Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

Playing God

Chapter 10

Hermione hadn't been all that surprised when she saw Sirius with the blonde woman (Melanie Fraiser, Natalia supplied her name mid-rant, using some pretty colourful terms to describe her old school friend) but that didn't mean that she didn't feel betrayed. Sirius was meant to be seeing her and she couldn't help but feel used, like she was just a plaything for him until someone else snaked their way into his bed.

"Earth to Hermione," Remus chuckled and Hermione blinked slowly, as if coming to realisation of where she was, "I was wondering where you'd gotten off to."

"Sorry Remus, it's just one of those days." Hermione said with a sheepish smile and Remus chuckled again, deep and throaty and Hermione couldn't remember adult Remus Lupin chuckling at anything. It was nice to hear.

"I hear you. Still, at least you're gonna get cosy with Sirius tonight – I'm sure that'll improve your mood." Hermione didn't quite have the heart to tell him that she'd cancelled the date this morning, sending her Patronus to his work and not reading the letter she got in return literally minutes afterword – It was a shame really, Hermione thought as she restocked the divination books, she really had been looking forward to it.

"Er…Excuse me." Hermione turned at the sound of the voice and was surprised when she had to tilt her head back to look at his face and was pleasantly surprised when she saw that it was Cal, from the top floor of her and Natalia's apartment complex. "Oh, hello. I didn't know you worked here." He said cheerily, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the bookshelves, startling Hermione ever so slightly.

"Huh? Oh, yes, I got the job pretty much the same time that I moved here."

"Impressive," he smiled and Hermione was almost blinded by his pearly white teeth, "why choose a bookstore?" He asked and Hermione recognised that it wasn't asked in a condescending way – more that he was generally curious as to her career choice.

"I love them," she smiled, dusting her hands off slightly and leaning against the bookcase, "the way that they pull at your imagination or tell you something useful. They're constant and just overflowing with information and I'm rambling," she paused, laughing slightly to herself.

"I don't mind. You're passionate about it, ramble all you like."

"How can I help you?" Hermione asked pleasantly and she watched in amusement as Cal reached back behind his head to rub lightly at his neck in what she could only assume was embarrassment – what on earth did he have to be embarrassed about? Hermione wondered briefly as she noted the way his dark brown eyes shifted to the side.

He coughed uncomfortably and shifted from one foot to another before he spoke, "well, it's my niece's birthday and she's a kickass reader, so do you have anything in the form of…pink and…err…glitter?" Hermione couldn't help but compare the way that he asked that to how Sirius would. He would walk in, head held high and a smirk on his lips as he asked her that question, eyebrow quirked in amusement at fulfilling the request of his niece, not at all feeling emasculated at the girlyness of the book.

But Cal was so adorable and awkward in the way that he asked her that made her lips quirk up in response. "Of course we do. How old is she?"

"Five." He seemed relieved that she didn't outright laugh at him (which she would never do, of course) and followed her to the right side of the shop where the children books were stored. There was actually a wide range of story books for children that fascinated Hermione to no end and she half-wished that she had been allowed to witness this magic at a young age – her first experience with magic was when she was eight and she blew up her grandfather's tea pot when he took away her fairy-tale book because she was, as he said, ignorant to the guests there at his birthday gathering. She didn't even know most of them and, to this day, she still felt that it wasn't a justified reason to take away a little girls book.

"That's the perfect age for readers to be encouraged, so I'd suggest something with more words than pictures, no matter how pleasing it is to the eye." She found herself rambling as she reached for a book and handed it to Cal with confidence, "this story is about a unicorn, but it teaches young children to share with each other, which is something that not a lot of five year olds know how to do."

"You got that right. The little brat just loves to pretend to give you something and then runs off laughing her pretty little head off. It started off cute, but now it's just annoying," Cal told her, flipping through the book, "are you sure that this isn't a little bit too sad?"

