There was a chill in the air as Sirius snuck back into the infirmary as Padfoot. Wind buffeted against the windows, making it sound like it was howling outside. He crossed the room on silently padded paws, nosing his way past the privacy curtains.
Hermione lay on her side facing him, her blanket tucked up around her shoulders. She watched him with glistening, cherry wood eyes. Padfoot whined at the sight and morphed into Sirius when she untangled a hand from the bedclothes and reached out to him. Angry, red scabs and black stitching glared up at him from the bare skin of her arm. He took her hand and sat at her side.
"Was it too much?" asked Sirius, reaching over to comb his fingers through her hair.
Hermione contemplated for a moment, her eyes never leaving his. "No. Not too much. It's good to remember the happy moments. I think I almost forgot that there even were happy memories." She sighed and closed her eyes as his nails scratched through her scalp. "Everything became so dark so quickly that it's hard to remember it wasn't always like that."
She fiddled with his fingers, observing them as she traced his blunt, square nails and the lines of his palms. "I want to remember. Even when it hurts because it reminds me that I had to have had something to lose."
Sirius curled his fingers around hers, thumbing her wrist. The steady pulse there was grounding. "I know we can't replace them, but I hope you know that you are one of us now. Me, the others, we won't let you be alone," he said, squeezing her hand reassuringly.
A smile broadened the edges of her mouth. She shifted onto her back, Sirius' hand inadvertently coming to rest against her cheek and ear. "Did you get that approved by the committee?" she asked, levity brightening her voice.
Sirius barked a laugh, feeling the tight band of worry loosen a tiny bit in his chest. "Of course. Peter was just bragging about his grade on our last charms assignment. I think you have no choice, unless you want him to have suboptimal grades."
"Heaven forbid one of you learns how to read aloud," she said with a roll of her eyes.
"Ah, but who would listen to one of us when they could be listening to your dulcet tones?" He bopped her nose with the tip of his finger and laughed when she pulled her other arm from the blankets to smack his shoulder. "Seriously though. You have us on your side. I mean it, Kitten. No matter what," he said, his voice changing to a more serious tone. He squeezed her wrist gently to emphasize his words.
"I know. Thank you, Sirius," she said, her smile softened into a fond turn of the lips. "You should get back to Gryffindor tower."
Scratching the back of his neck awkwardly, Sirius mumbled: "I was thinking Padfoot might spend the night here tonight."
"As much as I'd love that, you'll have to leave before Madame Pomfrey gets up and then come back to pick me up in the morning. That's a lot of back and forth," she said with a shake of her head.
"Are you sure? I don't mind," he said, reassuringly. Privately, he hoped she would agree. Somehow he would feel better if he could stay near her for the night. Something had been off with Hermione after she shared her memories. He kept catching her staring off into space like a part of her was still in the Pensieve.
"I'm sure. Go on up, it's Saturday so you can sleep in. You won't be able too if you stay here," she said, nudging him with her knee.
Knowing he wasn't going to win, Sirius heaved a sigh and stood up. "Fine. Fine, you win," he said, resigned. "I'll see you in the morning. Sleep well, Kitten." He brought up her hand and kissed the back of it before tucking it back into the sheets and pulling the blankets up around her shoulders with a quick warming charm.
"Goodnight, Sirius," she said in farewell. Cherry eyes watched him transform back into Padfoot; her gaze followed him until he nosed his way out of the privacy screen and out the hospital wing doors.
Walking through the castle after curfew was always a bit of an eerie experience. The noisy hallways were utterly void of sound other than the howling and creaking of the wind. Even the portraits were quiet as they slept. The low light hid corners and doors that were occupied by shadowy phantoms his mind would conjure.
Perhaps it was human nature to feel paranoia when wandering through a liminal space, but even in his animagus form Sirius felt jumpy. Perhaps it was the images of darkly cloaked figures skirting through the darkness that plagued his mind. Memories that don't belong to him ghosting the edges of his imagination; bright flashes of light as people battled in the halls he walked through everyday. Somehow knowing that this place - a place that had been a safe haven to him- wasn't as invulnerable as he had always believed, unsettled him.
Transforming out of his wolf-dog form, Sirius ascended the last staircase before reaching the Fat Lady who was snoring quite robustly.
