This is to my very sweet friend CJ, booknerd162. Merry Christmas! And Happy Holidays to you, everyone! MWAH! *kisses your face*
"Hold my breath and I'll count to ten, I'm the paper and you're the pen. You fill me in, you are permanent, and you leave me to dry. I'm the writer and she's the muse, I'm the one that you always choose. She will falter and gift her blame, then it starts all over again, again, again. She is bright lights and cityscapes, and white lies and cupcakes. And she'll take all you've ever had, but I'm gonna love you. You say "maybe it'll last this time." But I'm gonna love you; you'd never have to ask. I'm gonna love you till you start looking back. I'm gonna love you so right, I wouldn't need a second chance." – Sara Bareilles, "Bright Lights and Cityscapes"
Sirius glared harder, leaning against the wooden table with a couple of scorch marks on it. Seven years ago, when he was twelve, he would've guaranteed that you'd never find him like this. You would've found him running around, enjoying the world, going out on dates with different girls every night.
A year ago, you would've found him exactly like that. Sarcastic, arrogant, the word "monogamy" meaning nothing to him other than some girls liked that word an awful lot. However, something had certainly changed. He'd left the house last week to get food, and that was it, and he wasn't even put off by his lack of a social life outside in the great, big world. The last time he want on a date with a random bird was fourteen months ago, and that was the end of that way of life. Major changes had been made, not exactly limited to the state of the Wizarding World – what with ol' Voldy pushing up daisies – but also to Sirius as well.
And it was all this witch's fault. It was her fault for falling through time and landing on him and shoving him into the snow and chattering through a panic attack for him to get the gist of her predicament. This became three months of arguing and fighting and working with Mad-Eye to get rid of Voldemort, and then two months of actually making some progress in their friendship and in saving the world.
Once Voldemort was gone, he finally decided that she was someone he certainly shouldn't let go, and clung to her leg and begged her to stay in the seventies, please oh please oh please. She'd laughed and stated that she was rather forced to stay anyway, and had been tackled to the ground by a hug. Nine months after that, after James had accidentally explained to her that Sirius was head over heels for her, she'd marched up to him as he stood in the freezing cold talking to some bird and tugged him to her level to kiss.
But it was also her fault for being so incredibly stubborn.
"If you don't stop, your face is going to get stuck like that," she replied coolly, turning a page in her book, not even glancing up at him once.
Sirius worked his jaw, arching his eyebrows and rubbing a muscle in his cheek, frowning when he saw her smile in her eyes. "You're being unreasonable."
"Ooh, big word," she hummed, still with the smile.
"Hermione!" he huffed, "Can't you even hear me out on this one?"
"I heard 'dog,' which was enough to make the decision in the first place," she frowned, settling the book down as he frowned back.
"Come on, why can't we get a dog?" he insisted, "They're smart, loyal – "
"They bite," she began, "They're rowdy, sometimes they barely listen – "
"Well, so do I, but you still keep me around!"
"Sirius, please, just understand that I don't want a dog and leave it at that, alright?" she sighed, standing and moving away from the table when he leapt up and grabbed her arm.
"No, Hermione, come on," he frowned, "Talk to me about this. You don't want a dog? Fine, we'll talk cats. I know you like cats."
She faltered, "Some will smother people in their sleep."
"What is with you?" he groaned before pausing, frowning as Hermione arched an eyebrow at him, "Bird?"
"Loud."
"Fish?"
"Too high maintenance."
"Snake?"
"Hell no."
"Hermione!" he crowed as she sighed, stepping around the corner of the table to stand in front of him.
"Sirius, please, it's been a long day, can we not talk about this for right now?" she asked, looking up at him with tired eyes. Hermione, Lily, and Remus had gone into business together as soon as Hermione had announced that she was staying, holding a very profitable bookshop at a small location in Diagon Alley. Some people threw a fuss over Remus and his lycanthropy, but once Hermione had kicked someone out sans wand, there were minimal outbursts. Since Christmas was coming up, more and more people had arrived to crowd their tiny store, leaving the three very tired at the end of the day.
Sirius sighed as well, pecking her forehead, "Fine."
She gave a small smile as he pulled away, "Thank you."
"But we're going to talk about it," he insisted, making her groan and head to the bathroom, taking a ponytail holder and holding it out to him. He took it and stood behind her, frowning as he tugged her hair up.
"It's not that I don't like pets, it's just that I don't think now is a good time to have them," she stated.
"Why not?" he asked, handing her a washrag and leaning against the wall as she washed her makeup off, settling the rag in the hamper and handing him his toothbrush over her shoulder. "When would be a good time to have them?"
"Just – not right now, Sirius," she sighed, applying toothpaste and scrubbing furiously at her teeth, proving once again that she was a pair of dentists' daughter.
"What not right now? The conversation or the pet?" he asked, toothpaste mangling his speech before he spit in the sink, wincing a little when he heard her growl and spit forcibly into the sink.
"Both!" she huffed, turning on her heel and exiting the bathroom, tugging her sweater off as she walked through their flat to their bedroom.
"Why? Give me one good reason!" he called back, following her and stooping to pick up the item of clothing from the floor.
She turned back and frowned, her hands clenched into fists as she glared. "Because I'm pregnant!"
Sirius froze in his tracks, his mouth popping open as he blinked rapidly, her sweater dropping from his hands. "You're wha-what?"
She sighed and slumped her shoulders, looking at him with tired eyes again, "I'm pregnant. I don't want a pet with a small baby, it might get hurt. I was going to tell you on Christmas – thought maybe your present might cushion the blow."
