Brightest by Glory Locks

Summary: Hermione overused her time turner. Only to find herself in a cave, face to face with Sirius Black. Things go sideways now the convict has access to the brightest witch her age. A young woman prone to befriending elves and defending victims. Badass and Aged-up Hermione/Sirius.

Genres: Adventure, Romance, and more than a touch of Satire.

Image Credit: Astronomer Roshaan Bukhari from Pakistan photographed the Sirius star through a 70mm telescope over a period of 2 seconds.

CHAPTER 1

CHASING GHOSTS

Hot air rose as a grey wave about to crash over the Thames and sweep the buildings away. This warm front overtook the sweeping chill of dementors. On the streets people shivered and hurried. Chased away as if knowing the secret magical government released an official order to set a class 7-X species upon them. So hazardous, they weren't even classified on the normal scale by those authorities who controlled them. Sirius was brutally, intimately aware of this fact.

Their cold seeped through the nearby atmosphere and exposure to it reduced air particle density by 25%. His Auror training detailed this meticulously. As Aurors needed to know what to watch for should they be stationed at the prison. However, knowing and suffering 12 years of it were entirely different. The effects sunk deep and lingered. Physically, mentally, he felt them.

Just being near caused a sharp stab at his chest. The difficulty filling his lungs. His blood struggling to get oxygen to the rest of his body. He knew this pain, knew if they got close enough the sharp stabbing would spread to his limbs as they fed on him. It was painful.

Beyond the torture, Sirius knew his solitary confinement changed him. Those nice little social things which used to come so easy and comfortable were foreign. He was more anxious about the idea of speaking with someone than his teenage self would have thought possible. He struggled to string two sentences together.

A part of his mind, he feared, would forever be trapped. He vaguely understood how a brain's chemicals severely alter themselves to survive such solitude over a decade. Yet living it wasn't so easy to piece apart. Even now he was in the middle of London, Sirius wasn't quite certain it was real or some horror induced wishful thinking.

All because he'd decided avoiding the Aurors wasn't enough and he should come to Diagon Alley to mingle with the school shopping crowd. Like a mother fucking masochist. The thought of being in the crowd made his skin literally crawl.

When he got out of this mess, and he would get out, Sirius would find a secluded spot far away from anyone and everyone. Somewhere far away from screaming babies and curious old people just wanting to talk to the stranger in the grocery store. He'd barely gotten through that conversation. The old woman looked so concerned on his behalf. Eyes softening when he stammered and couldn't put words in order.

He'd find a remote island. Where no old ladies tried to speak about the weather. Where his heart could break and he'd never hurt anymore of his friends again. He didn't trust himself, not after the last time he'd tried to help someone.

Far enough away he'd never be responsible for their children. A prison escapee, the worst hired babysitter ever. Who'd absolutely no idea how to care for children and who was rather good at terrifying them, if how his godson first fell over and shouted upon seeing him was any indication. Now he was stalking the kid. Such a big improvement.

James and Lily's son was in that building. The top elected official himself opened that dingy door. Proclaimed to the open air of a non-magical street, "That was so exciting. Meeting Harry Potter in the flesh. Jenkins! Did you spell that picture to the Prophet for us?"

Sirius froze, wide eyed as the group trailing the fat man streamed out.

"No? Well get to it lad." He spread his hands wide to proclaim, "Our ratings will go through the roof!"

Dressed in a bowler hat of all things, the Minister of Magic himself left the pub and looked as if he'd already indulged in one too many hot toddies. Sirius shifted. His blue transfigured eyes took in the uniformed officers in between those in dress robes, the elite and the elected and their employed enforcers.

A rather large group of Administrators and Aurors. Who did not once cast a revelio, even when two of them looked right his way. They walked right on by. All chattering and clustered together in a group.

Caught up in the details of leaving a boy to himself. "But only for a few weeks!"

A pre-teen boy. Sirius knew their society often disregarded the safety of children for political gains, but to hear it spoken so blatant and free. As if there were nothing at all wrong with child endangerment. If something did happen they'd probably say there wasn't anything they could have done, but what a tragedy. One last death left from a war.

