Hearing Voices
Chapter 4 - Hearing Voices
"Hearing voices no one else can hear isn’t a good sign, even in the wizarding world."
– Ron Weasley
October 18th 1976 - Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Scottish Highlands
Weeks had passed since Hermione’s transition from Beauxbatons to Hogwarts, and it had gone much smoother than she had expected. At first, being back at her old school for the first time in her new life had been extremely overwhelming. She swore she could hear the sound of Ginny’s laughter each time she rounded the corner into the courtyard, or saw the ghost of Harry’s smile when she caught a glimpse of James Potter. Not that he ever smiled at her, his undeserved hatred of her had remained consistent since their interaction at Slughorn’s party.
In the quiet of the Ravenclaw dormitories, during the middle of the night, was when Hermione felt the loss of her former life most. Memories of her past never failed to haunt her in her dreams; it was getting harder and harder to bear. Ever since she was a child her parents had been convinced that she had a “gift” and Hermione knew she could never tell them the reality. Being a seer was the perfect cover no matter how much she despised divination.
There was just under a fortnight until Halloween and Hermione knew that her nightmares would get worse each passing night. She gasped in shock as her eyes darted open, beads of sweat rolled down her forehead and she panted heavily, taking in deep breaths of air as she tried to calm herself.
“Hermione.” A low voice said in her ear. She stilled.
There was no movement in the dormitory and the only signs of life were the faint snores coming from the other girls. The sound of the clock ticking suddenly sounded deafening in Hermione’s ears.
“Hermione.” The voice spoke again. Panic gripped her heart but logic overtook her before she freaked out. Hermione’s eyes fluttered shut as she placed a hand onto her burning forehead.
“I must still be dreaming.”
“No you’re not.” The voice continued persistently. It was definitely a male voice but she couldn’t recognise who it was. A blurry image of a messy, black haired boy filled her vision.
”Harry.” Hermione murmured. She felt as if she was in a trance.
“Hermione.” His lopsided grin and the hint of sadness in his eye made this vision feel shockingly real. The witch’s chest tightened at the sight of her former best friend and she ached to reach out for him. She even lifted her hand but was cut off as he spoke again. “I hate you.”
Hermione felt herself recoil in horror.
“You left me in that battle. Alone. After the war I had no one.” He began. “Ginny and Ron were too caught up with grieving for their brother to care about me. Not that I would ever blame them. I was too caught up grieving for you.” Hermione felt tears in her eyes.
“Voldermort may not have killed me, but losing you practically did.”
Before Hermione could reply, the form of her best friend changed. His malnourished body grew more muscular and he became taller, with his hair becoming even messier and his green eyes morphing into hazel.
“Snake.” James Potter sneered. “You’ve disrupted the timeline while knowing what will happen to us, yet you do nothing to stop it from happening. You have more power than any wizard or witch in this country, yet you’re more concerned about making friends and playing Quidditch and having fun? You’re practically worse than Voldemort.”
His form then became paler and Hermione was left staring into the miserable grey eyes of Regulus Black.
“Are you planning to let me die, Hermione? Will you allow me to sacrifice myself without fixing my relationship with my brother, or escaping my family? Are you really that selfish?” The last word echoed and reverberated through her mind. She squeezed her eyes shut; it felt like she was drowning.
“Hermione…” The voice was distorted and she began to sob as she covered her ears to get away from it. “Hermione, Hermione, Hermione...” It chanted.
“…Hermione!” Her eyes snapped open as a voice cut clearly through the blurred mess of her mind. Alice’s concerned brown eyes filled her vision. “Hermione, love, you need to go to the hospital wing. I’ve been trying to wake you up for ages, I’m going to miss my first class!”
Hermione’s vision was disoriented as Alice helped her to her feet. Along with Isla’s help, they managed to make it to the hospital wing, where Hermione was transferred to Madam Pomfrey’s care. “Oh dear,” the medi-witch tutted as she looked at the French witch’s state, “you’re going to have to miss lessons for at least the next two days, you’re burning up!” She gave Hermione some potions and allowed her to drift off to sleep.
