Disclaimer: No matter how much I wish it were true, I don't own Harry Potter.

Playing God

Chapter 4

The bell above the door jingled as it was pushed open and Remus looked up to see Hermione, the girl who he had hired yesterday, breeze in, shivering slightly from the cold.

"Morning." She greeted him, smiling his way and he couldn't help but smile back. Something had made him hire this girl and, while he wasn't sure what it was, he followed his instincts.

"Morning. Are you ready for your first day of work?" He asked, leading her to the back room which was full to the brim with books – they needed to be stocked on the shelves.

Hermione gazed at all the books before her with something akin to wonderment on her face and Remus chuckled lightly, telling her the system of this bookstore and she caught on quickly, getting to work right away.

His instincts were always right.

Well, usually anyway.

He left her to it and went back to the store to assist an old woman with a kind face who was looking at the Gardening books.

00000

A few hours later, Hermione was still in the backroom, still sorting books to be stored on the shelves. Remus had popped in a few times to make sure that she was still okay and had offered her a cup of coffee which she had happily taken. Hermione found though, that she was quite enjoying herself. She couldn't so this as a permanent job mind, but it was nice and relaxing for her right now.

She had just stocked up the book trolley and was getting ready to push it through to the main room to stock the shelves when a book title caught her eye, the golden font gleaming in the dull candlelight.

Thevoyageur de temps

Hermione stopped in her tracks and reached for it impulsively, feeling an electric current when she touched the spine of the time travelling book – it looked brand new as if it had never been opened. She took it down, having to stand on her tiptoes to get it from the high shelf and she gasped lightly when she saw the front cover.

It was the mirror that she had used to get here.

"Only two of those mirror's are in existence." Hermione whipped around, a hand jumping to her heart as she looked at Remus who had closed the door gently behind him and was now leaning against the strong oak wood. "Sorry," he smiled apologetically at her reaction, "there's a woman outside who wants a book on medieval castles – and I see that you're about to stock those shelves," he spied her book trolley and raised an eyebrow, "maybe you could do that now, yeah?" Hermione was suddenly transported back to Third Year with Remus as her Defence teacher and she felt nostalgia pains grip her chest.

"Absolutely." She said smiling shakily, feeling her eyes burn with unshed tears as she thought back to her Hogwarts days, where nothing was as painful as it is now.

Remus nodded and opened the door again, waiting for her to push the trolley through first before closing the door behind the pair of them. "Here we go, sir." Remus said cheerfully, reaching for the medieval castles book that was resting on the top of the books. "I'll just ring that up for you." He smiled and Hermione was slightly envious of Remus' good nature and kind-hearted spirit despite the horror that he went through once a month.

Hermione sighed slowly and started putting the books on the appropriate shelf in alphabetical order, but she found herself messing up a few times – her mind was focused on that book waiting for her in the back room.

"It's almost closing time Hermione; do you think you could stock one more shelf?" Remus asked and Hermione readily agreed.

She picked up the book in the backroom again, whipping out her wand and making the candle's burn that much brighter as she flipped through the pages, getting hit with that 'new-book-smell' one that she had also loved. She stopped when she saw the small drawing of a mirror again, carefully inked in on the top of page 45 and she sat down on the floor, uncaring of the shock of cold that she felt and began to read the tiny print.

The mirrors of Cupio and Cupere were forged in 1433 by Thomasius di Gellucio and his wife Pipa. After the original Mirror of Erised smashed, two pieces of glass were unaccounted for and it is believed that it is those pieces which live in the mirrors forged so long ago.

The mirrors have the same properties as the Mirror of Erised, but Thomasius, after his wife fell dangerously ill, decided to take it one step further. He sought out a dark, powerful wizard, begging and pleading for his wife's health and, in return he would do anything that the wizard wished.

The Wizard agreed and placed a powerful spell on the two mirror's, instructing Thomasius that, if he wanted his wife well, he must look into the mirror and desire it with all of his heart. However, as Thomasius looked in the mirror, his eye caught the reflection of a beautiful maiden and his desire changed.

The maiden at once became attracted to him and he and the Maiden were joined as one while, in the home that he and Pipa shared, the life left her as she waited for her husband to return home to her.

