you. If I do, a colored dot will appear where the spell hit. Your goal is to not get hit, and to use your skills to dodge my attacks. Go!"
Harry sprinted off to the left while Hermione ran straight to the back of the room. The first thing she did was track down Harry, who almost gave them away. They decided that they would use a series of snaps, different each time, to let them know when they were close to each other.
They split up after that and Hermione was glad that they had made a code, since it helped them evade Sirius for a while. Eventually he waited them out and located them by their snaps. He shot a spell at Harry, who deftly rolled out of the way, and looked for Hermione.
Not seeing her brown hair, he concentrated on Harry, shooting spells at him at a fast pace, forcing him to move faster. He saw an opening and was about to hit Harry when a movement in the corner of his eye halted him.
Hermione came out from behind a block to distract him, and was forced to duck when Sirius sent a spell at her head. Harry recovered when Sirius' attention switched to Hermione, and he launched himself at his godfather's back.
Sirius laughed and grabbed Harry, holding him upside down. "That was good, you two. I didn't pick up on your code for a while and it helped you avoid me. But it also helped me find you when I did understand that it was a code. Make sure you're careful about that. Let's try it again."
They passed the next day in the same manner. Hermione woke well before anyone else and went to the library to continue her research until Harry found her for breakfast. They used the time from after breakfast until mid afternoon for the rest of their homework, and then went to the training room to practice.
Hermione was very comfortable in this routine; Sirius and Lupin hadn't bothered her about her research, and she was pleased to see that they didn't interfere too much in her daily activities. She was unused to having adult supervision in a setting outside of school and it would take time for her to adjust.
On the fourth day of her holiday break she awoke at her usual time and walked through the kitchen towards the library when she saw Lupin sitting in a chair with a cup of tea.
"Good morning" he greeted her.
She was silent; surprised that he was awake and sitting in the kitchen this early.
He seemed to understand, "My transformation is tomorrow night, I usually get restless and grouchy a day or two before the full moon."
Hermione nodded, "So what does the Wolfsbane Potion that Professor Snape made do?"
"It helps me keep my mind during my transformations. Severus supplied me with two more gobletfuls the other day, one of which I took yesterday, I will take another today and the final one tomorrow afternoon. After I transform I will keep control of my mind, so that the wolf in me will not attempt to bite anyone should something happen.
"And before I forget, the Weasley's are coming in two days; Ron was revived late last night, and they will be spending some time with us for the holiday."
Hermione nodded and excused herself, walking into the library and opening her notebook to the section on Horcruxes. She passed the time quickly, learning more about the dark objects than she cared to admit.
She had learned to time Harry's arrival, so today she closed her notebook and placed it aside, walking into the kitchen and sitting down at the table where they took breakfast. Harry came down the stairs not five minutes later.
"Did you hear that Ron's ok? And the Weasley's, well not all of them, are coming in two days?" Harry practically bounced with enthusiasm, and Hermione hid a grin.
"How many Weasley's are there?"
"Well, there's Bill and Charlie- they've already graduated. Bill is a curse-breaker for Gringotts, Charlie works with dragons in Romania. Percy is a sixth year, Fred and George are fourth years, Ron you've met, and Ginny started this year. Then there's Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. They're brilliant! The whole family is, actually."
Harry continued to talk about the Weasley's throughout breakfast, and Hermione was almost looking forward to having the Weasley's here because it meant someone else that Harry could talk to. She knew she wasn't the best companion, so having Ron here would at least make Harry happy.
Hermione spent most of the day in the library, researching, until Harry dragged her out. "It's not healthy to sit in a dusty old library all day. Let's have a practice duel."
Hermione consented, and they spent the rest of the day competing in several mock duels.
Lupin said his goodbye at dinner and went to a safehouse with tomorrow's Wolfsbane in preparation for his coming transformation. Hermione noticed Sirius' eyes change briefly to anger when Lupin tiredly stood and walked to the Floo powder, but he said nothing.
The next day was quiet, and since Sirius spent most of the day in the training room, "I need to keep in shape," she and Harry went to the library.
"Hey Hermione, what do you do in the library? What are you reading that takes up so much of your time?"
