Hey again everyone. I've got another chapter for you. I'm hoping I can write these chapters fairly quickly because I've already outlined the story. It's just a matter of writing it now, haha. I don't plan on changing anything because of Deathly Hallows. The only influence the book is having is in my description of Sirius and his bedroom. Alright enjoy!
To Love a Marauder
The next day started out bright and early for the residents of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place. Just as the sun began to rise, Molly Weasley was knocking on door after door to wake everyone up.
"Ginny! Hermione! Time to get up girls, we have quite a lot of work today," Mrs. Weasley trilled as she opened up the door and walked into the two girls' room.
"Mum, the sun hasn't even come up yet, five more minutes," Ginny mumbled, snuggling deeper within her blankets. Hermione, who was lying in the bed next to her, slowly rose to a sitting position.
"We have loads of things to do girls which means I need you both up and dressed. You have twenty minutes, and then I expect you downstairs with the others," Mrs. Weasley said in a sergeant like tone. She walked over to Ginny's bed and grabbed the covers in both hands, whipping the sheets off her daughter.
"I said up!" she scolded. Ginny opened her eyes and glared at her mother.
"Fine, fine. We're up already," an annoyed Ginny said as she swung her legs over the side of the bed.
"Good, now get dressed. I have to go wake up the boys' and Sirius too," Mrs. Weasley told them as she walked out of the door leaving the two girls half awake on their beds.
"What work are we supposed to do?" Hermione asked Ginny, rising up from her bed. She went to her trunk and grabbed a few things she needed for her shower.
"Cleaning I'm guessing. This house is a disaster," Ginny pointed out, staring at the deteriorating walls that surrounded their room. Hermione paused to sweep a glance at the room as well.
"Yeah, you're spot on about that," Hermione commented. She double checked that she had all her things : clothing, hairbrush, toothbrush, and a bit of lip gloss.
"Alright Gin, I'm going to take a quick shower. Meet you downstairs," Hermione told her and headed out the door into the hallway. When she had reached the bathroom door, she rose a hand to it and knocked.
"Anyone in there?" she asked. Putting her ear up to the door ,she listened for a reply but there came none. Shrugging, she pushed open the door and walked in to the empty bathroom.
'This bathroom is a mess. The sink's cracked, the toilet looks a bit scary, and the shower curtains broken. How long has it been since someone's cleaned this?'
Sighing, Hermione peeled off her clothing and turned the handle on the rusty shower spigot. Once she had thought the water to be adequately warm, she stepped inside to take her shower, hoping it would wake her up.
Meanwhile, a few doors down from the girls' bedroom, Mrs. Weasley was initiating her early morning wakeup call on a Mr Sirius Black; much to his dismay.
"Sirius! Sirius, it's time to get up," Molly rapped on his door. Inside the room, Sirius was dead alseep, currently having a dream about a familiar bushy haired Grimmauld Place resident.
"Are you hearing me?" the woman said again, waiting for a reply. The other side of the door was silent.
"You better be dressed because I'm coming in!" Mrs. Weasley yelled, deciding to abandon her patience. After hearing no response again from the inhibitor of the room, she muttered Alohamora and barged inside. She took a quick glimpse of the fairly large room that was splattered with Gryffindor banners, Muggle girls in bikinis, and various motorcycles. She rolled her eyes at his decoration and continued to look around. Her eyes landed on the bed where Sirius appeared to be having a pleasant dream.
"You look gorgeous, love," he muttered, in his sleep. Mrs. Weasley cocked an eyebrow, and stood still for a moment hoping to catch another bit of Sirius' dream.
"I don't deserve you…. You're young…innocent…," he mumbled, snuggling deeper within his black and silver sheets.
"Rise and shine Mr. Black," Mrs. Weasley finally demanded once she had decided she'd heard enough. She waved her wand and a glass of water on the nightstand floated dangerously above Sirius' head.
"One more chance Sirus," she warned. Instead of getting up, he turned over onto his side and mumbled something sounding like "Pain in the arse."
"That's it!" Molly yelled. With another angry wave of her wand, the glass tipped itselft over spilling its contents onto the sleeping man.
"What the bloody hell was that for?" a drenched Sirius replied, as he shot up in bed, looking around the room with a frantic expression.
"Good, now you're awake. Get dressed and come downstairs. We begin cleaning the house today," Mrs. Weasley told him, with a profound smirk on her face. She turned on her heels and headed out he door leaving Sirius fuming.
