George gaped at the unlikely pair, seeming to be in a state of shock. Hermione could almost see the thoughts running through his head, all of them on a similar line to 'but Hermione's a rule follower, not a rule breaker!' He was not surprised at Sirius' involvement in breaking a few rules, although he was an adult so George decided that he wasn't really breaking any rules. In their time at Grimmauld Place, Sirius and Remus had spent a few nights with the children, reminiscing on their Hogwarts days, somehow not managing to spill the beans about them being two of the famed Marauders. Hermione considered letting that stay secret but also thought that if that came out that night, Fred and George would be much too excited about that to talk about Hermione Granger smoking.
Sirius laughed when George's face turned red and he whipped his head from Hermione to Sirius. "It's only a cig, mate, it's not gonna kill you," he remarked. Hermione hummed and took a deep breath, ready to start a spiel on how actually it could kill him when George hurriedly opened his mouth to interrupt before she could get started.
"What is going on here? Does my mum know? How long have you been smoking? Are you a secret rule breaker?" The questions tumbled out of his mouth so quickly he was nearly slurring.
That set Sirius off laughing again, having had the same set of questions when he'd first offered her a cigarette. He liked to think that he'd asked in a more eloquent way than George just had, though. "Are you kidding? If Molly knew we wouldn't have to worry about the cigarettes killing us, we'd already be dead." He couldn't resist answering that question, although he knew that the rest were for Hermione to answer.
Hermione was a bit put out that she hadn't been able to explain the dangers of smoking, so only replied, "I'm not smoking, George. I'm a prefect, I'd never smoke." Her answer was somewhat unbelievable as she exhaled smoke at George when she turned to face him. "Are you smoking that, or not?" She gestured to the packet that he'd still not opened.
"Oh, er, I dunno. I've never smoked a muggle cigarette before." George answered, looking at the packet rather confused. Hermione shrugged at him before she told him that he probably shouldn't, it being a nasty habit and all.
She thought that she'd managed to distract him from his questions but she wasn't that lucky. He stared at her as though in awe that she'd somehow managed to stay under his radar as a rule breaker for four years. Hermione thought that it should be rather obvious - the rumour mill at Hogwarts was legendary and the tales of her, Harry and Ron's exploits during their years at Hogwarts had been a part of them.
Hermione and Sirius continued smoking in silence, refusing to look at each other - both knowing that they'd break down laughing at George's conundrum if they did. It was unfortunate for George because they'd both grown rather bored of looking at the garden in the few weeks they'd been meeting up, so both stared at him, instead.
George fidgeted under the weight of their stares before remembering that, for once, he wasn't the one in trouble. "Oi!" He shouted, indignant. "You," he pointed at Hermione, "still haven't answered my questions."
The only answer he received was a sigh from Hermione and a shush from Sirius. Hermione stubbed out her cigarette and reached for the packet from George, who still had barely looked at it. In the way of annoying older siblings, he yanked it out of her reach and smirked down at her, bartering, "I'll give it if you answer my questions."
Hermione was an only child, and when she was with her cousins, was treated like a beloved younger cousin, not like an annoying younger sibling. She was not used to this kind of treatment and tried a plan destined to fail - "I'll answer if you give it back first." George smugly shook his head no but had forgotten that it wasn't just the two of them and that Sirius was taller than him. A lot quieter than George expected too because he hadn't realised that Sirius was sneaking up on him until he'd already grabbed the precious bartering tools.
George wilted and Hermione beamed at Sirius. "What? They're not for you, they're mine!" He exclaimed. Hermione only rolled her eyes, knowing that the three of them were in for a long conversation and an explanation. The intrigue of Hermione doing something illegal was too much to distract from, no matter how hard she tried.
She would need another cigarette to get through this conversation, and Sirius seemed to agree because he shot off back into the house and returned with a bottle of firewhiskey, two glasses and Hermione's forgotten cup of tea.
