CHAPTER SIX
Summary: Hermione's secret is discovered by The Order of the Phoenix. Before Harry is rescued, she needs to be first. But from who? With the help of Sirius she learns to put the past behind her, and with the help of two Weasleys, they show her a happy future. But Hermione isn't who she thinks she is, what she discovers will change her life for good. Rated M for a reason.
Disclaimer: All original characters and canon events belong to J.K. Rowling. Non-canon events are my own ideas. I am not making any profit from posting this fanfic.
Page count: 7
12 Grimmauld Place - Thursday 21st December 1995
Hermione had eaten dinner in the kitchen along with Sirius, Remus, Molly, the twins, Ron and Ginny. Harry had refused to come out of his bedroom and the atmosphere in the room had been sombre and tense. The twins seemed a little more joyful than they had been and Remus and Sirius had shared amused looks, as they noticed that the twins' eyes kept darting between their food and Hermione.
When everyone else went to the living room, Hermione filled a plate with food and took it up to the second floor, knocking on Harry's door.
She received no reply. She knocked again. No reply. She knocked on the door louder and didn't stop until Harry yelled for her to 'go away.'
Hermione was angry with the way Harry was behaving. Her eyes narrowed on the door and a gust of wind slammed into it, forcing it to open and it slammed against the wall.
Harry had jumped up from his bed in shock.
"What the hell do you think you're do...Hermione! You're back," he blinked dumbly.
"Obviously, I've been back for seven hours, but you'd know that if you stopped feeling sorry for yourself and got your lazy arse downstairs, instead of being selfish and locking yourself in your room," she spoke coldly, and he gawked at her. "There are a lot more pressing things going on in the world, Harry, that believe it or not, need more attention than you. You dreamt about Mr. Weasley being attacked, that's wonderful and you saved his life. Now stop being such a child." She put his food down on the floor and then walked out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her and waking up Mrs. Black's portrait.
She stormed down the stairs and when she reached Mrs. Black's portrait, she glared at her fiercely and Mrs. Black almost fell off her chair in shock, but thankfully she did stop shouting. Hermione closed the curtains and then went into the study where she knew Remus and Sirius would be waiting for her.
"Don't you think you were a bit harsh?" Sirius said, as she entered the study and shut the door behind her, casting Locking and Silencing Charms.
"No, he's been a pain in my arse for months. All he does is brood and complain. As much I love him, the world doesn't revolve around him and I have my own horrors to deal with. I guess I finally snapped," she answered, taking a seat in the large leather arm chair behind the desk and next to Remus.
"What did you want to talk about?" Remus asked, changing the subject
"I've noticed some things, strange things. My magic has been different; I can do things that should be impossible. I've spent the last week researching and everything I've found all say the same thing. That what I know I can do is impossible."
"And what is it you can do?" Sirius asked with a raised eyebrow.
Hermione conjured a glass before filling it will water. She put her wand out of reach and they looked at her curiously. Hermione took a deep breath and then focused her attention on the glass. Her eyes narrowed and she stared at it, her gaze never wavering.
"Hermione, what are you..."
Hermione shushed him.
"But..."
She shushed him again.
Her gaze narrowed further and the glass began to shake. Suddenly the water erupted from the glass and into the air.
Both Sirius and Reus flinched, expecting to get showered with cold water, but it never came. They opened their eyes to see the water floating in mid air and they looked at Hermione in shock.
"I'm doing it, I'm controlling the movements," she spoke, her eyes still on the water.
To prove her point she had the blob of water mould into a star, then a flower before settling for a cat. She reached over for her wand and cast a Freezing Charm. The water froze leaving behind a cat figurine and Hermione caught it when it fell and she handed it to Remus.
"How did you do that?" he asked quietly, staring between Hermione and the cat he held in his hand.
"I don't know. I first did it yesterday. I was just staring at a glass of water in my room and it suddenly erupted. I noticed that I could control it and then an image popped into my head. I thought of a dog and the water moulded into the shape. I tried several more times afterwards and I was able to mould a dragon, an eagle and a mermaid. It gets easier the more I do it; it doesn't take as much focus. All the research I've done says that nothing can control the elements, at least not in the way I can."
