REQUEST: Moony's Fire wanted me to do a chapter where the Marauders lock Sirius and Hermione in a closet

Episode 21

Closet Time

Summary: In which Sirius and Hermione spend time in a closet thanks to the Marauders

Fourth year finally arrived for the Marauders, as did hormones. By the middle of the year, boys that had once called girls disgusting were holding hands with their girlfriends, and girls that once couldn't stand the male species were making out with said animals in the broom closets. Some, however, were like James and Lily. The former would ask out his beloved, and the latter would reject his offers for a date every day.

Hermione and Sirius were nothing like James and Lily. They were much more annoying.

It wasn't exactly hard to see they liked each other, probably had since first year really, but neither would admit that their friend could possibly have feelings for each other. The constant evasion amused and annoyed the Gryffindors to no end, but for the Marauders it was simple annoyance.

Really, Moonstar and Padfoot had always had a tight bond that even Prongs and Padfoot couldn't compare too, but they still refused to admit they cared for each other beyond friendship. It had been okay at the beginning of the year, but now, with the constant rants of how they love and yet aren't loved in return, the Marauders were really beginning to get irritated.

Peter, surprisingly, came up with the brilliant idea. It had to work, after all it was thought up by a Marauder! So, with Peter's plan in all their minds, James, Remus, and Peter went in search of the Black heir and Muggle-born.

Finding Sirius and Hermione wasn't hard at all. The latter was in her favorite place, the library, and the former was muttering charms underneath a table in the Great Hall, turning Snape's hair various colors. Getting them to move from their spots, however, was a tad harder.

Hermione was convinced when Remus explained that McGonagall wanted to talk to her about something important, but James was still having problems with Sirius.

"No!"

"Come on, Padfoot, why won't you come out? You can play with Snape later!"

"But I'm having fun now!" Sirius protested, grinning malevolently at the oblivious Slytherin. His hair was currently bright pink, but he was so preoccupied with his potions essay that he hadn't even noticed the snickers of his classmates. "What if I miss his reaction when he realizes his hair is pink?"

As though he had somehow heard the Gryffindor from across the semi-crowded room, – not everyone had yet to make it to the Great Hall for lunch – Snape looked up. Sirius snickered as Bellatrix handed him her small, compact mirror. Almost immediately, the pale boy's face turned red from embarrassment and anger.

"BLACK!!!" he shouted, catching everyone's attention. As soon as the students occupying the Great Hall saw him, they burst into a fit of hysterical laughter. Sirius smirked and crawled from under the table, straightening his hair and clothes just as Snape marched up to him.

"Oh, hello Snivellus," he greeted boredly. Glancing at the Slytherin's hair, he allowed his smirk to return. "Did you do something to your hair?"

"Ha ha, very funny." Severus glared at the insolent Gryffindor. "Turn it back. Now!"

"Why, whatever do you mean, Snivels?" Sirius asked innocently.

"Don't act like you don't know, you did this!" Snape huffed, pointing towards his hair. The Gryffindors roared with laughter as they heard his slightly indignant tone. It wasn't hard to see that Snape was fighting not to pout.

"Well, I think it suits you," Sirius sighed, "but if you insist..."

Severus was surprised that Sirius was actually listening to him, and it showed, but his expression quickly turned superior. Obviously, the lowly Gryffindor had finally realized who was more powerful and was listening to his superiors.

Sirius waved his wand and muttered something under his breath. "There you go!" he said cheerfully. Snape eyed him suspiciously, huffed once, and marched back to the Gryffindor table. He steadily ignored the still-snickering students as he took his seat and watched the Marauders leave the Great Hall with wide smiles on their faces.

Just as the double doors closed behind them, a loud shout of "BLACK, YOU BASTARD!" could be heard from inside. Snape must have just seen his newly acquired bright yellow Mohawk.

"Bloody hell, mate, that was good!" James praised. Sirius smirked and rubbed his fingernails against his thick cloak.

