So, I know the last thing I probably need is to start another story, but the inspiration struck so I had to get it out of my head.
Basically- I love stories where Hermione goes back with her time turner and falls in love with Sirius and stays- But I don't see a lot of the aftermath with that. So I decided to write it.
There is not much detail in this first chapter- But it gives the basic idea, and details will be filled in as I go.
Enjoy!
The study was quiet, as it was to be expected at four in the morning on a Thursday. Hermione Black moved carefully, clicking on the lamp as she came into the room and flopped herself into her favorite chair- Sirius' oversized leather lounger. She held in her hand a small chest, locked tight with specific magics she designed herself to be unbreakable. Hermione sighed as she listened for a moment to the silence of her home before pulling her wand from her robe pocket. "Occulta confractus cincinno." She whispered to the three locks, taping each one in turn. The shimmered slightly, then clicked open, allowing the chest to pop slightly. Again, Hermione listened to the silence, making sure that was all there was to hear.
Her eldest daughter was two months into her first year at Hogwarts, so she was out of the way, but Hermione still had to worry about waking her younger daughter, who at six years old was already exhibiting much too much of her father, and was often up much later than she was supposed to be. And then there was Sirius.
He had spent too much time as a dog in his thirty-three years, and it had left his hearing impeccable. Nothing much got past him, as long as he was awake.
Hearing nothing but her own breathing and the tocking of the clock on the mantle, she proceeded to take the things in the chest out. She carefully picked up a stack of pictures held together with some sting and pulled at one end of the tie to loosen it.
Sometimes she missed these days- Even if now was better, fuller. There were things from her old life she would never get back.
Like her friends.
She missed Harry, Ron, Ginny, Neville. She saw them now, Harry especially, but he was just a couple years older than one of her own daughters now. She looked at the photographs, one at a time, remembering her life the way it was a lifetime ago.
She kept these photos in order, from her first year, one Hagrid had taken of Harry, Ron and herself in the spring, huddled together in the still cold air of the courtyard. One Harry had taken of Ron trying to teach her wizard's chess. She smiled sadly.
There were several. Pictures with Ginny. Pictures from Harry's Quidditch games. As she flipped through, tears slid down her cheeks. She loved her life now, her children, and Lily was her absolute best friend. She had no second thoughts or regrets about coming back to save her and James and Harry from their original fates. They're lives were much better, with Voldemort gone and the Horcruxes all destroyed.
She found herself lingering over a picture from '95. It had not yet reached that time yet now, but in Hermione's first time through, she'd saved plenty of photos. The picture which had her attention was of Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks. The two in the picture were lost in conversation with each other, not paying attention to the camera that Sirius was using to snap the picture.
Hermione held this picture in one hand, and bit at the nails on the other. She stared, thinking hard.
She promised not to meddle. She had to. She'd already changed so much by doing what she did she had no idea who some of the people she'd most would grow to be.
And Tonks- She was a good example.
Tonks grew up in a world where Sirius was married and an Auror, not an imprisoned disgrace to her family- so she followed her more frivolous but more well suited dream and became a tattoo artist. Her unique magic worked into each tattoo she gave, and she soon had international fame as an artist giving changing, living tattoos. Blooming flowers, animals with small animations, and the style that made her famous- the Patronus tattoos. She was the same, spunky, self reliant girl Hermione had so admired before.
And she still, even now, had her crush on Remus. It was evident when they had family events. Andromeda and Ted always tried to drag Tonks along and when they were successful, she would steal a glance his way when she thought no one was paying attention- But then, only Hermione knew what she was looking for.
But what about her and Remus? And Teddy?
She had a picture of Harry with Teddy asleep on his chest, mere weeks after the loss of Remus and Tonks, and so many others. It was one of the things that set her to planning to break out her old time turner. She ran her thumb over the picture of Harry and Teddy, and jumped when she heard Sirius speak from the door.
"One of these days, when what you've done has all finished playing out, do I get to see what is in the box?" He ask. Hermione looked over at him, wiping away a stray tear. He looked completely groggy, his long raven locks in tangles all over his head from sleep. He leaned against the door frame, watching her with curious grey eyes.
"Maybe. Once I know nothing in the box will cause damage to the timeline here." She said with a sigh. Sirius was one of three people in her life who knew she had a before. When she arrived, she'd gone straight to Dumbledore. She knew that her coming so far back in time was a one way trip, but she'd already lost her family and so many friends she'd decided it would be worth it. So she explained herself to the older Professor. She then found the only other people she knew she could trust. Remus Lupin and Sirius Black. She met James and Lily. She fought evil. And she fell in love.
Remus and Sirius knew only exactly what they needed to in order to help. Nothing more, nothing less.
"You loose so much sleep, I think it might help to share the weight of whatever is in there." Sirius suggested. He had been trying this since they met.
