A/N: I went from no jobs (wah wah) to two jobs last month (woot woot!), so my schedule has been crazy wonky. The Future Imperfect is my low-hanging fruit, in terms of finishing a story, so if you're also reading Pax Matrum, have no fear-I haven't forgotten it! I just have so much love for our time-traveling Marauder and needed to get this second conflict off my chest, and writing a post-baby Hermione in PM has been surprisingly difficult.
The fallout from Draco's potioning is still to come, but I wanted to resolve our main couple's awkward dance around each other first. This was basically a fun chapter for me before I delved back into consequences and whatnot.
Thanks to those of you who have left reviews: WishIHadANifflier, kunoichi, Annalelle, Blue Raging Fire111, Indulgentbookworm, KateKat1992, ndavis77, Ninjasnowflake, HarryMalfoy09, ksouza3, kat11c, and bookworm2009
When James and Lily arrived moments later, Sirius slipped out of the room. Despite his role in flushing the potions from Draco, and despite his closeness to the Potters, he felt like an intruder. If Draco had been raised like a Black—and with Narcissa as his mother, Sirius couldn't imagine otherwise—visible emotions were verboten. Especially crying.
He wandered to the library and spent the next hour studying next to Harry, Hermione, and Pansy. They were subdued, as they'd been all weekend, and it was everything Sirius could do to not jump up and down and let them know everything had been fixed.
Or, at least, he thought everything had been fixed.
As they were packing up for Potions, Neville walked in and collapsed in a chair at their table. "Don't bother. Potions is cancelled."
"Is everything OK?" asked Hermione, shooting a sidelong glance at Harry.
Neville shrugged. "I passed Professor Potter on the way here; she was putting a note on the classroom door. She didn't say much, just that class was cancelled, and then she ran off." He looked at Harry. "Is everything OK with Dorea and Orion?"
He shrugged. "I haven't seen them since breakfast." He tried not to look concerned, but Hermione patted his arm anyway.
"I'm sure everything is fine. If it wasn't, your parents would find you. They know where to look."
Two hours later, the group packed up for Charms, only to be confronted by another 'Class Cancelled' sign.
"What in the actual fuck?" asked Pansy. "Do they realize we have NEWTs coming up?"
Sirius pursed his lips and forced himself not to respond.
When Harry disappeared midday, pulled from Care of Magical Creatures by James, Hermione started getting visibly nervous.
"Another romp in the forest?" asked Sirius when he found her back in the library.
She shook her head and looked up. "I need to finish this Arithmancy homework." She smiled at him, and he couldn't help it as the corners of his mouth clicked upward in a grin that matched hers. She had thrown her hair up in a loose bun, and Sirius could see the faintest hint of lipgloss on her otherwise bare face.
He sat down next to her. "When's it due?"
"Next week." She crossed her legs, and her toe hit his shin. She immediately tucked her foot behind the leg of her chair to prevent further contact, and Sirius watched in the corner of his eye as her skirt hitched up a small bit on her leg, exposing the skin where knee became thigh.
He swallowed, his throat suddenly tight.
"Will you go to Hogsmeade with me?" The words were out of his mouth before his brain could catch up to him.
She froze and stared at the work in front of her. After a moment she whispered, "What?"
He cleared his throat. "Will you go to Hogsmeade with me? This weekend?"
His chest tightened when he didn't receive an immediate response. Another beat, and Hermione, still looking down at her homework, her mouth drawn in a hard line, asked, "Why?"
That hadn't been the reaction he'd expected, and he frowned. "Why not?"
She looked up, her eyes shiny from accumulating tears. "Why now?"
"Why not now? Hermione, what's wrong? I didn't mean to upset you. I thought…"
"You thought what? Now that I'm not locked into a surrogacy contract I'm a worthwhile date?" There was fire in her eyes—she was angry and hurt. The tendrils of hair that had fallen from her bun started to frizz just a bit, a clear sign they'd be sparking soon. A single tear escaped from her eye, and she quickly wiped it away with the back of her hand. "Now that I didn't have the stain of carrying another wizard's child in the future you could deign to be interested in me? Well guess what, Sirius? I'm not interested in you!"
With one quick spell she swept up her belongs and was gone.
Sirius's mouth was hanging open, the boy frozen in place as he processed what had just happened.
When he found Neville in their room before dinner, the tall Gryffindor punched him in the jaw.
"Merlin's balls, what the hell was that for?" cried Sirius, rubbing his mouth.
"I told you not to fuck with Hermione."
