After what seemed like an eternity, both Hermione and Sirius changed back to their human forms. If someone saw them right now they would think the pair of them had done some very naughty stuff together. They both were panting slightly, had flushed face and a strange emotion in their eyes which was a mixture of happiness, trust, lust and some other that was indescribable.
They were gazing at each other when suddenly Harry shouted from downstairs " If you guys are done playing then can you please come downstairs? The lunch is ready and I really need to have a conversation with the both of you. "
Sirius stared at Hermione like a deer caught in the headlights. " Shit I completely forgot he was here. " Hermione looked amused at his antics " Shit! shit! shit! what would I tell him Guddu? He probably thinks that I'm some sick old pervert. Oh Merlin! what have I done. "
He was cut short by Hermione though, " Listen here Black I'm not having this discussion with you again. You and I both know that Harry loves and respects you a lot and he would never ever even think of hurting you. So would you for once stop behaving like a distressed hormonal teenager and face the situation like a fucking adult that you are? or is it just too much to ask from the great Sirius Orion Black, huh? "
Sirius sighed heavily and ran his fingers through his locks and mumbled, " I'm scared Guddu, I'm scared that if I do something wrong I might end losing Harry as well. He is like a son who is also like a friend if that even fucking makes sense at all. Even now seventeen years later I still feel guilty of their death and I seriously couldn't handle if Harry, their son gets hurt in anyway, especially by me. "
Hermione was shocked, she knew that Sirius still blamed himself for James and Lily's deaths but this was way beyond that. It was visible how much he cared fpr Harry. She was about to comfort him when someone beat her to it and hugged Sirius tightly. It took her five seconds to realise that the someone was Harry himself. ' He must've heard Sirius. ' she thought to herself. Sirius meanwhile was clutching Harry as if his life depended on it. It was a moment full of raw emotion that Hermione thought as if she was interuppting something very special.
Finally Harry drew back and looked directly in Sirius's eyes " I'm sorry Sirius I shouldn't have said what I said downstairs. It was totally wrong of me. I don't think that you're some old pervert or a cradle robber. It's just that Hermione is my everything, she's my rock and that's why I'm a bit protective of her. " Here Harry briefly glanced at Hermione and she smiled a little which he returned with one of his own, before continuing " I know that this law is compulsory and she has to marry a pureblood and believe it or not you truly are perfect for her. If there's someone I can trust who would care, respect and cherish Hermione the way she deserves than that's definitely you. You both might not see it yet but you truly are made for each other. " Harry smiled looking at both of them. " Let's have lunch now shall we. "
They all went downstairs after that each immersed in their own thoughts though the core subject being this damn marriage law. No words were said during the lunch, all three of them eating silently, though the silence was not uncomfortable, far from it actually.
Afterwards all of them went to the living room when Sirius turned towards Harry, a thoughtful expression on his face " Say Harry... who did you get paired up with? "
Hermione tsked and said " I don't think they are involving the halfbloods in the law, because I've not seen any mention of that in the basic letter that they sent us all. " She noticed that Harry was a bit flushed and ask him if he is okay.
Harry looked down at his shoes and told them to take a seat. After they took seats Hermione whispered " What's wrong Harry? you can tell us, is everything okay?" When he still remained silent she grew even more worried " Harry please tell me what's wrong, you're scaring me now. "
He seated himself in an armchair and took a deep breath before whispering " Please don't hate me for this guys. " He took few moments to compose himself in which Hermione subconsciously moved closer to Sirius on the couch and gripped his hand, slightly afraid of what Harry will say next. " I think... I think I'm gay. " Harry whispered again. All his superhero, composed, cool charm was replaced by nervousnes, he looked as if he was scared to admit this out loud. " I'm sorry guys. "
His rambling was cut short when Hermione launched herself upon him, giving him the infamous Hermione Hugs. " Oh you silly boy, why would we hate you. " When she heard him sniffling she drew back slightly. By now Sirius was standing in front of them and hugged Harry tightly, not caring that Hermione was practically straddling Harry. Harry hugged both of them back, while Sirius said " There's nothing to apologise for Harry, it's perfectly normal. "
After almost an hour of Sirius and Hermione assuring and reassuring Harry that there was nothing to be ashamed of and there was nothing wrong in being a gay and yes it was perfectly fine if he liked a guy over a girl and no he wasn't the only one, who was more comfortable with the partner of same sex.
Hermione finally asked him something that was bugging her mind since Harry came out about him being a gay. " Sooooooo Harry who is the guy huh? and don't try to deny that you are not head over heels for someone because I would know immediately if you lie to me. "
" You know me too well Hermione. " Harry admitted dejectedly.
" Yeah well enough of that, tell me about this guy already. Do I happen to know him? " Hermione questioned eagerly meanwhile Sirius sat back on the couch and was looking at them amusedly.
Harry sighed, " As a matter of fact you do know him. " He told her knowing that he cannot hide it from her anymore and seriously he wanted to tell her about him. She was his best friend after all and deserved to know the truth.
She was practically bouncing on her seat now just like she used back in Hogwarts when she was very excited or thrilled about something. " Oh Merlin! who is he? tell me who is he Harry? " She queried in a very enthusiastic voice.
" Charlie " Harry whispered.
" Come again " Hermione asked, her voice having a hint of surprise in it.
" Charlie " Harry confessed again, this time a bit louder.
" As in Charlie Weasley? Arthur's second oldest child " Sirius questioned with wide eyes. Harry nodded slightly. Everything was dead silent for all of thirty seconds before Hermione squealed in joy and hugged him again.
" You sly little brat you didn't even made me suspicious, seriously how ignorant was I? " She looked as if she couldn't believe that even she one of the most observant person was unable to catch this.