"No, darling. I can' know I can't." She stated again.
"Well." He huffed, crossing his arms across his bare chest. Hermione liked when he got annoyed with her like this, his muscles tensing as he did. She raised an eyebrow.
"Well?" She repeated. "What woke you anyway?"
"The bed got cold." Sirius confessed. "Put your super secrets away and come back to bed." He held his hand out to her. Agreeing, and admitting defeat, Hermione clicked the lid shut and locked the chest, placing up on a shelf on the wall of the study.
Back in their bedroom, Sirius pulled Hermione into his chest, idly playing with her thick, chestnut curls. They lay in the silence for a while, Hermione enjoying the comfort of his arms around her, but after a while, when she did not fall back to sleep, Sirius spoke up again.
"Wanna tell me about it, Doll?" He whispered.
"I know what I did made things better." Hermione said firmly.
"Yes, that is what I gathered from what you have told me." Sirius confirmed.
"I worry." She said.
"About?"
"Well-" Hermione sighed. "Honestly. I worry about Remus. The second war is how he met his wife. He had a beautiful family." She confessed.
"Oh." Sirius said. "Well, I'm sure he will be fine. He has a new job, and from what I hear the students are all adoring him. He's a natural in that classroom. He's had a few dates this year. It'll work out." He dropping his hand from her hair to her back, gently rubbing circles to comfort her.
"I really hope so." Hermione said, snuggling into his chest.
"Moony is a tough cookie. He'll be fine." Sirius said in a more definitive sort of way. "We should try to get some more sleep before the princess awakens and demands nourishment."
"Yea, alright." Hermione nodded, smiling now. Sure, she still wondered if maybe she should lock Remus and Tonks in a closet at some point to set things right, but she tried to drop it for the night.
Nymphadora Tonks groaned at the sound of the alarm clock to her left. She grabbed her pillow and threw at the clock, causing it to fall off the bedside table and clatter to the floor, silencing it as it fell. She sighed contently, trying to relax again, until a pair of warm, strong hands snaked around her abdomen and down under the waistband of her sleep shorts. She gave a small moan as the hands began to massage her, and she arched her back against their owner. "Don't you have somewhere to be?" She giggled. "That was your alarm."
"Mmm." A grunted reply. "I set it an entire half hour early just to wake up for this." Remus Lupin replied, his mouth nuzzling her neck.
"And you think I'm willing to give up my sleep for a shag? Bold, Lupin." She grinned, rolling over to face him.
"I love that color on you." He said, brushing her hair from her face. "What do you call it? Lilac?" He held a pale purple strand out where she could see. She simply shrugged.
"Don't change the subject. You woke me up an entire hour early, considering I get more sleep than you do, Professor." She reminded him. "I suggest you make it worth my time."
This was all the invitation he needed, and the shorts he'd been toying with were slid down and off, coming to a rest somewhere near the foot of the bed. His own pajamas joining them in short order. A fury of gasped kisses and heated sighs mingled with the early morning chirping of the birds outside her flat until they lay, entangled again, sweat slicked and breathless.
"Worth the lost sleep?" Remus ask, stroking a finger down her nose. Tonks laughed. She turned her arm over and watched the bouquet of various flowers open and bloom for the day.
"Honesty? Always is." She replied, kissing the stubble on his jawline. He leaned his forehead into hers for a moment before having to pull himself away. She grabbed the edge of the abandoned quilt and rolled herself up in it before sitting up, but kept her arms freed enough to move. "I hate that you can't stay longer."
"I know." He nodded. "I do, too."
"There are always weekends..." She ventured. Remus looked over at her, a bit sadly.
"Dora-"
"No, I know. I'm still a secret. I got it." She smiled, swallowing her emotion as soon as he looked away again. The florals on her arm wilted, and she shrugged the quilt up to cover herself from the neck down.
"Its not-" He stammered. "Dora, don't."
"Don't what?" Tonks replied, almost too cheerfully. She and Remus had been seeing each other behind basically everyone they knew's backs for nearly six months now. It all began when Sirius, who was a semi-regular at her studio had convinced James and Remus to get matching 'Marauders' tattoos with him. Remus doubled back to the shop. It was slightly a blur from there, but She knew without a shadow of a doubt she was madly in love with the werewolf, who was far more cautious. He had a fear of what Sirius and the others say. She thought, at first, that his cautions were justifiable. After all, he said he wanted to see what they could be without the added pressures. But after a few months, she was a bit let down.
"Soon." He replied to the question she didn't need to ask.
"Okay." she said quietly. She closed her eyes as he pressed a kiss to her forehead before bidding her a 'see you later' and heading out the door. She sighed and flopped heavily back onto the bed and pulling the quilt up over her head with a groan.
I'm hoping I can get a few comment/ reviews about this start and if you think it deserves more.
Thanks for reading!