"Damn that crazy woman," Sirius muttered as he rose from his bed. He yawned and stretched his arms, taking a second to reminisce on the pleasant dream he was having before he was so rudely awakened.
"You look gorgeous, love. You really you do," I said to her as she descended the worn staircase to meet me at the bottom. Her brown hair was pulled up in an intricate twist with a few pieces falling out. She wore a small black dress that hung perfectly on her body, topped off with a black pendant necklace that fell low to her chest. It was truly a vision to behold, one so beautiful that I felt unworthy to witness. As she reached the bottom stair, she took a moment to survey my appearance. I looked down to see what I was wearing. I donned a pair of black trousers and a dark grey button up shirt. My hair was falling into my eyes and I could feel that I was freshly shaven. Apparently I must have looked presentable because a grin graced Hermione's face as she finished her inspection.
"You look amazing, Sirius," she whispered. I smiled at her and I extended my hand for her to take. Hermione grasped it and paused for a moment at the door. Her small hand fit perfectly into mine and I stopped walking.
"Thank you for taking me out to dinner tonight in advance. Spending time with you is all I really want, none of this fancy dining you offer," she said to me with her head hung low. I reached out and tilted her chin upwards.
"This is the by far the least I can do. I'm so thankful you even decided to come.I don't deserve you, Hermione. You're young, and you have your whole life ahead of you. As you can see, I'm not the young man I use to be. I've faced so many hardships that have broken me down, but you…you're too innocent to have to deal someone like me," I said to her, staring into her honey brown eyes.
"I love you just the way you are," she murmured, drawing close to meet my lips. The gap was quickly closing when all of a sudden, water gushed onto my head.
"Ruined a great dream, you did," Sirius growled as he stripped off his shirt and stepped out of his boxers. Grabbing a towel, he wrapped it around his waist, and head out of his room to the bathroom.
'That dream about Hermione wasn't supposed to happen. I thought I wanted to get to know her to be like her uncle, not her bloody dinner date. My gods, I don't think I am going to be able to look at the girl today without remembering that dream.'
Reaching the bathroom door, Sirius raised his arm up to knock when to his surprise the door swung open revealing the very girl his thoughts were focused on.
"Morning, 'Mione," Sirius grinned at the sopping wet girl. Her hair was drenched with water, obviously not having enough time to dry it. She wore gray cotton string pants that hung low on her hips and a black t-shirt. The only trace of makeup on her face was a bit of clear lip gloss. Hermione was easily considered a natural beauty.
"Morning to you too, Sirius. Bathroom's all yours," she squeaked back. Before leaving however,Hermione couldn't help but stop to oogle the man in front of her. His black hair was dripping wet as beads of water gushed onto his face. His grey eyes were piercing, flooded with warmth. He wore nothing but a white towel on his waist, leaving his muscular chest exposed. Hermione's eyes drifted over the tattoos that decorated his chest. His eyes found hers and she immediately blushed.
"I'll s-see you later," she stammered, rushing to the staircase. Sirius turned and watched her flee in embarrassment. He couldn't help but smirk to himself, thinking of her visual raid of his body.
'Oh my gods…what did I do?! He's going to think I'm a nutter for looking at him like that. I made a damn fool of myself, aghhh. How am I going to be able to look him in the eye now let alone gain his trust when he thinks I have some silly school girl crush on him? Merlin's beard, what have I done.'
"OI, Hermione!" the unmistakable voice of Ron called out from behind. Hermione turned around from the bottom of the staircase to see Ron clambering down after her. Once he caught up to her, he smiled drowsily.
"Lovely morning to be woken up at the crack of dawn, isn't it?" he asked her rolling his eyes. Hermione chuckled as she took in his disheveled appearance. His red hair was all over the place and his shirt was half tucked in. Obviously, he was no morning person.
"Oh, stop complaining. Your mum needs help and it's the least we can do. It's not like we aren't doing anything else all day," Hermione lied through her teeth. Secretly, she wished nothing more than to be back in bed sleeping peacefully.
"You're mental if you want to spend the day slaving away working," he commented as they walked toward the kitchen. She shrugged her shoulders and pushed open the door in front of them.
"Oh, I forgot to ask you; why were you running down the stairs so fast? I had to bloody run to catch up with you," Ron questioned. Hermione felt her heart race as they stopped in middle of the kitchen.
'I can't tell him it's because I saw Sirius practically naked in front of me…and liked it! He'll blow his top if I said that. Maybe I should say I saw a spider. That's perfect!'
