A/N: If this is up when I plan on it to be up, that would make two updates in one day! Woo! You know, it takes me about an hour or two to write a chapter of this? So basically, I've spent over eleven hours working on this! LoL… It's getting kind of strange… I hope you like it. Beware of the fluff.
Snuffles' Stay
Chapter Eleven
Can I keep you?
Lessa chirped at the window and Hermione pulled her inside. Attached to her foot was a note. Harry's reply. Hermione laughed at the little owl, who stood defiantly on Hermione's desk, holding her leg out in front of her. She took the burden off of Lessa, and the owl flew out of her open door to the living room.
'Mione,
I heard you're Head Girl… congratulations. Your owl is very pretty; Hedwig seems to like her. She didn't mind it when Lessa drank from her water dish.
What do you plan on doing after this Summer? I'm not going back to the Dursleys after this year; not unless Dumbledore strictly tells me to, so I'm taking everything with me to Hogwarts this year. Well, I've got to go… Dudley's throwing a tantrum and the floor's shaking so much I can't write properly. Tell Sirius I said hi.
-Harry
Hermione folded up the letter, tucking it into her dresser drawer. What would she do after this year? She shook her head, glancing around her room. Where is Sirius? And what did he mean with that note? I know it was him who left it… you could tell by the scrawl.
Nine days… Nine days left. She groaned, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Her stomach rumbled. Breakfast, she thought, patting her stomach with her outstretched hand. Food. Maybe that's where Sirius will be. He's never lacking when it comes to food.
A long, booming bark confirmed her suspicions. Hermione heard her mother's drawling laugh, and her father's extensive chuckle, and another bark coming by way of the kitchen. Clutching the beautifully scented flower to her chest, Hermione set down the length of the stairwell, and greeted her parents with an orderly "Morning, Mum, Dad."
Mrs. Granger was flailing around a doggie treat, which hyped up Snuffles. He bounced around the kitchen, ears twitching every now and then, eyes trailing along the path that the snack treats led. Mr. Granger had Lessa perched on his arm; he stroked her back, making odd noises under his breath at her, which seemed to sooth her after the flight to the Dursleys.
"Only nine days until I'm back at Hogwarts, Mum… Nine days!" Hermione gave her Mum a toothy grin. "And only a few months until the babies have stopped baking, and are ready to be delivered."
"Oh yes!" Mrs. Granger giggled, playing with Sirius more vigorously. "You're such a good doggie… Aren't you? Aren't you a good doggie?" Her hands cupped around the dog's face, her thumbs and index fingers scratching his shaggy black ears. "Such a good doggie!"
Hermione rolled her eyes. The house was in a ruckus! She slid over to the sideboard, picking up a Danish from the platter on the counter. "You two have to work today?" she asked her parents, plucking a piece of the Danish off and popping it in her mouth.
Mr. Granger grunted and nodded. "I'll be out until nine tonight. Your mother will be home at five or earlier. I don't want her working long hours."
"Marvin!" Mrs. Granger exclaimed. "I can very well handle my own pregnancy! I've done it once before!"
Mr. Granger frowned. "Of course, dear… of course." He stuck his arm out, and Lessa fluttered off it, perching on top of her cage instead. "After this cup of coffee, I'll be off. Hermione, would you mind mowing the lawn? I haven't had the time to do it."
"I wouldn't mind, not at all," Hermione answered, watching her Mum and Snuffles still. "You didn't use the sugar for your coffee, did you, Dad?"
Her father was sipping on his coffee. He set it down and looked at his daughter. "No, creamer. Why?"
"I've decided that I'm going to bake something today. For the fun of it. I haven't in a while."
Mrs. Granger began to weep. "My little Hermione… baking! I'm so proud of you… You're such a good daughter. I can't wait until you grow up and have babies of your own, some day! You'll be such a good Mummy… a good one, indeed." Her attention reverted back to Snuffles.
Hermione's face flushed. "…Some day, indeed."
Marvin Granger put his coffee mug on the counter. "Well then, we'll be off. Have a good day, Hermione." He bent down to kiss his daughter's forehead. "Don't make a mess. Remember… Your mother should be home at five. If she's not, call me. I'll be home at nine."
He grabbed his wife's elbow and escorted her out of the front door. Hermione stood near the door frame, waving her parents off. "Have a good day at work," she called after them, shutting the door after they entered their separate cars and drove off.
Her attention focused, now, upon Sirius, who sat at the kitchen table. "Well?" he asked, reading the paper. He looked up, smiling at Hermione.
Her face instantly flushed. "Well, what?" she asked, sitting down across from him, studying her Danish to keep from looking at Sirius. He grunted shortly from the other side of the table.
