Disclaimer: Sadly, still not my sandbox; this is just my sand castle in J. K. Rowling's sandbox.
Chapter Eighteen: Negatives Can Lead to Picture Perfect Moments
June
Hermione
The moment Cedric Diggory spun into existence with a look of stunned terror on his face and the TriWizard Cup in his hand, Hermione knew something had gone horrifically wrong. Even as the crowd swaps him, he tries to yell over them.
Hermione doesn't need to hear what he is saying to know what happened. Sirius had been right. It was a trap. Only somehow Cedric had gotten there at the same time as Harry and Cedric had been sent back but Harry hadn't.
"We'll be home in the next hour," Hermione voice is barely a whisper as she repeats her animagus Dad's promise to her over and over again.
Balling her fists in the familiar knit of her favorite Weasley sweater, Hermione moves higher up into the quickly clearing spectator stands. She plops onto the first open seat she finds as soon as she can see the spot where her two wayward family members will appear again, pulling her knees to her chest in an attempt to close the hole in her chest that is trying to force itself into the open.
A loud whoosh and the thud of many feet draw the entire crowd's attention to where Hermione was already staring as her two wayward family members reappeared with a small army of Goblin Missionaries.
Harry dropped a lumpy mis-shapen thing Hermione could only assume was Voldemort to the ground and the Goblin Missionaries followed his lead (though Hermione preferred not to think of exactly what was attached to each deatheater mask that fell to the ground.
And then Hermione was sprinting down the stands, quickly scaling down the small fence keeping her from the field and running right into her boyfriend's arms.
"We told you we'd be back," Harry whispers, stroking her hair softly as she clings to him tightly.
Sirius
Tap. Tap. Tap. Sirius groans as he rolls out of bed, Remus's arm falling limply to the covers with a soft thud as Sirius makes his way to the window.
He was really starting to hate this MugWiz Mail Service he'd signed up for, so that Muggle therapist had somewhere to bill every time they visited her, because it always came so damn early. Earlier even than their newspaper.
Tap. Tap. Tap. The noise distract Sirius from that line of thought and quickly opened the window. How Remus could sleep through this, Sirius didn't know. Some guard wolf he was.
July
Hermione
"Hermione!" Molly pulls the young girl into a hug the moment she steps foot into the Burrow.
"It's good to see you, Mrs. Weasley. Thank you for inviting me over." Hermione smiles at the older woman, snuggling into the older woman's particular brand of bearhug for a moment.
"It's no trouble dear, we love having you." Molly doesn't have time to say anything else as her three youngest children and a very familiar blonde come barreling down the stairs.
"HERMIONE!" All four surround her, crushing her in between their bodies and pulling slightly strained laughter from Hermione's lips. It was great to see her friends.
"Let me show you my room! The twins, Luna, and I have done a bit more tweaking since you were here last time. We added another shelf to our trunk shelf so Luna can stay too and we've reworked the dresser so she has space too. It'll be a bit squeezed but less of a squeeze than our sleepovers in our Hogwarts dorms," Ginny rambles as she and Luna lead Hermione up the stairs, the twins a bit behind them with Hermione's trunk.
A shadow at the top of the stairs steals Hermione's attention for a moment before she refocuses on her friends, "I'm sure it's perfect, Ginny. You're honestly amazing."
"I know," Ginny teases, pressing a kiss to Hermione's cheek.
Sirius
Sirius was wary about sending his three pups to the Weasley's but when they'd turned their sad eyes his way, he hadn't been able to say no. It wasn't until the shiteating grin immediately wiped away the sadness that Sirius realized he had been played. That's what he got for taking a Slytherin into his family he supposed.
But he trusted the Weasleys. Even if their extended family refused to take their youngest and wizarding law made it so said youngest had to stay with some sort of wizarding family until he was of age or expelled.
Honestly, Sirius couldn't wait for the Goblins to finish cataloging all of Dumbledore's dirty laundry. At least, then, Sirius would have some form of closure when it came to the redheaded miscreant.
August
Hermione
"You should just sleep here every night," Harry murmurs as he hovers above Hermione, placing kisses along her neck.
