Chapter 1: Boggarts

Before her was Lord Voldemort. The one and only Dark Lord was floating so regally above the ground. If he weren't trying to take over the Wizarding world, she might have even thought him majestic. He looked as fiercely dangerous as ever with those ruby red eyes and ghostly features, even when he softly gripped his wand.

"They're all dead, Mudblood!" he sneered looking every bit the snake she knew he truly was.

With a few soft breaths she could truly be at peace. Her lids slowly came to a close as she realised that in her deepest fear that lay before her, there came peace. This type of peace that had been absent from her life for the past two years of her life. There lay conviction in the eyes of the creature before her. She couldn't for the life of her remember what she feared so much about this, in this calm moment. With the killing curse at the tip of his wand she could only smile at this.

"Riddikulus!" came a shout from beside the woman prepared for death. Then Voldemort shifted into a clatter of a book that landed in front of her. This effectively pulled her out of her daydream and into the dark and very warm classroom before her. She stood waiting for the bliss that death offered only to be severely disappointed as it was ripped away from her.

"Why the hell didn't you cast the spell?" A very irate Sirius Black stood behind her with the curious glances of James Potter, Remus Lupin and even the meek Peter Pettigrew. She resisted the sob that bubbled up her throat at the site of the men-no, now boys- that stood before her.

With Harry's doppelganger she found the bubbling of emotion rise inside her that she made sure to control at all times around him. Remus' cheerful and innocent demeanour here still rippled what she could still register as sadness within her. Peter only made to infuriate her so she tried to never look the poor excuse for a man in the eye. And Sirius... She couldn't even start that thought with the once love of her life.

"Are you even listening?" Sirius broke her out of her own train of thought by grasping her by the shoulder. She flinched out of his hand like she was burnt, it felt too real. She couldn't do this to herself, or him again.

"I'm terribly sorry about my friend here" sounded the still curious Remus, nudging his friend to wipe that sour face off. "I don't think we've been acquainted even though we seem to be from the same house" he said, eyeing the red and gold crest on her uniform. The pride that would have run through her as a past student didn't even tickle the surface.

"You look to be a more than a fifth year, but you can't even battle a boggart? I'm sorry, but are you mentally deficient?" he asked oh-so-condescendingly. Right now, anything he said didn't affect her in any way. She was too far gone in her loss to even think of him as her Sirius. He was an imposter she had to keep repeating.

"I'm ever so sorry to have inconvenienced you" came her reply fast with sarcasm dripping from every word "I don't quite remember asking for you to deal with my boggart. So if you could take your pompous attitude somewhere it is appreciated, that would be great"

"But what was that though?" asked James. "Didn't look very nice" mentioning her nightmare now come hopeful dream that had now ended.

"Miss..." Remus inquired.

"Conte d'hiver" she replied politely even though Sirius was being a complete tosser. Which seemed to strengthen her belief that this wasn't her Sirius. Ever since meeting the animagi, he was always very charming and the complete opposite of this doppelganger.

"It's nice to meet you, Miss Conte d'hiver. I'm Remus, this is James-" pointing to the smiling boy "-Peter-" the traitorous bastard "and Sirius" the man in question still moved his beautiful, god-blessed features into an unfriendly glare. That look, on any aged Sirius, looked so very foreign to her.

"Very pleased to make your acquaintance" she nodded at each of them in turn before narrowing her eyes at Sirius and leaving the classroom. Once she had left them alone the boys turned on their black-haired friend.

"What was that?" Remus said turning to him "Mentally deficient? I thought it was an automatic response for you to charm anything oestrogenous"

"Yeah, what's gotten into you, Padfoot?" James prodded.

Sirius sighed before collapsing on the nearest chair "I don't know. It seems Tracey's gotten to me more than I would like. I think I should apologise" he said, letting his head fall back against the cool desk as his friends mumbled affirmatives.

"Have you seen her before?" Peter squeaked from the corner. "I've only noticed her this year in a few of my classes"

"Yeah, I've seen her a couple of times in the library. She seems to be a really smart girl, I guess you shouldn't have insulted her intelligence, Padfoot"

Black groaned as his eyes fell shut. His day just kept getting better.

-8-

The next day, Sirius tried finding this mysterious Conte d'hiver that none of the Marauders seemed to pick up on even when he realised that she seemed to be in a few of his classes. Every time he went to speak to her after class (A Marauder does not simply arrive early to any class-ever-) she seemed to run off. He was getting certain that she was avoiding him on purpose.

