AN: Hello, fanfiction and Harry Potter fans. I do not own Harry Potter, but feel free to enjoy this or hate it. If you enjoy it, please leave a lovely comment, if you hate it, then leave some constructive criticism, thanks!

Can You Take the Jump?

Chapter 21

"Mum, we don't need more carbs." Hermione told her mother when she was handed another bag of baked goods.

"Oh nonsense! Your father loves scones, Lily loves croissants, Petunia loves cinnamon and raisin buns, I like muffins. It wouldn't be fair just to pick one up and then leave everyone else stuck eating someone else's favorites."

"But we never finish them before they expire. Just buy someone's favorites this week, and then another the next week. Force them to take turns."

Ivy sighed, "I hate your sister's cinnamon and raisin buns, but I feel guilty for just buying my favorite."

Hermione smiled at the truth behind her mother's excessive purchase of carbohydrates.

"You spoil Tuny by giving her what she wants all the time."

"I love your sister, but you try dealing with one of her tantrums at 7 in the morning." Ivy half joked. Hermione put her hands up in surrender, took the muffins from her mother's hands and placed it back into the basket and headed towards the cashier.

"That's my girl."

Her mother kissed her on the forehead, then wiped lipstick stain off endearingly. Ivy Evans was the type of woman that wore makeup for a simple trip to the grocery store. She wore a dress while she cooked dinner, she arranged flowers and appreciated the finer things in life. She might not be the career woman that Jean Granger was, she still wasn't someone to be trifled with.

She was a mom.

She was told that Hermione was stillborn but went through with the pregnancy for Lily. She was told Hermione was suffering from an untreatable magical illness, she got through it for Hermione. Her two youngest daughters were pulled away from her for months at a time to a school that she couldn't visit, but she didn't let that depression overwhelm her for Petunia.

They were incredible beings, mothers, capable of doing unimaginable things for their children.

"Why else would you have given up on Harry and his family?"

"Hermione?"

She blinked at the sound of her mother calling her name over the sound of the car engine.

"Am I going mad or is there a boy loitering in front of our house?"

"Huh?" Hermione looked to where her mother was pointing and there really was a boy pacing over their welcome pat. He had long black hair that shined in the summer sun. He wore jeans with a Led Zeppelin t-shirt as he tried to peak into their home, but never rang the bell.

"Sirius Black?"

"You know him?"

"Y-yeah, he's from school…" Hermione muttered as she stepped out of the car to confront the handsome Gryffindor at her doorstep.

"Black?" She called out to him.

Sirius swirled around, surprised to see her.

"What are you doing outside my house?" Hermione asked, immediately suspicious.

"Well, I would've gone inside, but I assumed picking the lock and going in would be considered rude." Sirius joked, but the smile slid from his face when Hermione didn't reciprocate his humor. "Look, I'm just here to—"

"Hello!" Ivy interrupted abruptly, intervening in between the two teenagers and grasping Sirius's hand. "I'm Ivy, Hermione and Lily's mum! I heard you were a friend from their school? I had no idea we were having visitors, I'm afraid the house is a mess, but if you don't mind, why don't you come in?"

"Mum, no. He's—"

"Hermione." Ivy spoke firmly, stopping her daughter from finishing her sentence.

"Uhm," Sirius looked back at forth between the mother and daughter, catching the silent conversation.

"My name is Sirius. Lily and Hermione's mum? I thought you were their older sister!" Ivy laughed, obviously incredibly pleased by the compliment. "If it's not a bother, I'd love to come inside your lovely home."

Hermione stopped Sirius from entering her house by holding him back. "Actually, Black, why don't you help me bring the groceries inside."

"Hermione!" Ivy admonished. "He is a guest!"

With one quick look at Hermione's glare, Sirius relented. "Mrs. Evans, it's not a problem. I'm the rude unannounced guest here, it's the least I can do."

"Oh, that's sweet of you darling. I'll make a nice cold lemonade for you both."

