A/N: Week #6 prompt "A story about a journey." Not every journey is over distance.

The days that Sirius always loved best were the lazy days. No where in particular that any of them needed to be. Nothing critically important that must be done. Just a day where he could loll in bed for as long as he wanted with one hand on Remus' warm skin and one hand buried in Hermione's curls. Eventually, one of them would drag him out of bed and force him to eat. If Remus was cooking it was probably pancakes, or maybe even a full fry up. Hermione usually grabbed something from the local bakery because cooking wasn't her forte.

"Why now?" Remus asked, his breath puffing against Sirius' shoulder. "Don't you have that thing?"

"There's always a thing," Hermione replied with a sigh. She snorted when Sirius rubbed himself against her hip suggestively. "Stop it. You know what I meant."

"Tell me what you meant, kitten," he whispered in her ear.

She pinched him and he squawked indignantly and flinched away from her, causing both Remus and Hermione to groan and sit up. She shoved her glorious curls out of her face and kicked the tangle of sheet free from her legs. She turned in the bed slightly so that she faced both of them. Sirius loved how comfortable she had become with them—how relaxed and certain she was of their regard.

"I mean that it never ends. There is always something that simply must be dealt with, there's always some big project or some new bit of legislation that is absolutely critical." Here Hermione's shoulders slumped a bit. "It's been years and I keep just putting it off."

"We'll come with you," Sirius decided.

"No." Hermione countered with a shake of her head. She smiled fondly at Sirius and cupped his cheek with her hand. "I love you for the thought, but this is something I need to do by myself."

"Dragonshite," Remus protested. "We know this is going to be bloody awful for you. Let us come with you and help."

"You just started your new position in the Werewolf Liaison Office," Hermione reminded him. "You can't ask for time off first thing out of the gate."

"I'll go then," Sirius decided. He waggled his eyebrows and leered at Hermione dramatically. "You and I can have a romantic trip to… where are you going?"

"Broome," Hermione replied. She wrinkled her nose at him and made a face. "And you can't go. The Wizengamot just began their session and we need your vote on three different pieces of legislation."

"Broome?" Remus repeated with raised eyebrows. "Is it a wizarding community?"

"No," Hermione replied with a shake of her head. "Just a serendipitous coincidence."

"Do you suppose your parents remembered something?" Remus asked thoughtfully. "Maybe something made them choose Broome?"

A soft, wistful smile played around Hermione's lips. "That's a nice thought," she said. She leaned over Sirius to kiss Remus. "Thank you for that."

"I can have nice thoughts!" Sirius protested as the kiss became slow and languid. Hermione and Remus broke apart to turn and look at him.

"Name one," Remus suggested with a slight smirk.

"Well I can't now," Sirius protested. "You have to give me a minute."

"How about you think on it and then tell me when I come back?" Hermione suggested with a little smile.

"You think I can't do it, don't you?" Sirius demanded. "I can! I can be just as sweet and romantic as Remus, damn it!"

"Of course you can," Hermione agreed. She leaned forward and kissed the corner of his mouth. "You can be very romantic when you put your mind to it."

"Don't patronize me," Sirius grumbled. Hermione smirked at him.

"I wouldn't dream of it. Now shift your lazy arse out of bed," she commanded and shoved at his hip.

"Are you going to the bakery?" Remus asked as he pulled on a worn pair of jeans.

"Yes, and yes, I will pick up some pain au chocolat for you," Hermione said as she tugged a jumper over her head.

"And some brioche?" Sirius asked. Hermione rolled her eyes at them.

"Yes, and brioche," Hermione agreed.

"Perfect," Sirius said with a happy sigh. He let himself fall back on his pillows and watched Hermione slap Remus' hands out of the way and fix the buttons on his shirt.

Lazy days were the best.

