Hope you are all in good health and find this chapter fun and dramatic. Please let me know what you think!
HUGE thank yous to Msmalloryreads, Mystery of the Night, themysteriousnicole, Meeeeeee, abishop47, GhostWriter1864, Raven that flies at night, Desperate4more, Guest, and xXMizz Alec VolturiXx. I cannot tell you how excited I was by all your comments. THANKS!
Mystery of the Night: I myself am a fan of the idea of Sirius playing beater. But I actually did quite a bit of research, checking many different sites and boards, and found that there is no evidence from JKR that Sirius was on the house team. Sirius only mentioned in the books that he watched James play. I also feel like he would have told Harry if he played, so after writing that chapter a few different ways, I decided on having Sirius be the announcer for a little comedy.
Can't wait to post the next chapter for you all. Enjoy and have fun!
Hermione's birthday went unknown to all but Sirius and McGonagall. Hermione didn't want to make a fuss of things and it felt strange to her celebrating a birthday when she technically wasn't born yet.
Sirius loved making a big deal about birthdays. It was the only 'holiday' that his family had ever celebrated well; until he was sorted into Gryffindor that is. He had wanted to throw her a grand party, but Hermione had insisted against it. She even went as far as utilizing the fact that it was her first birthday without her parents. But Sirius still managed to convince her to allow him to plan a few things at Hogsmeade the coming weekend to at least celebrate between the two of them.
The school week passed slowly; the anticipation for the trip to the little village outside of Hogwarts made time crawl. Hermione and Sirius seemed inseparable. It might have had something to do with the attack on Hermione the previous weekend, but Hermione hoped that it had more to do with how Sirius felt about her. They really had little time alone though; the other Marauders and Lily had become almost as protective of her. They all found themselves with mountains of homework to also address, so there was little time available for Hermione and Sirius to sneak away.
Hermione and Remus' nightly visit to McGonagall's chambers for the Wolfsbane Potion had almost been impossible to execute unnoticed as well. When possible, Minerva made it easier by asking Hermione to come by her rooms after dinner and Remus would escort her mentioning that he needed to conduct rounds of the castle. But the days that McGonagall could not assist them, they attempted to cover up their meetings with course work excuses. Feigning forgotten footnotes that needed to be documented from the library and misplaced Rune translations that Remus thought he had seen in another classroom; had been two somewhat accepted excuses. Sirius was beginning to feel a bit suspicious of Remus and Hermione.
"Amelia, would you mind coming by my rooms tonight after your meal? There is something I needed to show you," Minerva asked Friday night during dinner in the Great Hall.
"Yes, of course Aunt Minerva." Hermione smiled appreciatively at McGonagall.
"Oh, and Mr. Lupin, would you mind stopping by as well. I had some questions about your recent transfiguration essay."
"Of course Professor," Remus replied with a quick nod.
Sirius leaned in and whispered directly into Hermione's ear, "Should I be jealous that you're spending more time alone with Remus then me, Blondie?"
Hermione turned to him with a sly grin, "There is still plenty of free time tonight to make up for that." Her cheeks turned a bit pink with her uncharacteristically forward words. But Hermione found that she was very excited by the idea of more time with just Sirius.
Remus and Hermione excused themselves from the hall as they finished their Shepard pie. They exited the Hall and began the route to the third floor.
"You sure you want to fallow them?" James whispered as he kicked his school bag over to Sirius under the table.
"No. But it's going to drive me mad if I don't," Sirius grabbed James' bag and slung it over his shoulder. He was exiting the hall as Lily and Peter were coming in for dinner. Hermione had noticed that Peter was having trouble in Charms and suggested to Lily that she offer him some help. Lily had been tutoring him during free afternoons.
"You alright, Padfoot?" Peter questioned Sirius' brooding glare.
"Yea, I'm fine. Just something I have to see to," Sirius stepped around them and rushed to catch up to Remus and Hermione.
Sirius ran up the first flight of stairs. He pulled out the invisibility cloak and threw it over his board shoulders before a group of third years clambered down the hall to dinner. He caught up with Remus and Hermione just as she was opening the portrait to McGonagall's private rooms.