"Can I keep you?"
Can he keep me?
"What do you mean, exactly, by that?" she asked, studying as hard as ever at the texture of her pastry. She felt stupid; her face must have been patching bright red. She looked up, staring into his deep, dark orbs and felt her heart jump into her throat. …Ohhh my…
"Look at this," he answered, shoving the paper toward Hermione. Hermione took it, glancing at the cover page, which featured a large picture of a stout, pudgy looking man with a metallic hand. Her eyes widened dramatically. "Yeah… They've located Peter. You know what this means?" His mouth curved into a thin smile.
"You've been… freed of charges?" she asked, her voice quivering slightly. Her hands shook when holding the paper. She couldn't believe it… Sirius… is freed?! What's he going to do, now? Where's he going to stay?
Sirius' grin broadened. "I've been knocked off of my charges… but I still have to go to court to get an appeal. They've spotted him, but they haven't caught him, so that's a slight problem that they have. It must be all over the Daily Prophet but… you haven't got it, so we can't be for sure." He clapped his hands together and rubbed them vigorously.
"What are you going to do, now, free man?" Hermione questioned.
"I'm staying here for the rest of the summer, so don't think that you've gotten rid of me that fast." He cocked up an eyebrow. "But then, I'll have to find somewhere to stay; I'll probably go to Lupin's for a while. I don't know for sure."
Hermione chuckled. "And why would you want to stay here for the rest of the summer? You're free… you could do whatever you want, now. You could get a place for Harry and yourself. He'd finally have a welcoming home to come to.
"The reason," he started, picking himself up from the table, "that I want to stay here, is simple. You received my note?" His eyebrows furrowed. "You see?" He emitted a soft chuckle. "I want to stay here with you."
She stood now, too. "Why?" she asked, cheeks tinged with color. "Why wouldn't you want to go and make a home with Harry?"
"There are many reasons. Harry's old enough to have a home of his own… Yes, I'll still be around for him, but… He's 18 in eight days. He might not want to stay with me… He might want to pursue a life in Quidditch. What would he do with his Godfather, if he were on a Quidditch team? I don't want to tie him down, but I want to be there for him still."
"And I'll be 18 in only a few weeks, Sirius. I still don't have a clue about what I want to do when I'm older; I don't know what all I'm capable of, and what I could pursue. I have to take care of my family… Help my Mum and Dad with the triplets."
"I could be here to help you with them, you know. It'll make up for my lost time with Harry, in a sense." He wrapped his arm around Hermione's waist and pulled him close to him. "Can I keep you?"
Shivers ran down Hermione's spine. Can he keep me? Can he keep me?! She looked up, glancing into his deep orbs. "Sirius… I don't know… I still don't know what I'm going to do! Do you seriously think of me as a possession?"
"You know what I meant." Sirius leaned down and placed a soft kiss on Hermione's forehead. "Can I keep you, 'Mione?"
"Why would you want to, Sirius?"
"I just do," he answered. "I just do…" He grinned, planting another kiss on the girl's forehead.
"I… I… I don't… I'm not sure, Sirius, I mean…" Her eyes lit up. "You'd actually want to… 'Keep me'? Really, that's something I hadn't expected." She tried to give a chuckle, but failed. Instead, short, flowing tears sprouted from her eyes. "Damn you, Sirius!" She struggled to wiggle from his grasp. "Damn you!" Hermione slammed a fist against his chest, turned, and ran up the stairs.
Sirius looked around the house, dumbfounded at first. He rubbed his chest where the bush-brown haired girl hit him, and ran up the stairs to follow. "Hermione… Hermione? I'm sorry… I didn't mean to upset you." He knocked on her bedroom door.
Hermione walked from her bedroom, eyes still brimming with tears. "Did you mean it?" she asked, simply.
"I wouldn't have said it, if I hadn't of meant it."
She threw herself into his arms. "I'm not saying yes, but I'm not saying no, Sirius Black. You've still got Harry to worry about, and I want you to remember that! I still have to think about what I'm going to do after Hogwarts, so…" She pulled away and tucked a few strands of hair behind her ears. "But thank you."
"Thanks for what?" His thumbs wiped away the rolling tears off her cheeks.
"For making my summer excitable, and for being yourself."
"Yeah, well, being yourself comes naturally when you're yourself. It's not a hard task to be yourself."
"True. Now what did you write to Dumbledore!"
Sirius grinned. "I wrote to ask him if I would be able to stay at Hogwarts this summer. I suppose that I won't need his answer anymore… but I need to write to Lupin and ask him if it's all right to stay there with him."