Hermione carefully regarded her green eyed friend. She decided to give him a basic outline and see how he reacted, "I've been looking for information about Voldemort and the war. I'm trying to find out all I can so that I…so that the Order can finally end the war."
Harry raised an eyebrow at her, so she tried another approach, "It's top secret?"
Harry sighed, "If you don't want to tell me, that's fine. I just thought I might be able to help." He turned to walk out of the room.
"Harry, wait" Hermione bit her lip, trying to make a fast decision. "The Order doesn't really know what I'm doing and I don't want any of them to find out. They might try to stop me."
Seeing Harry's look she quickly added, "It's not anything illegal, per say, but I am looking into what some people would consider Dark magic."
Harry choked, "You're learning about Dark magic? No wonder you don't want the Order to know. What are you thinking?"
This is why I haven't told anyone, genius. They would all react like you. Magic isn't split down the middle into good and evil. It's all in how the spell is intended.
"Harry, I'm not reading about Dark magic to learn it and use it for myself. I'm learning about it to increase my understanding of the magic and spells that Voldemort and his Death Eaters use so that I will be able to counter it in the future. I'm basically studying their moves so that I can plan better. And I haven't told anyone because they would react just like you."
Harry grinned sheepishly, "Well, when you put it like that."
They were interrupted by as shout from Sirius, "Harry? Do you want to work on your Occlumency?"
"Sure, Sirius. I'll be right there" He walked to the door frame and turned around to face Hermione. "Maybe when I can shield my thoughts completely you'll trust me more."
With that he turned and walked out of the library.
Ugh! It's not a matter of trust. Well, yea it is. But it's not only a matter of trust. I know I'm alone in this. And once I find out more about the prophecy I'll know just how alone I am. I certainly don't want to involve Harry, Draco, or anyone anymore than they're already involved. I have to do this on my own.
Hermione spent the next four hours taking notes on various Dark spells and the countercurses or recommended healing spells for them.
Instead of dueling after dinner, Hermione decided to follow Harry's example and take a couple of hours to reorganize her mind and reevaluate her Occlumency shields.
She found few problems with the idea of shutting her mind off from others; how different could it be from shutting off one's emotions or even oneself from the world, as she had learned to do as a child.
The main problem she faced was in the organization of her mind itself. Her mind was blocked by several layers: the first two were walls, basic but strong, that were meant to deter the weaker Legilimens, after that she had two streams of memories. The first was from her time at Hogwarts- they were innocent memories: of classrooms, times in her dorm, with her friends. In short, there was nothing of importance. Behind that was a separate stream of memories, flowing in the opposite direction of the first, in order to confuse or stop anyone who made it that far.
Beyond that she had changed her mindscape and was unsure of how to organize it. For now it was no longer Diagon Alley as it was in her first year. At the moment it was fashioned after the library in the Black house and was somewhat orderly. Her final retreat, which was hidden in the back of the library behind a statue that was set with a password, was a flight of stairs that led to a recreation of the basement of her house.
It was there that Hermione kept her most dangerous secrets, and her most important thoughts. The room was pitch-black and barren. Most would think they had come upon an empty and meaningless room. But each brick in the wall held a memory that Hermione kept under close guard. Certain bricks, known only to Hermione, were booby trapped to add another measure of protection.
Hermione sighed; she still didn't know how to organize her mindscape. She tiredly rubbed her eyes and opened to her bookmark in the Daily Prophet album.
When Hermione woke the next morning she was surprised to hear voices downstairs. She knew that Lupin wouldn't return until lunchtime, and that Harry and Sirius usually slept until nine o'clock. She glanced at the clock that Harry had lent her, it read six forty.
She held her wand at the ready as she made her way quietly down the stairs; she paused on the last step, listening to the voices,
"Sorry we had to come so early, Sirius. Albus thought it would be safer to come in the early morning-"
"Please, Molly, it's not a problem. You know that you're welcome here any time. Maybe the kids want to settle into their rooms and catch a couple hours more sleep?"
"Hey Sirius, is Harry awake yet?"
Hermione recognized Ron's voice and remembered belatedly that the Weasley's were coming over today. She made her way back up the stairs to change, placing her wand in her robes, and made her way back downstairs.
