I Want the Fire Back
Summary: Hermione is obsolete – the War is over, Harry and Ron are busy, and she the mere Charms teacher at Hogwarts. When a presumably dead man comes back better than ever, she suddenly means everything... to him. SiHr
Rating: R for language, themes, sex, and whatever else may come out of my twisted little mind.
Disclaimer: It's not me who owns these characters or any plots associated with the Harry Potter books.
Warning: In this chapter there will be fluff! And Sirius singing/dancing in naught but a towel! Hmm…
Chapter 7: A Faery Tale
Sirius opened his eyes groggily, events of the previous night coming back to him in bits and pieces. Peter's death… His anger… Hermione's past… Hermione's anger. Oh shit. Breakfast – I was going to make her breakfast.
Swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, Sirius fought through the pile of clothes on the floor, searching for a pair of pants. When he finally succeeded in dressing, he exited his quarters and walked down to the kitchens to get his beloved some breakfast. Maybe he could convince her he had cooked it? Nah, too risky… the food would taste/look/smell way too pleasant to be any of his doing.
He grabbed a tray once in the kitchen and asked for some pancakes and bacon, enough for one. If he had said enough for two, he could have very well ended up with enough for 25, so he kept it at one.
Walking back up to their floor, he came to her door and spoke Hermione's password, entering her living space quietly. Who knows, that woman could already be up at this early hour.
Peeking into her bedroom, he saw that indeed she was up, but she was in the shower. Her pajamas lay in a heap near the bathroom door, and he could hear water running.
"Score," Sirius murmured as he set the tray on the unmade bed and flopped down next to it, wincing as he almost spilt a glass of orange juice.
"I'm such a fatass," he giggled benignly about himself. He was excited to make things up to Hermione – he hated having her mad at him, although she had every right to be angry.
Sirius was quite shocked when Hermione came out of the bathroom, considering the water was still going and all. She looked quite angry, though, when she saw him sprawled on her bed, and maybe also because she was stark naked. And she knew Sirius would be upon her in an instant, and she also knew that she wouldn't be able to resist his urgent kisses.
The raven-haired man raised a dark eyebrow and smirked as the blushing brunette folded her arms over herself shyly, "I brought you breakfast." It was obvious Hermione had not yet showered as her hair and body were still dry, perhaps she had forgotten some important necessity she needed to shower with out here in the bedroom.
Sirius stood up and began approaching her, like an animal cornering its prey. "But that can wait until later," and before Hermione could protest, her lover's lips had attacked her own, silencing any foreboding words she had been about to voice.
The kiss was long and hot, each alighting the skin of the other. Slightly ignorantly, Sirius removed his mouth from Hermione's to move down to her neck, leaving her free to speak once again. He began lightly sucking on her sensitive flesh, and she moaned quietly before realizing that he was merely charming her. Bastard.
She pulled away, prepared to say a few spiteful phrases, but saw his pouty lips bruised from the kiss and black hair hanging in front of his ebony eyes and decided to be a little nicer.
"I'm mad at you," she pouted.
Damn. Sirius hated the fact that Hermione could not be swayed as easily as other girls, but he also loved her for it. She was so strong, intelligent – perfect.
"And I'm eternally sorry – really, I am," he added at her dubious look. "I'm apologizing because I'm sorry – not because I want you to forgive me."
Hermione pondered his words for a moment, and was shocked to realize just how much sense they made. She recalled how she had frequently apologized to Ron after she had broken up with him, hoping they could regain their friendship like before. Now when she thought about it, she didn't know if she had apologized for her sake or his. She certainly wasn't sorry for getting out of that relationship – it had been a downward spiral from the beginning, only getting worse as things progressed.
She offered her current (and much, much better) lover a compliant smile, "You still have to make it up to me."
She squealed as he responding by picking her up in his arms and carrying her back into the bathroom, saying, "We can talk over the details in the shower."
