A/N. This is a shorter chapter, I think, but still a lot happens (: The chapters after this we will be starting to get into Hermione's task. Things get complicated, hehe
Beta'd by a good friend and amazing beta, Kennilworthy Thisp!
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing.
Enjoy!
…~oOo~…
Chapter Seven: Silence Breaks
Sirius's lips left Hermione's. He sighed and pulled away. He'd continued to kiss her hard and fast for a minute.
"Are you done, yet?" Hermione inquired quietly, her lips glistening and pink.
All Sirius could do was nod.
Hermione lightly cleared her throat and pushed back the hair he'd had tangled around his hand. She lifted the book from the window and said, "I will see you at dinner, then." And she walked away casually as if absolutely nothing odd happened.
Standing there, stunned, Sirius stared after the girl with no clue what to do.
Then it hit him.
Run after her, of course! What are you doing just standing here, you idiot! his conscience screamed. Sirius's feet took over after that, trailing after the girl he was going to marry - whether she knew it or not yet.
When he caught up to her, she was outside the library, leaning her back against the wall, head bowed forward and seemed to be doing some deep breathing. At first he thought something was wrong, but then he realized that she was…freaking out.
…~oOo~…
Pull yourself together, Hermione, her mind was uttering frantically. You can't breakdown like this. Remember, he isn't your friend's godfather. He isn't even actually your brother. He's just a boy, like Ronald or Viktor… or Remus…
And James! her head quickly added to the list. He was a boy too even if she didn't hold him in a romantic light. Not that she held Remus in a romantic light…Not at all.
She shook her head hard, trying to make sense of what just happened. Sirius kissed her. Hard. It was a forceful, I-might-die-in-a-few-seconds type of kiss. She had basically stood there and let him explore her mouth as much as he liked and she had to control herself and force herself not to melt under his attentions.
Sirius Black was an amazing kisser. His lips were confident and warm and his tongue was like velvet. And if she had to admit it, he'd tasted fantastic, like peppermint for some reason. Hermione's favorite candy were candy canes and now that she knew Sirius tasted like them, it gave a certain appeal to kissing him.
As she leant back against the stone walls of the castle she didn't know what to do. While Dumbledore said that as long as her mission was completed then she could basically have free reign in the timeline and not worry about altering the future because it had already been altered.
But Hermione had made a pact with herself. No happiness, no romance, nothing as influential as crushes/love/attraction could happen until she completed her task. It was too distracting and got in the way.
"Hermione…"
Oh, no…she inwardly groaned. She looked up to Sirius's voice. He stood there, hands tucked in his pockets, looking somber and possessed a tiny crinkle in his brow. But Hermione knew better than to ever think Sirius could possibly be nervous - that just wasn't possible.
"I think we should talk…" he pronounced slowly.
Hermione snorted half-heartedly. "I don't think so. I think we should just… not talk about it."
He walked forward and bent his head down to meet her eyes. "I kissed you," he said.
"I know that," Hermione whispered.
"And you let me."
Hesitantly, Hermione nodded.
"If I kissed you again would you let me?"
Hermione shook her head this time.
She saw Sirius's Adams apple bob as he swallowed before he asked commandingly, "Why not?"
"Because… Sirius… we're brother and sister," she uttered, grabbing at any excuse she could.
"We're not really siblings, Hermione," he said with a hint of anger flaring up behind his words.
"Be that as it may, we're close friends," Hermione said under her breath, looking down at her toes. "And friends shouldn't kiss. It would complicate things."
"Fuck complications," he growled, leaning forward more so that their noses were mere inches apart. "It shouldn't have to be complicated. If I want to kiss you and you want to kiss me… then what's so difficult about that?"
"I haven't said whether I wanted to kiss you or not," Hermione said. He was making this hard for her to let him down gently. She couldn't tell him the truth, so she was going to have to use whatever excuse she could.
"If you didn't want to kiss me," Sirius said lowly, "then you would have pushed me away and hexed me. I'm not stupid, 'Mione, you're a strong girl and wouldn't accept being pushed around. It's not how you work."
