Finally started watching Doctor Who after hearing so much about it, the special effects are comically bad but it's pretty cool, just saying
Disclaimer: not getting paid for this or Doctor Who
The night came to an end soon after the dancing. After Hermione's one dance with Severus, Slughorn whisked her away to continue the introductions that were interrupted earlier. She didn't see Severus for the rest of the night and all she could think about was what he wanted to tell her tomorrow. And what about what Malfoy said? Had this Dark Lord actually taken notice of her? Did he find her worthy? She didn't care much for his opinion but this probably wasn't something she should brush off so easily.
Not even halfway back to Gryffindor tower and it was already obvious that she would have no sleep tonight, great. Perhaps she could ask Remus if she could borrow some more of his sleeping draught.
"Hermione!" Oh how her night seemed to improve when she heard her friend's voice. It completely slipped her mind that Remus might not be alone as she turned around. Alas she saw him with Lily, James, and Sirius who had gotten some girl from the club to bring him along. He looked at her with a confused and grossed out appearance like he always did whenever he saw her hanging out with Severus. She may not have seen him but he had definitely seen her dancing. "I didn't know you knew Malfoy," Remus commented, interrupting her thoughts.
"Oh, I didn't," she said as they approached where she stood. "Professor Slughorn and Severus introduced me to him."
"I just thought since you two were dancing together that you knew each other somehow. He usually doesn't dance with people other than his wife," Remus said.
"No, he just found me interesting apparently. He wanted to hear more about the 'mysterious girl from who knows where.'"
"I can't believe you would dance with such a jerk," Lily said.
"He was polite at first then outright rude during the dance. Trust me I want nothing more to do with him."
Sirius scoffed, "Malfoy and Snivellus are good 'friends' or allies as Slytherins call them. If you keep hanging out with the Greasy Git you will see more of Malfoy."
"And why do you care?"
"Because you are a damsel in distress that needs to see the light," he said with a suave smile.
Hermione turned to Remus, "Has he been drinking? He isn't usually this nice to me."
"I've been trying to convince them to cut you some slack, but yes he has been drinking."
"So let's try and start over, Christmas spirit and all," James said.
"Uh huh, and you don't mind that I hang out with Severus?"
"Baby steps, he's still a greasy git," Sirius said.
Hermione shrugged and walked back to Gryffindor tower with them. It was mostly for Remus' sake that she didn't say anything to upset his friends. But there was also the fact that she didn't feel like having any conflict tonight.
"So…" James began trying to start a conversation. "How did you learn to fight so well? Dolohov is still a little bit jumpy," he laughed.
Hermione felt a little embarrassed to have this brought up again and a little guilty that she hurt the boy so bad. He hadn't done anything to her yet. "I don't know," she said truthfully.
"Oh ya, that."
They walked in an awkward silence for a few more moments before Hermione whispered to Remus, "Okay what is going on? They don't like me."
"Let's just say the duels sort of made them a little more mature. Have noticed that they haven't bothered Snape since he literally kicked their asses? And they know you could too, they will never like him but now they seem to have found better things to do than bully Snape. Pettigrew is the one exception but he won't do anything on his own."
Of course not, coward. They soon arrived at the tower and headed to their rooms, no late night talk with Remus tonight everyone was going home for the holidays in the morning. Except her of course, she had no home.
She flopped down onto her bed a bit depressed at the thought. Where would her home be in this mysterious future of hers? How did her family celebrate Christmas? Was there a large family gathering or just herself with her parents and any siblings she may have? Did they stay at home or travel? Actually that last one sounded right, there weren't any flashbacks but she had a feeling she traveled a lot. She wished she knew where though. Is this how the rest of her life will be? Putting together some feelings and occasional flashbacks together like pieces of a puzzle trying to make a picture? Would she ever see the full picture or would she reach the end only to find that some pieces were lost and never to be found again? Maybe she would have to wait until the future version of herself attended Hogwarts, there couldn't be many muggleborns named Hermione Jean. But what if that never happened? What if she had altered the timeline to the point where she wouldn't be born? No, she hadn't had any contact with muggles so there weren't any chances that she met her parents or anything.
She heard the redheaded Head Girl whisper "Hermione?" so as not to wake their roommates and broke Hermione from her train of thought. It seemed Lily was going to try and be friends with Hermione again. The brunette wondered how long this new found maturity would last, they were all leaving tomorrow and by the time they came back James and Sirius would probably go back to messing with Severus. Lily may last longer at least until Hermione did something to insult her again.
"Is something wrong?" Lily urged. Hermione had been sitting down still in her dress and make up with a somber, thoughtful expression on her face. During this time Lily had already changed and prepared herself to go to bed.
"Nothing, I'm just tired," Hermione lied as she began taking her hair down from the fancy ponytail she had it in.
"I'm sorry about everything," Lily said. Hermione just nodded as she changed into something warm and comfortable to sleep in. "I was just trying to help."
"I know," Hermione said as she wiped her face clean of make-up.
"I'm glad you don't mind Remus' 'furry little problem.' Most would, it's hard for him to find good friends. He doesn't feel like he can have any sort of relationship—platonic or romantic—with someone who doesn't know. He gets really lonely."
"Well Remus is a great guy and I am glad I am friends with him. It isn't his fault he has this condition."
"I wish more people thought like that," Lily said wistfully, referring to more than just werewolves. After a moment of dreamy thoughts she continued on a more serious note. "I still think you're a danger even if you don't mean to be, the duel showed that much, but you're not a bad person."
"Gee thanks," Hermione responded with a roll of her eyes.
"You're good for Remus… and Severus too apparently." Lily looked away from Hermione and down at her hands in her lap. "I've never seen him dance before, he would never dare do something so 'foolish' before."
