Disclaimer: JK owns HP; Always.
1989
Chapter 20
While Charlie was at a quidditch practice, which along with prefects duties seemed to be her only opportunity to be alone these days, Hermione slipped into the back of the restricted section to double check her recent finding. The knowledge of how to defeat Nagini had to be in here somewhere, and she needed to find it before returning to her own time. She had already wasted three of her precious nine months, and if she didn't make any progress soon, her time was sure to run out before she found all of the answers she needed.
As careful as humanly possible, she slid The Founders from its hiding spot, the place Tom Riddle had left it in nearly thirty years earlier. She flipped to the back of it, wanting to confirm what she was pretty sure she remembered from a month ago, but needing to see it with her own eyes for confirmation. She scanned the few pages of Salazar Slytherin's life until she came across the part she was looking for; the details his grandson Sanderson had passed on to the unknown writer.
Without delay, Sylvia forced the door open magically with the intention of finding her father and questioning him. She was unfortunately met by the hissing and slithering of three different vipers entering the room instead. Being the only child of Slytherin to not possess the gift of parseltongue, she began to panic and backed up as far into the room as she could.
Just when she thought she was doomed and that her father had lured her to her death, she heard a familiar voice hissing back at them from the adjoining hallway. The three vipers retreated from her frightened form instantly, and took their place on either side of Salazar; along with the other five snakes that were already accompanying him into the room.
After greeting his frightened daughter lovingly, he informed her of his travels that had finally led him to an island just off the shore of Brazil.
The cogs inside Hermione's brain went into overdrive as she pieced the clues she had found together. The book she planned on giving to Charlie for his birthday had mentioned that many of the maledictus' had relocated to South America once they became permanently trapped in their serpent form.
Brazil was in South America.
Hermione now had a direction to go that would hopefully lead her and her friends to victory. First she needed to dig up some more information on Maledictus' to see if there was a weakness she could exploit. And second, as dangerous as it would certainly be, she needed to visit that island.
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After checking out a few books for research on the Maledictus, Hermione headed to the great hall for dinner. It was rumored that the house elves had made chicken pot pie, and she was looking forward to eating an entire one all by herself. As she searched the table for not only Charlie. but most of her new friends as well, she came to the conclusion that quidditch practice must have run a little longer than usual.
Sarah and Laura were at their usual spot, so she sat down in front of the gossiping pair while awaiting everyone else. As soon as her bag touched the table, the two of them stopped whispering and forced a pair of fake smiles on their faces.
"Everything okay?" Hermione asked them curiously as she pulled one of the pies onto her plate. This was not how they usually greeted her.
"Fine." Laura clearly lied through her teeth.
Hermione's eyes narrowed as she swallowed her first bite. Something was definitely up with them.
Sarah finally broke and scoffed. "Oh it's honestly probably nothing. That hag has probably already sunk her claws into her next target anyway. It's not like her to stay single you know?"
Her brows wrinkled further as she stared at her new friends. "Would either of you care to explain what it is you are actually talking about?"
Before either Laura or Sarah could answer, a hand slammed a bulky bit of parchment down on the table in front of her. After a small jolt from the surprise, Hermione realized that it was actually a magazine; specifically that day's copy of Witch Weekly.
She turned her head to discover that the owner of said hand belonged to Lilac Brown, who looked entirely too happy.
"I wouldn't get too comfortable if I were you, Walters." She grinned before gleefully skipping out of the great hall.
The three girls' eyes followed her as she hopped off, only refacing each other when Lilac was completely out of sight.
"Always a pleasure." Hermione muttered sarcastically before taking a sip of water from her goblet. As she picked up the magazine that had just been dropped in front of her, she almost had to spit the liquid back out when she saw the smiling man on the cover. The headline, Gilderoy Lockhart releases third best seller this year, surprised her almost as much as the, Get your copy of Holidays with Hags now!, written in fine print underneath.
Though she choked and coughed through her laughter, Hermione was able to get herself under control rather quickly. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand as she met the other girl's eyes again. They were looking at her curiously.
"I know I like books and everything, but why would Lilac think I had any interest in what Gilderoy Lockhart is up to?"
Laura finally shook her head with a grimace before tapping the copy of Witch Weekly again. "No Jean, not that article...This one."