"That was just one, Hermione, water," Sirius said, looking a little surprised.
"Not just water."
She stood up and then walked over to the lit fire place and they got up and followed her. She knelt down and put her hand in the fire.
"HERMIONE, NO!" Remus and Sirius yelled, but Hermione didn't scream in pain, she just looked at the flames mesmerised.
"It doesn't hurt. I can feel the warmth of the fire hitting my face, but the fire surrounding my hand is cool."
They watched enraptured as she pulled her hand away from the fire and the flames followed her, stretching out of the fire place to caress her finger tips.
"Fire," she whispered.
She then stood up and turned around, focusing her attention on the book that laid on Sirius' large, dark wooden desk. She narrowed her eyes, focusing on it. They saw a small tornado appear in front of her and it moved over to the table, it pushed the book off the table and carried it over to her, dropping it into her hands.
"Air," she said quietly and she turned to face them. Their mouths were hung open.
"Three of the five elements," Remus muttered in disbelief.
"No, my first magical act was growing back the entire garden of my house. It had been ruined after days of torrential rain. I was sad and I started to cry. When I opened my eyes all the water had vanished and the mud had dried up. Flowers stared growing, coming back to life. I haven't done anything like that recently though."
"Earth, that just leaves..."
"Quintessence," Hermione nodded. "Quintessence is said to have many abilities, one of them in which is lightning. You've already witnessed it."
Sirius and Remus sat down on the brown leather couch and stared at the floor.
"Do you know what it is? Do you know what's happening to me?"
"I remember reading something in a book when I was younger. I'll search the library for the book and re-read it. Everything in the Black library is dark, extremely rare or illegal. It's why you haven't found any useful information pertaining to what you want to know. But if I'm right and you are what I think you are, the outcome of this war will be affected massively."
"What am I?"
"I think it's best if you let me find that book first, Kitten," Sirius said softly. She bit her lip, but nodded. "So change of subject. Want to tell me why Fred and George can't stop staring at you?" he smirked at her when she blushed.
"It's nothing," she muttered and she shuffled on her feet, looking down at the floor.
"Tell that to the lovey eyes they were making when you weren't looking," Remus laughed. "They're a lot more joyous than they had been and it's all due to your arrival."
"What's going on Kitten?" She mumbled her answer. "Didn't quite catch that." She mumbled again. "Or that," Sirius said amused.
She sighed. "They've taken me on two dates so far." She looked up from the floor to see that they both had shocked looks on their faces, before they turned into small smiles.
"Oh yeah? When did this come about?"
"They know about everything."
"I assumed they might, their behaviour was a little off during the summer."
"Apparently they heard about what happened and knew about the trial. They disillusioned themselves and followed us to the trial. That's how they know. They were always making me laugh, distracting me, changing the topic of conversation when things became difficult, they kept my secret and stopped people from finding out. They asked me for lessons on how to cast a patronus and I've been teaching them. I gave them detention and we had a chat. Almost a week later they revealed that they liked me, I had an emotional meltdown before they talked me down from it and I agreed to go on a date with them," she was blushing furiously.
"How are they treating you?" Sirius asked.
"Very well, better than I deserve to be honest. They are patient with me, they don't get offended when I flinch or shy away from their touch. They've stopped calling me 'Granger' because they know it upsets me. They keep things light, but they listen when I tell them about my past. They don't judge me. They make me laugh," she shrugged.
"Well that's good to know, you deserve only the best, Kitten."
"I hugged them."
"You hugged them or they hugged you?"
"I hugged them. I tensed but I was able to relax." He smiled at her. "You won't tell anyone will you? Everything is still in the early stages and it's going well. I don't want to jinx it. We're not keeping it a secret around school, but no one's noticed because we spend most of our time together in the Room of Requirements or the library. If Ron found out he would be cruel beyond belief."
"I'm sure he wouldn't," Remus said softly.
"He would. The night of my first date with the twins, I walked through the common room. Ron asked me if I had homework to do. When I told him I had a date he laughed at me and he said and I quote, 'who'd want to date you?' It really hurt my feelings," she said quietly and she heard a dog like growl rip from Sirius.