Hermione pushed herself up off the wall hard and Sirius didn't move. They were chest to chest and their pulses were pounding. Hermione slid sideways to edge away and began walking. He was close behind. "It's not that I wanted to kiss you," she told harshly, getting fed up with his persistence. "I didn't want to hurt your feelings. I was being polite and now you have worn out my manners. Leave me alone, Sirius."
"Bullshit," Sirius said with just as much venom. "You're a worse liar than James. You liked me kissing you. You had even closed your eyes and your cheeks turned pink."
Hermione's pace sped up and she was stalking away faster, but Sirius snatched the wrist of his uniform and pulled her back to facing him. He looked down at her and said with precision, "You enjoyed the kiss just as much as I did. Now. Stop overanalyzing for ten seconds and let me kiss you again."
Sirius took both of her wrists and guided her hands into his hair and around his neck before he curled his arms around her waist and brought down his mouth to hers softly. Not demanding or hard like the first kiss, but gentle and tentative and sweet, their lips meeting again and again in deliberate, barely-there brushes.
And Hermione was melting. Head to toe, she was disintegrating into a puddle.
A contented sigh escaped from her lips and Sirius grinned. James and Remus could eat their words. She would have Hermione. It was inevitable. He was sure it was the reason she landed in his bedroom when he was thirteen - they were made to be together.
He had no idea of the real reason she landed in his room, but the memory of her time-altering task pulsed in the back of Hermione's mind in time with her thudding heart.
So consumed by their kiss, neither noticed that Remus had come looking for the both of them, seen the intimate embrace and locking of lips before promptly turning and walking away.
…~oOo~…
Hermione and Sirius mentioned nothing of their sudden intimate actions with their fellow Marauders. Remus knew though. James was blissfully ignorant.
Remus felt the faintest hint of betrayal. The fact that Whiskers and Padfoot were keeping such a monumental secret set his teeth on edge. Of course it had a lot to do with the fact that it was Hermione. And Sirius. Hermione, so innocent and bookish, and Sirius, so obnoxious and proud.
It was all just so completely wrong in Remus's head.
Remus watched Hermione closely from across the classroom in Potions. Slughorn was going on about a tonic for warts, but Remus couldn't have cared less. Across the room was Hermione, taking notes intently while her partner, Alice, daydreamt.
Remus spent a lot of time watching Hermione, though he was careful not to be obvious about it. Always out of the corner of his eye, or just glancing over the covers of a book, and sometimes, like now, in class when everyone was either focused on the teacher or his papers.
For a year. A year Remus watched Hermione from afar. He knew better than to flirt or move closer. Hermione was far too perfect for the likes of him. The knowledge of that was like an arrow lodged through his chest. All at once he knew there would never again be someone so amazing for him and that he could never have her.
Remus was almost relieved she was with Sirius because he wouldn't have to worry about his own feelings anymore because she was taken. Almost, that is. Most of the time he was just angry.
Even now as Sirius sat in the desk in front of him with James, Remus watched Sirius scribbling furiously at a piece of parchment before folding it up into a little butterfly-like creature. The boy tossed it into the air and the folded paper took flight across the room and landed, still fluttering, in Hermione hair.
The girl gave a little jump at the sound of rustling papers in her ear when she'd been so consumed with taking notes and carefully reached up and plucked the butterfly from her hair.
Sirius nudged James awake and nodded over across the room. Remus, James and Sirius all watched as Hermione unfolded the little creature and read what was inside. Remus had to hold back a snort when she rolled her eyes and gave her brother a terse look. She quickly scribbled a short response and flicked her wand. The folded square of paper whipped through the air over the other kids' head so fast, James had to duck for fear of getting hit.
Sirius grabbed the paper mid-air before it could slice open his face and opened it to find the words in big, bold letters:
PAY ATTENTION TO SLUGHORN. I'M NOT DOING YOUR HOMEWORK AGAIN.
James snickered and Remus hid a smirk. So she hadn't changed after all, even if she was secretly lovey-dovey with Sirius. It was nice to know that she wasn't going to suddenly be blinded by his charms just because they were snogging in dark corners of the castle.
Sirius looked over at Hermione with a disgruntled, annoyed look and stuck out his tongue. She just pointedly looked back down at her notes, inked her quill, and resumed all the while very obviously ignoring him.