A war which never needed to happen in the first place. Which certainly wouldn't have escalated if these very administrators hadn't been arming and funding the aggressors. But at the time it was convenient and fit a narrative. Sirius Black had been close enough with his family to see the killing of civilians had been brushed aside by multiple Ministers. They'd allowed and in some cases out right encouraged it. As if taking out a few civilians in a city really would free up some nice real estate.

He lowered his eyes, glaring as they were, from the Minister's staff to the paper clutched beneath his arm. A very different face printed than the one he currently wore. A transfiguration prodigy they'd called him. The long strands of bright hair slipped, shiny and smooth as silk over his shoulder.

Eyes, hair, and clothing showed a foreigner of means. Slicked back hair with white strands hanging over blue transfigured eyes. The Daily Prophet tucked under his arm told a different story. He hadn't opened it today. Sirius Black couldn't stand reading one more article droning on about his danger to society. Which frankly, at this point, they were right. He was angry and volatile and willing to do a number of things which normal people would never. Being held in one of the world's largest prisons without a trial, for years, yes he thought a lot about murder these days.

Yet he wasn't out of control, wasn't raging like he had been when they caught him and snatched that photo. He'd cooled. Had a kip a thousand times just to think what he'd do when he got out. He was no longer that man screaming about justice and the people he was after should be afraid.

Yet civilized people, like he was pretending to be, carried that day's paper. They acted revolted at the rotating news they'd already heard several times before, because the idea of a mad man amongst them...who wore prison garb instead of a pin-striped suit to the ministry office...that was just unacceptable. Normal people carried the paper, they had to be informed. The moving picture showcased snarling teeth and silent shouts.

A non-magical video clip would have recorded a great number of things said in that moment. Which the current and past administrations wouldn't have wanted aired. The Daily Prophet front page didn't transcribe any of that. Not how he cried, "Find Peter."

Not how he begged them to speak with Dumbledore. To get witness statements from the leaders of the Order. The Headmaster, his top staff, or any of the others who should have been informed a switch had occurred. How he looked the Minister of Magic in the eye. Then asked they find the man who cast the fidelius charm over Potter Cottage. That paper and the truth its owners would never be paid to disclose, it disgusted him.

Still Sirius kept it tucked under his arm. It was an easy conversation piece if anyone stood too close. Or looked too hard at his appearance. Sirius Black was prepared for any number of incidents, yet none of them happened.

Unfortunately, it didn't release the tension in his chest. Didn't stop the borderline panic he had about stepping into a confined space. The Leaky Cauldron looked as cramped from the outside as it always had. An old man walked from the door and side stepped his gloomy expression with a lift of his head. Sirius tried to smile back, but the man was already gone by the time his mouth formed the right shape.

No one bothered him if he looked well put together. Nice enough clothes and they tended to step out of his way or smile extra wide. The robes detailing was authentic. With a twist of the Malfoy crest, the one modified by the French cousins in 1806. The ones the British Malfoys wouldn't speak with unless forced in a room with polite company.

Sirius' actual set of stolen robes and blankets had been shrunk and packed into pockets. His scant galleons alongside it. Scottish weather was going to be chilly. If he really was stalking his unaware godson all the way up there he'd better be prepared.

He even had a jacket small enough to fit a kid. In case he had to grab his godson and flee. A pair of socks that were half the size of Sirius' own feet. All wrapped up and making him feel ridiculous before he'd shrunk the lot of it and stuffed them out of sight.

The baby bag included all clothing and necessities, in case of emergencies. He was pretty sure his aunts used to preach that to the girls. Bella was more likely to kill a kid than raise it, but Exceeds Expectations for the effort, he supposed.

Sirius suspected he was closer to Bella on child instincts, but if he stunned Harry it'd probably be just the same. He didn't recall his aunts having any more tips on tending children. Sirius looked from the jacket to the door leading to the wizarding shopping district and wondered if the homicidal man's baby bag should include anything else.

