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.
That came a little earlier than expected. :) But, then again, it's just a combination of bits from chapters in my other story from which this is taken... Chapter 6 should be out Thursday. Anyway, enjoy!
Chapter 5
-o-O-o-
"Hermione?" a voice on her right asked. The girl in question groaned slightly and pulled her covers over her head. She heard a sweet laugh and decided to take a peek. It was Mary. "You're so lazy it's unbelievably funny." she declared, before starting to giggle madly again.
Hermione sat up, stretching her arms as far as they would go. "What's so important?" she mumbled, rubbing her eyes with the palms of her hands. She hadn't slept that well; still slightly giddy when she climbed in her bed, it had taken her a while before she could calm down and sink in deep slumber.
"Have you forgotten already?" Mary asked exasperatedly, shaking her head. She was dressed in a tight blue blouse and a cute black skirt that was too short to belong to the school uniform. "It's the Hogsmeade outing! Your first one, with that too! Aren't you excited?"
Hermione stood up hurriedly. "Crap!" she swore. "I don't know what to wear!" she dashed towards the bathroom and desperately tried to brush her hair, to no avail. She ended up with her brush stuck in her wild curls, when Mary came in.
She gasped. "Hermione!" she ran over to her and slowly detangled the wooden brush from the bird's nest that Hermione called her hair. Once that was done, she asked: "Why don't you try smoothing it down?" Hermione grumbled something. "Sorry, didn't quite catch that." Mary said softly.
"Because nothing works on this." she said, gesturing to her head.
Mary shook her head. "At least one thing works on every hair, Hermione. We just have to find what works on yours."
Hermione thought about it for a while. "Sleekeasy's Hair Potion works. But it takes way too much time to put on."
Mary tapped her chin for a couple of seconds, before smiling suddenly, her eyes sparkling. "Wait here." she said, and she dashed out of the bathroom.
Hermione heard a little bit of shuffling, before Mary barged back in a spray in hand.
"This," she held the spray up. "Is a recipe o my grandmother's, and it acts just like Sleekeasy's… but it's much easier to apply."
She walked over to Hermione and started spraying the potion all over her hair. When it was covered by a copious amount, she started massaging Hermione's s scalp and hair, as to let it sink in.
After a couple of minutes, she stopped and said: "Now, all you need to do is rinse it."
Surprised but happy, Hermione waited for Mary to leave the room before stripping and stepping in the shower. She rinsed the potion which, surprisingly, had an innocent smell of violets. She stepped out and wrapped herself in a towel, while she heard a knock on the door.
"Come in." Hermione called out, and Mary stepped inside the steam filled room, some clothes in hand. She stepped back out and Hermione dressed, wrapping a towel around her hair, before going back out.
She was wearing a short sleeved white blouse with a navy skirt that came down around half of her thigh. As soon as she was out, Mary bustled over to her, unwrapping Hermione's hair from the towel.
She grabbed the discarded hairbrush and began to smooth her hair. Surprisingly, no particular knot offered any resistance whatsoever.
When Hermione's hair was smooth, Mary pulled out her wand and began do dry her hair with magic. When she was done, Hermione's hair was as straight and soft as it had been the day of the Yule Ball.
"Wow." she said to no one in particular, catching of piece of her hair and examining it. It was slightly longer than she remembered, almost going to her waist.
"I know right." was Mary's reply. She stared at the other girl for a moment before asking: "Can I braid your hair?"
Hermione was bewildered. "Yeah, sure." she answered. Mary looked positively beaming. She wasted no time in grabbing her hair and twisting it in numerous ways, so that a couple of minutes later, Hermione was left with a French braid, with just a couple of strands escaping stylishly to frame her face.
Both girls giggling madly, they left the Common Room to have breakfast. Both of them knew how a lot of people would be surprised by this change. And both of them would enjoy it dearly.
-o-O-o-
As Hermione passed the door of the Three Broomsticks, a strong smell of alcohol hit her. Sirius stopped for a second, breathed in deeply and sighed.
