A/N: All HP canon characters, locales, and objects belong to JK Rowling. I am not making any money for writing this story. I, Queen of Alexandria, am writing this fan fiction for fun only.
Italics represent Hermione's thoughts. Bold represents Sirius' thoughts. Replies to reviewers are located at the end of the chapter.
Unspeakable Chapter 4: Explanations and ShoppingHermione awoke the following morning to find herself sprawled across the armchair in the guest room. Her arm had fallen asleep, and she had a crick in her neck from lying in the chair all night. Sirius was apparently already awake because the bed was empty and the scent of coffee wafted upstairs from the kitchen.
She reached for her cane and slowly rose from the chair. As she made her way down the staircase, Hermione realized that she must look a mess. Her hair was, as usual, unruly, and she had fallen asleep in yesterday's clothes and makeup. On the first floor of her house she went into her room and walked to her closet. After a few moments, Hermione decided to wear her favorite pair of somewhat faded jeans and a long-sleeved black shirt. She proceeded to make her way to the bathroom to shower and make herself presentable.
Twenty minutes later, she emerged, dressed in the chosen attire. She had also applied a bit of makeup; Hermione had never worn much of the stuff, but she had found that when applied in small amounts, makeup looked good. She had magically dried her hair and pulled it back into a ponytail.
Hermione made her way through the hall and into the kitchen. Sirius sat at the table, drinking a cup of coffee and looking as though he had regained much of his strength. At the place across from him sat a steaming cup of tea; he had remembered that she liked it just as much as she disliked coffee, which was quite a statement.
Wordlessly, she sat down and took a small sip of the tea; it was peach-flavored, her favorite. Every few moments, Sirius tried to say something, but he couldn't seem to find the right words; this was highly uncharacteristic for the former Marauder.
Finally, he spoke, "How did I get back here?"
Hermione then explained in detail how she had brought him back from the veil. After she had finished, he looked astounded and then jubilant. His smile made him look very much like he had in the photo of James and Lily's wedding.
"How's Harry? And what about Remus?" Sirius questioned eagerly. Now that he knew the war was still going on, he had to find out about his godson and his old friend.
"They're fine, but I'm afraid we can't go see them today. They're both away on Order business. Harry won't be back until Friday, and Remus shouldn't arrive until next Tuesday," Hermione answered.
Sirius' looked slightly downcast, as it was only Wednesday.
When Hermione had finished her tea, she used magic to clean the cup, grasped her cane, and walked toward the cabinets that were fixed to the wall above the counter. After replacing the cup in the cabinet, she returned to her seat at the table.
Sirius had noticed that she now used a cane to walk and was gazing at her curiously. When Hermione met his gaze, he looked away. After a moment he asked, somewhat awkwardly, "What happened?"
"Old war injury," she replied curtly. Sirius knew by the look on her face and the tone of her voice, that it was a topic that was quite painful for Hermione to talk about and resolved not to pry. If she wanted to tell him about it, she would eventually, and Sirius had learned that impatience didn't pay after the incident thirteen years ago.
Sirius also realized that he would have to return to 12 Grimmauld Place because he had nowhere else to stay. This revelation made him groan; he hated the place because it held so many unpleasant memories for him.
"I suppose I'll have to return to Grimmauld Place today," he said bitterly.
"No, you won't. It was destroyed in a Death Eater ambush several years ago. You can stay with me if you want," Hermione responded.
At this, Sirius looked pleased. The house was gone; he would never have to go back, never have to live there again. Sirius was also happy to hear that he could stay with Hermione because he had grown to hate living alone with only his torturous memories to keep him company. There was only one small, negative aspect of the situation; all of Sirius' belongings were in the house when it had been destroyed.
As if she knew what he was thinking, Hermione said, "I have to go to Diagon Alley today to pick up a book to use in my research at work. You can come with me and do some shopping."
"We should leave in a few minutes. I expect that it'll be crowded today," she added.