"Do you think the potion is working?" Remus sounded apprehensive.
"I hope so," Hermione answered in an equally uneasy voice. "Then maybe we can stop sneaking about and just tell them."
Remus and Hermione were already walking back to her private room when Sirius slipped through the closing portrait. A foul stench assaulted his nostrils as he followed the two into the small room. He noticed that McGonagall did not appear to be in the apartment at all.
Hermione knelt down in front of a small cauldron and stirred the putrid mixture a few times and checked the temperature twice before ladling out a cup full and handing it over to Remus.
"Is there really nothing we can do about the taste?" Remus signed heavily as he wrinkled his nose in disgust.
"No. Sorry. Anything added to it will render the whole potion useless." Hermione conjured a small glass of clear blue liquid, "But after it's all down the hatch, you can wash your mouth out with this. Just make sure you don't swallow any."
"Yes, yes. You've told me all week," Remus smirked as he sat down in the chair by the window. He swirled the liquid around in the glass a few times, rallying the courage to drink the horrible mixture.
Hermione saw his doubt and squeezed his arm encouragingly, "If … when this works, you won't have to be afraid of hurting anyone. You're 'furry little problem' will be under control, as James would say."
Remus shook his head, "It's frightening when you do that. James hasn't called the wolf that since fifth year if I'm not mistaken." Remus took a deep breath and exhaled quickly before he downed the brown-gray drink. He looked like he had swallowed a lemon slice.
"Yes, well I know all. Remember?" Hermione looked at her watch to note the time. "Let's give it ten minutes to make sure I didn't kill you or make you ill this time."
"Sure," Remus gasped as he coughed. "You know, I've been having some questions about your… travels."
"What about it?" Hermione stared at the floor, her guilt and doubt weighting her down. She was still unsure what she should or could change for the better; all Hermione knew was that she needed to try and she needed to be extremely cautious.
"Aren't you ever afraid that you're going to change too much?" Remus was of course worried about himself and his friends, but he was also worried about the girl in front of him. "If you change too much, how will you know what you're going back to?"
Hermione smiled, but it did not reach her eyes, "I don't even know if I can go back Remus. My timeturner was destroyed and Dumbledore hasn't even bothered speaking to me since I arrived. I have been focusing on making myself content with being here."
"Well, content sounds lovely Mia." Remus said a little dryly.
"You know I didn't mean it like that," Hermione tilting her head back and took a breath to refocus. "Sometimes I love being here, other times I'm terrified that I am changing too much, and then there are times when I cannot even imagine being anywhere else. I can't express any of these thoughts out loud, so I just push them away and focus on what I might be able to alter for the better."
Hermione handed Remus the mouthwash. He swirled it around in his mouth for thirty seconds and spit back into the cup. Hermione whisked it away with a wave of her wand.
"You're the one who told me that I shouldn't be afraid and I had to continue living," Hermione told Remus in a small voice. "You said that I needed to not worry about what I could or could not change."
"That does sound like something I would say; it's brilliant but vague." Remus chuckled to himself. "Anything else clever that the older me told you?"
Hermione blushed, "Nothing I can share with this younger, git version of you." She threw a pillow at Remus.
"Well, when do you think you'll tell the others?" Remus caught the pillow and put it behind his head for support.
"I…I don't know Remus. I mean, I'm sure it was as awful of a shock to hear as it was to tell." Hermione nervously rang her fingers.
"You're going to have to tell Sirius soon," Remus looked at her knowingly. He only pushed the matter because he had witnessed the way his two friends looked at each other.
Hermione forced a harsh laugh, "What would I say Remus?! Hey Sirius, sorry, but I forgot to mention that I'm from the far off future. Still want to snog me?"
CRASH.
Sirius had been listening to the whole conversation confused beyond all means. His mind heard timeturner, but couldn't fathom exactly what that meant. He was still completely shocked when Hermione articulated it out loud. Sirius had turned to escape the room but had backed into the bookcase in the process.
Books and potion ingredients fell forward as the bookcase itself began to lean away from the wall. Hermione quickly levitated all the items back onto the righted bookshelf as Remus went after the intruder.
"Accio invisibility cloak," The sheer fabric flew easily into Remus' outstretched hand revealing a fuming Sirius.
