章 50: Fight
So why don't you want to be called kitten, kitten?" A seductive baritone whispered in her ear. Hermione jerked upright slightly in her chair. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and her skin felt like it was on fire. His breath against her ear was only making it worse. She turned and stared into his dark grey eyes.
"You can call me kitten," she whispered back. His eyes were focused on her mouth, and that made her squirm slightly in her chair. "Jamie, most definitely may not."
"Oh," he said in surprise, then he smiled smugly and his eyes darkened to almost charcoal grey. "So I get a special name that only I am allowed to call you?"
"Yes," she whispered, blushing slightly.
"I think I like that, kitten," he murmured into her hair, trying it out. She fought the urge to giggle like an idiot.
"Sirius, there's something Jamie wanted me to talk to you about," Hermione said cautiously. He had his face buried in her hair and he was smelling her. He liked to do that, and it made her think of a big, overgrown puppy, so she let him.
"Mmm," he murmured in agreement. She rolled her eyes.
"Your girls? Your former broom-closet darlings? They're trying to turn me into a walking bruise," she said calmly, waiting for the words to sink in. He pulled back from her.
"What are you talking about?" He asked sharply. She glanced around the library, and pulled her shirt up just enough so that he could see a livid, angry bruise standing out against the creamy flesh of her ribs. His jaw clenched so tightly that she could see the muscles in his neck. A vein seemed to be throbbing at his temple, and he was obviously struggling to control himself—to control the darkness that she'd told Regulus he had inside of him. With one shaking hand he traced the bruise on her ribs, and she could hear him grind his teeth. She turned and put her arms around his neck because sometimes that distracted him enough that he could calm down. "How long have they been doing this to you?"
"The entire length of our relationship. Well, once everyone knew about it," she said, trying to radiate calm.
"And you kept it from me?" Sirius demanded. Hermione removed her arms from around his neck, and scooted away from him.
"Sirius, we both have our secrets. You do not share many of your secrets with me, and I have never asked you to do so. I would imagine that quite a few of them are painful memories, but it's not my business—it's yours. If you choose to share any of them with me someday, I am not going to demand to know why you kept any of them from me," Hermione said coolly, a certain glint in her eye. He frowned at her.
"But—but you're being hurt. You could be in grave danger! What if one of them is crazy like Bella? She'll have you hamstrung in a dungeon somewhere trying to carve you up with her pocketknife!" Sirius was worried as his mind ran through different scenarios.
"What a disturbing thought," Hermione said, surprised at him. "I never really considered that as a possibility. I told you and James knows, so now you will both make sure that doesn't happen. "
"You're that confident in us?" Sirius asked in surprise.
Hermione usually took care of her own business. She was a private sort of person, like he was, which made her very different from her brother who shouted his thoughts and feelings at the top his lungs. She could hex with the best of them, and he'd been on the receiving end more than once. He felt a warm, tingling sensation that she would allow him to do this for her.
"Well, in the Marauders as a group. Remus is the brains, really. I expect that he'll think of something brilliant," she said with a sly smile. He growled at her.
"You'll pay for that…kitten," he hissed in her ear. Then he nipped her neck lightly, and left her alone in the library. She fanned herself with a bit of parchment. When had the library gotten so warm?
HP/HG/HP
Hogwarts had recently acquired weight training rooms at the request of muggleborn Quidditch players who recommended them strongly, and suggested that it would help for player training. James leaned against the wall of the new weight training room and watched Sirius vent his frustrations on a punching bag. He had stripped down to just a pair of sweat pants, and a sheen of sweat covered the corded muscles of his back. Angry tension was visible in the way he held his shoulders, the way he threw his punches and the way he moved. James sighed, pushed off the wall, and walked toward his blood brother.
"Padfoot," James said softly, and Sirius threw one last frustrated punch. He turned to face James, his chest heaving, his jaw tight.
"Why? Why would she keep something like this from me? She's being hurt!" Sirius ranted on for a while, and James let him because he seemed to need to get it all out. Finally, Sirius wound down enough that he slumped to the floor and leaned against the wall. His head was in his hands, and James could only see Sirius' long dark hair, which obscured his face.
"Padfoot, have you told her about what's happened to you? At home? At school?" James asked him quietly. Sirius lifted his head, and looked at James as though he were crazy.
"No, James, I have not," he said firmly, and his tone was disctinctly cool. James nodded in understanding. "Those are private things…things that do not concern Hermione."
"Did you ever suppose, Sirius, that she might feel exactly the same as you do? That this did not concern you? I pointed out that it did, but until I did she had considered it a private, personal matter," James explained, watching Sirius.
"But-," Sirius made to protest, but James stopped him with a hand on his arm.
"If you have your secrets, she must be allowed hers. It is only fair," James said firmly. Sirius frowned at him.
"You don't think that way, Prongs," Sirius argued. James snorted.
"No, but I am not my sister. She's her own person. You were there this last summer, surely you remember her screaming those very words—at the top of her lungs—at me. I recall you being there," James said dryly. Sirius frowned.
"But, I'm her boyfriend," he protested. James rolled his eyes.
"Really? When did that happen?" James said sarcastically. Then he sighed and spoke seriously. "You may be her boyfriend, but she won't accept that as granting you any authority over her person. She barely acknowledges that Dad can tell her what to do, let alone anyone else. I pity her husband. That man will have a hard row to hoe."
"Well, she's not getting married anytime soon," Sirius said darkly, with a severe frown for whoever this future husband might be. James snorted.
"Back to the matter at hand, Padfoot, Hermione needs our help, but how are we supposed to stop these girls? We could hex them all, but would that teach them anything? We want them to stop completely, yeah?" James was worried about his sister, and it bled into his voice. Sirius nodded and looked at James.
