For the Sunday Harry was in the Hospital, Hermione, Ron, and Jake made a point to be there the entire day with him. Hermione, however, noticed that Jake looked like he would rather be elsewhere, and she knew where that was; in the Common Room or Library, doing the excessive amount of homework they'd been given on Thursday and Friday, even though it wasn't due until the middle of the week. She understood the importance of getting it done, but she felt that he focused maybe too much on getting it done, she just didn't have the heart to tell him.
When Monday Morning came, Jake and Hermione had to put up with Draco's obnoxious gloating at the defeat of Gryffindor. He got especially loud when Harry had shown up in the Great Hall for Breakfast that morning. If they all hadn't more or less agreed that Hufflepuff won the match, Jake could've easily filled in, but Wood admitted defeat. Malfoy had also finally removed his bandages like the little bitch boy that he was, according to Jake. Hermione didn't even bother trying to scold him, because she was just as sick of Malfoy as he was right now.
And of course, Malfoy had to spend almost the entire time during their next Potions lesson imitating Dementors instead of the actual assignment Snape laid out for them to do. Ron was the first to crack and took a large Crocodile Heart and flung it across the room, hitting Malfoy square in the face. It was quite hilarious, but Snape took off Fifty points from Gryffindor because of it. Jake couldn't understand how this kind of bias was allowed with the governors or even the Ministry for that matter.
After Potions was lunch in the Great Hall, and Jake used much of the time to work on Ancient Runes homework instead of eating. He was quite good at the class and probably would consider it his favorite elective over Arithmancy.
On the way to Defense Against the Dark Arts, Ron was complaining, "If Snape's taking Defense again, I'm going off sick," he said as they got towards the classroom after lunch. "Check who's in there, Hermione."
Before Hermione had the chance to, all three of them were pushed towards the door, "Don't be babies about it," Jake said, pushing them all in. To their glorious relief, Professor Snape was not there, and it was instead Professor Lupin, back at work. His frame was noticeably thinner than the last time they saw him, so being sick is what everyone believed; everyone but Jake. He believed the Professor was ill, but he was sure it was because of whatever that Goblet Snape filled up with.
"It's not fair, he was only filling in, why should he set us homework?" Parvati complained.
"We don't know anything about Werewolves-" Dean said.
"- two rolls of parchment!" Ron complained, rather loudly.
"Did you tell Professor Snape we haven't covered them yet?" Lupin asked them, frowning slightly.
The complaining broke out again, "Yes, but he said we were really behind!" Lavender yelled.
"-he wouldn't listen-" Seamus informed Lupin.
"- two rolls of parchment !" Ron complained again.
Professor Lupin smiled at the look of indignation on the Gryffindor faces, but noted that the Slytherin didn't complain once, "Don't worry. I'll speak to Professor Snape, you don't have to do the essay," he said to a thunderous Gryffindor applause.
"Oh no..." Hermione groaned to her friends, looking disappointed, "Jake and I already finished it!"
Professor Lupin overheard her, "But, for those of you who have finished it will earn Twenty-five points for your House."
Jake smiled, they'd just earned back the Points that Ron lost them in Potions.
Professor Lupin then brought out a box with a cover over it, "Now, does anyone have any possible idea, what is in here?"
Of course, Jake and Hermione were the only ones to raise their hands. He pointed to both of them, "A Hinkypunk, a little one-legged creature that looks frail and harmless-"
"- but is actually incredibly dangerous if you allow yourself to be fooled by its appearance. It uses a lantern dangling from its hand to lure people deep into bogs where they never find their way out."
"Excellent description, Ten Points each for Gryffindor. I couldn't have said it better myself," Professor Lupin looked extremely proud of his Gryffindor students, and didn't seem surprised that the Slytherin half were much more passive and less motivated in his class. He could only imagine what Snape lets them get away with. He then removed the cover and revealed the Hinkypunk for everyone to see. It made a squelching noise when it pressed itself against the glass and Hermione involuntarily shuddered at the disgusting sound. He gave them simple homework, having them detail defining characteristics and giving a detailed description of the kinds of places a Hinkypunk will inhabit, no specified length for the parchment.
"Wait a moment, Harry," they heard Professor Lupin call out, "I'd like a word."
They watched Harry walk away, and the other three of them left the classroom, "What do you think Professor Lupin wants with Harry?" Hermione asked them.
"Dunno, you think it has something to do with what happened during the Quidditch Match?" Ron asked back.
"Probably. That's twice now Harry has been horribly affected by the Dementors..." he hadn't told them that the Dementors now affected him beyond just hearing his angry fathers voice. He didn't know if he should or not.
"Maybe Professor Lupin is going to teach him how to deal with the Dementors?" Hermione suggested.
"There is a counter to every Magical Creature... it wouldn't surprise me that there is one for them," Jake said, continuing forth to the Library to get a start on his homework.