When Hermione awoke, feeling the most refreshed and well rested she had for a while from her dreamless-sleep induced slumber, Evan was the first person to greet her.
“Hey Mione.” He said, worriedly. “How’re you feeling?” She shrugged in response. “Do you need Mother and Father to come down? I can floo them from Slughorn’s office?”
“It’s fine, Ev. Madam Pomfrey said it was just a variant of the magical flu. Nothing to be worried about and I’ll be back to normal in a couple days.” Evan nodded in response.
“Barty brought spare copies of his notes to give to you and he told me to tell you that he missed you. I’m not sure I like how close you two are.” He narrowed his eyes.
Hermione rolled hers in response as she accepted the pieces of parchment that he was holding with a fond smile on her face. “Barty’s a sweetheart.”
“Whatever you say.” He leaned back and adjusted his position in his chair to be more comfortable. “Anyways, you missed quite a bit today.”
“Go on.”
“James Potter punched Wilkes right in the nose during Transfiguration.” Evan said gleefully.
“Good. That git probably deserved it.” Hermione scrunched her nose in confusion. “Isn’t Wilkes your friend?”
“Well yeah, but it was hilarious. And definitely deserved. Wilkes was talking about Potter’s mother, Euphemia Greengrass - well, Potter now. She used to play for the Holyhead Harpies.”
“I know. What did Wilkes say?”
“He was just talking nonsense, some shite about how witches can’t play Quidditch or something.”
Hermione snorted. “What does Wilkes know? He can’t even fit on a broom let alone play Quidditch.”
“You’re not even wrong.”
A couple days later, the siblings were sitting together at the Slytherin table. “I’m fine, really.” Hermione insisted, batting away Evan’s hands as he fussed over her. She had been discharged before lunch after spending just over three days in the hospital wing - more than she had anticipated since she found herself struggling to fall asleep following her nightmare.
“Black, keep an eye on her.” Evan ordered, to which the younger student nodded in acknowledgement.
Hermione rolled her eyes but allowed herself to be led by Regulus. Double Transfiguration was the last lesson she had, and it was just her luck that she shared it with Regulus - whose dream-version had been haunting her thoughts.
If she was honest, she had been feeling very distracted these days. Hermione felt that she should get a headstart on her mission - destroying horcruxes. But the more she thought about it, the more she realised that she would need an accomplice. 'Imagine I died in the Room of Requirement, and no one even knew,' she mused.
Hermione had known since she was born in this life that she would have to find a way to recruit Regulus Black to help her destroy the horcruxes. She also knew that Regulus had died in 1979, meaning he likely didn’t discover the Dark Lord’s secret until that year. It would be unwise for her to just approach him with this right now, considering Regulus and Hermione weren’t exactly close, but Hermione was still a Gryffindor at heart, and sometimes acting rashly paid off.
Sirius had been disowned during Christmas last year. In 1995, Hermione had read Regulus’s diary at Grimmauld Place and she knew how much losing Sirius had affected him. Though he admitted to himself that he had lost his brother since the moment he was sorted into Slytherin.
Another thing was that Narcissa was to wed Lucius Malfoy during the winter holidays, meaning Hermione would have a perfect opportunity to access Riddle’s diary. But she would absolutely need Regulus’s help, considering she had never been to Malfoy Manor and she knew for fact that the Black Family regularly attended balls and events there.
It was unlikely that Regulus would even believe Hermione when she told him about Voldemort’s horcruxes, or betray his death eater ideals for her. But she was determined to sway him before he got marked.
“Naricissa’s wedding is coming up.” Hermione began casually.
“Yes. Are you excited?” Regulus replied politely, if not a bit disinterestedly.
“I suppose.” Hermione shrugged. “I can’t say I’m thrilled about who the groom is. These betrothal matches have begun getting more and more…”
“Insane? I agree.”
Hermione decided to test the water. “Ever since Andromeda’s marriage…” Regulus stiffened but didn’t interrupt. “I guess Uncle Cygnus and Aunt Druella have to keep appearances up.”