"Hah! The smell of the essence of life…" All of them rolled their eyes and sat down at a rather large table in the back of the room.
A waitress soon approached them. She looked in her early twenties, with dirty blond hair tied in a messy bun at the back of her head. Her smile looked suspiciously false as she asked: "What will it be, ladies and gentlemen?" with a sickly sweet voice.
Sirius grinned. "Rosie, dear, there is no need to go with the formalities." he told her, leaning back in his chair.
"Sirius!" she gasped, obviously surprised by his presence, before putting her smile back into place. It looked more genuine now, though. "You'll take the usual, I presume?" she asked.
He laughed boisterously. "Obviously! When have I ever taken something else?"
She giggled slightly and turned to the others. "Will it be Butterbeer for the rest of you?" she asked.
There were slight murmurs of "Alright", "Fine" and, in James' case, "I wonder if Lily likes Butterbeer…", as Rosie, which Hermione strongly suspected was the younger version of Madam Rosemerta, counted the rest of them, before heading back towards the bar.
Hermione turned to Sirius. "Just out of curiosity, what's the usual?" she asked.
He merely grinned cheekily. "You'll see." he declared, before giving a slight chuckle. Remus, James and Peter rolled their eyes.
Hermione had a strange feeling that told her that this 'usual' was probably something very unreasonable, very stupid, very childish… Very Sirius-ish, basically.
When Rosemerta came back, it was with six bottles of Butterbeer and a huge pitcher, full to the brim with Firewhiskey. "You can't be serious!" Hermione shrieked when Rosemerta placed the pitcher in front of Sirius.
He laughed again. "Actually, that's my name." he said, laughing at his own joke.
Ignoring the pun, she declared. "You won't be able to drink that and return to school sober." She shook her head.
His eyes sparkled. "You want a bet?" he asked. "Five Galleons that I can drink that and another one and be more sober than you at the end of the outing."
She shook her head. "I don't have five Galleons on me." she told him seriously. In fact, she didn't have five Galleons at all, but she wasn't going to tell him that.
"Fine." he said. "If you win, I give you five Galleons. If I win, which I most certainly will, you have to give me a kiss." He smirked at her evilly. "And not just any kiss: I want a full blown snog, alright?"
She rolled her eyes. "Fine, I'll take your bet."
"Deal?" he asked to make sure, holding out his hand.
She grasped it and shook it. "Deal." she declared firmly. Sirius was grinning from ear to ear.
"Well," James said. "Now that it's over, I suggest we toast. To Hermione's arrival!" He said, holding his drink up.
"To Hermione!" they all said, holding their drinks up, before taking sips.
"To me, I guess." she said, taking a large gulp of her Butterbeer.
They put their drinks back on the table, and James started, licking his lips. "So… Hermione, when I first saw you, you thought my name was Harry… Why's that?"
She sighed. "Harry was my best friend, back where I came from. He looked a lot like you… He had messy black hair, glasses…"
"So what made you realise I wasn't him?" James asked, out of pure curiosity.
She smiled sadly. "He had green eyes. Bright emerald green eyes that inspired faith and courage… He was a hero, and he was like a brother to me."
Peter spoke up. "Why don't you bring him here, I'd sure like to meet him."
She stared at him for a while, before replying with an emotionless voice. "He's gone." It was a simple sentence, yet it meant so much.
Sirius took a large gulp from his pitcher. "Oh well… To Harry!" he said, and they all toasted to her unknown friend.
-o-O-o-
"No, no, no… You got it all wrong Prongs…" Sirius slurred drunkenly.
Hermione was feeling as though she was going to win the bet. He was only half-way through his second pitcher and totally intoxicated.
"It's the Weasley… who goes to the library… and he says: 'Can I 'burrow' this book?' Get it? 'Because… Because the Weasleys live at the Burrow!" He said before bursting out laughing.
James giggled giddily too, being slightly tipsy himself. They had all asked for a small glass of Firewhiskey when Mary had suggested a toast to the end of the school year.
They had all drunk it, except for Alice, who had left earlier with a blushing Frank Longbottom. Sirius had already been slightly drunk then, but by then, he was completely wasted.
