Part 3
The next day, Hermione woke up still feeling the warmth of Sirius' body, who was holding her tightly against himself. She turned carefully and found his gray eyes half-open from the smile he was directing at her. She smiled too.
"Good morning, kitten".
"Good morning" she replied, and he planted a kiss on her lips.
"Please tell me you don't have to work today".
"I don't have to work today" she said softly.
"Are you saying this because I asked you to or because it's true?" he asked with one eyebrow raised.
"Because it's true" she answered and smiled, "I'm off until New Year's Eve".
"In this case..." Sirius pulled her into a kiss and whispered between her lips, "I'm not letting you out of this bed until next year. In fact, I'll hold you hostage in this bed until I have to go to Hogwarts".
"Speaking of which..." she answered, getting up from the bed under his protests of I said you're not getting out of bed!
She returned to the bed and Sirius sat up, leaning on the headboard. Hermione handed him a closed piece of parchment and tapped it with her wand muttering "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good" The bewitching ink began to color the parchment and it took less than two seconds for Miss Kitten proudly presents Mr. Padfoot with the The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black Map to appear. Sirius cracked a huge smile and opened the parchment, which revealed a detailed floor plan of house number 12. It was possible to see Kreacher walking in circles in the room that once belonged to Walburga and Orion, and Sirius and Hermione very close together in the witch's room.
"I know it's silly..."
"It's not silly" he replied smiling, "it's the best present I ever got. And this way I'll always know where you are".
"I don't know if it's defective, because ever since I made it Kreacher appears in your mother's room walking in circles" she commented.
"It's not defective" he replied, "the little bugger is always whining around there".
"Sirius!" she scolded him.
"Oh, please kitten, don't give me your S.P.E.W. speech now!" he complained.
"Do you already want to start at this hour?" she asked amused.
"If we start now, in five minutes we can start making up" he said, pulling her closer, "but this time in this bed".
Hermione laughed and Sirius turned on the bed, stood over her, and took her mouth. The kiss was more like the one they had exchanged in the kitchen the day before than the other two. They had all the time in the world. They explored each other's mouths calmly, Hermione gasped as Sirius gently removed her shirt, revealing her breasts. He kissed and sucked them while the witch moaned and tugged at his shirt to get him to remove it. The contact of their skin was the best thing she had ever felt. He was completely naked and her brown eyes burned with desire, and he smiled. Sirius pulled her panties off with his teeth and kissed her on the inside, squeezing her arse hard when he heard her moan his name. Merlin, how he waited to be able to hear her moan his name as he touched her. When she touched him, he moaned her name too. When she mouthed his cock, he could have sworn he went to heaven and back. When he finally penetrated her, the movements were rhythmic and it felt like the two of them had a single body. Sirius had never, in his entire life, experienced anything even remotely like that. It wasn't just sex, it wasn't just his body clamoring for hers, it was something more. It was something more that he couldn't explain, that he couldn't name. He made her cum three times before he finally released himself inside her and, gasping for breath, took her in his arms.
"That was definitely better than I imagined" Hermione said breathlessly.
"It was much better than I imagined it would be, too, and I have a very vivid imagination" Sirius replied playfully.
"So you've been imagining it too?" she raised one eyebrow, "you kept using it against me all those days, when you were doing the same!"
"Of course I imagined it, kitten. It would be impossible not to imagine it with you moaning from your bedroom and me listening in".
They both laughed. In the days that followed, Sirius didn't keep his promise to keep her in bed, but only because they enjoyed every corner of the house. The living room, the kitchen, the shower room, his room, her room. Every place was used by both of them. When they were not having sex, they spent their time together as usual: they cooked together, played some board games, drank and talked about life. On one particular day, Sirius hugged her from behind as she put some clean clothes away inside her dresser and kissed softly the scar that said mudblood on her wrist.
On Saturday, they were both in the shower in his room, Hermione holding tightly to the iron bar that supported the shower curtain, Sirius whispering obscenities in her ear as he stroked her hard, when they heard Harry's voice on the first floor calling for them both. The man cursed, causing Hermione to giggle, and wrapped himself in his towel. The witch waited a few minutes to go downstairs, and found her friend and Sirius talking in the living room. The older man looked impatient, and she knew why.
"Hermione!" Harry greeted her "you didn't answer any owls. In fact, neither of you did. Where have you been?"
"Enjoying ourselves", Sirius replied and Hermione not so gently kicked him in the leg.
"Did you send owls?" the witch asked, her cheeks flushing "I didn't get any".
