-1A note from Serade Black: Thank you, as always for those that have left their say, even if it's not exactlly what I want to hear. I appreciate, truly, your say in what your thinking.
Southampton-got it! Thanks!!
I'm working on the next chapter, so do not worry, those that are wanting more Sirius/Snape confrontation. It's coming, but I hope I don't disappoint.
Enjoy and thanks for readin!
SB
Ch. 25 - No One Can Keep a Secret
"Good Morning, my twitterpated friends," Remus practically sung as Sirius came into the kitchen first, followed by his housemate.
The two came in like polar opposites after their new illicit affair. Hermione, with her tousled hair and wearing what appeared to be Sirius's button up work shirt, ducked her head away as if to hide the guilt of sex on her skin. Sirius, however, held his head high, proud, wearing only his linen pants and grinning like a school boy to his friend as if he was ready to shout to the high heavens over what he'd just gotten finished doing.
Being locked up for several years did build up an incredible sex drive that would put diagnosed nymphomaniacs to shame. It also helped that his vigorous work-outs he'd been doing to also build up his strength helped for more difficult positions that would make a gymnast cringe.
Remus chuckled under his breath and shook his head as he graciously handed Hermione her normal cup of tea, steaming perfectly and fixed the way she always liked it. Emerging from the curtains of guilty long locks, she smiled meekly and kindly accepted his routine gesture whenever he woke up before her.
Sirius watched the exchange between the two and yawned wide and loud like a lion, "What Mooney? No tea for me, mate?"
Remus pretended like he hadn't even noticed his long time friend standing by him hopeful when he politely smiled and pointed to the jar of Earl Grey in individual packets, "Help yourself, my friend."
Sirius mumbled a snarky remark under his breath about wimpy werewolves and made extra clanking noises when he retrieved a cup from the cabinet.
Hermione settled down at the table, tucking a leg under her, and took a long warm sip from her steaming cup. Cherishing the way the liquid gold soothed her throat, she carefully set down her cup on the saucer and reached for the front page of the Daily Prophet to see if anything of the Ministry was exposed.
After much unnecessary tea-making noise, Sirius finally slid into the chair next to her and pretended to ignore Remus who was smirking at him and his overdramatic morning antics of a three year-old. Feigning annoyance, he reached over and snatched up the sports section of the Prophet and tore it open to the quidditch to scour the pages for a mention of his godson's name.
The kitchen around them was quiet; hardly any stirrings from the three of them and Remus watched the two carefully, like a suspicious father. Sitting at the table without a shirt, Sirius had gone at least a full two days without shaving and his shadowed cheeks added a darker bad boy attitude about him. He was a stunning contrast next to the nearly perfect younger witch he'd taken quite a fancy to. She unconsciously fixed anything on the table that lay near her, straightening them into perfect lines, while the older wizard sitting next to her like a dirty vagrant liked his area uneven and almost in disarray. They were such a picturesque opposite pair.
However, as the smoke started to clear, there remained a sweetness to them, like the way a large dog licks a kitten clean. It'd been a couple of months of their ongoing touch-and-go game; it hadn't even been discussed who Hermione had last spent her late evenings with before Sirius started to play a stronger role in her life. Perhaps all was well on that level, but just the same, it was nice to see his long time friend finally find a balance again, even if it was with his godson's best friend.
The small alarm on the toaster indicated Sirius's English muffin was well toasted, so he got up to top it off with heavy caloric fruit spread. He'd resorted to fixing his breakfast the muggle way, by hand, when he'd realized he'd left his wand upstairs when he was preoccupied with making crude comments to Hermione about how sexy she looked when she put on his work shirt.
Hermione glanced over to the part of the paper Sirius was reading and saw a picture of Harry standing while holding his broom in one hand and an arm around the female seeker of the Norwegian Northbacks. With that unruly hair that looked just as windblown even if he had just gotten off a broom, the Prophet- picture Harry flinched every time a flashbulb went off.
The young witch smiled to herself when she thought about how soon he'd be home for the holidays and celebrate a long awaited Christmas with everyone of his surrogate family.
"Did you two enjoy dinner last night?" Remus asked with a slight interrogation in his voice.
She didn't look up and continued to read the paper while she leaned closer to Sirius's vacant seat, "Yes, thank you, it was lovely."
Sirius turned around from slopping his muffin up with strawberry jam and replied with a mouthful, "Yes, we went to the Charmed Rose, that place where we went when James proposed to Lily."
