Disclaimer: Not mine :(

Weight of the World

Chapter 29

25th December 1977

"Wake up!" Someone bounded onto Hermione at God knows what time in the morning and Hermione groaned, rolling onto her side, dragging the threadbare blankets around her body tighter. She ignored Megara beside her, bouncing up and down, making the bed wobble.

"Its Christmas time!" She sang off-key, doing a strange shoulder dance and Hermione slowly sat up, squinting at Megara, her long brown hair was pulled up into a ponytail, her big blue eyes blinking innocently at her.

"Not at half past seven in the morning it isn't," she said, pushing her blanket off of her and throwing her legs over the side of her bed, knowing that she would still be pestered whether she got up or not.

"Presents!" She cried and Hermione laughed lightly. As a child, she had never really found that much patience for Christmas, preferring the festivities of the holidays rather then the holiday itself – mainly because she just usually got books from her friends and family.

"Let's go!" Megara cried, bounding off the bed to the closet, letting Charlie out before running down the stairs, the golden Labrador following in his master's wake, his golden tail waggling furiously.

Hermione shook her head on amusement and stood up, briefly washing up before making her way down the stairs in time to see a groggy Peter being dragged into the Common Room by Megara who was babbling about Christmas and Egg-nog and Roman Candles.

Hermione dropped to the floor by the tree, sitting cross-legged and covering a yawn with her hand, hoping that Megara didn't see. She paid her no notice what-so-ever and practically dived into the pile, digging out all their presents. Hermione caught Peter's eyes over Megara and gave him a friendly I-can't-belive-that-she-dragged-us-down-here-at-this-God-awful-time-of-morning look and he returned with a roll of his eyes.

Being a rat did nothing for him, Hermione decided, remembering the withered hair, buckteeth, sharp fingernails and skin that looked liver-spotted. Now, across from him sat a boy who had smooth skin, a full head of golden-brown hair and, in all honesty, didn't resemble a rat at all, except for his small, watery eyes, which must be his marking.

Before she knew what was happening, a box covered in Christmas paper was lobbed at her, and it was only due to her reflexes from fighting that she caught it before it sailed over her head and crashed into the sofa.

"That's from Lil-Lil!" Megara sang and Hermione wondered where she got the sunny disposition from that morning.

When they had their presents from everybody, they ripped the paper apart and squealed and yelled when they saw what they had, the wrapping paper littered the floor and themselves, Megara had managed to get ribbons all around her and Peter had a huge, pink bow around his neck.

Hermione stared at the presents in front of her, pleased with them this year and the sheer amount she found herself with was quite a lot. From 'Lil-Lil' she had gotten a beautiful dark blue jumper, which she had instantly put on and was pleasantly surprised to find that, even though it was knitted, it didn't itch like it should have done. From James she had got some gold stud earrings in the shape of a H. Remus had got her a gigantic bag of Bertie Botts Every Flavoured Beans and some White Sugar Mice that squeaked in their packet. Peter, who Hermione was surprised to see had gotten her something, had gotten her some red gloves to match the scarf she had received on her make-shift birthday from him. Rayne had gotten her a fluffy thick dressing gown with her initials sown into the breast pocket; Thoma had gotten her vibrant coloured headbands, from orange to lime green, she know owned them all. Kara got her some gorgeous shoes that the inner feminine in her squealed in joy at and from Megara she had got a T-shirt with the words: 'Nobody's perfect…I'm nobody…So therefore, I'm perfect!' printed onto it.

"Good hoard this year," Megara said, nodding her head where her new tall, white England hat sat atop her hair, looking utterly ridiculous.

"What did Sirius get you, Hermione?" Megara asked, her blue eyes glittering, "he got me and Peter boxes of droobles and chocolate frogs and cockroach clusters and the like," she said.

Hermione smiled at the childish gifts that Sirius had purchased but wasn't at all surprised in all honesty. "He got me this bracelet," she said shyly, holding her arm up, showing off the gold bracelet that sat on her wrist.

"Didn't he get you a charm bracelet for your birthday?" Peter asked around a mouth of lemon drops and his face puckered at the sour taste.

"Yeah, he did." Hermione lifted her other arm to show them the bracelet that Sirius had gotten her, which she hadn't taken off since. "But he also gave me this note. It says: Want another surprise? Go to the Astronomy tower, my love."

"Meh, I think I prefer the bracelet better. Is it the same one?" Megara asked, sounding slightly affronted and Hermione shook her head.