Regulus lowered his tone and leaned towards her ear. “Have you heard from Andromeda since…”
She nodded in response. “She had a beautiful daughter, Nymphadora. She just turned three.”
“Do you know where Andromeda and her-“ he grimaced, “husband are?” Hermione gave him a stern look and he flushed in embarrassment.
“Maybe if you didn’t refer to him like that I would tell you.”
“I didn’t realise you sympathised with his kind.”
“Oh, come off it, Regulus.” Hermione snapped. “I know you and I know you’re more like Sirius than you care to admit.”
“What! No, I’m not-” He sputtered.
“Relax, I don’t care enough to go tell anyone. But I need your help with something.” The pair reached the classroom and before Regulus could reply, Hermione added as she shifted on her feet, “Meet me after curfew at the astronomy tower.” With that, she headed towards her seat, leaving behind a dumbfounded Regulus standing at the door.
Regulus Arcturus Black III had had an interesting life to say the least. He was born into the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black, not as the heir of course, but as the spare. As a result of this, he had, what most would consider, a troubled childhood. Growing up, he had been rather close with his brother and cousins, though his bond with Sirius was much stronger considering the small age gap between them.
Another key figure growing up was Hermione Rosier. She had always seemed to be a peculiar child; she kept mostly to herself and she seemed knowledgeable for her age.
Out of all the Sacred 28 children that he saw regularly, Hermione was closest in age to him, being only a month older. Therefore, they naturally gravitated towards each other.
Regulus didn’t know if he imagined it, perhaps he was being egotistical, but it always seemed like Hermione had a soft spot for him. She wasn’t as sarcastic towards him as she was towards her brother and Sirius, but she didn’t avoid him like she did Bellatrix. She looked at him with a sense of admiration.
Of course, being considered second to Sirius practically all his life, this meant a lot to Regulus.
There were times when he reminisced about the simpler times of his childhood; when he knew that he could count on Hermione to be there for him, even if no one else was. He found that he had these thoughts a lot when he first started Hogwarts.
After he began his Third Year, his thoughts rarely focused on Hermione and it felt like her existence had been forgotten about. Regulus actually felt a bit bad when she joined Hogwarts and he was suddenly reminded of her.
No matter how peculiar she seemed now, or how her views seemed to have shifted more towards the light, Regulus would always have a place in his heart for Hermione Rosier. Despite the considerably creepy circumstances that she had asked him to meet in, hearing her out couldn’t do any harm, could it?
Oh, how wrong he had been.
Regulus stared at the witch before him and wondered if being roommates with Pandora Avery had had its effect on her.
Hermione had dragged him out to the astronomy tower in the freezing cold so Regulus thought she must have something important to tell him. All she had come up with were some - seemingly made up - objects called horcruxes that the Dark Lord apparently made six of. Not only that, she even had the nerve to call him Voldemort. For someone who called divination rubbish, she seemed to be full of it.
Hermione stared at Regulus as he took in everything she told him. There was a moment of silence before he practically screamed, “are you crazy?”
“Shush.” She said immediately, her eyes darting around the empty area. “Do you want to wake up the whole building?”
“I barely even screamed.” He scoffed indignantly but lowered his voice to a harsh whisper. “Besides that was a fairly normal reaction to what you just said, this whole story sounds made up.”
Hermione sighed as she realised just how ridiculous she sounded. “You live at Grimmauld Place, right?”
Regulus nodded slowly. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“If you look towards the far back of the library, you’ll find a book called Magick Moste Evile. There’s a section on horcruxes in there, although it’s not very useful. That’s proof I’m not making them up!”
“Okay, what the fuck. When have you ever been to Grimmauld, let alone the library? This is getting a bit creepy now, Hermione.”
She grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him close. His eyes widened in fear before meeting hers that seemed paler than usual in the dim moonlight. “Do you trust me, Regulus?”
He replied with no hesitation. “Yes.”
“Then trust that I wouldn’t lie to you.”
“But I don’t understand. Even if this were true, how do you know? I doubt the Dark Lord told you personally about his secret.”