"Lady," he said in a stage whisper, trying to wake her without drawing the attention of Peeves or Flich, but she continued to snore. Raising a fist he knocked on the side of her frame. "Lady, wake up. I need inside."
With a start and a snort, the Fat Lady woke up. She glanced around before looking down at Sirius. "Well...And where have you been, Mr. Black? I suppose galavanting about the castle, up to no good as usual," she huffed, crossing her arms indignantly, giving him his usual rigamarole. Sometimes he would let her go through her whole spiel out of amusement but tonight he wasn't in the right humor for it.
"Non, ducor, duco," he said the password quickly, ignoring the Fat Lady's disgruntled face as the frame swung open.
He entered the nearly dark common room. The only light came from the fireplace. It's fire burned low, illuminating a few feet around the hearth. On the sofa he spotted the burnished gold glow of Marlene's hair. She sat with her knees tucked up to her chest as she stared into the flames.
After their last disastrous encounter, Sirius was reluctant to engage with her anymore than necessary. Although she wasn't implicit in their affair, she was the one who lashed out at someone uninvolved. It squashed much of his guilt, making him wish to avoid her as much as he could. If she and her friends had directed their anger towards him alone, he could have suffered through any awkward encounters. But they had attacked Hermione, a person who they had never once even spoken to, somehow feeling that they had the right to make leaping accusations about her character based only on her association with him.
Even though he knew she must have heard him enter the common room, he attempted to skirt past her without drawing more attention to himself. Which obviously failed.
"Sirius," she said, her tone stern with the intent of a long conversation that he was definitely not interested in having. Least of all in the middle of the night. She was looking at him intently, her blue eyes were black in the feeble light, making it hard to discern their exact expression.
"Marlene," he said in a droll voice as he walked towards the staircase that led up to the boy's dormitory. He intended to leave it as a simple acknowledgement of her presence.
"Sirius, wait," she said, her tone switching to a desperate plea when he didn't respond to her intimidation play. She stood from her seat as though ready to chase him down. "Sirius, I need to talk to you."
Pausing at the base of the stairwell, one hand on the bannister, Sirius took a deep breath and turned to look at her. "I don't think there's much to talk about," he stated firmly.
"Please, Sirius. I just want to…"
Sirius felt a scowl form on his face and before she could finish he turned around and began walking up the stairs. "Goodnight, Marlene," he said with finality. Thankfully she didn't follow him up as he continued into his dorm room.
After changing into night clothes he flopped onto his four-poster and stared up at the canopy. He lay there trying to calm the maelstrom of thoughts rocketing around his brain.
With everything he's been learning about what's coming, the minutiae of this Marlene drama felt overwhelmingly petty. All he wanted was a game plan. Something to work towards that could bring about a real tangible result that would help prevent that terrible future. But everything he was learning about the events of the future pointed to a waiting game. Everything they could confirm was going to happen, happens once they graduate. Hermione couldn't know every detail of their school life. Maybe a few anecdotes but not enough to make significant and deliberate changes. She didn't know when Peter would start to defect or why. She didn't know exact dates that horcruxes were placed, just where they'll eventually be by a certain point so they couldn't plan to do anything until they were absolutely sure they were hidden. All he could do was continue as he had.
There is one thing you could do, he thought to himself with a grimace. It was a task he dreaded but also desperately wanted to succeed at. Regulus…
Despite what many thought, Sirius' relationship with his brother wasn't antagonistic. They were like strangers. Sirius remembered that before school it had been like him and Regulus against the world. Partners in crime and in silent rebellion against their parents and family. He had spent the first eleven years of his life looking out for his brother; shielding him the best he could from his mother's rage and his father's indifference. Then he left for Hogwarts. He spent nine months away from his family, defied his family's legacy by being sorted into Gryffindor rather than Slytherin, and ignored orders outright for the first time by refusing to go back to Grimmauld Place for Christmas. An act that was equally courageous and cowardly.
He found acceptance; friends that helped foster deeply held convictions that before were simple nebulous feelings inside of him that contradicted the edicts he was raised on. They taught him how to rebel loudly and boldly, and he displayed his rebellion to his family by spending the first happy Christmas he could remember at Hogwarts. Yet, there was regret and shame that muddied that act of defiance. Part of him felt relief at knowing he wasn't going to see his family, but he knew he was abandoning Regulus for another six months with no one there to protect him. While Sirius got a reprieve from the constant onslaught of pureblood indoctrination and discipline, he neglected his duty to protect his brother. The memories he had of the summer following were equal parts his mother's cowing rage and the hair raising silence he has since learned to bear from his brother.
