Chapter 25: Holidaying and Battle Grounds

It had been two days since Hermione and Sirius snuck out in the middle of the night. Yesterday they sent word to Harry and the others that they were all right and that they just needed some time away from all the people, guards and hassles of everyday living. They didn't say where they were, but did their best to be reassuring that things were fine. They also stated that they would be back in a few more days.

Headmaster Dumbledore paced the library of his grandson's house muttering things to himself, while the others sat quietly. Every once a while they would hear him use words like foolish, irresponsible, knucklehead, stupid, reckless, unthoughtful, selfish, and impulsive.

Finally, having had enough of his ranting, Minerva stood and stepped into his path. All eyes were on her as she spoke, "Albus, calm down. Yes, maybe they are being foolish, but he's a brilliant wizard, she's an intelligent witch, together they will be fine. I for one think they did a good thing going off. It will give them time to decide if getting married is what they really want to do. I trust them and I think all of you should too." She saw the worried looks on the other's faces and continued. "Besides, if we don't know where they are I'll bet Malfoy's followers won't either."

Harry sat in his seat looking at the others; he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Standing he began to pace. The young man finally stopped and directed his comments toward Professor McGonagall. "Just because we don't know where they are doesn't mean Malfoy won't. Sure Sirius is a great wizard, but he doesn't always use his head like he should and he is capable of making mistakes. Besides, he'll do whatever it takes to protect Hermione and that includes letting himself be killed." Harry ran his hands through his hair much like his godfather did when things were upsetting him. "Why don't we just go out there and find them. How hard can it be? Has anyone even looked? You know this is partly our fault. Not a one of us did anything but follow them around. Snape gave information he received from the Dark Ones, but did any of us try to find who is on Malfoy's payroll and trying to get Sirius? " He looked around the room. "I know I didn't I sort of thought we'll the Order guards are taking care of it, but they didn't. So Sirius tried to take care of it on his own, away from the Order. First by going to Azkaban and now by running off."

Dumbledore watched with amusement as Harry spoke what was on his mind with such a forceful tone. He didn't ever remember Harry doing that before. "You are right young man, but that still doesn't excuse what my grandson and Miss Granger have done. As for looking for them, I have people out there looking and people in the ministry looking for unusual signs of magic."

Harry sat back down but still wasn't content with the answers he'd been given. He wanted to go look for them himself; he decided to format a plan. As if reading his mind, he saw Remus looking at him with a stern look while shaking his head and mouthing, "Don't even think about it!"

Hermione and Sirius, hiked in the mountains of Montreux, which lay in the Lake Geneva Region of Switzerland, by day. While at night, they would find a quiet out of the way restaurant for dinner, then return to the cabin for private time. On their third night while watching the locals, Hermione saw a man she was sure she'd seen several times in the three days they'd been there. She noticed he watched Sirius closely as he went to the men's room and came back. She didn't want to make something out of nothing so all through dinner she continued to keep track of this man.

As dessert was served, a younger man joined the first. Hermione thought he looked familiar, but She couldn't place him. She decided it was time to let Sirius in on her suspicions.

She reached over and lightly touched his hand. "Sirius, I'm not sure, but I think we are being watched. I know I've seen this same man everyday since we got here. Now he's joined by someone else and I feel like I should know him."

Sirius didn't turn around, but knew he needed to find a way to get a look at the two men. "Where are they?"

"If you go to the men's room. They are at the table to the right of the bar. One has on a blue suit and the other a gray shirt and jeans." She said looking at them in the bar mirror.

Sirius stood, kissed her and headed for the restrooms. A few minutes later he returned and took his seat. "Malfoy's lapdogs." He said taking her hand not wanting to draw attention to the fact they were on to the two followers of the dark side. "The older one is a former Auror for the ministry, named is Regentulas Mindflak and the other guy you may remember because he was in the battle at the ministry when I fell through the veil. His name is Walker Jugson. Both of them are on the list of Malfoy goons the ministry showed me when I helped them before teaching at Hogwarts."

"Why would they follow us? Don't they think you would know them?" Hermione asked still watching them in the mirror.

"They don't know I know who they are. Except for the battle at the ministry, neither one has done anything to draw suspicion to themselves. I'm sure Malfoy's been saving them for just this kind of job." He saw the concern in his lover's eyes. "Don't worry, love, we are going to be fine. I'm going to pay the check, then we are going to get up and walk out like nothing's wrong, then apparate to the cabin. Even if they know where we are staying, we have the home field advantage there."

Sirius and Hermione arrived back at the Granger cabin. Sirius locked all the doors and windows and began a look out. He wanted to see if Malfoy's men would follow them. After two hours of watching and waiting, he decided to give up. If they were out there, they probably wouldn't try anything that night.

He walked over to where Hermione was laying on the sofa. Kneeling down in front of her he kissed her softly. Their kisses grew in intensity and passion. It wasn't long before she had his shirt off and was kissing her way down his chest and stomach. Reaching for his belt, she began to unbuckle it, but he stopped her roaming hands. Standing Sirius pulled her up with him, picked her up, and kissed her passionately as he carried her to the master bedroom. Putting her in the center of the bed, he slowly undressed her then himself. Crawling up the bed he kissed, nibbled, and licked every inch of her perfect body. Relishing each moan, smiling at each shiver, loving the effect he was having on her. By the time he'd reached her lips, she was begging him. With one swift movement, he entered her and they began a perfectly matched rhythm, each bringing the other to the peak then falling over together.

