Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters. Everything belongs to JK Rowling, and I'm merely allowed to play around with them. No copyright infringement is intended.
In case you didn't understand Chapter 1 very well, I added a few sentences at the beginning which might help you. :) Anyway, enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 3
-o-O-o-
Hermione arrived in front of the gargoyle that guarded Dumbledore's office and stopped. She looked around, checking to make sure that nobody had followed her nor could overhear the password.
Fortunately, she seemed alone. "Liquorice Wand." she declared. The gargoyle leapt aside, revealing the familiar stairs that lead to the Headmaster's office.
She climbed the spiral staircase until she stopped at the door. She gave a light knock.
"Come in." a voice said from the inside.
She stepped inside, closing the door carefully behind her before turning to examine her surroundings. Unlike the rest of the castle, the Headmaster's office was very different from the one in her own timeline.
Half of the Dark Magic detectors were missing, the desk was much more crowded with paperwork, bits of quills and lemon drops, and the Sorting Hat had less rips and tears than the last time Hermione had seen.
But the most surprising change was Dumbledore himself. "Ah, Miss Granger, I've been expecting you." he exclaimed. "Please," he said, gesturing towards the plush armchairs in front of him, "Have a seat."
She walked over to where he was pointing and plopped down easily. She mentally nodded. This Dumbledore had nothing to do with the Dumbledore she knew.
This one was bolder, had far more energy, was less wrinkly… To sum it up, he was much younger. Not just twenty years younger, no, but almost thirty.
As if the war had taken so much energy from him that it had added another ten years to his already impressive lifespan.
"Well then," he started. "Let us begin."
She waited for him to speak, but apparently, he was doing the same. "Let us begin by what?" she asked, trying not to sound too insolent.
He merely chuckled. "Why, I should say, by the beginning, my dear." he crossed his legs. "Now… When are you from? What do you intend to do here? Can I assist you in any way?" He looked at her expectantly, his blue eyes twinkling with anticipation.
She sighed. "I am from 1996. I was being chased by…" she couldn't possibly use the term Death Eater, it might affect the timeline. "Someone," she admitted reluctantly. "And I happened to run in the storage room where the Timeturners were. I decided to go back in time a couple of hours, but then I lost my balance and fell. Next thing I knew, I was waking up here."
She sighed and leaned back into her chair.
"What I intend to do here? Find a way back. I can't possibly stay. I can't alter the timeline in any way because it might result in… I'm not even sure what it could result in, but it sure won't be pretty. The longer I stay, the more chances I have of changing something crucial, not even doing it on purpose!"
She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose for a bit, before Dumbledore's voice broke the silence. "You haven't answered my last question: Do you need my assistance, in any form possible."
She smiled slightly, her eyes still closed. "Do I need you assistance? No, I don't. Do I want it? Yes, I do." She opened her eyes once more, placing both of her hands on her lap. "Two will work faster than one, I guess."
He waited a couple of minutes, before nodding slightly. "I am afraid, Miss Granger, that Merlin's 17th law is formal: one cannot simply go to the future. As I have told you before, you can die, but you can't come back from the dead."
Before she could interrupt, he held up his hand in a sign of silence and continued.
"Besides, even if you do want to research for that, you are not going to do it all day. You need… Some sort of occupation. And if you wish to use the Hogwarts library, I suggest you resume classes here."
Hermione opened her mouth to object, but then though better of it. After all, didn't she need the Hogwarts library? It was certainly one of the best furnished in the whole of the United Kingdom, if not the best.
Come to think of it, the Malfoys' was probably very extensive… As would be the Blacks'…
Slowly, she felt a plan come up in her mind. As a grin slowly spread on her face, Dumbledore asked: "What about your O.W.L.'s? Where will you stay during these holidays?"
Hermione looked up at him. "Surely you could arrange for me to pass them sometime during the beginning of the holidays. As for the stay, well… I was wondering if I could just stay here. I mean, it's safe, there's nobody to go blabbering my secrets to, and I could even get a part time job in Hogsmeade."
Dumbledore nodded. "It's settled then. I'll talk to the Minister and explain your, ah, misadventure."
Seeing the look on her, face, he chuckled.
"Not to worry, dear, I will tell him your cover story, he'll buy it." he reassured her.
"But, what about the Unspeakables? Won't they tell the Minister?" she asked, slightly worried.