Sirius pushed open the black painted door. London's misty grey sky disappeared. Replaced with the warm browns and off white walls of their society's most famous pub. It was dangerous coming here. Where every other person had studied 7 years of transfiguration. Where every soul had heard about the infamous prison breakout. Its door closed with a heavy thud behind him.

It felt like a trap. How Harry had seen him and then come here, here of all places. How his memories of Tom's Leaky Cauldron looked the same despite 12 years having come and gone. These 14 tables remained just as dinged and in their previous locations scattered about the room. Their pub owner hadn't aged much.

Tom was still wrinkled and happy and quick to joke with his customers. The witches and wizards fashion remained nearly untouched. Sirius wondered if it was him who wasn't remembering. Or perhaps it really was a well designed lure.

That they'd set him up to follow Harry Potter here. That the Minister of Magic let a 13 year old stay in a pub on his own. Were they that dumb or were they posting a new set of much better Aurors outside. His eyes skirted around the premises, paranoia making him think up scattered plans to enact.

A woman who passed him winked. Sirius cringed away from her and shuffled till he stood hard against the wall. Let her pass out of the Leaky Cauldron's front door. The smell of the room came with her. Perfumes, cologne, and rich food once so normal now hurt Sirius' sensitive nose.

Not wanting another person almost touching him, Sirius stepped into the room and shuffled till he found somewhere blockaded with empty chairs. He'd be safe here. He wasn't sure how long he waited. Sirius' mind spun worse and worse as he sat. Then with one word it all stopped.

"Harry!"

His head snapped up at the shout. A girl, brown curls bouncing, shot down the stairs and tackled the miniature James. The tight anxiety building in his chest eased.

"Oh Harry I didn't know you would be here this early. Mum and dad promised me we could get a pet at the menagerie," Her voice went on talking a mile a minute and his godson seemed as happy and content.

Sirius' mind snapped back to himself when he heard the girl state, "Were they feeding you enough? You look as skinny as you did at the beginning of last year. And you have bruising on your arms. Do you need mum to look at it?"

Sirius looked at his godson's too baggy tee shirt, scuffed up pants, and the bruises which had turned green by now. His godson shrugged on a hoodie. The girl shared a worried glance with her parents.

The muggle woman ran her fingers through her daughter's equally large ringlets. So the boy leading their way to the Alley Entrance wouldn't hear the mother stated quietly, "We'll write a letter to McGonagall and Dumbledore with our concerns."

"What if they don't do anything?"

The muggle parents frowned. Sirius was frozen to his seat. Yelling as Harry left his house, just as Sirius had been yelled out of his own childhood home. The bruises, the clothes, he hadn't been imagining them. The intensity of this recall pulled him deep. He struggled to stay present. Dim and distant he saw the small family take his godson away.

As they moved Sirius shifted to follow. Neatly bumped the table next to him. Their silverware skid from plates and scattered to the floor. His notice-me-not broke. Now the eyes were looking at him. The Leaky Cauldron suddenly seemed too cold. He hovered over their table. Eyes glancing from parents and stalling on the kid with blue eyes. Watery blue eyes.

"Sorry."

He forgot to change his voice and it came out rocky and cracked. The true voice of a man who hadn't had enough oxygen or water for years.

Sirius Black hovered over the boy. He'd the same watery blue eyes of Peter. How often had he imagined Peter coming to visit him? This boy was about his age. Sitting there at the table with his parents.

Peter's eyes looked even more watery than usual. Sirius couldn't help wondering if he'd pushed his friend to do it. That maybe Peter Pettigrew would have been better off without him. Sirius clenched his hand around his stolen wand. Wondered if he'd make it better by putting the boy out of his misery.

Only this wasn't Peter. This wasn't a visitor to his cell in the dead of night staring at him. He bumped into another table, not even registering he'd moved, and found himself at a familiar pair of stairs. By now everyone, including Tom the bar keep, stared at him in concern.

