Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, though I sincerely wish that I did.
Playing God
Chapter 2
January 1st 1980
She stepped into the Triwand and was stunned by the cheering and whistling that could be heard, both inside the pub and out. The pub was warm and had a bright orange glow that was pulsing gently from the roaring fireplace to the left of the cosy pub, the candles hovering over their heads and the naked flames flickering in the middle of the table.
"Alright, love?" Hermione turned to the sleazy call and saw a big, square shouldered man with heavy eyebrows and extremely crooked teeth. "Fancy a drink?" He burped and Hermione's lips turned down in disgust and she turned her back to the man in a clear dismissal, her eyes zeroing in on the group of men at a table in the back, laughing and cheering the loudest – Remus was the only one facing her and he caught her eye, raising his eyebrows in slight surprise.
"Ahh, come on, love, your boyfriend will never know…" he trailed off suggestively and Hermione turned back to face him only to discover that he was stood directly behind her, towering over her small, 5ft 2 frame. Hermione knew that he was trying to intimidate her, but Hermione wasn't one to be easily intimidated.
"No, Thankyou." She repeated more firmly, and she saw the spark of anger in his dark brown eyes.
"Oh, I think you will." He growled his hand closing around her upper-arm. She reacted instinctively, years of war engraved into her reflexes and before she could think, her wand was in her hand and a red jet of light flew from the tip and the man was on the floor, his drink rolling from his hands, creating a puddle on the floor of orange liquid.
A hush descended across the pub and Hermione was very aware of all sets of eyes on her, particularly the group sitting by the back and she fidgeted uncomfortably, stowing her wand up the sleeve of her robe.
"Well honey, for that you can have a drink for free!" A younger looking Madame Rosmerta said cheerily, leaning her forearm on the bar, "pull up a bar stool, love." She winked and turned to the back room to get Hermione a much needed Firewhiskey.
"Could I rent a room, please?" She asked tiredly, sipping at the burning liquid.
"Of course you can, honey." Rosmerta said, tapping her hand lightly and Hermione had a flash of a much older Rosmerta, laid out on her bar in The Three Broomsticks, naked and bleeding, her eyes staring ahead unseeing of the blood stains in the ceiling.
"Well, that failed." Hermione looked over her shoulder; a little afraid that she was going to see another drunk guy with no concept of the idea of personal space, but she was shocked to see a tall man with straight black hair that fell into his grey eyes with an elegance that nobody else's could achieve and fell to his broad shoulders which were enclosed in a dark blue button up shirt with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, wearing boot cut jeans that hugged his thighs perfectly and black boots.
Twenty year old Sirius Black was talking to her.
"Erm, I'm sorry?" She asked, a little affected by how handsome she found him and the fact that he was the one who had approached her – the thoughts that entered her mind were a little foreign and felt somewhat forbidden to her.
"Well, I come over to save a damsel from distress turns out she doesn't need a knight." He said conversationally and jumped up onto the seat beside her, swinging it side-to-side like a child, "I'm Sirius Black." He introduced himself, his grey eyes sparkling.
Hermione stared at him for a moment running her finger around the lip of the glass, the musical note long and loud as she thought – should she introduce herself now? She had never been in this position before – she had only ever been with one man while she knew that, at this age, Sirius had been with a fair few more girls.
"Are you okay?" She snapped out of her thoughts at his question and glanced down at her upper arm instinctively. She was a little shocked to see that there was no blood on the sleeve and the cut that the Death Eaters had so nicely given her was no longer there.
"Yes." She answered, not quite honestly, holding out her hand to him. "I'm Hermione."
He took her hand in his, his grip strong and steady and she could feel the slight calluses on his hand.
"Hermione." Her name rolled off his tongue with minimal effort and her heart sped up at the sound of his deep voice.
"Come on, Sirius." Hermione and Sirius turned as one to see James Potter and Hermione almost had a heart attack thinking that it was Harry "we're off to the Hogs Head! Let's go!" He waved his arm once and practically skipped out the pub. Sirius chuckled and shook his head at his friends' antics.
"Is there a reason that you're here by yourself, beautiful." The attention that Sirius was granting her was making her skin flush and her heart race – she didn't like that he was paying so much attention to her already and she felt a little overwhelmed – surely he couldn't be attracted to her?