As her mother opened the door and left for the kitchens, Hermione immediately pulled Sirius away from her front door, creating distance between Sirius and her mother. She turned him around and pushed him against the car and jabbed her wand to his throat.

"After the Quidditch victory party, you pulled me into an alcove. Who followed behind me?" Hermione demanded.

"W-what are you doing?!" Sirius asked, bewildered by Hermione's bizarre actions.

"Answer the question."

"Snivellus."

"What did we do in order to make Snape go away?"

Sirius blushed, "Really? You want to talk about that here?" he joked, but choked when Hermione stabbed her wand deeper into his throat. "We kissed, happy?"

The tip of Hermione's wand eased off of Sirius's neck. She took two large steps away from the boy.

"Why are you here, Black? And how do you even know where I live?"

"We're not going to talk about what just happened right now?" Sirius asked, rubbing the sore spot on his neck where her wand was.

"I was just checking that you are who you say you are." Hermione told him. "Two questions only you could answer. It's protocol."

"Protocol? Who's protocol?"

"Never mind that. Why are you here?"

He let out a sigh of frustration, clearly angry about the fact that none of his questions were being answered. "To give Lily something." Sirius reached into his pocket and pulled out a letter.

"You made this much effort to give Lily a letter?" Hermione asked, clearly confused.

"No, James wanted to. But his owl, Maximus, is unavailable because his dad was using him today. He wanted the letter to be sent by today, so I offered to be the courier."

"Why?"

"I…" He hesitated. "I just wanted to get out of the house."

Hermione watched him shuffle his feet awkwardly. She knew he wasn't telling the whole truth, but knowing Walburga Black, it was honest enough. She pushed him to the side and opened the car door. She grabbed the grocery bags and placed two of the heaviest into his arms, then grabbed the rest.

"Come on." She lightly tugged at his sleeve. "Mum's lemonade is really good."

Sirius immediately perked up, like a puppy, happily chasing after its owner, even after being scolded.

The two entered the house and Sirius looked around her home with wide, fascinated eyes. He found a few photographs hanging on the wall of the three sisters as young children, some at a family vacation in a beach house, some taken on birthdays, graduations, and other celebratory events that most families commemorated. Lily and the blonde, whom he assumed was the older sister, had dopey smiles on their faces and their arms in the air, or making silly faces. Hermione was missing in many of them, but if she was there, she stood in the back with the same stoic face.

"Black, through here." Hermione grabbed his attention back to her, gesturing to follow her deeper into the house, to the kitchen.

The only kitchens he's ever visited were at Hogwarts, his house, and James's. This kitchen was so vastly different that he couldn't help but look around. It was smaller, much smaller, but bright as the sun shined through the windows. There was a breakfast table in the corner, and something Sirius recognized as a stove, but so many more things. Little gadgets and thingamabobs in every corner, which made Sirius want to explore.

"You can place those on the table, dear." Mrs. Evans told them as she brought two tall glasses of lemonade with loads of ice cubes inside.

"Thank you, Mrs. Evans."

"Oh, call me Ivy, darling."

She sat down, sipping a cup of tea and watched Sirius, who was watching Hermione put the groceries away into the pantry and other locations in the kitchen.

"So, how do you two know each other?" Ivy asked Sirius, pulling his avid attention away from her youngest daughter.

"I'm in Gryffindor with Lily and I got to know Hermione through her." Sirius informed. "Oh, and my best mate James has the biggest crush on Lily as well."

"James? But that's not Lily's boyfriend's name."

"Lily's a popular girl." Sirius shrugged. "She has lots of friends outside of Gryffindor."

"What about Hermione?" Ivy asked Sirius, fascinated about her daughters' school life. "I worry because she's so quiet all the time that she won't be able to make many friends, but every time I ask, all she says is 'It's fine.' Or 'School's good.'"

Sirius glanced at Hermione, who didn't look at him, nor did she pause putting the groceries away.

