Wedlocked
Chapter 28: Holiday Storm

Shuffling half-blind through the house, Hermione managed to locate the kitchen. It was no mean feat given the early hour of the morning and her late night. Sirius celebrated their return from school in his usual fashion – staying up till all hours offering drinks to everyone and stumbling up to bed more than a little drunk but thoroughly happy. He had been so cheerful and intoxicated, he let the girl keep her last pair of sensible white knickers.

Remus was already awake, which was to say he was conscious and drinking coffee. He glanced up at her, his eyes barely more focused than hers, and nodded his greeting as he sipped at the cup in his hands. She vaguely recalled that he had been drawn into one last nightcap as she left the sitting-room at close to two o'clock in the morning. She could not imagine why he had gotten out of bed before noon.

"Morning," Remus mumbled into his coffee cup.

"Hm," replied the girl as she dropped onto a chair and fished around the table for a mug of her very own. "Coffee."

"As my mistress wishes," Kreacher said with a bow and placed a piping cup down before her.

"Thank you, Kreacher," she muttered, sniffing the cup delicately. Sirius had likely given orders that she was not to be poisoned, but she was taking no chances. Kind she might be, but blindly trusting? Never.

"Dirty thing."

As far as his insults went, that was fairly mild, so she took it as a sign of growing acceptance from the bigoted old house-elf and dove into her coffee with appreciation. "Fantastic coffee, Kreacher. Thank you."

"Mistress," the elf replied. If he had any additional commentary on her presence or cleanliness, he muttered it so quietly she couldn't hear.

An hour and five more cups of coffee passed between the pair before either she or Remus could manage coherent conversation.

"How's Sirius?"

"Clingy," she sighed. "He likes to cuddle when he's drunk."

"I remember that," laughed Remus. "He didn't really care who it was, so long as he got to hug someone. It made sneaking back in from the village rather difficult some nights."

She snorted into her mug, nearly inhaling the contents. Somehow she could not imagine Sirius of any age drunkenly hugging random people around the common room; it was too at odds with the regal air he carried around with him. "He hugged you?"

"Frequently," the man smiled. "Said I was adorable."

"Because you are," Sirius said as he stumbled into the kitchen and fell into the chair beside him, latching onto his torso in what looked like a rather painful hug. "I love ya, Moony."

"Still drunk, are we?" Remus laughed and patted his friend on the back. "It'll pass."

Her husband just kept clinging to him as if Remus might vanish from sight if he let go. Remus, apparently used to this, took up his cup and continued his morning as if there were not a six-foot appendage attached to his midsection. It made her rather curious as to how often Sirius got drunk while she was away at Hogwarts.

"Kreacher, is there any hangover cure left?" inquired Hermione.

"M'not hungover," muttered Sirius.

"You're near enough to it," his friend replied.

"Master Black," the elf deposited a brimming mug of liquid in front of Sirius, who stubbornly refused to look at it. Being intoxicated also made him about as reasonable as a five-year-old.

"It's just coffee, you git," Remus sighed and shoved the man off him.

Sirius pouted and downed the mug without even checking if what the werewolf said was true. It wasn't. "Poisoned me!" he cursed and coughed and swore, but after a moment the master of the house was sitting upright in his chair looking suitably embarrassed.

"Are the others coming around today?" Remus asked, electing to pretend the events of the last five minutes never happened.

"For dinner, I think," replied Sirius. "Tonks, too."

The response was hardly what Hermione had expected. Remus tensed visibly, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the cup firmly in his hand. "I don't think I can make it."

"She's my family, Moony," the man said stiffly. "She's going to be around."

Silence followed as they ate the breakfast Kreacher laid out before them. Hermione felt like an intruder on the scene, watching Remus debate and argue with himself while Sirius's haughty gaze spoke to some feeling of moral superiority in the whole affair; he knew where he stood and was simply waiting for his friend to stop being an idiot and admit he was in love.

"I'll see what I can do," Remus finally sighed.

Sirius grinned, confident that he would be there for dinner. "See you tonight."

"Git."

"Swot."

"What?" Remus frowned.

He smirked over at Hermione. "Habit."

oOo

Even without the threat of Walburga Black's ear-splitting rants hanging over the entrance hall, guests still arrived as silently as possible. The Weasleys hurried in from the cold evening, Molly stepping in quickly and ushering her two children through to the house. Only when the door was shut firmly behind them, did anyone talk.

"Welcome!" James cried happily, a stark contrast to the madwoman they had grown accustomed to greeting them.

"Hello, dear," Molly smiled and replied kindly, as if the portrait were just as deserving of coddling as anyone made of flesh and blood.

"Was the journey all right?" Hermione asked as she helped the woman from her coat.

"Of course, dear," said Mrs Weasley. "But you can never be too careful."

She nodded her understanding, though she thought it odd that Molly should take such a dark meaning to the innocent question. Things were tense around England since Voldemort's return to life had been officially recognised. However, her question had nothing to do with that fact. She thought the woman's response spoke to the fear in which they lived, but also to something else.

