Portrait Between the Pages
A Bookworm's Dream Library

The library—there certainly wasn't any pounding music or any other loud noises. And the place was most certainly filled with one of Hermione's favorite things. Still, out of all the libraries she'd been to, she found the school library to be the most extensive, albeit an extensive library with only a very small section dedicated to Muggle writers for the students who took Muggle Studies, all of which she had already read and could easily find at her home town library. The size still made it her favorite.

"The library will be closing in an hour or two, Ms. Granger," the librarian Madame Pince said. "As it's close to curfew."

"I know. The common room was too loud," Hermione said. "So I came here hoping it might have calmed down by the time I got back to the dorms. Plus, some light reading is always relaxing."

"True," Pince said, nodding her head in agreement. "I doubt there is a book I wouldn't want to read."

Hermione's mouth twisted slightly. "Nothing?"

"Well, cursed books, for starters, and books on the Dark Arts that are not allowed even here in the library unless there is a counter curse located within the same material," Pince said before turning around with her own question. "Is there a reason you asked what you did?"

"Umbridge assigned us Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard," Hermione said, watching Pince's facial features twist slightly. "And apparently, you know the book I'm talking about."

"Yes, I do," she said. "And I read and reviewed the book when it was first published and decided it was an inappropriate book for this library as it added nothing to what was already here, which is precisely why you, Hermione Granger, hadn't read that particular book before this year."

"And?"

"I don't regret reading the book," Pince said. "Because then I am educated enough to know what kind of farce it is." Her mouth twisted in disgust. "That's not what is bothering you, though, is it?"

"I was upfront with Umbridge regarding some of the issues with that book," Hermione said.

Pince nodded her head. "Do be careful. I understand fully wanting to discuss the merits of a given book, to debate it, but the ministry appointed Umbridge, and there is no telling what kind of propaganda they are trying to push." She nodded her head towards the shelves. "Go find yourself something to read and distract yourself from all of that."

Hermione smiled, before heading to the shelves, gently running a finger over the spines while taking in the smell of old books, which was enough to get her to relax. Her eyes scanned carefully for that book she'd not yet read, pulling the ones where there wasn't a title on the spine to see what the book was, each time finding she'd indeed already read the entire thing. A sigh escaped as she thought to herself, "Is the only place with a book I've not read the restricted section where I need a teacher's permission to take out a single book? How dull."

And then—

The first thing she noticed when she cracked the book open was the empty portrait painted on the front cover, which made her quickly close the book to look at the spine and the section of the library she'd found it in. Defense Against the Dark arts was scrawled on the sign, making Hermione frown as she knew she'd been looking through those books for anything that might help her pass her OWLs coming up at the end of the year.

The book with the portrait wasn't among those books, although—

Hermione turned her head, looking at the spot she'd just pulled the book from, remembering she'd seen an empty space there the other day. "What the..."

Her brown eyes looked down at the book and opened it again, seeing the empty portrait painted at the front again. The front page was practically blank, with an elaborate scrolling design at the top and bottom. She turned the pages to find more pages with only the page number written in the top corner in impeccable handwriting. Hermione frowned, confused by what she saw when—

Hermione dropped the book, having discovered the painted portrait on the front page was no longer empty.

It lay on the floor while she touched her hand just below her throat to regain her composure. Hermione then bent down, picked up the book, and carefully opened it to see the person who appeared.

A pair of gray eyes blinked as locks of black hair cascaded in front of the youth's forehead as he took her in, and then his mouth opened. "Are you related to Sirius?"

"What?"

"Are you related to Sirius?" the young man in the portrait asked.

"Sirius, as in Sirius Black?" Hermione asked.

"Who else?" the youth said as if he felt the answer should be obvious.

"Well, let's see. There are three Sirius in the Black family, but if there are three Sirius in just that family, would it be too far-fetched to assume someone not from the Black family would name their child Sirius?"

The youth frowned, then said, "That is logical. I do, in fact, mean Sirius Orion Black."

"Yes, but which Black is that?"

"The third. And you're still not answering my question of whether you are related to Sirius or not?"

"No," Hermione said. "Why do you ask?"

"Interesting," was the response she got back.

"That doesn't answer my question, you know."

"No, it doesn't."

Which was yet again not answering her question. Hermione frowned, looking at the picture. "Could, you know, maybe tell me what concern Sirius is to you? Are the two of you related?"

After all, the youth had black hair and gray eyes as Sirius did. "Are Sirius and I related?"

"It's a rather simple question, you know."

"Nothing is simple when it comes to Sirius."

"Yes, but it's a yes or no question," Hermione said.

The youth frowned, contemplating the question, and then said, "If you were to ask him, he would say no, but if you were to ask anybody else, they'd say yes."

Hermione stared, finding herself taken aback by the answer, given she found it an odd way to answer. "So." She took a deep breath. "Who are you, and how are you related to Sirius?"

"Who am I?" The youth frowned, started glancing around, then looked to the front page, where the words Regulus Arcturus Black slowly appeared.

Hermione frowned. "Okay. So your name is Regulus, but that doesn't answer my question of how you're related to Sirius."

The youth's eyes widened, and he let out a sigh. "Really?"

"Or are you expecting me to memorize the entire Black family tree?"

"Well, I did," Regulus said. "From a very young age, I did."

Hermione stared, then sighed. "I guess if it perked my interest, I would have memorized it as well, but the Black family has nothing to do with me."

"But you knew he was Sirius the III, right? That there are three of them."

"Well, yes," Hermione said.

"So you have seen the family tapestry?"

Hermione glanced around, frowning, before turning back to the book, lowering her voice. "If you mean I've been in Grimmauld place, yes. I noticed simply because I was looking for Sirius' name, although that's been blasted off."

"My name would have been near where he is. Really close."

"Which means you're closely related to him?" Hermione said. She looked around the library, worried someone might be listening, but when she looked back, Regulus was gone, as was the name scribbled on the journal. She let out a sigh, closing the book. "Well, I guess Harry might know who you are since you're dead set on not telling me."

She started to leave when Pince said, "Wait. You need to check out that book."

Hermione walked over. "It's a journal. Someone left it, and I plan on returning it."

Pince nodded her head. "Even if you weren't a prefect, I'd trust you to do just that. Tell them to be careful leaving things here in the future."

"I will," Hermione said, although she wasn't sure how she'd go about that when all she had was a portrait to go on, particularly when there were a lot of dates of death on the Black family tapestry.