"I can't go out in public. I'm probably still wanted. It's been years, but someone might still recognize me. I was quite the notorious felon, in case you've forgotten," Sirius said nervously.
"Not long after Kingsley Shacklebolt became Minister of Magic, you were pardoned. Your supposed 'death' was never announced, so only members of the Order and Unspeakables believed that you had died. It's been thirteen years. I think you shouldn't attract too much attention," Hermione explained.
"Let's go then," Sirius said with a grin. He and Hermione apparated to Diagon Alley a few minutes later.
When the two reappeared, they were standing outside of Gringotts. Hermione and Sirius walked into the bank and stopped in front of the counter. A goblin with an angry look stared at them from behind the counter as though waiting for one of them to speak.
"I need to make a withdrawal from vault 711," Sirius said.
"We also need to stop at vault 314," Hermione put in as she and Sirius placed two small gold keys on the counter.
"Griphook! Take these two to vaults 711 and 314!" the goblin yelled as one of his coworkers hurried across the room.
"Follow me, please," Griphook said, and he proceeded to lead Sirius and Hermione down a long, marble-floored hallway. At the end of the hallway, the three passed through a dark, wooden door that led to the cavernous area where the many vaults of Gringotts were located.
The goblin climbed inside a rickety, steel cart and motioned for them to come aboard. Sirius quickly strode forward and boarded the cart, but Hermione was having some difficulties because of her inability to move her right leg. However, after a bit of help from Sirius, she was also seated in the cart.
Sirius, being the thrill seeker that he was, obviously enjoyed the dangerous ride, and although most wouldn't have thought her capable of enjoying such things, Hermione liked the adventure, too.
They arrived first at Hermione's vault. As there was only a moderate amount of money inside, Griphook had only to insert the key into the door and turn it to open the heavy, iron vault door. Hermione hastily collected a small bag of coins and returned to the cart, where Sirius once again helped her to board.
At vault 711, Griphook had to stroke the door with one finger. When it had identified him as a Gringotts goblin, he used the key to open the door. Sirius entered the vault and began to collect the necessary money. From the cart, Hermione could see that the vault was huge and contained many large piles of gold; she had never seen so much gold at once before.
Sirius could not deny that such wealth was useful, but he sometimes felt a bit guilty to be the possessor of the Black family's ill-gotten gains. If mother knew that I was the only Black left to inherit the family fortune, she'd turn over in her grave. At this thought, Sirius gave a wry smile and turned to head back to the cart.
After another wild ride through the numerous, underground levels of Gringotts, Hermione and Sirius once again stood outside the building in the cool sunshine of late autumn.
Hermione began to walk toward Flourish and Blotts, and Sirius followed. The bookstore was not his favorite shop to visit in Diagon Alley, but he wanted to see how much it had changed in the years of his absence.
Once inside the store, Hermione made her way to a section of seemingly uninteresting research volumes, and Sirius decided to check out the section on pranking. In his younger years, he had considered such tomes sacred, as they had helped him to wreak havoc on the Slytherins at school.
As she skimmed through a useful-looking book titled The Creation and Destruction of Portals, Hermione heard muffled laughter from the next aisle; it sounded like Sirius had discovered an interesting read.
She took the book and walked as quietly as possible to the next aisle. Sirius seemed to be very wrapped up in a book entitled 1,001 Unforgettable Pranks; his black hair had fallen into his bright blue eyes, but he was to busy to brush it aside.
Hermione suddenly had a spontaneous but quite humorous idea. Oh, the sheer irony of pranking a prankster. I can't ignore such an opportunity. She grinned gleefully as she concealed herself behind a bookcase and drew her wand.
Hermione whispered, "Wingardium Leviosa," and the book began to float in front of Sirius. She cast a voice changing charm so that her voice would sound deep and more menacing, and then she used a spell that would make her voice seem to come from the book Sirius was reading when she spoke. "Sirius…" her now deep and somewhat raspy voice intoned. She then said, "Finite Incantatem," and remained hidden in order to view the results of her prank.