A picture of Ron flashed in her mind and guilt wound in her stomach. "You're friends are waiting." She said quietly, her eyes downcast.
"They can wait a little longer." He said, resting his arm on the bar and the heels of his boots hooked around the silver bar at the bottom of the stool. "Are you sure you're okay?" He asked again and Hermione's eyes darted to the man, who was still laid flat out on the ground, people not even sparing him a glance as they stepped over him.
"Yeah. Go." She said and she made sure that there was conviction in her tone. He seemed to get the message and hopped off the bar stool and slapped seven sickles on the bar.
"I'll see you around, Hermione." He winked and then he was gone.
Hermione stared vacantly at the space were Sirius had just been and blinked – her brain, which had frozen slightly at the sight of a young Sirius was starting to pick up it's pace again now that he was gone…Maybe she wouldn't fail while she was here.
"Do you want to see your room, honey?" Madame Rosmerta asked and Hermione smiled and nodded, sliding off the seat and following the woman up the stairs to her home for the next few days.
The celebrations for New Year's Day carried on well into the early hours in the morning, but Hermione found it somewhat comforting – that people still celebrated and with that thought in her mind, she drifted off easier then she thought she would have done, exhausted from the travel and lulled into the security that people's happiness brought her.
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The sunlight flittering through the gaps in the curtains was not what woke Sirius Black up – instead, it was his wand on the bedside table, whizzing and screaming, flying off the oak wood to poke him in the base of his spine.
He grumbled and rolled onto his back, his head pounding behind his closed eyelids and the wand jabbed him again in the forehead. He cursed his wand and James' ideas for an alarm clock and reached out for the wand, closing his fist around it before it could scream again and burst his eardrums.
He sat up slowly, the sheets pooling around his hips as he rubbed his face with his hands. He swung his feet to the floor and stood up, shuffling to the bathroom, the wand still whistling in his hands.
After his morning shower he felt more awake but he realised that it was a bad idea to get drunk last night – he had done so well as well, lasting till about 1:00am before the jubilant celebrations around him swept over him and he felt like he had to join in.
He grabbed some jeans and pulled them on, reaching for a black button down shirt when he heard a light bang from downstairs. Before he knew it, his wand was in his hands and he was creeping down the stairs, expertly avoiding the creaks in the old wood. His auror instincts had kicked in and he half-expected to see Remus or James shuffling around.
Instead, in the kitchen, he saw a woman. She had her wand held in front of her and Sirius's nose picked up the scent of cooking bacon, but his eyes were focused on the shapely legs that extended from his white button down shirt that she was wearing and her blonde hair tumbled down her back.
He coughed to alert her to his presence and she jumped, the bacon flopping back into the pan. "Oh, you gave me a fright!" She said, holding her hand to her heart and turning to face him – he was trying to place her in his memories, but he honestly had no idea who she was.
She was beautiful though, with her big blue eyes surrounding by long eyelashes, a cute button nose and high cheekbones with a heart-shaped face. "Sorry." He said gruffly, shoving his wand in the back pocket of his jeans, hooking his thumbs into the belt loops.
"It's okay Siri!" She simpered and Sirius blinked – he suddenly had an intense desire to get to work. "I was making breakfast, but I can think of something better to do…" She said suggestively, her wand clattering to the floor as she walked slowly to him, unbuttoning the shirt and letting it slide of her shoulders.
Sirius reacted instinctively, as he did when a female trusted him enough to be naked in front of him, and he reached for her, looping his arms around her waist and pulling her into his body, dropping his lips to hers, and she responded in kind, trailing her hands over his chest and he felt Goosebumps rise on his skin.
The fact that he couldn't remember her didn't stop his actions and he indulged in something that was much better then breakfast.
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"You're late." James grinned as Sirius collapsed into his chair and raised his eyebrows at his best friend. "You and Polly have a good time last night?" He leaned back in his chair and put his feet up on his desk, linking his finger behind his head.
"We definitely had a good time this morning," he said, grinning himself at the reminder as he ran a hand through his black hair.
James laughed and shook his head, "You're a dog, Sirius, and I mean that metaphorically." James told him, "the amount of women last night was ridiculous."