Remus chuckled lightly and stood up, "Yes, I know," he leaned over towards Hermione and softly added, "It's on page four. "
"What? What do you mean?" Hermione froze and swallowed her breath as she started to frantically turn the pages of the yellowing parchment that still lay in front of her as she immediately felt like her dirty laundry had been aired.
Sirius held his mouth open as he was about to take another bite, "What do you mean, page four?"
Hermione flipped to the appropriate page and immediately froze when her eyes bestowed upon a one/third sized column under a headline in bold print that said Black Tracks : The Sightings of Azkaban's Favorite Ex-Convict.
Hermione was positively beside herself with worry as she watched herself standing in the frame with Sirius, as he leaned over to kiss her cheek, but tearing apart as soon as a flashbulb went off, displaying the sad faces of guilt.
Feeling as if they'd been properly exposed, she laid her elbows on the table and allowed her face to fall into them with dismay, "Merlin's Beard, this is bad."
She couldn't sit and read it, so she stood up and started to pace the room, quickly glancing back at the window as if waiting for Hedwig to fly in with a Howler from her best friend over this discovery. Sirius walked passed her and leaned over, reading the article aloud.
He's Baaack!
By: Rita Skeeter
I'm proud to say that we have gone through the archives and re-opened this favored column. First used, just to track the steps of one of Azkaban's most dangerous convicts, later to be used to trace his cousins and blood. Higher editors have decided that we discuss the following of only the innocent named man.
Like a refresher through time, as if a storm was brewing, the winds have started to change for well-known Azkaban escapee, Sirius Black. He was spotted leaving The Charmed Rose last evening dressed in finer threads than his stripes. Looking well rested, alive and very handsome, he was seen leaving with a plain unknown young witch with whom, sources say, he shared a quiet private dinner with. When asked about his courtship, he was tight lipped for details, leaving us pining for a morsel of gossip. Another witness at the restaurant said the two were quite close, sharing a bottle of wine and mild petting was involved. When asked about his company, he merely referred to her as "his lady".
No word on how his family would take it, seeing as he is the last of one of the eldest pureblood families. I'm sure that with some empty promises to a few older portraits that probably still hang in the Black house (location unknown); we'd be able to pull out juicy tidbits. It seems that though Sirius tries to remain anonymous in certain areas of his life, we still manage to find him in the most peculiar places.
Still, with a picture perfect smile, raven black hair you could spin from and more wealth than can be counted, it's good to know that an excellent catch like this has had his name cleared. More details when they become available.
"Well," Sirius began, pushing himself up from leaning over the table, "I warned her that I wouldn't do anymore interviews with the Prophet if they printed anything untrue." He stood in front of Hermione to halt her pacing, "You're anything but plain, love," and kissed her on the cheek before going to finish his English muffin.
His affections were wasted as Hermione stilled, letting the exposure sink her in like quicksand, "If Harry sees this, then he's going to be incredibly upset. It would have sounded better coming from us"
She resumed to her pacing across the kitchen nervously, glancing again at the window for Hedwig, but anticipating and early arrival from Harry who was going to beat his own owl and give them a very stern talking to in person..and then disown both of them.
Chewing away like a caveman, Sirius hopped up on the counter casually and said, "Well, the damage has been done. We can't go around and pick up every copy of the Daily Prophet out there."
Hermione stopped in mid stride and quickly glanced over at him, as if considering it was actually a good idea, but before she got a word in, Sirius shook his head and gave her a definite, "No!".
Her shining light bulb went out in her head and her shoulders fell in disappointment, "The only saving grace that we might have over this, is that for a long time Harry wouldn't read further than the front page. At most, he may only be pulling the quidditch section and be done with it. Let's hope he doesn't get bored and flip through the paper."
Sirius let the worst case scenario of the article sink in and it really was inevitable that Harry would see it. Someone was going to point it out to him and it was only a matter of time until they heard his opinion on the relationship he was beginning with his best friend.
Sirius and Hermione apparated into the Ministry for work, walking side-by-side, but not affectionately. Sirius led the way, as Hermione busied herself with a copy of the muggle paper, reading about what the other Prime Minister was doing and if there was any code in the writings that her kind might miss. As they got into the lift, they got a few glances, but mostly the attention was on Sirius for some hadn't seen him yet since his departure from Azkaban and they tended to gawk at him under their heavy lidded eyes and behind their office memos while they quickly made a judgment. Some witches who had run onto the lift last couldn't help but try and attract his attention by doing mild girly things like tossing their hair or fixing the collar of their shirt.