"She's—"

"I don't sound like that, mum. Stop pestering him with questions." Hermione smoothly entered the conversation by grabbing her glass of lemonade, cutting whatever Sirius was about to say. "He's just here to give Lily something. You can put the letter over there and be on your way." She pointed to the little ornate table close to the front door where the family placed all their keys and letters.

"Nonsense!" Ivy cried. "He's come all the way here! We can't let him leave on an empty stomach, Hermione!" Ivy scolded, "How impossibly rude would that be to just send him off like such! He's not a courier, he's your friend from school."

"To be precise, he's Lily's friend, not mine." Hermione countered.

"Well then imagine how sad Lily would be to hear that her friend came by, but left without even giving her a chance to say hello."

Hermione opened her mouth to argue, desperate to get Sirius Black out of her house, but closed it when she saw the frown on her mother's face. She wasn't going to relent. Hermione sighed and turned to Sirius who grinned happily.

"Make yourself comfortable."

…

Hermione watched Sirius wander around her home, flicking the lights on and off, tapping on the television set, bouncing on her sofa, and playing with the toaster.

"Will you just sit still for 2 seconds?"

Sirius, who was in the midst of touching a family portrait to see if it really didn't move, turned around to see the same blank expression on Hermione's face, but somehow, he could tell she was displeased with his agitation.

"Oh," he dropped his hands back down. "Sorry." He sat down almost 2 meters away from her, on a loveseat across from her.

"When is Lily coming?" he asked, not able to withstand merely two seconds of silence.

"She's meeting up with some of her old primary school friends. She'll be back soon with our dad."

"How come you didn't go?"

"I didn't go…" to primary school. Hermione finished in her mind. She glanced at Sirius and realized how the truth would lead to a whole lot of other questions she didn't want to answer.

"…because I didn't want to."

The vague answer left Sirius staring at Hermione to elaborate, but her face remained blank as always. Her stoniness really fascinated, yet scared Sirius. Her breathing remained steady, her eyes never shifted, her hands didn't fidget, and her voice remained calm. She was practically unreadable.

"Mum?"

The front door swung open, and a girl whom Sirius immediately recognized from the family photos hanging on the walls, entered. She must have been Hermione and Lily's older sister. Unlike her younger sisters, she had long wavy blonde hair that reached down to her lower back. She had a long face, with small shoulders, narrow hips, and was skinny in general. It was as if someone had vertically stretched out a normally shaped person.

"Ivy?" The next to enter was who Sirius assumed as Mr. Evans. He had short light brown hair, light enough to assume he'd been blonde as a young boy. He wasn't very tall, but he was broad shouldered and the shirt around his arms were tight indicating he had significant amount of muscle on him. He didn't bother looking around the house but went straight into the kitchen and gave Mrs. Evans a peck on the lips.

"Robert," Mrs. Evans gently pushed away and blushed. Mr. Evans gave her a confused look, knowing his wife wasn't normally the type to refuse physical affection, especially after a full day of being apart.

"We have a guest." She explained and pointed to the living room.

"Oh my god!" Lily, who was the last to enter, noticed the foreign figure sitting on the couch.

"Hey Evans." Sirius greeted weakly.

"What's going on? Why are you here?" Lily asked, her eyes shifting between Sirius, Hermione then back to Sirius.

"Oh!" Sirius jumped up and reached into his pocket and pulled out the letter that he initially came to give. "James sends his regards."

"You came all the way here just to send this?"

The disbelief in Lily's voice was obvious, making Sirius fidget nervously. While he was no stranger to attention, it was different from the attention Sirius normally received. Hermione watched with pity as the cool and suave Sirius Black disappeared due to the scrutinizing looks from her family, leaving a nervous and mumbling idiot behind.

"E'hem." Mr. Evans cleared his throat and entered the living room. He gave Sirius a look over, but the disapproving frown on his face said it all. His first impression of Hogwarts's Casanova wasn't a good one.

