A/N: Thank you so much for your reviews, favorites and follows after last chapter! Huge thanks to lanamarymack for alpha/beta reading this chapter! You can find me on tumblr (nauticalparamour) where I post sneak peeks, story updates and answer questions. Now, I originally thought that this story would be around 40 chapters, but as I've started writing it, I am think it might end up being closer to 55/60.
Please let me know what you thought of chapter five and be on the lookout for chapter six soon!
Regulus was amused that she had been sorted into Slytherin and even more so that she seemed so salty about it. "I take it that you weren't a Slytherin in your previous life?" he asked, arching one eyebrow. He lounged back against the settee in the Black family library — a familiar and comforting place that Hermione spent the majority of her time in.
Hermione frowned at him. "I thought you weren't supposed to talk about that," she said, with a sniff. "Father wouldn't like that."
"You are right, he wouldn't," Regulus answered, unphased by her thinly veiled threat. "But, that won't stop me from asking."
She shut her book and looked up at him, wondering just how far she could push him. Sure, they were friendly so far, but that didn't mean they were friends. That didn't mean that Hermione trusted him, no matter how much she'd enjoyed talking to him so far. "If you must know..." she trailed off, heightening the suspense. "I was a Gryffindor until I got unceremoniously booted back here."
That had not been what Regulus was expecting, not even a little bit. "I assumed you would have said Ravenclaw, what with you trying to break the records for most revising done in a summer," he taunted her back, though it was all friendly.
"I was nearly a hatstall the first time around. The Hat thought about Ravenclaw, but ultimately settled on Gryffindor, where I belong," she insisted. She was still sour that she'd be rooming down in the dungeons rather than in Gryffindor tower, her home for the past five years. It would be a huge adjustment.
"Oh ho!" Regulus said, sounding surprised and amused. "Now you are the one who is saying things that father would detest. Don't you know what happened to our big brother, Sirius?"
Sirius was a non-topic in the Black household. He was alluded to or referenced, but his name was seldom said aloud. It was so odd for Hermione to interact with this family, having known the bitter adult Sirius had grown into. He had obviously still carried a lot of resentment towards them for the way that they had treated him as a child, but Hermione had not expected to find so much pain reflected on the other side. She'd been content to imagine that they would be pleased that the trash had taken itself out.
That was not the case. The estrangement between parent and child was especially hard felt by Walburga, though Hermione knew that she was too proud to go back and admit that she'd made a mistake — admit that she was largely to blame for her son running away. But, it was easier to put it all on a teenager who simply didn't share the same core belief system as his parents.
As for Orion — and it would be sweet if it did not mean disowning his own child — seemed to genuinely care about his wife's feelings. He did not like or tolerate anything that upset Walburga and Sirius had upset Walburga, so all talk or mention of him was more or less forbidden in the household.
"I've certainly heard his account of it," Hermione said, almost without thinking. She immediately snapped her mouth shut when she realized that little tidbit had slipped out. Even though she desperately wanted to share all of her future knowledge, she was taking Orion's advice to be wary about the unintended changes that might occur.
Regulus seized on the opportunity immediately, though — nothing could sneak by him. "You never said that you were... acquainted with Sirius," he said, obvious wonder on his face. "But, you've said nothing about knowing me or my parents. How exactly do you know him?"
Hermione floundered for a moment, trying to decide what she could even share without ruining things. She wasn't going to share that Sirius had just died immediately before she was sent hurtling back into the past. "Sirius is my best friend's godfather," she said, thinking that was the most neutral of answers. "He and I do not exactly get along."
"Well, that's hardly anything new. I don't think that Sirius gets along with anyone in the family," he said with a snort.
"Sirius didn't know we were family. And neither did I for that matter," she remarked. "But it didn't stop him from arguing with me at every turn."
Regulus rolled his eyes. "Sounds as if you got the Black family temper, same as Sirius," Regulus mused.
Hermione wanted to protest, but she knew that it would only prove his point. Living with Orion and Walburga, Hermione could now clearly see that Sirius had obviously inherited his temper from his mother. But, she didn't think that she was on the same level by any means. She just stood up for what she believed in... er, a bit like Sirius must have, too.
"Honestly though... a thirty something year old wizard arguing with a teenage girl? How ridiculous. What did you squabble over?" he asked, intrigued.
Now, Hermione could not stop herself from smiling. "Kreacher," she revealed, watching Regulus's baby face for any micro expression that might show his surprise. He would do anything to seem unaffected.
But, hearing about the miserable little house elf made his eyes widen. "I didn't realize that you were familiar with Kreacher in the future," he said. "You keep getting curiouser and curiouser, Hermione. Now I understand why father says it is so dangerous to speak of the future with you. So, you were at Grimmauld Place with Kreacher... and Sirius. Hell must have frozen over in the next two decades."
"Sirius does not treat Kreacher very well," Hermione said, her eyebrows drawing together. "And he couldn't understand how it was possible I could be compassionate towards a house elf who constantly disparaged me for being a muggleborn."
"But you're not a muggleborn," Regulus said, sounding rather stubborn.
