She'd done it. It had been almost two weeks since Sirius had shown up at her flat wanting to talk and they'd had their "encounter," as she was calling it - refusing to acknowledge it as anything other. Somehow she'd managed to avoid him in all the time since, but now it was the last Sunday before she officially moved into Hogwarts to begin preparing for the school year - setting up her classroom, finalizing her syllabus, and the like - and this was the last time she might be able to spend a lazy evening with Harry and the Weasleys. Unfortunately, that also meant seeing Sirius Black, as he, the Lupins, and Andromeda Tonks had become regulars at the weekly gatherings.
"Hermione, dear, so good to see you again! I'm glad to see you're feeling better after last week's bout of lurgy," Molly Weasley said affectionately, pulling Hermione in for a quick, but fierce hug - thankfully missing her guilty expression - before shooing her away from the kitchen. "Everyone missed you; they're all in the sitting room. Why don't you go join them now and say hello?"
"Are you sure you wouldn't like any help, Mrs. Weasley?" Hermione asked, already knowing that the woman would refuse her assistance unless she was preparing for a truly big to-do, yet unable to walk away without at least offering.
"Molly, please, dear," she lightly admonished, patting the younger witch's cheek, "I've told you before! And no, all that needs doing right now is mashing these potatoes, but as you can see, they're getting on quite well by themselves." Sure enough, the masher was pounding away at the boiled and skinned potatoes, slowly incorporating the butter, cream, salt, and pepper that had been added.
"If you insist, Molly," Hermione grinned as she made her way around the breakfast table and towards the door leading to the rest of the house.
"I do - on both counts!" was called after her, causing her grin to erupt into a bubble of laughter.
Variations of, "Hey, it's 'Mione," were called out from all around as she entered the room, bringing her up short for a moment as those nearest her reached out for hugs or cheek kisses.
"What's so funny, 'Mi?" Ron asked absently from his spot on the floor where he was playing Wizard's Chess with a very focused Harry, whose tongue was firmly lodged in between his teeth as he sized up the board, desperately trying to save his last knight from certain doom.
"Oh, your mum seems to be under the impression that I'm going to take up calling her 'Molly,' now that I'm an adult. Or at least one with a job prestigious enough to be referred to by a title." she chuckled again as she made to sandwich herself onto the couch between Ginny and Tonks, who had both moved over to give her a little room to sit.
"Where's Teddy?" Hermione asked, looking around the room for the rambunctious little boy.
"He's outside with the twins, de-gnoming the garden. Well, more accurately, he's chasing after them and growling, but the gnomes are kind enough to play along as they aren't being thrown over the wall."
Everyone got a good laugh at that image, and the room devolved into light chatter and general catching up, stopping only long enough for everyone to tromp outside when Molly informed them it was time to eat. Hermione began to relax, as she had yet to see Sirius, allowing herself to slip more comfortably into the conversations undulating over and around her. She knew how much of a stickler Molly was about one not being late to Sunday dinner, and that the only acceptable reasons to not attend were catching some sort of illness or death. Sirius must have been sick, although Hermione was almost nervous enough to hope for the latter. Almost.
It was as she was loading her plate with potatoes that he came striding over the lawn, smug smirk on his lips, the light of the setting sun glinting off his body like pure gold… And he had no idea that one member of the dining party had just creamed her knickers at the sight of him.
Motherfucker!
Thank Merlin she was leaving the next day, because he looked far too good in a pair of jeans, and she was certain it wasn't at all good for her health should she stay around to ogle him.
OxOxOxOxO
After dinner she tried to make a break for it, citing her need to make sure everything was packed up and ready to go for the next morning and that she still needed rest after being sick the week before. She knew she was lying - at least about the resting; after all, she had never really been sick - it was all just a ploy to avoid seeing Sirius so soon after "the encounter."
Everything was going swimmingly. She said all of her goodbyes while managing to avoid him without appearing to the casual observer to be passing over him, received a basket of leftovers and fresh-baked goods from Mrs. Weasley, and was just easing into her shoes when she heard her name being called from somewhere behind her. She hastily exited the back door and began to quicken her pace as she made her way across the lawn towards the edge of the wards in order to be able to Apparate.
"Hermione, wait!"
She temporarily paused her flight when she realized the voice calling after her was Harry, not Sirius. Damn, his voice, now that he was older, was too like his godfather's.
"What is it, Harry? I really need to go," she sighed, casting a furtive glance behind him to make sure he hadn't been followed.
Harry's brow furrowed at this, and he frowned, "Are you okay, 'Mione? You've been off ever since my birthday, it seems. Well, you've been off a bit longer than that, but it changed about then, I reckon." His observation caused Hermione to blanche, which she strived to play off by adjusting her purse further up her shoulder. Harry, however, didn't miss the motion.
"Listen, Harry, I'm tired. My flat isn't cleaned all the way yet, and I still have a few last minute things that need to be packed properly. Could you owl this to me," she motioned vaguely between them, "whatever it is?"
Harry's frown deepened, "Since when have you been so eager to get away from your best friend?" he asked jokingly, his heart not in it, as he was unable to keep the hurt out of his voice.
Hermione's shoulders crumpled at the sound, and she reached out a hand towards him, only to have him back away just enough so that she missed. It stung.
"Harry, I swear, I'm not trying to brush you off. I'm just tired and stressed. Thing's will be easier once I've moved into the castle and gotten settled, okay? Why don't you come visit me this week? We can meet up for lunch or something at The Three Broomsticks, yeah?"