"Robert, honey, Lily and Hermione's friend just dropped by to help deliver Lily a letter, but I asked him to stay for dinner." Ivy jumped in, noticing the frown on her husband's face.

With his arms crossed, the father of three daughters asked the one thing all daughters didn't want their fathers to ask when there was a male friend over.

"What is your relationship with my daughter?"

"Dad!" Lily complained out of embarrassment. "He's just a friend!"

"Hermione, is your sister telling the truth?" Robert turned to his youngest for confirmation.

"Maybe you should properly introduce yourself." Hermione suggested to Sirius.

"Oh, right! Excuse my terrible manners, I'm so sorry." Sirius stepped up in front of Mr. Evans, held out his hand and gave the man his best smile. "Hello, sir. My name is Sirius Black. I go to school with your daughters. And yes, Lily and I are just friends. Amigos, amis, freunde…"

Clearly unimpressed with his smile nor his knowledge of the word 'friends' in different languages, Robert Evans gave his hand a suspicious glance, then gripped it to the point where it was painful.

"I teach my girls self defense." He warned.

Sirius managed to maintain the smile on his face but couldn't disguise the sigh of relief when the man let go of his hand.

"I'm aware, sir. Hermione nearly broke my pinky once."

At the news, Mr. Evans smiled. "That's my girl."

"Right, well dinner is ready." Mrs. Evans clapped her hands and ushered everyone into the dining room. "I hope you like meatloaf!"

…

Dinner was going smoothly. With all his jitters out, Sirius was in full charm-mode; grinning, laughing, conversing, and looking as pretty as he always did. Just an hour into the affair, the Evans household loved him.

"Tell us what it's like to live in a magical household." Ivy suggested, "I bet that's exciting."

For the first time since dinner started, Sirius's infallible smile faltered for a millisecond. "Home? Home is…different."

"From school?"

"Well, yes, but also from this." Sirius gestured to the Evans family sitting around the dinner table. "To be honest, I've never seen my mother step into the kitchen to cook, so this is such an honor. It tastes marvelous."

Mrs. Evans blushed happily at the excessive flattery, "I would love to take all the credit, but this is actually Hermione's recipe."

Sirius whipped around in shock. "You know how to cook?!"

Hermione simply shrugged, but Lily chimed in with a smile. "She's the best cook in this house. She's leagues better than the rest of us and even arguably better than Hogwart's kitchen elves."

"Whoa," Sirius looked at Hermione with wonder.

Mr. Evans cleared his throat after witnessing the boy stare at his youngest daughter much longer than he was comfortable with.

"How are your marks in school?"

"Dad." Lily and Hermione warned.

"My marks are above average, but of course they're nothing like Lily's who's often at the top of the class." Sirius explained. "She must get it from you, Mr. Evans."

The grown man, who had frowned at his own wife for falling for Sirius's menial flattery, puffed his chest up and let out a laugh. "Well, I did used to be quite the brain during my youth."

The girls watched with jaw unhinged as Robert Evans started going on about his popular school life. Petunia caught her mother's eyes and mouthed, "stop him" as he continued to boast about his good looks and stellar grades, back in the day.

"Sirius and his mates are quite the pranksters at school." Lily steered the conversation away from Mr. Evans's golden days by directing the attention back to their dinner guest.

"Really?" Mr. Evans asked, excited to hear about some magical pranking.

Finally talking about something he truly has a passion for, Sirius perked up from his seat and started regaling the details of his most exquisitely executed pranks in the last three years.

"For our year-end prank this year, we made magical slime. It's different from normal slime where it's near impossible to remove and stains everything. We timed it just perfectly so that it drops on the Slytherins to cover them entirely!"

Lily started giggling at the remembrance. "Oh my gosh, the amount of slime that poured down from the ceiling! I thought we were under a green waterfall! And the look on all their faces! Mum, I've never seen Hermione laugh like that. She was clutching her stomach and crying because of how much she was laughing."