Hermione loved this book – she isn't ashamed to say that she had read a few of them, despite being well above the recommended age, but she couldn't help it; a part of her had needed to know if these wizarding books held the same fairy-tale aspect and morals weaved between the words that Muggle stories did.

Turns out, they were a lot more literal and straight forward with their message, as she found out by Ursula the Unicorn feeling left out because her friends refused to share their sweets and Ursula wanted to hide away for days and days because she couldn't face the humiliation and pain of seeing the people that she had thought accepted her, but instead rejected her. In the end, they never did share and Ursula grew up believing that she wasn't good enough to share with and hadn't left her home for over twenty years until a little girl stumbled upon her den and offered her some biscuits – sharing. So, it was a technical happy ending, but it took a hell of a long time to get there.

"Honestly, it is sad, but it has such an impact that I guarantee she'll be sharing everything with you. Of course, if you feel that her parents might slice you in half, then you get her another?" She offered lightly, scratching at the inside of her elbow absent-mindedly, used to dealing with uncertain customers. She took no offence if they didn't choose the book that she selected, but they always seemed to think that they'd hurt her in some way.

"My sister does have a mean severing charm," Cal laughed, hooking his thumb in his belt loop, the book held loosely in his other hand as his eyes scanned the expansive bookcase, "how about this and a bright pink one? I know that I'm a manly man who shouldn't be carrying pink, but it's what her little heart wants, and I love her to pieces."

Her heart practically swelled at the care and affection that Cal so obviously held for his niece and Hermione felt like they had reached a reasonable compromise and, because he was her neighbour and lived in the flat above hers, she offered to cut 50% off of one of his purchases.

He chose Twinkle Rain, a story about a beautiful star called rain who spread happiness wherever he went and, whenever you opened the book, glitter practically exploded, but vanished before it hit the floor – which was handy for clean-ups.

While she was ringing his purchases up, they chatted amicably about his niece – Janelle – and he painted her to be such a good hearted but evil child destined for a life of Slytherin. "What house were you in?" She asked as she slashed 50% off of Twinkle Rain and totalled the price as Cal dug in the pockets of his jeans for 1 Galleon and 3 Sickles.

"Wit beyond Measure is Man's greatest treasure," he said without pause, sliding the right amount across the counter, his rings flashing in the sunlight streaming through the newly repaired windows.

"Ahh, Ravenclaw." She smiled, "you know, I almost –" she stopped herself short with a jolt to her heart – she was about to tell Cal that she had almost sorted into Ravenclaw during her sorting before she realised that she didn't go to Hogwarts in this time – she was a Beauxbatons student through and through and it would do her good to actually remember that.

"Almost, what?" He asked intrigued, leaning his elbow on the counter as Hermione shook her head as unease started to curl up in her stomach.

"Oh…Err, I almost went to Hogwarts and I think that I would have liked to have been in Ravenclaw." She prayed silently that he didn't question her and she was relieved when he smiled, his hand reaching to slip through the handles of the paper bag offered to him that held his books – this bags had handily been charmed so that the rain wouldn't penetrate it and rip it pieces; she hated that when it happened in the Muggle World.

"We would have been happy to have you." He said back with a grin and Hermione felt the tension that had tightened her shoulders as soon as she noticed her slip up release at his kind words, and a gentle smile pulled at her lips in thanks. "So…I was wondering if you wanted to grab a coffee sometime?" He asked and Hermione blinked at him for a moment before nodding her head in agreement.

It would be nice, she thought, to get to know her neighbours – although she wished that she knew what would happen to them in the future, because she didn't want to get hurt if they got ripped away from her by Death Eaters in the near future. On the other hand, it was a good thing that she didn't know his fate, she thought as she watched him push his hair away from his eyes, because if he were to be a victim of Voldemort's reign, she would be none the wiser and wouldn't feel the tremendous swirl of guilt low in her stomach that she knows she will on 30th October 1980.

"Sure," she smiled, "how's tomorrow sound?"