"I know," he answered cockily. His smirk turned into a smile as he looked between James and Peter. "So, what did you guys want again?"

"Oh!" James perked up. "Uh, we saw this really cool...thing in McGonagall's class! We wanted you to check it out!"

"You saw a really cool thing in the Transfiguration class?" Sirius asked skeptically, raising a brow in disbelief.

"Yes!" Peter confirmed enthusiastically, nodding almost frantically. "It was a very neat...thing."

"What kind of thing?" Sirius continued to interrogate skeptically. Maybe it was the shifty eyes and fidgeting, but something told him James and Peter were hiding something from him.

"Well, it's kind of...and it's got a...and it's...well, ya see, it's got this really neat...thing on it..." James stuttered. Normally he was good at lying, but the hope that this would actually work and the fear that it wouldn't were making the usually charismatic Gryffindor too nervous to think straight. Peter wasn't good at lying in the first place and could only nod his agreement, blushing slightly.

Sirius grinned. "Neat! Let's go!" he started running in the direction of the Transfiguration classroom, eagerness in his every step. Peter and James watched him go, wondering how their friend could fall for such an obvious ploy, but were grateful nonetheless.

"Let's hope this works," James muttered, following Sirius.

"Don't worry," Peter piped up beside him, "it's foolproof!"

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"So, what is it exactly that Professor McGonagall wanted to see me about?" Hermione asked. She was getting a sneaking suspicion Remus was hiding something from her, and so far her instincts had never been wrong. The werewolf shrugged nonchalantly, hiding his worry that she would figure something out before they had even made it to the classroom.

"She wouldn't say," he answered. "Just that she needed to speak with you about something important."

"Huh, that's odd," Hermione mused. "She does tend to keep important matters between herself and whoever is concerned though."

Remus almost sighed in relief when Hermione seemed to have fallen for his answer. Almost. He knew if he did, it would be a dead giveaway that something else was going on. Hermione paid attention to detail, and nothing got past her. It was why Remus had been chosen to find her.

"Here we are," he said, pushing open the door. Hermione entered with the werewolf following close behind.

"Hey, I don't see the professor anywh- oomph!" the Muggle-born was cut off as Remus pushed her into the open closet in the Transfiguration classroom and closed the door. He placed a chair in front of the door and sat down, waiting for James and Peter to get there with Sirius.

He didn't wait long before the door was pushed open again. Sirius stepped into the room, his eyes alight with mischief.

"So, where is it?" he asked the two behind him without turning. He looked from left to right eagerly. "Where is this cool thing at?"

"Cool thing?" Remus questioned, raising a questioning brow. Sirius jumped and turned to face the lupine. He hadn't noticed his presence earlier.

"Moony! You're here too! Cool, so where's Hermione anyway?"

"Remus, let me out of here you bastard!" Hermione shouted before Remus could say anything. It seemed the temporary shock of being pushed in a closet by her supposed friend had worn off. "When I get out of here, I swear I'll kill you, Moony! Let me out!"

Sirius' eyes widened in shock. Just as Remus stood from his seat, the black-haired Marauder pushed his chair away and swung open the door.

"Hermi-oomph!" Sirius felt something hard push him into the closet and onto Hermione. It was hard in the enclosed space to move away from her, but he couldn't let her know how excited being so close to her was making him. "Uh, hi Hermione."

"Oh, uh, hi Sirius," Hermione greeted equally nervous. She blushed slightly and was thankful the darkness hid her red cheeks from view. "Hey, we're in a closet!" she shouted suddenly, realizing she hadn't managed to get out. "Let us out!" she yelled, jingling the knob violently.

"Sorry 'star," James' voice could be heard from the other side, "but you and Padfoot need to work out your feelings, and this seemed like the best way! We'll be back in an hour. Ya'll two don't behave now, ya hear!"

"Guys?" Hermione growled. "Guys! Guys, this isn't funny! Seriously, let us out!"