"No, my birthday one had standard charms on it, you know, horseshoe, four leaf clover and such. This one has charms that represent us," Hermione said, her brown eyes alight with the knowledge and Megara and Peter looked at each other with their eyebrows raised.

"Hermione, you've been dating for like, two months. What could possibly represent your relationship?" She asked, opening up the Nail Varnish kit that Thoma sent her and looked at the array of colours that ranged from the palest pink to the most vibrant orange – Thoma was all about the colour.

"Lots of things," she stretched out on the floor on her front and let her finger touch each individual charm as she told the little stories and their meanings. "The lion is obvious, it's—"

"The symbol of Gryffindor, uh-huh, I get that," Megara carefully chose a pale yellow and opened the lid, the comforting smell of the Nail Varnish assaulted Hermione's senses and her eyes watered slightly.

"Well, the crossed wands represent Charms classroom and the –"

"Wait, what does Charms class have to do with your relationship?" Peter asked, unfolding the black and white scarf that Lily had got for him.

"Oi!" Hermione turned around fast and dropped her bag, grabbing her wand and pointing it at the person behind her, who raised a delicately shaped eyebrow and held his hands up to his chest in mock surrender. "You're awfully jumpy, Hermione," Sirius commented and Hermione blinked in confusion, for a second thinking in her head that he was saying she had jumped. She sighed and lowered her wand, her eyes meeting his. He grinned and lowered his own hands, digging in his pockets and producing a packet of Bertie Botts every flavoured beans. "Want one?"

Hermione shook her head no and picked up her bag, turning to walk off, deliberately going the wrong way down the corridor, wondering if he'd point it out.

"Where you going?" He called after her, popping another bean in his mouth, his face puckering up when the sourness rested on his tongue, making his taste-buds pop.

"Err…Charms," she said, looking over her shoulder at him, grateful that he had his uniform on.

"You could go that way, although that would mean going down the stairs, go through the door, around the corner, through another door, up some stairs, down the corridor, up some more stairs, through a door that looks like a wall and the first door on your left is Charms," he looked distrustfully at a white bean and he hesitantly stuck his tongue out letting it slowly lick the bean and Hermione had a sudden rush of liquid feelings, coiling her stomach muscles tightly and a distinct wondering of where all the butterflies came from. He frowned, the corners of his mouth going down in distaste as he threw it over his shoulder.

"Okay…I'll-" she gulped, "I'll be on my way," Hermione turned on her heel, having understood Sirius' directions perfectly and intending to go that way, but she was once again stopped by Sirius.

"I said you could go that way, but I know a much quicker way, five minutes tops if you dawdle," he held his hand out, the one not holding the bag of Bertie Botts every flavoured beans. "You trust me?

"It was the first time that we truly spoke, on the way to charms class," Hermione smiled at the memory and was amazed at the development their relationship took.

"Okay, I see the symbolic-ness, I'm actually shocked that Sirius remembers," Megara raised an eyebrow.

"Symbolic-ness is not a word," Hermione said absently, realising that Megara was right – It was quite shocking that he remembered all these small details.

Megara shot her a glare and sniffed, going back to painting her toe-nails. "Any other charm symbols?" She asked, her curiosity betraying her.

"Ice-cream is the next one," Hermione said, and she saw the confusing looks of her…friend and acquaintance again.

"Hermione, these are all completely random." Megara informed her, trying to blow cool air on her toes, but failing horribly.

"Yeah, to you."

He smiled and tickled the pear, watching her face light up as the handle appeared and he pulled the now door open.

Hermione looked around, taking the kitchen in, in all its glory, Sirius assumed and when the house-elves came foreword, she laughed when they all shoved food under her nose on their silver platters.

"Right," Sirius said, clapping his hands, directing all attention to him. "We are having a party and we need a load of food, chocolate, ice-cream, sweets…Whatever you got, we'll take."

"Siri, sir!" He felt something pull on his jean leg and when he looked down, Tipsy was stood there "we no do that now. You wait, yes?" Sirius crouched down and put his hand on Tipsy's shoulder.

"We don't mind waiting, do we Hermione?" Sirius asked but without waiting for a reply he continued, "On one condition…" Tipsy's eyes widened as big as tennis balls, the bright red of the pupil expanding. "Got any ice-cream?"

Five minutes later they were sat at a table with ice-cream, Sirius had opted for a flavour called 'Tiger' which was vanilla, orange and liquorice, while Hermione went normal and went for chocolate.