Being with Hermione meant schedules for everything. Normally, that drove Sirius round the twist, but with her off in Australia, it was comforting. Every day at the same time, Hermione would Floo call them and let them know how everything was going. It was usually only for a few minutes, and once or twice she had warned them that she wouldn't be able to Floo for a day for whatever reason, but she contacted them regularly.

Everything's coming along. I'll call tomorrow. I love you both.

One night Hermione didn't Floo. Sirius turned to Remus who was already frowning.

"We should go, right?" Sirius demanded. He waved a hand at the fireplace. "She never misses a night."

"Maybe something happened," Remus said slowly.

"So we should go." Sirius headed upstairs to grab a bag.

"We'll have to get an International Portkey," Remus reminded him.

"We'll get one," Sirius called back down the stairs.

"And we should let Harry know," Remus hollered after him.

"You write him a note," Sirius yelled back.

Point me spells were limited in scope. Sirius and Remus managed to track Hermione down to a café with a broken window. They frowned at the broken glass. Remus flagged down a waitress and gestured to the window.

"What happened there?" Remus asked.

"It was awful," the waitress said with a shake of her head. "Some drunk driver lost control of their vehicle. Pinned a woman against the café. They were both taken to hospital."

"Thank you," Remus murmured and moved back to Sirius.

"The hospital?" Sirius asked, panic leeching into his voice. Remus' hand was a steady weight on his shoulder.

"We passed it on the way," Remus replied. He swallowed and his fingers flexed on Sirius' shoulder. "It's fine. I'm sure everything's fine. She… she probably just needed to be checked out or something. It's… it's routine."

"Right," Sirius muttered. "Right. Just routine."

The hospital was in an uproar. Doctors and nurses were racing back and forth. They heard snatches of conversation here and there about some kind of accident, but they weren't sure if it was the accident from the café or something different.. Finally, Sirius had had enough. He pulled a small vial out of his pocket.

"What is that?" Remus demanded in a whisper.

"Veritasserum," Sirius told him with a shrug.

"What?" Remus glared at Sirius. "You can't give that to Muggles!" He threw his hands in the air. "Do you carry stuff like that around all the time?"

"It won't hurt them," Sirius protested. "Just a drop in the receptionist's coffee, and we'll find Hermione."

Remus tried to protest again, but Sirius was already headed to the counter. It's for Hermione, Moony whispered in the back of his mind. Remus sighed and followed Sirius.

"Hermione?" Sirius was already asking. "Hermione Granger?"

"We don't have a Hermione Granger in the system," the receptionist said with a shake of her head. "I'm sorry."

"She was in a drunk driving accident yesterday," Remus said with a small frown. "They said that they brought her here."

"Oh." The receptionist's face fell.

"What?" Sirius' voice rose and Remus hushed him.

"It's just… she died," the receptionist whispered across the desk. "I'm sorry. Was she a friend of yours?"

"You could say that," Remus replied on auto pilot. He grabbed Sirius and tried pulling him away from the desk.

"What do you mean, died," Sirius demanded.

"The injuries were too severe for our tiny hospital," the receptionist explained, still under the effects of the Veritasserum. "She was transferred out by helicopter yesterday, but she died en route."

"No," Sirius protested.

"Sirius," Remus whispered. His fingers dug into Sirius' arm. "Come on."

"No." Sirius shook his head and turned to stare at Remus. "No. It's a mistake. It has to be."

"Sirius." Remus was clinging to him now. He wasn't sure if Sirius was shaking or if he was. Maybe they both were.

"I think I'm going mad," Remus said in a careful, controlled voice.

Sirius looked up from the kitchen table and peered blearily at him.

"What?" His voice cracked from disuse.

"I…," Remus paused and stared at the wall. Then he shook his head and set a familiar box on the table. "It's nothing."

"What?" Sirius asked. He pulled the box toward him and opened it.

Sitting in the tissue paper was a pain au chocolat, a brioche, and one pain au raisins. Sirius swallowed the sudden lump in his throat and pushed the box away.