Sirius' startled look was priceless. In surprise, he quickly backed away from the book as he drew his wand. Upon bumping into the bookcase behind him, Sirius turned around to see Hermione emerge from her hiding place and feign a look of innocence.
However, she didn't possess the ability to keep a straight face in such situations, and soon, she started to laugh. Sirius almost instantly realized what had happened and began to laugh, also.
"Hermione, I never figured you for a prankster. I'm impressed," he said, grinning.
" I must be spending too much time around the twins. I don't know what came over me, but I couldn't resist," Hermione replied, also smiling.
"Very good for an amateur," Sirius commented jokingly.
"I have to go to buy new robes. I'll be at Madam Malkin's while you finish your shopping here," Sirius said after remembering that he had come to Diagon Alley for a specific reason.
"Alright, I'll meet you there when I'm done," Hermione answered as she returned to the shelf that contained books about portals.
Hermione spent another forty-five minutes in Flourish and Blotts and emerged with three new, potentially useful books. She made her way as quickly as possible down the crowded street toward the aforementioned robe shop.
She walked inside and browsed the aisles of clothing for a few moments but saw nothing she liked. After a few more moments, Sirius came from the other side of the store to meet her. He was already dressed in one of the sets of new robes he had bought.
His appearance was slightly aristocratic now that he was able to purchase nice robes, but he still had a rebellious and fun loving air about him. Hermione found herself thinking that the look suited him very well.
Sirius and Hermione left Madam Malkin's shop and strolled outside. They had taken only a few steps when Hermione heard someone calling her name through the noise of the crowd. She turned around to see Grace approaching.
"Hey, Hermione. How are you?" her friend greeted.
"Hello, Grace. I'm fine, thanks. How about you?" Hermione said in response.
"Great. It's so good to have a day off from the Department. I had to do some shopping," Grace said, holding up a new set of wine-colored robes and several interesting joke shop items.
When Grace noticed Sirius, she asked, "Aren't you going to introduce me to your boyfriend?"
Sirius looked shocked that someone would make such a suggestion before he recalled that he and Hermione weren't so far apart in age anymore. Hermione blushed and replied awkwardly, "Sirius isn't my boyfriend." She paused to think before saying, "He's just an…um…old friend from years ago." She definitely did not want to go into the detailed explanation that she knew would follow if she introduced Grace to someone whom she thought was dead. Hermione also did not want to divulge information about the veil to anyone, even Grace, until she found a way to destroy it. She assumed that since it had been quite a few years since the incident, it would be okay to introduce him as Sirius if she didn't give a last name.
"Sirius, this is Grace, my friend from work," Hermione added.
"Pleased to meet you," Sirius said.
"Likewise," came the reply.
After a few moments of conversation, Grace looked at her watch. "Crap! I'm late," she exclaimed, but then she said in a calm tone of resignation, "They should know better than to expect me to be on time by now."
" I really have to leave now, but I'll see you tomorrow. Bye," Grace said to Hermione as she turned and hurried down the busy street to find a place to apparate.
"Bye," Hermione called after her friend.
"How about some ice cream before we leave?" Sirius suggested.
Hermione agreed, and the two made their way to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor.
Halfway down the street, Hermione's cane seemed to slip on the pavement for some reason, and she staggered but regained her balance. A few minutes later, it happened again, and this time, she noticed that someone had used a spell to cause the cane to move in strange ways and make her lose her balance.
Before Hermione could mention it to Sirius or move into a building and away from the witch or wizard casting the harmful spells, someone stepped into her path. When she looked up, she found that she was face to face with Lucius Malfoy.
"Well, if it isn't the Mudblood. Still an invalid I see," he commented snidely with his usual smirk.
Hermione had learned to ignore the insulting term "Mudblood," but Malfoy's remark about her disability made her furious.
Malfoy appeared to be shocked speechless when he saw Sirius, but he quickly overcame his lack of rude words. "I don't know how you returned from the dead, Black, but it's a shame you found a way."