"I slept with someone else other then Patricia?"
"Polly, and no, but you definitely drew their attention." James smiled and Sirius racked his brain but the only women he could picture were Madame Rosmerta, who he flirted with and a girl with curly brown hair who took out Jacob Gregan.
"What can I say man? The women love me – somebody has to put up with their constant attentions." He said as if it was actually painful for him, but James heard the teasing lint underneath his tone.
"Aww, poor you. Me, I'm perfectly happy with Lily."
"You're only saying that because you have to." Sirius teased and James' hazel eyes sparkled.
"True, but don't tell Lily."
"You're secret's safe with me, dude," Sirius said, reaching across his desk to push James feet roughly back to the floor.
Before James could retaliate, someone knocked on their office door and pushed it open without waiting for confirmation from the pair inside. "Morning. I trust that you had a good New Year." Sirius looked up at the deep voice and grinned at his boss, Kingsley Shacklebolt.
"Oh, what I can remember was fantastic." Sirius bragged and Kingsley rolled his eyes, folding his arms over his chest. "You know, if you wanna get in the game, boss, I'm sure that there's some girl I could call who –"
He was cut off in his offer to Kingsley when a file was dropped in front of him, opened to display pictures of Jacob Gregan, dead.
"Oh, that's put a damper on my New Year." James said, leaning his forearms on the desk to get a better look of the pictures and his mouth turned down in distaste at the blood.
"I don't think Jacob Gregan is very happy about it either." Kingsley said in a dead-pan way and James nodded in agreement. "I've already alerted his family and close friends. Now I want you to solve it."
"I gathered, boss." Sirius said, reading the file quickly, "time of death, 2:30am – cause of death: strangulation? Really?" Sirius asked surprised. When he first saw the case his initial thought was that it had been a Death Eater that he killed Jacob, but no way would a death eater use muggle-means of killing somebody, especially not a pure-blood enthusiast like Jacob Gregan.
"His family is demanding that this case be solved A.S.A.P. Understood?" Kingsley said with force, looking at each of them in turn.
"Hear you loud and clear, boss." James said, standing to his feet and stretching, his bones popping as his muscles were pulled. "Let's go, Sirius."
"Go?" Sirius asked surprised, dropping the parchment that he was holding with Jacob Gregan's information on it. "Go where?"
"To the Triwand see the pretty brunette you were talking to last night." James told him, reaching for the file.
"Why on Earth are you doing that?" Kingsley asked in annoyance, "you can't honestly be thinking of getting some action now!"
"Dude, I'm happily married." James said in a no-nonsense tone and Kingsley held his hands up at shoulder-height in a peace offering.
"Just get it done." He told them and left their office in a swirl of blue robes.
"Why exactly are we going to see Hermione?" Sirius asked, standing as well, rolling up his sleeves.
"Because, my faithful partner in the quest to stop crime, Hermione took him out – remember?" He said as the two left the office's heading for the apparition points, "and since you remember her name, I think you remember the spell and handiwork that she displayed in taking him out. She's got good duelling skills."
"Yeah, but that was clearly Self-Defence," Sirius said, frowning and James nodded in agreement as he took Sirius' wand out of the back pocket of his jeans.
"And you're doing that…Why?" Sirius asked, grabbing his wand back and roughly pushing his best friend, who went into Damien Saunders, who was walking towards them.
James grabbed his shoulder and apologized, but Damien just laughed it off. "Don't worry, you two have your lover's quarrel – I'm sure it'll all work out." James and Sirius stared after the old man as he rounded the corner out of their sight.
"Well…That was different." James said, scratching the back of his neck.
"Does he think we're gay?" Sirius asked, slightly offended – with the amount of women that he'd been caught with in his office, everyone at the Ministry knew that he wasn't gay. James laughed, throwing his head back.
"Oh, this is priceless!"
"Why does he think we're gay?" Sirius asked, "I'll prove to him that I am not gay, let me follow him –"
"Sirius, don't put your wand in your back pocket." James warned, grabbing Sirius' forearm. "You might blow your buttocks off and we all know that the women wouldn't come back from the desecration of Sirius Blacks lovely backside."
Sirius stared at him for a moment and with a roll of his eyes pushed his sleeves down and stowed his wand up them. "James – it's you talking like that that makes people think that we're gay."
