Disclaimer: Sadly, still not my sandbox; this is just my sand castle in J. K. Rowling's sandbox.
Chapter Eleven: Second Tasks Are Like Second Chances
(Deceivingly Calm at the Start & Awful in the Long Haul)
February
Sirius
As the months after winter break had gone on, Sirius though more and more about his pups' first day back. How their friends had tackled them the moment they stepped into the Great Hall, Harry and Hermione's names mashing together until Sirius couldn't tell which of their friends was saying which name or asking which question. How he watched as all of their worries disappeared and, for a moment, his two pups were the children they had somehow missed out on being because of the households they were raised in. In that moment, Sirius had made it his goal to bring those looks to their faces as much as he possibly could. He knew he couldn't completely unburden them because their abuse had scarred them no matter how much they tried to pretend it didn't and no matter how much both Sirius and Remus wished it hadn't.
What he could do was protect them from the burdens that were sure to attempt to settle on their shoulders in the future. Starting with figuring out how Harry's name had ended up in the Goblet and helping Gringotts figure out exactly what had been going on since Prongs and Lily had died. Not to mention, he still needed to help Harry and Hermione figure out what exactly the egg's sadistic little song meant for their family...though he knew his cubs knew more about it than they were sharing with him and Moony…
Flashback
Sirius really needed to stop listening in on his cubs, it really wasn't healthy for his relationship with either of them, but he just couldn't help it.
"Hermione," his ears perked up at that, his Godson rarely ever called his cub by her full name and the only times he did were when he was being completely serious (no pun intended). "I'm not willing to risk it. If it means losing my magic, so be it."
Hermione sighs like this is a conversation they'd had a thousand times over. "It's not something worth losing your magic over, Harry, and that is the only way you'd get out of it. You can do this, Harry, I believe in you. I have always and I will always believe you."
"People die in the competition, Hermione, and-" Harry is cut off and Sirius doesn't want to imagine what's going on behind that door right now.
"I trust you, Harry. With my life," his cub whispers barely loud enough for Sirius's sensitive ears to pick up from behind the door.
Flashback Over
Even though both teens felt safer with him and Remus than they did with any other adult in the world, Harry and Hermione still only trusted each other when it came down to it and that was something that Sirius was determined to change.
Hermione
Hermione had lost any remnants of respect she had unconsciously been clinging to the moment his stunner had hit her chest. He hadn't explained what would happen to her, just stated that as her guardian in the magical world, he had okayed her participation in the second task before shooting a silent stunner her way. She hadn't had the opportunity to give her consent, something Professor McGongall had promised she would have after the Headmaster explained what he would like her to do for the second task and something she knew Professor McGonagall would blow a fuse over if she got wind that Hermione had not been given an option. For someone who prided himself in his love for muggleborns, he was sure showing a mass amount of prejudice with his current actions.
Had Hermione been told what this would feel like and had the opportunity to say no like she was supposed to, she would have passed on participating in this part of the competition because it felt like her second year all over again. Like she was petrified, completely trapped in her own body. She could see and hear everything around her but it was like everything was coming through an old-fashioned one-way intercom. She could understand it all but it was distant and she had no way of interacting.
When Hermione's head finally broke through the water and the spellwork around her collapsed, she gasped for air as she tried to comprehend what exactly was happening around her.
It wasn't until a familiar set of clear blue eyes connected with her that she finally felt like she could breathe.
"…I don't…I can't…you could have DIED, Hermione…and I…The last thing you would have heard from me was…Merlin, I'm so sorry, Hermione…I understand if you can't forgive me, I–"
Hermione cuts off Ron's rambling with a tackling sort of hug.
"I forgive you," she whispers in his ear as tear trickles out of the corners of her eyes.
This was her Ron. This was the Ron that had become her friend their first year, the boy who sacrificed himself so his friends could move forward, the boy who embraced two broken kids and showed them what it was like to have a friend for the first time in their lives. How could she not forgive that?
Sirius
"I'm worried about Hermione, Sirius…I don't think it's healthy how she's been handling everything…it's like she's putting this sort of block around her past so that she can pretend it didn't happen and every block has it's breaking point," Remus tells Sirius softly a few nights after the nightmare that had been the second task as he runs his fingers through Sirius's hair.
Sirius sighs, tracing absentminded pictures on Remus's chest as takes Remus's statement into account. He'd been worried about Hermione as well but, as much as he wished he was, he wasn't the best person to help her with opening up and neither was Remus. How caught up in their own pasts they both still were showed that fact all too well.
"What do you think we should do?" Sirius finally asks.
"There's a therapist the agent in the muggle world recommended when she helped me push through Hermione's adoption. I think it would benefit all of us if we set up sessions with her the summer. Both by ourselves and as a family once we are able to work through our own individual needs."
"But what about the statute of secrecy?" Sirius questions, trying to deflect from his knee-jerk 'no' response.
"Obviously, we'd have to omit everything magic-related. But death, imprisonment, abuse, almost everything that has happened to all of us, is all stuff that happens in the muggle world as well. They just have ways to work through it if we're willing to take the steps."
"Let's ask the kids what they think."
