September 10th
Harry
"Mione, mione wait up." I yell after Hermione as she rushes out of potions but she doesn't stop, just walks faster. I sigh running a hand through my tangled hair.
"She still not talking to you huh?" My dad says coming to stand in my fight with Sirius on my left. "Nope, hasn't said anything to me since I spilled it. I'm starting to wish I'd just left it alone." Sirius slaps a hand on my shoulder. "Well if it makes you feel better, I'm super glad you told me." He grins and I roll my eyes.
"Well you're not my best friend." I say and he slaps a hand over his heart with a gasp. Dad puts an arm around his shoulder. "Don't worry paddy, I'll always love you." He says getting closer giving him a mockingly flirty smile and a wink."Oh James, you're the only one who will never leave me." He sighs dramatically.
"Oh paddy, you'll always be my greatest love!" At this point I can't stop my grin. "Oh and here I thought I was your girlfriend." Mom says smirking as she comes up from behind them. Sirius gasps. "You're cheating on me?" He yells loudly putting a hand to his chest in mock sadness. At this point people have stopped to watch the scene.
"I gave you my heart and soul, I've waisted my whole life on you, and this is what you give me in return." He makes a big show of it his hands waving around in the air as he yells at my father, wiping tears from his eyes that aren't even there. "You bitch!" He yells and before we know it he's smacked my father so hard across the face his face turned completely to the side and he stumbled back.
At this point I have to ignore the urge to cover my face at risk of missing the show. "Oh and your so innocent? You think I don't know your getting it down with Lupin when I'm not there, you sick son of a bitch!" He punches him and a round of gasps and "ohs' go around the crowd that has gathered. "Yeah she's a bitch, just like Remus when he takes it up the ass!"
I grimace. Could have gone a lifetime without knowing that. I see Remus cover his face with his hands. More gasps go up as Sirius punches him back. "I have you my entire life! And I'd can you a son of a bitch but your mother's a godric damn saint!" Sirius yells and at this point I'm laughing so hard tears are in my eyes as Professor McGonagle walks between them.
"That is enough, Mr potter, Mr black, of the dramatics. If you find yourselves so bored you have to resort to yelling absurd things in the hallway, I'll be generous and give you something to do. Detention, both of you." She says sternly but neither of their grins falter for even a moment, in fact they put an arm around each of the other's shoulders and their grins get progressively bigger.
"Oh minny, you know you love us...."
Hermione
"So let me get this straight, you two—" I point to James and Sirius. "Staged a break up for a relationship that never existed, accused each other of cheating with your actual spouses, started a fight in the middle of the hallway, got detention, then proceeded to get more detention for trying to negotiate your way out of detention, all because you were bored?"
They look to each other and nod a little before turning back to me and shrugging. "Yeah, that pretty much sums it up." Sirius grins and i groan. He gets up and swings his arm over my shoulder pulling me to his side. "Don't worry little niece, James didn't mess me up too much, I'm still your best looking uncle." She smirks and I shake my head with a small smile. "Your my only uncle." I mutter. He grins. "Exactly."
I sigh and cross my arms as I take in their injuries, however slight. I kneel in front of James. "Here let me heal that for you." I say grabbing his jaw so I could put my fingers to the black eye. I mutter a quick spell under my breath and the bruise starts to heal. I then move to his cheek where a bright red hand mark resides and perform the same spell to make it disappear.
"You too." I say waving Sirius over. He comes over and sits in front of me. I mutter a quick, 'episkey' and his nose snaps back into place, then I scorgify the dried blood under it. I heal a quick bruise on his jaw and stand up. "You're really good at that." James comments. The way I grew up you had to be. "Yeah I had a lot of experience." I immediately grimace at the words I hadn't meant to say.
I turn away from them so they don't see the regret at the words. Nor the reminder they served. "ready for dinner?" Remus says coming down the stairs from the dormitories running a hand through his hair. James and Sirius nod getting up from the couch excitedly at the prospect of food.
I don't. "I'm not really hungry you guys go without me, I better start researching anyway." Harry gives me a knowing look but I ignore him instead giving Remus a small, strained smile. He stops mid buttoning of his shirt to look up at me. "Are you sure? I didn't see you at lunch." I wave him off. "I had a house eld bring me something after, I wasn't really hungry then either."
Remus doesn't seem to buy it, and neither does Harry—although the other two dimwits don't even blink—but he ends up giving me a nod of acceptance, no matter how much suspicionhis eyes hold. "If you're sure." He says shrugging and doesn't get the chance to say anything more before Sirius and James are dragging him out the door grumbling about their 'poor starving stomachs.'
"Bye niecy!"
— — —
I groan shutting another book in disappointment and frustration.
