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.

Don't tell my mom I've been writing this chapter, because I was supposed to do my French homework… Gah! I hate homework… Anyway, have a nice reading! I wrote this chapter listening to 'When Can I do This Again' by Owl City... Just thought you'd ought to know. :)

Chapter 19

-o-O-o-

Hermione didn't see Regulus for the rest of the day. She pondered about the reason for a while until she came to the conclusion that he was tired.

In reality, she thought he might have something to with that Muggle murder, and possibly some others. Back in her timeline, she had no idea when Regulus had joined the Death Eaters, and still had no idea now. She hoped it might not have happened yet, although she wondered why. Maybe it had to do with the fact that she needed him to go back to where she rightfully belonged.

There it came again. The pang that came in her chest every time she thought of going back. She knew she didn't belong here, yet she still wanted to stay. Although she didn't know exactly why.

She groaned and ran her hands through her hair. A seventh year, sitting on the couch opposing hers, gave her a weird look and continued the book he was reading.

She couldn't affect the timeline. She knew that. The consequences could be disastrous. Yet, for the sake of one person, she felt like she was willing to bargain the sake of the entire space-time continuum. And it bothered her.

Because that person was Regulus.

She'd never paid that much attention to him back in her timeline. She barely knew his name. Yet here… here, and with him… She felt like she'd been sent here for something. The very thought of it was ludicrous, obviously, because it had all just been a huge mistake, an accident…

But every time she looked into his eyes, she knew he counted on her. She just couldn't let him down. He looked so scared, but had so much experience in hiding his feelings that the traits of his face formed the best mask she'd ever seen. But he needed someone. She needed to help him. He was just a scared little boy, behind that grown-up's body.

Besides, she hated Death Eaters. If he was going to become one of them, she'd have no choice but to hate him too. And she didn't want that. Nor was there the opportunity that she became one too. There was only one choice left then: prevent Regulus from ever becoming a Death Eater. There was little chance she would succeed without destroying the universe, but for him, she was prepared to take the bet.

She smirked at how horribly cheesy her line sounded and stood up, her Potions' essay forgotten on the table. She stretched and started climbing the stairs to her dormitory as the seventh year, looking around to check if anyone was watching, snatched the piece of parchment from the table and took a glance at its contents:

Hermione Granger

6th Year/ Gryffindor

Draught of Living Death

The Draught of Living Death can be brewed by adding powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood. Its side effects include powerful snores and uncontrollable laughter when the person wakes up from his/her slumber.

The rest of the page was covered in drawings of a dog, a stag, a rat, a wolf howling at the moon, and in the centre, two foxes played, looking as though they were running after the tail of the other.

The seventh year put the paper down, shaking his head. "She's barmy, that one." he mumbled, picking his book up at the page where he had left it. "Absolutely barmy."

-o-O-o-

"I'm crazy." Hermione mumbled the next morning, staring at herself in the mirror. She splashed some water on her face and picked up a towel, before dabbing herself gently to make the droplets go away. After a few quick brushes to her hair, she left the room and prepared herself to go to Hogsmeade. Today was the departure day for the holidays. After all, everyone deserved a day off once in a while.

Her stomach clenched. Two weeks of not seeing Regulus. That also meant giving two weeks to the Death Eaters to turn him in one of them. It was almost like serving him on a silver platter. But Hermione Granger was not one to give up so easily. She had concocted up a plan, but was unsure if it would work or not. Which was why she called herself crazy.

She checked her watch and cursed. The train left in less than half an hour and she still hadn't left! She ran as fast as she could, down numerous flights of stairs and secret passage ways, blushing in the memory of the last thing that had happened when she used these same methods to arrive somewhere on time.

She managed to catch the last carriage along with a pair of third years with screeching owls. She had to silence them after only a couple of minutes, earning thankful glances from their owners, but other from that, the ride was pretty much uneventful.

She jumped off the carriage before it had completely stopped, and started running towards the platform, pushing the students carrying their trunks and desperately trying to push them on the train. She earned herself a 'Hey!', a 'Whoa!' and a couple 'Watch where you're going's. Before she hopped on the train, though, someone stopped her by placing a hand on her shoulder.