"Hermione was laughing?" Mrs. Evans asked in disbelief. She turned at Hermione as if she couldn't believe her own ears. "That hard? You were laughing that hard?"

Sirius watched the dinner table suddenly turn quiet. Mrs. Evans looked at Hermione as if she was Merlin herself, Mr. Evans set his fork down, and even the indifferent eldest turned her head to get a closer look at Hermione.

"Mum, are you crying?" Lily stood up from her seat and rushed forward to her mother, who indeed had tears trailing down her beautiful face.

"Ivy." Mr. Evans called out to his wife. He got up from his seat and rushed to his wife.

"Oh, no." Mrs. Evans, quickly wiped the tears from her eyes and tried to shake it off, but whatever had made her cry was apparently too overwhelming that the tears did not stop.

"Uh," bewildered by the sudden turn of events, Sirius stood up, unsure of what to do or say. "Is everything alright? Did I—?"

"No no." Mrs. Evans fervently shook her head. "Thank you." She gripped his hand tightly. "Thank you so much."

"Uhm…you're welcome?" Sirius responded unsurely, looking to Lily and Hermione for some kind of explanation.

"Petunia, why don't you grab some water for mum. Actually, let's do tea instead. It'll help her calm down." Hermione told her sister who sat frozen at her seat, unsure of what to do. "Sirius, if you're done, you can leave now."

"No, no." Mrs. Evans protested, as she hiccupped from her tears. "I'm sorry. I don't know what's gotten into me. I'm fine."

"Uh," Sirius looked down at his half-full plate of dinner, then looked up at Hermione's calm, yet angry-eyed face. "Actually, it's getting quite late." He placed his napkin next to his plate, "I should be getting home."

"I'll walk you out." Hermione pulled Sirius away from her family. "Lily why don't you clean Sirius's plate up?"

"Was it something I said?" Sirius asked, as he was practically dragged out of the house.

Once outside, Hermione shut the door and sighed, taking a second to collect herself before turning to Sirius.

"You should go home." Hermione told him softly.

"What? Seriously?"

"Yes."

"Wait, could we maybe talk? You know I didn't come all the way here just to give Lily that stupid letter, right?"

"Black… Sirius, today's not a good day."

"Hermione, come on."

Hermione opened the front door, "Get home safe, Sirius." She waved goodbye, then gently shut the door in his face. She caught herself staring at him at various points today, she loved the way he smelled, she loved the way he smiled. She loved how well he could command the attention of the room. She even loved how arrogant he was.

When she was back in the dinning room, she noticed her parents' absence.

"Mum and dad decided to retire for the night." Lily told her as she waited for the kettle to boil for their mother's tea.

Hermione nodded, then wordlessly started to scrape the uneaten dinners into one plate. Dinner would not be continued tonight. Petunia joined her. The two of them worked silently together, making a good team. Petunia pulled out the Tupperware for leftovers while Hermione brought the food from the kitchen. Once the leftovers were stored in the fridge, they stood side by side, Hermione washing the dishes, while Petunia rinsed them out.

"Sorry. I know you like meatloaf." Hermione was the first to speak.

"It's not like it's the first time our family needed to stop everything because of you." Petunia spoke bluntly.

"…Right. Sorry."

Hermione knew that Petunia's bitterness didn't stem from nothing. She and Lily were magical, and she was sick. This caused Petunia to always in the back of her parents' minds. It wasn't that her parents didn't love her, but Tuny was average in almost every sense. This normalcy made her parents' reaction toward her achievements or failures lukewarm. Her intelligence, her behavior, her attitude, her friends, her personal expectations, and even her looks. Her remarkable ordinariness was her poison apple, and she knew it too. It was probably why Petunia raised her son, Dudley, in such a spoiled manner despite his mediocre achievements, and took out her unresolved anger toward Lily and their parents out on innocent and young Harry.

Petunia let out a lifeless laugh. She placed the dish into the sink and removed her gloves, trying to walk away.

"Tuny, mum and dad love you."

"Shut up."