"So," Sirius started, taking a bite of his tiger flavoured ice-cream, which he thought tasted quite nice, "do you have a middle name?"

Hermione looked at him weirdly before laughing quietly, moving the spoon around, trying to get a decent sized hunk of chocolate ice-cream. "Yeah, it's Jean," she pulled a face and licked the ice-cream off her spoon, her little pink tongue snaking out of her mouth and Sirius' muscles tightened and he looked away quickly, back at his ice-cream.

"That's an," he cleared his throat, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable and he rubbed the back of his neck, "odd name," he uttered, feeling very self-conscious when he felt her gaze on him.

"It was my Grandmother's name," she said quietly and Sirius looked up to see her picking at the wood of the table that they were seated at.

"Where you close to your grandmother?" Sirius asked, deeming it safe to look at her now that she wasn't licking the ice-cream and took another bite of his own which he decided was the best flavour ice-cream ever.

"Fair point," Megara said and Peter nodded.

"Next one!" He called and Hermione smiled. Now that she had a plan and was trying to let Peter in, she saw that he wasn't the evil backstabbing rat that he would turn into.

"Okay, a broomstick-"

"Hermione, you're afraid to fly," Peter said and Hermione was shocked to know that he knew that.

"It's where we had our first kiss, on a broom," she said absently and Megara awed in the background as Hermione quickly revisited that memory.

"Come on, Hermione," he whispered in her ear, "you're not looking at the beautiful scenery," he said, "although, it's not as beautiful as you,"

Her eyes popped open in shock and her head ducked from under his chin to look at him, surprise all over her face. Sirius pulled the broom to a stop and his gun metal grey eyes locked on hers. He used the arm around her to slide up her side and cup her cheek.

"You've done something to me, Hermione," he whispered, leaning his forehead against her, so close that all he could see was her chocolate brown eyes, "I'm going crazy," the hand at her cheek slid behind her head, he entwined his fingers in her curls and kissed her forehead letting his lips linger, his eyes closed when heat spread through his body.

"Sirius," she whispered and he moved his head back to look at her and saw something in her eyes, which was enough for him. He leaned foreword to brush his lips across hers; only when he was close, a hairs-breath away from her lips did her eyes close, and Sirius mimicked her actions. Their lips brushed hesitantly and Sirius felt something explode in his stomach, firework setting off and his blood went from hot to cold, like ice was spreading through his veins. He jerked back and the look on Hermione's face mirrored his, telling him that she had felt the same thing. He found himself gasping for breath even though their lips had only lightly brushed against each other.

"That is absolutely adorable!" Megara cried and Hermione felt the hair on her arms rise slightly as she was taken back to memories of a squealing Lavender.

"The pumpkin's the next one," Hermione said and she smiled as she recalled their morning encounter on Halloween.

"Happy Halloween!" Someone shouted, waking Hermione from her deep sleep with a dream that involved popcorn, the cinema and Sirius. "Wake up, Hermione!" Someone squealed, bouncing on her bed. Hermione opened her eyes fully to see Kara stood at the foot of her bed with vampire fangs in.

"Urgh, go away," Hermione said, turning over in her bed, dragging the quilt with her. Kara laughed and traipsed out the room, Hermione could distinctly hear talking at the base of the stairs as her eyes slipped closed again and she went right back to the cinema.

"Wakey, wakey!" Hermione moaned in frustration and burrowed even further into the quilt, annoyed that Sirius was laughing.

"That's a beautiful noise you just made, sound even better if it was in ecstasy instead of annoyance," he teased and Hermione kicked him in the shin. He hissed and bent to grab her foot, tugging hard. She squealed as she pulled from the bed and her and the sheets fell off. Sirius couldn't help but laugh as she glanced at him through her lashes and she pouted; she looked adorable.

"You're so frustrating!" She scolded, standing up and putting her hands on her hips. She looked at him and decided that he looked undeniably handsome in his black wife beater and baggy blue jeans, his wand loosely shoved in the front pocket.

She was suddenly aware that she was only in a purple tank top, but she had pyjama bottoms on and fluffy white socks, so she didn't feel too exposed.

"You're so annoying," Sirius shot back, jumping on her back and linking his hands behind his head, reclining. "Hurry up and get dressed, were going to Hogsmeade." Hermione raised her eyebrow and Sirius shrugged, not moving from his position.

"I never knew that Sirius could be so charming," Megara said dreamily, staring at Hermione with lustful brown eyes while Peter scoffed and leaned back on his arms.