"For your information, I saw a spider and I was running downstairs to ask your mum if she could kill it," Hermione said smoothly as she sat herself down at the table. Mrs. Weasley, who was twirling her wand cooking breakfast, laughed heartily.
"Hermione, since when are you scared of spiders?" she asked her.
"I'm not exactly scared of them."
"Then why were you running away from it?" the Weasley mother persisted. Hermione shifted her body weight under the glare she was receiving.
"It was pretty big, and uh ...I wanted you to kill it before Ron saw it," she explained quickly. The answer seemed to satisfy Mrs. Weasley as she returned to cooking.Ron looked at Hermione happily from across the table.
"Awww you're an angel," he laughed. Hermione relaxed once she realized her lie had worked. She picked up the cup of pumpkin juice in front of her and took a sip.
"It's so bloody early!" two voices in unison proclaimed from the doorway. Hermione put her cup down to see a very tired looking Fred and George slump into the kitchen.
"Deal with it," Mrs. Weasley shot back as she levitated trays of food to the table. The twins sat down next to Ron and began to grab food off the trays.
"Why do you look so awake?" Fred asked Hermione, while chomping down on a piece of toast. She looked at him and took a muffin off one of the trays.
"I'm use to waking up fairly early," she replied , taking a bite into her muffin.
"Morning, Gin" George called out in-between bites of scrambled eggs. Hermione glanced over toward the doorway to see Ginny sulking into the kitchen, rubbing her tired eyes.
"Morning everyone," she mumbled, sliding into the chair next to Hermione.
"Still sleepy?" Hermione laughed, nudging Ginny with her elbow. Ginny scowled back, hastily shoving a breakfast pastry into her mouth.
"I wonder where that lazy oaf Sirius is," Mrs. Weasley pondered out loud as she poured more juice into the children's cups.
"That lazy oaf you speak of has arrived," an irritated voice from the doorway announced. The occupants of the table looked up to see Sirius standing by the door. Mrs. Weasley blushed furiously and hustled to put a cup of tea by Sirius' seat.
"I guess shes assembled the troops for battle," Sirius said in a low voice as he sat down. Everyone at the table gave a collective sigh.
"I wonder why she woke you up too," Ron said to Sirius, polishing off his third slice of toast.
"So I can help you lot clean. I don't do anything in the house when there isn't a meeting. I'm not allowed to leave," Sirius replied, helping him self to a roll. He noticed Hermione trying desperately to avoid looking in his direction.
'She must be horribly embarrassed about running into me earlier. I don't see why though, it could happen to anyone. I guess she figures I noticed her looking at me rather peculiarly… which is true. She probably was just taken aback, nothing worth wasting my thoughts over. It's not like she finds me attractive… I must be practically ancient according to her standards.'
"Hurry up and finish eating, we've got a long day ahead of us and a lot of work to do," Mrs. Weasley said with a big smile. Hermione figured she must enjoy housework immensely to be happy at 7 AM.
In compliance with Mrs. Weasley's request, breakfast ended quickly with barely any words spoken aside from the occasional complaint or protest made by one of the Weasley's boys. Once everyone was finished, they were ushered into the living room by Molly and were standing in front of her, awaiting their tasks.
"Alright, today as you already know, we will be cleaning and fixing up the house," Mrs. Weasley stated, looking at the children and Sirius.
"I am going to divide you into groups and will assign you a room to begin cleaning today. It will probably take a few weeks to completely finish the entire house, but we might as well start now," she told them. She reached into her apron pocket and pulled out a piece of paper.
"First pair will be myself and Ginny. We will be cleaning the living room we're in now."
"Next will be Fred, George and Ron. You boys will be assigned the downstairs hallway and the walls going up the stairs," she told them. Hermione felt a lump in her throat as she realized she would be left alone with Sirius.
"Finally Hermione and Sirius will be in charge of the first upstairs guest room," Mrs. Weasley finished, putting her list back into her pocket. With a clap of her hands she dismissed everyone to begin their descent into cleaning hell. The group broke apart and scattered to go their seperate ways,
"Hello partner," Sirius smiled to Hermione as they left the living room together. She gathered up her Gryffindor courage and smiled back.
"I suppose the rooms a mess?" she asked Sirius; trying to remain calm and composed, pushing this mornings ordeal aside. He scrunched his nose and nodded his head.
"Disaster."