"Hey, hey Prongs!" he giggled. "You know what else is funny? It's that… you love Lily, but she doesn't love you, when I can get any girl I want!"
He burst out laughing once more.
"And you," he pointed at Peter. "You're a sneaky little rat, you know. You have to transform to go to the girls' dormitories, when they invite me in!"
His boisterous laughter was seriously getting on her nerves. Besides, he was the only one laughing.
"And Moony!" he shrieked, gulping down some more Firewhiskey, sloshing a large amount on his shirt. "He's really funny! I compare him to a girl all the time, because every month, girls get their period, and Moony, every month he-"
"Stupefy!" Hermione yelled, pointing her wand at Sirius.
He suddenly stopped in his sentence, freezing in space as his head simply fell on the table, knocking his pitcher over. Remus and James were as white as ghosts, staring at their best-friend who had almost, although not on purpose, divulged a secret that was not his to tell.
Slowly, their heads turned to Hermione, who still had her wand out and pointed across the table. "I…" she stuttered. "I… I gotta go." she said suddenly, rising so fast that her chair toppled over. She quickly walked out of the bar, numerous pairs of eyes staring at her.
Once she was out, she noticed how the sky was slightly dark. It was still reasonably warm, though, and so Hermione set off, intending to go back to Hogwarts. She stopped in her tracks, though, when she became aware that she was being watched.
A gust of wind hit then, and suddenly she was not so warm anymore. She turned around to face a dark hallway, and through the shadows of the walls, she could make out the shape of a person.
That person seemed to have realised she was watching him, because it walked out of the alley and into the sun. Hermione nearly gasped.
It was Regulus Black.
He was smiling. In fact, no, he was merely sneering, but not at her. His light grey eyes glinted with mischief and the way he stood seemed to portray great amusement. He was wearing a thick black velvet robe, under which he seemed to be sporting Muggle clothing: a grey shirt and a pair of black jeans.
"Like what you see?" he asked playfully as she noticed she had been staring. "Not that I can blame you, of course. I am devilishly handsome."
"Yes," she agreed. "Devilish seems to be an adequate adjective to describe you."
He chuckled. "I didn't come here to bicker, you know." he added after a while.
She tensed. "Really?" She clutched her wand tighter inside her palm.
He took a step towards her. "No need to look so afraid." he taunted.
"I'm not afraid." she answered, and it was true. She had seen worse than him. She just felt more in security with her wand held close.
He arched an eyebrow delicately. "Oh really?" He shook his head and took another tantalising step towards her. "In any case, I came here to thank you."
"Thank me?" She was truly surprised at this statement. "For what?"
"Why, for the stunt you just pulled in the bar." he explained, nodding towards the building in question. "I daresay, my brother needed someone to show him his place. I am rather disappointed it was you, though. I was hoping for someone a little… cleaner."
"Jerk." Hermione muttered under her breath.
That guy could say a compliment without referring to blood purity. He seemed to have heard, though, because a second later he had thrown his head back and was laughing wholeheartedly.
Another gust of wind broke out, then, making Hermione shiver again. Regulus looked at her for a while, as if debating with himself, before he walked over to her, taking off his cloak and placing it on her shoulders.
She stopped shivering immediately.
His cloak was very warm, as were his hands when they grazed her shoulders. "Why are you doing this?" she asked suspiciously.
He shrugged. "I have manners. Besides, I'm not entirely evil; I do enjoy taking care of dirty little lost kittens like yourself." he smirked.
"Git." she said, this time audibly. He smirked.
They stayed like that for a while before he broke the silence. "You were on you way to Hogwarts?" he asked her.
Her head shot up. "Yes! Oh, god, I've probably missed my carriage-"
"Yes, you have." he told her simply.
She gasped. "You've done it on purpose, haven't you?" she demanded, hands on her hips.
He smirked, looking up at the sky. "Maybe." he taunted.
"Ugh!" she cried out. "I can't believe I actually thought you were halfway decent for a second! I'm so foolish!"