Sirius growled. "If you would unbunch your knickers for five seconds, I'd tell you our conversation was one huge misunderstanding. My timing was bollocks, but that I really do want to take her to Hogsmeade. I don't give a shit about whether or not she's a surrogate!"
For the second time that day, Sirius's words tumbled out of his mouth before his brain could catch up.
"Surrogate… what?" Neville furrowed his brow. Sirius watched in horror as realization dawned on his housemate. "Oh fuck, for Harry and Draco?"
Sirius closed his eyes and rubbed his face with his hands. "Neville… dammit, Neville, you can't tell anyone."
Neville sat on his bed, wide eyed. "I can't believe they'd ask her to do that."
Sirius narrowed his eyes. "I don't know the specifics, but as I understand it no one pressured her. Everyone, and I mean everyone, has told her what it would mean to be a surrogate in the wizarding world. And, most importantly, it's none of your fucking business, so forget you heard it."
Neville returned Sirius's glare. "I've been friends with Hermione longer than you've been around. I won't do anything to hurt her, unlike some people."
The implication was clear.
"I didn't mean to hurt her!" Sirius was practically yelling.
"But you did, Sirius," said Neville frostily. He stood up and made his way back toward the door of the dorm. "Even if you didn't mean it. She may have misunderstood your intensions, but with this week and everything she's been through, she took it like a punch in the gut. Moreover, she doesn't have Draco to talk to, since he went off the deep end. I think she's with Luna and Pansy now, and if I were you I would give those three a wide berth. They're vicious when angry, and I'm pretty sure Pansy is ready to Diffindo the next person who crosses her."
Sirius fell back on his bed. "Fuck."
For being a hero and saving his best friend's kid's fiancé from potion-induced misery, Sirius was having a shitty day. He was dragging his feet in the direction of the Great Hall for what he assumed would be an equally-dismal dinner when he heard an atrocious shriek.
"How dare you levy these accusations at me, Minerva!"
"Molly, calm down."
"Calm down? Calm down! You're on a literal witch-hunt here: all speculation and no proof! And I'm sure all your concerns have been raised because of the Potters. Their son is unnatural, Minerva, and you can't blame Lady Malfoy for wanting to remove Draco from his sphere of influence."
Sirius peered around the corner, where he saw McGonagall facing off against a red-faced woman who could only be the Weasley matriarch. Her face turned the same purple color as Ron's when he was angry, and her auburn hair was the exact same shade as Fabian's.
The headmistress pursed her lips. "First of all, it's Dowager Malfoy. No matter her manipulations, Narcissa is no longer in a position of power within her House. And Molly, I will not entertain a single bad word about Harry Potter. He is an excellent student and an upstanding young man."
"He's a Slytherin!" she cried. Sirius cringed, recognizing his own initial reaction to Harry.
"He's a good lad, one your youngest son would do well to model himself after."
He thought the Weasley woman would blow up right then and there, but her meltdown was interrupted by the Headmistress, who's voice was tight and controlled, though only just.
"It's only fair to warn you, Molly, that the goblins are investigating the situation. They consider the matter an attempted theft from one of their customers, which is a charge they do not take lightly; if this goes before the Wizengamot, the involved parties could be found guilty of attempted Line Theft. The Malfoys are at Gringotts now, and I have no doubt that Narcissa Malfoy will do anything to salvage what she can from this fiasco, including implicating anyone else who might be involved." Sirius saw the headmistress raise and eyebrow. "If I were such a person, I would start preparing for the fall out as soon as possible."
Tuesday morning Draco and Harry walked into Transfiguration holding hands. Hermione was next to them with a small smile on her face.
Everyone stared in shock. Everyone, except Sirius, who smiled.
Of course, he immediately made eye contact with Hermione, who glared at him and plopped down next to Pansy.
As he launched into the day's lecture, James narrowed his eyes at the dynamics of the group.
"I don't know what to tell you, Pads." Remus leaned back in his chair and watched his dark-haired friend huff.
"She won't even let me explain!" Sirius cried. He'd come to Moony's quarters looking for sympathy and suggestions. He'd found the former, but not the latter.
"She's a headstrong witch," said Remus. "She means well, but she's stubborn. She's looked at the situation and drawn an erroneous conclusion based on coincidental circumstances." The werewolf leaned back and offered his friend a small smile. "Her emotions are interfering with her rational thinking. We professors call this 'being a teenager.'"
Sirius groaned. "C'mon Moony, be helpful. What do I do?"
Remus laughed. "Suffer, or find another bird."
Sirius pouted. "I don't want another bird."
The older man raised an eyebrow at that. James had said Sirius was increasingly interested in the curly-haired witch who had become part of their family, but Remus had taken that pronouncement with a grain of salt; Sirius had always been a bit of a lothario and never wanted for romantic company long.
