Revised: 27 August 2004

The Future Awaits
Chapter 3: Confusion

Hermione, Harry, Sirius and Remus went on chatting to catch up. Every now and then, Sirius would catch himself staring at Hermione.

He was still as confused as he was the last time she left him 27 years ago.

..:: Flashback ::..

"Please, don't leave me, Hermione," pleaded Sirius.

"Sirius, I can't. You don't understand," Hermione replied while trying to stuff all her things in an already puffed bag, tears running down her beautiful caramel eyes.

"THEN MAKE ME UNDERSTAND!!!" Sirius exploded.

"I can't, Sirius. If I stayed any longer, I'd be doomed!" Hermione reasoned.

"Why?!" his voice softened with alarmed worry.

"Please, Sirius. Just… just forget about me."

Sirius stared at her incredulously, not believing what she just said.

"In case you didn't notice, it's already too late for that, Mione. You can't leave me. I won't let you!" With that, Sirius went over to his girlfriend and tried to stop her from packing, taking out some of the things she had already stuffed into her bag.

Just then, Professor Dumbledore came along with a young Professor McGonagall.

"Mr Black, you will have to let Ms Granger leave," Professor Dumbledore said calmly, "You don't want her to suffer, won't you?"

Sirius opened his mouth to talk back, but he found that he could not find the right words. He felt completely oblivious of the situation.

"WHAT IS GOING ON?!" he finally shouted, already frustrated with the whole lot of them.

A tender voice spoke which made all the other three heads turned.

"Hermione has stayed long enough… too long indeed. Now it's time for her to go back," Professor McGonagall said.

But before anyone could respond to her, Hermione turned to Sirius.

"I can assure you, Sirius… that we will meet again." Smiling, she continued, but rather in a sad tone, "But I can't assure that I'll be able to recognize you the next time we meet."

This only served more confusion into Sirius, who was looking back at all the three faces in front of him stupidly.

"And Mr Black, if you haven't noticed, I would like to remind you that boys are not allowed in the Girls' dormitories. How did you pass the stairs, anyway?" asked an annoyed Professor McGonagall.

Sirius looked at Professor Dumbledore and raised an eyebrow, who smiled smugly.

"Sometimes, it's good to be a Headmaster," he joked, knowing the reason his student looked at him.

Sirius looked away, clearly not in the mood for jokes. He was in the middle of utter confusion, frustration and betrayal. He had fallen in love with Hermione Jane Granger. A girl so special that could tame 'The Sirius Black', as people like to put it. And now, he had to let her leave him. Who does she think she is to enter his life, steal his heart and then leave him? He was so angry at her for whatever she'd done and doing to him.

All the four of them descended the stairs, where James, Remus, Peter and Lily sat waiting. They saw Hermione with her red, puffy eyes. Lily ran up to her and asked, "Mya, you're really not leaving us, are you?"

This only made Hermione cried harder. She hugged Lily and said, "I'm going to miss you. Take care… really."

She then went up to all the three other Marauders and hugged each of them. When she was hugging James, she whispered, "Take care of yourself and Lily, James," which caused James to blush slightly. After wishing her farewell to Remus, she came up to Peter, who she hugged him tightly. She smiled and said "I'll miss you too. Be good."

Finally, she turned to Sirius who still looked indignant and was refusing to meet her eyes. She whispered softly, "'I'll always love you." With that, she tip-toed and gave him a sweet, savouring kiss.

"I hate you," Sirius muttered back, looking down at his feet, tears already spilling from his eyes.

He still refused to look into her eyes as Hermione gave him a watery smile and left. Sirius could feel his heart crushing into tiny little pieces as every bit of her skin left him. Finally, she was gone. Gone following the two professors.

..:: End of Flashback ::..

"Sirius? SIRIUS!! You okay there, mate?" Remus asked.

"Huh? Wha-"

"I said Hermione and Harry are leaving."

"Oh, okay…"

"What, Sirius," his godson spoke, "After all these talks, you haven't even thanked my best friend here? Where are your manners?"

Hermione giggled and playfully swatted Harry's arm.

Looking at Remus who smirked annoyingly, Sirius turned to Hermione. "Uh, thanks, Hermione."

He felt pathetic and did not really know what else to say to her, since he didn't really feel thankful. He just felt it was better to be left in that Veil.

Hermione beamed brightly which made his knees go weak. Hugging him, she said, "It's good to have you back, Sirius. We all need you here."

In turn, Harry hugged Sirius. "Yeah, it's really good to have my godfather back." Sirius smiled at his godson.

"Okay, you lot. Off you go!" Remus ushered the two young adults.

"What, Remus, too eager to get rid of us?" Harry said in mocked sadness. Hermione grabbed Harry's arm, leading them to the door and said, "Don't mind him, guys. Our Harry here had just recently turned into a mocking-queen!"

"Mocking-KING!" Harry corrected her, with a playful smile.

The two older men laughed. Sirius however wasn't really impressed with the gesture Hermione made to his godson.

Once they were gone, Sirius turned to Remus and asked, "Moony, are those two together?"

Remus looked at him and smiled. "Nah!" Waving his hand dismissingly.

"Oh!" He sighed in relief.

A/N: Is that an improvement, SB-HG fans?