She walked into the kitchen quietly, trying not to draw any attention to herself, but she suddenly found her way blocked by the twins.
"Oi Sirius-
"You didn't mention-
"That ickle Harry-
"Has a girlfriend!"
The twins laughed at their joke and then glanced at Hermione, each taking one hand and shaking it enthusiastically.
One twin pointed to himself, "I'm Fred, and that's George"
"Really, now, boys. Leave the poor girl alone. I'm surprised she's up this early at all."
Hermione turned to look at the woman who spoke. "Hello, dear. I'm Molly Weasley" she went to gather Hermione into a hug but Hermione flinched back, looking at the Weasley matron warily. "Well, anyway, that's Percy-" the eldest boy gave her a small smile, "Fred and George, Ron, I'm sure you know them from school. And that's Ginny" she pointed to the young redhead sitting at the table. "She's in her first year now. She's so excited that there's another girl at Headquarters now."
Mrs. Weasley continued to talk about how excited they were that there was finally a girl in the Weasley family, but Hermione had tuned her out by then. Oh no. I'm the only other girl here. Ginny will stick to me like glue, and Mrs. Weasley will expect me to entertain her. What will I do?
Luckily for her, Harry chose that moment to stumble into the kitchen, yawning. "Harry, dear!" Mrs. Weasley ran over to pick him up in a hug that looked to be making up for the one that Hermione backed out of. "Hi Mrs. Weasley" Harry managed to breath out.
She let him down as her kids came over to say hello and Hermione used that distraction to disappear into the library.
Mrs. Weasley noticed that Hermione was missing after a few moments and walked over to Sirius.
"Where did Hermione go?"
"Probably into the library, she's in there most of the day" he said casually.
"What does she do in there, all alone?" Mrs. Weasley sounded concerned.
"Read, I suppose" Sirius shrugged.
"It's not good for her to be that closed off. Did you see her back away when I tried to give her a hug? Did something happen?"
Sirius closed his eyes for a moment and said quietly, "Not now" then he said louder, "Harry, why don't you help the Weasley's get their bags upstairs?"
With the kids upstairs, Sirius turned toward Molly, "What do you know about Hermoine?"
She looked confused, "Just what Ron told me. That she's a Muggleborn in Slytherin- the first one ever. She's incredibly bright and very good with magic."
Sirius looked at her carefully, "That's not all. But this is an Order secret. I know that you know not to tell anyone but this is different. You can't tell anyone- not even Arthur."
Molly's eye widened but she nodded her head.
"Ok, well, you remember the prophecy that we managed to get, the one about the war, and the child who would vanquish the darkness?" He paused to gauge her reaction. "Well Hermione is the child of the prophecy."
"Oh my word" Molly's hand flew to her mouth. "The poor dear."
Sirius nodded and decided not to voice his suspicions that Hermione was keeping something from them, something about her home life. He had a hunch that Harry knew, but he didn't want to press them for anything, hoping that she would come to him, or someone, when she was ready.
Sirius spent the next ten minutes assuring Mrs. Weasley that Hermione was a capable and extremely talented young witch who would not break under the pressure that had been forced upon her.
Mrs. Weasley wasn't buying it though. "Ginny" she called. She walked dutifully into the kitchen.
"Ginny, Hermione is all alone in the library, why don't you go see if she wants to play wizards chess?"
"Ok mum" Ginny said quietly.
Mrs. Weasley sighed quietly as her daughter left the room. She was the quietest of the family, besides Percy, and Molly worried at how shy her daughter was. She could be such a fierce witch, if only someone would give her the confidence.
Ginny walked quietly into the library. She had only seen Hermione at meals during the year, since they were in different years and had no classes together. But the fact that Hermione was in the library alone made Ginny like the girl already.
Ginny had never been as loud, or brave, or funny, or smart as her brothers. People were always telling her that she was the only girl born for generations of Weasleys and she felt that everyone was expecting a lot from her; as though being a girl already set her apart and raised the standards.
She had a special relationship with each of her brothers; they each pulled out a different side of her and she loved them all. She just felt overshadowed by them. Even the twins; they might be pranksters, but they were brilliant.
