Impossible Beloved by Litfic_Writer
Chapter 2
The knock at the door came just as James and Lily rolled apart after another intense session of morning lovemaking. Uninterrupted sleep and sex had been a rarity since little Harry was born and since the little devil had started sleeping through peacefully they had been catching up and then some.
"I bet you a spanking on that cute ass, that's Sirius," James said without removing the arm covering his eyes.
"I bet you a session of tie-up role-play he's brought some lost girl with him," Lily replied upping the stakes.
They exchanged wide grins and jumped from the warm bed, rapidly donning dressing gowns and pants before racing each other down the steps. Lilly was giggling and they were both out of breath by the time James beat her to the door, grabbing her and pulling his wife in for a heated open mouthed kiss before swinging open the door.
"Sirius! What a surprise." James grinned widely at his oldest friend standing on the doorstep.
Poking her head round the door Lily's eyes widened on the sleeping girl in his arms. "And you're brought a friend."
James and Lily grinned at each other as Sirius stomped between them and up the stairs. "I'm just going to put her down in the spare room." As he mounted the steps he turned to see James shut the door and Lily lean against it, both grinning like mad at him. Rolling his eyes he turned away. "Perverts."
"And loving it," Lily yelled up behind him before falling into another bout of giggles and squeals as her husband closed in.
:.:..:.:..:.:
Sirius sighed, deep and tortured as he tried to shut out the sounds of his two friends kissing and laughing downstairs. Nobody should be that happy and content together. Seeing them was an affront to everything he'd learned to believe about men and women and the whole joining of bodies.
He put Hermione down on the spare bed. For a second he thought she might wake up but she let out a little grunt, kicked her leg defensively and kept on snoring. Wow she was out deep. Sirius grinned. And she snored like a lumberjack.
"No… Not you… Not you…" She mumbled into the pillow. "Dead… All dead…" A tear slipped down her cheek and trailed under her chin. "All dead…"
Sirius frowned, watching her, listening. What the hell had happened to this girl last night? Was it possible that she really meant that comment about being chased by a werewolf? Burning castle?
As gently as he could Sirius brushed the wild curls from her face. She wasn't beautiful exactly, not in a classical way but there was something warming about her. Something in the unpainted pink lips and the smattering of freckles across her nose that made her look very young but also very real. She wasn't some fantasy girl one would find in Playwizard or WandRaiser. Holding her in his arms she'd been warm and soft.
With effort he pulled himself away. No. Nope. Not happening. The last thing he needed was to get involved with some lost waif.
When it didn't look like she was going to say anything else or wake up any time soon he slipped out to see James leaning against the wall.
"So what's her story?"
Sirius shrugged. "I met her on the Knight Bus and I don't know. It didn't feel right to just leave her alone."
James looked at him like he'd grown another head.
"What?"
"Nothing." James shook his head and led the way down stairs to the kitchen. "Just, when did you become the saviour of lost damsels?"
"Merlin's Sake," Sirius grunted. "It's not that big a deal, I'm not a total bastard you know?"
"We never thought that, Sirius," Lily said and placed a hot mug off coffee in front of him as he sat at the table. "So you think she's really in danger?"
He took a long sip and let the question wash through his mind. "Who isn't danger right now?"
:.:..:.:..:.:
Hermione's eyes opened slowly, adjusting to the morning light filtering through lace curtains. The room was small with light blue walls and a mirror wardrobe against one wall and a sweet little bedside table with flowers.
Where am I?
She was pretty sure she wasn't in danger. From her experience Deatheaters didn't live in nice little houses with birds chirping at the windows. The smell of bacon, eggs, pancakes and coffee was heavenly. She was pretty sure a Deatheaters wouldn't be cooking lovely breakfasts either.
She sat up tentatively and felt all her muscles protest. At the bottom of the bed somebody had laid a pretty white house dress, a towel and a couple of tiny bottles of shampoo and conditioner. A door to the left seemed to lead to an ensuite bathroom. Just the thought of a hot shower filled her with longing.
The hot water was pure delight on her sore muscles. The scratches and wounds stung terribly but just the feel and smell of clean made it all worth it. In the steam and spray she soaped every inch of her aching body then washed her hair twice.
By the time she stepped out and wrapped herself in a towel and her hair in another the smell of ash and blood were a memory, a bad dream.
Something tickled the edges of her mind as she stared vacantly into her own reflected eyes.
FLASH! Running through smoke filled halls.
FLASH! Hagrid wailing as though his heart had been ripped from his chest.