"Sirius?"
Sirius flinched as he was broken from his thoughts. He turned his head to look at James who was watching him from his bed. The messy haired boy was sitting up and looking at him concerned.
"Prongs," Sirius replied, sitting up to face his best friend.
"Are you okay? Is Hermione alright?" he asked, reaching for his glasses.
Sirius paused in answering. Deliberating on how to answer honestly without giving any secret away. His friends trusted him, and allowed him to maintain Hermione's confidence even knowing he was withholding secrets.
"Physically, yes. Hermione is also fine," he said after a moment. "Beyond that, I'm not sure."
James frowned, getting up to sit by him. "What happened?"
Sirius looked at his friend. The person who had stood by him through thick and thin; who had his implacable trust.
"A lot of things," he sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Marlene for one. She's not letting it go." She was the least of his problems but arguably one of his more pressing and frustrating.
James leaned an elbow onto his crossed knee and looked at Sirius for a moment. "Why did you end things with Marlene?"
Suddenly feeling awkward at the oft asked question, Sirius fixed his eyes at the black window across the room. Slightly removing himself from the conversation enough to explain. "You know my parents hate each other?"
"You've never really talked about it, but I kind of figured," James said, frowning.
"Yeah, well, they really hate each other. Their only unifying goal is the continuation and standing of the Black family name. As long as they achieve that neither of them cares. They stay out of each other's way. Mistresses, paramours, or whatever you want to call them, were normal. They didn't hide that from us. As long as other families didn't see, it was fine. I guess I never thought it was odd. It's just how it was since I can remember. Romance wasn't about another person, it was about passion and satisfaction. I always saw it as a temporary high or something. I didn't really see it another way until I started living at your house and saw how your parents were with each other. Partners in every way. Like two people who just fit together, filling in where the other lacks." Sirius crossed his arms and glanced at this friend. James was watching him with a look of contemplation, his eyebrows furrowed in thought.
"So you ended things with Marlene because you don't fit with her? What did you say to her?" James asked.
"I told her that if I'm going to be with someone, I want it to be real. I want someone who I belong to as much as they belong to me." Sirius explained. "I don't think she quite got it…" He trailed off trying to find the words to explain himself. "Maybe if things had been different. If we didn't decide to use each other the way we did. But, at least for me, the line was drawn between us and I don't think I could ever feel for her what I think I should. I don't think I could let myself belong to her."
James nodded, his expression relaxed from its concentrated frown. "She doesn't want to accept that you two are done," he concluded. "Marlene is pretty aggressive, too. She isn't going to let things go easily."
"She isn't. Her and her girl gang cornered me and Hermione when I was taking her back to the Hospital Wing the other day." Sirius scowled again at remembering that interaction.
James shifted, pulling his leg up under him to face Sirius more fully. As always when Lily was referenced his attention sharpened. "Lily got involved?"
Sirius' mood lifted at the predictable response from his friend. Snorting and cracking a small smile for a second before answering. Despite James' utter infatuation with Lily, he wasn't under the pretense that she was infallible. "Yeah. I don't blame her for staying on her best friend's side. We all know she's loyal to a fault, but she made the assumption that I replaced Marlene with Hermione - they both made the accusation, actually. Asked if I 'picked her up somewhere,'" he said with a huff, using his fingers to indicate the quotation. "I don't think she meant to be so mean to someone she doesn't know, but she wanted to lash out at me and ended up inferring some nasty things about Hermione. I can handle them taking out their anger on me, but they took it too far when they did that."
With a groan, James pulled his glasses off to rub between his eyes. "Why did I have to fall in love with a redhead?"
"Rather why'd you have to fall in love with the one girl who won't give you the time of day except to tell you to fuck off?" Sirius laughed.
"Oh shut up, Padfoot! We're talking about your issues, not mine," chuckled James. "What else is there? You have something else on your mind."
Along with his parents, Sirius didn't really like talking about his brother. Of course his friends knew Regulus, had seen him throughout the castle, but they didn't know that they used to have a close sibling bond. They didn't know that Sirius broke that bond.