He had really honed in on his deflective flirting, for he feigned uninterested well. He smiled politely at the witches, giving them a friendly nod and receiving a flirting smile from the redhead, but Sirius licked his lips and ducked his head away with flattery. Meanwhile, Hermione's eyes couldn't help but linger off the pages of her muggle newspaper to view the little scene, but her self-confidence was assured when Sirius privately reached out to squeeze her hand. This had been hidden from the witches, but the subtle gesture meant the world to Hermione and she grinned foolishly and returned to her paper.
As the lift started to slow down before it reached the Auror floor, Hermione felt her insides beginning to churn. Her stomach started to slowly unsettle and an overbearing feeling of anxiety started to attack. Keeping herself calm and collected, she gave no signs of weakness as the rickety old lift stopped and the grate before them slid open to the Auror floor.
The two emerged into the department and had approximately fifteen seconds of being unnoticed, until Thompson gave a loud quidditch match whistle, alerting a few nearby. A slow wave of colorful hoots and applause started to take over the more they walked passed cubicles to their respective reporting areas. Feeling all unnecessary eyes on them, Hermione wanted to crawl back under the floor boards of the lift and apparate back home. Feeling her cheeks warming from embarrassment, her moment of weakness came and she turned around and tried to bolt back to the lift, but Sirius reached out and grabbed her hand. Beaten and feeling like she'd come to school naked, she put on a fake, exhausted smile to try and be better than the center of attention.
It was very obvious that the small article had made its way to work.
Auror Dawlish stood up and leaned over the partition of his cubicle as the two came down the hall. As they passed, he gave Sirius thumbs up and when Hermione's peripheral vision couldn't see, Sirius smiled and returned said jeering of a thumbs up. She glanced back at him, and he immediately corrected himself and pretended to have an itch on his arm. To their right, the low chuckle of Kingsley was heard over by the window, where behind him was just showing the night lights of Las Vegas. Loretta had timed it just right to stand up and walk in front them, pretending not to notice the two of them, but obviously a little ticked off at the big secret the two kept.
Sirius dropped her off at the lane her desk was in, not bothering to give her a kiss good-bye that morning because it was apparent that she had no interest in displaying any affection with the amount of attention she'd just received coming into the office. Sirius just squeezed her hand and turned to go off toward in the other direction, but as she glanced back at him walking through the office, his stride was more of a strut and she witnessed him receiving a few "high-fives" along the way. Absolutely mortified, she was about to melt right into the carpet and pretend she hadn't come in for work that day.
Finding her desk, Hermione came to the end of the row where cubicle was and released a defeated sigh Her cubicle, its walls, her corkboard, her computer screen, and her chair had all been completely wallpapered with the article and its moving picture. Like the paparazzi, the flashbulbs constantly went off from the picture of the two, creating an almost lightning effect as she concluded that the department had definitely seen it. Dropping her books on the chair, crushing a few dozen copies of the article, she started to take down the clippings, stacking them up neatly on her desk where later she would put them through the shredder. She saw no need in keeping the article around, just in case some of her co-workers had thought of something even cleverer to jab her with.
In a whirl of color, a ginger head dashed by her, taking his seat in the cubicle behind her and cluttering up his desk trying to pretend like he'd been there for at least ten minutes. Just like he'd been at Hogwarts, Ron was totally unprepared and eagerly looked to Hermione for any indication that his job had been threatened for the third time this week.
"So, has he come 'round? Did I miss anything?" Ron asked, shoving a donut in his mouth as he pulled it from his coat pocket.
Hermione just looked at him like she didn't understand the language he was speaking and shook her head. He was apparently oblivious to all the antics that morning, as they passed right under his nose.
Hermione had been diligently translating some ancient giant's runes when her boss, Gawain Robards peered over her cubicle wall to inspect her work. A slight glance to his right and he saw the Weasley boy tilted back in his chair, his feet on the desk, reading a muggle male magazine.
"If you have something else better to do, Mr. Weasley, then I suggest you run off and do it, otherwise get your feet off Ministry property!" Mr. Robards alerted, causing Ron to practically pee on himself before straightening up as fast as lightning. "Miss Granger, if you wouldn't mind a few minutes in my office. Do you have time?"
Hermione obediently laid down her quill and nodded, "Yes sir, I'll be right in."
Mr. Robards nodded his head and pushed away from there area, slowly cruising the other cubicle cities.
"Oi! Why didn't you tell me he was coming?" Ron asked in a fierce stage whisper.