Furious with the trick that the Wizard had played on him and heartbroken at the death of his wife, he once again sought out the Dark wizard and demanded that he bring his wife back. "You must desire it." The wizard told him, "anything that you desire will happen and luck will befall to the user. But, if you get sidetracked or doubt falls upon you, then the mirror will backfire and a serious consequence will befall you."

Thomasius looked into the mirror a final time and prayed for his dear wife to come back to him, and was shocked when she stood before him, looking well and in great health. Finally understanding the power of the mirror, Thomasius became greedy and he desired things that no one man should have – a hundred women at his beck and call, all the money in the world and a thousand mansions.

But, Poor Thomasius found that he had not desired his wife acceptance and she left him, unhappy with his life now. So, he looked into the mirror. Only to be distracted by the glint of gold, a woman's moan, a butler. He grew so desperate for his wife's companionship that he ran from one of his many homes and into a forest on the edge of his property hoping that there would be no distractions there.

There was none.

He sighed in relief and looked into his reflection, surprised to see that he was now an old man – he hadn't focused on his actual reflection at all in all the years that he had been using it and he despised his appearance – he needed to look more attractive! So, that's what his new desire became and he de-aged ten years.

With this new age came a new understanding and he gazed at the mirror in horror – who was he if he cared more about his looks then the woman he loved? He could no longer stand the corruption that followed him and he crawled back to the Wizard, who was laughing gleefully.

"Have you learnt the full power that the mirrors bring?" He asked, leaning foreword from his seat, his eyes glinting with the horror that was to come.

"Yes. Merlin, please take it back, take it all back…" Thomasius begged and threw the mirror to the floor in horror, where it smashed into a thousand pieces momentarily before fixing itself, glowing a dull gold for a moment.

"I think…" the dark Wizard whispered, "that it is time for your payment to me." As he said the word, a green flash filled the room and Thomasius fell to the floor, dead.

Meanwhile, in the home that Thomasius had once shared happily with his wife, Pipa stood, holding the other mirror, her tears marking the clear glass as she remembered her past with her husband and she closed her eyes in anguish before a desire took over – her desire was not one for her own benefit, but for others – she desired that no one else would go through the same amount of pain that she had once gone through and the mirror disintegrated in her hand, running through her fingers like sand through an hourglass.

The mirrors, because of the dark magic placed upon them will rebuild themselves after the user has died – when Pipa died five years after her husband of natural causes, the two mirrors became whole again to fall into the hands of the next user in which only one desire is granted.

"You know that staff have a discount." Hermione jumped at the sound of Remus' voice, startling her for the second time that day and she breathed out sharply, trying to calm her beating heart. "Sorry," Remus said apologetically, his sandy blonde hair falling in front of his eyes, "but you make it so easy to get your heart racing."

Hermione blushed lightly at the innuendo that unexpectedly fell from Remus' lips and she watched as he shook his head, slight shock visible on his features. "I've been hanging out with Sirius and James too much," he mumbled before walking closer to her and Hermione could see that his own cheeks were covered in a rosy blush. "Would you like me to ring that up for you?"

Hermione had learnt all that she could from the book, but the pull in her stomach was telling her that it would be best if she owned it – that way, she could look it up all the time and not have to sneak around in the back room. With a small smile she handed the book to Remus who went to the counter while she continued stocking the last shelf, ready for the next day.

"Good first day at work?" Remus asked as they were leaving, handing Hermione her book which she shrunk and made weightless, slipping it into the pocket of her jacket.

"Yeah – I think I'll enjoy working here." She smiled as her mind ran over everything that she had learnt – no wonder she was so lucky in this time – she desired to help Sirius and this is what she was doing. The only problem was, Sirius wasn't with her for attraction, Sirius was chasing her because of the pull of the mirror and that didn't sit right with her.

"Good evening," a voice said smoothly and Hermione turned her head; she wasn't quite sure why the sight of Sirius leaning against the entrance of the bookstore was such a shock to her, but her heart jumped a little as she glimpsed his chiselled features. "Hey." He said casually, pushing away from the brick wall to stand in front of her, his close proximity and his height meaning that she had to tilt her head back to look at him properly.