Even when he made sure to remember after every class to call her, she'd already be halfway down the hallway from the class. There was no wonder why they had never noticed her before but surely he couldn't miss her at dinner. Lily was the person to talk to, she'd know this mysterious girl.

"Hey, Evans" he called the red-haired from beside Remus at the Gryffindor table "You know a Conte d'hiver?"

"Hermione? Yeah, the new transfer? Why?" she asked, then narrowing her eyes at the pureblood. "She's not your new flavour of the month is she?"

All the Marauders stopped their eating and stared bug-eyed at the girl. They couldn't help but feel confused right now. She didn't know Hermione for long, but she couldn't help and feel offended that they would think her unable to catch Sirius' attention. Hermione wasn't the prettiest girl, but Lily thought her pretty enough.

"Oh, come off it" she said turning to the rest of the Marauders "What do you want with her if not for that then?"

The boys looked to each other before looking down again. They knew what would come from this if this conversation continued, so no one dared continue it.

"Never mind about that" Sirius said smiling to placate the normally fired up red head. But suspicion never left the girl's face as she gazed at the four pranksters before her.

-8-

The four sat by the fire in the Gryffindor common room with James and Peter playing a round of exploding snap. Remus sat finishing his Transfiguration homework like the goody-two shoes he was and Sirius seemed to be staring at the portrait hole like it would open all the secrets of the universe.

"Feeling a bit guilty, are we Paddy Poo?!" James teased from his spot on the floor.

It didn't take much to open the floodgates of his thoughts "I mean she's probably just really embarrassed about her boggart and I just had to make it worse. Now she's avoiding me"

"Oh, Sirius, you can't be that up yourself if you think that her world revolves around you" Remus prodded but to no avail.

Sirius' eyebrows minced in confusion to the sandy-haired boy's suggestion. This thought had never and would never take place in his mind.

"You said that she usually hangs out around the library, aye? I'll take a quick trip up there. Prongs, I'm nipping your cloak for a bit" he took off without awaiting a response.

Had he done that, he'd have seen the flabbergasted look on Remus' face, the indifference on Peter's and humour on James'.

Making a turn, with the invisibility cloak wrapped securely, around the corner on his way to the library Sirius was not expecting the scene before him.

"Dirty mudblood whore" Avery spat in Hermione's face as he pushed her up against the stone wall. With Mulciber and Rosier backing him up, he froze in his steps and reached for his wand.

The most shocking part about the scene before him was not the overpowering Slytherins but the indifferent mask on Conte d'hiver. She seemed to take the whole scene before her as something mundane and almost... Expected. If no one heard a word out of his mouth it would look like an angry boyfriend trying to get his girlfriend back. This shocked Sirius down to the bone.

"Who the fuck do you think you are to hold a wand?" he sneered at her with obvious contempt.

Sirius had heard enough. Just as he drew his wand, a cracking could be heard before him. Sirius blinked and was sure to have missed half of it.

Hermione's forehead jutted out to head butt the man before her. She then jabbed him in the stomach with her fist before kicking Mulciber in the shin. The two sidekicks were obviously surprised by her as they were slow in pulling out their wands. By the time Rosier reacted, Hermione had used Mulciber as a shield as he fell forward. Hermione pulled out her wand lapis præsidio with a swish all boys slammed up right to the wall behind her. Sirius blinked again to make sure he was seeing right as their wands floated toward the girl.

Hermione and Avery both bled from their foreheads, Avery more profusely which led Sirius to believe the power behind that head butt.

"Now let's straighten things up" Hermione started, her voice dangerously whispered as she brought the blood on her fingers from her forehead to see. "My name is Hermione, not dirty Mudblood whore" she stepped forward to Avery as he struggled against the hold.

"Let us go, bitch!" he screamed at her face that seemed to be inching forward looking curiously at his blood. Then she brought her blood coated fingers and started smearing some of it in his open wound, mixing their blood together then calmly she started to draw patterns around his face.

"There, now you can't tell the FUCKING difference" she screamed at his face "I will pay you a thousand galleons to find the mud on your face"

The oddly quiet boys all turned to her with fear apparent in their eyes. It seemed that her unspoken threat to smear them with her blood shut them right up. Avery seemed the most fearful with the blood now dripping down his face.