Ginny didn't really get along well with the girls in Gryffindor. The girls she bunked with were noisy and gossipy, and Ginny often preferred the quiet of the library to the Common room.
So as she walked into the library, she fostered a hope that maybe Hermione would be her friend. She found Hermione with a notebook in her lap, head bent over a book, and scribbling notes furiously.
"Hi" she said quietly.
Hermione looked up, surprised to see Ginny standing there. "Hello" she said just as quietly.
"Mum wanted me to see if you wanted to play wizards chess, but you look like you're busy so I'll just go" Ginny quickly said, afraid of bothering the Slytherin.
"It's not a problem. You can stay if you want" Ginny looked at the girl hopefully as she sat down.
"What are you doing?" Ginny asked after a moment of silence had passed.
"I'm reading about Dark magic" Hermione said bluntly, trying to see how the first year would react.
"That's so cool! Is it for the war?" Ginny asked excitedly.
Hermione gave her a smile, happy that Ginny had the sense to try to understand something before passing judgment.
"Yea it is. But no one else except Harry knows about it. Can you keep it a secret? I don't think that the Order members would be happy if they knew what I was reading about."
"You want me to keep your secret?" Ginny reached over to hug the bemused girl. "Thank you, thank you! Don't worry, I won't tell anyone!"
Ginny sat back down, beaming. Hermione was extremely confused but remained silent.
"Hey Ginny, just in case someone were to find out, I don't want you to get in trouble for this too. So for now I don't want you reading some of these books, ok?"
Ginny nodded, although she was kind of hurt that she wouldn't be able to help Hermione.
"Do you have any homework for your classes?" Hermione saw that Ginny looked upset. "Cuz you can do that here while I read and I can help you if you need it."
Ginny got up smiling and raced out of the room to get her homework.
Hermione watched her leave, It might be good to have someone in the Order that I can confide in. I can tell that she doesn't have many friends, so I want to make sure she knows that she can trust me. But I don't want to manipulate her. In all honesty, I want a girl that I can talk to.
Meanwhile, Molly Weasley was in the kitchen, watching in amusement as her daughter raced around the house.
"Ginny, what are you doing?"
"Hermione's gonna let me stay in the library and help me with my homework" she called as she ran upstairs to find her school books.
Well, that's not what I meant when I told Ginny to go stay with Hermione, but if it means they're socializing with each other, then I guess it will do for now. And I've never seen her so eager to do homework.
Hermione passed the rest of the day in the library with Ginny. She learned that Ginny was extremely good at Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, and Transfiguration, but was terrible at History of Magic and Potions. The rest of her subjects she varied between passable and good, so Hermione helped Ginny the most on those two subjects.
To Hermione's delight, she found that it was easy to be around Ginny. She was quiet, but she had her own sense of humor that Hermione found she enjoyed. Ginny was also a quick learner, it was just a matter of finding the right way to teach her. Ginny couldn't learn from the boring lectures that Professor Binns gave, so Hermione gave her some activities to do while she reiterated the important facts.
Hermione was able to help Ginny in Potions as well, although she suspected that Ginny would need more help over the year. Her main problem was that she was unsure of herself, which made her cuts sloppy and kept her from trying different variations of the potions. The redhead understood the different ingredients, and what each did, well enough, so that she had a foundation to build on.
Dinner that night was louder than Hermione had anticipated. Although she was used to the noise in the Great Hall, all of her meals at Grimmauld Place had been relatively quiet, so that the noise almost made her flinch throughout the meal.
Lupin had returned only two hours before dinner, looking pale and tired, but he was his old cheerful self when addressed and tried to hide how uncomfortable he was.
Mrs. Weasley had cooked a big meal, and Hermione wasn't surprised to see that most of it was gone by the end of the meal; if there was one thing she had learned from dinners at Hogwarts, it was that boys ate a lot.
After dinner, all of the boys went to the training room. Hermione was surprised to see that Percy even followed them; she had pegged him as a bookworm.
She decided to go and watch, but she didn't want to practice with that many people there.
So she watched as Harry and Ron dueled, and as Fred and George practiced several offensive spells on a dummy. She saw that Percy was practicing on a dummy as well, but he had charmed the dummy to throw offensive hexes at him, forcing him to use defensive spells.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ginny watching her and decided to talk to her.