FLASH! Something chasing. Heavy footfalls. Hot breath on the back of her throat. A Roar!
Hermione dropped to the floor, covering her ears, shutting her eyes. "No. No, no, no. I don't want to remember. Don't' make me remember."
Voices filtered up from beneath her. A woman laughing. Two men talking. She couldn't hear the words but they were light, pleasant. They reminded her of better times, waking up to hear her parents chatting in the kitchen, or Harry and Ron arguing with Ginny… Was it possible?
As fast her trembling fingers would allow she pulled on her underthings and the dress and bounded down the steps. It had to be, it must be.
As she stood in the archway three heads turned her way. For a second Ginny, Harry and Ron smiled back at her.
"Hey sleepyhead," Ginny said but her voice was different, deeper and sort of smoother.
"Thought we might not see you till Christmas," Harry said.
"Do you remember anything?" Sirius asked.
"S…Sirius?" Hermione shook her head and backed away. Sirius was dead.
"We met on the Knight Bus remember?"
She looked at Harry then at Ginny. Ginny had Harry's green eyes and Harry had Ginny's hazel. Hermione laughed, breathless. "How did you do that?" There was something wrong with Harry… "Where's your scar?"
She blinked and her vision blurred then cleared. Not Ginny, not Harry, Sirius, how was it possible for Sirius to be here.
"Honey, maybe you should come sit down," the red-head who wasn't Ginny said gently. "You're looking pale."
Hermione nodded dumbly and took the offered seat. The moment she was down plates of food were placed under her nose. The pancakes smelt so good, the bacon and eggs better, and the coffee…
Sirius watched, wide-eyed as the young woman practically inhaled her weight in breakfast food. Lily seemed delighted as she dashed around the kitchen cooking just faster than Hermione was eating.
James gave Sirius a look which Sirius returned with a shrug. He knew that look, that where the hell do you find them, look. And that he honestly couldn't answer. He did have a knack for picking up the crazy ones.
There was something strangely hypnotic about watching her eat. He'd seen guys eat like that but seeing a woman shovelling food into her mouth was a whole new experience. Sort of exciting.
A long time later Hermione sat back on her seat licking her lips and fingers and looking utterly sated. She seemed calmer now and she looked around the kitchen curiously as she licked the last of the honey from her fingers. She looked at Lily then James, Lily again, almost as though she was wondering if they were real. They said a good meal was good for calming the soul and centring the mind and she'd eaten at least five in the last half hour.
"Been a while since you ate, huh?" Sirius said finally sitting across from her.
"Two – three days." She smiled at Lily. "Thank you Mrs Potter. I dare Molly Weasley herself to cook a better meal."
Lily looked pleased as punch but before she could reply baby Harry let out a wail from his crib upstairs. "Oh, I'll be right back."
When she returned with the wiggling little one Sirius noticed that Hermione got that faraway look in her eyes again. She looked left, right, as though hoping for an escape like a caged animal.
"Hey," Sirius whispered, placing his and over hers. His larger one dwarfed her smaller, delicate hand. The tattoos on his fingers making hers look all the more pure, fragile. "It's only a baby. They don't go for the throat unless threatened." He smiled at his own joke.
She looked at him then back at the baby. She didn't even seem to notice his hand on hers. "Harry." The word whispered from her lips like prayer.
As though possessed she stood and walked to where Lily was preparing a bottle. "May I…" Hermione held out her arms and without question Lily handed baby Harry over.
"His name is Harry," Lily said and Hermione nodded with a smile.
Sirius frowned. But Hermione had already known his name. How? Who was this girl?
A part of him wanted to take the baby from her, move a safe distance away and keep them apart but the look on her face as she gazed at that baby was so full of… affection? Longing? Love. Yes, love.
She played with his pudgy hands, fingered his thicket of black hair and finally with fingers that shook, caressed her thumb over his clear, blemish-free forehead. Her bottom lip trembled and she blinked hard as though holding back tears.
He didn't know how he knew but he just did, he felt it in his bones in the very core of his soul. This woman he barely knew, who shouldn't know them at all loved that baby and would die to protect him. The sun broke through the curtains behind her and Sirius could only stare. Wild curls fell around her shoulders; the white dress shimmered over her curves. For the merest moment she glowed like an angel.
"Who are you?" Sirius' voice cracked with the words.
She looked at him, the curtains shifted and the moment was gone. He watched the emotions shadow across her face and knew the moment she had made a decision.
Her response was not what he expected. "You need to call a meeting with the Order of the Phoenix. Tonight."