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Harry Potter is not mine!

Chapter Twenty-Five Apologise

Sirius froze once he opened the door fully. His breath caught as he gazed at Hermione who wore a red satin robe as she sat at her dressing table. She had been applying her make-up, but on hearing Sirius enter her room she had stilled and was staring at him through the mirror.

My, my. Look what the cat's dragged in. Mr. Black certainly looks tired! I wonder why that is? Hermione thought coldly.

Sirius had never seen anyone so breathtakingly beautiful as she did right now. Her long soft curls were cascading down her back and her full lips were slightly parted in surprise. It was her eyes that brought him back to reality. Her normally warm and bright brown eyes were cold and dark.

Hermione got up slowly and walked over to Sirius, the whole time not breaking eye contact. As she got closer to him, Sirius closed his eyes as he took in her sent.

Slap!

Sirius stepped back as he was slapped for the second time within a few hours.

"Ow! Merlin Hermione you're a lot stronger than you look."

"How dare you!" Hermione yelled at him. Before Sirius could say anything she had her wand pulled out and she moved it quickly as she silently said her incantation.

Sirius had braced himself for the curse or hex that she had no doubt sent his way. However, when he noticed that nothing had happened he had to ask.

"What was that?"

Hermione gave him a disgusted glare before replying.

"That was a silencing charm to ensure that my son didn't walk in on me killing you!"

Sirius was beginning to worry, he had never witnessed Hermione this mad before. Even when she was defending him in Kingsley's office, she hadn't looked half as mad as she did now. She was standing defensively in front of Sirius, her power practically spitting off from her. Sirius took a cautious step back as she moved closer to him.

Hermione was furious. She had never felt so betrayed, not since Harry and the others. She knew she was becoming too trusting and now look what happened, her little angel, her poor Teddy, was hurt, because of her weakness.

"How dare you Sirius Black! After all I've done for you, this is how you repay me? By ditching me for the first thing in a skirt that passes your way?"

Sirius felt Hermione's fury, but that wasn't all he felt. He also felt her pain. Pain that he had caused her, and that made him hold his head in shame.

"Hermione I…"

"I don't want t here your feeble excuse, alright? What I want to here is your plan for what you're going to do now."

"What do you mean?"

Hermione took a deep breath to clam herself down. She thought of her son and that brought a small smile to her face.

"What I mean is, what do you plan on doing to rectify this problem that you have caused?"

Hermione noticed that Sirius still appeared confused and so she explained.

"Do you honestly think that I was the only one who noticed that you weren't at your own welcome back party?"

Sirius blinked in surprise. He was so worried about how Hermione would react to his behaviour last night that for a moment there, he had forgot abut the party and the others he had let down.

"I was planning on apologising to them after I came here to see if you were ok."

"Ok? Why on Earth would I be anything but ok? I mean it's not like I was left behind once more by someone I considered a friend. Or that I was left waiting for said friend for over an hour before I had to face many disappointed people, most that I care deeply for. Or that I had to tell my disappointed son that he wasn't going to get the bed time stories that he was so looking forward to."

Sirius heard the sarcasm in her voice and his disgust at himself deepened some more as he realised that he deserved it and more.

"Hermione I'm so sorry. You have no idea how much I regret not being here for you and the others. I can't even begin to express my disgust at myself…"

"Sirius stop! I don't care ok? I just don't care anymore!"

Sirius saw that Hermione was fighting back tears and it tore him apart.

How could I have caused her so much pain? What kind of man am I?

Sirius had never felt so ashamed as he did then. He tried to reach out to Hermione, but she stepped back from him.

"Hermione i…."

"Just get out."

"Hermione…."

"Now!"

Sirius left Hermione's bedroom quickly, though not before he saw tears begin to fall freely down her face.

I can't believe I caused her so much pain. What was I to expect though? She has been through enough without me causing her more pain and heartache!

