Reaching across time

Chapter 81: Another friend, another foe

Rita Skeeter was not called the queen of quills for no reason. Her sharp tongue along with her insatiable curiosity easily made her the most promising asset for the daily prophet.

And there was one secret Skeeter had been dying to unearth for quite a while so it would not be all too difficult to imagine her pleasant surprise when her object of interest materialized in front of her on what she had originally anticipated to be a boring day tracking the headmaster of Hogwarts and his weird ways.

She was thrilled to see Hermione Granger apparate at the outskirts of Hogsmedge where Albus was already waiting. To her immense displeasure though, the pair were quick to cast a fair amount of wards around them.

That however did not stop her from getting the visuals clearly from her place on a nearby bush and goodness knows that what she saw then, it was any journalists dream.

She watched eagerly, a brief exchange between Albus and Hermione before the latter suddenly disarmed the former headmaster. The surprise on the older wizards face was clear but before he could act, he had been immobilized.

She saw Hermione move hurriedly towards him and whisper something, was it a threat she wondered and just as suddenly as she had come, she was gone.

The spell on the headmaster faded fairly soon and within moments, he too had disapparated, leaving behind a lonely beetle on a bush with its racing mind.

SBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHG SBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSBHGSB

Hermione slipped back undetected into the Potter manor and was about to hurry upstairs when she heard Lily call out after her.

"MIONE! I was just looking for you! Where did you go?" She asked annoyed.

"I uh – I was just-" Hermione began but the former head girl waved her excuse away and bodily dragged her over to where the other girls were sitting around a baffled tailor.

Hermione eyed the woman, who she supposed was in her mid fifties trying her best to take in all the different requests made of her.

"Oh here's the bride" Cassie exclaimed happily. Relief seemed to wash through the older woman who quickly put down the many fabrics in her hand and stood up.

"Your dress has been altered, if you could try it on I would be able to move on to the rest" The woman said politely and Hermione pitied her.

Marlene and Dorcas weren't easy customers and it took a great deal to satisfy their impeccable fashion sense and Danielle seemed no different so it was no surprise that the next half hour was spent with Hermione being paraded around the room in her wedding gown which though was already beyond perfect in her eyes seemed to need a lot of work according to the others.

It was only when she managed to remind them that Sirius would be home soon did they let her remove the heavy fabric and return to the comfort of her sturdy jeans and simple sweatshirt.

Relief however was quite out of reach that day. She found herself volleying between the girls who were discussing bridesmaid dresses to the women in the kitchen discussing the cake and food. Not to mention the times she spent trying to help James and Remus baby sit the children or the hour spent playing tag with Bill, Charlie and little Tonks.

Sirius who had returned hours earlier seemed most amused by her efforts to keep all of them satisfied and if his good mood was anything to go by, then the meeting with Narcissa must have gone well though he refused to say a word.

Unable to restrain her curiosity any longer, Hermione had finally slipped away in the pretense of keeping Regulus company in the warded off library.