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Hermione exited the bathroom an hour later, much more refreshed than her earlier planned shower could have left her. She had left Sirius to get his own scattered clothes on and began a search through her drawers for a suitable outfit.
She heard the bathroom door open and turned to Sirius to ask him what shirt she should wear when she noticed his attire. Her favorite white cotton towel was slung low on his hips, his cherished 'v' very visible, along with his lean abs and chest. Perfection…
What added to the adorability of the situation was the fact that he was singing a slightly off-key version of a muggle song Hermione grew up listening to. It was 'Good' by Better Than Ezra, an all time favorite of hers.
A giggle escaped her mouth as Sirius began swaying to his own music, the towel slipping precariously low on his hips with each movement. A sudden question jumped into Hermione's mind, and she looked at Sirius inquiringly.
"How do you know that song?"
The beautiful man stopped his singing, towel barely attached, and answered her. "Your muggle things… CBs, or whatever?"
She had taught him how to listen to her charmed portable CD player a few weeks ago, and it immediately delighted him to no end. "Oh, my CDs?" he nodded wordlessly and pouted at her soon after.
Almost afraid of what her answer would be, she spoke. "What?"
"My clothes are all damp and hot from being in the bathroom during our shower." His pout deepened, and she rolled her eyes.
"So? Dry them!"
His eyes glinted mischievously for a moment, and he pouted again. "I don't have my wand," he shrugged. "I guess I'll just have to walk around in my birthday suit, for a bit then, hmm?" He dropped the cotton towel completely off of his form, revealing everything God had given him. More like, gifted him with. Jesus, that man... sigh.
Hermione turned scarlet and gave in to her first instinct of turning away. That is, until, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sirius wander aimlessly into her small kitchen, butt-naked.
"What are you doing in there, Black? I eat in there!"
"Oh then I guess I'll just have to sit on your kitchen table then, won't I?"
Hermione raced after him, shouting, "You wouldn't dare."
Sirius, arse placed just above the surface of the table, cocked his head to the side and observed her for a moment. And then burst out laughing.
She too observed herself, and then him, and joined him in laughing. "We certainly look like a bunch of right idiots, don't we?"
Hermione was clothed in her blue jeans and a bra, and Sirius – well, we all know what Sirius wasn't clothed in. (Mainly because you've been trying to conjure that image up and burn it into your brain permanently)
When recovered, Hermione smiled and said, "Oh, get your arse away from my table and come eat this cold breakfast with me."
All the man could do was obey.
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That Sunday was a Hogsmeade day, so Sirius and Hermione accompanied the students on the trip to act as chaperones. The students thought of Sirius as Professor Black, their substitute for Professor Lupin on bad time of the month days. Hah, Remus sounded like he had bloody horrid PMS. Dumbledore had offered Sirius the position to help him get his life back on track, and, more importantly, save the first years from two classes with Professor Snape.
Since no students knew of the Black/Granger escapade of romance, they had to refrain from acting involved around them.
Hermione and Sirius walked close to each other, but not suspiciously close. After passing numerous shops, Sirius finally managed to tug Hermione into the Quidditch shop, a hungry look upon his handsome features. She laughed but let herself be dragged anyways. Besides, she would soon be pulling him into the bookshop, and she very much doubted he wanted to go in there.
She half-listened as Sirius spoke of how much better brooms were now than when he was in school, and that kids should be very happy with what they had.
Smiling, she said, "Now you sound more your age."
Sirius glared at her for a moment, and said, "Bite me."
He didn't expect her to casually look around and make sure no students were present, and bite him quite painfully on the arm.
He laughed, "Okay, I can see you're getting a little bored with this store. Now where would you like to go next?" Sirius pulled the door open for her, and she looked falsely thoughtful for a moment.
"Oh… Well, I was thinking about visiting the bookshop-," she stopped at his very astute glare.
"What?" she cried, placing her hands on her hips.
"Your room is full of books. Why do you need more?"
"Because I've read all those," she spoke heatedly.