"I know you're hurt because you have this idea that they don't love you as much, but they do."

"Shut. Up."

"They're only human."

"SHUT UP!"

The kettle whistled loudly, interrupting the fight, but everyone had heard Petunia's outburst, making Lily step into the kitchen to try and defuse the escalading situation.

The eldest rubbed her forehead, as if to nurse a migraine.

"There you go again, playing the Saint." The sarcasm dripped from Petunia's voice. "Perfect Hermione, with her perfect manners, her perfect attitude and perfect appearance at all times. But you know what? We all know it's all a lie and façade. We are all fucking sick and tired it!"

"Petunia!"

Noticing how their eyes were looking behind her, Petunia turned to see their parents standing behind her. Their mother was sobbing, behind their father, who looked absolutely devastated. They'd heard everything.

"Tuny." Their father stepped forward, but Petunia dug the knife deeper into their parents' heart by stepping back.

"I'm not sorry." She whispered, then pushed her father aside, storming up the stairs and into her room and slammed the door, only causing Ivy to cry even harder.

"Hermione, your sister doesn't know what she's talking about." Robert stepped forward, trying to console his youngest.

"We can talk later. Take mum upstairs and get her settled in for the night."

Robert hated sleeping on arguments or disagreements. It fostered misunderstandings and resentment, but he quickly changed his mind when Ivy's knees bucked from underneath her.

"Woah." He caught his wife and scooped her into his arms. He turned to Hermione with a serious look on his face, "Okay, but we will talk."

Lily and Hermione watched their parents go up to their room. When they heard the door close shut, Lily turned to Hermione with the same concerned look on her face as their father did. She wanted to console her, tell her everything was going to be okay, but Hermione shook her head before a word could get in.

"No more talking for today, Lils. My head hurts from all the sound that's been bouncing off these walls."

Lily nodded and followed Hermione into the kitchen to finish the rest of the dishes. Neither of them said anything as they washed, rinsed and dried the plates and cooking utensils from dinner. When Lily placed the last dried plate into its correct place, she sighed and gave her sister a hug.

"I know." Hermione muttered into her sister's hair. "I love you too."

"My baby sister." She said as she pushed a piece of hair away from Hermione's face.

Hermione smiled.

"You know, apparently most twins argue about being called younger because they're only born minutes apart, but you've never complained."

"What's there to complain about?" Hermione shrugged. "Facts are facts."

It was Lily's turn to smile.

"Can I sleep in your room with you tonight?"

The warmth around Hermione instantly vanished. "No, I don't think that's a good idea."

Lily kept her smile, despite noticing the change in her sister's attitude. "Come on. I used to sneak into your bed when we were younger. Your dreams were never too bad." She said in hopes to convince her sister.

The fact that Lily used to sneak into her bedroom was news to Hermione, but that was when she was younger. Back then, her potions worked well. It wouldn't be the same anymore.

"If you're trying to avoid, Petunia, you can sleep in my room."

If it had been her first rodeo with Hermione's lies, Lily would have been ecstatic, but she knew the hidden meaning beneath her words. "But you won't sleep with me. You'll sleep somewhere else?"

Hermione slowly nodded.

Lily clenched her teeth and breathed deeply.

"You know…we're family, twins even, but the more I see you, the more I feel like I never see you? I've seen my roommates at their best and their worst, but you? You're this shell. This cold exterior, a wall hiding who Hermione Evans really is. Who are you, Hermione?"

"Lily—"

"Thanks for the room, but I'll just stay in mine. Good night."

Hermione listened to the heavy silence of their house. Her family's pain resonated the walls, closing her in until she felt like she was trapped. She pushed the backdoor open to breathe the fresh outside air. She stood in the mowed backyard grass and took a deep breath.

"Who are you, Hermione?"

"A monster."

"Monster." She hugged her arms tight, shielding herself from the unusually chilly summer night as she echoed.

"What kind?"