She turned around on her heel as she grabbed a notebook and extra quills to be prepared for whatever it was she was going to do with Robards, "I didn't know! I had my nose buried too deep into giants' runes to notice him hovering!" With a final scolding, she gave him a good thump on the head before she hurried off.
Hermione glanced over at Kingsley, who otherwise pretended to loathe the girl and gave her a fake tongue clucking as she knocked before entering. Hearing her permission, the young witch went inside and closed the door behind her. She couldn't help but have a slight anxiety attack, believing that though she had perfect attendance, good reviews and 100 job completion, her heart was still in her throat as she tried to rack her brain why. Why did her palms already start to sweat and why did she sit down and remember to cross her ankles on top of one another like the queen of etiquette? She was doubting her competency, trying to go over in her head about any important assignments she may have missed, confirming it was all in order and she had remembered to cross her t's and dot her I's.
Mr. Robards sat comfortably in his chair before standing up to start speaking to her casually, allowing his own "quick quotes quill" to do most, if not all, of the dictation.
"Very simple Miss Granger, I wanted you to truly take time over these holidays to peruse your notes. You'll be tested the day after Christmas, meaning we'll put you through the Gauntlet and if all is golden, as I have no doubt it will be; you'll be sworn in the following week. Can you comply, Miss Granger?" Robards explained, talking to the air as if his voice was nearly poetic.
Hermione scribbled furiously and nodded, "Yes, Mr. Robards."
Her boss nodded his please and went back behind his desk, casually sitting down as if that was all he had for her. Hermione started to cap her ink when she assumed the meeting was over, but was quickly distracted when her name was called again.
"Hermione, there's also something else I need to address with you," he opened up, with a lighter tone of voice now, almost fatherly.
"Sir?" she asked, taking out her ink again.
"No, no, you don't need to take notes regarding this, Miss Granger," he sighed and collected himself as he folded his hands together on his desk. "Word has traveled to me that you and Mr. Black are otherwise, involved."
Hermione closed her eyes, wishing so desperately that this was the day before and she had declined the dinner date after a night of ravenous sex.
"Yes sir, but trust me, it'll be strictly professional here at the work place," she was quick to defend.
Robards nodded his head and continued, "It's not that we don't allow a relationship here, it's that we condemn them. It's even mentioned in the handbook."
Hermione furrowed her brow, a bit unsure what the difference was, but quickly rethinking maybe her and Sirius should stop any and all relations. Though she genuinely had feelings for Sirius, she'd worked so hard on this position and what she had Sirius was still new.
"You see, Miss Granger, it goes back during the last war, a bit before you were born, with all due respect," he started, nodding his acknowledgement regarding her age. "We had a pair of Aurors, Becky and Leon Trimbleton. I believe Leon graduated before Becky, but they had met here, married shortly thereafter, no children.
They were both sent out on an assignment together; something that later turned into a severe ambush by You -Know-Who's puppy dog followers and shots of light were filling the air like muggle fireworks. There were screams, there were shouts, but unfortunately when all the smoke had cleared, you saw what was left of it all and it wasn't what was expected. We came out on top, but it appeared that as Leon and Becky were attacking in the same area, a fellow Auror had seen how a stray stream from Becky's wand hit her own husband, killing him instantly.
Apparently, he had been hit with another contradicting spell at the same time and two at once was entirely too much for a body to handle, even a wizard's. Becky ran to him, taking in the scene before her and forgetting about what was going on around her. There were a few Death Eaters still lurking about and breaking the code, several tried to save Becky, but instead lost their lives because she couldn't focus on the prize. She lost herself when she lost him there in the war, standing right beside her, dying from a blast from her own wand. Several of our own died at her weakness and just when they had the chance to get away, Becky stood before us all, yes I was there, and took her life with her own wand by performing a killing curse on herself.
It was nothing like I'd not ever seen, nor wish to ever again. I doubt it would happen again, because I'm sure there are romances here in the department I don't know about, but it's ones like theirs, the deep ones that take us all over. My wife showed an interest in becoming an Auror and I told her she could. Providing she didn't mind my quitting," Robards finished, occupying himself during his storytelling with a nearby paperclip.
Hermione remained still, a bit rough, but calm all the same. What she'd just learned put a new prospective on what she was getting into, but understood it from a different level. Speaking from past experiences, she related this to her relationship with Severus and how if it came to choosing, he'd have no choice but to choose Voldemort's side, rather than have his life taken and lose any opportunity to fight for her. Severus loved her; however he never lost the focus of the mission. He was a true soldier, at that.