"You're fucking crazy" he whispered trying to cover up the fearful look on his face with his insult, but his voice failed, leaving him as scared as ever.

Sirius stood transfixed by the site before him, not knowing what to think.

Operire atris Hermione said.

Suddenly a yellow shield brought itself up around Hermione as someone on the other side of the corridor had shot a spell her way. Sirius had read about that shield before. It was advanced magic, something so difficult he couldn't even begin to fathom its complexities. Then slowly the shield moved and hit the spellcaster to the ground, Sirius could only hear the clatter of a wand and a body on the ground as he still remained awed by this girl's apparent magical abilities. Casting the shield alone was hard enough, moving it was by far the most advanced magic he could have thought would witness.

"Dark Magic, Black? I thought better of you" she tutted and the man hidden under the cloak broke from his frozen position to peek at his brother safely on the other side of the hallway.

Regulus rushed to pick his wand up but it flew into Hermione's hand which she then pocketed.

"Listen here, Black" she started turning back to look at the trapped men against the wall. "Before you ever think of hurting another muggle-born at this school ever again. You think of these idiots" she motioned to the trapped men -one which had both his and her blood on his face- "You remember how a mudblood was given the chance to kill them, but didn't. She could have exterminated scum like this, and made the world a better place but she didn't"

She turned to him before he nodded and ran worried glances to his friends.

"One piece of advice boys-" she said before letting them go of the holds against the wall and throwing their wands at their feet "- next time you want to corner me, do it right and kill me. There's no trying to convince me I'm worth any less than you because you're just wasting your breath. I've had enough of this chit-chat so, goodnight"

She turned and walked toward Sirius and as she passed him, he couldn't believe what had just passed before his eyes.

When Sirius had returned to the common room his friends save Peter had been waiting in the common room. Remus was forced by James to stay because Lily would only be sitting around to talk to Remus and James kept making lovey eyes to Lily. Sirius arrived at the common room still so very disturbed by what he just witnessed.

Do it right and kill me that line ran through his head a million times before he made to sit beside his friends. All looking very curiously at him.

"Where've you been, Black? It's after curfew" Lily chided from beside him. He turned and finally registered the people sitting with him.

"Places, Evans, places. I know it's hard to imagine me with another but please control your jealousy" he said smoothly before turning back to the portrait and taking the position he had before leaving the common room.

"Black, that's not an-" she said but was cut off as he then stood immediately to some movement of the portrait swinging open.

In strode Hermione looking without any trace of blood nor scorn on her face as she strode toward the girl's dormitory. Sirius had to think he was imagining that whole episode before in the corridor.

"Hermione" he called out and she slowed to a still before turning to him. There was no anger apparent, nor any scorn. Recognition did flicker though, that was good.

"Do you need something?" she asked pulling the indifferent face on. Lily had caught up to him and was now standing beside him as he spoke to the bushy haired Gryffindor.

"Oh, Hermione. I didn't see you come in. It's after curfew, you shouldn't be out too long" Lily chided like the hidden mother she was. Hermione pulled on a small smile before returning "I know, I lost track of the time and Madam Pince allowed me a few minutes longer than closing time"

"Oh, well. That's good then- What's that on your robes? Is that-Is that blood?" Lily questioned looking further at the stain. Sirius knew then that the incident was not a dream. He didn't think that up.

"It's nothing really. I get a nosebleed every time I read too long" she lied. Sirius didn't know what to think of the girl before him.

"I've got some blood replenishing potion, somewhere" she said before strutting up the stairs to the girl's dormitory. Hermione made to follow but he held her wrist.

She snatched her wrist out of his grasp and her eyes narrowed at him "What do you want Black?"

"I'm sorry" he said, remembering he was such an idiot for ever thinking that he could do that to a girl whose just been harassed. "I wanted to say what an idiot I was for saying that whole thing with the boggart. I'm truly sorry"

This seemed to have lessened the suspicion in her face as she suddenly looked tired. "You don't have to say that, I was the idiot for not thanking someone for taking care of that for me" she tried to smile but it didn't reach her eyes.

"I hope we can be friends" he said giving her the smile that hundreds of girls fell for as he held his hand out.

She thought a bit before slightly nodding her head and grasping his hand firmly. He felt her warm hands and relished in its heat.

He was going to keep an eye on this one.