She jumped back at the sudden sound, only to see Sirius handing her a leather jacket. His leather jacket. He looked at her flabbergasted expression, then placed a protective hand around his own neck.

"Woah! Don't attack, it's really me. Snape was the one who followed us in the alcove, and we kissed to make him go away." He answered the questions to her previous security questions immediately.

Hermione blinked, "I thought you left."

"No. You told me to leave, but I never agreed." Sirius replied cheekily. He cleared his throat when he saw her unimpressed expression. "Fine, I was going to leave, but I heard the argument and thought you might like some company when you come out for some air."

"How did you know that I was going to come out for some air?"

"It's something I do after I argue with Walburga. That's my mother's name, by the way."

"You shouldn't have stayed," Hermione shook her head. "Besides, it wasn't even an argument; it was the truth. I…I've brought a lot of misfortune and grief to my family."

Sirius was silent, but this caused Hermione to unexpectedly smile.

"You know, people would normally say, 'No Hermione, I'm sure that's not true. I'm sure you bring great joy to your family!'"

"Well," Sirius shrugged. "I don't know that for sure, so how can I say that?"

"I thought you said you were here to comfort me."

"No, I said I was here to keep you company."

This time Hermione laughed at his ridiculousness. It was light and twinkling, just like the stars above them. It made Sirius feel like he was the king of the world.

Hermione took the leather jacket from his hands and put it on to block off the night chill. She walked to the porch swings that her father had installed for her and her sisters when they were little. It became Hermione's spot in the house where she could sit in the shade and read while her sisters played in the grass. She tapped the seat next to her, inviting the young Black to sit with her.

"You'll have to excuse my mother…she's sensitive when it comes to me."

"Sensitive?"

"Has Lily ever told you that I was sick? Well, I still am sick, but it's more or less under control."

Sirius turned to Hermione with a deep frown between his brows, then started scanning her body to see signs of discomfort or disabilities. Sirius closed the distance between them, then tested the temperature of her forehead and compared it with his own.

"You don't feel sick." He said, then gave her a scrutinizing look. "You don't look sick."

Caught off guard by his lack of hesitation towards physical touch and lack of sense regarding personal space, Hermione stuttered in response. He was so close, she could see the vellus hair on his face, and could practically taste his expensive cologne.

Her eyes fell on his lips, which then caused her mind to think of their kiss.

She gently pushed him away, needing some space between them to think.

"I'm stable now, but when I was little, it was bad and magical. My parents, being muggles, were at a loss on what to do. My magic tended to be all or nothing. My sickness caused explosive magic to occur, which brought in the Ministry. I'm told I was nearly taken away from my parents due to the Ministry's concern that they wouldn't be able to raise me properly. 'A child unfit for her own parents,' that's what I am."

"But they were allowed to keep you. I mean clearly, they held onto you."

Hermione nodded slowly, "Just barely. As an infant, I spent more time with my personal hospital staff at St. Mungo's than my family. Even as a kid, I probably spend close to 9 months out of the year in the hospital than at home. It's why I wasn't out seeing school friends like Lily was. I never attended school like she did. My time in the hospital is also why I knew who you were, Sirius Black, from the moment I saw you. Alphard Black is one of my personal healers."

"Uncle Alphard is your healer? But my uncle is renowned for taking in impossible patients because he's the best."

"Exactly."

"You're an impossible patient?! I thought you said you're fine."

"I'm stable," Hermione shrugged. "I'm the only patient out of the surviving ones that hasn't been cured, but I'm also his longest surviving patient. My magic is reactive to my emotions. I've always had a certain capacity to not…feel, but it was trained so that I could be better."

"That's why your mother reaction so emotionally to my news of you laughing" Sirius nodded in understanding.

Hermione watched the pensive and somber look on Sirius's face, "Why do you not ask what kind of sickness I have?"

"Are you going to tell me?"

"No."

"I didn't think so, but you decided to trust me with your story, so I'm not complaining." Sirius gave her a small smile. "Is that why you were fighting? With your family? Is it your illness again?"