Ever since Sirius mentioned Remus and his 'Order business', Hermione had been convinced that there was something very big and very secret happening right under their noses. Everyone was carrying an edge around with them, especially Remus. He was light and pleasant enough when they were chatting away, but the moment silence fell and he was left to his own thoughts the tension returned to his brow and body. At first she suspected it was all to do with Tonks and his denial of his feelings toward her, but, seeing the strain in Molly and Arthur's faces, she knew there was more to it.

Molly and Arthur were members of the original Order of the Phoenix, same as Remus. As such, they were privy to the most important secrets the Order had. If anyone knew what was really going on, it was them. The couple had clearly not been inclined to share their secrets with their two under-aged children, however; both Ron and Ginny, seemingly oblivious to the strain on their parents' faces, grinned happily as they deposited their coats on the hook near the door. Ginny stopped to hug Hermione and greet the portraits while her brother moved past them and into the house.

"Is dinner ready? I'm starving," Ron said as he walked.

"I don't like that one," James commented.

"Shush, you," she chided quietly. "I used to like him."

"Good thing Sirius came along, then," he replied with a wink, making Ginny giggle and Hermione frown.

She turned away, following the relatively small group of Weasleys through to the kitchen. Sitting down at the table, she looked across at Ron. He was tall and not unattractive; she had spent a good deal of her personal time thinking about him not too long ago, yet the crush she had felt toward him for years was gone now.

The odd thing was that she could not remember when that infatuation ended.

Back in summer, she had been disappointed that he was too young to propose, but since then she had stopped thinking of him in any romantic way. If what poets, playwrights and songwriters said was true, then the inability to be with him should have made her attachment stronger. Once she was married, she could never be divorced and the magic would prevent her taking a lover, so Ron was lost to her. That should have made her pine for him, shouldn't it?

Looking at her situation again with the critical eye of a realist and not a romantic, she saw the truth of the matter. She had a grown man bend himself down on one knee to propose, give her lessons in NEWT-level magic, and taking her to never-truly-believed-in realms of ecstasy with seemingly little effort. After that, Ron was simply inadequate.

'Nice way to think about your friend,' she admonished herself before realising her choice of words said it all. He was a friend; momentary crush notwithstanding, that was all he ever was. Hermione was, as James said, very lucky that something came along to show her that truth before she lost herself to Ron or someone equally as incompatible with her desires and goals.

Looking up from her introspection, she saw the assembled party of friends sitting awkwardly at the table. Sirius had forced Remus to sit beside Tonks as if a single dinner was all that it would take for the man to get over his scruples. Instead, the werewolf had moved his chair as far from the woman as was socially acceptable and was forcing conversation on Arthur. Tonks, meanwhile, had engaged Ginny in discussion but kept looking back at Remus. It was painful to watch.

She wanted to do something, to say something that everyone might enjoy talking about, but her mind went blank. She searched for a topic, any topic, and finally blurted out a question to no one in particular. "Are you spending the night?"

"I am!" Ginny declared.

"Oh, I think we might all enjoy that," agreed Molly. "I know Arthur's been so excited to see the renovations."

"How could I not be when there are plugs involved?" the man defended himself. Turning to Sirius, he asked, "Have you got wires in the walls, too?"

"Some of them," Sirius admitted and grinned as Mr Weasley practically bounced in his seat.

Amazingly, the tension eased. Arthur's childlike enthusiasm was contagious and he soon had them laughing at his latest attempt to magic a Muggle gadget – a blender. Just as he was reaching the climax of his story, describing his feat of daring battling the bespelled device with its whirling blades of destruction, the room exploded with light and a heart-wrenchingly beautiful song.

An impossibly large songbird flashed across the kitchen, a blur of fiery red and gold feathers. It flew over their heads, its wings barely bushing the top of Arthur's bald head on the down beat as it made for Remus. The bird sang out once more as it deposited a scroll onto the man's lap then bursting into flames, filling the room with light and music once more.

When the music stopped, the room fell deathly silent for several long heartbeats until Harry spoke.

"Fawkes?" he said, dazed and awed.

The spell of the bird lifted and all eyes turned to Remus, who sat stiffly in his chair, his steady hands opening the scroll. His jaw clenched and, even as they watched, his eyes grew hard with determination.

It was the Order business that Sirius had talked about, that had taken the werewolf down Knockturn Alley and had him keeping secrets from his oldest friend. It was the Order business that set his face with such fierce purpose that Hermione thought the full moon might be rising outside at that precise moment. It was the Order business that had him stand, turn to Tonks and take her mouth for a lingering and heart-breaking kiss.

She knew she ought to look away, that the kiss Remus and Tonks were sharing was more intimate than any she had ever experienced in her life, but she kept her eyes on them. Seconds, perhaps even minutes, ticked past as Remus cupped Tonks's face in gentle contrast to the bruising pressure of his lips.

As he broke away, he whispered in her ear.

"I love you, too," the woman replied, though he was already gone.

A painful and uncertain hush followed the man's sudden disappearance. Hermione knew what sort of kiss that had been, though she had never experienced one herself. That had been a final kiss. Wherever he had gone, whatever his mission was, Remus did not expect to return from it. Good man that he was, he could not die without letting Tonks know the truth.

More than ever, Hermione wanted to know all there was to know about this 'Order business'. What was so damned important that Dumbledore would risk the life of a man like Remus Lupin?

A/N: Even in a story about Sirius, I can't keep from writing a love letter to Remus.