"Oh, sounds like an adventure," Hermione laughed as they reached the stairs. Sirius motioned for her to go up first as he brought up the rear.
"It's not that bad now that I think about it. It's mostly a bunch of boxes of old things that need to be sorted and thrown out," he told her.
"That means we get to go through your old things?" Hermione inquired with a smirk. Sirius lightly pushed her up the last step and walked ahead of her to the door, pausing before he turned the knob.
"You'll be surprised at what I've collected over the years," he said to her with a wink. Hermione felt herself slowly become at ease. Talking to Sirius wasn't hard at all, it was actually pleasant and carefree.
"Welcome to our adventure," he announced with open arms. Hermione's jaw dropped open as her eyes fell upon stacks of boxes that covered the room. There must have been at least 30 huge brown tattered boxes that went from floor to ceiling, giving little room to walk.
"We've got our work cut out for us," she commented and walked to the nearest pile.
"Right you are, Hermione," Sirius said as he grabbed a box off the first pile and placed it on the floor in front of him.
"I guess we should go through the things in each box and throw whatever is useless and unwanted into a pile. I'll cast the Disintegrating Charm on it when we're done," he instructed. Hermione picked up a box next to her as well.
"I don't really know what you want to get rid of though. Should I just ask you?" Hermione questioned. Sirius stopped for a moment and seemed to ponder it. He looked at her and shrugged.
"I trust you to get rid of whatever you think I won't want," he said with a grin.
"Sounds good to me," she responded and sat on the floor cross legged to begin dispensing the objects from the first box. She pulled out a various rusted mugs, old knick knacks that seemed broken beyond repair, a few battered issues of the Daily Prophet, and some damaged silverware. She took great care in examining each object to determine whether or not it was still of use before throwing into the pile Sirius had already started.
"You're like a garbage machine!" Hermione laughed as she watched him barely glancing at each object in his box before tossing it into the pile. He looked over at her to see her watching him with amusement. His hand felt a soft, and badly ripped apart stuffed dragon in his box and he chucked it over at Hermione. It hit her square in the face, bouncing off at impact. She gasped and shook her finger at him.
"You watch where you're throwing that Mr. Sirius Black!" she said playfully, grabbing the dragon and throwing it back at him. He stuck out his tongue a little as he raised his arm high to catch it by the tail.
"Nice catch," Hermione nodded and complimented him. He did a small bow before tossing the dragon into the growing pile.
"Why thank you Miss Granger," he said, reaching back into his box to continue his sorting.
"You've sure got a lot of junk," Hermione said a few minutes later. Sirius tossed the pieces of a broken broom into the pile and turned to face her in sitting position.
"My mum wasn't one for throwing things out; she usually kept everything she ever bought. Didn't like to see things go to waste," he explained to her, throwing some more things away. Hermione picked up a big piece of paper and rose one of her eyebrows.
"I'm assuming this belongs to you?" she asked him with a sly grin, turning the paper over so Sirius could see it. He couldn't contain his laughter as she revealed to him a poster of a musical group called The Wizard's Way. The men in the picture wore silver sparkly robes with neon colored stars sewn into them. Their hair was sprayed up in wacky looking styles and they were clad in vibrant makeup.
"Guilty as charged," Sirius told her, raising a hand. Hermione looked at the poster again and began to hoot with laughter.
"What were you thinking, having this on your wall?" she managed to say once the laughter subsided.
"They were really popular when I was in my sixth year at Hogwarts. I mean, they may look a bit odd, but their music was pretty good," Sirius answered her. She stuck out her bottom lip and held the poster out to him.
"Are you willing to part with such a treasure?" she said sarcastically, smirking all over the place. Sirius grabbed the rolled up poster out of hand and bopped her on the head with it.
"Hey!" Hermione yelped, rubbing her head. Sirius laughed and flashed her one of his trademark smiles.
"What? You insulted my childhood!" he said in defense. Hermione scowled, and started digging through her current box to continue sorting. Sirius threw the poster into the discard pile, causing Hermione to look up to see the dissapointment on his face.
"I knew you'd come to your senses," she joked, slapping him playfully on the arm. Sirius grabbed the hand that slapped his arm and held it above her.
"Oh no you don't. I won't be manhandled in my own home!" he said, getting up onto his knees and taking Hermione's other wrist.
"What do you think you're doing?" she asked him. He let go of her other wrist and brought his hand to her side and began tickling her.
"Aha! I've got you now," Sirius cried triumphantly as Hermione giggled uncontrollably, trying to swat away his hand, using minimal effort.