"I see…" Hermione grinned. "Well… being Head Girl may have it's advantages. I might be able to go to Hogsmeade a little more than I would if I had been a prefect… And they do have prefect weekends, so… Well! Harry and Ron are going to be ecstatic. Ron more or less already knows. He receives the Daily Prophet."
"I can only see the expressions on many people's faces right about now…" he chuckled. "Won't the Ministry be getting a kick out of this? I already know that Arthur Weasley knows I'm innocent, but it's going to be a façade of chaos there."
"They'll come to accept it. The Ministry is full of influential Wizards and Witches. If they can come to accept it, then more and more will. Do you want to write to Harry? I think you should…"
"Yeah. If he learned of my freedom from Ron, I suppose that he would be upset. We're using Lessa, I presume? Do you think she'd mind?"
"Why would she mind? She's a messenger owl… She likes to do those sorts of things!" She smiled, picking up a piece of paper and a pencil. "Now! Write him a letter."
Sirius picked up a piece of paper and took the pencil in hand. He was, more or less, used to Parchment and Quills, so his fingers fumbled with the pencil. Finally, he managed to figure out how to use it, and added a, "Wow! You can erase your mistakes without an Erasing Charm!"
Harry,
I'm free. The Ministry's announced it to the public today, and it was in the Muggle Papers. I'm pretty sure it'd be in the Daily Prophet as well. Can you believe this?
I'm not going to be able to afford a house at the moment, so you'll have to stay with the Dursleys for the rest of the Summer. I'm going to stay at Hermione's, then I'm off to Remus Lupin's for the school year. After the school year's over, I might find a place, and if you wanted, you might be able to stay with me… that is, if Dumbledore doesn't object. Don't get your hopes too high, Harry… I still have to go to an appeal.
You've only got this year left, and you're going to be a Full Grown Wizard. Then you can hex that pig cousin of yours any time you want… well, not any time, but… Keep doing what you're best at, Harry… you only have this year left.
Sirius
Hermione snorted. "Informative letter."
"Yes, I know." He grinned, picking Hermione up in his arms. "I'm keeping you, whether you like it or not."
"I never objected, and I never have said that I wouldn't like it."
"So you like it, hmm?"
"Perhaps, but why should I admit to it? Secrecy is part of the plot."
"What plot? Have you not told me something?" He fixed his eyebrows.
"Perhaps…" Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself so that her lips reached his earlobe. "You can keep me," she whispered. "But I'm going to keep you, too."
"We'll keep each other."
Chapter Eleven
Lessa chirped at the window and Hermione pulled her inside. Attached to her foot was a note. Harry's reply. Hermione laughed at the little owl, who stood defiantly on Hermione's desk, holding her leg out in front of her. She took the burden off of Lessa, and the owl flew out of her open door to the living room.
'Mione,
I heard you're Head Girl… congratulations. Your owl is very pretty; Hedwig seems to like her. She didn't mind it when Lessa drank from her water dish.
What do you plan on doing after this Summer? I'm not going back to the Dursleys after this year; not unless Dumbledore strictly tells me to, so I'm taking everything with me to Hogwarts this year. Well, I've got to go… Dudley's throwing a tantrum and the floor's shaking so much I can't write properly. Tell Sirius I said hi.
-Harry
Hermione folded up the letter, tucking it into her dresser drawer. What would she do after this year? She shook her head, glancing around her room. Where is Sirius? And what did he mean with that note? I know it was him who left it… you could tell by the scrawl.
Nine days… Nine days left. She groaned, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Her stomach rumbled. Breakfast, she thought, patting her stomach with her outstretched hand. Food. Maybe that's where Sirius will be. He's never lacking when it comes to food.
A long, booming bark confirmed her suspicions. Hermione heard her mother's drawling laugh, and her father's extensive chuckle, and another bark coming by way of the kitchen. Clutching the beautifully scented flower to her chest, Hermione set down the length of the stairwell, and greeted her parents with an orderly "Morning, Mum, Dad."
Mrs. Granger was flailing around a doggie treat, which hyped up Snuffles. He bounced around the kitchen, ears twitching every now and then, eyes trailing along the path that the snack treats led. Mr. Granger had Lessa perched on his arm; he stroked her back, making odd noises under his breath at her, which seemed to sooth her after the flight to the Dursleys.
"Only nine days until I'm back at Hogwarts, Mum… Nine days!" Hermione gave her Mum a toothy grin. "And only a few months until the babies have stopped baking, and are ready to be delivered."
"Oh yes!" Mrs. Granger giggled, playing with Sirius more vigorously. "You're such a good doggie… Aren't you? Aren't you a good doggie?" Her hands cupped around the dog's face, her thumbs and index fingers scratching his shaggy black ears. "Such a good doggie!"