"I don't really want to get into it," he said, looking at his best friend. James, in a lot of ways, had replaced Regulus as his brother. It made Sirius feel guilty, unfilial. "I'm thinking about trying to reconnect with Regulus."
James' eyebrows shot up to his hairline. "When did you start thinking about doing that?"
"About twenty minutes ago."
"I think maybe that's something you need to sleep on, then," said James scrubbing his lip and chin with his hand, his eyebrows hadn't yet reached a normal height. "I don't know if I'm quite mentally prepared to help with that yet either."
Smiling at his friend, Sirius clapped him on the shoulder. "You're right. Good thing we don't have class tomorrow. We can sleep on it for a long time."
"'Night, Pads," said James crawling off to his own bed.
"'Night, Prongs."
"Hermione, dear," said a soft motherly voice, gently waking her up from sleep.
Opening her eyes, Hermione was greeted with the soft buttery light of early morning. She felt pleasantly lethargic having taken a dose of Dreamless Sleep the night before, not wanting to risk even more vivid nightmares than usual. Looking up she was greeted by the face of Madame Pomfrey who was giving her a kind smile.
"I'm sorry for waking you this early, but it's time to take your potions. You can go back to sleep after." She helped Hermione sit up, uncapped the phails, and handed her a piece of toast. "Eat this, dear. Wouldn't want you to get sick from taking them on an empty stomach.
The subtle thrumming ache in her body became more obvious once she was sitting upright. It ran down her arms and legs, making her feel stiff in her joints and sore in her muscles. She took the toast and took a bite out of it.
The Hospital Wing doors opened and closed with an audible click and footsteps came forward. By the stride it wasn't Sirius, they were too light. A feminine voice called out confirming the observation.
"Madame Pomfrey?"
"I'll be right with you," the matron called out, standing up from Hermione's side table. Looking at her she said, "Once you've finished your toast and taken your potions try and get some more sleep. The Dreamless Draught should last you a couple more hours, may as well get the most of it shan't we?"
"Yes, I will. Thanks, Madame Pomfrey," responded Hermione, taking another bite of the toast.
The nurse smiled down at her and moved around the privacy curtain. Her footsteps rang out as she approached the student who came in. "What can I do for you, Miss. Evans?"
Hermione stilled mid bite, grimacing a little at the sudden anxiety that flooded her. Her and Lily's last encounter was a disaster. Not only had it been aggressive but she had jinxed one of Lily's close friends. It hurt to think that she may have ruined her chance at being friends with Harry's mom.
"I'm having really bad cramps again," Lily told Pomfrey, her voice was tight in a way that most women Hermione had met could empathise with.
"Oh dear," Madame Pomfrey said, tutting sympathetically. "Go lay down, I'll bring you something to ease that in just a moment." Her footsteps walked away towards her store room and Lily's approached closer towards the line of beds.
Through a crack in her privacy curtain, Hermione could see strands of an auburn hair moving as Lily sat onto the bed next to hers. A flash of green peeked around the gap in the divider, locking onto Hermione's amber irises. She looked away quickly, hoping to be ignored, and worked on finishing her toast.
Grabbing the muddy green nerve potion she downed it. It hit the back of her throat wrong, causing her to sputter and cough as she attempted to swallow the acerbic potion. She vaguely heard the curtain being pushed open and a moment later someone was shoving a cup into her hand. She took a large gulp from the cup, grateful for the cool water that soothed her throat and chased the last of the bad taste away.
Looking up she confronted the face of Lily, who was giving her a scrutinizing look.
"You really do sleep in the Hospital Wing," she said, sounding slightly surprised.
"So, you assumed I was a liar on top of being skank?" replied Hermione, reacting towards the unspoken implication. She felt oddly vulnerable with Lily standing over her bed, looking down at her. She felt on edge, her heartbeat pounded in her ears and throat. It made her unconsciously draw her legs up in a position better to move out of the way if she needed to defend herself, and inch her hand closer to her wand on her bedside table.
She knew she was being ridiculous. Acting defensive wasn't going to help them get along. But, Lily hadn't given her the most glowing first impression. It was at odds with how people talked about her in 20 years.
Lily turned pink, and opened and closed her mouth several times before speaking in a somewhat sheepish voice. "I didn't mean it like that," she said, grimacing slightly.
"Didn't you?" Hermione asked, raising an eyebrow, her hand wrapping around her wand.
