In Perpetuum

Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Hermione quaecumque dicis

Gryffindor table was abuzz with excitement. There were three days until the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year, and it was certainly the first Hogsmeade weekend ever for those in Hermione’s year.

Alice’s Hogsmeade date with Frank Longbottom was a virulent gossip piece at this particular breakfast, however, it was kept company by several other potential couples in their year and the years above.

Hermione had had her fill of this kind of chatter last time she was at Hogwarts and was therefore greatly relieved when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sirius sit down next to her. The guys had never once cared for idle gossip.

“Morning,” she said through a mouthful of toast, careful not to spray crumbs everywhere as she spoke.

“Morning,” mumbled Sirius in reply.

Hermione was more accustomed to a slightly more exuberant greeting from Sirius, even at this early hour, and she quickly turned to face him, a questioning facial expression apparent.

She was greeted by his slightly pale face and hesitant, grey eyes.

“What’s the matter, Sirius? You look absolutely ghastly!”

Sirius looked up at her and spoke as though he was regretting every word.

“I was wondering if you wanted to go to Hogsmeade with me?” he mumbled, lips barely moving.

Hermione stared at him blankly for a moment. Her heart soared in excitement before a cheeky grin broke out on her face.

“You mean as a date?”

Sirius nodded, mutely.

She put a finger up to her chin to tap it as though she was seriously weighing up his intentions.

“It’s ok, you don’ have to come with me if you don’t want to,” Sirius spoke in a rush, looking more and more pale as the seconds passed.

Hermione laughed at his anxious expression.

“Relax, I was only joking. Of course I will come with you.”

She added a genuine smile at the end of her sentence to punctuate her willingness.

“Cool then,” said Sirius, looking immensely relieved, “I guess I will see you in class then?”

“Yep,” replied Hermione, still smiling.

Sirius stood up and walked over to rejoin his friends at the other end of the table. They seemed to be deeply engrossed in conversation, although Hermione suspected that this was Sirius’ doing.  He had probably asked them not to stare, or make inappropriate comments, and being obliging friends, they had done their job admirably.

Hermione turned her attention back to her breakfast, only to be accosted by the stares of her female friends. In fact, the porridge was steadily sliding off Heloise’s spoon as she held it, poised in midair, halfway to her mouth.

Lily was the first time come to her senses.

“Are you completely insane?”

“What do you mean?” replied Hermione, her brown eyes narrowing slightly at her friends’ less than enthusiastic response.

“I can’t believe Sirius Black just asked you out! I mean – Sirius – you”

Alice had been rendered incoherent with shock.

“Thanks for that Alice,” spoke Hermione with a touch of acerbity, “Besides weren’t you the one that said it was just ‘easy access’? Anyway, he’s only asked me to spend a few hours with him in Hogsmeade. It’s nothing majorly life-changing.”

“Whatever, you say Mione,” smirked Lily as she finished her last bite of toast.

It occurred to Hermione then that Lily and her friends might not be the only ones to misconstrue her and Sirius’ appearance in Hogsmeade together. Rumours were guaranteed to spread like wildfire in a hot African savannah. Tiny butterflies seemed to suddenly flutter about her stomach.

Hermione inwardly groaned. Gossip was something that she had successfully avoided so far during her time at Hogwarts, which was a feat in itself. Shaking her head to rid herself of negative thoughts provided a semblance of mental stability. However, this was washed away, rather swiftly, when she priced up one of her ears to rejoin the conversation with the other girls. They had rather quickly forgotten the latest news with Hermione and had begun on the topic of what outfits they were going to be showing off on their first ever Hogsmeade trip.

Hermione, having had her fill of this when Lavender Brown and Pavarti Patil would move into this dangerous territory, simply rolled her eyes and continued with her breakfast.

There would be time to worry about their impending Hogsmeade visit in a few days, when it actually arrived.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

The morning of the Hogsmeade visit dawned bright. Although it had not snowed, the wind was fiercely cold and no matter how many layers they had been wearing in the past few days, the wind managed to whistle straight through them, chilling them to the bone.

Hermione, not wanting to let the warm air out from under her bed covers, stretched herself awake with as little movement as possible.

She listened to the slow, shallows breaths of her dorm mates, so free and unburdened as they still dreamt about unimportant and inconsequential matters.

Slowly Hermione heaved herself up from the bed and got dressed as quickly as possible. She could see her breath in front of her as she was getting dressed, so cold it already was.

She decided that it would be easier to go down and have breakfast before the rest of the students came down and obliterated any sense of calm Hermione was feeling.

When she arrived at the doors of the Great Hall, she peered inside to see who was already at breakfast. It was almost deserted with almost a handful of students dotted around the four house tables and staff table.

Peering closer at Gryffindor table, she noticed a couple of familiar faces: Remus and Sirius.

The little butterflies had returned to her stomach, only now they were considerable larger and threatening to prevent any food from moving down her oesophagus.

She took a deep breath, pulled her shoulders back and walked, with purpose, over to where Sirius was sitting with Remus.

She waved a brief hello and mumbled a good morning. Then, silence. She did not know what to say. Apparantly Sirius was at a loss as well.

She had never had any difficulty striking up a conversation with Sirius before, owning to their reasonably close friendship, but for the first time, Hermione did not have a single clue on what to say.

She compromised by buttering herself some toast and forcing down a few mouthfuls.

Sirius seemed to be feeling just about the same as Hermione, because the few mouthfuls of porridge left in his bowl, never made it to his mouth.

It was going to be a long day.