"I get stuck in the future where everyone, including my best friend's kids, are telling me how special this witch is, how amazing she is, how she's the only one worth dating. She's infuriating and brilliant and frustrating and gorgeous and now she won't even talk to me!" Sirius leaned his head back on the sofa and closed his eyes. "Fuck me," he groaned as the fireplace roared.
"Not if I have anything to say about it," said Fabian, as he brushed off the ashes from the Floo. "Hello, love." He pulled Remus in for a sweet kiss before he unclasped his cloak and dropped it on the back of a nearby chair and turned to Sirius. "Bad day?"
"Women," muttered Remus, a small smile on his face.
"Ah," said Fabian. He pulled three glasses from the sidebar and poured three firewhiskys. "Not much for 'em myself. Have you tried talking to her?"
Sirius glared at the redheaded man as he took the drink from him.
"We've already moved to whether or not he should cut his losses or figure out the best way to grovel."
"Mmm." Fabian shot his drink back in a single pull. "If Hermione is anything like Remus—swotty, romantic, occasionally self-depricating—then chocolates, flowers, and a heartfelt apology letter will go a long way."
"Does everyone know I'm into Hermione?" growled Sirius.
"I'm also partial to lots of really great sex," said Remus.
"Do you mind if I join you?"
Sirius looked up to see his enemy-cum-friend-cum-pain-in-the-ass standing over him. He gestured to the chair across from him and looked back down to his revision.
The blond raised an eyebrow. "History of Magic?"
Sirius scowled. He didn't want to be reminded of the absence of one curly-haired witch who had made History of Magic surprisingly fun and interesting.
"How's my cousin?" Sirius asked nonchalantly.
"Under house arrest. She's also been sanctioned by the Horde."
That got Sirius's attention. He looked up, eyebrows high. "Do you have an estate left?"
Draco nodded solemnly. "She was sanctioned, not me. Her trust from the Black estate was taken in full for the manipulation and attempted theft of the House of Malfoy, as well as for being an accessory to attempted Line Theft. She's completely dependent on the goodwill of her family to live."
"Meaning you and me?" asked Sirius.
"And the Rosiers. Did you know that my grandmother wasn't the only Rosier daughter? Turns out she had a sister that my mother has been in contact with for the past few years; Muriel is the only person who could listen to Mother bemoan her 'unseemly' son without totally compromising what she considered to be my 'future prospects'. Great-Aunt Muriel is apparently the one that put Mother in contact with the Weasley woman."
"Muriel?" asked Draco.
The blond nodded. "Muriel Rosier. She married a Prewett. When both her great nieces started bitching about finding an 'appropriate' match for their kids, she invited them both to tea and Voila! I'm potioned into making out with a ginger." The blond exaggerated a shudder. "A girl ginger."
"Also emotionally destroying your fiancé and best friend and losing your legal and financial autonomy, not to mention your free will, but yeah, focus on the snogging." Sirius rolled his eyes.
"Speaking of my best friend…"
Sirius threw his arms on the desk, his head following with a dull thud.
"She seems to think that you were only interested in her because she was no longer a contract surrogate for Harry and me." Draco's voice was low so they wouldn't be overheard, but it wasn't harsh. The blond paused for a moment, and if Sirius had looked up he would've seen Draco's head cocked to the side, examining the frustrated animagus. "I told her that couldn't possibly be true, since you knew Harry and I would get back together."
Sirius stayed silent.
"After all, what kind of person beats another to a bloody pulp and then, a week later, looks in on him in the infirmary after a basic potions mishap? I didn't really think about it until Hermione explained why she wasn't speaking to you, but there was no reason for you to be checking on me in the infirmary unless you know what the flushing draught would do. Which means you knew I'd been potioned; you were probably responsible for me being dosed with Shrinking Solution in the first place, right?"
Sirius looked up and scowled. Draco was smiling smugly, looking every inch like his stupid git of a father.
"You planning on pressing charges for potioning a Head of House?" Sirius tried to keep the concern out of his voice, but a small bit escaped. He didn't think Draco would send him to Azkaban, since Sirius effectively freed him from Narcissa and Ginny, but Malfoys were almost as crazy as Blacks, so there was no telling.
Draco laughed loudly, a far cry from the hushed tones of their conversation so far.
"I thought about sending you a fruit basket. But after talking with Hermione, I figured the best thing I could do was help you get back in her good graces."
"Are you sure, Hermione? It's just… based on everything Dad and Uncle Remus have said, that doesn't sound like Sirius at all. He ran away from the Black family before getting sucked into all that pureblood shit."