Madame Pomfrey's footsteps returned. Lily turned to sit on the bed next to Hermione's. The nurse reached the bed and handed her a lavender colored potion along with a phail of the light blue pain potion that Hermione had grown so familiar with.
"Here you are, dear. This should clear up the pain and lessen the swelling." She carefully watched Lily take the potions before handing her some water. "Good. Now rest here for a bit."
"Thank you, Madame Pomfrey," responded Lily, the slight strain around her eyes already relaxing.
The matron turned towards Hermione and tutted disapprovingly. "Why haven't you taken your potion?"
"I got distracted, sorry," replied Hermione, wincing as she remembered the shooting pains in her arms and legs that had been temporarily forgotten in the adrenaline spike she experienced. She tipped the blue potion into her mouth and let the familiar cooling sensation spread through her limbs. Sighing in relief and shivering as goosebumps rose across her skin, she set the glass container aside.
"Good," Pomfrey said with a click of her tongue. "We don't want to mess up your schedule, now do we?"
"No, ma'am," answered Hermione with a smile. The huffy, indignant tone was oddly comforting to her.
The nurse nodded firmly. "Now get a bit more rest while the dreamless sleep is still working." She waited until Hermione settled herself onto the pillows properly before walking away from the bed and shutting the privacy curtains.
Pulling her hair out from under her neck and closing her eyes, Hermione tried to settle herself enough to go back to sleep. Hyperawareness kept her from fully relaxing, she consciously had to unclench her jaw and take deep breaths to focus on making her shoulders go slack. She had just started to drift off when the curtains were abruptly drawn. Snapping to sit upright, she nearly dove for her wand which made her lose her balance and tumble out of bed. She yelped as she smacked the ground hard, landing on her forearm and elbow, followed by her shoulder. Her legs were tangled in the sheets trapping her in an awkward, suspended position with her legs still partially up on the hospital bed.
"Oh, shit!" gasped Lily, rushing to her side.
Hermione hissed in delayed pain. Her scabbed arm scraped the side table going down and she could feel it getting slick under her as she propped herself on it while she attempted to extract her legs from their bondage.
"Let me help," offered Lily, as she set about trying to loosen the knot of blankets. After a moment Hermione's legs were free enough for her to pull them down from the bed. "Merlin, I didn't mean to startle you." She reached down to help Hermione up, grabbing her free arm while she pushed with the arm still on the ground.
"It's fine," Hermione said, quickly kicking the blankets over the blood slicked, stone floor. "I was just half asleep." She sat on the mattress, her back against the head of the bed and pulled her knees up hiding her arm between her stomach and legs.
Lily tentatively sat on the end of the bed. "I wanted to talk about last time," she said, awkwardly. "Mainly I wanted to say sorry. It wasn't about you and I brought you into it. It's not an excuse, but Black has a certain reputation when it comes to girls. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I made a snap judgement when I shouldn't have, and I hope you can forgive me and we can maybe start over? I'd like to be friends." Lily was fidgeting with her hands by the end of her speech, her face a rosy glow that made her familiarly green eyes stand out against her skin.
Hermione looked at Lily and contemplated what she said. It seemed sincere. Everything she knew about Lily Evans told her that she wouldn't play games with people. But she clearly was only sorry for being wrong about Hermione, not about the views that swayed her to conclude the things she had.
"Do you think every girl who gets close to Sirius is a floozy?" Hermione asked. She held Lily's eye, trying to guess her thoughts.
"I mean, there is a precedent," Lily replied.
"So, is that how you view Marlene?"
Lily looked taken aback. Her mouth popped open and she gripped her skirt. "What? No! Of course I don't think Marlene is like that. She's one of my best friends."
"But she also was involved with Sirius. Isn't it biased to make exceptions for her? And isn't it biased to place the blame solely on Sirius when they were both involved?" Hermione watched Lily look down at her hands, her eyebrows scrunched together. "Sirius broke things off with Marlene because he's trying not to be the very thing you've accused him of." She paused to let Lily take in what she said and to let her speak if she wanted but she stayed silent; so Hermione kept talking. "I forgive you for what you implied about me. Everything I've heard about you is that you are a good person, and I don't think James would like a girl who was mean by nature." Lily's face went scarlet, and she looked ready to speak this time but Hermione kept going knowing she struck a nerve mentioning James. "I'd love to be friends with you, but I'm not sure it's possible while you dislike my friends. Sirius saved my life and has taken it upon himself to be my protector, and his friends have accepted me into their fold without question."