James just winked and twisted, disappearing with a 'pop' and Sirius followed after him, sparing a thought to how many other people thought that him and James were in a relationship.
He spat out ash the second he saw the interior of the Triwand and stepped into the warm pub with Madame Rosmerta behind the bar and a lone goblin at the table to the back.
"Rosmerta! It's good to see you again after less then twenty-fours and can I say that you are looking lovely tonight." Sirius smiled charmingly and leaned across the bar. Rosmerta stopped wiping down the wood and leaned foreword as well and Sirius couldn't help but catch a quick glance at her ample cleavage.
"Keep dreaming, Sweetie," she said in a cunning voice and leaned back again, winking at him. "What you after?"
"We're looking for Hermione, insane curly brown hair, brown eyes, not very tall. She was the one who stupefied Gregan last night." James told her, jumping up onto a bar stool.
"And thank Merlin for that – that man was always bad for my business, sprouting rubbish about how pure-bloods were superior and all that, you know what I'm talking about, Sirius."
"I do and I agree. Do you know where Hermione is now?"
"Yeah, maybe I do." Rosmerta said, carrying on wiping down the bar as the door opened and a scruffy wizard walked in and ordered a butterbeer.
Once Madame Rosmerta served him, she returned back to James and Sirius and Sirius found that he himself was tracking the wizard who didn't seem trustworthy to him and he instantly felt suspicion crawl in his gut. A quick glance to James told him that he felt exactly the same.
"Sorry, sweetheart, but I'm gonna have to star you." Sirius told her.
"Is that dirty talk for –" She was cut off when Sirius pulled a slowly revolving star from his pocket, each point glowing a different colour with the words 'Sirius Black – Auror' was inscribed on the gold metal. "Oh, honey. It's a shame you have to work today."
"I know, but one must suffer for the safety of others. Now, Hermione?" He prompted and Madame Rosmerta nodded, gesturing to the stairs.
"She's up there, renting room 4 for a few days till she gets an apartment and job – I was going to take her today to open up a Gringott's Vault. She shouldn't be carrying so much money on her."
Sirius nodded and stood up straight, a quick eye glance at James told him to stay put - Sirius wanted to interrogate Hermione on his own and James needed to stay down here. The shifty wizard kept glancing at them.
Sirius raised his eyebrows quickly before he went to the stairs and ran up them, getting to room 4. He knocked on the door quickly and the door opened almost as fast.
"Oh – Sirius, right?" She said and stepped back, opening the door further, letting him pass into the drab room.
"That's right, Hermione." He sat down on the edge of the single bed and he bent slightly, his hands clasped between his knees as he gazed at her through his lashes. Hermione shifted nervously and closed the door, leaning on it. "I have to ask you a few questions."
Hermione frowned in confusion, but nodded and sat down on the rickety chair by the desk. "Do you know Jacob Gregan?" He asked and Hermione shook her head.
"No. I don't know anyone around here – I'm very new to this area."
He filed the information away for later, because he was definitely asking Hermione out on a date.
"Why did you attack Jacob Gregan?"
"Atta – Do you mean that man who grabbed my arm?" She asked in disbelief and Sirius nodded, taken the shrunken down files from his pocket and his wand and restored it back to normal size. "He grabbed my arm, had alcohol on his breath and he scared me, okay? It was self-defence." She said with a slight tint of fear in her voice, one that made his natural instinct to protect women flare to life for a moment.
"I know, sweetheart." He said soothingly and put the file on the bed, opening it up to show Hermione the less violent photo's of the dead Jacob Gregan.
"Wait…You think I did this?" She asked, her brown eyes open wide and her mouth dropped open.
"No." He answered honestly, "but I have to ask these questions, seeing as how you did attack him. It's just protocol." He told her and she nodded, though she didn't look happy.
"Why?" She asked, her voice hard and with a forced calm.
"Because it's my job." He showed her the same star that he showed Rosmerta. "And this way, we can take you out of the equation and focus on who really did this. What were you doing at 2:30am?" He asked, knowing that she wouldn't have been awake.
"Sleeping." She answered, confirming his suspicions.
"Alone?" He prompted and she raised her eyebrow at him in a slight challenge and he grinned wolfishly at her.