Hermione rolled her eyes. The house was in a ruckus! She slid over to the sideboard, picking up a Danish from the platter on the counter. "You two have to work today?" she asked her parents, plucking a piece of the Danish off and popping it in her mouth.
Mr. Granger grunted and nodded. "I'll be out until nine tonight. Your mother will be home at five or earlier. I don't want her working long hours."
"Marvin!" Mrs. Granger exclaimed. "I can very well handle my own pregnancy! I've done it once before!"
Mr. Granger frowned. "Of course, dear… of course." He stuck his arm out, and Lessa fluttered off it, perching on top of her cage instead. "After this cup of coffee, I'll be off. Hermione, would you mind mowing the lawn? I haven't had the time to do it."
"I wouldn't mind, not at all," Hermione answered, watching her Mum and Snuffles still. "You didn't use the sugar for your coffee, did you, Dad?"
Her father was sipping on his coffee. He set it down and looked at his daughter. "No, creamer. Why?"
"I've decided that I'm going to bake something today. For the fun of it. I haven't in a while."
Mrs. Granger began to weep. "My little Hermione… baking! I'm so proud of you… You're such a good daughter. I can't wait until you grow up and have babies of your own, some day! You'll be such a good Mummy… a good one, indeed." Her attention reverted back to Snuffles.
Hermione's face flushed. "…Some day, indeed."
Marvin Granger put his coffee mug on the counter. "Well then, we'll be off. Have a good day, Hermione." He bent down to kiss his daughter's forehead. "Don't make a mess. Remember… Your mother should be home at five. If she's not, call me. I'll be home at nine."
He grabbed his wife's elbow and escorted her out of the front door. Hermione stood near the door frame, waving her parents off. "Have a good day at work," she called after them, shutting the door after they entered their separate cars and drove off.
Her attention focused, now, upon Sirius, who sat at the kitchen table. "Well?" he asked, reading the paper. He looked up, smiling at Hermione.
Her face instantly flushed. "Well, what?" she asked, sitting down across from him, studying her Danish to keep from looking at Sirius. He grunted shortly from the other side of the table.
"Can I keep you?"
Can he keep me?
"What do you mean, exactly, by that?" she asked, studying as hard as ever at the texture of her pastry. She felt stupid; her face must have been patching bright red. She looked up, staring into his deep, dark orbs and felt her heart jump into her throat. …Ohhh my…
"Look at this," he answered, shoving the paper toward Hermione. Hermione took it, glancing at the cover page, which featured a large picture of a stout, pudgy looking man with a metallic hand. Her eyes widened dramatically. "Yeah… They've located Peter. You know what this means?" His mouth curved into a thin smile.
"You've been… freed of charges?" she asked, her voice quivering slightly. Her hands shook when holding the paper. She couldn't believe it… Sirius… is freed?! What's he going to do, now? Where's he going to stay?
Sirius' grin broadened. "I've been knocked off of my charges… but I still have to go to court to get an appeal. They've spotted him, but they haven't caught him, so that's a slight problem that they have. It must be all over the Daily Prophet but… you haven't got it, so we can't be for sure." He clapped his hands together and rubbed them vigorously.
"What are you going to do, now, free man?" Hermione questioned.
"I'm staying here for the rest of the summer, so don't think that you've gotten rid of me that fast." He cocked up an eyebrow. "But then, I'll have to find somewhere to stay; I'll probably go to Lupin's for a while. I don't know for sure."
Hermione chuckled. "And why would you want to stay here for the rest of the summer? You're free… you could do whatever you want, now. You could get a place for Harry and yourself. He'd finally have a welcoming home to come to.
"The reason," he started, picking himself up from the table, "that I want to stay here, is simple. You received my note?" His eyebrows furrowed. "You see?" He emitted a soft chuckle. "I want to stay here with you."
She stood now, too. "Why?" she asked, cheeks tinged with color. "Why wouldn't you want to go and make a home with Harry?"
"There are many reasons. Harry's old enough to have a home of his own… Yes, I'll still be around for him, but… He's 18 in eight days. He might not want to stay with me… He might want to pursue a life in Quidditch. What would he do with his Godfather, if he were on a Quidditch team? I don't want to tie him down, but I want to be there for him still."
"And I'll be 18 in only a few weeks, Sirius. I still don't have a clue about what I want to do when I'm older; I don't know what all I'm capable of, and what I could pursue. I have to take care of my family… Help my Mum and Dad with the triplets."
