Hermione had been psyching herself up all morning. She needed to try and make amends with Severus but she was quickly running out of time before everyone came back from the Christmas break. It was mid morning by the time Hermione pulled her things together though, running a lot later than she had anticipated thanks to Peter and an exploding bottle of Jezzibella's Broom Cleaner. Flustered and frustrated, Hermione finally made it down to the dungeons only to find the potions classroom empty. At least, she reasoned, this would be a good time to get her head back into some of the trickier potions she had been trying to master.

Hermione was in a world of her own as she worked, concentrating that much on what she was doing that she didn't even notice the classroom door had opened until it creaked loudly as it was shut. She looked up in surprise, her heart jumping in her chest as she saw Severus standing there.

"Hi," She said quickly, Severus frowning slightly at her before muttering a small 'Granger' in response. Her heart hammered in her chest as she watched him head over to the table next to her and start to set up, debating whether to wait or whether to jump in now and apologise. If she did it now at least it would be done and over with.

"Would you quit staring at me," He grumbled, breaking the silence and making Hermione tense.

"Sorry," She said quickly, putting the knife in her hand down and turning to look at him, "I actually just wanted to quickly talk to you about something." He huffed slightly and turned to look at her, his unimpressed gaze falling on expectantly. "I just wanted to apologise," She said quickly before she could talk herself out of it, "You're right, I was incredibly rude to you that first day Regulus introduced us to one another. It was unfair of me to have treated you that way before I really knew you." Severus just stared at her for a second, his face unreadable.

Exhaling shakily Hermione watched as he looked back down at his potions book, his hair falling over his face and hiding his expression from her. Already this wasn't going how she had imagined it would. The silence was deafening and Hermione just wanted to fill it, her heart hammering in her chest. "I admit that I judged you before I'd had the chance to actually get to know you and I'm sincerely sorry about that."

"How very noble of you to admit," He said with a bite and Hermione swallowed thickly.

"I just…" She faltered, "I just thought it would be good if we could start afresh." He laughed coldly and Hermione's heart sank, tears biting at the back of her eyes, feeling like an absolute idiot for even trying to attempt to talk to him about this. He looked at her again, he looked furious and Hermione had to fight the urge to take a step back.

"You've been talking to either Regulus or Lily, though my guess is that it was the latter," he snapped coldly, "It was pointless, I have no desire to be friends with you Granger. You made yourself incredibly clear the first time that we met and whether or not you apologise for that now doesn't mean shit." He looked at her with piercing eyes and she could clearly see the hatred he felt for her, she had seen him give her that look so many times already in her life.

"I don't want to be friends," she said softly, "I just want a truce."

"There's no point."

"I just thought…" She trailed off before rubbing her forehead tiredly, "I thought we could try and make this work."

"The damage has already been done Granger, there's no going back now," He all but growled before looking back down at his potions book and Hermione felt so incredibly deflated. She had tried at least.

"Okay," she said softly, "Well I'm sorry Severus, I genuinely am. I guess I'll leave you to it." He didn't say a word as she started to pack up. She felt so damn frustrated, trying her hardest not to burst into tears as she shoved her things into her bag. Taking one last look at him she hovered by the door.

"Bye," She said softly, barely loud enough for him to hear before leaving the potions classroom and stepping out into the even cooler hall.

Hermione's plan was to go to the library and try and distract herself from the almighty fuck up that her apology to Severus had been. She thought she may as well make the most of the restricted section whilst she could, not that any of the books were shedding any kind of light on the apparently unique situation that she was in.

As she got to the top of the staircase taking her from the dungeons up to the ground floor she stepped onto the next staircase, ascending it, her mind full; would she ever have any shred of normality in her life? Was she destined to just be a pawn in someone else's game her whole life?

"Miss Granger," Hermione paused and glanced behind her, Professor McGonagall was coming up the stairs behind her, "I would have thought you would have been in Gryffindor Tower." Her chest warmed at the familiar face, waiting for her to reach her before they ascended the rest of the way together.

"I was heading for the library, was hoping to get a bit of quiet studying in before everyone else came back to be honest."

"Well can I pull you away for five minutes, I'd like us to have a chat?"

"Okay," Hermione answered tentatively. McGonagall lead the way, making small talk with Hermione about her classes before they entered her office.

"Tea?"

"No, thank you," Hermione gave her a small smile, fiddling with her hands nervously, wondering what this was going to be about exactly - did she know that Hermione had been using the potions classroom alone? Or maybe it was the fact that she had been in the restricted section multiple times? Or maybe that she knew about Hermione going to the room with the stars.

"I just wanted to see how you are Hermione," McGonagall said as she also sat down, looking across her desk at Hermione.

"Oh," Hermione breathed out in surprise, "I'm okay, thank you."

"Is your workload manageable? I know you've had a lot to catch up on."

"Yes it's fine, Regulus Black has been helping me a lot with it actually."

"I'm aware," McGonagall smiled but Hermione immediately noticed that it was tight lipped, "and how about the Gryffindors, have they been accommodating to you?"