Sirius snorted. "I think they're gone, love," he stated, glad that she couldn't see his blush. Why did James have to go and mention his feelings for the female Marauder? Now, she would know something was up and could reject him to his face!

"No kidding," Hermione muttered sarcastically. "Dicks," she added as an afterthought. Sirius snorted again, this time in amusement. You wouldn't know it just by looking at her, but Hermione actually had quite the dirty mouth on her. It was just one more thing he loved about the female prankster.

"I'm sorry you have to be stuck in a closet with me," he said instead, feigning hurt, "since it's obviously so repulsive to you."

"No!" Hermione shouted, startling them both. As their eyes adjusted, Sirius swore he saw a light sheen of red across the bridge of Hermione's nose. Meanwhile, she could have sworn the same, but both quickly dismissed it as their imagination. "I mean no, it's not that."

"Oh." Sirius wouldn't admit that her response had made him feel a little more confident. He smiled slightly. "I was just kidding."

"Oh." Hermione's voice was soft, almost scared. She sighed and leaned against the closet wall, since it was much too cramped to actually sit down. "So...how did they get you here?"

"Told me there was a really cool thing," Sirius answered promptly.

"A really cool thing?" Hermione asked in disbelief. "What kind of thing?"

"Well it had a...um...now that you mention it, they did make it kind of obvious there wasn't a thing here!" Sirius laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head, wincing when his elbow hit a shelf. "Ow."

"You okay?" Hermione asked. She had refrained from face-palming for fear of hitting something herself, and she had resisted the even stronger urge to kiss Sirius for fear of screwing up severely. He wasn't particularly stupid, just a tad gullible where James was concerned. It was cute though, in her opinion, and just one more reason why she loved him.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Sirius answered with a light chuckle. "Ya know, aside from being forced in a closet and all that."

"I'm sorry you have to be in here with me," she said, repeating his teasing words from earlier. There was a hint of pain in her voice, and it broke Sirius' heart.

"You know that's not what I meant!" he said quickly. Hermione smiled slightly, and by now Sirius could see it, though it was still rather hard to make out her features clearly.

"Yeah," she said, "I'm just being silly I guess."

"You're not exactly known for being silly, 'star," Sirius reminded her. Moonstar smiled.

"You're known for being too silly," she informed the dog-like boy.

Padfoot smiled this time. "Yeah, guess I am. But that's why you love me!"

Hermione's eyes widened. She couldn't believe it! How had he found out? She thought she hid her feelings rather well!

"I'm going to kill them," she whispered darkly when she realized how he must've discovered her affections. Sirius looked at her in surprise, but Hermione had closed her eyes so she didn't notice his expression. Not that she would have noticed it anyway, since it was still dark.

"Wha?"

"I can't believe they told you!" she shouted, cutting Sirius' question off. He had no idea what she was talking about, but he was beginning to worry. When Hermione was mad, she was mad!

"Eh, told me what, love?"

"That I love you!" she shouted angrily. Hermione gasped and clamped her hands over her mouth, ignoring the jolt of pain she felt when her elbow banged against a shelf on her side of the closet. Somehow, she knew she had said too much. "They never told you...did they?"

"N-no," Sirius mumbled nervously, hope that she really did feel the same as him nearly crushing his heart. "No, they never told me anything."

"Oh." Hermione's face was beet-red by now, and Sirius knew it wasn't just his imagination this time. He gulped and reached a trembling hand towards a strand of chestnut hair. Hermione shivered as he pushed it behind her ear and turned away from him. "Could you just pretend I never said any of that?" she asked hopefully.

"No!" Sirius answered quickly. He felt his face heat up and knew he too was now blushing crimson. Hermione let out a breath, clearly unhappy with his answer. "I mean," Sirius corrected quickly, "I won't forget about it because I...I love you too!"

