the_debt_of_time

"We took the Knight Bus," Hermione mumbled, her polite smile breaking. "It
was... awful. Just awful. I'm glad I didn't eat breakfast this morning."
Sirius turned and narrowed his eyes at Remus. "You took her on the Knight Bus?"
Remus shook his head, clearly feeling the similar after-effects to the mode of
transportation as Hermione did. "Dumbledore suggested it. Don't look at me like that, you
know I hate riding on that thing."
"A new experience," Hermione said, sounding as though she was trying to find the
silver lining. "One that I would like to never repeat."
Both Sirius and Remus grimaced when she was not looking, each knowing already
that the Order had decided the teenagers would return to Hogwarts by the Knight Bus as
the train would draw unwanted attention. They had already risked too much by using a
Portkey to get the Weasleys and Harry to Grimmauld Place in the first place.
"Are you sure it's okay for you to be here? Your parents.. ." Sirius began to say,
forcing himself to remember that Hermione still had a Muggle family.
A part of him had worried about them instinctively, knowing that Mia had once
informed them all that her family had been taken from her—which was how she ended up
on the Potter family tree. Remus reminded Sirius that because they did not know exactly
what would happen to Hermione's parents, there was little they could do other than to
place security wards around the Granger home, which had apparently already been done
by Minerva the previous summer.
"I told them I was staying behind at school to revise," Hermione explained as she
removed her jacket and mittens, handing them to Remus first, even though it was Sirius
who extended his hands to receive. "I've told them how important my O.W.L.s are, so
they'll believe it. Frankly, I'm surprised they even had me agreeing to come home in the
first place. I really should have stayed behind to revise."
Remus chuckled affectionately.
"You didn't have to lie to them for us," Sirius told her, feeling guilty for having
pulled her away from her family.
"Yes, I did," Hermione insisted with a frown. "I lied to them for me, and for Harry,
and mostly for themselves. They're Muggles. They don't understand."
Understanding, Sirius said nothing more. He remembered long conversations with
Lily about her family. She had considered it a matter of great pride—and had spoken often