Love the reviews guys. You are all officially the best people in the whole world. I've decided to finally tie up this fic once and for all! Apologies for not updating in like 6 months! I was being very busy with university work and having practically a full time job at the same time!
But enough about that, on with the story!
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She stood there in the darkness; the rain pounding against her body, soaking her clothes and her hair. She should have felt elated at this moment, but instead the only feeling she could muster was one of a general emptiness.
She walked towards the top of a grassy hill, ignoring the mud that began to cover her shoes. When she reached the top she raised her hand to her face and did her best to wipe away the water from it, she didn't want to look a mess in this final moment.
A feeling of numbness seemed to grip her, and she shivered slightly when she finally noticed the cold.
She turned and faced the figure in front of her; the one that had walked alongside her, hand-in-hand up the slippery slope. His steady hand reached out and touched her arm, attempting to provide some sort of reassurance.
"I'm surprised at how easy that was, you know." He smiled. "I think it was quite an ingenious plan. Hide you in my dorm, then go and find Remus, become Padfoot, then go into the Shack with him and feast on all the raw meat that we'd put there from our previous visit to the kitchens, and then run around in the woods for a few hours. Result, you don't get bitten because he was never there in the first place to bite you. But honestly Hermione love, if I ever get found out that I stole all that meat, I'm going to be in so much trouble." He studied her for a while and laughed. But his laughter seemed to be devoid of any real amusement.
She could barely see him. She had so much water in her eyes she wasn't sure if it was rain or tears. She concluded that it was probably a mix of both, and she was glad that the rain was there to disguise the feeling that she was so desperately trying to suppress.
"Yeah. It was quite clever.." Her words trailed. He stepped towards her and slowly moved his right arm towards her shirt. He pulled it slightly at the top to uncover her shoulder. She shuddered at his touch, but was once again thankful for the current weather situation to disguise it.
"No scar." He said in amazement.
She lifted his hand from her shoulder and held it for a while. She took his other hand and held them out in front of her, turning them over and stroking them softly.
"Your hands look so young." She wondered what these hands would look like the next time she would see them. How they would feel after fourteen years, weathered by the forces of time and scarred by a life of torture, misery and loneliness. She let go of his hands slowly and he let them drop loosely to his sides.
She stood there in silence waiting for him to say the next words.
"Well, then I guess this is it then." He managed a smile.
She wondered what he was feeling at this time. She knew he liked her, he hadn't really mentioned it properly, well, he had but he always tried to dodge the subject. She wondered about the girlfriends he would have after she left. She wondered how many there would be in the next five years that he would have left before he got locked up for a crime he didn't commit.
She thought about this for a while, and then decided that at this moment, it didn't really matter.
"Yeah I suppose it is."
Another pause, another awkward silence interspersed with the rain lashing on the ground around them. Her body seemed to have taken on a life of its own. She was almost unaware that her hand was now reaching into her bag and taking out the time turner. She undid the catch and fitted it around her neck, but all of this she did with a sense of unwanted inevitability.
Suddenly they both became overwhelmed with a sense of urgency. The half-hearted smile that had been painted on Sirius's face was wiped. It was as if he realised that is was in fact now or never.
He grabbed her and enveloped her into a passionate embrace. He held her tightly to him and her sense of shock was mixed with a sense of longing as she buried her head into his shoulder. She couldn't hold it in any longer, she could feel the tears begin to flow, her emotions flooding through her body as she sobbed almost uncontrollably. She lifted her head and looked at him. He put his hand behind her neck, tilted her head and kissed her.
The overflow of feelings within her made her feel like she was about the collapse, and she was glad of his reassuring arm around her, acting as though it was keeping her upright. She did not want this moment to ever end. Realising a need to preserve it, she concentrated carefully on the way he kissed, how his lips felt on hers, how his hands caressed her head and body; so she could replay this moment again and again. She cursed herself for her bad sense of timing, wishing she had simply attacked him in this way much earlier, so that the inevitable pleasure she felt would not be overcome by such regretful emotions.
It was only once it was over that she realised how utterly drenched she was from the weather. Her shirt was now practically see-through, but much to both her pleasure and sadness, so was his.
"You know, you're alright kid." The characteristic Sirius Black humour never left him. He gave an ironic laugh. "I won't forget you, you know."
"I know." She forced a smile.
Shaky fingers began to twist the dials on her time-turner. It was difficult for her to see what she was doing through clouded eyes and stifled sobs.
"Goodbye."
She looked up at him and then began to watch him slowly fade out of view; the ground beneath her feet dissipating. She felt herself being momentarily flung out of the air and back down again. She watched the ground beneath her come to resemble something more familiar. It stopped. And it was still raining.
-o-
Hermione returned quickly to her dorm. She checked the time and date. She'd got it almost perfect, only one hour out. Harry and Ron would be getting back soon wondering why she'd missed her lesson. She decided to tell them she suddenly became ill. How fitting, she thought.
She tidied herself up, allowing a few moments to compose herself; ready to pretend that she was feeling ill and that was all that was wrong with her. She solemnly made her way to the Gryffindor common room; where, to her surprise Harry, Ron, as well as Ginny and the Weasley twins were waiting for her.
"Hermione! What happened? You missed Potions… Potions! Snape was so mad. He's given you triple, not double, triple homework to do. Plus he told us to tell you that straight after the Christmas holidays he wants to see you every night for a month for detention. You must have had some bloody good reason for missing Potions." Ron snorted.
"I didn't feel well, Ron." Hermione tried her best at composure, almost succeeded, when she remembered something in Ron's humoured outburst that made her brow furrow. There was a long pause, "Christmas?" She uttered.
Harry and Ron exchanged confused looks. "Yeah." Harry glanced at her furtively. "Have you got all your stuff ready? Carriages leave in an hour. We're gonna be meeting Arthur Weasley and Moody at the station..."
Hermione paused for a brief moment, then nodded, letting some tension release from her. "Ah."
"… who are then going to take us to Grimmauld Place for dinner."
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I apologise for the shortness of this chapter, but it is a very fitting place for it to end. Reviews greatly appreciated.
FYI: in case you were wondering, the translation of the latin title is 'When a woman weeps, she sets a trap with her tears.'