"Megara, are you utterly stupid? How do you think he got all those lasses to sleep with him?" Peter asked and Megara stuck her tongue out at him.

"I know, it just never worked on me, and I never actually heard any of these stories before – It's all so cute!" She was beginning to remind Hermione of a banshee, just squealing on and on and on and on…

"Come on then, Kingsley, next one!"

"Oh, it's a book, to represent me and the next one's a playing card, to represent him. You know, the joker and the bookworm sort of thing." She said, slightly embarrassed.

"It sounds like you're Super Heroes or something," Megara grinned and Hermione couldn't help the twitch at the edge of her lips.

"It does sound rather comical, don't you think?" Hermione smiled slowly and nodded her head. It was also amusing to her because the joker was a villain and batman and Sirius was anything but.

"Any more charms?" Megara asked peering at it.

"Only one more, and that's a bonfire. That's when my makeshift birthday party was." She told them and they nodded in remembrance.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" The hall screamed as one and Hermione stepped back in shock, a hand clasping at her heart.

"Oh, God! What the hell?" She asked, thoroughly and utterly confused.

"Well, you didn't get to celebrate your birthday," Sirius beside her said, wrapping an arm around her waist. "So were doing it now. It's a bit late, mind but…" he trailed off, his grip tightening around her, bringing her closer. She saw her friends under a huge banner which said "Happy Birthday Hermione!" With a ginger cat charmed to run along the bottom of it. Leaves had been charmed to fall from the ceiling and disappear before they hit any student's heads. Hermione saw a mix of Ravenclaw's, Hufflepuff's and Gryffindor's, but not a single Slytherin insight, aside from Professor Slughorn who was sat at the Teacher's table along with Professor McGonagall, Professor Dumbledore, Professor Flitwick and Quinton and his wife, Hayley.

"There never was a Bonfire night ball, was there?" she asked and Sirius grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head, gazing at her with something akin to…Hope?

She understood instantly that he wanted her to love what he had put effort into, and she did. Glancing at the students, her friends, standing, getting all dressed up for her and she felt her heart swell and almost burst for the sudden love she held for them, almost equal to that of Harry and Ron and she felt tears well up in her eyes. Her mouth pulled upwards and she grinned at them all. They all cheered and James set off a couple of party poppers, the music started and the party began.

"Good times! You weren't even expecting it!" Megara giggled and Hermione smiled at her before standing up and brushing the back of her pyjama bottoms and stretching her arms above her head.

"Where are you off to?" Peter asked, and Hermione was glad that the conversation that they had had that morning wasn't forced on her part and she found it quite easy to talk to him.

When her thoughts weren't on his betrayal anyway.

"I'm gonna go see what my surprise is," she said, flashing the note to him really quickly and leaving the common room, wondering what else he could have gotten her.

She hoped that he liked the onyx necklace that she had bought for him – the jet black stone had holes drilled into its sides and a black chord threaded through them that expanded to fit over his head. It would protect the wearer from curses – not all curses, mind you, but if someone shot the jelly-legs curse at him or ricoshampra, the stone would deflect the spell back onto the caster. Also it would glow red and get hot if someone that he cared about was in danger. She figured that during the war, it would be a very useful for him to have.

Reaching the Astronomy tower, she frowned at the emptiness of the room and sighed, thinking that the house-elves hadn't left the present there yet and went to lean against the railings.

There, attached to the black railings, fluttering in the wind lightly, was another note. Hermione frowned and pushed a piece of hair behind her ear before picking up the note and reading his little, cramped, all capital lettered handwriting, which said: "Ha! Fooled you! Your present isn't here – You think it'd be that easy? And I thought that you were smart!" She could practically hear the teasing tone and she couldn't stop the eye-roll and chuckle. "Your next stop is…The Kitchens!"

Hermione groaned – he was going to send her on a wild goose chase through the castle, which she was slightly excited about, she had to admit. Plus, in the kitchens, she could have some Hot Chocolate.

When she finished her long trek to the Kitchens, she took a moment to get her breath back – She was slightly annoyed that Sirius had to power to send her from one end of the castle to the other when he wasn't even here. She reached out a finger and tickled the pair lightly, grabbing hold and tugging when it turned into a door-handle, stepping into the room crowded with House-elves who all turned to look at her as one and, she had to admit, it was slightly scary.

"Hermy!" They cried and circled her instantly, offering her chocolate, sweets and anything else they possibly could. Hermione laughed them off and placed her hand on the top of the closest one.