"I don't tell you this to discourage you, because I believe you and Mr. Black could possibly be different, but I could be wrong. I won't tell you to change your life for this job, but I'm warning you what this job is capable of when getting involved in your personal life.
I believe you're a good one, Hermione and I am just letting you know about what you might not find in those books you desperately hold on to for information," he finished.
Hermione nodded slowly, staring off into space, but taking all of it in just the same. It was apparent that she'd have to have a good, long discussion with Sirius, before they got any deeper.
"Thank you, sir," she quietly spoke and slowly stood to leave the office.
Once she got to her cubicle, she sat in silence alone with her thoughts, just barely gazing out the window next her at a new scene of a bright field of flowers with windmills. Try as she might, she was plagued with what to do, how to think, what to care and all of it was forcing her deeper and deeper, where she nearly felt like a zombie.
With the unruly thump like a sack of potatoes had been dropped in the seat behind her, Ron returned from wherever he shouldn't have been, "Hey Hermione, I need you to clarify a bet I've got going on with Thompson."
Hermione just barely turned her head to see him totally oblivious to her change, but listened just the same. He never was one to pay attention to detail.
"Thompson said that you're sleeping with Sirius. Can you believe it, I almost cried I was laughing so much, because I would believe that you would have told me the truth by now," Ron tried to rationalize, watching her carefully. "Wait a minute, is that?" he saw a stray picture of the article that had been newly placed on her fresh corkboard. "Hermione is Sirius…is he kissing you? You're at dinner? You look really nice and he's all…dolled up, too, holy shit, Hermione! Harry is going to flip!"
Hermione was just too emotionally occupied to make any clever retorts and merely said, "You're so observant, Ronald."
After lunch, Hermione had returned to her desk to find Sirius sitting in her chair adding a mustache to himself on one of the stray articles that had flown in through an office memo. He saw her feet in his peripheral and his eyes traveled the length of her, smiling big as if he'd been caught doing something naughty, but held it up to show off his artistic nature. She grinned somberly and folded her arms over her stomach, waiting for him to say something.
"So, you think you can beat my score of ninety-seven when you run the Gauntlet, Granger?" Sirius bragged, leaning back into the chair and resting his arms behind his head arrogantly.
Momentarily, her dismal thoughts were distracted and her face brightened for him, "You scored a ninety-seven? Sirius that's brilliant! The record is only ninety-eight and you've been gone for six years!"
He smiled smug, "Yes well, you knew I was good. Let's just see if you can keep up."
This had pleased her tremendously, she was so proud of him. He was boyishly handsome with the way his dark hair fell unevenly around his ears slick and shaggy, and when he smiled there was evidence of faint dimples masquerading as laugh lines around his mouth. When genuinely happy, he was amazing to look at for he had the fleeting confidence of someone who had it all and Hermione was lucky enough to be right there with him.
His delicious smile made her glow for him, erupting in a sweet sincere brief giggle. Opening his eyes and glancing all around him like a suspicious spy, he stole her hand to kiss the top of it. Then he put said hand against his cheek affectionately, "I'd say we go and celebrate, but I think we've already done that."
Her smile faded, but it remained intense on him like they were giving one another a mental challenge. With one more kiss into the palm of her hand, he stood up and passed her close enough to have kissed her, but left her lips lingering. Trailing behind him as he left, the faint scent of his cologne practically brought Hermione to her knees like a weakling. She forced herself to take a seat and refrain from following behind him, before she made an idiot of herself.
By the end of the day, those same dismal thoughts plagued her mind once again. The idea that she and Sirius were not a good pairing while they both worked together, just pointed fingers at the fact that they were entirely too taboo for Harry to fathom.
The evening at home, the evening before Harry arrived back to Grimmauld Place, was a very tame one compared to others. Before bed, Hermione went around the house to tidy up a bit, making sure things were in their right place and Pollux was properly briefed not to open his mouth about any of the personal goings-on. Hermione tapped a laundry basket to have the clothes fold themselves and she bid both wizards good-night as they sat in silence as one read a book and the other perused Ministry memos like the paper was covered in some infectious disease.
"Good night, I'm going to bed," she said meekly with her mind still occupied elsewhere. With a small, uneventful wave she quietly ascended up the stairs.
The ancient clock gonged it's eleventh hour, the winds outside started to pick up as loose branches hit the window, the portrait of Pollux Black cleared his throat and the eyes of Remus burned into Sirius like a smoldering sun in the desert.
