Chapter 11: The Revelation

As Hermione prepped for dinner with John on Wednesday, she felt like she had to tell Sirius to invite Anna. She wanted to avoid the whole thing, but she had invited Tonks and Emily, and she didn't want to be petty. She could be the bigger person and extend friendship to Anna. Couldn't she?

She was dreading the whole evening and regretted even setting it up, but it was too late to cancel. She had debated about ordering in or cooking, but in the end decided to cook. John loved Italian food, so she picked a recipe she thought he would enjoy. It was rather more complicated than she was used to, and she fumbled the dish a bit. She thought she saved it though, and in the end, it tasted alright, though it looked a bit sketchy.

About 10 minutes before everyone was set to arrive, she heard the tapping of an owl at the kitchen window. She let the brown barn owl in and took the note from its leg, then it took off without waiting for a reply or a treat.

She recognized John's handwriting and her stomach dropped. She tore open the missive and read his quick excuse. There was an emergency at St. Mungo's he needed to stay for. They'd have to reschedule.

She shook her head and sighed. She was so frazzled about the whole situation, and she suddenly just knew that Anna would take the opportunity to insinuate that John didn't exist. She had made overtures of the sort at work on Monday, though she hadn't come right out and said it directly.

Just a few minutes later, Tonks and Remus came in, followed closely by Ron and Emily. They all made sounds of disappointment when Hermione told them what had happened. Then Anna entered just ahead of Sirius. They both glanced around the room, obviously looking for John.

"Where is he?" Anna asked, voice innocently curious.

"He's not coming. There was an emergency at the hospital he had to stay for," Hermione said, waving the note around in the air.

"Hmm..." Anna said critically. "It's almost enough to make me believe he doesn't exist." Her tone was light and her laughter tinkling to soften the accusation in her words.

Hermione flushed, embarrassed, even though she had expected Anna's reaction. She looked to Sirius, silently asking him to come to her defense. But he just looked back at her impassively.

Then, thankfully, Tonks jumped in, "Of course he exists! Sirius has met him, haven't you?"

Sirius nodded slowly, "Yeah, I've met him. He's a real peach." His tone was dripping with sarcasm.

"So, is dinner ready?" Ron said too loudly into the silence that fell after Sirius' words.

Hermione, grateful to Ron for the distraction, clapped her hands together, "Yes, dinner's all ready. Everyone sit down!"

She brought the food to the table once everyone was seated. Hermione had hoped everyone wouldn't be too put off by the appearance of the food, and thankfully everyone started to dig in. Everyone except Anna, of course.

"This looks quite... interesting," she said, peering into the serving dish, slight grimace on her face. "Is that pasta?"

"Oh! Yes," Hermione answered, even though it was quite obvious it was pasta.

"I don't eat pasta," Anna said primly.

Hermione thought she heard Emily whisper something to Ron, to which he guffawed loudly then tried to turn it into an awkward cough.

"Well, I, uh... I have a side salad if you'd rather?" Hermione said, offering her the salad bowl.

"Yes, thank you," Anna said, taking the bowl.

After a few minutes lull in the conversation where nothing could be heard but the clinking of forks, Ron said, "This is really good, 'Mione. Doesn't look for much though, does it?"

Tonks started chuckling at the remark, and Hermione couldn't help but join in. "No, I'll admit to having some trouble with the recipe. But looks aren't everything, are they?"

Hermione chanced a look at Sirius to see his reaction to her comment. He was staring at her intently, seemingly ignoring his date beside him, trying to whisper something into his ear.

The rest of dinner went without incident. After, Tonks and Emily helped her clean up, while everyone else went to the drawing room. Once they were all safely out of earshot, Tonks exclaimed, "What a hag that one is!"

Hermione couldn't help but agree. Emily snickered and chimed in, "I don't know Sirius as well as you two do, but what on earth does he see in her?"

"Aside from the obvious?" Hermione spit out bitterly. Tonks and Emily exchanged looks, eyebrows raised.

Emily continued, "Yes, well, looks aside, she is quite the diva, isn't she? With her side salad for dinner and not volunteering to help clean up. And what was that comment about John?"

"It's not the first time she's implied I made him up," Hermione said.

"Why doesn't Sirius stand up for you?" Tonks questioned. "You're one of his closest friends! And he just lets her treat you like a bug she wants to squash!"

Hermione shrugged helplessly, "I don't know. He-I actually introduced them. He knows..." She trailed off, fighting back the sudden lump in her throat. "He knows that she makes me feel... foolish. But he chose to date her anyway. I guess he doesn't really care how she treats me."

"He must care!" Emily said vehemently. Tonks nodded in agreement.

"Well, he's doing a rubbish job of showing it!" Hermione said. Then she shook herself, deciding not to let what was going on with Sirius bother her anymore tonight. "Let's go join the others," she said, hoping to move on.


If she had thought her relationship with Sirius had been strained after she had refused to break-up with John, that was nothing compared to how horrible it was after he brought Anna into their midst.

He had apparently decided now that everyone knew they were together, she could come around whenever she felt like it. It seemed like every time Hermione turned around, there she was, looking beautiful and smiling condescendingly at her.

Hermione had taken to avoiding the common areas of the house whenever possible for fear of running into her. And she had barely spoken more than two words to Sirius in weeks. Out of everything, that bothered her the most. She could feel herself losing him, and she hated it.

And to make matters worse, though John had apologized profusely and promised to make it up to her, there had been no real attempt on his part to reschedule a dinner with her friends. So, she couldn't even rub it in Anna's face that John was very real. She felt like being able to do so would make matters a little bit easier to bear.