Sirius reached into his pocket for his wand; Malfoy was sometimes unpredictable, and it was best to be prepared to defend oneself when dealing with him. Sirius also intended to hex the living hell out of Malfoy if he said anything else.
Unfortunately, Malfoy chose to speak. "You're just as worthless as your Mudblood girlfriend. Why any wizard from a respectable, pureblood family would associate with such filth is beyond me."
Hermione was very angry, but she somehow managed to restrain herself. She figured that no matter how much Malfoy deserved to be hexed, the middle of Diagon Alley was not an appropriate place to take such an action.
Sirius, on the other hand, had much less self-control. He lunged at Malfoy and slammed him against the wall of a nearby building. Sirius was choking Malfoy with one hand and held his wand, which was pointed at his adversary, in the other. "If you say one more word, I'll make sure you regret it," he threatened.
Once Hermione had regained some semblance of composure, she decided to intervene. People were beginning to stare, and she didn't want to deal with the trouble that could ensue if the fight didn't cease. "He's not worth the trouble. Just leave him be," she said as she dragged Sirius away from the fray. However, Hermione continued to glare contemptuously at Malfoy.
Malfoy finally chose to leave and walked away. Sirius still had his wand pointed at Malfoy's back, though.
"Let's go to Florean Fortescue's. There's no need to let the git ruin our day," Hermione said sensibly as she walked toward the ice cream parlor.
After ordering, Hermione sat in silence and ate a caramel sundae. She was contemplating Malfoy's comment about her injury. She had grown used to the slurs against her ancestry in the long, difficult years of war, and they no longer bothered her, but she couldn't help being disturbed by the remarks about her injury. Hermione was already unhappy about walking with a cane; to degrade her for it was to fan the emotional flames that so often seemed to consume her.
I know I acted atrociously, but I didn't think that she would be this angry with me. Sirius had mistaken Hermione's melancholy silence for anger and hoped that she wouldn't stay mad at him for long. He remembered how she had chastised Harry and Ron for fighting and breaking rules years ago and decided to apologize.
"Hermione, I know what I did was wrong. Malfoy deserved it, but I shouldn't have attacked him in Diagon Alley like I chose to do. I'm sorry."
"I wasn't mad at you. I was just thinking," she answered distractedly.
"Is something wrong?" Sirius asked in concern.
"I just can't forget what Malfoy said about my injury. I know I should consider the source of the comment, but I just can't stop wondering if he was right."
"Malfoy isn't right, and he never will be. He's just resentful because you, a Muggleborn, have surpassed so many purebloods where magic is concerned. Most of my family had the same bigoted ideas, but they were all wrong."
Sirius was quiet for a moment before musing aloud, "Maybe I was switched at birth, and I'm really of no relation to the Black family. Hmm, probably not, but it is a nice daydream, isn't it?" Hermione smiled at this conjecture. She was feeling a bit better now; it was amazing how talking to someone could help at times.
She and Sirius sat there at the table for another thirty minutes, reminiscing about the days before the incident. Sirius also told her about a few of his adventures as a Marauder. Hermione thought it felt nice to be distracted from her troubles, and Sirius was still rather comical despite the thirteen years he had spent in Azkaban.
Finally, the two left the ice cream parlor and found a spot that wasn't too crowded to apparate. When they reappeared they were standing at the end of the long walkway that led to Hermione's house. Hermione enjoyed traveling along the walkway because it was very beautiful; the ground was flat and the path was lined with redbud trees.
She and Sirius walked in comfortable silence until they were halfway down the path. Hermione suddenly felt a sharp pain shoot through her right leg, and she staggered.
"What's wrong?" Sirius asked.
"My leg still hurts every now and then. It'll pass in a minute or two."
Sirius was not sure that Hermione was being entirely truthful about the extent of her pain, but there was nothing more he could say without making her angry; she was very proud at times and did not always readily accept help from others.
However, the pain did not subside; it intensified, and Hermione collapsed. Fortunately, Sirius caught her before she fell.