Sirius sighed loud enough for Remus to hear and just got up without a word to check on his lady.
Remus resumed reading his own book and added, "Its part of your job, now."
"I know, I know," Sirius said, swinging around the banister and taking two steps at a time.
Hermione hadn't closed her door the entire way and when she was leaning over to peer into her vanity mirror, Sirius causally walked into her bedroom and flopped down on her bed exhausted.
"I thought you could only come into my bedroom if I've invited you," Hermione asked, turning around with her fingers still on the clasp of her necklace.
"Yes, well, as soon as we've slept together, the rules are pretty obsolete," he explained with a careless flair. With a boyish grin, Sirius laid flat across her pale blue comforter on his stomach and propped his head up on his wrists to talk to her, "Now what have I done wrong, already?"
She finally got the stubborn necklace off and turned to put it into her jewelry box, "It's a bit complicated actually and I think we need to talk about it."
"If it's about that witch that bought me that drink and then kissed me on the cheek, I can explain…" he began, holding his arms up to exaggerate his story further.
Hermione tilted her head perplexed, "I don't remember that."
He smiled wide like a Cheshire cat and as innocent as the fresh day, "Then I didn't do it."
She sighed and shook her head; her brown curls falling before her shoulders hiding her look that was so forlorn. She started to pace slowly in front of the bed, enough for Sirius to sit up on the edge of the bed giving her his full attention, respectively.
"It's just that I've spoken to Robards and according to the Auror handbook, we can't have a relationship," she said somberly, running a hand through her unruly hair.
"It said we shouldn't have a relationship," he corrected, lifting an eyebrow to her.
Hermione met his stormy eyes intrigued. How did he know?
He gave her a slight smirk and a defiant wink, "I finished reading the handbook and I remember that part."
Her heart couldn't help but its routine flutter every time Sirius mentioned something regarding the both of them together. With a small teasing wave, her giddiness was over and not an emotion was spared as her joyous moment was only fleeting and they were still in the same place.
For someone so bright, so intelligent, so predictable, Sirius was truly at a loss some of the time with the way she truly felt. She had built herself so tough in the beginning that it took him so long to break down the barriers she built for him.
He reached for her hand and she allowed herself to be pulled in to him, then onto his lap, "I was thinking that you were still dreading Harry's arrival-"
"I am," she interjected, looking down at the buttons on his shirt blindly.
"…and I was thinking that we'd have to come up with a quick plan on how we're going to sneak around," Sirius teased as he swept the hair away from her shoulder.
The gentle caress of his fingers around her neck made her react like it tickled, but mostly it was nerves. Completely comfortable with him, she still felt like she had something to prove, like one does when they're waiting for the other shoe to fall off. She tried to suppress a small smile, but failed poorly when he started a light train of kisses below her ear and down around her bare neck. After a few moments to themselves, or just to his gentle soothing, it was obvious that whatever had bothered Hermione before was quickly starting to melt away with the way he rested his hand over her stomach.
He nuzzled his nose in her hair and whispered seductively as if repeating a light chant, "We'll tell Harry," he breathed, "and he'll have to get over any reservations he has about this." She closed her eyes at the low husky voice that sounded much like a raunchy heaven, "I know it's a bit far fetched to some, but I don't want to change a thing about what we've got right now."
Hermione felt her throat beginning to close up, on the verge for a really good healthy cry, but overwhelmed with something. Her breath was taken away gently by the featherlike kiss he left on her lips once…twice…a lap…and then he went deeper. Her ears tingled when his scruffy chin scraped over hers and even though it was rough, she was secretly elated with the pleasurable torture.
----
The ancient clock downstairs chimed only once, indicating that it was one in the morning. The house had settled down a few hours ago, all three of its human occupants were tucked tight in their beds.
Unable to distinguish one body from another, Sirius had pulled Hermione tightly against him; they barely needed the extra comforter to protect them from the evening's chill. His face rested close to hers as his arm hugged her safely to his chest like a worthy protector. His fingers tangled themselves in her cotton nightgown, innocently lying on top of the fabric and not underneath like a horny schoolboy.
Peacefully drifting off to a deeper than death slumber, their quietude was abruptly interrupted by a gasping stage whisper.
Like a rhino through a wall gasping for air, Remus threw open Hermione's bedroom door in mad search for the pair after not finding them asleep in Sirius's room. With no introduction or subtle wake-up gestures, he blurted as loud as a mouse, "Harry's home!"