"Lucius forced him," Hermione pointed out.
"Perhaps, but he would've walked away and made a scene before. He seems in a better mood this year and he isn't with those Death Eaters as much."
"I'm surprised you've noticed anything about him."
"I still think it will all backfire on you eventually."
Hermione didn't want to hear this. "I'm going to bed," she announced as she got into her bed and turned off the lights.
XXXXXX
Snow fell gently from the sky as it covered the Scottish landscape in a new coat of crystalline water. The fresh blanket of white became marred with the foot prints of hundreds of students leaving the castle for Christmas break. Hermione watched them out of the boredom that comes with waking up earlier than expected. Unfortunately none of the people she saw through the window sparked any interest. Remus could not be spotted out of the crowd and his friends were sure to be with him. Severus was staying here at the castle like she and would be her only company for the next two weeks. How often she would see him though would probably be determined by the conversation that she was to have with him sometime today. She was assured by both Severus and her instincts that she wasn't going to like the subject that needed to be discussed and hoped that it would not be too bad nor make her lose one of her two friends here.
Hermione turned away from the window and got ready for breakfast. She had wanted to sleep in and was not very hungry but the girls in her dorm woke her. After throwing on a robe to say a quick goodbye to Remus in the common room, Hermione returned to her room to find that going back to sleep was impossible—not that she slept much at all due to her mind's wondering about Severus and his news—now which led to her previous activity of staring out the window. But now that activity lost anything resembling interest and Hermione decided to occupy herself with breakfast.
She settled on an outfit she found in her purse in the beginning of the school year when she was first found. It was a red oversized sweater—one that was oversized for the sake of comfort and a cute relaxed look as opposed to just being the wrong size—and blue jeans. Her jeans and other articles of clothing always got strange looks and taunts from the purebloods but most of them would be home for the holidays and would not be around to tease her. This thought brought a small smile to her face, two weeks without Slytherin snobbery, the few that were still here were hardly problems.
She took her time tying her shoes, not wanting to endure what will be an eerily empty Great Hall for any longer than necessary. The walk down the many flights of stairs was also done at a leisurely pace. She admired the castle's festive decorations, traditional things found in Muggle London anywhere but with dashes of magic that made it pop in one way or another. Hermione wondered why witches and wizards celebrated Christmas anyway as no magical being had ever shown an interest in religion beyond the holiday and Easter. Perhaps it was something brought in by Muggleborns searching for comfort in familiarity. But now was not the time for internal debates about magic and faith, no that was too heavy a subject for her mind that was still foggy due to lack of sleep. Instead she needed to figure out what she would eat when she reached the Great Hall and ready herself for what promised to be a stressful day.
Finally she reached the massive doors that opened up to the magnificent Great Hall. It was empty practically with only a handful of students from each house and all were younger than her self. She sat down at her usual end of the Gryffindor table where a small meal appeared before her. It was times like this, when she realized how much food she was wasting, that Hermione wished she ate more if only to properly show her appreciation to the House Elves for the work they have to do. Unfortunately her stomach would not retain that much food this morning so she settled for some toast and orange juice.
The quiet in the hall was deafening. Every clink of silverware sent a small jolt to her spine and every whispered word raised suspicion. No one spoke above a whisper following some unspoken rule. In this vacuum of sound it was impossible not to notice every person who entered or left so Hermione's head snapped up to see Severus enter the hall just as it had for everyone else. He was wearing his uniform's white button down shirt and a pair of trousers that were too large for his skinny waist and had to be held up with a belt. His shoes were scuffed, his hair lank as always, and dark circles were prominent on the pale skin under his eyes. Much the opposite of last night where he had attempted to put his self together.
Severus had not had much sleep the night before. After the party ended, Lucius reminded Severus of what he was supposed to do today all the while teasing the younger wizard about his dancing skills or lack of. Then Severus returned to his bed much later than usual and lay down thinking about his task, his decision. He understood the logic behind the pureblood's cause but didn't necessarily agree as he had seen living proof against it time and again. He himself as a half blood proved it wrong so he was not willing to put his life on the line for a cause that was so flawed but it could be more dangerous to refuse. He was put into Slytherin for a reason, he knew how to survive. But could his mental sanity survive assisting the man destroying so many lives. Lucius said it wasn't that bad but Severus suspected that new entries weren't allowed a full look at everything at first if ever. Plus Lucius was mostly monetary support if Severus' hunch was correct whereas Severus would be working on potions. On top of that, whether he liked it or not he now had Hermione on his conscious. He had to help her make her choice, how he got into this position he wasn't sure but he refused to fail. But could she ever be safe no matter what choice she choose?
He sat down and looked over at the girl in question who had returned to her toast. He did not 'love' her and he was fairly sure he did not have a crush on her but he did care and did not want to lose her to this senseless bloodshed. Severus settled for a bowl of cereal and ate quickly as he saw Hermione leave the Great Hall. As he left after her he could only think of one place where she would be and that of course was the library. He headed in the direction of her haven of learning as he went over everything in his head. What was the best choice for them? Could she handle the life offered or would it kill her slowly?
He imagined Hermione as she was last night when they danced and his mind said no, someone so innocent could not handle it. But then he remembered her duel and the scars he caught a glimpse of. That look in her eyes said yes, she could handle anything coming her way; they said not much could be worse than what she had already seen. But did she deserve to see anymore? Should her strength be tested in such a way, either way?
Fight against the Dark Lord or join him for protection?
Severus made his decision and chose which path he wanted to sway his friend.
Okay this new attempt at friendship sounds sudden I know, trust me it won't be without tension. Think of it as more of a truce and they have to grow up at some point.
So what do you guys think? What should they do? Leave a review