It's never been this bad before. I have to get into the house and take a pain-relieving potion soon. Hermione grit her teeth and tried to endure it. She knew she could not apparate because it required concentration that she did not presently possess.
Sirius easily picked Hermione up and began to carry her to the house. He reached the front door as soon as possible and set her down to unlock the door. After they had entered the house, Sirius carried Hermione to the couch and asked if she had any potions that would help.
"I keep the pain-relieving potions in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom," she said as she winced in anguish.
Sirius rushed to the cabinet and hastily looked for said potions. Upon finding them, he grabbed a bottle and ran back to the living room.
When Hermione received the bottle of potion she quickly drank the awful concoction and made a face. "It's terrible, but it's the only thing that works," she explained.
Sirius sat down on the couch beside her and asked, "Are you feeling better now?"
"Yes, much better," Hermione answered tiredly. The immediate numbing effect of the potion was wonderful when she was in such agony, but she hated the side effect of the mixture; it made her unbearably drowsy.
"I got the injury three years ago when I was attacked by Antonin Dolohov. I had just rescued Orion Kent's youngest child from a building that had burned almost to the ground and was preparing to apparate when he arrived. He cast a spell called Stativus Aeger Consilii, and I was unable to use my right leg from then on. I've seen so many healers, but no one could find a cure," Hermione confessed. For some reason, she felt that she could tell Sirius about the incident and not worry that he would think of her as weak or pity her, as most people did.
Once she finished speaking, Hermione knew that she would not be capable of holding her eyes open for much longer; she could not focus, and her eyelids felt as though they had lead weights attached to them. Hermione ceased to fight sleep and closed her eyes. She could hear Sirius saying something, but she couldn't tell what. Nevertheless, his voice seemed comforting, and Hermione allowed herself to fall asleep.
After a few moments of slumbering peacefully on the couch, Hermione stirred but remained asleep. She leaned against Sirius, and rested her head on his shoulder. Sirius stayed still for a few minutes because he didn't want to wake her, but then he realized that she would probably sleep for a while without interruption because of the pain-relieving potion. Sirius moved from the couch, and walked toward the kitchen to get a glass of water, but he paused at the doorway to look back at Hermione.
She didn't deserve any of this; she deserved to be happy. I will try to find a way to make her happy again.
Thank you for reading. Please review!
Rane2920072: It's good to hear from you again. I'm glad that you liked the last chapter. I'm also looking forward to the Sirius/Hermione romance and it will progress gradually starting with this chapter. Thanks for your review.
gizmama: Thanks for reviewing. I hope that you will like the rest of the story, as well.
Autumn92685039: Thanks for the review. I'm happy that you liked my introduction to the story. Also, thank you for adding Unspeakable to your list of favorite stories.
Sirione: lol. It will be eventually. Thanks for reviewing.
JTBJAB: I'm happy that Sirius is back, too. I appreciate the review.
CharmedLeoLvr: Thank you for reviewing. I'm glad that you liked the story. Your pen name is cool. I like Charmed, too.
Jade121: Thanks for your review. Also, thanks for adding me to your favorites list.
Moony's-Mate: Thanks for continuing to review. I will try to post new chapters as often as possible.
calypsoblue: Your pen name is awesome; I like it. It's good to hear that my fan fiction is interesting. Thank you for reviewing.
moonyNZ: Thanks for reviewing yet again. I'm glad you like Unspeakable.
Raven176: I'm happy to hear that the plot is improving. The introduction was just so intricate that it took a while to write. It was great to bring Sirius back, and I'll try to keep the story interesting. I appreciate your honest reviews, and I hope to hear from you again.
vixen519: lol.I agree. Sirius is just the coolest. Thank you for reviewing.
gamergal20: Thanks for the review. I hop you enjoy the other chapters I plan to post, as well. I appreciate being added to your favorites list.
Monai: Sirius/Hermione is a really good pairing. I also read a lot of the time turner stories, but I wanted to write something different. The answer to your question will appear in one of the next two chapters. Thanks for reviewing.