"Remus. Amelia." He nodded formally to them both.
"Oh Merlin, Sirius." Hermione covered her face with both hands as she tried to mentally retract everything that she had just said.
A few seconds felt like hours; Remus was the first to speak. "Well it would seem that an opportunity has presented itself, Mia." He gently pulled Hermione's hands from her face and softly spoke, "Just tell him the truth. I'll be in the sitting room."
He walked past a still stoic Sirius and whispered, "If you care for her, even in the slightest, listen to what she has to say before you allow yourself to react." Remus closed the door behind him and settled down on McGonagall's couch.
Hermione felt her heart break as she saw Sirius' face. He was angry to say the least; his brow was furrowed, his gray eyes looked darker somehow, and his fists were clenched so hard that the knuckles had begun to turn white. She didn't know where to begin, "I'm so sorry Sirius."
"What are you sorry for?" Sirius spoke through clenched teeth. He was trying desperately to follow Remus' instruction, but Sirius could feel his gut reaction taking over his senses.
Hermione couldn't hold his harsh gaze. She grasped one of the posts of her bed in an attempt to steady herself and stared at the carpet. "I'm sorry for not tell you; for you finding out about my secret this way."
"Would you have even told me on your own?" His voice was so hateful, he almost spit the words.
Hermione suddenly had anger bubble up in herself too, "Of course I would have! But it's not exactly the easiest thing to tell someone. It's impossible to explain and people look at you like you're mad when you attempt to." Her eyes grew a bit wide and the anger turned to rage, "And what right do you have to follow us and spy? What on earth were you doing with the invisibility cloak?!"
Sirius' faced colored a bit as he spoke, "I wanted to know what you two were doing together every night. Neither of you were talking so I had to find out for myself. I thought you two might be having a go at each other."
"All of this because you thought I was cheating on you?" Hermione screams reached Remus' ears easily. "You spied on me because you thought I was being unfaithful?! To what, Sirius? We haven't even found time to discuss what this relationship is. How on earth can you covet something you have no classification for?!"
His ears became a deep red as Hermione spoke. Sirius always acted impulsively, but never like this over a girl. And he had never had a girl lecture him like this before. "Well maybe because I actually care about you!" Sirius' raging voice raised an octave as he spoke.
"Yet again with 'maybe' Sirius? You act as if caring for me is something vile you're not meant to do, when I'm the one who's really put everything at risk falling for you!" Hermione huffed loudly; this argument was making her grow exhausted.
"What the bloody hell are you talking about?" Sirius said with slight curiosity.
"Well, I'm from the future; you obviously know that already." Hermione noticed her snippy voice and took a breath to continue in a calmer tone, "I was sent back twenty years because of a lightning curse." She undid the first button of her shirt and pulled the collar over her right shoulder to expose the ends of her scar.
Sirius' eyes immediately showed concern when he observed the intricate brown lines across her neck and upper chest. But Hermione continued before he could speak, "I don't know if there is a way for me to go back and I don't know what kind of impact I will have on this timeline. I only told Remus because there is a potion in the future to aid with his transformations and I wanted to give him some hope. I wanted to tell you and the others but it's difficult for me to find the courage to do so, especially when I begin to overthink the possible ramifications."
Hermione glanced at Sirius; he appeared more calm as well. "I hope you can forgive me for not telling you," Hermione's voice was almost inaudible now.
"Do you know us in the future? Do you know me?" Sirius had so many questions now that he had settled down.
Hermione nodded. "I know Remus fairly well; we're friends in the future. He is actually the one who helped prepare me and warned that I was coming here. I never knew you or the others very well though, only through other acquaintances." Hermione wasn't sure if this was the time to elaborate.
Sirius heaved a big sign and looked at the young woman in front of him, "I'm not really sure what to make of this. I think I need some time for my brain to process things."
"Of course," Hermione felt her chest tightened as Sirius exited the room and left through the portrait hole.
Omg, it hurt me to write that. But I feel like Sirius would have at least a little bit of a tough time accepting the truth about Hermione. I hope you all can understand and stick around for next chapter. I PROMISE it will be worth it!
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Love, Misha