"I could be here to help you with them, you know. It'll make up for my lost time with Harry, in a sense." He wrapped his arm around Hermione's waist and pulled him close to him. "Can I keep you?"
Shivers ran down Hermione's spine. Can he keep me? Can he keep me?! She looked up, glancing into his deep orbs. "Sirius… I don't know… I still don't know what I'm going to do! Do you seriously think of me as a possession?"
"You know what I meant." Sirius leaned down and placed a soft kiss on Hermione's forehead. "Can I keep you, 'Mione?"
"Why would you want to, Sirius?"
"I just do," he answered. "I just do…" He grinned, planting another kiss on the girl's forehead.
"I… I… I don't… I'm not sure, Sirius, I mean…" Her eyes lit up. "You'd actually want to… 'Keep me'? Really, that's something I hadn't expected." She tried to give a chuckle, but failed. Instead, short, flowing tears sprouted from her eyes. "Damn you, Sirius!" She struggled to wiggle from his grasp. "Damn you!" Hermione slammed a fist against his chest, turned, and ran up the stairs.
Sirius looked around the house, dumbfounded at first. He rubbed his chest where the bush-brown haired girl hit him, and ran up the stairs to follow. "Hermione… Hermione? I'm sorry… I didn't mean to upset you." He knocked on her bedroom door.
Hermione walked from her bedroom, eyes still brimming with tears. "Did you mean it?" she asked, simply.
"I wouldn't have said it, if I hadn't of meant it."
She threw herself into his arms. "I'm not saying yes, but I'm not saying no, Sirius Black. You've still got Harry to worry about, and I want you to remember that! I still have to think about what I'm going to do after Hogwarts, so…" She pulled away and tucked a few strands of hair behind her ears. "But thank you."
"Thanks for what?" His thumbs wiped away the rolling tears off her cheeks.
"For making my summer excitable, and for being yourself."
"Yeah, well, being yourself comes naturally when you're yourself. It's not a hard task to be yourself."
"True. Now what did you write to Dumbledore!"
Sirius grinned. "I wrote to ask him if I would be able to stay at Hogwarts this summer. I suppose that I won't need his answer anymore… but I need to write to Lupin and ask him if it's all right to stay there with him."
"I see…" Hermione grinned. "Well… being Head Girl may have it's advantages. I might be able to go to Hogsmeade a little more than I would if I had been a prefect… And they do have prefect weekends, so… Well! Harry and Ron are going to be ecstatic. Ron more or less already knows. He receives the Daily Prophet."
"I can only see the expressions on many people's faces right about now…" he chuckled. "Won't the Ministry be getting a kick out of this? I already know that Arthur Weasley knows I'm innocent, but it's going to be a façade of chaos there."
"They'll come to accept it. The Ministry is full of influential Wizards and Witches. If they can come to accept it, then more and more will. Do you want to write to Harry? I think you should…"
"Yeah. If he learned of my freedom from Ron, I suppose that he would be upset. We're using Lessa, I presume? Do you think she'd mind?"
"Why would she mind? She's a messenger owl… She likes to do those sorts of things!" She smiled, picking up a piece of paper and a pencil. "Now! Write him a letter."
Sirius picked up a piece of paper and took the pencil in hand. He was, more or less, used to Parchment and Quills, so his fingers fumbled with the pencil. Finally, he managed to figure out how to use it, and added a, "Wow! You can erase your mistakes without an Erasing Charm!"
Harry,
I'm free. The Ministry's announced it to the public today, and it was in the Muggle Papers. I'm pretty sure it'd be in the Daily Prophet as well. Can you believe this?
I'm not going to be able to afford a house at the moment, so you'll have to stay with the Dursleys for the rest of the Summer. I'm going to stay at Hermione's, then I'm off to Remus Lupin's for the school year. After the school year's over, I might find a place, and if you wanted, you might be able to stay with me… that is, if Dumbledore doesn't object. Don't get your hopes too high, Harry… I still have to go to an appeal.
You've only got this year left, and you're going to be a Full Grown Wizard. Then you can hex that pig cousin of yours any time you want… well, not any time, but… Keep doing what you're best at, Harry… you only have this year left.
Sirius
Hermione snorted. "Informative letter."
"Yes, I know." He grinned, picking Hermione up in his arms. "I'm keeping you, whether you like it or not."
"I never objected, and I never have said that I wouldn't like it."
"So you like it, hmm?"
"Perhaps, but why should I admit to it? Secrecy is part of the plot."
"What plot? Have you not told me something?" He fixed his eyebrows.
"Perhaps…" Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself so that her lips reached his earlobe. "You can keep me," she whispered. "But I'm going to keep you, too."
"We'll keep each other."