Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling. I'm just playing with her world

Chapter 7: The Remembrance of "Friends"

For days and days Hermione stayed in her room, not yet ready to clean up the blood that always looked smaller and smaller everyday, which made her sad to think that the last bit of him was fading from her life. She had not talked to her father since that night; she had not even acknowledged him when he would knock on her door. But her mother had cried with her a few days and had stayed by her side giving her some what comforting advice, never once asking who the boy had been, even though it was eating up her insides.

On the seventh day of her welcomed and wanted depression, Hermione heard a tapping at her bedroom window. She walked over to it, gently sidestepping the pool of blood, and opening the latch of the window, letting in a snowy bird, which she automatically registered as Harry's bird. At seeing his bird, the memories of the train ride and she agreeing to go out with him flooded to her in a horrible fashion. She hastily took the letter, and patted the birds head lovingly.

Hermione,

I know your parents just got home and all, but I was wondering if you could spend some time at Grimauld with us. Please know that we all miss you! Respond soon, so someone can come and pick you up.

Your good friend and buddy and mate,

Harry Potter

She smiled reading his letter. 'This boy was an odd one.' She thought to herself, but ignoring that she pulled out some spare parchment and wrote a quick note back. All she wanted to do now was to get away from the bad memories and that man, anger always shot up when she thought of him.

Harry,

I can not wait until I get the chance to see you again. I miss all of you, and would love it if one of you could pick me up at 8:00 am tomorrow. Sorry if it is too early but I want to spend as much time with you guys as possible.

Can't wait to see you,

Hermione.

She closed the letter, gave it back to the bird, which immediately flew out of the window and into the blue morning sky.

Tess was sitting at the counter, eating pancakes, and reading the newspaper, when she heard a door open and footsteps clamoring down the stairs. This was an odd sound and she quickly turned her head to see if something had happened.

"Mum." Hermione said noticing her mothers shocked look. "I just got a letter from Harry…and he wants me to come and stay with him, Sirius, and Professor Lupin for a while." This all came out rather fast, so it took a few seconds for her mom to wrap her brain around what her daughter had just said.

"Well, if that's what you want, of course. But I don't want you to be forced in to something you're not ready for. If you want to take time to grieve some more, I think it would be completely appropriate." Mrs. Granger said this with a little too much personal knowledge, but Hermione just nodded her head.

"I know, but it hurts so much to be in that room. Too many bad memories there. I just want to remember the good times we had. Not the bad." A sad look came to Hermione's face as her eyes glistened with ready to shed tears.

"I understand, my dear. But I do request one thing from you."

"Sure, mum, anything you want." Hermione stated a nervous feature flickering across her face.

"One day, I want you to tell me all about him. I want to know how you found him, how you fell in love, what you found out about him, I want to know everything that happened. If he meant that much to you, please tell me when you are ready."

Hermione felt her heart strings pull towards her mother, as she heard the kitchen door open. The man she used to consider a father walked in, and she saw her mother look towards him, nodding her head in encouragement. Hermione braced herself for the encounter.

"So, I told Harry that someone should pick me up at 8:00 in the morning, tomorrow." She grimaced out the last two words as she felt a hand slide on to her shoulder. But as quickly as it came to be there, Hermione shrugged it off and went on talking to her mom like nothing had happened, and no one had touched her. "So, I'm going up to pack." Hermione rushed out of the kitchen and flew up the stairs like a mad hippogriff was chasing her, but with the speed she took to get away from that man, she didn't notice he broke down next to her mother and wept for a long while.

The 8 o'clock bell had tolled and Hermione was waiting patiently in her living room with all of her bags scattered neatly around her. Soon, it was ten after eight and finally a familiar 'pop' was heard and Hermione launched herself into his arms as she immediately recognized the man that just came to her house.

Sirius had appeared in the Granger household and didn't have half a second to take in the surroundings or even recover as Hermione flung herself into him. But this action definitely did not go unnoticed, as Mr. Granger stood in the background feeling a pang of jealousy and hatred as his daughter hugged the scruffy looking stranger like he was her father, her loved one.

"Oh, Sirius, I'm so glad it was you, I've missed you so much. I'm so happy you're alive. I'd never thought I would ever see you again. It hurt so much when it happened, and we all just fell apart, but you're here now and I'm so happy!" Hermione was crying into his chest and squeezing him so tightly he could hardly breathe.