"Well, Kreacher obviously can't sense the Black family blood," she answered, amused. "He thought I was a muggleborn. And well, so did I."
"Have you told him? I am sure that he'd apologize on his future self's behalf," Regulus asked.
"No, and I won't," Hermione said, pulling her legs up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them like a kind of armor. She didn't want to think of the house elf — as curmudgeonly as he may be — punishing himself as a way to make it up to her. "Besides, does it really matter if I was a muggleborn or not?"
"I'd say it does. Because you are not a muggleborn, you are a member of the Black family. He should have been more respectful," Regulus said, sounding so resolute, like he'd got everything figured out.
"He still treats me as lesser because I have the ick of a squib on me," Hermione argued back, knowing that she had been rather reluctantly claimed by Orion and Walburga as one of their own. "And, as I said before, should it really matter? I am still the same witch I always was, if I was muggleborn or pureblood. I still passed all my OWLs."
"Well, some might say that you are as brilliant as you are because you were pure blooded all along," Regulus said.
"But that's just ridiculous. I was still raised as a muggle. I had no knowledge of the wizarding world until I was eleven, same as any other muggleborn," she said. She was still upset that none of her grandparents had bothered to talk to her about her gift. It would have been nice to have some explanation when she was having bouts of accidental magic.
"Couldn't you explain it as inherent talent?" he asked, still eager to engage with her on the topic, despite the fact that she was questioning his entire world view.
"If that's true, explain all the pureblood witches and wizards that I know who can't manage a tenth of what I can in terms of magic," Hermione said, thinking of Crabbe and Goyle in particular. "I'm sure that you have the same sort at Hogwarts now."
"Angus Bellchant is a bit of a bellend, but you didn't hear it from me," Regulus quipped with a smirk on his face.
"So, why should it be just because I'm pureblood? I don't think there is any correlation between magical prowess and how pure your blood is," Hermione said with a frown. "And if you believe that, then why would any family shun their squib relatives? After all, apparently it's the blood that holds the true power. How many more Hermione Grangers are out there?"
"I've never thought about it that way before," Regulus admitted. "I don't know if you'd entirely convinced me, Hermione. After all, you do have several powerful magical lineages in you, even if you were muggle raised. I don't think that bloodlines can be completely discounted when explaining what a powerful witch you are."
Hermione opened herself, ready to argue with him again, but he cut her off before she could speak.
"That's not to say that there aren't things about your personality that have made you who you are, too — you are determined, resourceful, clever. And, you are ambitious as well," he flattered her. "Seven NEWTs? You'd be one of the most accomplished witches to graduate in several decades at least. And all those things make you a great Slytherin."
Frustrated at being bested, Hermione huffed. "When you put it that way, I guess," she conceded finally. "I'll not kick up too much of a fuss. Not like it would do any good, anyway."
"Good," Regulus said, brightly. "I look forward to having a sibling in my house. Much better than all the inter house fighting."
"I'm sure that Sirius doesn't appreciate the fighting, either," Hermione said, thinking of the melancholy that had a hold of the older version of Sirius that she knew.
"You don't know him here. He loves it," Regulus promised, his smile quickly fading as it was replaced with something more pensive. "But, he lives in Grimmauld Place in your time. My parents and I are all dead, aren't we?"
"What makes you think that?" Hermione demanded, sucking in a breath that he'd deduced it so easily.
"You don't know us, but Sirius lives here. There is no way that it would happen any other way," Regulus explained. His gaze dropped to his lap for a moment, before he cautiously looked at her, uncharacteristic openness on his face. "I must say that I didn't see myself dying before I turned forty. How does it happen?"
Hermione chewed at her lower lip, furiously, a war already being battled in her heart. "You know that I can't give you specifics," she insisted with a whine.
"Why not?" he asked.
"It could make too many changes. And, I don't think you'd believe me," she decided.
"Can't you give me any hint?" Regulus asked again, a particularly baleful look in his grey eyes.
Hermione could already feel herself wavering. She had only known Regulus for a short while and she already found that she liked him quite a lot, despite knowing that he had been a Death Eater and obviously harbored some feelings about purebloods being superior. He'd already shown her that he was willing to change his mind and engage in debate about it. How hard would she have to push to fully change his mind? And, would it really be so bad to prevent Regulus from dying? Sirius had obviously been deeply affected by his brother's death.
Meeting his eyes, Hermione knew her mind was already made up. "Do not take the Dark Mark," she said, almost pleading. "Under any circumstances."
Regulus recoiled the moment that it left her lips. "I'm meant to take the Mark this summer," he murmured, obviously unconvinced by her pronouncement.
"Please, Regulus, you are a child," she said, scoffing. She couldn't believe that it was even an option for him to take the Mark in the first place. Just what was Orion thinking? "Do not take the Mark. Or you won't even live to your twentieth birthday," she added, hoping to impress upon him the seriousness of the choice."
That certainly got his attention. "I suppose you are the one with future knowledge," he said, shakily. "I should be listening to you."
"Thank you," Hermione said, obviously relieved that he was going to listen to her. She felt better knowing that Regulus's life wouldn't be cut short and hopefully he would be further convinced that following Voldemort was not the right choice.