As she spun around she heard Sirius' voice boom: "Hermione! Why are you brutalising us so?"

She shook her head. "Because I'm looking for someone." she explained, trying to twist her head and spot him.

Unfortunately, Sirius was still a very muscular man and so, when she tried to pry his hand away, she failed miserably. He said nothing of her futile attempt to escape and instead asked: "Would you like to come and live with me?"

She froze and turned around slowly, an incredulous look on her face. "Excuse me?" she asked, sure to have misheard.

He was grinning. "You know, after Hogwarts and stuff. During these holidays, Prongs, Wormtail, Moony and I are going to look for a place of our own… And since my Uncle Alphard left me quite a bit of money, there should be some left to buy you a room. So, I ask you again, would you like to come and live with me?"

She stared at him, completely at loss for words. After all, she hadn't even thought about what she was going to do once she stepped out of Hogwarts' protective wall. She sighed. "Since no other option presents itself," she started, but Sirius was already punching the air in victory. "I will come and live with you and James and Peter and Remus."

"Yes!" Sirius shouted. "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!"

Hermione couldn't help but smile at the childish joy that emanated from her boyish friend. Suddenly, she snapped up as she remembered why she was here. "I'm sorry, Sirius," she told him. "But I've got to find someone."

Sirius snapped out of his weird trance. "If you're looking for my good-for-nothing brother, he and a couple of his idiotic goons are at the back of the train." She stared at him, surprised, and he continued: "You are as readable as a book. No, actually, more than a book, because I can't read a book to save my life."

Before she could stop herself, she jumped up and kissed him lightly on the cheek, before running off. Sirius stood there, dumbstruck, until Remus tapped him lightly on the shoulder and asked what was wrong. Then, he nearly lost his ability of hearing when Sirius yelled "YES!" at the top of his voice. Which is pretty loud, mind you.

But back to Hermione. Our favourite Muggleborn witch was running in the direction of the last wagon, her panting breaths misting around her. She smiled as her feet crunched the now blackened snow under them, splashing neighbouring spots with newly formed dirty water.

When she reached the mentioned wagon, it looked empty. Empty, with no one standing outside. She was about to curse Sirius from tricking her when a voice came from directly behind her. "I'm right here, you know."

She gasped in surprise, her gloved hand flying to her throat as she spun around to find a grinning Regulus. "You scared me!" she accused him, her voice laced with fake anger.

He rolled his eyes. "That was the whole point, you know." he told her. "Obviously."

She shook her head, unable to stay mad at him for very long. "Stop lurking in the shadows." she advised him. "It's creepy."

He raised an eyebrow, before adding: "Says the girl who sneaks into my bedroom during my beauty sleep."

She blushed. "I was simply worried about you!" she defended herself, but he just laughed.

"Right!" he said. "Worried that I might not be able to keep you company any longer! That's a selfish motive Hermione. How very Slytherin of you."

She stared at him, open mouthed and affronted. "Excuse me?" she asked, placing her hands on her hips. "You think I act like a Slytherin?"

He chuckled. "I've hit a nerve there, haven't I?"

She shook her head haughtily. "Absolutely not." she huffed. "I am not offended by your statement. At all. There. Happy?"

He shook his head. "No, since my objective was to annoy you."

"To save me from being friends with an untrustworthy bastard like yourself?" she asked him. "How very Gryffindor of you."

His eyes widened. "That was way below the belt, Hermione." he declared, not seeming joking at all. "Take it back."

She shook her head. "No, we're even that way. Besides, as a lioness, I like to play with my food before I eat it."

He pouted. "You're so mean." he wined.

She uncrossed her arms, staring at him. He looked up and their eyes met, staying like that for a few moments until she sighed and gave in. "Fine." she acknowledged. "You're the most ungrateful, selfish, Slytherin arse hole I've ever met. There, happy?"

He nodded frantically, grinning from ear to ear. "Definitely." He walked around in a circle while she crossed her arms again, waiting for something similar in return. "By the way, Hermione," he told her finally, staring at the sky. "You giving in like that… You sounded just like a Hufflepuff."