Dumbledore chuckled again. "Miss Granger, one thing about the Unspeakables, is that they can't speak about what they see in the Department of Mysteries. They are under the Unbreakable Vow; it's part of the reason why they are called 'Unspeakables'. In any case, I'll try and arrange a job for you at the Three Broomsticks. I'll go to Gringotts, to set you an appointment so we can have a vault opened for you."
She nodded. "Like that I won't be totally broke when I graduate." she translated.
"Miss Granger," he smiled, "I couldn't have phrased it better." And with that, Hermione stood up and, being careful not to harm the armchair in any way, placed it back and walked out of the Headmaster's office.
-o-O-o-
As soon as she was back in the corridor, she sensed something was wrong. She moved her hand to draw her wand, but found herself unable to do so as she was thrown brutally against the opposite wall, face against the hard stone.
Momentarily stunned, she heard a cold chuckle near her left ear. She felt something press on her windpipe and tried to struggle against it, but it only made it harder to breathe. "Well, well, well." the voice said.
It belonged to a boy who, judging by the weight he was pressing on her back, was either very fat or very burly.
"Not so bloody proud now that you don't have anyone to cover your back."
He tightened the thing, which seemed to be his arm, against her throat and she gave a half choke.
"You should know," he continued. "That nobody insults Black and gets away with it."
He shifted slightly, and Hermione saw it as an opportunity. She needed him just a little more to the right…
"Especially not a filthy little Mudblood like you." he hissed. His breath was putrid and for a second Hermione lost trail of what she wanted to do, before focusing again. "It's too bad that Dumbledore loses his new toy on its first day." he chuckled, and brought himself in the exact position she wanted him in.
She shoved her head backwards, hitting him squarely in the nose. He gave a howl of pain and took a step back, still holding her throat. She used the freeness of her legs to land a kick straight in his groin.
He finally released her, doubling over in pain as she gulped in a large amount of air. She considered hexing him, but thought better of it, as he was now sporting a broken nose and practically writhing in agony.
Instead, she settled for a warning. "If you come near me again," she hissed, putting as much venom in it as she could possibly manage. "I will positively kill you. Tell Black that if he wants to get back at me, he had better do the job himself and not let one of his idiotic mongrels do it for him."
She smoothed her robes and, just before she left, noticed a look of pure, burning fury in the boy's eyes. She ignored it and spun around, leaving him bleeding and whimpering in front of the headmaster's office.
-o-O-o-
Sirius Black was a dreamer. He'd never told anyone about it, but he was. That was why he loved art. It was another one of his little secrets that caused his family to disown him.
And, right know, he was dreaming about Hermione Granger.
Yes, he had surprised himself by managing to remember her full name so fast. Hell, he had learnt Marlene's full name only last year, and she'd been pining for him since third year.
"You know what?" he told no one in particular, even though most of the fifth and sixth year. Only James heard.
"What now, Padfoot, dearest?" he asked in a sarcastically sweet voice.
"I'm not in love with her-" he started, but James cut him.
"No, you're not." he agreed. "So stop talking about her."
"Let me finish!" Sirius whined childishly. "As I was saying, I may not be in love with her, but I will be… Pretty soon."
James snorted. "You a Seer, Padfoot?" he asked sneakily. "Wonder why you can't foresee your exam grades."
"Hey!" Sirius yelled, standing up so fast that he was temporarily blind. "I've got very good grades, may I remind you!"
Remus, who had been listening quietly, intercepted the conversation. "I agree." he said. "He and I got the same OWL results for Defence Against the Dark Arts, Herbology and Transfiguration."
No one had the time to reply to anything, for Hermione walked in the room just then.
Her hair was worse than the usual bird nest she had, her neck was slightly bruised and she had quite a large amount of blood on the back of her head and neck. She sighed. "Got cornered when I got out of Dumbledore's office." she mumbled.
Mary ran over to her, while the Marauders and Lily followed. She took a better look at the new girl before gasping, both hands on her mouth.
After a while, she pointed at Hermione's hair. "Is… is that…" she stuttered, unable to get a proper question out.
"Blood?" Hermione asked. Mary nodded slightly, her eyes very wide. "It is, but it's not mine."
Sirius was worried. She got cornered? He wasn't used to feeling any kind of protective feeling, but there, he had to butt in. "I told you I should have gone with you." he accused her.
She turned to him. "I didn't get hurt." she said again, as if he hadn't understood.
He snorted. "I got that far." he told her. "But that's not an excuse. Had I been there, no one would have dared to attack you."