The Boy Who Lived nodded once, his mind far away, thinking back on a conversation he'd had the week before. "Okay, 'Mione."
Hermione smiled weakly, reaching out for him again. This time he didn't pull away, and they enveloped each other in a tight embrace before she Apparated home, leaving Harry to make his way back towards the Burrow alone.
When he reached the porch he found Remus waiting for him.
"She gone?" he asked, puffing out a stream of smoke from the pipe he was holding idly.
"Yeah. Seemed anxious and distracted, just like you said she would." Harry put his hand out for the pipe, accepting it when Remus handed it over and taking a pull from it with an easy familiarity bred from previous practice.
"Sirius already left as well. Stormed out the Floo when he realized she'd ran," the werewolf informed him, watching his face for any hint of change at the news. "Seems he wanted to have a private word with her, but she slipped out before he could get her alone. That's all I could get out before he left; I'm sure he'll be in another of his moods when you get home."
Harry heaved a breath out, shaking his head lightly as he did. "I'm going to have to lock up the Ogden's again, it seems. And tell Ginny not to bother trying to come over tonight." He groaned dejectedly. "He's going to be miserable to live with, isn't he?"
Remus nodded, a small smirk on his face as he remembered how the animagus had ranted and raged the week before when the young witch had managed to slip through his fingers by feigning sickness. He'd been so sure she would show up for the Weasley's family dinner, having counted on Molly's legendary ability to incite guilt to come into play. Hermione, they had found, didn't mind using her trustworthiness to fake her way out of showing up, and it had both impressed and frustrated the Marauder.
"They both will be, until she stops running long enough for them to work things out."
OxOxOxOxO
Hermione threw up extra wards as soon as she got home, fearing she would be followed, and sat down at her little table, letting her shoulders slump forward as she rested her forehead against the cool tiles of the inlaid mosaic.
That had been both better and worse than she'd thought it would be.
Better because she'd gone all evening without speaking to Sirius, and had been able to - for the most part - avoid even looking his way; she hadn't thought she would be that lucky.
However, it was also much worse than she'd envisioned, because - despite not having interacted with him at all - her body had shown her exactly how affected she now was by his mere presence. She had thought her body's obvious yearning for him was bad enough before she'd ever had him, but now it was a million times worse, and the kicker was that she knew what she was missing out on. She was beyond horny, her panties were soaked, and she'd had to drag her mind out of the gutter more times than she cared to admit to. Not to mention the fact that she'd had to continually give herself a pep talk to make sure she didn't end up caving and inviting him back to hers for a late night shag session. It truly was a delectable idea…
Ugh! Enough of that! Time to finish packing and then it's a cold shower and to bed, she thought, forcing herself to stand and take stock of her surroundings.
It felt so odd, looking around at her nearly bare living quarters. The quaint little flat had been her home for two years, ever since the end of the war, and tomorrow she was on her way to be a professor at her alma mater, leaving behind everything she'd known up until then. It had been a dream of hers ever since she first found out about magic.
Teaching was in her blood: her parents may have been dentists, but her favorite grandfather had been a professor, and she used to love listening to him lecture. On the occasions her mother couldn't find a sitter for after school, her grandfather would step in and allow her to come sit in on one of his classes, as long as she was quiet and kept herself busy for the duration. He was the root of her and her mother's love of Shakespeare - he was a professor of English at a local university - and the reason she had been named as she had. "No other possible name for the daughter of Helen except Hermione," he'd said when he found out his only daughter was giving him a granddaughter. He'd died shortly after she had received her Hogwarts letter, but he'd been there with her the first time she ever went to Diagon Alley, and had been the one to purchase Hogwarts, A History for her.
Shaking herself out of her reverie, she got down to business shrinking the last few pieces of furniture and packing them away in her beaded bag, along with the rest of her life. Her books were all boxed up (other than the two she was currently reading, and Hogwarts, A History, which she would never ever think of packing away), so she shrunk those down as well, then stored them away along with her full wardrobe, her bathroom decor, all of her kitchen items, and every piece of furniture other than her bare mattress. Eventually even her drapes were packed away, leaving only her mattress and a small duffle filled with the necessities she would need immediately at hand.
It was a bit sad and rather eye opening that - thanks to magic - her whole life could be packed away into a bag that was the size of her two fists put together. She was also forced to have to face the startling fact that she truly didn't have any ties to a life outside of her professorship. Sure, she had friends, but they didn't really count. Not in the same way that her parents did, and even then, even they didn't count like they used to; they were still in Australia, happily living out their years without any knowledge of her existence. She was, for all intents and purposes, alone. She had known for a while, but had been able to keep herself surrounded by friends and busy enough that over time it faded into the background. Now it glared before her, twenty foot tall and neon.
With that realization she found herself incapable of caring as she slumped, fully clothed, onto her mattress and cried herself into a fitful sleep, too weary to even wave her wand to put the lights out.
Her last conscious thought was that hopefully her new life at Hogwarts would be able to distract her again; she didn't know how long she'd last if it didn't.
Author's Note:
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I know this chapter is kinda just filler, but filler is a necessary part of fic life. Besides, it was longer than the last two! ;)
Beta thanks to: Ariel Riddle, CaptainHoodie, and MissandMarauder!
Reviewer shout out to Lady Evora! Your reviews make my day! :D
Guys, I'm 3 reviews away from 100! That's insane to me. Love you all!