Harry found them a while later and informed Jake that he was going to be attending anti-Dementor lessons with him after Christmas break had ended, "Professor Lupin told me to ask you if you wanted to join me for them?"
"Of course I do. If I can stop those horrible memories surfacing..." he trailed off for a moment, "tell Professor Lupin I'll be there for them."
*******
The first week of December, Hufflepuff had their game against Ravenclaw, who completely stomped them. Their Seeker, a girl named Cho Chang, was apparently pretty good. Hermione noticed a significant improvement in Harry's mood as a result, because it meant Gryffindor wasn't out of the running for the Cup, but according to Jake, they couldn't lose another match, and had to win at least one of their next matches by a wide margin, especially if it was against Ravenclaw or Slytherin, but they hadn't had a game yet, so it was unknown how they'd perform against Ravenclaw.
The day after the Hufflepuff v Ravenclaw game, the muddy grounds had been blanketed in glittering frost. The inside of the Castle had been buzzing with talks of Christmas. Professor Flitwick had already decorated his classroom with shimmering lights that turned out to be real, fluttering fairies. The students were all happily discussing their plans for the Holidays, "Hermione, are you sure you don't want to go back home and be with your parents?" Jake asked her one evening in the Common Room, sitting next to a warm fire, with Hermione in the armchair across from him.
"It's alright, I already owled them and they are okay with me staying here," she said, looking up at him briefly before returning to her Transfiguration Homework. It was true, she hadn't seen her parents for Christmas since her First Year, but her friends were also important and meant just as much, and at this point, Jake was the most important person in her life, she just could never tell him that.
"Well... alright... if they're sure..." he dropped the subject after that.
Another Hogsmeade weekend was announced to be on the very last weekend of the term before it ended for the break. Hermione tried to get out of going to it, but Jake insisted she enjoy them while she can, because as he reminded her, going to Hogsmeade is a privilege that she has, and shouldn't throw it away just because he can't go. Of course, she tried more vigorously this time to fight him on it, but in the end she relented and told him she would go to Hogsmeade, and that she'd bring him back a bunch of sweets.
On the morning of the Hogsmeade trip, Jake and Harry said goodbye to Ron and Hermione, watching them go until they were out of sight, "I've got a lot of homework to do, so I'll catch you later, Harry," he said and bid his friend farewell. It was true, he had a mountain of homework to get done, and this was the perfect time to get caught up on it.
An hour of working later and he was surprised to see Harry waltz into the Library, "Jake, can I talk to you in private?"
"Of course," he stood up, leaving his stuff where it was, and followed Harry to an isolated part of the Library, "What's so important that you have to be all secretive about it?"
"Do you want to go to Hogsmeade?" Harry asked bluntly.
"Of course I do, but I don't have a signed form," he shrugged.
"What if I told you... you don't need one?" Harry asked him slyly.
"I'd say you're pulling my leg, Potter. Of course you need one to go to Hogsmeade," Jake said matter-of-factly.
Harry then pulled out a piece of parchment, "Not if you have this you don't."
"What's that?"
"The key to getting to Hogsmeade without a signed form," Harry said, then unrolled the parchment, " I solemnly swear that I am up to no good ."
Suddenly the parchment had lines and names on it, " Harry Potter ... Jake Fernandes ? They are standing right where we are on this map..."
"Fred and George gave this to me. It's called the Marauder's Map. We can use this to go to Hogsmeade and make sure no one sees us," Harry said excitedly.
"Harry, we aren't allowed. How hard is that to understand?" Jake said, not caring about the map.
"Come on, Jake, don't you want to go and see Hogsmeade? Don't you want to go and spend time with Hermione?" Harry asked him.
Jake stopped himself from saying what he was about to say, 'It would be nice to be at Hogsmeade with Hermione... she was so excited to go and see everything it had to offer with me, and I had to miss it... because of an unsigned form...' He stared at the map; it was the key to going there. He looked back up at Harry, looking him dead in the eye.
*******
"Urgh, no, Harry won't want one of those, they're for Vampires, I expect," Hermione said, looking at some blood-flavored lollipops, "Jake might want to try one, though. He seems like he would have weird tastes for sweets like this."
"How about these?" Ron asked her, shoving a jar of Cockroach Clusters under her nose.
"Definitely not," a familiar voice said behind them.
Ron almost dropped the jar, " Harry!? " Hermione squealed, turning around to see him, "What are you doing here? How - how did you-"
"Wow!" Ron said, looking very impressed, "You've learnt to Apparate!"
Hermione very seriously wanted to strangle Ron for being an absolute buffoon.
" 'Course I haven't," Harry said cheekily. He then dropped his voice to barely a whisper and told them about the Marauder's Map and about how he asked Jake if he wanted to go too.
