#180 in Fanfiction || #1 in Hermione ||
In the language of literature, there exists a seemingly-concrete, antonymous relationship between good and evil, light and dark, hero and monster. And yet, we often disregard the transition from one to anothe...
As if they do not spend enough time together--the next morning, Hermione and Tom accompany Harry, Ginny, and Sirius to breakfast at the Leaky Cauldron, given their united intentions to gather at the Burrow afterwards for wedding preparations. And yet their timing seems to be off, not eating nearly as much as they supposed given their fullness from Hermione's meal the night prior. And thus, all of the patrons finish early, left with the ultimate dilemna, to begin work early or slack off. Given that Ginny is the sister of the groom and Harry is his best man, their decision is made for them, shoving off to the Burrow after paying their way. But for a sincerely-slacking Sirius and a less-than-generous Tom, the whole extension of time spent with Molly Weasley seems terrible, then pulling Hermione along to kill some time before they're required to arrive.
So, Sirius decides to take Tom's offer to remove his mother's portrait from the wall of 12 Grimmauld Place. Of course, Tom is easy to agree, liking the challenge and stalling, as Hermione passive-aggressively tries to remind them of the time. Both ignore her entirely--something she'll surely bring up later--arriving at Sirius's family home, Tom grinning happily at the magic that splits 11 and 13. For a boy intended to be a Dark Lord, Tom surely is a proud and enchanted innocent of magic.
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Sirius Black has never been one to practice self-constraint, not taking a moment to think before throwing open the door to Grimmauld Place, tilting his head back in a loud and proud, "Mum, I'm home!"
"You damned child of no-Black-name!" the woman cries in response from deep within the home--down the hall and behind a curtain--visible to their eyes as the door bounces off the plywood wall. "You better not have brought that mutt and bloodtraitor with you! This house is already tainted with your treachery! A shame to the family!"
Hermione cringes away at the screaming, remembering just how much Walburga Black loves muggleborns from the last rant she received. Indeed, Hermione is not so inclined to despise Draco for his previous insults given this woman's outmaneuvering of them all, simply due to personality and experience.
"Charming. And I thought the Lestranges were prejudiced," Tom snarks as their footfalls echo about the room, door shutting behind them with no loss of light. Hermione--having not visited since the Ministry incident--and Tom--never having visited at all--are both appreciative of the darkness's removal, the rooms having been lightened and adorned in the past month of Sirius's return. The walls are no longer a soiled black, but whitewashed to a light gray, bringing life to the decay.
Everything is so drastically different that Hermione has a hard time believing that this place is the same of her previous refuge. And yet, there is the painting to reassure the facts, the only darkness remaining in a house that mirrors the age.
Sirius--whipping open the curtain to his dreadful matron--hisses charmingly, "Hello, wench-I-call-mother."
"A shame to my name! You trait--" Walburga Black begins to rant, all before seeing Hermione behind Sirius's shoulder, the girl's blood most prominent in her demeanor. "Filthy blood! You're tainting this house with sin!"