"S-s-stop! Sirius, you're crazy, I can't b-breathe!" she said through gasps of air. Sirius eventually let go of her and went back to his sitting position, watching her laughter die out as she paused to catch her breath. Sitting up slowly she pointed a finger at him.
"You are going to get it, you watch," she said threateningly, even though she was smiling broadly.
'She looks radiant when she smiles. I wish I could make her smile like that all the time…what?! Gods, this plan to get to know her isn't working too well. I'm bloody flirting and tickling a teengager. This is so wrong; I've got to stop this madness.'
"I'll be sure to be on the lookout," Sirius told her, and threw a few more things into the pile. He had already done about three boxes and was already sick of this. About five more boxes later, he reached the end of his rope.
"This is hell," he stated after tossing away his old owl cage. Hermione nodded in agreement, throwing a cracked picture frame into the stack.
"Too true," she agreed, Sirius put the box he was emptying aside and looked up at his female assistant. She seemed to be staring at something within her box intently.
"Anything important?" he asked her, brushing some stray hair out of his eyes. She looked up at him and lifted a heavy book up.
"What's this? Its an empty book," she told him, flipping through the blank pages of the thick, black book. Sirius' eyes widened when he realized what she was holding and felt his heart thump rapidly. He scooted over to Hermione in a flash and took the book excitedly from her hands.
"I can't believe you found this!" he exclaimed, running his hand over the hard cover. She looked at him quizzically and placed her hand on the book.
"What is it exactly?" she questioned. He turned to look at her, his grey eyes beaming.
"I thought it was lost, I've been looking for it everywhere," he said gratefully, dismissing her question and turning his attention back to the book. Hermione watched as he pulled his wand out of his pocket and tapped the cover.
"Padfoot would like to report his mischief," he muttered. Instantly, silver writing became visible on the cover and Hermione leaned over his shoulder to read it.
Marauders Padfoot, Moony, Prongs & Wormtail Present:
The Great Book of Mischievous Pranks, and Tales
"Mischievous pranks and tales?" Hermione said quirking an eyebrow. Sirius' smile seemed to grow wider by the second as he quickly flipped the book open.
"We made this back when we first met and started doing pranks. We wanted to write down all the stuff we did so we can look back on it for laughs later," Sirius said. He opened up to a random page that was now no longer blank, but filled with sloppy writing. Sirius' eyes scanned the page rapidly .Hermione watched as he seemed to radiate with glee the more he read. She couldn't help but notice how young he looked at this moment. He did not resemble the tired, mussed up man that she met her third year, but the youthful, handsome man that she had never known during his childhood.
"Could you read me one of the entries?" Hermione asked him quietly. Sirius took his eyes off the page and looked at the girl sitting next to him. He could smell her vanilla shampoo wafting from her hair as he inhaled. She seemed eager to learn about his past with his friends and he was more than willing to tell her.
"Of course I can. I can read you a bunch of them if you'd like," he offered her. She nodded her head enthusiastically.
"Yes, please. I'd love to hear about you and the Marauders," she glowed. He smiled at her and flipped through the pages to find a good story to begin with when he heard the loud yelling of Mrs. Weasley from downstairs.
"Lunch timeeverybody! "she called. Hermione rose both of her eyebrows.
"Wow, that went by awfully fast," she said, with a hint of disappointment in her voice. Sirius got to his feet first and offered her his hand to help her up. She took it ,causing familiar chill to run of his spine.
'Her hand feels exactly like it did in my dream. Small and soft…a perfect fit.'
"Thanks. I guess we better go before she gets antsy," Hermione said, reluctantly letting go of his hand. She turned to head out the door but stopped when she heard Sirius clearing his throat. She spun around and tilted her head to the side, wondering what he wanted to say.
"Hermione, I can you know…read you the stories later if you'd like. In the library tonight perhaps?" he asked her. She stood in shock for a moment, causing an elongated pause. Sirius quickly shook his head and laughed awkwardly.
"Never mind, it was silly of me –"he started to say but Hermione cut him off.
"I'll see you tonight then," she interrupted, feeling a nervous sensation in her stomach. Sirius ran a hand through his hair and smiled at her.
"Great, I look forward to it. Now, after you Miss Granger," he said to her as he let her exit the door first. They both headed downstairs with an extra spring in their steps, smiling madly to themselves.
By the way, Review please! And anyone wanting to discuss DH can hit me up on aim at Missmelzx