A/N: Well, Captain Oblivious, you ARE truly the captain of all obliviousness. Hahah! What I meant by '3 chapters for one whole day' in the previous chapter is that chapters 19, 20 & 21 all happened in one day. Haiz… anyways, on with the story.
Revised: 28 August 2004
The Future Awaits
Chapter 22: A Friend in Need
"Wakey, wakey, lazy bones!"
Hermione's eyes fluttered opened as she groaned. Yawning, she groggily came out from her bed, swaying a bit.
"Hey, Mya!"
"Huh?" asked Hermione sleepily, rubbing her eyes with her fists, giving her a cute, vulnerable look.
"Look down."
She did, until she felt her nose being flicked by a finger. Her hand instantly shot up to cover her nose as she glared menacingly at Sirius, making him laughed out loud.
"Breakfast awaits you, Mademoiselle…"
Hermione huffed and whirled pass Sirius into her bathroom, making him chuckled at her retreating figure.
"Apparently, she's not a morning bird."
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They were in the middle of having breakfast when a loud trash was heard at the front door.
Sirius stood up alarmed, grabbing Hermione's wand before she could reach it. Quietly, he tiptoed into the living room, and neared the door. There was a loud groan heard from it.
"Oh! Give it here, you!" Hermione said in a hushed tone, snatching her wand from Sirius' clutch.
"Hermione, back off!" ordered Sirius quietly.
But Hermione didn't listen to him. Instead, she muttered, "Visiblo." Sirius gaped at the door, as it faded, showing them their visitor.
"ARRGGH!!" grunted a frustrated Hermione Granger. She opened the door and immediately shot out, "REMUS JOHN LUPIN!! You gave us a hell of a heart attack!"
Remus, who was still rubbing his forehead, cringed at the 20-year-old woman's voice.
"Hermione, it's a right pain in the ass with these wards around your apartment. We can't even apparate properly down here."
"Ugh! When we didn't put the wards up, you guys kept pestering us to have them. And when we do, you guys complain! Make up your mind, people!"
"Jeez, relax, Mione. And wasn't I supposed to be your ex-professor? Shouldn't I be spoken to politely?" Remus asked in an accusing tone, knowing very well the 'perfect' Hermione Granger will take the accusation quite seriously.
Hermione had the heart to look ashamed. "Well, you should have at least given a note that you're coming!"
Remus sighed as she stormed off into her room, leaving him alone with Sirius.
"She's scary when she's in that mood. What did you do to her, Padfoot?"
Sirius looked at his 'friend' scathingly. "Why are you here, Lupin?"
Remus looked up in surprise and sighed again. "I would have asked you the same question. But I'm here to apologise."
There was silence, neither wanting to be the one breaking it. Just then, Hermione came out from her room, wearing a beautiful, yet formal white dress with a baby-blue coloured cloak. She went over to the hat rack and took a hat. Tapping her wand on it, the hat instantly changed its colour into white.
"No need to tell me. I know I look like some stupid fairy-tale fairy. But there's a small costume party my department is having today."
But both the men could only gape open-mouthed at her.
"Anyway boys, no fighting in my apartment. I don't want my stuff getting ruined because of two immature over-grown men," she warned in a stern voice. "And yeah, please lock the door if you decide to leave. It's Saturday today, I'll be off at one o'clock."
"Aww… Hermione… you're no fun," Remus said playfully.
Hermione gave him a hard look. "Let me pretend like I care." She then placed her hand on her cheek, resting her elbow on her other arm, and put a frown. "Okay!" She stepped out into the door and disappeared into thin air with a wave of a wand.
The two Marauders stared at the now empty space, speechless at the girl's behaviour. Shaking his head, Remus uttered a quick incantation and let the door closed by itself.
"Well… what happened before I came here?" chuckled Remus.
"Nothing. As she said, your entry gave us a fright! I thought it was some DeathEater or something."
"Why would a DeathEater attack in the morning?"
"Hey! You might never know."
There was silence once again.
Sirius finally broke it down, saying, "Your coming here is not to make me go back, right?"
Remus sighed for the third time. "You say it like you hate my house! Well, I came here to apologise, mate. You know how I act during a 'full moon'," he said, sniggering nervously.
Sirius snorted. "Full moon or not, your advices are always the same."
Remus pouted. "Am I forgiven, yet?"
Sirius looked at his friend, finally grinning. "Yeah. Of course, Moony." Remus sighed a relief as he received a friendly hug from his friend.
"Well, I still say I want to stay with her though."
Remus rolled his eyes. "And just what excuse are you going to give her next?"
"I'll think about it. I'm a Marauder, aren't I?"
Remus rolled his eyes again. "Oh, yeah! This just came yesterday. Poor Hedwig is getting rather old. It's from Harry."