00000

"Girl, you move around fast!" Natalia said after Hermione had told her that she was going for coffee with Cal tomorrow, "first Sirius and now Cal."

"Wait…What are you talking about?" Hermione asked perplexed as she stirred the sugar into her much needed coffee. At 1pm today, just as Hermione's lunch break was starting, Natalia burst into the shop and dragged her bodily into the cute little café called firmitas which Hermione loved because it had such a homely, cosy feeling to it.

"Oh, are we playing all coy and innocent? An interesting tactic…Not one that I'd use myself but, I can't exactly knock you for it when it's so obviously working," Natalia grinned as she counted out her Galleons – she was planning on going shopping after Hermione returned to work for the rest of the day. Hermione had no idea what Natalia did for work, or if she worked at all, but she had a steady stream of money that never seemed to run out; just the other day she bought a pair of boots which knocked her back 100 Galleons and here she was with another hoard of money, ready to spend it on something else.

"Tactic?" Hermione shook her head in amusement at her friend, "Natalia, it's just coffee. There is no tactic."

Hermione was surprised when Natalia rolled her eyes before shoving her money back into her grey leather pouch and reaching for her own coffee. "Oh, sweetie, you're so naïve." She chuckled and Hermione felt slightly offended at this choice of words – she had fought a war, for Merlin's sake, she wasn't exactly ignorant to the ways of life. "Coffee to a man is essentially this…" Natalia cleared her throat and, when she spoke again it was in a much deeper voice, "Hey, you wanna go out for coffee? Awesome. Hey, you wanna go back to my place for crazy, hot sex? Cool."

"Natalia!" Hermione couldn't help but blush as the people closest to them turned to look at them in confusion, their eyebrows raised. "It isn't like that," she said quietly, her fingers playing with the handle of her mug.

"Hermione, for most men, it's always like that." She chuckled again, sipping from her own mug which had iridescent pink sparkles, that were giving Hermione a much un-needed headache. "Anyways, I say go for it."

"Nat, I'm not going to just … go for it." Hermione could feel the blush moving across her cheeks and down to her neck and she knew, but Natalia's deep, throaty chuckle that it was visible to the world.

"Why not? You're young, healthy, free, sexy, awesome and he's young, healthy, free, sexy, awesome and he can play the guitar! Hey, this just goes to show that he'll know exactly how to work those fingers to give you the time of your whole entire life."

Hermione just stared at Natalia as if she'd just announced to the whole café that she was engaged to Voldemort and having his and Bellatrix LeStrange's Love Child. "Oh, Hermione, you're twenty years old, surely you get how this works?"

She couldn't put into words how confused and out of synch she felt whilst having this conversation – she was quite happy with just going along for coffee with Cal but now, Natalia just blew that out of the water. She knew that her friend loved sex, had it on a frequent basis so really, Hermione shouldn't really be surprised when Natalia let her mind jump straight there, but she still found it incredibly irritating.

"Besides, it'll be good to get back at Sirius."

Get back at Sirius…Those words seemed to play again and again in her mind and she felt like she was transported back to the moment when she saw Sirius press his lips to behind the blonde girls ear.

"Natalia…I'm not going out with Cal to get back at Sirius. We aren't in a relationship and –"

"I call Bullsh-"

"Natalia, will you stop it! We went on one date which, I would like to point out wasn't an official date anyway, so I can't deny him the chance of being with someone else. How is that fair?"

Hermione couldn't help but feel the sting of rejection as she thought back to the Triwand – she knew that this wasn't going to be the easiest job in the World, but she had been hoping that it wouldn't be quite so…hurtful. No, she didn't love Sirius and no, she didn't particularly want to be in a relationship with him…that being said she had felt like they had shared a connection, and it pained her slightly that he could just throw the feelings away like that – especially because she knew that it wasn't one sided, that the mirror was stirring up some feelings there inside him about her. She wasn't alone in this.