To top it all off, Hermione was starting to feel very nervous about the approaching deadline. She had less than three months to get married, and with each passing day, she become more and more convinced that John was not the sort of man that she wanted to marry. Though he hadn't displayed himself as the womanizer Sirius had made him out to be, he could be cold, and his obvious disinterest in anyone important to Hermione turned her off him.

Perhaps he was just looking for someone to marry on paper? Someone to meet the Ministry's requirement, but to not actually have a relationship with? While Hermione couldn't blame him for that, that was not how he had advertised himself at the beginning, and if she had known that's what he had wanted, she wouldn't have wasted time with him.

But she didn't break things off. He was really her only prospect, even more so now that Sirius was with Anna. Even if she had to have just a marriage on paper with him, it would be better than being married to a Ministry appointed stranger. Wouldn't it?


Ron and Emily set a date for their wedding a month before the deadline. They had decided to go ahead and have a joint reception with Fred and his fiancée, Madeline, to save Molly the hassle of hosting two parties, since everyone agreed the Burrow was the perfect place for a summer wedding celebration. The two couples would keep their ceremonies at different times though, Fred's the week before, and Ron's the day of the reception.

Hermione had been gratified when Emily had asked her to be a bridesmaid. She hadn't been expecting it since she hadn't known her for very long, but Emily had said she wouldn't want it any other way. Ron was having Harry as best man, and the rest of his brother's as groomsman.

Ron and Emily had found a flat not too far from Grimmauld, which Hermione was happy about. Ron would be moving there before the wedding to get everything settled, and Emily would move in after.

No matter how upsetting her own situation was, she was beyond thrilled for her friend. He was truly happy, and even though she was dreading him moving out and on with his life, she wasn't so selfish as to not wish him the best in his new adventure. She knew she was not losing him.

She also expected an announcement to come any day from Remus and Tonks. The two were nearly inseparable now, though to her knowledge they had never spent the night together. She felt like Remus may be slightly old fashioned when it came to that, so she wasn't really all that surprised.

Then, there was Sirius. He was always either out with Anna or she was at the house. But there didn't really seem to be any real connection between them. In fact, Sirius always seemed to be a bit annoyed by her simpering, false friendliness, though he never said so. But perhaps he decided to compromise what may actually make him happy for just meeting the deadline like she was doing with John?

Whatever was going on, they had certainly drifted apart. She was no longer comfortable spending time alone with him, and she was still more than a little angry with him for dating Anna in the first place. But she hadn't said anything to him about it. She didn't want him to think she was jealous, even if she was. Just a little bit.

Late one Friday night, she chanced a trip down to the kitchen for a snack. She hoped it was late enough that she wouldn't run into anyone, and her luck held on the way there. But as she padded back up the stairs, she heard voices coming from the drawing room. The door was opened just a crack, and though she couldn't see them, she could clearly hear Anna's musical voice coming from within, "Are you sure this John is real? It's awfully suspicious that he hasn't shown up here since that dinner nightmare last month."

Hermione knew she shouldn't eavesdrop, but she couldn't help herself, knowing they were talking about her. After nearly a month of no real contact with Sirius, she was suddenly desperate to find out if he would stand up for her in private when he didn't do so in front of others.

"He's real," Sirius said, voice low and sounding more than a little annoyed, "I've told you already. I've met him."

"Well, maybe he was real at the start, but perhaps he's broken things off with her since then. She isn't exactly a prize catch, is she?"

Sirius growled, low in his throat, sounding far more like Padfoot than she had heard out of him in quite some time. Hermione knew it was a warning, that he was on the verge of truly losing his temper with Anna, but she didn't heed it and kept on talking.

"I mean, honestly, she could at least try! She doesn't even wear make-up! If she truly wanted to catch a man, she should put in some more effort. And she's just so dull!"

"Enough!" Sirius barked loudly, making Hermione jump. She could tell by the squeak Anna let out, that she had been startled as well.

"Honestly, Sirius!" Anna said, though her voice was slightly strained and much meeker, "There's no need to shout at me!"

"Hermione is one of my best friends. You're a fool if you think I would let you rip her apart and not say anything!" He spat. "Why do you care so much about John anyway?"

"Because she has her sights on you!" Anna said, somewhat shrilly, "While I don't expect a man like you would go for a woman like her, it's been clear to me from the start that she wants you. And I don't like competition."

Sirius laughed bitterly, "She doesn't want me. And even if she did, you just made it very clear what you thought about her chances of catching a man. Why would you be worried?"

Anna just huffed, then said, "How do you know she doesn't want you? I expect any witch in Britain would be thrilled to catch you."

There was silence for a time, then Sirius said quietly, voice hoarse and full of emotion, "Because she could have had me. I wanted to marry her, but she didn't want me."

Hermione quickly scampered up the stairs to her room, not staying to hear Anna's reply. She closed the bedroom door and found her bed before the tears came.

She had been such a fool. The raw emotion in Sirius' voice in that moment, the pain and the emptiness, cut at her. She hadn't realized. She had thought he only wanted her as an easy out. A way to comply with the law without doing any legwork to find a wife.

But she knew now she had been wrong. He had wanted to marry her. Truly wanted to. Not to avoid marrying someone else. To be with her. He had chosen her, and she had refused him. Time and again. She had driven him to Anna.

She had told Remus months ago that if not marrying Sirius was a mistake, she would have to just deal with the fallout. She guessed that's what she was doing now. Because she now knew that refusing him had been a mistake. And it was too late.