He stood up and hugged her to him. "Don't you dare listen to the little shit. You are special, so special in fact you have two boys pursuing you, and twins no less." She couldn't stop the chuckle. "Now, off you go and I'll look for that book."
"Night, Padfoot, Remus," she kissed their cheeks, removed the charms from the room and left.
"Well that was interesting."
"Try fucking terrifying, Moony," Sirius replied and he started pacing.
"Why is it..." he was cut off when the twins knocked on the door and stepped into the room.
"Can we talk to you about something?" Fred asked.
Sirius looked at them and nodded and they walked further into the room, locking and silencing it behind them.
"What's this about, boys?" Sirius asked as he made his way over to the bar and poured himself a tumbler of fire whiskey.
"Hermione," they both answered.
"We've noticed strange occurrences with her magic," George said. Sirius turned around to look at them.
"Explain," he demanded.
"Well, when we walked into the great hall last week, Hermione was staring at this plate of pancakes at the other end of the table. We saw a tiny tornado move past her and down the table, it then pushed the plate of pancakes towards her until it rested in front of her."
"Did anyone else see?" he asked them, they weren't surprised that he didn't seem shocked to hear about it.
"No, just us," George answered.
"Anything else?"
"Hermione created a thunder and lightning storm, almost flooded the Room of Requirement, that was back at the beginning of December."
"She's done that before," Remus said.
"We know, she told us that it's happened four times since her fourth year."
That was news to them.
"Well thank you for brining this information to us, unfortunately, Hermione beat you here. She just left."
"Do you know what it is?" the other twin asked.
"I have my suspicions, nothing confirmed yet," he replied and then he took a sip from his tumbler. "Hermione tells me that you've taken a shine to her," he said, slipping into his father role and he took pleasure in seeing them gulp and nod nervously. He leaned back against his desk and Remus chuckled and shook his head at his friend's behaviour.
"We've taken her on a couple of dates and she's teaching us to cast a patronus," one twin spoke.
"I know, she told me."
"You really don't have secrets," the other twin muttered, but Sirius heard.
"No, we don't." He stared the boys down and they shifted in her seats. "I'm going to be Frank with you boys."
"We'd much rather you be, Serious," a twin said nervously. Sirius started laughing.
"Nice word play," his laughter suddenly stopped. "I know you're good men, anyone with a father like Arthur Weasley is bound to turn out well. You're respectful when the time calls for it and you are intelligent. You make Hermione laugh and smile and I've seen it with my own eyes. Judging by all the blushing she's been doing, she likes you both. I don't have any problem with a triadic relationship, Hermione needs two men to handle her," he said proudly. "Hermione has had an incredibly difficult and traumatising life. My point is, if you hurt her or make her do anything she doesn't want to do, I will make sure that the only thing you fear in this world is me. I've been to hell and I don't mind taking you for a visit."
The twins had gone pale and they gulped.
"We would never hurt her, Sirius," one twin said.
"Yeah, she scares the hell out of us," the other twins spoke. "She's dangerous with a wand."
"And we've seen how dangerous she is without a wand. We walked in on her self defence lesson. That trainer of hers was getting his arse kicked."
"That's my girl," Sirius said proudly.
"She's been opening up to us about her past; she's starting to trust us. We wouldn't jeopardise that for anything."
"We would never force her to do anything. We never make the first move, we don't touch her. Only when she makes contact first."
"Glad that we're on the same page," Sirius nodded. The twins stood and all but ran from the room after the charms were cancelled.
"They'll be good for her," Remus commented.
"I've already seen a difference in her," Sirius spoke in agreement. He downed the rest of his fire whiskey and then he started to pace again.
"What has you so on edge?" Remus asked.
"I hope I'm wrong about Hermione, if I'm not then her life will never be the same. She'll be a target."
"She already is."
"She'll be a bigger target than Harry and Dumbledore combined, Moony," Sirius spoke, looking distressed.
"It's that bad," he whispered.
"It's that bad," he confirmed.