Hermione looked to the secondary headline in the corner where her friend's finger was pointing to. There was a small picture of a handsome man who looked to be in his mid twenties. There was a smaller subtitle just underneath the picture reading Reginald Swepper gets publicly dumped: details on page 23.
Hermione looked back up at Laura, brows wrinkled once more. "Who is Reginald Swepper?" She asked.
"He's the heir of the Swepper family." Laura attempted to explain. "You know...The ones who founded the Cleansweep Broom Company."
Hermione shoved another spoonful of the savory pie into her mouth, chewing slowly and swallowing before talking again. "I'm even more confused. What does any of that have to do with me?"
Sarah clapped one hand to her forehead with a groan. "Oh, she's hopeless."
"It's not Reg himself." Laura sighed before leaning over to flip the magazine to page twenty-three so Hermione could read it for herself. "It's who dumped him that Lilac thinks might get a rise out of you."
Now realizing that there might actually be something wrong, Hermione pushed her plate of pie out of the way to make room for the bulky magazine that now had her undivided attention. She read aloud, but only so that Laura and Sarah could hear as well.
"Reginald Swepper, heir to the Cleansweep fortune, was overheard this past weekend as he argued with his now ex-fiance Heather St. Clair."
Hermione paused; she recognized that name from when the two girls sitting in front of her had mentioned her a few weeks ago. Heather St. Clair had been the girl Charlie dated most of his fifth year, two years prior. Now that she knew why this article pertained to her, she looked at the other pictures that were moving about the page. Sarah had been right: Heather was extremely beautiful. She suddenly felt inadequate in comparison.
"The pair, who only got engaged in late May, appeared to be arguing over her refusal to sign a prenuptial agreement of sorts." Hermione continued. "Several diners at the Blue Moon Cafe in Diagon Alley confirmed that Heather had the final word, screaming 'I have other options, I don't have to take this shit from you' before throwing her fancy 5 karat engagement ring and storming out. Will the pair reconcile? Or will Miss St. Clair seek out one of these other, so called options? I, Rita Skeeter, personally believe we won't have to wait long to find out."
Hermione laid the magazine back down on the table carefully, no longer hungry. It seemed Lilac had an irritating knack for ruining her favorite foods.
"As I said." Sarah spoke up again. "She's probably not talking about Charlie. I doubt she waited more than a day before hitting up whoever was next in line. In fact, she dated someone new almost every year that she went here."
"Sarah's right." Laura interjected. "Heather has probably already forgotten Charlie even exists."
Though Hermione knew very little about Charlie's dating history, she felt her new friends were trying just a little too hard to convince her that Heather was old news.
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Charlie hadn't joined her for dinner that night. Devon had appeared half way through, and informed her that he and Avery were still talking with Madam Hooch about their upcoming tryouts for the National team in January. Though Avery joined them ten minutes later, Charlie was nowhere to be found until almost two hours later.
As Hermione walked down one of the vast hallways, her mind was racing with thoughts of Charlie trying to get in contact with his gorgeous ex. She figured it's what he would have done had she not shown up by accident this year. As she was mulling over the new information, she suddenly found her back pressed firmly against a wall.
Familiar lips pressed against her own, and any worries she'd had before he found her were now completely forgotten. Her arms wrapped themselves around his neck as she succumbed to his demanding kiss.
It wasn't long before he hoisted her up into his arms, and carried her the few feet to the window seat under the large bay window on the sixth floor. She felt the thin seat cushion under her back at the same time she felt the weight of a heavier body cover hers.
"Hi." Charlie grinned down at her.
It seemed, due to the happy expression on his face, that he either hadn't heard about the article in Witch Weekly, or simply did not care. Either way, she was glad to see that he was still just as happy to see her as always.
"Hello Charles." She teased him.
"Now, Jeanie." He grinned more devilishly against her lips. "I thought I warned you about that."
He swallowed her laughter with a kiss, as he dug the fingers of one hand into her ribs, where he knew she was most ticklish, the other was holding her in place so she couldn't escape.
"Stop, stop!" She laughed into his neck as she tried to wiggle away without success. "I surrender."
Though he did stop his cruel method of torture, he did not let her go; instead using the fingers of his now free hand to tuck a curl behind her ear.
"Oh you do, do you?" His grin grew even further. "And what do I get for accepting your surrender?"
Hermione leaned her head up to capture his lips with hers again. She slowly and seductively sucked and nibbled at his lower lip before resting her head back against the cushion again.
"Was that an acceptable prize?" She teased.