I had just decided that I would try to have dinner—even if I had to force it down my own throat—when I ran into Dumbledore, who was 'most displeased at my lack of work towards fixing our situation.' And told me in slightly nicer terms to forget resting and figure out a way to get us back to our time, so we can get back to the horrifying ordeal of war.
So here I am going over everything I can think of, I've reread Hogwarts: a history, front to back but there is no mention of anything like this happening. It truth there was never a point in history where the failsafe was activated, so there is very little to go on.
The failsafe is supposed to take all witches and wizards under the age of 18 to a safe location, but since the war was going on everyone in Britain, there was so safe place in our time, so it sent us back in time. But there is no mention of the failsafe being able to do such a thing, nor does it mention how to get back if it did.
So in other words, we're completely and totally,
Screwed.
I slam my head on the desk and groan. "Fuck!" Damn Dumbledore. Damn Voldemort. Damn everyone that got me to this point. Damn her.
Suddenly I hear a feminine giggle. I look up and am met with Pansy Parkinson leaning on a bloody bookcase. "Hermione Granger yelling obscenities in the library? What would McGonagle say?" She gasped mockingly.
I roll my eyes and sigh once again putting my face in my arms in the desk. "I would explain to McGonagle that it's either this or pulling a Dumbledore and pitching myself off the bloody astronomy tower." I tell her, though it comes out muffled due to the fact it didn't lift my face from its hiding spot in my arms.
She tsks. "Now that's not very golden girl of you." She says and I can practically hear her smirk. "Yeah, well the golden girl in me died along with Fred." It's like the air goes still with those words, and I can tell Pansy's smile is gone.
I lift my head and rub my forehead in frustration. "I'm sorry Pans, I'm just having a bad day. Dumbledore basically tasked me with saving us all—as usual—but haven't slept in months and I guess the exhaustion is catching up to me." I tell her and for the most part it's true. But on the other there's a million more haunting things on my mind.
It's almost as if she can read my mind because her first response is, "but that's not all, is it?" I don't answer. "You don't look too good Granger, i know somethings wrong. You know you can tell me granger, after everything, I at least owe you enough to listen to you're bullshit." She smirks, but I don't.
Pansy and I had developed a sort of companionship by the end of fourth year, due to some unfortunate situations. In that companionship we'd done a lot of things, we'd drunk ourselves sick, got ourselves high off of whatever new concoction Neville had made, saved each other from death a couple times, but never once did we actually talk about important things, in fact when we were together it was like we were running from the important stuff.
Me, Pansy, and Theo, the good old days.
so when Pansy says that, I know I must look like complete and utter shit to everyone around me, if Pansy Parkinson is worried enough to mention it. I can see it in her eyes, the unmistakable flash of concern that hides in her emerald eyes.
It's the same look Harry and Ron gave me for weeks after the incident with Bellatrix Lestrange. It's also the one they would shoot me when we were on the run and I would take the night shift for the fourth time in a row, forgoing sleep to make sure they were safe and well rested. It's the look Fred gave me when I finally showed up with more scars then I left with. It's the look Snape gave me the night my father passed away. The look that sent him to his doom...
And it's for that reason that I meet Pansy's eyes and smile, blocking any other emotion from light.
"I'm fine."
Regulus
I storm into the common room and am immediately met with the sight of Narcissa and lucius sitting on the couch closest to the fireplace hand in hand as they read some form of literature. "So sorry to interrupt Lucius, but I need to have a little chat with my cousin If you don't mind."
He looks up at in me in annoyance, the calm almost serene mood he had a mere second ago gone. "Well actually Black—" he stops mid sentence as Cissa kisses his hand—which is still interlocked with her own—and shoots him one of her oh so beautiful smiles. "Would you give us a minute Lucius?" She asks sweetly and I can practically see his cold exterior melting.
He nods. "Of course Darling." He smiles back at her giving her a peck on the lips—much to my displeasure—and gets up to leave, shooting me a glare of all glares as he does.
I wait until he's out of hearing range before smirking at my dear older cousin. "You really have him wrapped around your little finger, don't you cousin?" She gives me a evil little grin that would scare even the dark lord himself. "I wouldn't be Narcissa Black if I didn't." I shake my head with a smile. "Always two steps a head Cissy."
I walk over to the fireplace and pluck Lucius's good booze from its hiding place inside a vase. Cissa raises an eyebrow. "What's the occasion, little cousin?" I pop the lid and take a long swig before grinning at her. "Well, Narcissa, it seems I've cracked our little mystery." She crosses her arms over her chest with an amused smile. "And what Mystery would that be?"
I grab a glass and pour myself a hefty amount of liquor. "Well Cissa, that would be the mystery of a certain muggle born witch who is in fact, not a muggle born witch." She raises her eyebrows and I nod. "It seems I have found the answer to our little question. And that answer is that she is not only, a pure blood witch, but a Black."