"I… I smelled her. At the bakery," Remus added as an afterthought. He grimaced at the box. "Sorry about that. I just… I smelled her and then I ordered on autopilot."

"The full moon's tomorrow," Sirius reminded him.

Remus rolled his eyes. "I bloody well know when the full moon is," he snapped.

"Is this denial, or something?" Sirius asked. He frowned at the box on the table. "I thought we'd done that part already."

"We did," Remus agreed. "Followed quickly by the anger. I don't know that Grimmauld Place will ever recover. Your mother's portrait certainly won't."

"If she'd kept her fucking mouth shut about Hermione it wouldn't have happened," Sirius growled.

"Probably not her smartest move," Remus agreed. He turned to Sirius. "So? Do you think I'm going mad?"

"You've never smelled any sort of phantom smell before, have you?" Sirius asked.

"No," Remus replied.

Sirius frowned. "I don't think you're going mad," he said slowly.

"Thanks. You're such a comfort," Remus huffed.

"Excuse me."

Someone tapped him on the shoulder. Sirius swung around in surprise. Most people left him alone these days. His jaw dropped and he stared. Standing in front of him was Hermione. There was a new, shiny pink scar along her temple. She was staring up at him with an expression of concentration. He supposed that he ought to be stunned, or maybe shocked, but Moony's nose was never wrong.

"I do beg your pardon, but… do I know you?" She asked with a little frown. "It's just… you look familiar, I think."

"Hermione," he breathed and she beamed at him.

"You do know me!" She gave a relieved little laugh. "I've noticed you in the neighborhood, and you seemed so familiar, and I didn't know how to walk up to someone and say 'Pardon me, but I've lost my memory'."

"What?" Sirius' voice rose.

"I was in an accident," she began and Sirius shook his head cutting her off.

"They told us you'd died," he interrupted her fiercely.

"Died?" Hermione repeated and blinked at him.

"Yeah, at Broome Hospital," he snarled at her.

"But… I didn't die," she protested. "I just… I had amnesia. I've gotten little bits and pieces back. I figured out that my name is Hermione Granger and not Harmony Wilkins, but… there are still rather large gaps."

"Harmony Wilkins?" He repeated incredulously. "Harmony Wilkins?"

"Look," she said in a hesitant voice and backed up a step. "I didn't mean to upset you. I just… maybe I should go."

"Upset me?" Sirius could hear the hysterical edge in his voice. "We thought you were dead!"

"I'm sorry about that," she said as she took another step back. Sirius reached out and caught her wrist. She stared up at him with wide eyes.

"Please," he begged. "You're my wife. They told me you'd died. I know I probably sound like a raving nutter, I just… please don't go." He shook his head. "Fuck, I'm no good at this."

A small frown flickered over her face. "I'm married to you?" She asked.

Sirius frowned back. "Yeah. Well… yeah."

She took a step closer. "Are you… do you…" She waggled her eyebrows at him and scrunched her nose. It seemed as though she were trying to say something, but couldn't figure out how to go about it.

"What?" He blinked at her.

"Can you… erm," she hesitated and bit her lip.

"Maybe we should go see Remus," he suggested after a moment. He knew he was fucking this up, and if Hermione left

"My other husband?" She asked tentatively.

Sirius tilted his head. "Well… yeah."

"Oh." She blinked at that. "So… so the mug was right?" She appeared to relax at that and she smiled at him in relief.

"The mug?" Sirius frowned at her for a moment and then he blinked in realization. "Is that where you've been this whole time? At your old flat?"

All the times Remus had hesitantly suggested that they should go pack up Hermione's old flat flooded back to him. His pain and his rage at losing Hermione had been so great that he had been afraid to go to her old place. He never would have forgiven himself for destroying her things.

If only he had agreed any of the times that Moony had suggested it. If only they had gone over there. They could have found her ages ago. Hermione stared up at him with wide eyes.

"You yelled at me about that before," she murmured half to herself. "There was something… work?"

