Chapter 26: The Announcement
Turns out, the Daily Prophet's prediction was right—the outcry over the amendment was farther reaching than the marriage law itself. Though people had been angry about the constraints of the initial law, many people were indeed looking at their marriages as on paper only and had no intention of actually letting their new, forced marriages affect their lives in any real way. And they were furious about having to now comply with the amendment that would upend their lives in a very real and palpable way.
The Prophet was filled with complaints and articles about Ministry protests. People had lined up in the atrium the day after the amendment had been announced. Hermione had passed them on her way to her department. She reached the lifts just when their cries to be heard by the Wizengamot had reached a fever pitch, and she heard the frazzled welcome witch calling for security.
But none of it mattered. The Wizengamot refused to even listen to peoples' protests and did not budge on its decision. Though not at all surprised, Hermione couldn't help but be a little disappointed that the amendment still stood.
During all this, Hermione began to wrap up her job at the Ministry. She felt like she was getting out of there at just the right moment, as the Ministry's popularity had taken a sharp nosedive since the announcement. There was a constant state of tension there that Hermione would be glad to be rid of.
Her last few weeks of work were punctuated by nasty scowls from Anna, who had thankfully decided that Hermione was no longer worth the effort to speak to. Hermione couldn't help by chuckle though when Anna's new husband had decided to surprise her one day by stopping by to take her to lunch. Stocky, balding, and nearly a foot shorter than the tall witch, Anna's huffy responses to the man and slightly tinged cheeks clearly told Hermione that she was embarrassed by her husband. Though he was no doubt well off financially. Otherwise, Anna never would have married him. But he seemed friendly enough, and Hermione felt a little sorry for him when Anna turned what was a sweet gesture into such an ordeal. Though he didn't seem phased by her less than thrilled reception of him.
When she arrived home that night to find Sirius setting up carry out in the kitchen for their dinner, she wrapped her arms around him tightly from behind and pressed her cheek into his back.
"Missed me, huh?" Sirius asked with a chuckle at her enthusiastic greeting.
"Just want to make sure you know how much I appreciate you," Hermione said, "Not everyone is as lucky as I am."
When she told him of Anna and her husband, he laughed, "Poor sod. Probably thought he hit the jackpot when she agreed to marry him."
"Well, hopefully, she isn't too horrid to him. He seemed like a nice man."
Sirius shrugged, "She's nice enough when she wants to be."
Hermione hummed non-committally and changed the subject.
When she finished at the Ministry, she was excited to begin classes at Craft University. The idea of being part of something new, to help shape it, and to be a part of the first graduating class of what she hoped would become a successful university, was a thrilling prospect.
When the day finally arrived, she immediately fell in love with all aspects of it. Always an avid learner, she hadn't realized how much she missed being in a classroom. She was taking four classes, one in each of the four subjects available, and she took a job working in the library as an assistant. Though small, housing fewer books at the moment than the library at Grimmauld Place, being surrounded by the books she loved always had a calming effect on her.
Her classes were all interesting and very challenging. The professors were all seasoned masters in their field, and their knowledge seemed boundless. Hermione couldn't get enough. Though she had entered the university with an open mind and no clear picture in her head of what she wanted to do for a career, she immediately took a fancy to Charms. Though she had always enjoyed the subject at Hogwarts, it had never held any special appeal to beyond being another subject she wanted to excel at. But her professor, a little old witch on the far side of 90 who clearly lived and breathed her chosen subject, made Charms fascinating. There was so much more to it than Hermione realized, and she wanted to learn all that she could.
When she planned her first semester, she had been tempted to take more than four classes, but she didn't want to overload her schedule as she had at Hogwarts. She had a life to live, and she no longer felt the need to prove her academic worth as she had when she was younger. She wanted to keep her evenings open to being at home with Sirius, though she worked in the library on Saturdays. And she found that, though she had a tendency to still obsess a bit about homework and tests, she was able to relax far more than she used to in school.