"Fine, fine, off to the book place," Sirius sighed and began walking towards the building, Hermione glowering at his back. She would not let the subject drop easily, though.
"I'm sorry that I'm not like all the other girls, trying frantically to drag their boyfriends into Madam Malkin's and watch them try on sleazy dresses and robes, looking for appraisal and-" the fuming young woman stopped suddenly as they walked by the aforementioned store's window and something absolutely gorgeous caught her eye.
"We're going in here," she spoke as if memorized by what she saw, and was inside the store within moments, leaving a bewildered Sirius outside.
"Bloody women and their bloody mood swings…" he mumbled as he faithfully trudged after the woman of his dreams.
By the time Sirius entered Hermione already had the Madam holding up a stunning dress against her body, and both were murmuring about the color clashing with Hermione's hair.
"Do you have it in… green, maybe? A pale green?" Madam Malkin nodded and scurried off to the back of the store to fetch it.
Sirius was fiddling idly with a price tag on a rather expensive dress, before looking around covertly for any signs of anyone watching him. Hermione was busy with her dress, the Madam had still not returned and the other patrons were rather far away.
Pulling out his wand, he altered the price on the tag to read 36 Galleons instead of 599. Afterwards he quickly pocketed the piece of mischief-making wood and grinned to himself. That's what the world gets for boring Sirius Lee Black.
The woman had returned with Hermione's requested dress, and Sirius found himself astounded at how well the color complimented his love's skin and hair.
"Oh, try it on dear," Malkin pointed to the dressing rooms, "Holding it up is doing neither of you the justice you deserve."
Sirius restrained himself from looking guilty when the Madam turned around to beam at him, pleased with her expectations of the dress. He smiled politely back, and wondering absentmindedly if the woman suspected a relationship between the two of them.
As Hermione slipped on the dress, she hoped that if she chose to purchase it for the Halloween Ball the other teachers would not frown on its meager amount of material. She was a teacher, too, now and had to look respectable… But, oh, fuck it, she looked so damn good in it, and after she added a pair of shiny wings, glittering makeup, and flowers braided into her planned to be ringlets of hair, it would be flawless.
She came out after a few minutes, and Sirius' mouth fell from its respectable position to a much lower one. His woman was clad in a form fitting pale green dress. It was strapless, with a few sequins sewn into the bust of the garment. It was short, especially for the modest Hermione – it came down right above her knees, where the three layers of lacy green skirts fell in a fashionable shredded style. It looked very much like that of a faerie dress. That along with Hermione's long brown waves of hair, naturally pretty chestnut eyes and pink cheeks, added a startling alikeness to the mystical creature.
Sirius gaped a moment more, before finding his tongue. "You're buying that."
Hermione raised her eyebrow at the very obvious command, and Sirius corrected himself. "If you want to – but if you don't, I'll buy it and make you wear it."
Hermione laughed, a pretty laugh that suited her, and Sirius was once again amazed at how she handled life. She had survived the horrors of the previous year, and recovered so vastly that she became the smart, beautiful, successful witch that she now was. And here he was - survived 13 years of hell on earth, 2 years of running from authorities, and an additional 5 years in a hell dimension – smiling and grinning like an idiot at the beautiful woman he called his.
Fate could not destroy them, or the future they would build. They were stronger than that individually, and especially together. Love was fragile – breakable, honest – but it was also the most powerful human emotion. Love was immune to prejudice, jealousy, grudge, and history. It is a story in its own, an adventure by itself, a tale to live through and tell. It is unexpected, not found when searched for, and usually in the strangest places that you never looked twice in.
It was, to be simply said, beautiful.
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A/N: There! Another chapter, complete with fluff and such. And, a song was mentioned, but I did not put the lyrics in there. Happy? Lol. Oh, but if you know the song, do try and imagine Siri-boy singing it! Oh, it's grand. And if you want to hear it and imagine him singing it, go to CDzlimited.com, search for Better Than Ezra, and listen to Good for free! I guarentee it's worth it. Review, please!