Hermione's arm hurt, and she was suddenly feeling very tired. It was surprisingly exhausting, having to talk to sixteen year old Lily. It reminded her that she was mentally two years older -or was it three? Her birthday passed a few weeks ago, but do birthdays count when you haven't been born yet?
Hermione knew that what she had said would probably make Lily defensive, but thankfully the Hospital Wing doors opened again, ending the conversation before she could reply. Maybe given some time for self-reflection, Lily might be more receptive to what she was saying.
Once again footsteps could be heard coming from the entrance. It sounded like a small group of boys by the chattering and she recognized them immediately as they came directly towards her bed. Lily seemingly realized who was approaching as well and retreated to her own cot before they pulled open the other side of the privacy curtain. Sirius, James, and Remus' faces emerged with various smiles adorning them.
"Kitten! You're awake," said Sirius, grinning wider and taking his customary seat on her bedside. He took a surreptitious look at the gap in the curtain, noticing the red hair that was hiding on the other side, but didn't say anything.
"Morning, Hermione. I hope you slept well," greeted Remus. He was looking a little wan but not particularly sickly like he would when he was older and it was approaching the full moon.
"Good morning, I slept alright," she responded, smiling up at them. Pressing her arm closer to her stomach.
James sauntered up to her and handed her a package, which she took with her free hand. "Pete asked me to deliver these to you since you weren't at breakfast. Professor Sprout asked him to lead a few weekend tutoring sessions with some of the fourth years, so he couldn't come with us," he explained before plopping down at the foot of her bed and crossing his legs, obviously he didn't catch a glimpse of Lily like Sirius had.
Hermione laughed as she attempted to open the napkin one handed. "Poor Pete, what did he do to suffer through having to tutor the fourth years?" Sirius reached over and untied the fabric for her, his face tightening into a slight look of confusion. But he didn't say anything as he set down the napkin full of small, triangular lemon scones.
"He's too good at Herbology, that's what he did," answered Remus, chuckling a little but also giving her once over. She looked up at him and saw his nostrils flare a little. Before she could try and keep the conversation going he reached forward and grabbed her arm. She resisted him trying to pry her arm away from her stomach. Her smile turned into a grimace.
Sirius gripped his friend's wrist, anger flashing in his eye. "Moony, what do you think you're doing?"
"I smell blood," Remus replied. His face pulled into a worried frown, but he didn't resist Sirius.
"What's going on?" Asked James, alarmed watching his friends.
Sirius rounded on Hermione, his grey eyes assessing her. It took him a bare moment to zero in on her arm and then look back at her face. The skin of his cheeks went white.
"Accio gauze." A second later white cotton gauze flew into his hand. Giving Hermione a look, silently asking her to give him her arm, he took her forearm and quickly covered it with the gauze pad. "Can one of you get Pomfrey? Tell her that Hermione's cuts have reopened."
Remus nodded and bolted out of the enclosed space, his footsteps hurrying towards Pomfrey's office.
James had come to stand on Hermione's other side, and peered down at the slowly dampening gauze that Sirius held to her arm.
"What happened?" He asked again.
"I fell out of bed just before you came in. I accidentally scraped my arm on the side table and reopened some cuts on my arm," she answered, glancing up at him. James was frowning and clearly puzzled about something.
"Why did you try and hide it, kitten?" Spoke up Sirius. His voice was pained and his lips were pressed thin, bloodless like the rest of his face.
"Sorry, it was just instinct. I didn't want to worry you guys," she said, bashfully. She reached up and started yanking on a curl at the base of her neck nervously.
Madame Pomfrey and Remus rushed back. The matron's face was stern, her lips were pursed in a disapproving way that over time Hermione had realized showcased her worry.
"You two go stand outside," she ordered Remus and James. They shuffled out, glancing confused looks at Sirius and Hermione.
Pomfrey conjured some warm water and a bowl, various bottles of antiseptic, and bandages. Although she didn't need too she instructed Sirius to lift the bloodied gauze and clean the wound with warm water. To his displeasure the letters were inflamed and swollen as they wept red. Once her arm was cleaned off as well as they could get it, sanitized, and numbed with a tap of her wand, Pomfrey began redoing some of the stitches that had torn.