"I can handle myself!" she shouted at him, offended.
"That's not my point!" he shouted back. He was angry, but he didn't know why. She had been reckless and she could have gotten hurt. But she wasn't. What was going on with him?
She looked angry too. "Why do you care, Sirius Orion Black?" she hissed at him.
There was a pause. "I don't know." he murmured after a while. He stared right into her eyes and she looked away, swallowing.
Meanwhile, Mary was still as pale as a ghost. "Mary?" Hermione asked carefully. "Are you alright?"
The girl stood there, unmoving, a horrified expression on her face. Hermione waved her hand in front of her eyes, but all that did was mad her weep.
"Oh, dear." Lily said. She turned to face Hermione. "We'll talk about this later, you'll have to report this incident. You're new, this sort of thing shouldn't happen. As prefect, I'll help you from now on. But right now," she looked at Mary, who was still sobbing helplessly. "I've got to take her to the Hospital Wing."
"What's wrong with her?" Hermione asked carefully.
Lily sighed, as if she wasn't sure she should divulged this story, but told Hermione anyway. "Last year, she got cursed by a bunch of Slytherins. I know some of them… Like Avery was one of them, as was Snape... It was very Dark Magic that."
Lily shook her head.
"She spent three whole weeks in the Hospital Wing." she continued. "Since then, she hasn't been able to stand any form of physical violence, whether on her or not. When she sees it, she just bursts in hysterics and I have to bring her to Madam Pomfrey so she can have a Calming Drought."
She shook her head again and began to lead the crying girl out of the Common Room.
Hermione turned back to the others, who were looking at her expectantly. "Erm…" she started awkwardly. "It's not that I don't appreciate your company, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to take my leave… Washing this mess out of my hair is going to take a while."
Sirius looked down. He could have made a dirty joke about joining her, but he wasn't in the mood right now. He was pensive. He didn't know what to make of his feeling for Hermione.
He wasn't in love with her. She wasn't in love with him. Yet, they pretty much just stopped talking to each other. They had just had their first argument, and they'd met less than a day ago.
Meanwhile, she had left. And Sirius Black was still confused.
-o-O-o-
That night was a full moon. He, Moony, and Prongs were roaming the ground of Hogwarts at night, having fun. After a while, though, they got tired, so they went and lay down near the lake.
Sirius rolled onto his belly and his tongue lolled out as he panted slightly. He was staring at the stars, when he got a strange tug in his belly. The same one he got when he looked at Hermione for the first time. Suddenly, he thought, no, he knew, that the stars had something to do with this feeling.
'What do you want from me?' he asked them in his mind. 'Why her? Why now? Why when I have everything I could possibly need, you give me a challenge?'
After a long time of waiting for an answer, he growled, rolled onto his belly and stood up, walking back to the castle. Prongs soon followed, and Moony walked back to the Shrieking Shack.
The two Marauders walked back to their Common Room under the Invisibility Cloak, where they were greeted by Peter. "So," James asked when they got inside the dormitory. "Have you worked out your Animagus yet?"
"Almost." Peter said. "I think it's some sort of rodent, because I think I squeaked at one point."
"That might have been the normal you." Sirius teased, smiling.
"Funny, Sirius." Peter said, although by the look on his face, he didn't find this very funny at all. "Why don't you go play with your ball?"
Sirius growled. "Why, you little-" he started, walking towards the smaller man.
"Guys!" James interrupted. "We don't fight! It's part of the Marauder's rules!"
Peter huffed. "He started it." he tried.
"It doesn't matter who started it." James said. "I don't even care who started it, we just don't fight. That's why we made the rules, right?"
Sirius sighed. "Yes, it is." he agreed. "Sorry, Peter." he added, holding out his hand.
Peter shook it. "It's alright. I shouldn't have said that." he admitted.
"Guess I can call you Wormtail, now." Sirius said, smiling at his friend.
Peter smiled too. "You will, too."
James was smiling too. "Can't wait to tell Moony." he said, before glancing at his watch. "Oh, goodness!" he said. "It's almost five! Tomorrow is Monday!"
"I hate Mondays." Peter growled under his breath.
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Who doesn't, Wormtail dearest?" he asked him, his hands on his hips.
Laughing, the three boys went to bed, and all three fell asleep very quickly.
-o-O-o-
Please review! :) Thanks to SuperPotterWhoLockFan who reviewed the last chapter, as well as to all my readers and those who added this story to their follow or favourite lists! :D It's always appreciated!