Turn back time - Hermione Granger in the Marauders era

Chapter 31 - Apologies

Hermione left the next day.

She went back home. To Hogwarts. Sirius wasn't even awake when she left.

She arrived at Hogwarts, a week and a half early. To her surprise and delight, Mary had arrived the day before. She couldn't deal with her sister whom she was living with, so she came to Hogwarts. Hermione explained everything that had happened, and Mary comforted her soothingly. Just as friends always do.

Hermione felt in a way numb. She had cried so much the night before that it was as if she had no tears left. It was like a dull ache in her chest. It was just unreal. How could she be in Hogwarts when she had been at Sirius's just hours before?

It wasn't until that evening that she received an owl from Sirius. With shaking hands, she detached the letter from Sirius's owl and opened it carefully.

Hermione,

Oh Merlin I'm sorry. I hardly even remember what happened last night. I remember having too much Firewhisky with Prongs and everyone and then they left. I don't want to think about it. I'd never hurt you. I swear on everything important to me. It was just to much Firewhisky. I didn't mean anything I said. The truth is, I honestly really really really like you and I wanted to stay with you just because I want to spend time with you. I'll never be able to forgive myself, but I'm a hypocrite and I'm begging you too please please forgive me. I'd do anything for you. Please.

I'm sorry,

Sirius

With trembling hands Hermione discarded the letter to the floor. She felt sick to her stomach. Tears welled up in her eyes. She sat in the Griffindor Common Room, blinking away tears and staring at the floor.

"Is that from Sirius?" Mary appeared from behind her.

Hermione cleared her throat hastily. "Yeah," She whispered.

Mary bent down to the floor and picked up the letter. She handed it into Hermione's lap gently.

"Hey, he's only a boy." Mary joked.

Hermione gave a small, pathetic chuckle and shook herself.

"Yeah. You're right. It's fine. I'm being selfish. There are so many more important and awful things going on right now. It's no big deal."

"You're not being selfish, okay? He's the selfish one!"

Hermione paused. "Nah. Not really. He didn't do anything wrong. I over reacted."

"I wouldn't call it over reacting. But now that you've given it some thought... do you think maybe you could forgive him?"

Hermione was silent. "You know, I think I might."

Mary beamed and hugged her.

"Since when did you get so clever?" Hermione asked.

Mary laughed. "I've always been the best, you know that!"

Hermione chuckled. "Yeah. I'm going to go for a walk, i'll see you later, okay?"

"Yeah, sure."

Hermione found herself walking down to the carriages. They rumbled past her, without anything pulling them. The beauty of magic. It was a shame her thoughts weren't so beautiful. The letter Sirius had sent sounded honest, but how could she trust him? She could still see his face, leering in front of her eyes. Hermione crouched down, leaning against a tree beside the road as the carriages rolled past. She closed her eyes against Sirius's face. Tears filled her eyes. She bowed her head into her legs. She stayed in that position until the carriages passed. Then her head snapped up at the sound of footsteps. With her eyesight clouded with tears and Sirius's face swimming in her vision, she turned away and quickly walked up to the school again, blinking away tears. She had only made it a few steps when someone grabbed her arm. Automatically, she whirled around to free herself from the grasp. Sirius's face still leered in front of her.