He was still staring at the sky. "No, you're just a Gryffindor." he answered, as if it was something elementary. "Dear lord, looks like I'll have to walk you back, then." he declared, looking back at her.
"No!" she cried, outraged. "I've had enough of manipulating for today! I am walking home alone and going to bed." she declared, stomping her foot to prove her point.
He arched an eyebrow. "I'm afraid that if you won't let me, I'll have to stalk you." he said simply, as if there was imply no problem whatsoever with stalking young girls that late at night.
Her eyes widened. "You wouldn't." she growled menacingly.
He stepped closer so he was towering over her. "I would." He looked straight into her eyes. "You know I would." he added softly. There was no hint of menace in his voice, no venom, but no joking either.
She glared at him for a couple of minutes. "Fine." she gave in. "Just… Let's get out of here."
"For once, I agree with you." he said, and they set off towards Hogwarts.
They were both very silent, not only because they had nothing to talk about, but because neither of them had the will to break this non-verbal truce between them. Regulus had thrown his head back again and was now staring at the stars.
When they were about half-way, he inhaled to start speaking. Hermione braced herself for whatever insult he had found to hurl and her, but instead, all he asked was: "Do you know a lot about stars?"
She was slightly surprised at his question but answered nevertheless: "Not too much, they remind me of Divination." she explained.
There was another pause, during which he still stared at the now very dark sky, before he declared. "I know quite a bit about them. This one, for example," he pointed at a rather bright star. "Is called Sirius. The Dog Star…" he laughed. "Rather fitting, don't you think? Although, he was never quite that bright."
She giggled slightly.
"That one," he pointed to another. "Is one of my favourites." They were very close to Hogwarts, then, already inside the grounds. "I was named after it, you see?"
She considered making a joke about his narcissism, but instead just asked. "Is it called Regulus, then?"
He turned to her. "No." he answered softly. "It's called Arcturus." Seeing her puzzled expression, he developed. "It's my middle name." She nodded understandingly.
"It sounds good together." she said, trying to make a compliment.
He smirked. "I know, right?" he joked.
Although, Hermione was not entirely sure it was a joke. She shook her head, but his eyes never left her face.
They were entering the castle when he finally asked. "What's your middle name?"
"Jean." she replied, starting to climb the stairs. "Hermione Jean Granger."
He turned his attention back to where he was walking. When they neared the Gryffindor entrance, he said. "It sounds good."
She was positively shocked. He turned back to her with a huge smirk on his face.
"For a Mudblood." he finished.
She actually smiled at the insult. "You nearly had me there, Black_" she declared, before starting to laugh.
He was still smirking. "You should have known better, Granger." he replied, before turning around and stalking off.
It was then that she remembered something. "Black!" she called out, and he stopped to turn around, giving her a puzzled look.
She jogged a little to come up to him, before taking off his cloak and handing it back to him. As it changed hands, Hermione took a whiff of it, and was surprised to find it subtly perfumed.
She had expected a pompous arse like him to literally cover his cloak with the most expensive fragrance in the world, but he hadn't.
Before she let go of the cloak, she got a glimpse of his eyes. They were no longer deeply repulsed by her very existence. Instead, they were merely curious.
Once he had his cloak back, he gave her a curt nod and left, leaving a very confused Hermione in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady.
Later that night, Hermione kept her word. She directly went to bed. But as she tossed and turned in her sheets, an idea formed in her mind; she still wanted to go back to her time, and to do so, she needed sources she hadn't yet checked.
Sources which were not necessarily legal or Light Magic… She needed a source like the Black family library. She smirked as her last coherent though formed in her mind.
It was time to befriend Regulus Black.
-o-O-o-
As always, please review! My usual thanks to readers, people who added this story to their alert or favoutie lists! No one reviewed the last chapter, which I was pretty upset about, as five people reivewed chapter three. Anyway, I'd like to warn you that I'm not doing this again, I don't update unless I have at least two review, but since no one reviewed the last, I'm not updating until I have at least three one this one, or two on both. There you go! You have been warned! :) Anyway, have a nice day!