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.

Yesterday, I came home from school (yes, I still go to school) and the number of reviews literally blew my mind. I got eleven for one chapter! Oh my gosh! Thank you to all those who reviewed, as well as thos who voted on my poll. I've decided to close it soon, so go and vote quickly! :)

Chapter 13

-o-O-o-

James groaned. "Aw, brilliant. Double Transfiguration with Ravenclaw, then Potions with Slytherin and Herbology with Hufflepuff. Great morning. This afternoon, Defence Against the Dark Arts with Slytherin and Double Charms with Hufflepuff. "This," he announced, throwing his timetable across the table so Hermione caught it, "is why I hate N.E.W.T. level."

"Stop grumbling, James." Hermione scolded him, adding a spoonful of sugar to her coffee. "It's only Monday morning and you're already complaining. What will it be when you get to start Head Boy duty?" she asked teasingly.

"'Mione," he whimpered, holding his head in his hands. "You're not helping."

"It wasn't my intention." she declared, taking a sip of her beverage. "By the way, I can only think of how proud Lily will be when she sees you've been working hard."

His head shot up. "You think she will?" And with that, not awaiting her answer, he grabbed Peter by the collar and pulled him up. "Come on, Wormtail!" he said. "We don't want to be late for class!" and he ran away.

Just then, Sirius entered the Great Hall. She scanned her timetable and groaned too at the amount of classes she was taking. "Hey, beautiful." her boyfriend greeted her as he plopped down next to her. "What are doing?" he asked, trying to read over her shoulder.

"Checking out my timetable." she answered. "I have double Defence Against the Dark Arts with Slytherin, then Arithmancy with Ravenclaw, double lunch," she grinned. "History of Magic with Ravenclaw and Double Potions with Slytherin."

"Double lunch?" Sirius asked. "What are you going to do with double lunch?"

She smiled. "Homework." she answered.

He bent over and kissed her neck gently. "You know, I could always skip Herbology and we could do something slightly more interesting than homework." he kissed her neck again. "Something long," he moved a little higher and kissed her there. "Something hot," he kissed her just behind her ear. "Something wild," he kissed her jaw. "Something definitely loads more fun than any assignment any teacher could put us through." He moved so he was whispering directly in her ear. "So? What do you say?" he purred.

"Sirius," she sighed, pushing him away. He tried the puppy look but she wasn't falling for it. "I don't want you to fail your N.E.W.T.'s just because I distracted you. Besides," she added, gathering up her stuff. "I'm not in the mood."

And she left it to that, leaving behind a very confused Sirius who had just been rejected for the first time in his life.

-o-O-o-

After gathering up all her textbooks and quills in her bag, Hermione set off to the Defence Against the Dark Arts tower. She was eager to see how it looked in this timeline, and how it was decorated. Did the teachers only stay one year here too?

As she pondered on her question, she opened the door of the tower, only to find that she was not alone, as she usually was. Most of the time, nobody had arrived yet she came, yet here, in the second row, next to a window, sat Regulus Black.

'Why do I feel as if he follows me?' she asked herself, when she knew full well it wasn't the case.

He was reading a book and didn't even look up as she approached him. He did, however, greet her as she came near. "Good morning, Granger." he said, still staring at the black writing.

Instead of asking how he'd know she was there, she merely asked: "Are we back on last name basis now?"

He looked up from his book, shutting it and putting it back in his bag. When he looked up, he was smiling. "Fine." he conceded. "Good morning Hermione, I trust you slept well?"

"I did, thank you Regulus." she answered. "How about you?"

His smile didn't waver but something in his eyes shifted. "Troublesome dreams, I'm afraid." he answered. "Please," he added, gesturing towards the chair on his right. "Have a seat."

"Don't mind if I do." she answered, wincing as she put her overweight bag down next to the chair. Sitting down, she pulled out her stuff and placed them in front of her, before straightening.

"So," he said when she was finished, his own quill and parchment already in front of him. "What brings you here so early?"

"I like it." she answered simply, even though it wasn't the truth.

He scrutinised her for a second, before declaring. "You're lying."

She turned to him. "Excuse me, what?"

"You're lying." he repeated, as if it was the most normal thing on earth. "I know you're lying. You're avoiding eye contact, you're blushing, you breath is hitching… You're lying." She turned around so that she faced away from him. "Now, Hermione, tell me the truth: what brings you here so early?"

"Why do you care?" she snapped at him, turning around to see he was leaning into his hand.

He sighed. "And now you're on defensive mode." he added. "I'm not trying to hurt you, Hermione. I'm just asking a simple question. I don't even care whether you answer or not."

He just stared at her for a couple of minutes before she answered. "I'm scared." she admitted. "I'm constantly scared of being late. It's horrible. It's a compulsive behaviour. An obsession, if you prefer. Like getting good grades. It kills me, but I can't do anything about it." she explained.

She turned to face him. He was smiling. "See?" he asked. "It wasn't that difficult." She blushed, smiling slightly. He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, still leaning into his hand.

The door opened then, and all the rest of the students rushed in, although not followed by the teacher. Everyone stayed standing up, chatting actively about their holidays. The noise was getting on Hermione's nerves. Finally, the teacher arrived.

She was a very thin elderly woman with silver hair tied in a tight bun at the back of her head. She wore midnight blue robes peppered with little stars that glittered everywhere. "I will ignore that some of you were late," she said, setting books down on her desk. "If you will ignore that I was the latest."