Hermione shook her head, "No, it was Lily. She asked me who I am." Hermione admitted, feeling unusually honest and open. "We're twins, and she doesn't know who I am…what does that say about me?"

Sirius smiled incredulously, "That's why you came outside? Your twin sister, who is nothing like you, has never had experiences like you, has a polar opposite personality to you, doesn't know who you are? Oh, what a shocker." He deadpanned. "You guys are different. You don't smile at every little thing, you're private, you keep to yourself. Just because she's family, doesn't mean she has to know every little thing about you."

"It matters to Lily."

"Well, fuck Lily."

"Sirius!"

"Fuck. Lily." He repeated as he looked directly into her eyes, smiling his cheeky and arrogant little smile.
"Your twin sister is great. I'll admit that. She's nice and sweet, she'll help you with your homework and let you cry on her shoulder. Everyone wants a friend like that, but you? No, you're mean, cold and not to mention a horrible conversationalist."

"I hope you have a point."

"You may not have friends—"

"Sirius."

"—but when Lily didn't get transfiguration, you tutored her for months. And if someone upsets Lily, you won't just be a shoulder for her to cry on, you will hunt down whoever made her cry and make them pay. You're the type of friend everyone needs."

Hermione remained silent, unsure of how to respond to Sirius's analysis of her character. On one hand, she appreciated that he thought so highly of her. Out of the many people of this time line, Sirius Black was one of the few people she trusted with her entire being. The walls she built up for 13 years, the same walls that kept Albus Dumbledore out, somehow cracked in front of this boy. She was terrified that her walls might come down so much that he could see what she was really hiding behind her hard exterior: a broken, fragile, and horrible monster.

"That's why I'm here." Sirius bumped her shoulder, pulling her out of her thoughts.

"What?"

"I just told you, you're the friend everyone needs. That's why I'm here."

Unbeknownst to her, she must have pulled an odd expression because Sirius frowned.

"What?" he asked.

"Um, nothing." Sirius gave her a 'I'm not buying it' stare. "I just assumed you were here because… you know, because of our kiss."

Sirius blinked at the unexpected candor, "Well honestly, I was, but I realized I don't know anything about romance. Like I said, you're the type of person I want around in my life, but my track record for dating isn't great. If I fuck up, you won't want to see me, and that'll make Lily not want to see me either, which will have a domino effect on James as well. But friends? That, I'm pretty confident I can do."

"You've thought about this a lot, haven't you?"

"I didn't loiter around your house for hours, just to give Lily a letter from James." He smirked, "So, friends?" He reached his hand out, waiting for her to accept it.

Hermione stared at the hand. The proposition suddenly became so real to Hermione that she needed to take a moment and step back, finally putting distance between herself and the boy she felt so incredibly comfortable with. The situation was like the one Remus had made at the end of the year. She'd rejected his offer of friendship in fear that it would hurt him when she died, but this second nudge towards normalcy was harder to reject.

"Hermione, stop isolating yourself." Sirius spoke softly, as if the smallest increase in her voice would spook her. "I get that you're used to being alone and maybe you're doing this to punish yourself for bringing sadness to you family, but your mother's tears tonight weren't of sadness! They were of joy!"

Sirius watched Hermione stare at his hand.

Impatient for her answer, he reached down and took her hand.

"Siriu—"

"We shook on it. We're friends now. Can't take it back, scout's honor."

"I was never a scout."

"Neither was I, but we shook on it. By Marauder's code, we are friends."

She laughed at his corrigible behavior, "so I'm a Marauder now?" She asked, mirth glinting in her eyes.

"Hermione Evans, welcome to the Marauders." Sirius smiled.

Hermione shook her head. She stood from her spot and gave his leather jacket back. "Goodbye, Black." Hermione turned around and went back into her house, leaving Sirius alone in her backyard.

Sirius watched as the lights turned off one by one in the house until there was no light.

"I'll see you later, Hermione Evans"

…