One Last Try [HP Jamione fanfic]

51. Hoax

9th January 1979

Hermione slept peacefully, curled in her childhood bedroom at her parents' house. She and James had spent most of the Christmas holiday with her family. Neither of them had wanted to spend the holiday in the quiet of Potter Manor when only last year it had been filled with love and laughter and warmth from both of his parents. Hermes was curled comfortably on her chest, purring away – he always refused to be left at home for any length of time if neither she or James were going to be around.

They'd been joined by their friends for a few days – though Remus was conspicuously absent and Sirius had been pouting about it ever since he'd left. The two had started a relationship after Hermione's birthday, testing out how it would work with Sirius still together with Lily (who had explained the whole situation to Hermione soon after). Their developing relationship had been going surprisingly well after they'd managed to work through some of the multitude of issues they both had.

Remus' sudden and unexplained disappearances had thrown a little bit of a spanner in the works - Hermione assumed Dumbledore was sending him away to the werewolf packs. She wasn't sure though, and certainly didn't know how to bring it up with either of them.

James and Sirius had been sent off on a different secretive Order mission earlier that week, and Hermione had decided to continue staying with her parents until he was back. She'd not heard anything from either of them, and neither had Lily – who was alone in the flat she normally shared with Sirius and Remus – when she'd contacted her a few days before. There had been a niggling and fast growing worry building in Hermione's chest with every day she didn't hear anything.

She shot up in bed, wide awake suddenly, sending Hermes yowling onto the floor. The half-kneazle sent her a look reminiscent of Crookshanks, and stalked away. She blinked, disoriented and unsure for a second what had woken her, until the light pecking at her window resumed. It was early, hours before she'd normally wake, but she certainly wouldn't be able to sleep again now.

She hurried to let the owl in, hoping against hope it would be something to let her know they were alright. She let the familiar owl in and took the missive from his leg, already knowing it wasn't from James or Sirius with a sinking feeling in her chest. She thanked the owl, and shushed Hermes who was hissing from the corner of her room he'd retreated to.

She sank onto the edge of the bed, and slit the letter open quickly, Regulus' sharp scrawl filing the page as she'd expected – she'd recognise his owl anywhere after all. She really needed to warn him against using that owl to write to her.

She unfolded the letter and scanned it quickly. He and Severus wrote to her after every Death Eater meeting to update her. Regulus attended a lot less, considering he was still completing his final year at Hogwarts, so a letter from him was rarer. Nothing groundbreaking or worrying seemed to have happened, though it did kick her into gear for their Horcrux hunt. It had ground to a halt since the end of Hogwarts, with her having little time or energy available to expend on the endeavour. She would need to meet with them soon and start planning further. Maybe involve Fab and Gid more now they were readily available considering she was no longer in school.

She dropped the letter to the bed, and decided she may as well get up and ready for the day now she was awake.

The letter was soon forgotten about in the hectic day that ensued when James and Sirius arrived at the doors of Prewett Manor, James had looked no worse for wear – thank Merlin – but Sirius had a deep gash to his side. Sirius was laid up in one of the spare rooms and tended to by an exasperated Iphemia and Andromeda when the latter arrived following Lily's patronus requesting her help.

Remus had arrived not long ago, exhausted and returned from wherever it was he couldn't tell them about. He'd immediately been ushered straight to bed by a slightly exasperated Geraint. The rest of her friends had trickled in throughout the rest of the day, news of the three Marauders' return spreading through their small group quickly.