That was partly due to her husband's insistence she take frequent breaks from her study. Now that they were well settled into married life, Hermione found Sirius to be an eager and attentive husband in all aspects of marriage. While it didn't surprise her that he was nothing short of an expert in bed (Remus had been right months before when he had told her Sirius would be an excellent teacher in that department), she had been pleasantly surprised at his attention to her in other areas. He was caring and thoughtful, and always seemed to be paying close attention to her reactions to his overtures. As much as she had fought against marrying him for so long, she was truly happy with him. That was until she thought about the new deadline they were facing.
Most of the time, she could forget all about the prospect. She and Sirius were under a non-spoken agreement that they wouldn't discuss the matter. Hermione knew herself well enough to know that if she dwelled on it too much, she would just work herself up. And she felt like if they just ignored the amendment and went about their lives as normal, when she did get pregnant, maybe it would feel more like their choice. Like a nice surprise, not Ministry mandated.
But she couldn't help but think about it sometimes, especially when Ginny announced her pregnancy two months into Hermione's school year. She and Sirius had Harry and Ginny over for dinner one Saturday night, and not too long after they sat down to eat, Ginny hesitantly said, "So… I'm pregnant."
Hermione stared at her in shock. "So soon?!" she exclaimed before she had a chance to think about her words.
Sirius shot her a reproachful look before adding, "Congratulations."
Hermione shook herself, "Yes, of course! Congratulations! I'm sorry, I was just surprised."
Ginny laughed lightly, though Hermione could tell it was somewhat forced, "Yes, we didn't expect it so soon either. But us Weasleys have always been a fertile lot. I guess we shouldn't be surprised."
"Are you—" Hermione cut off, suddenly realizing what she was about to ask could be construed as insulting to the new parents-to-be.
But Harry knew where she had been headed, "We're happy. No matter what, this baby comes from love. But… It would have been nice if it had taken a little longer. For Ginny's sake."
"The Harpies?" Hermione asked.
Ginny nodded with a shrug, "I'm the first to go. They'll go for as long as they can, but eventually, there won't be enough players. It's…difficult to imagine."
While they discussed the new Potter baby, Hermione couldn't help but feel the familiar, nervous feeling settle in her stomach. When she had found out about Tonks getting pregnant, it had been different. She and Remus had chosen to have a child on their own terms. Harry and Ginny were happy about their baby of course, but they were also both clearly upset about the changes it would wreak in their lives. And Hermione knew those changes were coming for her and Sirius as well. And hearing that Ginny was pregnant made the situation all the more real for her.
She tried to push the nervous feeling away and focus on their conversation. When Harry asked her how her classes were going, she was able to finally put it from her mind and launched into excited explanations of her school work.
A/N: So, I'm going to be completely honest and say I'm struggling a bit with the direction of the story. Even though I have five more chapters already written, I feel like I'm not sure what my end game is at this point, which makes me question my original plan for the story. And while I love the chapters I have written so far, I don't want to post the next chapter yet, because it will cement the direction of the story, and I'm not ready to commit to that without figuring things out.
So, while I hate doing this—HATE—I'm not going to be posting weekly for a while. I need to take a step back and rethink where I want to story to go, and I don't want to just post chapters for no reason. Which is more or less what I did today. This chapter was thrown together last minute, which is why it's so short. I just wanted to get something out there that wouldn't commit me to anything and allow me to update you guys on where I stand with this story.
If possible, please let me know where you hope the story is going. No just a happily ever after for Sirius and Hermione because (spoiler alert!), I'm not the kind of writer that won't let them live happily ever after. But do you want to see them have an easy time of it? Do you want to see some angst and drama? Should she get pregnant right away, or have trouble getting there?
I'm very curious as to what my awesome readers would like to see happen. Though I won't be able to please everyone, it may help be to see whether my original vision of the story is worth writing, or if I should re-write things, as I have been contemplating doing for several weeks.
Sorry for the super long author's note! If you've stuck with me to the end, know that I will never abandon this story, though I can't promise when the next chapter will come. I love all you guys, and your reviews, favs, and follows have kept me motivated. And you make me want to write the best story I can write!