“I’m a seer.” She blurted and immediately grimaced - letting go of Regulus. He looked taken aback.
“You hate divination though?”
“It’s a cover up, this is my biggest secret.” A miserable look settled itself on Hermione’s face at the thought of being associated with divination. However, Regulus interpreted the look on her face as shame and regret for divulging this secret.
“I don’t know what to say…” Regulus began but trailed off as he saw (fake) tears in Hermione’s eyes. If Regulus was scared of anything, it was crying girls.
“Please don’t tell anyone.” She sniffed.
“I won’t…please don’t cry.” He winced. Hermione wiped her tears before looking up at him through her eyelashes.
“I know it seems so far-fetched but this is what my visions have told me, and the only reason I’ve told you this is because I know what happens to you in the future.” Regulus swallowed and braced himself.
“You’ll follow in the footsteps of your parents, as is expected of you and become, what is known as, a Death Eater. Obviously, this causes you to drift even further from Sirius who joins a resistance group and trains to be an auror as soon as he leaves Hogwarts. However in 1979, Voldermort -” Regulus coughed and Hermione rolled her eyes, “You-Know-Who - I am not calling him my lord - asks to borrow Kreacher. When he comes back he’s all shaken and he tells you that You-Know-Who forced him to do tasks in order to hide his horcrux. Then you, very bravely might I add, decide to take Kreacher and steal this horcrux which you do successfully however…” she looked at him sadly.
“You don’t survive.” Regulus looked down at his feet as he processed everything that the witch said. She had called him brave. Like Sirius.
There was a long period in which neither of them spoke.
“Even though your ideas sound preposterous…” Regulus began shakily. “I’m willing to hear you out.”
Hermione gasped in happiness and flung her arms around Regulus, who stiffened immediately.
“Oh, Regulus. You won’t regret this I promise.” With that; the pair made arrangements to meet in secret the following week, and left the astronomy tower, being careful to avoid being caught after curfew.
Unbeknownst to the pair, they walked right past James Potter, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew who were on their way to the kitchens. The group's laughter and jokes died down the second they saw Hermione and Regulus, having not expected to encounter any other students this late in the evening.
“Huh.” Pettigrew began once the pair were out of earshot. “I didn’t know your brother was friends with Rosier.”
“I don’t trust it.” Sirius said suspiciously.
“I thought you liked Rosier.” Peter drew his eyebrows together in confusion.
“Yeah…but Reggie I’m not sure about.”
“They’re both untrustworthy, they’re snakes!” James scowled.
“Mate, when are you going to give Hermione a chance? I've known her practically since I was born and trust me when I say she’s one of the good ones.”
“You said that about your brother in his first year and look at him now.”
“I don’t know.” Sirius sighed thoughtfully. “Sometimes I look at him and think maybe he isn’t too far gone and I suppose the closer he and Hermione are, the better.”
“What do you mean?” Asked Remus, chiming into the conversation for the first time.
“Hermione comes from a considerably neutral family compared to other Purebloods. Her grandfather was well known for being interested in the Dark Arts, but her parents have tried to keep their children away from all of that.” Sirius explained. “Why else do you think Hermione went to Beauxbatons rather than Hogwarts?”
There was a brief silence as the group absorbed what Sirius said. “I suppose I can give her a chance…” James conceded slowly, “but if I see anything suspicious-”
“You won’t. Hermione’s great and you have to admit she is absolutely adorable. Honestly Prongs, how have you hated her?”
“She’s nothing compared to Lily.” There was something off about James’ tone as he spoke.
Sirius rolled his eyes. “I know, I know, no one can compare to your Lily-flower.”
“Anyways, are we just going to brush over Hermione and Regulus?” James continued. “I mean what were they doing out so late?”
“Maybe they just went to the kitchens; like we are now.” Remus suggested.
“I suppose that’s reasonable.” Sirius shrugged and conceded. The group continued towards the kitchens before returning to their dormitory
October 29th 1976 - Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Scottish Highlands
Hermione took a deep breath as she pulled her curls into a ponytail, admiring her reflection in the Quidditch changing rooms. It was the first match of the year and little could be done to calm her nerves. Practically the whole school had been eagerly anticipating this day where Ravenclaw and Slytherin would kick off the Quidditch season.