"Hermione…love…need…air!" He chocked out, but it got her attention as she loosened her grip but didn't completely let him go, as she soaked his outer cloak. "Now, now, love." He cooed to her, brushing the tears away from her face, and lifting her chin so he could see her. "It's OK, Hermione, I'm here. You'd think I'd ever leave you for good. Please, not even the gods could tear me away." Sirius chuckled a bit.

About a minute of reconciliation, Hermione's mom cleared her throat loudly to announce that she wanted to be introduced.

Hermione snapped to reality and spun to look at her mom. "Oh my gods, I'm so sorry. Sirius this is my mum…"

"Tess Granger." Her mother cut in.

"Mum, this is Sirius Black, Harry's godfather." Hermione beamed as she said this, pride and love clearly penetrating her voice.

The two shook hands, and an odd silence followed as Sirius noted that Hermione was deliberately ignoring the other man in the room which he had naturally assumed was her father. So after a tense few moments, he boldly took the initiative and walked the length of the room.

"Hi." He extended his hand towards Mr. Granger. "I'm Sirius Black." Hermione's father shook his hand a little too forcefully, still being a little angry that Hermione seemed to connect with this man better then her own father.

"Hello, I'm Danny Granger, Hermione's fa…" But he couldn't get that last word out as Hermione rushed in-between the two of them, facing Sirius,

"Come on Sirius, let's go. I'm ready." Hermione practically shouted this at him and the look on her face noted that nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary.

Sirius looked past her and saw the incredibly hurt look on her father's face and couldn't understand what had just happened. But he knew that now was not the time to ask her about it and decided to leave that talk until they were more secluded.

"Alright, Hermione, you've got your things, then?" She nodded but the smile faded as she thought of the one thing she forgot. "Wait Sirius, I need to get something from my room." She ran upstairs and Sirius didn't know if he should follow or not but he did just in case, so she wasn't stuck in her room with a heavy bag.

As quickly as they reached the room, Sirius stopped right in his tracks, in the doorway. The blood was still there and at first, he didn't know if he was just imagining it or what. But he knew it was real when he saw Hermione look down at the blood lovingly and sigh, eyes watering.

Seeing him watch her, Hermione blinked back the tears and put on a fake smile. "All ready let's go and get out of here." She said laughing a bit too much, and again Sirius waited to speak up.

They reached Hermione's bags on the living room floor, and Sirius suddenly charmed them lightweight and smaller, to make for easier traveling.

"Good-bye mum! I will owl you when I get there and have my plans all in line, I promise." Hermione grinned at her mother and waved. "Love you!"

"Bye, 'Mione, love you too, be safe." Her mom called out giving her a friendly wave back.

Her father spoke up. "Love you Hermione, have fun!" He called out desperately but, of course, he was ignored by his daughter.

Not even flinching from the farewell, Hermione stated it was time to leave. The 'pop' was heard a second later. They were, soon, no where to be seen, like there was never anyone else in the room, other then the mother and father. As the realization sunk in, Hermione's father fell to his knees, crying his eyes out. His wife led him to the couch, and comforted him as best she could. But what he needed now was his daughter, his loving, beautiful daughter and her forgiveness.

When solid ground was under Hermione's feet, she blinked many times trying to get her unused eyes to recover from the shockingly bright scenery. When she could finally see, the place was extremely new to her. Sirius had apperated them to a lovely garden. One that smelled of sweet flowers and was filled with the gracefulness of birds, swooping and gliding all around them. The street opposite to them was pristine, not one speck of trash was littering the glorious surroundings. A mother pushed a little carriage as a father had a little boy sitting on his shoulders. Hermione immediately thought of her father and what they used to have but shoved that right out and now began thinking of what she and Severus could never have because of her father.

"Sirius where are we? This isn't Grimauld." The question immediately hit her as stupid. 'Of course, it's not Grimauld you dolt!' A puzzled look donned her face and she looked up at the man. She noticed the serious look on his face and knew exactly why he had brought her to this place.

"Ok, Hermione, what was that back there? And what happened in your room?" Sirius asked very confused by the entire situation.