"Careful, Hermione," Remus said playfully, pushing his friend lightly in the shoulder, "he can be a real dog sometimes."

Sirius snorted and stowed his hands in the pockets of his black jeans (which hugged his thighs nicely, she instantly noticed) and shrugged one shoulder, his eyes never leaving hers.

"I'm sure that his bark is worse than his bite." She grinned, feeling included as she realised the 'Dog' comment was a little code they shared to his animagus form, even though she shouldn't know what it referred to.

"Oh, I'll bite if you ask me to," Sirius said seriously, but the slight curve of his mouth gave away that he was just teasing, "not to break the skin but hard enough to leave a mark on your a-"

"-And that's my cue to leave. I'll see you tomorrow, Hermione. Have a nice night." He waved and disapparated with a loud 'pop', leaving Sirius and Hermione to themselves.

"So, where to?" Hermione asked, rubbing her hands together for warmth – she had stupidly left her gloves back in her room at the Triwand, packed up and ready to be moved to her new apartment the next day.

"Well, I was thinking between my sheets if I'm being perfectly honest," he grinned, throwing one arm over her shoulders and pulling her close and he noticed her eye-roll. "No? Are you sure? They're Egyptian cotton…" He sang, and Hermione couldn't help but giggle.

"Oh, you've persuaded me, I'm all yours to bite." She said teasingly, used to banter like this from the years that she had spent together with Ron.

The thought of Ron sobered her instantly and her smile fell – she was only half aware of her surroundings as her mind transported her back to the moment when Ron was wrenched from her grasp.

Fortunately, Sirius managed to drag her back to the here and now before her mind could wander into the box which she had built up by snapping his fingers before her eyes, drawing her attention back to him, where he thought they rightfully belonged. "Come on now, Bookworm – can't have you drifting away now can we? We have a date to go on."

Hermione didn't even bother to correct him, just smiled and slipped her hand into the crook of his elbow, which Sirius happily offered her before he side-along apparated the two of them to the Triwand, and Hermione loved the sense of familiarity as she gazed at the wizarding pub and let Sirius lead her gently past the threshold and to a vacant table in the corner of the room.

As he went to get them some drinks, Hermione briefly wondered if he had brought her here because she knew the place and, if that had been the case then she owed him one. Definitely.

He came back with the drinks, whistling happily under his breath and plopping himself down in the chair beside her, dropping his arm around the back of the chair.

"How was your first day at work?" He asked, his grey eyes trained on her brown ones and she felt slightly nervous – as if he could see right through her and just know what she was up to.

"It was…Interesting." She summed up, a smile on her face as her mind reverted back to the book. He raised his eyebrows and took a large gulp of his drink, hiking his foot up to rest on the chair beside him.

"And how was your day?" She hated small talk with a passion, but it felt a little awkward to be talking so casually with Sirius, Harry's Godfather, that she reverted back to easy conversation.

"Long. I just spent most of it picturing what you and I would be doing tonight." Hermione blinked at him, as if he was talking a foreign language and Sirius sighed, lowering his head and shaking it lightly. "Ah, sorry about that – I'm used to trying to turn a girl on for the night's activities, but this makes a welcome change." He grinned and Hermione relaxed in her seat, rolling her eyes at Sirius' words.

"Don't worry about it. I guess that Remus was right when he called you a dog, huh?" She teased, raising her own glass to her lips and watched as Sirius chuckled, sipping some of his own drink.

They talked pleasantly for a while, Hermione told him the same story of her past that she had shared with Madame Rosmerta a few days ago and let slip that she was moving into her new apartment tomorrow and he was eager to offer his and his friends assistance. She stumbled through an excuse that she knew was lame, and the raised eyebrow that Sirius offered her told her that he thought it was lame to. She relented and he promised to be there with his "goon squad" at 5:00pm.

Hermione just smiled and clinked her glass with his easily, feeling relaxed for the first time that night and let herself lean back in her chair and didn't mind that the back of Sirius' knuckles were brushing over her shoulder. In fact, she found that she was enjoying it as goose bumps appeared on her skin.