“Nervous?” Alice grinned from beside her.
“Of course not.” Hermione scoffed unconvincingly.
“You know, I remember being so nervous on my first Quidditch match that I thought I’d piss myself.” Hermione gave her an odd look but she remained unfazed. “But the second I was up in the sky, those nerves transformed into pure adrenaline. I don’t think I have ever been more thrilled than when I was playing that match.”
The pair walked together to meet the rest of their team when the French witch bit her lip uncertainly. “I heard Slytherin are good, though.”
“Not as good as us!” Jacob Goldstein exclaimed. “Now is not the time to be having nerves, Rosier.”
“I’m not!” Hermione protested. She looked around at the rest of the Ravenclaw team. Alice and Isla, her roommates, were Keeper and Chaser respectively, while Goldstein was Captain, as well as a Beater alongside Cho Haechan. He was half blood wizard in her year, with a Chinese father and Korean mother - who preferred to go by the nickname Chan, Hermione recalled from when they were first introduced. He was also Cho Chang’s uncle, the cousin of her father, Cho Yichen who was two years older.
The final two members of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team were Chasers Matthew Belby and Kiara Lennox.
“Alright,” Jacob began as he gathered the rest of the team, “first match of the season which means we need to bring our all. Now, the Slytherin team may be good but after losing to them all last season I’ve finally figured out how we can beat them.”
“How?” Chan asked excitedly, being the most dedicated to Quidditch, besides Jacob of course.
“They’re signature tactic is faking, you know, tricking the other team into thinking they’re going one way and going the other. Regulus is especially good at this, so watch out, Hermione.” She nodded in response.
“Anyways, today we’ve got an advantage since they haven’t fully seen just how good we are compared to last year, so we’ll act rubbish and catch them off guard. Don’t forget that if you guys find an opportunity to distract them, take it!” The team all responded in agreement before they headed towards the pitch.
The commentators - Frank Longbottom and Barty - made their usual speech at the beginning of the matches before the players mounted their brooms and kicked off at the whistle.
While the rest of her team members flew straight into action, Hermione began circling the pitch slowly. A large part of being a Seeker is flying around aimlessly, particularly towards the beginning of the match. This could get quite boring, unless you were accidentally born in two timelines and a lot of your time is spent thinking of your other life, which was true for Hermione.
This continued for around 45 minutes as the Chasers of both teams scored and Keepers blocked. Slytherin was leading, though it was an incredibly close score of 150 - 120.
“Another Slytherin goal blocked by Alice Greengrass!” Frank commented proudly while the blonde witch grinned at the sound of her boyfriend's voice. In the meantime, Hermione was flying parallel to Regulus.
“You’re free tonight, right?” She asked him.
“Not if we win.” He smirked, causing her to roll her eyes.
“Well, if you don’t, meet me on the seventh floor corridor after curfew and make sure no one follows you.” He stared at her for a second, as if contemplating whether or not to comply with her. Before he could respond a shout interrupted them.
“What are you doing, Black? Now’s not the time for chit-chat, stay focused!” Emma Vanity called. The wizard’s cheeks took on a rosy hue as he turned away from Hermione; as she watched him her eyes caught a glint of gold and before she could even register what was happening, her body moved by itself, diving towards it and almost knocking Regulus of his broom.
“And Hermione has seen the snitch!” Barty exclaimed into the microphone. Regulus caught on to what Hermione was chasing and quickly began tailing her
“And Regulus is chasing her down. OH SHIT HE’S CATCHING UP. HERMIONE MOVE FASTER–” Barty’s voice was cut off by Professor McGonagall’s indignant yell.
“Mr Crouch!”
However both Hermione and Regulus were too locked in on the snitch to even acknowledge what was going on around them. The crowd seemed mesmerised as they watched the two Seekers fly gracefully through the air.