"Yes, they all came back with the scrolls still tied up" Harry replied.
His friend's scrutinizing gaze flew from Hermione to Sirius, and the realization hit him. The two of them had wet hair, Sirius wrapped in his towel, and Hermione innocently wearing a robe that most assuredly belonged to his godfather. Harry knew because he had given that robe to Sirius many years ago, before the battle at the Ministry. The younger man smiled debauchedly.
"Anyway" the younger wizard continued, "I just wanted to invite you both home for New Year's Eve. And Mione? Ginny wants to meet you for dress shopping first. At least that's what I understood".
"Of course!" Hermione hurried to answer, her cheeks still on fire.
"That was it then" Harry pointed out, "I'll let you get back to what you were doing before".
Harry winked goodbye to both of them and walked out the door. Sirius stared at the woman, who had her arms crossed.
"Do you think he knows?" she asked worriedly.
"Fuck if he knows" Sirius replied and pulled Hermione into a kiss. He would obviously continue what he was doing before.
.
The next day, Hermione met with Ginny and Luna so they could buy their evening clothes. The witch had always been the most objective of the three and quickly found a dress to her liking. It was burgundy and had a straight cut, except for the V-neck that went from her bust to almost her navel. The sleeves were short, but that would not be a problem since the house would be heated against the cold. Ginny raised an eyebrow when she saw her friend paying for the dress, and made a little joke about a certain gray-eyed wizard really liking her choice of clothing.
"He's not my boyfriend, Ginny" Hermione repeated for the third time.
"Then what are you? Or do you think no one notices the fire that consumes the two of you every time you are together?"
"I don't know what we are, maybe friends?" she replied, and Ginny snorted in disbelief, letting out a Please, Mione. "Maybe more than friends, I don't know".
"If you two are in love, what's wrong with labeling it dating?" the redhead asked, fiddling with the hangers in the store.
"We're not... he's not..." Hermione stammered "he never said he was in love".
Ginny stopped fiddling with the hangers and turned to her friend, placing her hands on her waist and frowning.
"But you are" the redhead said. It wasn't a question, it was a statement.
"Just get a damn dress, Ginny!" Hermione complained and walked over to Luna, looking for something to talk about other than her love life.
For the rest of the afternoon Hermione kept going in and out of stores until finally Ginny chose her dress, a beautiful shade of green. She did not refrain from rolling her eyes when Luna, after the fifteenth store, revealed that she had, in fact, already sewn her own dress.
.
When she arrived in front of the house at number 12 Grimmauld Place, it was already getting dark. She climbed the small stairs and the front door opened. A witch she recognized as one of the many that Sirius had taken to his bed in the first weeks of his return walked out the door drinking from a flask and crossed her path. For long seconds Hermione stood in shock, completely still by the doorway, and could not even respond to the witch who had politely greeted her. She only came out of her trance when Sirius appeared at the door, wearing that witchy jacket he wore at the first Order meeting and that she loved so much, ready for the New Year's Eve party the two of them would attend together at Harry's house.
"Kitten..."
"I'll get dressed" she said, without looking him in the eyes, and hurried up the stairs.
When she got to her room, she locked the door, an attitude she hadn't taken in months. She headed for the shower and held back her tears as the water poured over her face, washing all the dust of Diagonal Alley off her body. I shouldn't be sad, should I? We're not dating. He never said he'd return my feelings. She thought and rubbed the soapy vegetable loofah on her arms hard, scratching the apparent scar on her wrist. Just because you're in love with him, doesn't mean he's in love with you.
She dried and smoothed her hair calmly, hoping intimately that Sirius would get tired of waiting and go without her. But she knew he wouldn't go without her. After all, he always waited for her both to go to and from places. It's not a big deal, nothing needs to change! You're happy the way things are, aren't you?
She made up her eyes using magic, and ended up using her wand to dye her lips crimson as well, since her hands were too shaky to perform any manual task with the necessary precision. She put on black shoes, took an equally black overcoat and put it on over her dress. She took a deep breath down the stairs and met him in front of the door. He looked insanely handsome, and he cracked a big smile when he saw her. That damn smile with the perfect white teeth that reached all the way to his gray eyes, creating little wrinkles at the corner of his eyelids.
"You look beautiful" he said, lightly sealing his lips on hers. Act normal, nothing needs to change, she thought.
"You look gorgeous yourself" she replied, smiling faintly, and accepted his arm as they apparated together to Harry's house.