"How come Fred and George never gave it to me !?" Ron said in an outrage, "I'm their brother!"
"I don't blame Jake for saying no..." she trailed off, 'Though I do wish he had come along... still, it's for the better this way so that he doesn't get into trouble.' "But, Harry isn't going to keep it," Hermione said, thinking that something like this could be incredibly dangerous, "He's going to hand it in to Professor McGonagall, aren't you, Harry?"
"No, I'm not!" Harry said defiantly.
"Are you mad?" Ron asked her, "Hand in something that good?"
"If I hand it in, I'll have to say where I got it. Filch will know that Fred and George nicked it, they are the only ones who could've," Harry explained.
"But what about Sirius Black, Harry?" Hermione asked, maintaining her calm composure, knowing Jake would want her to remain calm, "He could be using one of the passages on that map to get into the castle. The teachers have to know about them."
"He can't be getting in through a passage," Harry said quickly, "There are seven secret tunnels on the map, right? Fred and George reckon that Filch already knows about four of them. And the other three - one of them's caved in, so no one can get through it. One of them's got the Whomping Willow planted over the entrance, so you can't get out of it. And the one I just came through - well - it's incredibly dark down in the cellar - so unless he knew it was there-"
Ron then pointed to a notice pasted on the inside of the sweet shop door after clearing his throat.
BY ORDER OF THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC
Customers are reminded that until further notice, Dementors will be patrolling the streets of Hogsmeade every night after sundown. This measure has been put in place for the safety of Hogsmeade residents and will be lifted upon the recapture of Sirius Black. It is therefore advisable that you complete your shopping well before nightfall. Happy Christmas!
"See?" Ron asked quietly, "I'd like to see Black try and break into Honeydukes with the Dementors swarming all over the village. Anyway, the Honeydukes owners would hear a break-in, wouldn't they? They live above the shop."
Hermione couldn't argue with anything at that point, "Fine, if you get into trouble, Harry, then that's on you," she said and Ron showed Harry all the different kinds of sweets that Honeydukes had. They paid for their sweets, and Hermione paid for Jake's, and walked back outside into the Blizzard that had been going on for much of their time there already.
"With how cold it is, shall we go for a Butterbeer?" Ron yelled over the roaring Blizzard.
"That sounds like a good idea!" Hermione agreed and she and Ron led Harry to the Three Broomsticks.
When they entered the establishment, it was extremely crowded, noisy, warm, and smoky. A curvy sort of woman with a pretty face was serving a bunch of rowdy warlocks up at the bar, "That's Madam Rosmerta," Ron said, "I'll get the drinks, shall I?" Ron asked, standing up and going a bit red.
"Ron kinda fancies her," Hermione pointed out.
"How do you think Jake would react to seeing her?" Harry asked her with a devious smirk.
Hermione sat there a moment, wondering just how he would react. She didn't have to think long, because Ron came back with three foaming tankards of hot Butterbeers, "Happy Christmas!" He said cheerily, raising his tankard.
A breeze suddenly ruffled their hair and they all almost choked on their Butterbeer when they saw who had entered the Three Broomsticks. Professors McGonagall and Flitwick had just entered the pub, shortly followed by Hagrid, who was busy talking to a portly man in a lime-green bowler hat and a pinstriped cloak. They all recognized him as the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge.
Ron and Hermione both immediately placed their hands on Harry's shoulders and forced him off his stool and under the table. Hermione muttered, " Mobiliarbus ," and slowly moved a Christmas Tree to in front of their table, putting them out of sight.
Their voices soon resonated in the pub, "A small Gillywater-" Rosmerta said.
"Mine," McGonagall's voice was heard.
"Four pints of mulled mead-"
"Ta, Rosmerta," Hagrid said.
"A cherry syrup and soda with ice and umbrella-"
"Mmm!" Professor Flitwick could be heard smacking his lips.
"So you'll be the redcurrant rum, Minister," she said and the sound of a tankard hitting wood could be heard.
"Thank you, Rosmerta, m'dear," Fudge said, "Lovely to see you again, I must say. Have one yourself, won't you? Come and join us..."
"Well, thank you very much, Minister," Rosmerta said and Hermione could see her disappear for a moment, then come back to talk with them, "So, what brings you to this neck of the woods?"
"What else, m'dear, but Sirius Black? I daresay you heard what happened up at the school on Halloween?" Fudge asked her.
"Well... I did hear a rumor about it," she admitted.
"Did you tell the whole pub, Hagrid?" McGonagall asked in an exasperated tone.
"Do you think Black's still in the area, Minister?" Whispered Rosmerta. Despite the whispering, they were still being rather loud about their conversation.
"I'm sure of it," Fudge said shortly.
"You know, that the Dementors have searched my pub twice?" Rosmerta asked rhetorically, a slight edge to her voice, "Scared all my customers away... it's very bad for business, Minister."
