24/5/23

(time line is a bit off – Set so Hermione misses Cheering Charms and quits Divination BEFORE the trail)

It took Jack around seven to ten days before he was willing to face Sirius again.

It turned out that everyone came to an unspoken agreement to not speak of what happened, and to respect each other's beliefs on the roles a sibling (older or younger) should have.

It was getting close to Easter, and Jack – who had Baby Tooth flying beside him – was wandering the hallways on his way to the Room during one of his free periods, when he came a grumpy/mumbling to herself Hermione.

"You feeling alright Brownie?" Jack asked getting her attention.

"Fine. Just fine." she said walking past him towards the other end of the corridor.

"You sure? It's just, well one it's still half-past two meaning there should be a lesson somewhere and you're not in it," Jack said checking his watch as he walked along beside her (keeping a safe distance of course). "And two, I have been around enough girls in my time to know that if one says 'They're fine' to the question 'How are you feeling?' or 'Are you ok?' there is something troubling them."

Knowing he won't let her be until he got an answer, Hermione threw her bag down and collapsed against the wall with a deep sigh.

"You know... how during Care of Magical Creatures Malfoy said all those mean things about Hagrid – again?"

"Yeah..." Jack said slowly reaching out to plat her hair for her – something he learnt calmed girls down if done right.

"Well I had already been having a bad day already, and he just tipped me over the edge and I..."

"Smacked in right across the face, yeah I was there," Jack said finishing her sentence for her.

"Yeah, well, because of how angry I was, I forgot to go to Charms - I turned the time-turner back so I could go to Ancient Runes - but I forgot to go to charms and it was Cheering Charms today which Professor Flitwick hinted might be on the end of year exam."

Jack just nodded, letting Hermione let out her frustration and problems to him, he had wondered why she hadn't shown up.

"Harry and Ron found me in the Common Room, asleep, told me I missed Charms, and that we had Divination in 20 minutes." she continued as she petted Baby Tooth gently to try and get some comfort. "I went to talk to Flitwick to explain myself, which he thankfully understood, and then went up to that..." she paused to try and find the right insult to call Trelawney.

"I think a few proper word are 'Woman, Physic, Fool, or Dragonfly," Jack gave her some suggestions.

"Yeah, well HER room where there was crystal balls set out on the tables and she said 'The fates have told her the orb will be part of the exam come the end of the year'." she said in a minor mocking voice.

"But... doesn't she set the exam in the first place?" Jack asked confused.

"That's what I said, but that just got me glares from Parvati and Lavender and ignored by the others. Anyway," Hermione continued getting back to the story. "She told us to start looking into the balls – which was such a waste of time by the way because all there was inside them was foggy substance – and then she came around asking if anyone would like help deciphering what the images in the balls mean."

"Let me guess, Ron made some crack pot comment about it, which got her attention to you and she saw the Grim for Harry again." Jack said not even questioning it.

"YES!" Hermione said, loudly, pulling out her Divination book from her bag and throwing it across the corridor in frustration. "Then when I challenged her about it, she said that from the moment I entered her classroom she could tell I didn't have what it takes to be a fortune teller, saying that she couldn't remember ever meeting anyone whose mind was so hopelessly Mundane!"

"Ah... I see," Jack said calmly finishing the braid he was doing for her.

"So, finally having enough of her, her stupid hot and stuffy classroom, her ridiculous beliefs, and that stupid Grim, I got up from my seat walked over to the trapdoor, kicked it open and left."

"Well... I did say it would be a useless subject unless you had the gifts," Jack said calmly, speaking of last year when they were choosing their new subjects.

Groaning, not in the mood to fight back, Hermione just hugged her legs and planted her face into her knees.

"Hey look at it this way," Jack said gently rubbing her back comfortingly "At least now you're down a class meaning you have more time to eat, sleep and care for yourself, right?"

"I guess," Hermione mumbled and looked towards him. "And I can help with Buckbeak's Trial more now, now I have some more free time."

"Hermione it's in three days," Jack started.

"Exactly," she said getting up and grabbing her back turning towards the library "Hagrid will need all the help he can get if he is to get Buckbeak away from those horrible people at the Ministry."

"Fine," Jack said sighing "We do... 30 minutes of this – taking us to the end of the lesson and school day, and then you are to go and have a nap and rest yourself young lady, are we clear?"

"Jack, please I –"

"Hermione I have literally seen people work themselves to death because they got sick and didn't stop and care for themselves." Jack said seriously. "I know you want to help Hagrid, and Buckbeak, but you need to take care of yourself too. Remember what I said about the stars and how eventually they'll all burn out? Well they fizzle out sooner if they're worked too hard to begin with. So, work 30 minutes and rest, or don't work at all and go to your room right now. Got it?"

Pouting at being treated like a child, but agreeing to his terms Hermione agreed and they head off to the library.

AN: This was going to be longer (have a mini time skip and a look at Jack, Elisa, Neville, and Sirius going over their plan one last time) but i can't get it quite right yet.

So seeing how close to Update Day I'm getting, I've split this in half so you can all continue reading it while i work on it.