"Mmm." She runs her fingers through his hair, her nails scratching gently against the back of his head. "You know I shouldn't do that. Here, either one of my dads could notice and at Hogwarts, roommates might notice."
"I think I can change your mind." Harry gently nips at her collar bone.
"I think you need to shut up," Hermione whispers, pulling his head back up to hers and pressing his lips to hers.
Harry's tongue runs along the seam of her lips and his hands glide down her curves before pausing at the on her thighs as he lifts them up and flirts with the edge of her nightgown.
Hermione opens her mouth for her best friend, allowing his tongue to run against hers, as her hands slide from his hair to where his hands are still flirting with the edge of her nightgown.
"Are you sure?" Harry asks, pulling away just far enough to look into her eyes for confirmation as her hands place his under her nightgown.
"Have I ever not been sure of anything? I trust you, Harry. I love you," Hermione whispers.
"I love you, Hermione. More than anything," he whispers back before kissing her gently as his hands slip under her nightgown. Harry pulls her nightgown over her head and a gasp escapes his lips as he stares down at her dressed in only her panties. She fights the urge to cover herself because she trusts him more than anyone else in the world and it isn't like it's anything of hers he hasn't seen before.
"You're beautiful, Mione," he murmurs before pressing his lips to hers again.
Hermione's hands slip under Harry's shirt, tugging the material up and over his head. Her fingernails digging into his back as she pulls his body down to hers, pressing her bare chest against his. Her hips roll against his and both teens groan in pleasure. Hermione's hands follow Harry's spine down his back before pausing at the waistband of his pajama pants.
"Are you still ok?" she whispers as she pulls away just enough to stare into the emerald eyes she loved.
"More than ok," he replies, smiling down at her. "You?"
"Yeah." Hermione smiles back as her hands push down his pants and her lips press against his, her tongue plunging into his mouth once again.
Harry's hands slide down her body, pulling her underwear off as they move down her body before tossing them to the end of his bed.
Hermione's legs open a little wider in invitation as Harry settles in between them. "Where's your wand, Harry?" she gasps, her lips brushing against his with every word.
"Under my pillow like always," he mumbles, kissing the corner of her mouth before making his way down her neck.
Hermione moves her right hand under his pillow, quickly finding James's wand. She pulls it out and flicks her wrist in the motion Professor McGonagall had made sure all the Gryffindor girls had memorized last year.
Harry presses his lips against hers again as she drops the wand back on the bed, both of her hands clasping his shoulders tightly. His manhood presses at her entrance and he pulls away once more. "Ready?"
Hermione nods and Harry kisses her deeply as he slowly presses into her. Her muscles stretch and a tension she hadn't realized she was holding releases completely. A small part of her had thought something in her had changed, that everytime she did this from now on she'd feel pain but all she feels is pleasure.
"You alright?" Harry grunts once he is fully sheathed inside of Hermione.
"More than alright." Hermione wraps her legs around his waist, pulling him even deeper inside of her, and their moans are muffled by their lovers' mouths.
Sirius
"Dad?" The soft voice has Sirius snapping awake, Remus moments behind him (both with their wands in their hands).
"Pup?"
"Cub?"
The queries come in unison with equal parts of confusion as their wands lower and they move to make room in between them for her.
"What're you doing here?" Sirius asks softly, twisting a wayward curl around his finger once she'd settled in between them.
"I had a question."
"In the middle of the night?" Remus chuckles, squeezing her hand softly to show he was teasing.
"Yeah…I know that I've been officially adopted for a while now but…I was hoping you could help me change my name…" Hermione trails off, pulling her bottom lip in between her front teeth.
Sirius glances at Remus who has a goody sort of grin on his face before replying to his pup, "Of course we can. Just you last name?"
"I was actually hoping I could change my middle and my last name…I was thinking Hermione Janus Lupin. Hermione because it's what I'm used to and it's a reminder of where I came from; Janus after Saturn's moon to honor the Black family astrological tradition of names; and Lupin for obvious reasons." Hermione grins cheekily at Remus with her last statement then squeaks when both older men crush her in a tight hug.