He silently poured himself and George a drink and waited for Hermione to have taken a few sips of her tea before filling up her mug. George's eyes grew wider as he waited for Hermione to explode the way that she had before about breaking the rules and illegality and only widened as she said nothing and took a sip.
Hermione couldn't hold it in any longer and snorted at the look on his face. She relented and decided to answer his questions. After she finished laughing at him, of course. She couldn't help it - his complete befuddlement that she wasn't quite the Hermione Granger he had always known her as was too funny to not laugh at.
Sirius chuckled along with her, having some pity on George as he'd been in the exact same position only a few weeks ago. He couldn't blame the younger lad for not seeing, though. He certainly hadn't - if the Marauders had known that being a teacher's pet made them much less suspected of any wrongdoing, they would have acted like perfect little angels. They just weren't that smart, back then. Well, maybe Remus was because Sirius was sure that the only reason the Weasley twins hadn't found out about their fun in school was because of Remus. He had a feeling that if Hermione got desperate enough or sick of answering George's questions tonight, the secret of who the Marauders are would be out.
"Well I can answer what's going on," Sirius started, learning towards George as if he was going to share a deep, dark secret. George leaned towards Sirius eagerly, looking like whatever was said would make his night, if not his week.
"It gets boring to smoke alone," Sirius smirked as he leaned away from George, who felt like he had been cheated from getting a real answer. He looked to Hermione, as most people did, for a better answer. She shrugged in response.
"He's not wrong, it does get boring to smoke alone. And if I'm sneaking out with him, I can say that I smell of smoke because of him and your mother would kill him for smoking instead of me," Hermione explained in a slightly bored tone.
Sirius looked offended, throwing back his glass of firewhisky and exclaiming that he felt used, putting a hand to his heart like he was truly wounded. The overly dramatic display made it clear that he was joking. They shared a look and decided as one that that's all George would know about them - they were sneaking out together to smoke and Sirius was just covering Hermione's ass from Mrs Weasley. No need to go blabbing about any secret plans, even though the twins could keep a secret, a secret is best kept when as few as possible people know it.
George had seen the look the two shared and knew that the questions on what they were doing were to be considered answered. What he didn't know is how Hermione somehow seemed like she'd never done so much as break the guidelines for the skirt length of the Hogwarts uniform, but was happily sitting with Sirius smoking and drinking underage. He opened his mouth to ask, but before he got the words out Hermione answered the question.
"I break the rules all the time, George. I just don't make any big, obvious displays about it, so no one notices, or if they do it's easy for them to assume that I was dragged into it by Harry and Ron."
It was true that Fred and George were maybe a little lax in their parental appointed task of looking after their younger siblings at Hogwarts, but they figured they didn't have to - Prefect Percy was always around for them if they needed an older brother. So maybe they hadn't noticed Ron, and by extension, Harry and Hermione, sneaking out or whatever it was that they did that broke the rules. The group was not subtle about what they were doing - it was almost a miracle that they hadn't been caught until after the fact, like when they snuck into that corridor and allegedly found the Philosopher's Stone.
Thinking about it, hadn't Sirius said something about Hermione breaking him out of Hogwarts? George was struck with the realisation that Hermione wasn't just breaking petty rules like staying out after curfew to spend more time in the library, she was breaking serious laws and helping the most notorious Azkaban escapee break out from where he was in temporary custody.
George shook his head, dazed at his realisations. He'd have to talk it over with Fred in the morning so they could pinch each other to make sure they were awake. How had they missed Hermione Granger and fallen for the bookworm disguise she wore? He waved a distracted good night to the unlikely pair and headed back inside to the bedroom that he and Fred shared.
Hermione and Sirius glanced at each other. "He must be really shaken if he hasn't even touched the glass I poured him," Sirius commented, knowing that he would normally jump on the chance to do something his mother would disapprove of, but the glass of firewhisky had barely been glanced at.