The house was packed. The music was loud and there were witches and wizards occupying every room in the house, which was not small. Children were playing with fireworks in the yard and an obscene amount of booze was piled on a kitchen table, protected by an age spell that prevented any underage person from accessing it. Hermione told Sirius that she was going to go find Luna, which was actually an excuse. She wanted to stay as far away from him as possible until she could get her head on straight. Sirius ended up being distracted by Harry, Bill and Arthur and was surprised to realize that he was having a good time. He felt like he was back at the parties he used to have with Prongs in the Gryffindor common room. Drinks, music, and promises to end the night in bed with the girl he was interested in. This thought brought Hermione back to his mind, and he decided to look for her. He walked through the crowd and saw her talking to Ron, both of them had glasses of drink in their hands and she was smiling at him.
He decided to act like an adult and approached them both, putting a hand on Hermione's waist and facing the redhead.
"Hermione told me about your wedding" Sirius said, "congratulations, I'm really happy for you".
Ron smiled at Sirius and thanked him, then started a monologue about how difficult it was to organize the preparations, since Lavender wanted his opinion on everything. The red-haired man commented that he was glad to know that his opinion was important, but that he was constantly tired of his work as an Auror and that he preferred that she just decide everything herself. Sirius didn't fail to notice that Hermione was stiff beside him, looking uncomfortable at his touch, and when he looked at her, she announced that she was going to help Ginny put the sweets on the table. He didn't even have time to respond and she was already gone.
Hermione ran away from Sirius for hours as if it were a game of cat and mouse, and she was the mouse. She refilled her glass of sparkling wine more times than was prudent, but she didn't care anymore. Every time the thought of that witch and Sirius popped into her mind, she filled the glass more and turned the contents over in one go. Every time the memories of coming home and hearing Sirius having sex with the blonde woman sprang into her mind, she reached for a stronger drink to fill the cup and also drank in one go. She felt slightly drunk when Sirius finally reached her by the drinks table.
"Don't you think you've had enough?" Sirius asked seriously.
"I don't think I drank enough" she replied and brought the glass to her mouth, but was prevented from doing so by Sirius, who took her wrist halfway.
"Did something happen?" he asked.
"I'm just enjoying the party" she replied, swallowing a sob that formed in her throat, "it's a pity your friend couldn't come with us".
"What?" he asked, frowning and loosening his grip on her wrist "so that's what this is about?"
"It's about nothing, Sirius Black" she replied and lifted her own cup, knocking it against his, "here's to nothing! We're great at that!"
"You're not making any sense, kitten, and you need to stop drinking" he said, still very serious and looking a little worried.
"I'm not your kitten, she is", she replied, and ended up sobbing.
"What the hell are you talking about?" he asked angrily, and snatched the cup from her hand "stop fucking drinking!"
"Stop fucking ruining my fun!" she shouted and pushed him away "only you are allowed to have fun?"
She turned her back and staggered away. Sirius huffed an irritated snort when he saw her take the cup from Ginny's hand and drink its contents in a single gulp. Fortunately, the redhead hurried off after her friend and the two disappeared into the crowd.
"What are you doing?" Ginny asked worriedly, helping Hermione sit on the bathroom toilet "you never drink like that. And I confess I thought that drunk Hermione was funnier than this".
"I love him" the brown girl whispered, "I love him, Ginny".
"And it's that a bad thing?" the redhead asked, crouching down in front of her friend.
"He doesn't love me back" Hermione said in the middle of a sob, her voice choking, "I shouldn't be like this! Everything was great the way it was, but then I got it all mixed up".
"Mixed up what?"
"Our game," Hermione explained, but nothing made much sense to Ginny, "are just games, and I like them. I swear I like them, Ginny!"
"Okay, you like games", the redhead repeated as she reached for something in the cabinet under the sink.
"Yes, I like them. But I don't want them anymore!"
Ginny found the bottle she was looking for and offered it to Hermione.
"Okay, Mione. Drink this to stop this drunkenness, okay? Stay here and I'll get Sirius to take you home".
"NO!" Hermione shouted, pulling her friend by the wrist and forcing her to kneel down again, "I don't want him!"
"Fine, fine. I won't call him. But take this, please".
The brownhead witch turned over the entire contents of the bottle and it didn't take many minutes for her to get better. She was not completely sober, but she was much better. Everything had stopped spinning and the sobbing had stopped. She was suddenly fully aware of where she was and what she was doing. She was also aware of the fool she had made of herself in front of Sirius. She sighed.