On his way to his bedroom Sirius heard a soft cry coming from Ted's room. Sirius quickly opened the small child's door to see him rolling around his small bed, his appearance changing as he dreamed. Sirius ran to the child and gently shook him from his obvious nightmare.

When Ted's warm eyes opened, he seemed terrified and lost.

"Sirius?" The little boy asked softly.

"Yes Ted, I'm right here." Sirius reached out and brought the small boy to sit on his knee as he comforted him.

"Where's mommy? Is she ok? Did the bad people take her? Where is she Sirius?"

Sirius looked down at the small child in shock. He had obviously dreamed about being taken away from Hermione and wake up and not see her was causing him some distress.

"Hey there little Moony! Calm down, all right? Your mommy is fine, no bad people have taken her. She's right…"

"Here."

Sirius tuned to see Hermione in Ted's doorway. She was still wearing her red robe and upon seeing her distressed son, she ran over to the pair.

"Oh Ted. Angel what's wrong?" Hermione asked as she took the small child from Sirius' knee and hugged him close to her.

"I had a bad dream. The bad people took you and Aunt Astoria and Uncle Draco and Sirius away from me."

Hermione hugged her son closer to her.

"Oh baby! It was just a dream, ok? Everyone is fine."

Ted looked up at her, hope shinning in his eyes.

"Really?"

"Really."

"You promise?"

"I promise angel. How about this, Uncle Kingsley has given mommy the day off. So you and me can have a whole day to just ourselves, ok?"

Ted nodded in happiness. Then he turned to Sirius.

"What will Sirius do?"

Sirius looked down at the Remus look-alike and felt his heart tear at the thought that he had caused this small innocent child pain too.

"Sirius has to go and meet with some people who are just dying to see him." Hermione said coolly as she gave Sirius a pointed stare.

"Ok. But Sirius you missed a fun party last night. Me and Victoire played hide and seek with Missy! And then Great Aunt Cissy gave us sweets and then…."

"Ted sweetie, why don't you go get ready for our fun day today while Sirius and mommy talk."

Ted nodded his head and ran to the bathroom, while Sirius followed Hermione to the kitchen.

"What was that back there?" Sirius asked as soon as they were in the kitchen.

"Ted sometimes gets nightmares about the 'bad people' coming and taking everyone he loves away from him. I'm afraid it has something to do about how he lost Remus and Tonks. He usually only gets them when he's worried or upset over something."

Hermione said sadly as she began to make breakfast.

"You mean like me not showing up for the party or not being here to tell him the stories?" Sirius asked sadly, already knowing the answer.

Hermione looked up at Sirius sadly, seeing the pain and guilt on his face at knowing that he had caused her son pain.

"Yes Sirius. Things like that upset and hurt him. Thankfully though, you were the one to be there for him and so that will put his mind at rest."

"Oh by the way, good cover back there." Sirius said, hoping to lighten the mood.

Hermione looked up from making the breakfast and just looked at Sirius confusedly.

"What cover?"

Sirius looked back at her.

"The cover about why I can't go with you and Ted today, something about meeting people."

Hermione smiled at that, a smile that Sirius didn't like the look of.

"Oh that. Well that wasn't a cover Sirius. That was the truth. The Malfoys are simply dying to here your excuse for not showing up at your own party, a party that they had graciously thrown for you. I told them that they could expect you at nine."

Sirius just stared at the witch in front of him in shock. He looked at the clock and saw that he had less than an hour before he had to face his remaining blood relatives.

Sirius looked at Hermione carefully, noticing that she as much more cheerier now that she had delivered this bit of information.

"How were they last night?"

Hermione looked up at Sirius again.

"Well that's a silly question don't you think? Why don't you ask them yourself when you go over there? If I were you, I'd go and get ready! You don't want to be late."

Sirius nodded his head and made his way out of the kitchen to go and get changed when he swore he heard Hermione mutter.

"Merlin please help him."

Sirius hoped that he had heard her wrong and began to think how he was going to apologise to his angered relatives and how he was going to live through it.