In Perpetuum

Chapter 41

Chapter 41: Clavis est remissio

The decorations had gone up and the pumpkins had been carved. Halloween was approaching and this was quickly followed by the cold weather.

The school was abuzz with excitement as they prepared for a day out. Just in time for Halloween, a Hogsmeade weekend had been scheduled.

Hermione, on the contrary, was preparing for a quiet day in the castle. Hogsmeade had always been a special time for her and Sirius, and she remembered that most acutely in the lead up to this trip, mostly because there would be no chance that she would be going with him, at this time, or any other times.

Now that so much time had passed since their disastrous break up, Hermione was more able to cope with what had happened between them. Still, she caught herself off-guard on numerous occasions thinking about, and fantasising about how wonderful it would be if Sirius were to come along, and sweep her off her feet again.

Hermione began to feel her head throb with the amount of over-thinking that was going on in her brain.

‘Stop it, Hermione,’ she thought, ‘there’s no use thinking like that. It’s not practical.’

Hermione was completing her homework in the common room. This was to the great consternation of those around her as she kept trying to shush their game of Exploding Snap. Needless to say, her constant disapproving looks did not work.

For the tenth time that evening, Hermione had had to vanish an inappropriate word from her parchment. She looked over at her quill. It appeared to be the usual one that she used.

She looked around at the others in the common room. Everyone else seemed to be deeply absorbed in their own things, so it could not be them that kept changing things on her piece of homework.

Hermione gave up the search, and continued writing her essay for awhile longer. He quill began to malfunction again. She watched with wide-eyed awe as the quill began to create discernible sentences.

“Will...”

“You...”

“Go...”

“To...”

“Hogsmeade...”

“With...”

“Me?”

Hermione stared down at the parchment on which her essay was written. Was this some person’s idea of a cruel joke? Who in the name of Merlin would think that was in any way funny?

Hermione felt that familiar prickling sensation at the back of her neck. Feeling entirely and completely creeped out, she whipped her head around, hoping to find the culprit of this twisted act.

She saw that Lily was concentrating on her own essay. Estrella was nowhere to be found, but then again, neither was Remus. Alice was sitting on a window seat, chatting with Frank and Kenneth.

Heloise decided to join the Marauder’s on this particular evening. Hermione flicked her eyes over to where they were sitting, but her eyes lingered for a fraction of a second too long. Silver eyes locked into brown, before Sirius quickly turned away, as though he had seen something obscene.

Hermione was quite familiar with his gaze, having spent many a night staring into their molten depths over previous summers. This time she noticed something almost indefinable, and suddenly Hermione knew who had charmed her quill. It was the one who had given it to her as a gift in the first place.

She dropped the quill in question, in surprise, as though she expected it to commit some other horrible act.

Her eyes sought out his in the crowded common room, with a new sense of urgency. She had to validate her hypothesis. However, hard as she looked, she could not find him.