"More than acceptable." He nodded before closing the gap between their lips again.
Hermione gleefully returned his kiss, holding his face between the palms of her hands. It started off slow and sweet, both of them taking their time; focusing only on each other.
After several minutes of heavy snogging, she could feel the tips of his fingers graze the outside of her thigh; the pads rubbing soothing circles slowly up the tights she wore under her pleated skirt. The kisses were obviously turning more heated with every second.
With a firm grip, he hooked his right hand under her knee and used it to pry her legs open a little wider. She whimpered slightly when she felt his hips push against her, the weight and the heat of his body sending a figurative shock through her body.
Her ankle wrapped itself around his calf for leverage to push back against him, which in turn caused him to move his trail of kisses to the sensitive spot just above her collarbone. She moaned into the night air as his teeth grazed it.
The pair seemed to be lost in each other as they clumsily ground against each other, and it wasn't until a rather scratchy cough rang throughout the alcove they were in that they finally and quickly broke apart.
Hermione pushed him back up and off her as she adjusted her skirt. A blush was staining her face as she attempted to flatten her flyaway hair. And Charlie, who was just as red in the face as she was, was attempting to discover the identity of the person who had so rudely interrupted their snog as he adjusted his own clothing.
"Bloody teenagers." The large portrait of a very grumpy looking old man huffed before turning and walking out of his frame.
Now that they were alone again, Charlie sighed in relief that they hadn't actually been caught before chuckling nervously. "Sorry, I got carried away again."
"It's alright." Hermione blushed with a bashful smile. "I was just as active of a participant in it as you were."
"You were, weren't you?" He grinned, before scooting closer to her on the bench seat again.
Due to the pleased yet teasing look on his face, Hermione crossed her arms and rolled her eyes at him. "It doesn't mean I'm ready to throw caution to the wind just yet." She scolded. "But, yes. It was rather...hot." She blushed again.
He chuckled again before placing a kiss on her cheek. "You're rather adorable when you get embarrassed you know?"
"Shut up." She turned away from him bashfully. "But speaking of hot…"
Hermione hated to ruin his fun and lighthearted mood, but the article in Witch Weekly had been itching at the back of her mind since dinner. She knew she wouldn't be able to clear her head and focus on her task until she figured out what exactly was going on with him.
"Yes?" He asked, unaware of the touchy subject she was about to breach.
"Why does Lilac think I need to worry about someone named Heather St. Clair?"
Hermione could practically feel him stiffen as the pretty blonde girl's name left her lips. He released a small and almost silent sigh as he realized what she had just asked.
"So you did see the article in Witch Weekly then?" He responded stiffly.
"Laura and Sarah told me about her a few weeks ago." She confessed. "And yes, Lilac dropped her copy in front of me at dinner."
Charlie now looked a little more nervous, but with her eyes cast down she did not see. "What else did they tell you?"
Hermione's eyes shifted back up to look at him again. "Just that she was really pretty, and you only broke up because she graduated two years before you were set to."
"Yeah, well. That's pretty much it." He grumbled uncomfortably.
It was clear by that answer that the heat from their previous mood had completely doused. She had known that he'd had a previous relationship that was more serious than any of her unofficial romantic flings, but the fact that it was still such a touchy subject was definitely news to her.
Hermione decided she still needed to press further. If he still cared that much about a breakup from a year and a half ago she didn't like what that could mean for their newfound romance's future.
"So how serious was it?" She asked, her head tilted to look at him. He stiffened further by her question. "Before the breakup, I mean."
"I'd really rather not talk about Heather anymore tonight, Hermione."
She paused nervously as she stared him down for a moment. "Alright." She finally agreed before giving him a reassuring kiss.
Hermione knew by the way he said her real first name that she would get nothing more out of him tonight other than an argument, which is the only reason she dropped the subject. For only the second time since arriving to the past she could clearly see the family resemblance to his youngest brother. It stung that things weren't as strong between them as she'd thought. In fact, it now worried her that maybe he'd had something stronger with Heather after all.
Charlie leaned in close again, obviously sensing that she was silently questioning things. He slipped both hands to the back of her neck to tilt her head to look up at him.
"As far as I am concerned Hermione, she is in the past." He kissed her slow and gentle, only breaking apart again when he was sure any self doubt had been cast away. "It's you who is my present." He kissed her again. "And it's you I want in my future."