"Are you done?" He asked, nodding his head to her empty glass and she nodded, placing it on the table before it, not even realising that she had been holding it in her hands. "Let's go," he said suddenly, standing and holding his hand out to her, palm up, looking at her expectantly and Hermione blinked in surprise – there was more to this date?

She hesitantly took his hand and Sirius grinned, although if it was in encouragement or amusement she wasn't sure, but it didn't matter – she was being pulled (gently, of course) out the pub and to the corner of the street where Sirius pulled her close and Hermione had the sense that she was being squeezed through a pipe as he apparated them and the feel of his arms wrapped tightly around her waist and his breath brushing her temple lightly made her forget for a moment the horrible claustrophobic feeling that took over.

When she felt her feet touch the floor, she allowed herself to lean into Sirius lightly and let herself inhale his scent of leather, soap and something that she could only describe with the word 'man'.

"Where are we?" She asked, clearing her head as she moved her body back from his and he grinned, sliding his hand down her arm and let his fingers tangle with hers and it just seemed so easy for him, but a small part of her wondered if his heart was beating just as fast as hers.

She let her brown eyes slide to the right of him for two reasons, one he was captivating her and it was clouding her judgement and two she really wanted to know where they were. She was a little surprised to see that they were in an open field and she looked at him, her eyebrows raised in a silent question.

He stepped closer to her and she automatically looked down – she really wasn't used to the undivided attention of a man who she wasn't in a relationship with and this was brand new territory for her. He hooked his finger under her chin and lightly tilted her head up until she was looking directly into his grey eyes. "Look up." He whispered simply and he watched in slight amusement as her head tilted back further (exposing her neck that he was just so tempted to lick) and her brown eyes slid up to see the thousands of tiny stars sparkling above them, winking merrily as they looked down at Earth.

"Beautiful, huh?" He asked her, not moving his gaze from her once and he relished in the look of pure amazement on her face.

"Stunning." She agreed and Sirius chalked one up for victory. He was slowly but surely seducing Hermione Jean and she was well aware of it.

He took his jacket off and laid it gently on the ground and sat on it, patting the space beside him and laying back, his hands under his head. Hesitantly Hermione sat beside him and he couldn't help the grin that pulled at the corner of his lips as he felt her shift and lay beside him.

They lay in silence as they gazed at the stars until Sirius couldn't ignore the pull in his stomach anymore and he slid his hand from underneath his head and gently took hers, linking their fingers; She gasped in slight surprise but made no move to let go of his hand. He was realising that it would take some work to actually persuade her to let him go on an actual date with her, but Sirius was more than up for the challenge. If he was being honest, he was actually enjoying the prospect of pursuing her.

"Do you know anything about astronomy?" Hermione asked and her voice startled him a little bit.

"Of course I do. I took it at Hogwarts you know." He replied and moved their joined hands so that he could point at the sky – "That's the big dipper and that one over there –" he slid their hands gently and shuffled just a bit closer to her to partly share his warmth and to (which is the real, genuine reason) just be closer to her. "That one is the Dog Star, which is called –"

"Sirius." She whispered and Sirius' eyebrows rose slightly, impressed that she knew. "I'm guessing that's your namesake?" She asked, rolling her head to look at him and he grinned, shifting one shoulder as best as he could whilst his arm was crossed underneath his head.

"I'm guessing that you took astronomy at Beauxbatons, huh?" He asked, liking that they were layers to this girl, how there was new things to learn all the time.

"You guessed right," she smiled at him, the upwards motion at the corner of her lips caused his to respond in kind, and he rolled onto his side easily, the hand that had been supporting his head went to cup her cheek. She inhaled sharply and Sirius grinned, sitting up and pulling her with him before raising the hand that he was holding to his lips and kissing it chastely.

"I hope you know, Hermione, that this isn't it." He said, leaning forward and pressing his lips to her forehead, "I'm not through with you yet."

A/N: Thankyou to everyone reviewing this story and I'm trying to respond to all reviewers, but I may miss a few out - If I have, I'm so sorry!

Updates should be about one a week, but I'm on holiday next week so chapter 5'll be up next Sunday at the earliest.

Thanks for being patient with me, and a special shout-out to my regular reviewers from WOTW to this one! Thanks for sticking with me, guys :D

Kelly

xxx