"Is that better?" Ginny asked and Hermione nodded positively. The redhead got up to leave the bathroom and asked her to wait for her there.
As soon as she was alone, Hermione got up from the toilet and looked in the mirror, checking that she was a complete mess. With a wave of her wand, she wiped off the smeared makeup, took a deep breath, and left the bathroom. She was still a little dizzy and angry with Sirius, so she decided to go out into the courtyard and apparate to Grimmauld Place before the cold hit her completely, since she was without her coat. Before she desappeared, she heard everyone counting down to midnight.
Sirius, in turn, followed the search and heard Ginny comment to Harry that Hermione was in the upstairs bathroom. He went up the stairs, but didn't find her there. He pulled the Map from his pocket and saw that she was not at home either. He snorted worriedly and went downstairs. He heard the people counting down the seconds to the new year and snuck through the crowd, looking around. But he couldn't find her. When he looked at the Map again, two footprints appeared on the doorway of number twelve with the name Hermione Granger on it. Sirius headed for the courtyard and apparated home.
As soon as he opened the door, he saw her silhouette disappearing at the top of the stairs and ran up the steps. On the way he passed two feet of her shoes and found her in the bedroom doorway, with her hands behind her back, trying extremely awkwardly to unzip her dress. For a moment he forgot how mad he was at her.
"Do you want some help?" he asked, seriously.
"No, I can do it myself" she answered, and he realized that she was still drunk. Less drunk than before, but still drunk "go with your friend".
"What the hell are you talking about? What friend?" he asked angrily.
"The one you fuck when I'm not home" she answered angrily.
"You're drunk" he said, walking into the room, and she finally turned to him.
"This has nothing to do with the fact that I drank!"
"Then what the fuck does it have to do with?" he took another step forward and she stepped back. He realized it, so he stopped.
"It has to do with the fact that I'm tired of this stupid game!" she shouted, "Do you want to know why I took you off of the Veil? It wasn't for Harry, it was for me! Because I'm stupid and I never got over my stupid teenage crush on you! It was really fun while it lasted, but I want more than playfulness, more than teasing, more than..."
Her voice slowly died and he saw tears coming out of her eyes. He took two decisive steps and pressed his mouth to hers, taking her in his embrace. He parted her lips and wiped her tears away with his thumb.
"I want more too" he whispered.
"That's not what I meant" she replied angrily, pushing him away, but he didn't loosen his embrace.
"Do you think this is just a joke? That it's a game?" he asked, searching her eyes with his face, "It's not a game, I don't think it ever was. Not for me".
She smiled debauched and pushed him away.
"As if! May I believe this your way of saying that you're in love with me or something?" she asked ironically.
"No, kitten" he replied seriously and held her face between his hands, "this is my way of saying that I love you".
When the words left Sirius' lips, he finally knew how to name that feeling. That something more he felt with her. He loved her. He loved her like he never thought he could love anyone. And he knew he was loved too. He knew that she loved him, and he was tired of that feeling being hidden in the middle of arguments, teasing and jokes.
"I. Love. You" he said again, slowly, and looked into her surprised brown eyes, "I love you so fucking much, and I know you love me too".
"But you were with that witch" Hermione began to complain, but Sirius laughed.
"What witch? You mean Mundungus?" he asked, amused.
"Mundungus?" she asked, her eyes widening in realization. Of course it was Mundungus, she thought. The witch came out drinking from a flask. Pollyjuice? "What was he doing here?"
Sirius released Hermione's face and reached in his pocket for something. He pulled out a small black velvet box and twirled it in his palm.
"I wanted something back" he said, staring at the box, "something from my family that I suspected he had stolen. The most selfish gift I ever thought of giving anyone".
"How can a gift be selfish?" she asked.
"Because it's your Christmas present, but if you accept it, it's me who wins" he replied and looked at her, smiling. He opened the little box and inside it was a silver ring studded with small diamonds, with a large black diamond in the centre "it's yours if you want it. But if you accept it, I become yours. And you become mine. Forever, kitten".
Hermione stared into the man's gray eyes and smiled.
"I'm already yours, in case you missed it" she replied and crossed the space between them, taking his mouth with her own.
In the end, Hermione wasn't obsessed with Sirius Black anymore. She loved him. And he loved her. He would always from here forward smell her coconut shampoo, and she would always smell his expensive perfume mixing with the tobacco and leather smell of his clothes. After all the losts, they both would always have one another. Forever.
.
.
.
Dubiousexistence: thank you for the review!