This made Hermione smile and Regulus snigger.

Everyone sat in their chairs and the chatter slowly died down. Once it had completely vanished, the woman spoke up. "Good Morning, class." she said, in a voice that reminded her strongly of Professor McGonagall. "My name is Professor Greenmail, and I will be teaching you Defence this year. Unfortunately, my retirement age is going to be attained near July and I therefore will not be teaching you next year." Chatter had started again.

Professor Greenmail raised her wand and a bang echoed around the room, making everyone jump. She huffed.

"As I was saying, I will be teaching you Defence. We will now start with a simple oral interrogation on Dark spells and creatures. Who can tell me about the lightening curses?" Hermione raised her hand. "You, there," Professor Greenmail said, pointing to her. "What's you name?"

"Hermione Granger, Miss" Hermione replied politely, standing up.

The older woman nodded stiffly. "Very well, Miss Granger, what is it that you know about the lightening curses?"

"There are three, Miss." Hermione replied in a confident voice. "Three for three different intensities. First, there is Fulgur Minima, which give the victim a mild shock, similar to what Muggles like to call 'static electricity'." She stopped, unsure or not whether to continue.

Professor Greenmail nodded. "Go on." she said, with a slight wave of her hand.

Hermione took in a deep breath. "The second is simply Fulgur. The victim now has been shocked throughout their whole body, and may possibly lose consciousness for an hour, at the most. The last one," she gulped. "The last one is Fulgur Maxima. This curse is the most dangerous one, and the only one actually registered by the Ministry as a curse. It causes heart failure and, almost always, certain death." she finished glumly, setting herself back down.

"Very good, Miss Granger. Take ten points to Gryffindor." Professor Greenmail said, turning back to the board.

As she asked someone else about some random Dark creature, Regulus poked her side. "Hermione," he whispered when she didn't turn. "Are you alright?"

She nodded. "Yeah, it's just…" she didn't know whether she should finish her sentence. "There was a rather detailed description of how the experiments to come up with these curses were in the book… And a list of all the victims, with the dates and stuff."

He half-smiled in sympathy. "You should see the library at my place." he added after a while. "All these entrails expelling themselves and brains boiling inside their skulls… It's gross."

Hermione stared at him, before remembering the Time Travel books she needed from that library. "You know what, Regulus?" He looked at her questioningly. "I would love to go there."

He gave a short laugh. "What?" he whispered so that Professor Greenmail didn't hear them. "Are you a masochist or something?"

She shook her head. "No," she said. "I only enjoy stuffing my face with information."

He shook his head. "You're lying again." he scolded, his light grey eyes still boring into hers. "But whatever the reason, my parents would peel the skin off my back if I ever et anyone like you inside our house."

Hermione nodded. She remembered the painting of Sirius' mother when she went to Grimmauld Place: a shrieking madwoman.

"In any case," Regulus whispered. "We'd better listen. I want to see the look on Lupin's face when you also beat his N.E.W.T. results."

And as he chuckled silently to himself, Hermione wondered how the hell he'd found out about her O.W.L.'s.

-o-O-o-

During her double lunch, Hermione took a trip to the library, to find out anything helpful about the Black family… and its traditional wards, for that matter. She was deep inside 'Oldest Household Protective Spells', when a chair pulled back on her left.

She turned and saw Sirius sitting there. She sighed. "Hey Sirius." she greeted him. "Aren't you supposed to be in Herbology?"

He shook his head. "Peter has it covered." he looked up and put up the cutest face he could muster. "I just wanted to see you." he added, smiling.

However how much she thought he was adorable, she told herself she mustn't fall for it. She forced her voice to remain neutral. "So, you didn't have anything planned out?" she asked.

"Now that you mention it," he said, pulling his chair towards her. "I might have thought of a few things that I mentioned this morning. And now they're plaguing my thoughts."

She sighed. "And I might have mentioned this morning that we both had to study. And I'm sticking to that." she said, dosing her voice with a little venom.

He frowned. "But 'Mione," he whimpered, burying his nose in her neck like he did when he wanted something desperately. "I want to." He sounded so much like a wounded puppy all she wanted to do was cuddle him and make all his problems go away.

But instead, she held her ground. "I said no, Sirius." she said, her voice wavering slightly. He didn't answer, just whimpered and nuzzled her neck some more. She continued to read her book, ignoring his nuzzling and his wandering hands.

Unfortunately for her, his wondering hands became increasingly distracting, until they reached the point where she had to plunge her hand up her skirt to stop from doing wicked things to her. She was bright red as he smirked triumphantly. Very wicked things indeed.

He wanted to start pleading again, but Madam Pince rounded a corner just then and whisper-yelled: "Mr. Black! I remind you that you have been banned from the library already and are no longer allowed to pass the entrance!"

Sirius groaned. He put his puppy look back on and asked his girlfriend: "Come with me?"

She smiled radiantly. "Not a chance." she answered, and Sirius left the library, cursing that old Squib for coming a minute early.

-o-O-o-

OK, another quote contest. Who found the AVPS quote in this chapter? Good luck! Congratulations to TheSpringLover who found the 'Despicable Me' quote last chapter! Hope you liked the preview! :)

Hope you all enjoyed that! Please review!

Next chapter: Sirius goes really naughty.