"Aren't you going to practice, Ginny?"
"No, I'm not that good anyway" she said, looking at her feet.
"I bet you are, but if you don't want to practice, then do you want me to teach you something?"
"Sure, what is it?" Ginny looked up.
"This is another secret, ok?" Seeing her nod, Hermione continued. "I'm going to teach you Occlumency. When you get really good at it, you can help me take notes on those books in the library."
"Isn't Occlumency really hard? I overheard mum and dad talking about how hard is was for them to learn it and Professor Dumbledore taught them, although dad says that Professor Snape is the best Occlumens ever."
Maybe I should ask him for advice about organizing my mindscape. He'll be here for the Order meeting, after all.
"Ok, the first thing I'll teach you is to clear your mind. We're going to meditate."
Two hours later and Ginny was making a lot of progress. And teaching Ginny Occlumency allowed Hermione the chance to work on her own Legilimency. Unfortunately, Mrs. Weasley came in half an hour later and shooed them all to bed.
Hermione, not sleepy at all, snuck back into the training room and put up several silencing spells. She was able to practice some of her more advanced spells, which she was wary to do with anyone else around, and it let her try some of the lesser Dark spells that she had read about.
Hermione was no fool; she knew that one didn't just dabble in Dark magic. Once tempted, a witch or wizard was tainted for life. There was no such thing as "just one Dark spell." Although it wasn't necessarily a bad thing to be well versed in Dark and Light magic.
Knowledge is knowledge. It's all in how that knowledge is used that defines it. It's all about the intent. That's what no one understands. A spell itself isn't Dark until it's used for dark purposes. Just like a Light spell in itself isn't Light until it's used for the light.
Shaking her head to clear it of thoughts, Hermione withdrew into her own mind to try her hand at nonverbal spells. She started out small, but found that it was extremely tiring and the effect that the spell had wasn't worth the effort. For now, I'm dependant on my wand.
Hermione crept silently back to her room, lifting the silencing spells, and fell onto her bed with a Potions book.
As the days passed, Hermione found herself avoiding Mrs. Weasley more and more. It was bad enough that she forced everyone to clean the house when it was plenty clean, but the woman kept trying to be a mother to Hermione.
Every time she saw the girl she would pat her head, or pull her into an embrace, and Hermione had to force herself not to flinch or run away. She didn't know why the woman was acting the way she was until Ginny said something.
"Well, mum was really sad when she learned that your mum died. I'm her only daughter, and I think she's come to view you as a surrogate daughter."
"But I've only known her for a couple of days."
"But you were the one who found Ron and told Madam Pomfrey that he was Petrified. You saved mum a heart attack since Pomfrey wouldn't have known what was wrong or how to fix it. I think she's trying to show her thanks by mothering you to death."
Hermione thought about that. She didn't really remember her mom, but the few memories she did were happy. She remembered that her mum smiled a lot, and smelled like flowers. Even as distant as those memories were, and how awful most of her memories after her mum's death were, she didn't want a replacement.
Because there's nothing to replace. She thought bitterly. I've done fine on my own, I don't need anyone's pity now.
The days before the Order meeting were quieter, as Hermione had heard Mrs. Weasley threaten the twins with horrible chores without magic if they were caught pulling pranks during the meeting.
But as Hermione walked upstairs she heard one twin mutter, "She has to catch us, though."
Hermione decided that tomorrow, the day of the Order meeting, she would ask Professor Snape about Occlumency, and she would talk to Dumbledore and try to get some answers about the prophecy from him.
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Ok, not the best ending, and a boring chapter I guess but I wanted to end it here. And yes, I know that Ginny is OOC and I guess Mrs. Weasley kind of is too, and Mrs. Black definitely is, but I will be changing some stuff about each character so deal with it :-)
I'll be gone for most of July so I wanted to give you guys this chapter now in case I couldn't upload more before I leave.
I'll try to get the next chapter- a short one that will cover the Order meeting, Christmas, the return to Hogwarts, and a month or two back at school- up as soon as possible, hopefully before I leave, but I wanted to add at least one chapter to each of my stories before leaving.
Thanks for sticking with the story!
Always,
Sinkme