"Better luck next time, Pads," James whispered. "She'll come around."
Remus's smile disappeared. Unbeknownst to James, Hermione had already come around.
…~oOo~…
Dinner a few nights later had been torture for Remus. Sirius sat by Hermione and did his usual cuddling routine. Only there was a different atmosphere about it, just something so much… deeper. Remus had no clue if he was imagining it because of his knowledge, because James certainly didn't notice anything different… then again, James wasn't the most perceptive of people. After all, Lily Evans had flat out told him that she'd drink a vial of Draught of Living Death before dating him and he still went around telling everyone that he was going to capture her heart one day.
So, yeah, maybe James wasn't the best person to trust as being observant.
Sirius was leaning up against Hermione and playing with the end of her hair. Only Remus noticed his lips moving so slightly. He was whispering to her. The tiniest smile appeared at the corner of her pink mouth.
It didn't help that it was the full moon was three days away. He had to physically force himself not to listen to what Sirius was saying.
Then he caved and his mind thought, It's only one teeny, tiny little eavesdrop. It's not as if I'm doing any real damage.
His eyes opened wider and waited for Sirius to speak again. When he did, Sirius was telling her how soft her skin was and smooth and creamy.
Remus had no idea what Sirius's thing with skin was, but he always mentioned it. When he talked about girls, the first thing he'd say was, "She's got lovely skin." Like it was a bloody piece of jewelry.
It wasn't that Hermione didn't have gorgeous skin of course. Milky, soft, beautiful skin that he could imagine taking into his mouth and nibbling and suckling until it turned rosy pink…
Okay, so Remus could see where Sirius was coming from.
Curse this full moon! Remus thought, shaking his head furiously and trying to wipe away the mental image of Hermione's flesh lovingly between his teeth.
"You alright, mate?" Sirius asked, seeing Remus's mini freak-out.
"Full moon's soon," he murmured gravelly. "I'm gonna head up to bed." And he stood from the seat, striding out urgently.
"I'm going to make sure he's alright," Hermione said, sounding concerned. She started to get up, but Sirius caught her hand.
"He's fine," he assured her. "You know how he gets when it's this close to the moon."
"I know," Hermione said, biting her lip. "But I just want to check on him." She let go of his hand and jogged out after Remus.
Remus was still striding down the corridor when Hermione found him, running faster, and calling out, "Remus!"
The werewolf froze in his path and was hit by the delicious scent of parchment, dusty books, and chocolate. He had no clue why, but Hermione always had the faintest hints of chocolate on her. And it drove him mad.
"Are you alright, Moony?" she asked quietly, catching up and gently touching his sleeve. "Would you like anything for your room? Tea, maybe?"
Remus swallowed and shook his head. "I just need to get to bed."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, Hermione!" he snapped. "I'm sure! Quit babying me!"
Eyes open wide, Hermione took a step back in surprise. "I'm- I'm sorry, Remus, I didn't realize… I'll just go now, since you wouldn't like company." She started back toward the Great Hall.
"I know, Hermione. About you and Sirius."
The words had just escaped, he'd had no control over them.
Hermione stopped in her tracks and slowly turned back to face him. "How?" she inquired, not angrily or chagrinned, just curious.
"You all seem to forget how keen my hearing is when it's so close to the full moon," he said sourly.
Now Hermione did blush. "It's not a big deal, really. We're not even really together, he just, you know, he's persistent and -"
"I saw you kiss in front of the library," he added, angry that she was still trying to lie.
She sighed. "You don't know exactly what happened."
"I think I do," Remus growled. "He kissed you. You kissed back. Seems like a simple enough equation for even me to figure out, Hermione. Don't try to treat me like a fool."
"I'd never, Remus, treat you -"
"Just shut it," he hissed. "I don't want to hear any of it. I'm going to bed. And don't tell Sirius I know about your snogging or sweet nothings." He gave her a feral look before adding, "I thought you were smarter than this. I was wrong." And he marched away.
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A/N. PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! PLEASE!
Challenge: 1. Favorite line and part of this chapter? 2. Any predictions? 3. Team Sirius or Team Remus? 4. The full moon is coming…what do you anticipate?
~ So Long And Thanks For All The Fish ~