As if cold water had splashed down their backs, they sat up like a shot, Sirius a few seconds late and scrambling out of the bed like it was on fire. Grace upon alert was not his forte and he fell out of the bed wrapped up in sheets in a heap on the floor.
"He's here! Sirius, you better come downstairs before he comes up and starts looking for both of you!" Remus advised looking at both of them with urgent concern.
Hermione jumped out of bed after absorbing the information and letting her brain catch up after waking up in a start. She functioned just fine and started to run around the room collecting scattered clothes, trying to make it look not so coupled or shagged in. Throwing her pink robe on, she whirled around to check Sirius's dressing status.
Wearing beige linen pants, he grabbed his clothes off the floor, trying not to leave any evidence behind. She smiled when she saw he was nearly done and went to the door to brace herself to see Harry while wearing a weighted guilt on her conscience. With an extra tug on the tie of her robe, she went for the door handle to quietly slip out.
The door was stopped abruptly by the gorgeous panting older wizard. He looked down at her absolutely frazzled and nervous like she was about to be severely scolded for every wrong thing she'd ever committed, and being friends with Harry and Ron made it a much longer list than what she was capable of.
He wrapped his hand around her throat and guided her to one last kiss before they saw Harry. It was like time around them stopped, pausing anything and everything in the world for that moment to allow him to kiss her without any concerns. His aura was magic and it settled into her like a warm blanket, releasing her of the immediate jitters she had given herself.
Strangely drunk from his euphoria of the kiss, she knew he'd done something to assist their nerves and opened her eyes slowly, waiting for him to speak from that angelic voice. She looked upon him like a dream, standing there without a shirt, his tattoos hidden to no one and a stomach she wanted to lick syrup off of.
He gave her a traditional wink and confirmed, "It's going to be fine," his voice was so calm, "Harry will have to understand."
Meanwhile, in the kitchen Remus had already taken down some glasses so that they might have a late night eggnog and brandy. Hermione had come into the kitchen first and welcomed a hug from her long time best friend, but it was when Sirius came in through the door did the energy in the room just still. When Harry set eyes on Sirius, it was like James had walked in and all Harry needed to do was touch his godfather.
Sirius walked in, still bare of his shirt, and slowly smiled at his friend's kin gazing up at him in slow motion. Harry had been just too busy and occupied to really take in the fact that his only relative that cared for him was back and ready to take part in the rest of his life. That man, the one with tattoos of a wronged past that shared the same connection, stood still in his spot and warmly opened his arms to be taken in.
Standing almost as tall, Harry went to Sirius and clutched onto him with his snitch catching, broom-riding arms and allowed all the love transpire between them. Harry had been alone for so long with substitute parents of the Weasleys, that Sirius was the only one he ever felt "home" with.
"I have missed you, boy," Sirius whispered, messing up Harry's hair as his arms relaxed.
Hermione stood by the kitchen sink, holding a baggy sleeve up to cover her mouth in peaceful awe of the two grown men. The scene unfolding before them was long overdue and was probably never done; even the six years ago that Harry had him even for that brief time. It warmed her to no end being in that room; the only thing missing was Ron to complete her comfort. Remus had remained a true, honest friend from once being her professor and Sirius was sharing a new position in her life, and Harry, her first real friend next to Ron with whom she shared great adorations for, made up her family.
Just as emotion was about to sweep over Sirius, he didn't feel like they needed to make a scene about the moment and, to no surprise to anyone, announced that there was drinking to do at that very hour. The four huddled around the ancient old table that sat in the same place for over a hundred years and raised their glasses of eggnog and brandy, only brandy for Sirius, to toast a warm welcome home to those that have been absent.
Two solid hours had passed and the four felt like they had caught up with enough for the evening, complete with fun gossip Harry had heard while on the tour ranging from naked quidditch groupies in standing in the snow to players' own mothers sabotaging the visiting team.
As Harry was stifling a yawn the size of a bear when they filed out of the kitchen and ascended up the stairs, he added, "Oh, and again, Krum has asked after you. Might do the poor bloke a favor and drop him an owl so he'll stop pressuring me. I'm really starting to feel like the middle man, Hermione."
Hermione nodded as she followed in sync to her best friend ahead of her, practically feeling the icy stare she was receiving from behind her, "Right, I'll get on that."
A light dropping shuffle fell behind her as Sirius tripped and tried to hide it, "Sorry, missed a stair."
Hermione merely glanced behind her to the one she fancied and caught his silhouette in the dark darkly gaze back up at her. She couldn't make out his face clearly, but she imagined those dark blue eyes putting her on the spot and though she didn't want to make him jealous, she couldn't help but feed it just a morsel to see if he'd bite.