"Rosmerta, m'dear, I don't like them any more than you do," Fudge said uncomfortably, "Necessary precaution... unfortunate, but there you are... I've just met some of them. They're in a fury against Dumbledore - he won't let them inside the castle grounds."
"I should think not!" McGonagall said sharply, "How are we supposed to teach with those horrors floating around? And with how they affect some of the students, they'd be in the Hospital Wing all the time!"
"Hear, hear!" Flitwick squeaked.
"All the same," demurred Fudge, "they are here to protect you all from something much worse... we all know what Black's capable of..."
"Do you know, I still have trouble believing it," Madam Rosmerta said thoughtfully, "of all the people to go over to the Dark side, Sirius Black was the last I'd have thought... I mean, I remember when he was a boy at Hogwarts. If you'd told me then what he was going to become, I'd have said you'd had too much mead."
"You don't know the half of it, Rosmerta," Cornelius said gruffly, "the worst he did isn't widely known."
"The worst?" Rosmerta asked, her voice alive with curiosity, "worse than murdering all those poor people, you mean?"
"I certainly do," Fudge said.
"I can't believe that, what could possibly be worse?" She asked.
The more and more they talked, Hermione could only feel sympathy for Harry. Finding out Sirius was supposed to be his father's best friend; learning that he went to Voldemort's side; that he killed so many muggles in an attempt to kill a man named Peter Pettigrew, who was trying to blow the whistle on Black. Worst of all was finding out that Black was supposedly the Potter family's Secret Keeper, and betrayed them to the Dark Lord himself.
Eventually, they all left the Three Broomsticks and went back up to the Castle. When they finally disappeared, she and Ron peered under the table, "Harry?" She asked gently, looking at his expressionless face. "Come on, you need to get back to Hogwarts before you're discovered gone," she said and he snapped out of his daze. She and Ron went back normally to Hogwarts while Harry went to Honeydukes; she couldn't wait to get back to the Castle and see Jake.
*******
Hermione had found Jake in the Library, his cheek resting on an opened book. She found it oddly cute, seeing him so peaceful looking. She walked over to him and regretted having to wake him, "Jake?" She tapped his shoulder, but he didn't stir, "Jake, time to wake up, dinner will be starting in five minutes," she shook him awake.
He eventually did wake up, rubbing his eye so he could see through the blinding candlelight of the library. He looked up at Hermione, "Oh... dinner time already? When did you get back? How was Hogsmeade?"
"We got back about ten minutes ago. Hogsmeade was fun as usual. Harry told us he tried to get you to go too, but you were adamant about not going," she said as he stood up, gathering his stuff.
"He's right. If I got caught there, it would be serious trouble for me. I understand how ridiculous that sounds. First Year I got caught by Filch and was given detention in the Forbidden Forest, and went to go and help find the Philosopher's Stone. Second Year we made the Polyjuice Potion and I distracted Snape so you could get the ingredients for it. I was given detention for that too, then we went into the Forbidden Forest and spoke to Aragog while you were..." He couldn't say it because of the pain he felt with the memory, "and then I killed a Basilisk. And this year already I've almost killed Professor Snape because of how cruel he was being to you. But going to Hogsmeade, when the teachers can easily be there as well, just isn't worth it... I'm sorry, Hermione," he managed to pack all of his stuff into his bottomless pouch without her seeing. He was thankful she forgot to ask about it.
"Why are you sorry? I mean I want you to go, but I want you to go when you're allowed to..."
"Which will never be... you and I both know that..." he lamented his predicament as they walked out of the Library and to the Great Hall.
"I'll talk to Dumbledore or McGonagall, explain to them you simply didn't have someone to sign it. Maybe they will make an exception and sign it themselves?" Hermione suggested desperately.
"No, I don't want you to waste your time-"
"I have wasted my time at Hogsmeade because you can't go!" She yelled in the Corridor just outside the Great Hall. They stopped before walking in and looked at each other. Hermione was visibly frustrated, having gone to Hogsmeade twice already and not being able to enjoy it as much as she should be because her best friend and secret love interest can't go as well.
Jake stood there and eyed her carefully. For the first time in a while, he was actually looking at Hermione, his best friend. She was wanting to spend time with him, outside of the Castle Grounds, and he seemed hell-bent on doing the complete opposite. He placed a hand on her shoulder, having her open her eyes to look at him, "Okay," he said, her eyes lighting up a little, "I'll talk to Dumbledore about it after the break. You're right, as usual."
She placed her hand over his and squeezed it a moment before moving it off her shoulder, "Let's go eat," she smiled and turned to walk in.
He stood there a moment longer, 'She's right... I should've talked to Dumbledore sooner...' He followed her inside a moment later, enjoying the end of term dinner more than he expected to.