"What was what about, Sirius? Oh, are you asking how that pool of blood got on my bedroom floor. Or are you talking about the way I treated that man, that scum and bloody BASTARD OF A MAN!!!" Hermione screamed out attracting the attention of several passing people, but not caring because she had gotten out a weeks worth of tension in one sitting.

"Whoa, ok, now I know what Harry and Ron are saying when they say you are bloody scary when you get mad." Sirius said, garnering a shaky laugh from the girl beside him. The two walked over to bench and sat down. "Alright, tell me what happened. Come on, Herm, you can tell me anything."

So Hermione and Sirius sat there as she told him the entire story, of the homeless and timeless wizard that had found her, and loved her. Through the entirety of the story Sirius noted that she had a serene look to her face and had a happy, almost goofy, smile to her. But when she came to the end of the tale, he saw her visibly tense up, her face go red with rage, and her eyes darkening to a deep chocolate, almost black, color. As she finished she let out all of tears she had been holding in. Hermione cried and cried, gripping Sirius so tightly that it was if she let go he would disappear forever.

"Oh, Herm, it's OK, love. Shh…shh" Sirius said in the most soothing voice he could muster. As her wailing, turned to tears, then to silent sobs Sirius spoke up again. "Now I understand why you were acting the way you were. But you said I would know him, that he went to school with us?" Sirius said, clearly stating the 'us' as the Marauders. "What's his name? Maybe I can help you find him, help you re-unite."

But Hermione just sat there looking at the grass under the bench, shaking her head, almost in guilt. "Oh, no thanks Sirius, but I know where he is. I've known for the about seven years." Hermione stated meekly. Sirius sat there as Hermione patiently waited for the memory to click. He just sat there in confusion trying to think of someone Hermione would have known for seven years that went to school…But the train of thought stopped there as it all came together, the realization hit him like a punch in the face.

"Oh, no, Hermione." He shook his head hoping it wasn't true. But he saw her look up with tears in her eyes and some already flowing freely down her cheeks. 'Oh, gods, she really did love him, didn't she?'

His expression immediately turned from repulsion and slight anger to compassion and love, as he saw her cry. He knew right then that she had beaten herself up for it enough already and didn't need someone else calling out her…well not her mistakes but definitely her choices.

"Sirius what am I to do? I don't know what I will do when I get back to school. I can't do that, I just can't and you can't make me do it…" Hermione rambled on in a sort of desperation that just made Sirius's heart brake into a million pieces.

"It's OK; I'll be there, me and Remus both. You can visit us anytime you need to. We're always here for you, sweetie." Sirius wrapped his arms around her shaking form and let her cry herself out again. Hermione finally let go of him and gained more control over herself.

"You, OK to go now?" He said softly still hearing her sniffle.

"Yeah, Sirius, thank you so much I really needed this. Saying this around Harry would have been so awkward." Harry brought up the image of her agreeing to go out with him and a new sense of dread filled her. "Oh, gods! Harry! What am I going to do about him?" She asked frantically.

"I think you should go out with him. I think it will be good for you." He said this, but cut her off as he saw her mouth open to protest. "Hermione, you need to begin to move on. I'm not telling you that you need to fall in love with him or that you even need to like him more then a friend. But you need to move on."

Hermione nodded her head in defeat. "Maybe, but I really don't know, Sirius. I do still completely love Severus." To this Sirius shuddered a bit at hearing her say his Snape's name with such affection.

"Are you ready to go?" Sirius said trying to get away from that topic before she started to cry hysterically again.

"Yeah, let's go. But can we walk or is it too far away?" Hermione said knowing she needed time before Harry jumped on her asking when they could go out on a date.

"Sure, it's only about a block from here." He decided to explain further seeing Hermione's confused expression. "I used to come here in my Sirius-dog form when I needed my freedom from that wretched place." Sirius stood up and took Hermione's hand to help her up. And to that, they set off towards 12 Grimauld Place.

A/N: Thanks again to people who read this. Whoo, took me about a day to get this chapter out, I was on a writing spree.

So review and remember to read my beta's story 'Harry Potter and the Book of Deception.' Her name is bloomgirl247.

Oh and sorry for making Hermione cry so much in this chapter but she needed it.

And thank you so much to tallgiraffe32, Anarane Anwamane, and Natsuyori, your guys reviews make me keep writing. And sorry about not putting a warning on the last chapter I will next time.

BYE!