"Good night, everyone," Harry announced as he stood on his landing before his bedroom door. "I'm highly looking forward to passing out in my own bed for a change, rather than some knight bus cot."
With a mutual wave, the three others continued up the stairs splitting at the top. Remus gave his good night and kissed Hermione lightly on the temple before turning in the other direction of the hallway. As he disappeared through the darkness, the shadowed hallway engulfing his presence into a black abyss, Sirius couldn't help but just lightly run his finger over Hermione's wrist.
As if he did it to remind her he was still there, she stopped at her door to watch him fold his arms over his chest and lean against the wall. His black hair fell before his shoulders as he ducked his head to whisper with her.
"So, I guess we should play it safe for tonight, love," he whispered as if it was inevitable.
The dark shadows over his half naked body reminded her of a gothic angel standing in a cemetery. She could just make out his features under the moonlight creeping from a window at the end of the hall. Never had she seen him in this light that he was almost a stranger to her and it made her want to touch him so much more.
She hadn't realized that she was staring at how beautiful he was standing there, leaning against the wall like a jock by a muggle locker, and remembered to nod, "Yes, definitely." She glanced down at the first landing to Harry's door, worried that he might stick his head out and catch them in the act of flirting.
He nodded and leaned over to give her a chaste kiss and a final wink, "My door will be unlocked anyway, just in case."
She could still feel his kiss lingering over her lips as he disappeared behind his own door. Sighing to herself, she wondered why he still made her heart flutter.
----
A mid-morning chill woke Sirius up as he breathed in the scent of his lady friend who had recently occupied the vacant spot next to him. It had been so long to have had female company like hers, that he felt slightly cheated that he had to spend the last night alone, leaving him to his own empty palm. His condemned life of celibacy had finally been put to a halt as he writhed around with the witch, ravishing her young body like a goddess. It was like tasting the forbidden fruit and now he risked having it taken away. Sirius feared the worst once Harry discovered the news. The idea of the two sharing secrets under the sheets might be a bit unsettling for the lad, so he was prepared to be cursed at in the event of total disenchantment.
Sirius growled to himself as he glanced at the clock and saw that it was nearly ten o'clock in the morning, but mildly relieved that he'd received the day off for Harry's arrival. The holidays were approaching and being who he was; Robards didn't expect the infamous Sirius Black to work over his first Christmas back amongst the living.
The kitchen sounds of clanking cups, sizzling bacon and an enchanted spatula flipping pancakes into the air added to the serene sight as delicious smells filled Sirius's senses. Harry sat at the table eagerly awaiting a home cooked breakfast Hermione had prepared when she was just fixing him a plate. Remus stood with the refrigerator open as he retrieved a carafe of milk to put into a bowl of cereal.
"Well, this is a sight I'm more than pleased to see in the morning," Sirius announced to the kitchen company, as if his stomping down the stairs wasn't enough.
"Sirius, a herd of elephants would have made less noise than you just did. Did you have to wake the neighbors as well?" Hermione said, scraping some eggs on the plate in front of Harry.
Sirius raised an eyebrow, "Well, it's nearly ten, they all should be up anyway. They're practically sleeping through the entire day and should be ashamed of themselves."
As Hermione turned around to return to the stove to start another plate, she caught Sirius in a side glance and watched how he gave her a flirty wink to say good morning, but refrained from touching her due to the extra audience. Their silence together was filled with Harry making small chat with Remus and Sirius starting his own morning concoction.
She settled down next to Sirius at the table and watched he and Harry devour their breakfasts like cavemen. She on the other hand rolled her eyes and cut into her pancake with a dainty flair, pinky up, displaying picture perfect dining etiquette, but they were both beyond repair.
With a mouthful, Harry dug into his robe pocket to fetch something out, "Oh Sirius, there was something I've been meaning to ask you."
"Go ahead, mate," he answered, glancing over at the front page of the Daily Prophet Hermione had just unfolded in front of her. Now with a trained eye, he perused the articles with her, trying to notice any mentions of any crazy Death Eater progress.
Harry dropped a folded piece of paper down on the table as he resumed eating like an animal and took in a heaping bite of pancake loaded with butter. Sirius saw the piece of paper for him and set down his fork to unfold it. He froze, swallowed hard and bestowed his eyes upon the article just in time to allow a flash bulb to go off in his hands.
"What are your intentions with Hermione?" Harry asked eyes firmly on him.