"Wha? B-but how?" Hermione couldn't believe her ears. This had to be a dream! There was no way Sirius could return her feelings!

"I-it's nothing really," Sirius shrugged bashfully. Imagine, the Sirius Black acting shy! It was a good thing James wasn't here, or he would never let him live this down! "I just...the way you scrunch up your nose when you think, and the way your eyes crinkle when you smile, or the way you get annoyed when James and I don't listen to you and get in trouble, then beg you to get us out of it later...I love it. I love everything about you, 'Mione!"

"Sirius," Hermione breathed and smiled. "I love everything about you too. Like when you--" Sirius never found out what she was about to say though, as he was too busy pressing his lips to hers. He pulled away slowly, smiling brightly at his new girlfriend. Hermione's smile was equally big.

"Does this make us a couple?" he asked hopefully. Hermione couldn't stop the snort of amusement.

"It had better," she told him. "I don't usually kiss guys I'm not dating."

"I should hope not!" Sirius said, upset by the mere thought of Hermione kissing another man. His expression softened as a new thought penetrated his mind. "Does this mean you'll stop hounding me to study three months before an exam?"

"Oh Sirius," Hermione laughed lightly. Her expression turned serious, and her laughter faded. "Not even in your dreams," she answered completely serious and all hints of amusement gone. Sirius sighed and hung his head.

"Figures," he muttered. A new smile broke across his face. To be honest, he was kind of glad she'd said no. It wasn't like he studied anyway, but her constant reminders were yet another trait he loved about her, just one of the more annoying ones he wouldn't mind disappearing every once in a while. "Oh well, was worth a try."

"Shut up and kiss me," Hermione said, rolling her eyes. Sirius had no problem complying.

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"It's been an hour, Prongs," Remus said. "We should go check on Hermione and Sirius."

"Yeah, you're right," James agreed. Together, the three Marauders made their way back to the Transfiguration classroom. They had been keeping an eye on McGonagall, making sure she didn't go back to her classroom before the hour was up. Thankfully, she hadn't once made a move for her office.

"I wonder how they're doing," Peter mused as they pushed open the door. A soft thump caught their attention, and Peter gasped. "Oh no, Hermione's killing Sirius!"

James and Remus rushed to the door, hoping their friends were okay. Deep down they knew neither would hurt the other, but still...If somehow their plan backfired, Peter's hypothesis could very well be correct.

James wrenched open the door and gaped at the sight he saw. A slow smile spread across his and Remus' faces as they quickly closed the door and turned to the shortest Marauder.

"What's goin' on?" Peter asked nervously. "Are they okay?"

"Oh yeah," Remus assured, "they're just fine."

"Why don't we leave the lovebirds alone for a little while longer?" James suggested, smirking. Peter looked between the two and back at the door curiously before shrugging. He would find out what they had seen later. Since neither looked worried, he figured Hermione wasn't strangling Sirius, and his plan wasn't failing horribly.

Laughing, Remus and James led the way out of the classroom and away from the closet.

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Three days later found the new couple cuddling on the couch, while their friends smiled happily at them. They had finally gotten together, and there was no more avoidance or declarations of unrequited love from either. Across the room, James had finally managed to catch Lily alone.

"Evans!" James greeted happily. "Go out with me?"

"Get lost, Potter!" Lily shouted angrily, marching out of the Gryffindor common room.

The four Marauders watched as the messy-haired teen chased after her, begging her to give him a chance. Hermione pursed her lips in thought.

"You know," she muttered, "I hear the Transfiguration closet works wonders for a relationship..."

Remus was quick to answer. "Sirius and Peter can get James, you and I will get Lily."

Satisfied with the new plan, the Marauders rushed after the redhead and James, determined to make them fall in love one way or another. Closets had proved a good place to start.

END

A/N's:

Sorry if their confessions of love were cliche. I'm really more of a smut/angst person, though most of my M-rated stories aren't posted, so fluff isn't really something I'm particularly great at.