Sirius took the letter from his friend's hand, surprising himself to expect one from Ron too.
Hope everything's going on well there. We just got here, so nothing
much to say. Florida is quite a hot place. Ron's been complaining a lot
about it. Though, HA! There's still a spell Mione taught me; 'Windigo'. Though
sometimes the wind it gives out can be such a 'storm'!
By the way, Sirius, I know you're my godfather and all. But at the same
time, Hermione is my best friend. She's like a sister to me. If I ever find out you
did anything… ANYTHING inappropriate, be warned. 'THE-BOY-WHO-LIVED'
will be known as 'THE-BOY-WHO-KILLED-HIS-GODFATHER'! …Well, that's
besides Ron. That boy, keeps complaining to me how much her misses her.
Anyway, do write. I miss you. Take care.
Harry
Sirius rolled his eyes at the finished letter. Folding it back up, Remus asked, "What'd it say?"
"Just Harry telling me not to meddle with Mione."
Remus snorted, making Sirius scoffed at him.
"Well, talking about that, I have sad news for you… well, it's sad for me. I'm not sure about you though," Remus said, ending it with a slight teasing tone.
"What are you talking about?"
"Well, Dumbledore's sending me to Arizona this Tuesday for some Order business… with Nymphadora," Remus said quietly, looking flustered, his cheeks reddening a bit.
Remus, calling his niece by her first name, the blushing, or the fact that he's 'free' of Remus again, made Sirius raised an eyebrow.
Clearing his throat rather loudly, Remus decided to change the topic. "So, any progress while you're here?"
"What do you mean?" asked Sirius, clearly trying to avoid that subject.
They chatted until it was pass noon.
Time flew without them knowing it. Around one o'clock, just as Hermione promised, she was back. But not alone.
She was in the arms of… another man… drunk?
"Oh hey, Terence!" greeted Remus.
"Hey!" answered the brown-haired man, who seemed to be in his middle 20s.
"What happened?"
"Well, she took a whole lot of spike. And you can guess the rest. What are you doing here, Mr Lupin?" asked Terence, carefully putting a swaying and giggling Hermione on the couch, though directing his confused eyes at Sirius.
"Oh! I'm just visiting here. And this is my friend, Sirius Black."
Sirius widened his eyes at Remus, but the young man did not seem to recognise the name. And even if he did, he didn't seem to care. Instead, he good-naturedly offered his hand to shake.
"Anyway, I need to get back. It's been nice meeting you people," said Terence politely, apparently still looking confused. What are they already doing in Hermione's apartment?
Once Sirius was certain that that Terence guy had disapparated, he turned to look at his friend. "Who was that?"
"Terence Carlleghan. A colleague of Hermione's, who apparently fancies her. Ron has gone into quite a handful of fights with him," replied Remus with a chuckle.
Sirius' insides boiled at the information, not knowing which boy he should be angry at.
"Well, I'll be off then. Can I expect you at my house before I'm gone this Tuesday?"
Sirius nodded. "Yeah, okay."
He escorted Remus to the front door. "Hey, Moony. Don't call her 'Nymphadora'. As sweet as you want to be, my niece still prefers her last name."
Remus now blushed visibly. "Shut your gap, Paddy. You're one to talk." With that, he disapparated.
Sirius closed the door, now looking back at a giggling Hermione. "Mooooooooonie… Paddddddie… Hihihi!"
Sirius sighed and walked over to the couch. Squatting over, he sat right in front of Hermione and stared at her, shaking his head.
"Yoo know… yoo'll look better if yoo shuave that… b-blastered beard on your hensum faesh," suggested a slurring Hermione.
"Fine. I'll shave it later… for you."
Hermione grinned sheepishly, eyes beginning to droop. Sirius stood up to take her into his arms. She was so light!
"It fweel zo good to be cawwied. I fweel like a… a… baby!"
Sirius chortled quietly, looking down at her out-of-focus face.
"No! I don meen to want to be a bwaby… not that I dwon like bwabies… becoz they're zo cute… It juz… fweel zo good… yoo know?"
Sirius chuckled at her slurred ramblings. "Really? How about this?"
He spun around, with her still in his arms. Hermione shrieked crazily before groaning, "My head!!"
"Oh god! I'm so sorry."
But luckily, they were already inside Hermione's bedroom. Carefully placing her onto her bed, with her still muttering incoherently, Sirius kissed her forehead and touched her nose lightly with his finger.
"Sweet dreams, sweetheart."
Quietly stepping out from her room, Sirius heard her last whisper, "Love you… Siri…"
A/N: Quite long, no? Too me 8 and half pages of my jotter book to write this one. Usually, it took at most 5. And yeah, I assumed you guys have read JKR saying that Remus' middle name being 'John'. Anyways, thank you so much for reviewing, you guys! Love ya!