Ultimatums

Chapter 3

Over the term, many things changed in young Hermione's life, for better or worse she did not know. Firstly, James had not spoken to her the entire time after her spat with the Marauders, but the cruelty of the 'pranks' increased. From transfiguring her equipment into mice, to hexing her teeth to enlarge dramatically, every day Hermione was looking over her shoulder in fear of a Marauder jumping out at her. Regulus, who before Hogwarts was always awkward around girls let alone crying ones, found himself comforting his Nita after every prank or joke that went too far and unable to do anything about it.

Secondly, after she had toned down her compulsive hand raising and started to act as she did at Potter Manor, by the time it was time for Christmas Break, Slytherin House had finally welcomed her into the fold (with the exception of a few). This seemed to anger James even more, to the point where for the first time, Hermione didn't want or feel safe to be at home.

"Reg?" she asked one night, looking up at him from her place laying her head in his lap.
He grunted softly, turning the page in his book delicately. One of the things she liked about Regulus was how careful he was with books, and how he cringed when he saw cracked spines and dog eared pages just like she did. Once she even caught him smelling a new one.

"Can I go to Grimmauld for Christmas?"

Her friend stiffened considerably. "Why?"

Hermione set down her book on her legs with a thumb, and Regulus took it as an indicator that it was going to be a proper conversation, so he put his down too, his hands going to her hair automatically.

"I don't want to be home. Sirius will probably be round, and they'll make my two weeks hell" the Potter daughter looked up at Regulus with the pout and puppy eyes combo that always gets him to help edit her essays.

He held his ground for a longer time than Hermione thought he would, but eventually he said "I'll write to Mother, but don't get your hopes up Nita. Even if you are allowed, you'll probably be questioned about your blood status and beliefs the whole time. Not exactly enjoyable"

"It'll be better than being at home. Plus, I can hold my own against that banshee" Hermione scoffed and picked her book up again, already planning on how to tell her own mother.

"I'm not joking Nita, she's a lot," Regulus murmured, finishing the small plait and picking up his book again.

"She might be, but I'm a guest, and your mother can't be inhospitable. It's against her code" Hermione pointed out, before adding "How did you learn to do this by the way? It's really neat" playing with the braid that sat among her curls.

"Sirius and I learned from watching the Muggles one day. We were incredibly bored, and he let me practice on him." The next page he turned was rather aggressive, so Hermione let the subject of Sirius go and she went back into her own little world her book granted her, both of them feeling comfort in the silence.

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"You're what?!" James stared at his sister in shock.

It was the first time James had bothered himself to talk to his little sister, and he'd brought Sirius along. The Potter Matriarch had written to James and asked him to ask Hermione if she was having any guests over for Christmas, and he'd begrudgingly done so, as he was more scared of ignoring his mother than he was mad at his sister.

"I am not going home for Christmas" Hermione spoke slowly, and put emphasis on every word.

"Well where are you going?"

Hermione almost smirked when she saw James's expression trying to fight between indifference and concern. But being the Slytherin she was, the girl kept a neutral face and tone. "Grimmauld Place"