Sirius sat next to Hermione, hip to hip with her, and unconsciously ran his fingers through her scalp as she leaned against his shoulder with her eyes closed. The soothing gesture lulled her into a half sleep. She felt Pomfrey finish up her stitches and sit up.
"Sirius please finish up and bandage her," she commanded a little more gently now. Hermione felt Sirius nod and she opened her eyes as he moved her to lean against the headboard.
It reminded her of the first time he had done this. The panic of waking up to someone touching her but then realizing it was Sirius changing her bandage. It had been surreal. Like the ghost of an old friend had come to comfort her in her dreams, perhaps even heralding her own death and coming to keep her company as she passed on. At any moment she was going to wake up on the floor of the Malfoy Manor and meet her demise, but that's ok because Sirius was there waiting to take her wherever they needed to go next.
Sirius finished bandaging her arm and he looked up at her and searched her face, obviously concerned. She felt tired and was sure he could see it, but she didn't want to stay in the Hospital Wing any longer that day.
"Alright my dear," said Madame Pomfrey. "All fixed up. How would you like to take some more rest, hmm?"
"I think I'd like to get up now, Madame Pomfrey," Hermione said, trying to keep any fatigue out of her voice. By the looks of it the nurse was going to try and insist that she say in bed longer.
"We'll keep an eye on her. If she gets tired she can sleep on a couch in the common room with us. It has a nice warm fire," cut in Sirius as he cleared away some of the mess.
The matron pursed her lips again, but as it attested to the trust that the three of them had built she agreed. She ushered him out of the privacy curtains to allow Hermione to get dressed.
Hermione sighed in relief once they both were out of sight. She hadn't expected the nurse to let her out of the infirmary and was grateful that Sirius had proved to be such an effective caretaker. She glanced at the gapmin the curtain and was unsurprised to see that Lily must have slipped out during the excitement.
Making quick work of getting dressed, she donned a simple brown pinafore that had pockets large enough for her to stash one of her books, paired with a warm orange long sleeve, and some wool stockings. Stepping out of her enclosure she was greeted by two very anxious boys.
Remus and James wandered up to her like lost puppies looking for their mother. Their eyes looked her over like they were worried they'd find other signs of injury. James pulled her toward them so that she was standing between them. Their body warmth on either side of her was pleasant in the slight chill of the room.
"You okay, Hermione?" Asked Remus, looking down at her, nostrils flaring slightly to try any whiff of something else wrong.
"I'm fine, I just reopened some cuts," she said, brushing it off. In truth she felt a little shaky and cold. And by the looks of it neither boy was fully convinced.
"Did Pomfrey not heal the cuts earlier? They must have been bad if they bled that much," James asked, hovering over her. Suddenly he was no longer the anxious puppy, but instead an anxious mother hen towering over her chick.
Hermione looked down and fiddled with the hem of her skirt. She hadn't yet wanted to explain how she got her injuries to them. She swallowed and answered anyway, hoping they wouldn't be too relentless with their questions. "It was from a cursed blade. It can't be healed with magic and it takes a long time to heal on its own."
Both boy's faces went ashen, but thankfully they didn't press the issue. They crowded around her even closer. And when Sirius finally showed up again she couldn't help but wonder what the scene looked like to him.
He came up to them carrying a thick textbook that he hadn't been carrying before and wore a bemused look on his face.
"Pads? What's up?" inquired James, reaching out to his friend and clasping him on his shoulder.
"Madame Pomfrey just decided I'm her apprentice now," he said in a confused voice. His black eyebrows scrunched in a puzzled look.
"She can take apprentices?" Asked Remus, shocked.
"Apparently?" replied Sirius. "She took me to her office and shoved this textbook at me and told me to have 2 chapters read and come by during my free period on Thursday so she could quiz me."
Hermione reached out and grabbed the book. It was an anatomy textbook, the still illustration of a skinless man stared up at her. She was surprised and pleased to see that it was a muggle textbook. She was unsure about Madame Pomfrey's blood status but it appeared that she valued the superior knowledge of muggles when it came to the sciences. Most healers she had read
"Do you even want to learn healing?" Asked James.
Sirius shrugged, glancing at Hermione. "You never know when it will be useful."