"What's your name?" She asked kindly, and the house-elf, with huge blue eyes, ears like a bat and a long thin nose who was wearing a pretty pink dress blushed slightly.

"Dizzy, missy," she said shyly and Hermione smiled, crouching in front of her.

"Dizzy – has Sirius left a note for me?" She asked and Dizzy shook her head, her huge ears flapping against her head.

"Oh, well then, can I have some Hot Chocolate please?" She asked and Dizzy jumped and set to get it as Hermione took a seat at the Ravenclaw table, resting her head against the table.

"Here you go, Missy Hermy!" Dizzy said excitedly and Hermione took it from her gratefully, sipping it, tasting the flavour burst on her tongue. She quietly contemplated why Sirius had failed to leave her a message as she drank, confusion giving way to anger.

As she drank the last morsel of her delicious drink, she spied writing at the bottom of the mug.

"No way," she muttered slightly, tipping the mug in a way that a shadow wouldn't be created as she read the printed words. 'So predictable, Hermione. I knew that you'd go for the Hot chocolate! Now, you want your present? Go to the seventh floor.'

The room of requirement. Hermione was happy that he chose to divulge this secret to her as well and she found herself almost running to the Seventh floor, excitement taking over and she was almost jittery with it. What else could he have possibly got her?

She almost crashed into Megara and Peter on her way there and Megara demanded that she stop and talk to them.

"I thought you were going to the Astronomy tower?" She asked, confusion evident on her pretty face.

"It's a Wild Goose chase – I'm off now, I need the next clue!" Hermione said in one breath and it took a moment for Megara to process it before she turned and shouted after Hermione: "Its dinner ti—DINNER TIME!"

Hermione paid her no heed and carried on down the corridor, thankful that it was the Christmas Holidays or she would never have made it there, the constant amount of students that she would have run into her would have slowed her down considerably.

It wasn't until she was stood in the seventh floor that she realised that she didn't know what she was supposed to say to gain entrance to the room for Sirius specific needs for her present. Looking around, she saw a strip of white paper on the wall and she grabbed it, almost ripping it in the process. 'Okay, Hermione, this may sound strange, but walk up and down three times thinking: I need a place to see my present, I need a place to see my present. Watch the magic happen.'

She almost squealed, the feelings overwhelming as she followed his instructions and watched the huge door appear in the stone wall, the black door detailed with bronze and the door handle was bronze as well. She held it and almost yanked it open but she forced herself to take a deep breath before calmly opening the door.

What she saw literally took her breath away as she gazed at the blanket of billions of stars surrounding her, giving her the impression that she was, in fact, in space. She could see the cosmo's, comet's, a dying star, it's red colour making it stand out from the rest as it pulsated with it's power. For a second, its beauty took her breath away and she felt like she had been transported to a different world.

"Oh, my God…" She muttered under her breath, so far under the spell that she nearly forgot to breathe – "it's just so beautiful."

"Not as beautiful as you." She whipped her head around, almost loosing her footing before arms wrapped around her waist, bringing her foreword into a familiar chest, his scent overwhelming her senses.

"Sirius?" She asked amazed, returning his embrace as she gazed into his grey eyes which seemed black in the light and he winked at her.

"The one and only. What, you thought I was going to leave you alone on Christmas?" He asked, sounding incredulous.

Hermione gazed in wonderment for a second, deciding that the stars just brought out his amazing looks before she gently pulled him foreword just as he pulled her up and their lips met. Their lips moved against each other as one, slow at first before they picked up speed and Sirius sensually stroked her lips with his tongue. His breath came out in sharp spurts from his nose across her cheek as his hands wondered down to her thighs, gently lifting until she obediently jumped, wrapping her legs around his waist as one of his arms slid under her thighs, supporting her while the other went diagonally across her back.

They broke the kiss, only to tilt their heads the other way and start again, Hermione feeling her arms and legs tingling as they kissed, their tongues stroking and he gently nipped her lips, causing her to moan slightly. They swayed on the spot as Hermione gently cupper his jaw and right then, with Sirius, Hermione felt complete, surrounded by the stars.

A/N: Okay, I put the flashbacks in because I wanted to show how Sirius and Hermione's relationship has progressed and because it's been so long since I updated, readers may have forgotten little bits, so I just added them in there really quickly.

I hope you like this chapter! It's been my longest one by far and I've enjoyed writing it – I hope you enjoy reading it!

Review!

Kelly

xxx