The witch in question was tucked into Harry's arm, her head resting against his chest. They were curled up in the Slytherin Common Room, having decided to supervise Pansy's dressing-down of Draco. The blond wizard admitted that everyone deserved a change to yell and air their grievances, but Pansy was a ruthless witch and he didn't want to end up castrated.
"I don't believe in coincidences, Harry. I was emotionally vulnerable, and it was very clear I wouldn't be locked into the surrogacy contract any longer. The timing was too perfect to not be related."
"You like him." It wasn't a question.
She nodded. "He's different than the boys I know. Don't take this the wrong way, but he's like a young, hot version of your dad and Remus combined. Clever, fun, challenging. He has all the characteristics that I admired in Theo, but with Sirius there's also this indescribable pull…"
"Like your magic likes him?"
She nodded again. "I thought we had a connection, though I didn't actually expect anything to come of it. He said some things over Yule that indicated he was more conservative about the surrogacy than everyone else. But I'll admit to harboring a tiny little flame of hope after we came back to school. With the study groups and History of Magic tutoring things just seemed… But then everything fell to pieces and then he asked? It's too neat."
"If you're right, he's a git and we'll all hex him. But maybe you should hear him out before you write him off forever? After all"—Harry's eyes roamed to Draco, who was standing with a contrite look on his face while Pansy called him a "bratty-self-entitled-Eagle-who'd-never-last-a-day-in-Slytherin-not-least-of-which-because-his-harpy-of-a-mother-had-gotten-the-drop-on-his-moronic-ass"—"if Sirius hadn't convinced me to listen to Draco I would probably still hate him. I'd have let my self-preservation deny me the most wonderful thing in my life."
Harry went to heal his love from a particularly nasty stinging hex, and Hermione frowned.
Two days later, Hermione bounded into Potions study group completely immersed in her notes.
"Since you weren't here last week, Draco, I think we should go ahead and review the variations on Dittany. We obviously went over it, but we were a little stuck on…"
The door slammed behind her, and she heard a muffled Colloportus. She looked up to see the wizard she'd been avoiding seated at their table, a box, a bunch of flowers, and a piece of parchment in front of him.
No one else was in the room.
She immediately turned cast an Alohomora on the door.
Nothing.
She turned to Sirius. "Let me out."
He shrugged. "I didn't lock you in here."
She turned back to the door and yelled, "Let me out, assholes!"
Someone slipped a folded piece of parchment under the door. She picked it up and unfolded it.
Harry's jagged scrawl read 'Just shut up and listen to him. It worked out for me, didn't it?'
Underneath, Draco's more elegant script continued 'If I deserve a second chance, doesn't he?'
Neville rounded out the boys' contributions. 'And if he doesn't, I can always punch him again.'
Pansy's feminine hand was at odds with her advice. 'Merlin, just shag the fucker. Even if he's still a dick afterward, you'll get laid. And you need it, Hermione.'
But it was Luna who, ironically, made the most sense. 'This is the only way to get rid of the wrackspurts.'
Hermione frowned, folded the parchment and shoved it in her bag, and sat across from Sirius. "Fine."
The dark haired wizard looked grim and tense and maybe a little upset. Hermione refused to look him in the eye—that was always a mistake, as she found herself contemplating the slight differences between pewter and gunmetal. She also avoided his lips, his cheekbones, his shoulders…
She looked away at the wall. The wall was a safe bet.
Sirius cleared his throat. "I need you to pick one." He gestured to the objects in front of him.
Hermione glanced over and nodded toward the parchment.
"Right." Sirius started muttering spells over the yellowed paper. Hermione's curiosity got the best of her, and she focused not on the safe wall but on the attractive wizard doing intricate spell work in front of her.
"What are you doing?" she finally asked.
"Just… just one more minute," he muttered. He flicked his wand one finally time and grinned. "There!"
Hermione stared down at the blank parchment, and then slowly looked back at Sirius, unamused.
"Right. Tap your wand and say, 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good.'"
Her eyes went wide. She'd heard about the Marauder's Map from James and Remus, but as professors they hadn't felt they could hand it down to Harry, Dorea, and Orion.
She did as instructed, and watched the infamous words appear before her.
Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot & Prongs…
Hermione's eyes widened at the next part.
… along with Mlle. Lady present the Marauder's Map.
She watched the castle appear on the front of the parchment, the tiny lettering moving along with the students and professors. She looked up at Sirius, her mouth agape.