"Does it matter?" She asked and Sirius wondered if she had been alone of if someone had been up her with her, tangled in the sheets. His thoughts suddenly strayed to Hermione and him between the sheets, like it did with pretty much every woman that he met and he had an instant pull in his stomach telling him that she wasn't one to sleep with someone and then forget it the next morning. Which was a real shame as she was a beautiful young woman.
"It kind of does, yeah." A small, meaningless part of him needed to know.
"Fine. Yes, I was alone." Sirius smiled at the news and then put it to the back of his mind.
"Don't forget, Hermione, this is just for the files. Don't worry about it." She nodded tightly and stood up, reaching for the door-handle. "Well…" He said and she faltered in her actions, "you shouldn't worry if you're telling the truth."
Hermione breathed in harshly, "what do you mean?" She asked tentatively and Sirius smirked to himself – he knew that she posed no threat and he stood and made his way over to her, standing directly behind her, mimicking Jacob Gregan's actions. He bowed his head so that his lips brushed the shell of her ear.
"You weren't scared of Jacob."
"Oh, so you're a mind-reader now?" Hermione said sceptically, turning to face him and his close proximity caused her to tilt her face up to look directly into his eyes and he placed one hand on the door by her head.
"You could say that, yeah. I know that you find me attractive – "
"Is this the right time?" Hermione asked, placing her hands on his chest in a meek effort to push him away, but Sirius knew that she didn't want him to move, just like he didn't want to move away from her.
"All the time is the right time."
A loud bang and crash from downstairs had Sirius moving in an echo of his movements that morning and he pulled his wand from his sleeve, side-stepping expertly around Hermione and throwing the door open easily, practically leaping down the stairs three at the time and barrelling through the door to the pub downstairs, aware of Hermione a few steps behind him as he held his wand in front of him.
He blinked at the scene in front of him, of James slamming the body of the shifty wizard who entered earlier against the wall as he held his wand against his side, blood pouring from a wound in his temple as he breathed heavily through his nose. His hazel eyes flickered up to see Sirius stood there and his whole demeanour changed – now that he knew he had back-up, he could relax and he grinned at his best friend.
"What happened?" Hermione gasped as she saw the blood dripping steadily down the side of James' face.
"Ahh, I just got myself a battle scar – no need to worry!" James chuckled, dabbing hesitantly at the cut as Sirius stowed his wand back up his sleeve and walked over to his best friend confidently and Hermione's brown eyes scanned his frame from behind. The Sirius in 1980 was very attractive, she had to admit. Something odd stirred inside Hermione that felt traitorous to her – she had only ever felt this level of attraction for one person, and a small part of her felt that she was betraying Ron for her feelings towards Sirius, a man that she didn't really know.
She soon hoped to change that.
She'd been brought here for a reason, she thought as she went to Madame Rosmerta to comfort the poor woman who was shaking lightly, her eyes not straying far from Sirius as she watched him attempt to heal the wound that James bore, but he just kept laughing, dodging his best friends attempts as together, they tied the unconscious man to a chair, his head lolling foreword as his chin rested on his chest.
"Is there a reason he's now unconscious? Because if I have to fill out some paperwork because of this…" Sirius teased lightly, but Hermione could tell from Sirius' taunt muscles and hard eyes that he was incredibly angry that James had been attacked.
"Huh?" James asked distractedly, pushing his glasses back up his nose, "yeah, he killed Gregan."
Sirius stared blankly at him for a moment before a huge grin pulled the corners of his lips. "Kinglsey is going to love us."
A/N: Here's Chapter 2 and I hope you all like it!
I just have to say that Sirius' reaction to being assumed as gay isn't a hit at gay people in general – I have nothing wrong with the gay community and I believe that everyone should be free to love whoever they want. This gag is from Supernatural, if anybody's seen it, they'll know what I mean if not, basically, the shows about two brothers who travel and fight demons and people always assume they're in a relationship. It just reminded me of James and Sirius and, as WOTW didn't have that much 'bromance' between Sirius and James, I thought that this story would have heaps of it :D
Now that that's out the way, thanks for reading this! Chapter three has been written and I'll probably post it in a few days after I've re-read and edited it :D
Kelly
xxx