He was an Azkaban escapee who couldn't afford to kill a kid in the middle of the Leaky Cauldron. The boy didn't even look so much like the kid who haunted him. He wavered on his feet. Shoved the stolen wand back in his pocket. Sirius Black pushed away and forced himself up the stairs, certain he was losing his mind.

"Sorry," He told the boy one last time, unsure if the kid could even hear him while jogging up the stairs.

Sirius heard the boy's mother exclaim something. He shut out the noise and tried to focus on what mattered. Murmurs followed him up the open stairwell. He'd made a scene and there was nothing people loved more than a scandal.

Sirius followed that charming family who had the decency to care about his godson. Kept going till he saw the back of the muggle parents as they were swarmed by excited redheads. A gaggle on the other side of the Alley Entrance, just outside the Leaky's wards.

He made it all the way up to the stone arch before the ever lingering cold grew worse. A cold he'd felt since entering the pub, but tried to ignore as he'd been trying to push it out for 12 years. Pervasive and long lasting, never truly left once it got inside you.

An icy hand grabbing his lungs slowed his legs. He reached out to the wall and looked up in resignation. From within the protection of the stairs he could make out dark writhing masses of malevolent magic wrapped in billowing robes. Their bodies corporeal enough to form the image of bones. The dementors drifted high above the buildings.

One passed near the arched entrance. Too far away to endanger the people shopping below. Near enough Sirius didn't dare step closer. Already he could feel the cold and pain from too many years of exposure. They didn't have to get close to him anymore. He was so sensitive to their temperature fluctuations he could feel them drawing the energy and magic out of him in painful wisps. The air became hard to breathe.

Feel as they began to search for anyone with horrible emotions from the crowd below. Sirius heard Harry and his godson's friends chatting sedately, as if they were unaware what caused them to be so down and sober. He heard Arthur Weasley speak. From this vantage the voices were distant. They barely reached him. Sirius peered from the safety of the archway to the gaggle of redheads and four brunettes. The tallest man shook his head.

Molly Prewett tutted, "You shouldn't worry. The ministry has them under strict orders."

Her boyfriend Arthur Weasley cast a weak patronus, not quite corporeal and not entirely good enough to block the dementor's lingering interest in one lonely, abused boy. An easy target for one praying on them. It seemed to swoop and stop, swoop again and stop. Unleashed on the general population as if human life wasn't as important in times of urgency and perceived war. It was hungry, had been purposefully starved, and it didn't have the most logical of orders. Harry seemed to be of keen interest.

Sitting there on the beer crates, the cold swamping him and trying to drown his body in a void without air, the convict's heart broke. Sirius hated that his godson had grown up suffering so much with apparently too few people willing to do anything about it. The guilt rose in his chest almost blocked out the pain of breathing that cold, sparse air. Oxygen deprivation was one of the worst forms of torture. The fact it was government sanctioned, well what did Sirius expect?

The non-magical parents looked back and forth between the pair, then to the children. They didn't look reassured.

Note: Major update as of October 26th, 2024. Several chapters were added. Many scenes added or significantly altered. Read the letter at the beginning of chapter 24 for more details. Stay safe everyone.

Tags: Aged-Up Hermione, BAMF Hermione Granger, BAMF Women, Sirius Black Lives, POV Sirius Black, Post-Sirius Black in Azkaban, Sirius Black Needs a Hug, Good Severus Snape, Severus Snape Lives, BAMF Filius Flitwick, House Elves, Hermione Granger is a Member of the House of Black, Sirius Black as Padfoot, Rubeus Hagrid's Hut, POV Hermione Granger, Adult Hermione Granger, Hermione Granger-centric, Dark Hermione Granger, Fred Weasley Lives, Draco Malfoy is Bad at Feelings, Good Rabastan Lestrange, The Ministry of Magic is Corrupt (Harry Potter), Dark Sirius Black, Dark Magic, Falling In Love, BAMF Augusta Longbottom, Preventing Genocide Is Always The Goal, Sirius Black & Severus Snape Friendship, Sirius Apologizes to Severus Snape