Sirius came towards Harry and patted him slightly on the back " Congrats Harry! I'm happy for you. "
" Does Charlie knows that you're head over heels for him? or is he even more clueless than us. " Hermione questioned in her no nonsense voice making both Harry and Sirius immediately sit and stand straight respectively.
Harry kept on staring her for a few seconds and finally admitted " Of course he knows and he... well he... he said he feels the same for me too. " Harry mumbled, blushing slightly. That caused both Sirius and Hermione to burst out laughing which irritated Harry " What? why are you laughing now? Are you laughing at me or my situation huh? "
He sounded hurt and Hermione immediately stopped laughing and explained " No Harry, we were not laughing at you or your situation. We're happy for you. We were laughing at the face you made while telling us. " She mimicked his expression which caused Sirius to laugh again and soon Hermione joined him, this time even Harry chuckled a bit. They are really good for each other he thought.
After few minutes she aske Harry what will he do now since Charlie is a pureblood that too a Weasley who were famous for their big families ( if you know what I mean)
" Oh yes, while you two were busy play-fighting like a cat and dog in literal sense I went to Kingsley and explained the situation to him. He said that the law won't apply to Charlie since he had been living in Romania for quite some time and if we want to... you know... if w- we want to we can marry each other. " Harry was blushing like a tomato now, though his eyes shone with pure love when he talked about Charlie.
" That's great Harry! " Hermione gushed, before she could continue though the floo roared to life and they all ran to kitchen to see who has arrived. Stepped out the man of the hour Charlie Weasley himself in all his dragon tamer glory, what with all his tattoos, scars caused by dragons and from the war proudly on display since he was wearing a sleeveless shirt, his dragon hide boots, and the duffle bag he was carrying on his shoulders.
His eyes searched until they fell on Harry causing Charlie to grin broadly. " Alright there Potter? " Charlie addressed Harry as a way of greeting. Harry replied by walking towards Charlie and pressing his lips to Charlie's. Charlie ran his fingers through Harry's hair and was rewarded by a small moan from Harry. The moment was ruined by Sirius saying " Awwww " Both guys broke apart while blushing slightly. Hermione elbowed Sirius in his ribs and muttered something akin to moodkiller. He just shrugged and gave her the trademark Black smirk. Hermione shook her head dejectedly and went to the boys hugging them tightly and whispered " I'm so happy for you guys. "
After that everything was a blur for Hermione. Everyone had dinner then discussed about the law, Charlie admitting how he wasn't surprised that Hermione got paired with Sirius since they really were perfect for each other and complemented each other nicely. And also admitting how he fell for Harry. He told them that he knew he had a crush on Harry when he met him back in Harry's fourth year while Harry admitted that he started fancying Charlie during the sixth year when everyone was mostly staying at the Order headquarters. He admitted that it was also one of the reasons as to why he broke up with Ginny. The rest of the time flew by, and Hermione in a very typical Hermione style wrote down what they were going to do tomorrow. First they would announce their respective wedding announcement to the Weasleys and all of their extended family, next they will be going for shopping and arrange other wedding related things.
Charlie joked whether they will get the timetable with colour codes which resulted in him receiving a nasty hex that made him thirsty and of course after consuming water his need to go to pee increased. Harry and Sirius smartly stayed silent, though they enjoyed the hex Hermione casted upon Charlie. That doesn't mean that they were not ultra aware of the words they were using around her afraid that they might end up with some even more nasty hex than Charlie's.
They bid good nights to each other and it was almost midnight. Just as Hermione was going inside her room, Sirius stopped her. " Umm... Guddu, I was meaning to ask you since we're going to get married in few days and earlier you said we should probably get to know each other better. So what do you say? Want to go out on d- dinner with m-me tomorrow. "
He looked at her expectedly, while thinking why he was acting like a nervous teenager who was asking his crush to go out with him. He has never acted like that before not even back when he was an actual teenager. What was it about Hermione that made him nervous then.
Hermione smiled brightly and responded " I would love to Sirius. Good night. " She turned around but Sirius stopped her again, she turned to him with a questioning look.
" What no good night kiss? Aww come on Granger that's quite a rude thing to do to your future husband. " His old charming flirting self returned in full force along with his damn trademark smirk.
Hermione wrinkled her nose and shook her head slightly nudging him out of her room's doorway. " Keep dreaming Black, I won't be kissing you anytime soon. "
He gave her a mock hurt expression to which she just said, " You're hopeless Black. I'm starting to pity myself. How in the name of Merlin would I ever be able to live my whole life with a drama queen like you. You know what, you should actually try in the films, I'm quite sure the muggles would love you. " She shut the door on his face and went to the attached bathroom to brush her teeth and took a long refreshing warm shower, all the while thinking how in less than twenty hours her life has turned upside down.
Sirius just stood there, outside her door and mumbled " What if I just want a particular pretty little muggleborn who happened to be my godson's best friend, also is the war heroine and is the brightest witch of her age to love me? "
He headed upstairs to his paradise thinking how everything will be changed now and how just in few days of the time the above mentioned muggleborn would become his wife.
-- HGSB--
A/N - So that was the chapter fourth. How was it? Liked it?? Loved it?? Any suggestion you would like to make. What do you think about Harry being paired with Charlie?? I've not seen much work on this pairing and I wanted to write something about this just ship, even if it's just side pairing. Harry Charlie = CHARRY OR HALIE ( giggling madly)Constructive criticism is always welcome and so are your compliments and suggestions.Please do review the story. Come on guys can't you do this for a fellow potterhead ( puppy dog eyes) pretty please.Ok so I've been planning to write a Hermione Lucius story I know I've got so many WIPs but it's just something I wanted to give a shot so tell me should I write it or not??Anyways love you all and do REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW.With love,Mickeywickey.