Her eyes widen and I can't help my satisfaction at finally beating the Great Narcissa Black at a riddle. "You can't be serious!" She gasps and my victory gets even bigger. "That doesn't make sense, why would a witch hide that she is wizarding royalty, only to pretend to be a second class citizen? No black would do that to themselves." She's standing now, her arms crossed and brows furrowed.
"It does if she's Sirius's daughter." I say and her eyes snap to mine, knowing that I rarely ever mention my brother, and if I do it's because I'm very serious about what I'm walking about. "Think about it Narcissa, it makes complete sense! She's an elemental, amazing at transfiguration—to the point where she became an anigmas at 14, Sirius already pretends he has nothing to do with our family, would it be such a surprise if he had his daughter change her name so she wouldn't be related to us in any way?"
"I guess we will just have to wait and see cousin."
Draco
I'm playing a game of wizards chess with crouch when Pansy comes storming through the door. "You—" she points to crouch. "Out!" She points to the door. "Excuse—" he starts crossing his arms over his chest with a smirk but Pansy isn't having any of it. "Now!"
His smile drops and he points huffing out a breath as he stomps out of the room muttering something along the lines of, "Damn rich people need to stop kicking me out of rooms!" I smile an amused smile as Pansy shuts the door angrily. "What's got your panties in a twist, Pans?" I smirk as she plops down on the bed opposite to mine.
She huffs. "Granger." My smile drops. I don't look at her as I pick up the chess board and pieces, dallying myself with putting them in their rightful place. "What about her?" I ask my back turned to her as I put the board back in my bedside table drawer. "I'm worried about her Draco."
The tone of her voice gives me a pause. She sounds serious and a little scared. "She isn't looking good Draco, and she doesn't trust me enough to talk to me about it, but—"
I wirl around to look at her. "And what, she'd trust me?" I cross my arms over my chest. "She hates me Pans, and she has every right to. Whatever me and Granger had once upon a time is over, it has been since the moment I took the mark, so if you think she'd trust me for even a second, you need to reevaluate the situation, because Granger is more likely to jump off the bloody astronomy tower then ever look at me with something other then disdain ever again." I tell her harshly and she crosses her arms over her chest, glaring at me.
"Something is wrong Draco! I haven't seen a glimmer of any real emotion from her in days, I haven't seen her eat anything at all in the time we've been here, Dumbledore is throwing job, after job at her, and there's something else going on that I can't figure out to save my life, but she needs you!" She's yelling now, to the point where I have to put up a silencing spell.
I run a frustrated hand through my hair. "Geez pans, lower your damn voice!" I scold but it doesn't deter her. "No, I will not lower my voice! Your acting like a fucking idiot! The girl you've been madly in love with since we were eleven, is struggling to the point of no return, and you don't want to do shit about it!"
I can't help the groan that leaves my mouth as I put my head in my hands, taking a seat on the bed so she now stands in front of me. "Pans—"
"No! She has always taken care of everyone else, Slytherins, Gryffindors, and no one of those god damn tossers takes care of her, so you have to!" She points a finger at me, and I swear just the rage in that one finger could start and end a war. "How many times has she almost died for those twats she calls friends? And not one of those Gryffindorks could take it upon themselves to make sure she's even eating. And now you are going to let her sink into a hole all because you're scared she's upset with you—"
"She almost died!"
Pansy
He jumps up to a standing position yelling the words at my face angrily. I open my my mouth to say something but he cuts me off pointing a finger in my face. "Don't, Pansy. This isn't some stupid little argument, She. Almost. Died. 'The girl I've been madly in love with, since we were eleven' almost died. And it was my fault."
I cross my arms over my chest. "It was not—" he puts a hand up. "Stop talking." He hisses. "She almost died because of my aunt, and my parents, because they were trying to get the dark lord to forgive me for not killing Dumbledore. I watched her bleed out onto the floor of My House, because of My Aunt, who was doing it to save My Arse!" He yells pointing to himself almost venomously.
"I watched her scream and cry for hours, knowing that there was nothing I could do because if I did, we would both end up dead. We will both have to live with that for the rest of our lives, and pretending it never happened and going to her and trying to comfort her will only insult us both." There are tears in his eyes now.
"You think I don't want to go to her? Hold her in my arms and tell her I love her, that I'm sorry, that I'll protect her this time even if it means I die in the process? Well I can't. Because I don't know if she'll ever even look at me ever again!" He chokes back a sob and my face automatically softens. "Draco—"
"I love her. I will always love her. But right now, all I can do," he takes a breath.
"Is love her from afar."
3251 words.
Ah, young, heartbreaking, love. There's nothing like it. I know, I know, this chapter took forever, but classes start soon and I need to get ahead. Anyway I hope you guys like this one, please remember I love hearing your feedback, so please feel free to comment with any ideas, questions, or just overall reviews, I can't promise anything but I do like to give the people what they want.