"Did she…did she show you?" He asked in a haunted voice. James' eyebrows rose and his face grew angry. Sirius rolled his eyes at him. "She showed me just one, right here."
James looked at the spot on Sirius' ribcage, and realized that Sirius couldn't have seen anything that he shouldn't have. He relaxed slightly, but then his expression darkened again.
"How bad?" James asked in a clipped voice. Sirius' expression darkened again.
"It looked like someone had clipped her in the ribs with a Beater's bat," Sirius growled. James' own growl answered him, and both of them exchanged a look. Then Sirius chuckled darkly. "She's right, the little brat. We need to talk to Moony."
"Let's go find him then."
HP/HG/HP
A feeling of dread crept over Lily and Hermione and trailed after them all week, seeping into them. When Friday arrived, both girls had to force themselves out of bed to face the day. They sat glumly at breakfast, staring at their plates, and picking at their food. The Marauders noticed the girls' strange behavior, and talked about it amongst themselves, but couldn't figure out what was going on. Lily and Hermione left breakfast early, and were missing for a big part of the day. James and Sirius couldn't find them on the map anywhere, and they began to grow concerned. After lunch, they spotted the girls under their tree, and when they noticed a large group of Slytherins near them, hurried closer in case any of the slippery snakes tried to hurt them. They saw Severus, and relaxed just slightly, because they knew that Severus was close with both Lily and Hermione. Then something seemed odd…not quite right. Severus appeared to be verbally sparring with the girls. Hermione and Lily's faces were pink with anger. The Marauders looked at one another in surprise and then ran for the tree.
"…a disgusting blood traitor and her filthy mudblood friend," Severus spat angrily, his black eyes cold and hard. A red haze of rage settled over James' vision.
"Don't you DARE speak to them that way," he snarled in rage and whipped out his wand, pointing it at Severus.
"I'll dare to speak to them however I choose," Severus snapped icily, his own wand out and pointed right back at James. Hermione and Lily both looked horrified.
"No!" Hermione shrieked. "Don't do this!"
"Shut up, you muggle-loving blood traitor," snarled one of the Slytherins with Severus. It was Macnair, Hermione realized, and then somebody cast a hex at somebody else and Hermione cast a quick protego shield to protect herself and Lily. The hexes flew fast and furious until Severus, enraged by a Jelly-Legs Jinx raised his wand furiously and pointed it right at James.
"Sectumsempra!" He bellowed.
"NO!" Hermione screamed, flinging herself in front of James. It took only a second for her to fling her small body in front of him, and yet the moment seemed to last forever. There was a small flash of white light, and it was as though Hermione had been slashed with a sword. Then she was crumpled on the ground in front of them, and the grass was turning red with her blood. Sirius and James' faces had turned chalk white and fear immobilized them.
"No, no, no," Lily was crying and chanting on her knees by Hermione. She had her wand in her hand. "Vulnera Sanentur."
Lily had to cast the counter curse two more times to stabilize Hermione, and carefully levitated her to the infirmary where Madame Pomfrey tended her with dittany to prevent scarring. The Marauders had followed them to the infirmary, and waited anxiously for Madame Pomfrey to let them know that Hermione would be all right. Those horrible, awful moments kept replaying in James' mind over and over. He could hear her screaming 'NO!' and he could see her flinging herself at him.
"Mr. Potter?" Madame Pomfrey came forward wringing her hands. "She can only have one or two visitors at a time. It was a very strong curse and she needs to rest, but she insisted that she must speak to you and Mr. Black. Please, only a few minutes. Then I must insist you let her rest."
"Of course," James said dully, and he followed Madame Pomfrey, Sirius so close to him that he was almost on top of him. Hermione lay in the hospital bed, and her face was so pale, so still, that James' felt his insides twist. When he drew close her side, her eyes fluttered open and she smiled slightly.
"Jamie," she whispered softly. Her gaze flickered briefly to Sirius and she sighed, "Puppy."
"Puppy?" James choked slightly. Sirius flushed and glared at him.
"She's obviously deathly ill and not in her right mind," Sirius whispered furiously. "She meant Padfoot, I'm sure. What do you need, kitten? Madame Pomfrey said you insisted on the two of us."
"Do…not," she whispered slowly, struggling to speak, "seek…revenge."
"Don't go after Severus?" James demanded in surprise. Hermione nodded slightly. Both men turned red in the face.
Hermione," Sirius began vehemently, but Hermione turned those hazel eyes on him and he couldn't speak. He brushed hair off of her forehead instead.
"Promise…me," she whispered, her eyes on them. They looked at one another and then back at her.
"My Own," James whispered, his voice pained.
"Jamie, no," she whispered, her eyes pleading. Her fingers twitched slightly and he took her hand. "Please, for me."
"Only for you," he whispered, tears running down his cheeks. "Only for you."
Sirius was watching her, so pale, so weak with blood loss and the after effects of the curse, and he longed to destroy Severus Snape. Her eyes were moving, searching for his, and when they found his, ensnared them. How could eyes be like that? Brown and gold and pulling him in so deep that he never wanted to leave? They were like aged whiskey, those eyes, with their amber colored depths. He could deny those eyes nothing.
"I promise," he said unwillingly, and then there was that tiny hint of a smile, and her eyes fluttered closed.
"Thank you," she whispered. Sirius felt something very like a kiss brush his cheek. His eyes widened in shock and he turned to stare at James who quirked a brow at him.
"It's something she figure out after they separated us to separate rooms," James whispered as he led Sirius out of the infirmary.
"When she was five?" Sirius asked in surprise, glancing over his shoulder, back toward his girlfriend.
"What can I say? She's a special girl," James muttered. Sirius frowned.
"Tell me about it."
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