Chapter 32
The Rain Revisited
Summer of OotP, like 'Dance Lessons' was.
The rain fell.
"Hermione," Mrs. Weasley called from the kitchen. "Tell Sirius to come inside, won't you dear? It's freezing out there."
Hermione nodded. She grabbed a jumper and on a whim grabbed Sirius' as well. She tiptoed past Sirius' mother and opened the door to find Sirius standing in the rain.
"Sirius!" Hermione called. "Mrs. Weasley says you're to come inside."
Sirius turned. "I'll be fine."
Hermione walked up to him, pulling her jumper on. "Well, at least put this on," she said, handing him his jumper.
Sirius took it with a rare smile. "Thanks. Would you mind keeping me company?" He sounded like he had when he had asked her to dance–hopeful.
The rain was pouring into Hermione's body. "Er..well..."
Sirius nodded. "You don't have to. It's fine, go inside."
Hermione sighed gratefully. "Thank you." she went inside. Thinking she would perhaps read a book, she passed a window and saw Sirius outside. Feeling rather guilty, she headed back outside.
"I knew you'd have second thoughts," Sirius said. "Just stand on the porch, you won't get wet." Hermione pulled up a chair on the porch.
"Sirius? Is it a hobby of yours to sit outside in the pouring rain?" Hermione asked.
"Well, yes, actually. It reminds me of a time when things were different." Sirius' darkly grey eyes held the wisdom that came from harrowing experience.
"How so?" Hermione asked.
"My girl was with me then," Sirius said, and his eyes focused on a past Hermione knew nothing of.
"The one who taught you to dance? What happened to her?"
"She became one of the most renowned witches of her time," Sirius said.
"Oh! She did? Have I heard of her?"
"Probably. I think you'd like her," Sirius said, a rare twinkle in his eye.
"I don't know how you could go on without her," Hermione said thoughtfully. "I would feel awful if I had to be away from my soulmate."
"It isn't so bad sometimes," Sirius said thoughtfully. "I know that she's happy and safe. And that makes it all right. Even when I feel as if I'm dying inside without her I just....sit out in the rain and remember that she is all right."
"I don't know...if you had known before that you wouldn't spend the rest of your life with her....would you take that risk?"
"Love is always a risk, Hermione," Sirius said firmly. "But it's worth taking. Remember that. Promise me you'll never settle for anything less than true love." He sounded fervent.
Hermione nodded, trying to understand. Finally she said solemnly, "I promise." They stood in silence for a while. Then Hermione's eyes landed on a glint of gold around Sirius' neck. In the darkness it was hard to make out, but she could see four letters. "May I see your necklace, Sirius?" Hermione asked.
Sirius backed away. "No...it's personal, you see."
"From her" Hermione asked slyly.
"Yes." Sirius looked away and Hermione swore she saw tears in his eyes.
"Sirius, it's all right," Hermione said, her heart aching for his tears. "Don't cry. I'm sure your girlfriend's all right. She's out there somewhere and I am sure she's thinking of you. It'll be okay," she said desperately.
"I just miss her," he said quietly.
Hermione did not know what to do, so she let her heart decide. She wrapped her arms awkwardly around Sirius for comfort. When he did not protest, she wrapped them tighter. And like Sirius and Hermione had some twenty years before, they stood in the rain and embraced.
Chapter 30 reviewers:
All right, I'm going to address some questions people had in the chapters.
First off, I do hope all questions about the taskbearers were answered in chapter 31. If not, feel free to ask so I can clear up any confusion.
Jade the Fairyness asked about Harry's firebolt. You know, I think maybe that's just one of those continuity things that can't be explained, although I think I'll use it agian for when Hermione goes home.
Tori asked whether Dumbledore was headmaster when MWPP were in school. I actually don't know, are there any people who know for sure?
About the dance lessons...it's one of those confusing things where 'she taught him, he taught her.' I am actually not sure either.
Holly Clearwater asked if I have the story all planned out. Yes, I do, right up to the sequel. Yes, there is going to be a sequel. This story's going to be longer than I thought, surpassing 50 chapters.
Satin Valkyrie had a lot of points and comments that I will address here. Firstly, thank you for saying that my fic's bearable. Lol, always good to know. I don't post at FictionAlley because, well, I found ff.net first. About the mission thing, I hope it was cleared up for you in chapter 31. And yes, I did try to make it harder for Sirius to get Hermione. About Hogwarts not holding balls.....my reasoning is that it was a long time ago, and Hogwarts was a different school. It evolved a lot, and some things were done away with. One of those things was balls. And holding a ball helps me push the storyline later on. About Hermione being an artist..I felt that she should have a talent, something she does for herself. But I am going to go back and make it so that her art was something a bit secretive about her, so that it fits that it was never mentioned in canon. Girls have to have secrets, after all. About Hermione not knowing about Sirius' name, I give you that one. I'll go back and change it. About all the school things.....'Back to School' was a very hard chapter to write. I was not experienced with such things such as Potions. That was a horrible chapter for me, and I apologize for it. Peter will fit in in a few chapters. I am going to find a place for him. And putting an A/N in the middle of the story.....I just wanted to make it clear. I only did it once, some authors do it all the time. It is distracting. And about forgetting about Ron–you'll see that she will truly struggle with the Ron issue later on, in chapters 12-15 I believe. About the 'so know I am not like anyone....." I meant it to be 'do know,' but ff.net keeps changing it on me, seriously. I've tried to fix it. Jennifer and Libby...I changed the names halfway through and I guess I just missed that one. On to chapter 9. Sirius being spent. Well, they'd just run through an open field! Lol. Caring about her appearance—I do feel on some level she still isn't one to be obsessed with her looks, but this is Sirius, lol. I think she would want, on some level, to look nice. Her hair...hair evolves as we get older. Mine did. It used to be annoyingly straight and now it's completely curly. About Scotland....ugh. Sorry. I'll fix that. LMAO...she wanted to 'be Sirius.' Whoops! And about Lucius, I didn't know he wasn't in school then, I don't remember reading it. What book was it in? About Sirius fighting for his woman...if you read chapter 30, that's what he does. Heh. Pumpkin pasties....ugh, error, I know. Thank you very much for your comments, they'll make my story better.
And big hugs and thanks to:
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