"See, I couldn't explain everything because it was a Marauder secret. But I figured if I made you a Marauder, you could know the secret. James and Remus agree, of course, although I'm sure Harry will be put out he wasn't the first of the new generation. Anyway, now that you're a Marauder, with a name and everything, I can tell you about our most recent prank."
And then he launched into the story of Draco's potioning, of how they had to keep their plan to save him a secret, of how terrible he felt watching her and Harry and everyone upset. He apologized for his shitty timing and for tainting the return of her best friend with his idiocy.
"So, to recap, I'm sorry I'm an idiot, but I do really like you and even if you still don't want to go to Hogsmeade with me—which you totally should—I'd like to be friends again."
Hermione sat, mouth still slightly agape, as Sirius looked up at her with those grey eyes that she just couldn't escape. He looked apologetic and hopeful and earnest, and her heart fluttered.
Finally, when her brain had processed everything and finally started moving at a normal pace, she stood up and made her way around the table. Sirius stood, hands in his pockets to hide his nerves.
She frowned and punched him in the left shoulder.
"Ow!" he cried.
"You idiot," she muttered. And then she threw her arms around his neck, stood up on her tip toes, and kissed him soundly.
An hour later, Harry knocked on the classroom door. "Hermione? Sirius? Are you both still alive?"
Luna smiled sweetly. "Oh yes. They're just fine."
Sirius opened the door, his lips and cheeks red and his hair mussed. Behind him, Hermione was surreptitiously smoothing out her rumpled uniform.
"Did you all get everything worked out?" asked Draco, raising an eyebrow at Hermione and smirking.
She returned his smirk, coming up behind Sirius and grabbing the animagus's hand. "Oh yes, you meddlers."
"I'm glad the wrackspurts are gone," said Luna brightly. "You both look much happier without them." She turned to Draco. "It's nice to have everyone back."
Draco hugged Luna from behind and dropped a kiss on her forehead. "Thanks, Luna."
"Hey! Get your own!" cried Pansy, shoving the blond wizard away and tucking her girlfriend into her torso. "This one's mine."
Draco turned to grab Harry. "Dibs."
Harry's eyes went watery and he pulled Draco in for a searing kiss. Neville groaned and muttered something about being a seventh wheel and bringing Susan around more often.
"Oh for fuck's sake," groaned Pansy. "You could've kept him in the dog house for a little while, Potter."
"Come off it Pans, he was potioned by his mother," said a laughing Sirius. "He kissed Ginny Weasley. He deserves nothing but sympathy for that."
"He was still a twat," the witch muttered.
Hermione nodded. "A very big twat. And he's going to make it up to us."
Draco pulled back and looked at Hermione. "I am?"
She nodded. "You are."
He narrowed his eyes. "How?"
"This is cruel and unusual punishment," sighed Draco. Though the group would eventually pair off and go their separate ways for some romance, it had been decided that Draco's apology to them all would take place at Tomes and Scrolls that Hogsmeade weekend. It was the first stop of the day, and the crew had already been shopping for a half and hour. Behind Draco was a stack of books almost as tall as he was, levitated half a meter off the floor. Harry, Hermione, and Pansy had been adding to the stack indiscriminately, and while their purchases wouldn't make a dent in the Malfoy vaults they were giving the effort everything the had. Luna and Neville had thrown in a few volumes for good measure.
Sirius was just enjoying the show. He also wasn't at all opposed to the way Hermione's skirt raised up when she reached for books on high shelves. In fact, he was looking forward to introducing her to the library at Grimmauld Place. He could envision snogging her against the shelves, letting his hands wonder to the hem of her skirt, where they would slowly creep…
Sirius was shaken out of his fantasy when Hermione tossed Draco another book. The blond glanced at the title and narrowed his eyes. "Don't you already have a copy of Lies About Lycanthropy?"*
Hermione nodded. "Yes, but this is the newest edition. Remus had added an entire section on recent Wizengamot legislation and developments in Wolfsbane, and there's an exciting discussion of the transmission of lycanthropy outside of the full moon from an expert in France!"
"So you've already read it?"
She glared back at him. "I've discussed it briefly with Remus, and I've been looking forward to reading the new parts in full, and do I need to remind you of all the horrid things you said to me while you were under the influence?"
Draco blushed and levitated the book to the top of the stack. Pansy tossed him another one.
"Oh, come on!" cried Draco.
Sirius glanced at the colorful book's title and barked out a laugh.
If the Broomstick Fits: An Illustrated Guide to Pleasing the Witch in Your Life
*Lies About Lycanthropy is the title of Remus Lupin's monograph on werewolves, taken from shayalonnie's amazing epic The Debt of Time.