"They have," Hermione looked down at her hands before glancing back up at McGonagall, "Sorry, can I ask Professor… has there been any news from Professor Dumbledore regarding my situation? He hasn't spoken to me since I arrived." McGonagall took a second, considering Hermione before clasping her hands in front of her.

"There hasn't been any progress made yet," Hermione's heart dropped, "However, that doesn't mean that Professor Dumbledore isn't working incredibly hard to try and find a solution for you. The last he told me he was speaking to his contacts in the Ministry about the situation."

"Okay," Hermione said a little halfheartedly and McGonagall sighed.

"We will get you home Miss Granger, I know this must be very hard for you." Hermione nodded numbly, this day was going from bad to worse. "Just please do remember that my office door is always open if you want to talk."

"Thank you."

"Have you told anyone about your situation?" McGonagall asked and Hermione looked up at her with a frown.

"No, of course not."

"It's very important that you don't say anything to anyone," She stressed and Hermione's frown deepened, "not to a single person, even if you think you can trust them."

"I wouldn't," Hermione said, well and truly taken aback, "I know I can't, I know the laws of time Professor."

"Good," McGonagall said. Hermione was reminded harshly of the fact that this wasn't her McGonagall - hers knew what Hermione was like and knew she wouldn't do something like that, hers had been the person that had entrusted a thirteen year old Hermione with a time turner. This McGonagall only knew her as the child that had got herself into this mess.

"May I go?" Hermione asked.

"Of course," Professor McGonagall stood up along with Hermione, "I'll let you know if there's any change with your situation Hermione."

"Thank you." Hermione gave her a small halfhearted smile before exiting back into the hallway. Walking away from McGonagall's office she resisted the urge to look back, just keeping walking until she was out of view and only then did she lean against the cold stone wall, bury her face in her hands and let out a sob.

When it came to it Hermione found that she couldn't face studying after the day she'd had so far so she went for a walk to clear her head. It was beautiful out in the grounds, the air so still as fresh snow fell around her in flurries. Not a sound could be heard except for the crunch of her feet in the snow and she tried to focus on that instead of everything that was going on in her head. She was struggling and she wished she could have been frank with McGonagall about that but what was the point?

Clearing a bench of snow, Hermione sat down by the lake, watching as the Giant Squid smashed the ice that had dared to appear on the surface. She just lost herself in her thoughts, feeling numb and empty. She was pulled out of her thoughts though when she heard crunching coming towards her, Hermione looking up to see Sirius heading her way.

"Hey," She gave him a small smile when he was close enough.

"Hey, mind if I join you?" He breathed, rubbing his hands together in a poor attempt to warm them up.

"Go for it," She couldn't help but silently wonder if he had happened upon her or if he had sought her out using the Marauders Map, her thoughts starting to drift to Harry.

"What are you doing out here? I thought you were getting some work done this afternoon?"

"I was but I needed to clear my head," She knew she could have lied but what was the point when this was Sirius, Sirius who had already seen her at her worst. If anything he was the one she could most be herself around.

"Want to talk about it?"

"No, it's okay thank you."

"Would you rather be on your own?" Sirius asked carefully, eyeing her as she looked out across the lake. She looked low, lost in thought - she turned back to him though, her face softening slightly as she met his eyes.

"No, stay," She answered honestly. He nodded slightly before moving closer to her and wrapping his arm around her shoulders. Hermione sighed softly as she leant into him, her eyes back on the lake. They sat in silence, both of them lost in their own thoughts until Sirius spoke again.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Depends what it is."

"It's just something that's been playing on my mind," he started and Hermione couldn't help but tense, "when we had that argument a few weeks back you said about all of the stuff that you'd done, was that all true?" Hermione relaxed a little, rubbing her face tiredly.

"Yeah," Hermione sighed, "they weren't quite as grand as they sounded though. My friends just tended to attract trouble."

"But you said something about a werewolf?" Sirius asked and Hermione was glad he couldn't see her face as she closed her eyes briefly.

"Yes."

"Will you tell me what happened? You said he was your friend didn't you?" His voice sounded slightly strangled and she couldn't help but feel guilty - she should never have brought any of it up.

"He was my teacher actually," Hermione started, "he was a family friend of someone I was close with though so once he left Beauxbatons we still saw him a lot."

"And what happened that night - the night he turned in front of you?"

"My friends and I got into some trouble, he came to help us but it was the full moon and he ended up turning whilst we were with him. We were all okay."

"But surely he would have been aware it was a full moon that night? Why did he risk your lives like that? That's what I can't get my head around."

"He just didn't think," Hermione uttered, "he saw that his friend's child was in trouble and so he tried to help. It was just an accident."

"And you all got away unharmed?"

"Yes," Hermione said softly, thinking back to that night and the squeals of pain she had heard from Padfoot when he tried to distract the wolf, "we were very lucky, I know."

"Did he carry on as a teacher after that?"

"No. But he left by choice - the other teachers knew what he was but as soon as it got out to students and their parents that he was a werewolf… he just decided it'd be best."

"Right," Sirius uttered. Hermione lifted her head from his shoulder and looked at him.

"Why?"