Satisfied they lay in each other's arms and talked softly about their upcoming wedding. Making plans, and deciding were to go on their honeymoon. Hermione wanted to go to Greece and Sirius thought Italy would be good. Noting was decided and both fell asleep soon after.

Hermione woke to find she was alone and it was still dark outside. She slipped out of bed, grabbed a robe and went off in search of Sirius. She found him sitting in the dark living room, dressed in blue lounge pants staring at nothing. Taking a seat next to him, she reached over and took his hand. He in return wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close. She rested her head on his bare chest. "What are you doing in here? I'm lonely in there by myself."

"Just sitting and listening. Thought I heard something earlier, but I guess it was my imagination." They sat a little longer just cuddling. When Hermione had gone back to sleep, Sirius picked her up again and put her to bed. Climbing in beside her he wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and drifted off himself.

Sirius was startled awake when he heard a crash come from the living room. Quietly waking Hermione he told her to get dressed and do it quickly. He, himself, dressed and went into the living room to find the huge piece of wood had been thrown through the side window. He saw the two figures standing just off the property line in the trees.

Hermione enter the room and was immediately waved to get on the floor. Sirius told her the men from last night were out there, and he was going to see what they wanted. He made sure she had her wand, his own wand in hand behind his back he slowly opened the door. "Excuse me, gentlemen, but you are on private property."

"Oh yeah?" one of them shouted back.

"Yes and I don't appreciate you throwing that tree through my lady friend's window." Sirius kept his voice calm and even.

Both men just laughed. "Oh my, maybe we should come in and remove it, Black." One of them said.

Sirius was about to say something else when he saw the younger one raise his wand. Slamming the door he grabbed Hermione and made his way out the back. "I have to get you to a safe place," he said as the rounded the large maple and headed for the cover of the dense woods. He knew if he could find cover for just a few minutes he could get Hermione to safety and himself prepared for the battle he was about to face.

"I don't know where you think I'm going, but you're wrong. I'm not leaving you," she said as they continued to run.

Before he could argue, there was a flash of blue above and to the right of his head. "Keep your head down." Sirius continued to run zigzagging between trees pulling Hermione along. Finally, when he thought he'd lost them he stopped to rest for a few minutes. "Hermione, I want you to apparate home, to London. I want you safe."

She set her jaw in the stubborn way she always did when she was about to argue with him. "I'm not leaving you, so deal with it."

"Damn it love, I want you safe." He tried to argue, but before he could finish she cut him off.

"You want me safe, and I want you safe. I refuse to be a widow before we ever get married. So we stay together. If I apparate home, so do you." She stood firm, she knew she'd win this one, besides he might need her help.

"I don't have time to fight with you. Stay close and please for the love of Merlin do as I ask." He knew she was capable of taking care of herself she was a talented witch. "If you're going to stay with me, we need to form a plan. I want to capture these two, unharmed." Sirius thought for a few minutes then formatted what he wanted to do, giving Hermione her instructions.

Several minutes later the two men chasing them came around the bend. Sirius walked out from behind a tree. "Looking for me?" He asked confidently.

Both men pointed their wands at him and yelled, "Stupefy". Hoping to put the stunning charm on him, but before it reached him, everyone heard "Protego", causing the shield charm to surround him. Several more spells were cast and charms thrown from all around. Jugson and Mindflak kept advancing even though they were battered and bloody. Sirius finally countered with a spell he'd learned from Mad-eye. This stopped both men from advancing toward him and they fell in a pile, on the ground moaning. From the bushes Hermione yelled, "Expelliarmus".

Pointing his wand at them and ordering them on their knees, Sirius approached with caution. "Now you are going to go back to Malfoy and tell him his plan failed. It's going to take more than the two of you to bring me down. Tell him today was an insignificant sample of what I'm capable of and if he or any of his followers come near me or my family again, I'll unleash my full wrath on all of you." He made a point of making sure both men were looking at him before repeating himself. "If I ever see either of you near my family, friends or myself, if I ever see either of you in England again, I'll make sure the Ministry locks you up in Azkaban for the rest of your lives." He reached for Hermione's hand and the two apparated to Hogsmeade.

"Why did we come here?" Hermione asked. "Why didn't we just apparate home?"

Sirius sat on one of the benches outside Honeydukes Sweet Shop. "This is as close to Hogwarts as we can get. I need to make sure home is safe before we go there. If we get to Grandfather's office I can call on Harry or Remus. If they tell me everything is okay there, then we will go home," He took a deep breath. "You know once we get there we will get yelled at. I'll be treated like some first year student. Told how foolish and irresponsible I am."

Hermione placed her hand on his and kissed him softly. "I'll stand up for you. Besides, I like your foolish and irresponsible side." She saw him smile slightly. "Besides, I had a great four days. Even being chased through the woods was fun." Chuckling at his future bride, Sirius stood, wrapped his arm around her, and they headed for Hogwarts.