"A big case before the Wizengamot," Sirius said. He made a face at the memory. "You said you needed space to work."

"And you said that I needed to take a break before I burned myself out," Hermione added with an intense look of concentration.

"Yeah," he agreed.

"And Remus… is he the one that made me tea and toast?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah," Sirius whispered, still stunned by the fact that Hermione—a very much alive Hermione—was standing on the street in front of him.

"I've missed you," Hermione sighed. She gave him a half-smile. "I mean, I didn't know who you were, but I would get these little snatches of memory. Part of a conversation, or a glimpse of something. Enough to know there was something missing. Something not there that should be."

"Merlin, we've missed you too, Hermione," Sirius admitted. He swallowed hard. "So much."

The curious tilt as Hermione studied him was almost enough to undo him. She was his wife, their wife. She knew every inch of him. She had traced every scar with her fingers and her tongue. She had argued with him, shouted at him, held him while he cried, cared for him after a full moon. There were no secrets among the three of them. Their shared history had made sure of that.

"You like chocolate more than you should," she said slowly as though she wasn't sure if the words were right. "You…"

Hermione stood up and walked toward the bookcase. Her fingers traced the spines until she came to one particular volume. She pulled it out and opened it. Laying inside the faux-book was a large bar of Honeydukes' chocolate. She picked it up and stared at it for a moment before she turned back to him.

"You hide chocolate all over the house." Her tone was faintly scandalized, and she looked surprised that she had been right.

"I do," he agreed. He could feel his face heat with embarrassment and ignored Sirius' snicker.

"I…" She stared at the both of them for a moment. "I really loved you both, didn't I?" Her tone was almost wondering.

"You did," he managed to get out. Moony did not care for her use of the past tense at all, and it took everything he had to ignore the snarl of mine and ours that echoed in his skull.

"And is that…" Here she paused again, and looked from Sirius back to him. "Is that normal among…"

"Witches and wizards?" Sirius asked drily.

She nodded. "Is it?"

"It's not common," Sirius replied with a shrug. "It does happen, and when it does it isn't considered shameful or perverted. Not like it is with Muggles."

"It has to do with our magic," Remus added. "The three of us, our magic is very… compatible." Sirius snorted in amusement.

"That's one way of putting it," he muttered. Remus glared at him.

"It's legal," Remus said with a sigh. "You are legally married to the both of us."

"This is going to sound so odd," Hermione muttered. She sighed and turned to Remus. "Can I… can I hug you?"

Mutely, he held his arms open to her. She stepped into his personal space and he fought the urge to bury his face in her hair and breathe in her scent. Her slender arms wrapped around him and he cautiously hugged her back. He closed his eyes, savoring the moment for as long as he could. When he opened his eyes, Sirius was blinking back tears and grinning at him. Her arms tightened on him for just a moment before she released him and stepped back.

When she turned to Sirius, he already had his arms out and a hopeful expression on his face. She tilted her head at him—that odd, trying to feel her way through this strange situation look on her face. But then she shook her head and hugged Sirius anyway. Hermione put her head on Sirius' shoulder and sighed.

"This is nice," she said softly.

"It is," Sirius agreed just as softly.

"We did this a lot, didn't we?" Hermione asked.

"Hugs?" Sirius asked. "I guess so, yeah. Cuddling in bed, too."

Remus could see Hermione's cheeks darken, and she pulled away from Sirius.

"I… that stands to reason," she admitted. She turned to look at Remus. "It's so strange. I'm jealous of… me. How do I get that back? How do I get what she had?"

"You already have it," Sirius told her in a gentle voice. He reached out and tweaked a stray curl. "For better or worse, in sickness and in health."

"It can't be that simple," Hermione protested.

"It can be as simple as you need it to be," Remus offered. "If you… if you need to stay in your old flat, we could… I don't know. We could come visit. You could come here. Whatever you need so that you're comfortable."

A soft, slow smile curved her lips. "No wonder I chose you both," she murmured half to herself.