"No reason, I was just thinking about what you'd said this morning. You mentioned a Mountain Troll as well didn't you?" Hermione smiled slightly before putting her head back down.

"Yeah."

"Tell me about it?" he asked and Hermione couldn't help but laugh lightly.

"Why don't you tell me a story for once."

"Because mine are either boring or x rated compared to yours, my little troll fighter." Hermione breathed out another laugh.

"Tell me one of yours and I'll tell you about the Mountain Troll."

"Okay fine, boring or x rated?"

"Boring."

"Are you sure? I'm pretty sure you'd prefer a sordid tale," he grinned, looking down at her.

"Yes Sirius, I'm sure."

"Have it your way," he squeezed her shoulder slightly, "okay, well have you been in the Forbidden Forest at all?"

"No," Hermione lied with a small hidden smile, "the clue is in the name."

"Oh come on, calling something forbidden is just asking for teenagers to go in it," Sirius laughed, "Which is exactly what we all decided to do in our third year. Peter started it all by asking us what we thought was in there and when we realised we didn't actually know we decided to go in and find out."

"Of course you did."

"It only made sense. We thought there couldn't be anything that bad in there seeing as, you know, it's on the outskirts of a school."

"Let me guess, you were wrong?" Hermione smiled, knowing better than most what was hidden within the forest.

"Yeah just a tad. Turns out there's a herd of centaurs in there for one," Sirius breathed out a laugh, "it didn't take them long to find us and well to say they didn't really like us would be a bit of an understatement, they yelled at us, kept saying we were in their territory, threatened us."

"What happened?"

"We honestly thought they were going to kill us, they were debating it at least - my fantastic whit and James' charm was not helping the matter either."

"Yeah I don't doubt that at all."

"The Game Keeper, Hagrid, came and got us though. He'd seen us going in there and so he showed up and saved the day."

"Have you been in there since?"

"Of course." Hermione laughed, not expecting anything less. "We're just more careful now. We don't get caught and we know the parts to avoid. Now tell me all about this Mountain Troll," he nudged her in her side, making her smile.

"Well if you classed yours as a boring story I don't know what you're going to think of this one."

"It happened to you, therefore it won't be boring."

"It happened in my first year… seriously this isn't that interesting," she started before trailing off.

"I think it is," Sirius uttered, "go on." Hermione screwed her face up slightly.

"Well you've been warned… it was my first year and it was before I'd really made any friends. I heard one of the guys in my class saying some horrible things about me and well I got a bit upset."

"What did he say?"

"He was mocking me. I had tried to help him in class but he didn't like it and then he said it wasn't any wonder I didn't have any friends. He was right of course, I didn't have any friends, I'd struggled to make any no matter how hard I tried… he didn't realise I was behind him at the time but it was still horrible to hear and it hurt. So I hid in the girls bathroom, but because of that I didn't get the announcement during dinner that a Mountain Troll was loose in the castle," She sighed, "Everyone was sent back to their rooms but the two that had upset me came back for me as they knew I wouldn't have heard the news."

"And the troll?"

"Well he found me too - we managed to get away by sheer luck. The boys came and they tried to distract the Troll so that I could get away, it was terrifying. He destroyed the bathroom, hitting everything in sight with his club. The boys managed to knock it unconscious. You would not believe the looks on our teachers faces when they found us. The three of us were inseparable after that."

"You forgave them for what they said about you?"

"Yeah, they made up for it by saving my life," Hermione laughed, "they're actually the ones that I miss so much."

"It's funny how you make friends isn't it," Sirius commented, "Have I ever told you how I met James?"

"No."

"It was on the Hogwarts Express on the first day, I was so unbelievably nervous-"

"You, nervous? I don't believe it."

"It does happen on rare occasions," he grinned, resting his head against hers, "I picked an empty compartment and then these Slytherins third years came in, acting all hard, saying that it was their compartment and that I had to get out. I think they just saw me as an easy target."

"How did that end?"

"A fight," he laughed, "I wasn't giving up the compartment and they weren't going to take that from a first year. I ended up with a broken nose but the noise brought people out of their compartments and next thing I know this scrawny kid with glasses is helping me out."

"Who won the fight?"

"They did… they knew more hexes than us but we had given it a bloody good go. James then invited me back to his compartment where Peter was as well."

"When did you meet Remus?"

"After he was sorted into Gryffindor. Did you have houses or anything like that at Beauxbatons?"

"No, just your regular standard school years split." They fell silent, Hermione quite content to watch the snow fall around them, everything so still.

"Hermione?"

"Mm?"

"I'm freezing my tits off out here." She couldn't help but laugh as she sat up and looked at him, the amount of snow that had settled on him actually quite comical.

"Alright, come on, let's go inside and get you warmed up," Hermione laughed, shaking herself off as well as she stood up.

"Has your head cleared?"

"I think so."

"Good."

Author's note: Hey guys, it's been a while I know, I'm trying to get on top of editing chapters for this and The Attic whilst the countries in lockdown and I've been put on furlough at work so hopefully I'll update again very soon. Thank you for your continued support - stay safe everyone!