"You're – you're pregnant?" he stammered, swooping for the sweater again to wring in his hands, "You're sure? Positive?"
She quirked a grin, "Pretty positive. Otherwise I have a very strange case of food poisoning."
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"I didn't know how you'd react," she admitted with a grimace, "It's no secret what you think of commitment, Sirius."
At this, he snorted, making her blink in surprise, "It's no secret what I thought of commitment. Hermione, I've been dating you and only you for ages, if it were anyone else it wouldn't have lasted further than two weeks." He gave a laugh, "The only reason I wanted a pet was because I wanted something that was both of ours."
"Some people do consider pets as training for having children," Hermione hummed.
"Yeah, at least now we won't be those weird people that treat their pets as kids," Sirius snorted before tilting his head thoughtfully, "Hey, that ring'll come in handy."
It was Hermione's turn to freeze and look at him with wide eyes, "What ring?"
"Nope!" he called with a grin as he passed her to the bedroom, tugging his shirt off to change as he dropped hers on the floor in there, "Christmas present! You have to act surprised!"
"Sirius Black! What ring?" her voice got an octave higher, and Sirius continued to grin as he pulled into the bottom of his dresser drawer and held out the black box, twisting it from side to side.
"Hey, wanna get married?" he asked, waggling his eyebrows and grinning at her as she looked between him and the box, clamping a hand over her mouth.
"Oh God," she muttered as she ran a hand through what she could of her hair.
"What?" he blinked, "We're having a baby together, Hermione, that's more of a commitment than marriage, I should think."
"No," she said, her shoulders shaking as she laughed, "I just got proposed to in my bra."
Sirius blinked before snorting, "I guess we'll be editing that part out?" Hermione nodded as she continued to laugh, sitting on the edge of the bed as Sirius joined her, taking her hand and looking quite proud of himself as he put the ring into place.
"Yeah, looks good," he smiled, flopping onto his back and grinning as she laid back too, tilting her head with a small grimace.
"Ehh, it's kind of flashy."
"Yeah, well, great great grandmother Ursula was a bit gaudy herself," he said before beaming at her, "You're wearing the Black family ring!"
"Hah!" she laughed, "I wonder how they all feel being related to a Muggleborn now!"
"Suck it, bitches!" he laughed, tugging her into him and kissing her face. "Where's their blood purity now?"
"In Azkaban," she grinned back, smiling as he laughed, kissing her exuberantly before turning to her stomach.
"Yeah, look at you, you little rebel child," he smiled, nudging her stomach with his nose, "Already raising hell before you're born."
"Oh God," Hermione paled, gripping his shoulder as he sat up worriedly, "Sirius, you are not teaching our baby any pranks until they've hit double digits!"
"But Hermione - !" he crowed.
"Happy Christmas."
Sirius opened an eye and grinned, pulling Hermione into his lap and kissing her neck, eyeing the present in her hands as she grinned back. "Happy Christmas. What's that?"
"Joint gift for you and the girls," she beamed as he frowned and looked around him.
"Where are the girls?" he questioned, sure that the three had been laying in the floor in front of the tree, attempting to see through the wrappings on the boxes. Lucy, the oldest at four, had assured the twins, Lyra and Maia, that this was entirely possible and she was sure that she'd done it the year before, and the two toddlers had eagerly listened to her, certainly if it meant knowing what they were getting from Santa.
"Bed," she chirped, holding the box out to him as he eyed it carefully.
"Is this you getting back at me for what happened at the shop? I said sorry, it honestly was for Moony," Sirius frowned as she snorted, rolling her eyes and grinning.
"Sirius, open the present," she said, prodding his side and smiling as he set the box down on her lap and undid the ribbon, lifting the lid and blinking when he heard a high pitched howl.
"Oh my God," Sirius grinned at her, "You didn't."
"I did, because I'm the best wife and mother ever," she smirked, grabbing his attention to plant a kiss, "His name is Thorin, he's a couple of months old. Also, this means we're never having any more kids."
He snorted and picked the pup out of the box, Hermione vanishing the wrapped parcel and leaning into her husband's side as the puppy squirmed to lick anyone or anything. "That's what you said after Lucy."
"And then you said 'just one more, that's it, Hermione, promise,' and then we had twins," Hermione huffed.
"Rebels," he grinned back, nudging her head with his nose, "The lot of them."
"Yeah, we are a pretty badass family, aren't we?" she said with a smile, running her fingers over the puppy and grinning when it lost balance.
"Was that a hint of pride I detected, Miss Granger?" Sirius questioned, arching an eyebrow at her.
"No, Mister Black, that was far more than a hint," she said as she stuck her tongue out to him, "And you, of all people, should remember my current last name."
"Ahh, I seem to forget," he hummed as she laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing under his jaw. "Now, let's see – I'm fairly certain it started with a 'C.'"
She chuckled and ran her fingers through his hair, "Well, you did always have a problem with monogamy."
"Hermione, Love, I am legally and magically bound to you for the rest of my life," he deadpanned, "There's nothing more monogamous than that."
"And there's death involved!" she laughed as he snorted, wrapping his arms around her and bumping his head with hers. "That's when you know the monogamy is real."
He laughed again, kissing her and grinning when he pulled away, "You're brilliant."
"Yeah, I love you too," she smiled, leaning into him and grinning when the puppy settled in between the two for warmth. Sirius held Hermione and the dog in place as he shifted and laid back against the couch, shutting his eyes as Hermione began to hum, running her fingers through his hair again, but this time lulling him to sleep.
"I'm gonna love you so right, I wouldn't need a second chance..."