"Fuck you." she told him, although her smile betrayed the fact that she wasn't really angry at him.

He grinned and walked towards her until they were mere inches apart. He placed his hands on her waist, whilst hers were still crossed, and bent over so that his lips were at her ear. "With pleasure." he whispered.

She froze for half a second, before she gave him a hard shove and he toppled backwards, laughing so loudly he sounded more like his brother than his usual self. "You…" she stuttered. "You sick, sadistic, slimy swine!"

"Oh! Alliteration!" he told her, before resuming his laughter.

She sighed. "You, Regulus Arcturus Black the second," she declared calmly. "Are officially hopeless."

He sputtered the last of his giggles and looked up, for he had bent in laughter, at her. "It's no use trying to save me then, is it?"

She gulped down. 'That's not what he meant!' she told herself. 'That's definitely not what he meant! It's impossible he should know about his death, or my plan to save him, anyway. He could have meant it. He didn't mean it!'

Regulus straightened, a puzzled look on his face. "Hermione?" he asked. "Are you feeling alright?"

She snapped out of her internal debate as he placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Yes, yes, of course I'm fine…" She looked up to him. "Shouldn't you be going, anyway?"

He nodded slightly, somehow worried for her. "Well then, I guess that means 'so long, friend'… right?"

She smiled slightly, looking at the floor. "Right. See you after the holidays."

"Okay." he said, and turned away from her unmoving frame. But he stopped as a thought plagued his mind. Two pieces of his brain were arguing about what he should or shouldn't do.

'Come on!' one was saying. 'You've got nothing to lose!'

'Yes, I do!' the other argued. 'My dignity! Have you thought about that, huh? What if she says no?'

'Then at least we'll have tried, and we'll have nothing to regret later.' the first concluded, in a 'tone' that let him believe there was no other possible option. His mind made, he spun around to face her again.

"Hermione?" he asked in a strangely confident voice. "Would you… You know…. During these holidays, maybe we could hang out together or something… It could be fun." Even he was practically wincing at how desperate he sounded. "Please?" he added after a while.

She looked up and whispered, smiling: "Sure." Her smile widened. "I'd be grateful if you could save me from being cooped up here for two weeks." They both laughed for a few minutes before the whistle blew. "You should go." she told him.

"I know." he answered truthfully. "But that doesn't mean I want to."

She stared a him for a couple of seconds, as if debating something with her brain, before she threw herself at him desperately and hugged him close. He wasted no time in returning her embrace. Some part of him was asking why he was doing it, but it just felt… right. "I'll miss you." she mumbled through his thick cloak.

He pulled her closer. "Somehow, I'll miss you too." It took some effort but he managed to pry himself away from her, only to hold her at arm's length. "Even that bushy mane of yours that you call hair." he added jokingly.

She laughed and the whistle blew again. She pushed him away. "Go!" she urged him. "Quickly!"

He nodded and ran towards the compartment door. The previously full platform was now devoid of any signs of life, save for Hermione. Regulus sat down next to a window and waved Hermione off until he couldn't see her any more, before plopping back down on his seat.
That was when another problem came up his head.

She had seemed troubled after he had said it was no use trying to save him. Did she think his sentence had a double meaning? Did she suspect he was in trouble? Or even worse…

Did she know he was a Death Eater?

-o-O-o-

Sorry guys, but this is probably the last update of the year. Boohoo! Also, just so you know, I haven't been writing much lately (in fact I wrote this whole chapter today) because me and my sister received two Professor Layton games and I wanted to finish them both. Those puzzles are an obsession, I swear to God… Anyway, since I've finished them, it means I have officially completed the four first games! Yeah! Three cheers for me!

On another note, I also got the 40 Harry Potter Movie Posters collection for Christmas! I was so happy when I opened the parcel… What did you guys get? What should Regulus and Hermione get? Jeez, that was an awfully long Author's Note… Happy (early) New Year, people! :)

Edit: I forgot to tell you, I'm closing my pairing poll tomorrow, at 23:59, Paris time. Whether you want Hermione to end up with our loveable RAB or not, just... please vote if you haven't already! :)