“Wow.” Benjy Fenwick (the Gryffindor seeker) breathed in admiration. “The Ravenclaw Seeker is good this year. When are we playing them?”
“Second week of November.” Sirius replied from beside him before nudging James. “Hey, see if you can book the pitch for some last minute training.” James scoffed in response.
“We don’t need it. We can beat Ravenclaw with our eyes closed.”
“Blimey,” Remus muttered, “someone’s confident.”
“What’s the harm with extra practice, James?” Marlene McKinnon chimed in from a row below them.”I could do with some. I couldn’t practise much during summer.”
James frowned but agreed to try booking the pitch. He wasn’t sure why but everytime he heard Hermione Rosier being praised, it left a sour taste in his mouth. It was quite strange.
Hermione was undeniably beautiful, just like Lily. And she was smart, just like Lily. But she enjoyed Quidditch, she allowed herself to have fun alongside her academics, and despite his behaviour towards her, she seemed to tolerate him - unlike Lily. Thinking of the red headed witch reminded James that he still hadn’t made a grand gesture to show his love towards her.
‘No,’ he gasped internally, ‘there’s no way - I can’t be losing feelings for her!’
He had little time to come to terms with this revelation as the Gryffindor stand erupted in cheers. Amidst Barty and McGonagall’s ongoing bickering Frank grabbed the microphone and screamed into it.
“Hermione Rosier has caught the snitch! Ravenclaw wins!” Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff were all cheering at Slytherin’s loss as all the players descended to the pitch.
Alice threw her arms around Hermione as soon as she was in reach, squealing in her ear. The rest of the Ravenclaw team celebrated their first win against Slytherin in years, already making plans for a party. Both teams lined up to shake hands with each other.
As Hermione got to her brother, she was cut off before she could speak. “Before you say anything, remember who taught you everything about Quidditch.”
Hermione scrunched her face lightly before grinning. “I’ll be sure to thank my Beauxbatons coach.”
“Wow, so ungrateful. You know we were just going easy on you, right?”
“Is that so? I guess we’ll see next match.” Hermione moved towards Regulus who was the last in the line.
“Good game?” He offered his hand which Hermione took before lowering her voice so her brother couldn’t hear.
“I guess this means you’re free tonight.” She teased quietly, causing him to smile.
“I guess you’re right.”
“10PM, don’t be late.”
“From what it sounds like your housemates have already made party plans. You want to miss out on that?”
“I’m not really interested in parties and what I have to show you is important.”
The pair didn’t even realise their hands were still connected until Evan coughed and they immediately separated, with Hermione glaring daggers at her brother. Regulus looked at the ground awkwardly.
Making her way to the seventh corridor later that night without being intercepted proved a difficult task. The party in the Ravenclaw Tower was in full swing and it took a while before she was able to slip out unnoticed. When she finally made it to the corridor, she was scared out of her mind to see a silver haired witch there.
“Hello, Hermione.” The witch greeted her dreamily. She was wearing beads in her platinum blonde locks and a variety of handmade bracelets adorned her wrists. Hermione suddenly felt guilty for not bothering to make friends with the girl, considering she was her roommate, Pandora Avery.
“Hi, Pandora.” The French witch replied awkwardly. Pandora hummed in acknowledgement.
“I don’t think now is the best time to enter the Room of Requirement.” She began, ignoring Hermione’s shocked look. “Too many wrackspurts.”
“How did you-”
“You're not the only one with mind magic.”
Hermione laughed in what she thought was a casual manner, hoping to brush off Pandora’s accusation. “I don’t have mind magic, that’s ridiculous!”
“Your aura says otherwise. There is definitely something there, your mind is filled with confusing thoughts. I hope there are no nargles in there…” Hermione stared after the blonde witch in fascination and confusion as she walked away. She thought about Pandora’s warning and began second guessing herself. Perhaps it was too early to begin horcrux hunting.
“Rosier.” An aristocratic voice greeted her. Regulus looked wary as he glanced around the deserted corridor. “What is it you wanted to show me?”
“Wait here.” Hermione paced the corridor before entering the room and ushering Regulus into it.