At the same time, she was painfully aware about how alone she was in this.

"Listen, Herm, you and Siri are playing a game of cat and mouse…and right now, he's acting like a dog."

00000

Remus looked up from the inventory as the door to Florish and Blotts opened and Sirius practically stomped his way inside, banging his feet lightly on the door edge to dislodge some snow that had stuck to his boots. In his hands, he was carrying two to-go mugs of coffee and Remus, not for the first time, sent a silent pray of thanks to the Muggle World for the invention of this glorious, amazing drink.

"Where's Hermione?" Remus retracted his thanks and instead, cursed Sirius for his one track mind.

"She's on her Lunch break. Thanks for the coffee." He reached for it with eager hands and Sirius let him take it, chuckling slightly as he shook his head, his hair falling into his eyes. He leaned backwards against the counter and took a sip of his own drink, his grey eyes scanning the bookstore, cataloguing the shoppers who were in there, like a true Auror has to.

Sirius cleared his throat as a red-headed woman walked by, winking subtly at him. Remus rolled his own eyes as he saw that Sirius' were fixed to her and he smacked the back of his head. Hard.

"Ow! What in Merlin's saggy left –"

"Sirius, this is a bookstore, not a brothel." Remus said easily, sipping more of his coffee.

"Oh, shut up, Moony."

Remus grinned into his drink at Sirius' comeback and couldn't help but shake his head in fondness for his best friend…Until he heard his next words. "So, dear friend of mine, do you know why Hermione's been all distant with me?"

There was a reason, beside his obvious furry problem, why he was single.

"I don't know…Maybe it has to do with you not being able to tear your eyes away from other women." He said this as a blonde woman walked by this time that even made Remus look twice, and he was left wondering when the hell his bookshop became a magnet for single, attractive women.

Sirius frowned and turned his whole body to look at him, his hand clenching around his to-go mug with a look of annoyance on his face. "I'm a hot blooded man, Remus, what do you expect me to do?"

"Why are you asking me?" Remus asked in annoyance, wondering where the Hell Ali was and just why he was being left alone to fend off the relationship questions.

"Because you see her all the time, practically every day," Sirius told him, his tone suggesting that that much was just plain obvious.

Remus was starting to get bored with this conversation, and the coffee was proving futile in giving him the kick he very much needed today. "Well, I won't be seeing her tomorrow. It seems that Cal Heartway will though."

"Cal? The guy who lives above her? What?" Sirius looked angry and Remus couldn't help the little smile pull at the corners of his lips. If this was going to help him realise that Hermione wasn't going to wait around forever, Remus didn't know what would – A knock to Sirius' ego was always the way forward.

"She's a hot blooded woman, Sirius, what do you expect her to do?"

A/N: Okay, first of all, I'd like to say – Hey!

Secondly, I know that it's been a really, really long time, but I have to tell you the reason why I stopped writing – it doesn't have anything to do with being too busy, or any personal things happening, my computer didn't break, I didn't forget about this story and I didn't have major writer's block.

On the contrary, I had a whole load of ideas about this story, but I stopped writing it because I wasn't enjoying it anymore. Everything felt forced and I didn't think it was fair to give you something that wasn't 100% to my abilities and my character's portrayal. Writing this story was becoming a chore, something that I had to do, so I stopped writing it until I felt in a place where I could return and do so with justice.

I know to a few of you that will sound lame, but it's kinda like being given an essay for homework, that has to be 4'000 words and has to be done by the next week and there is no option about that – so you put it off for ages and then you don't start it until about five hours before it's due in…Then I realised that I didn't have to write this by a certain deadline because I didn't technically have one. I hope that you can understand that.

Thank you for those who have been patient and waiting for me to update this story, so here you go. I am sorry that it took so long and I'm sorry that I really only have a filler chapter to give you. I don't know when the next chapter will be up, but I'm back into the swing of things and I found that I really enjoyed writing this chapter, and I did so in two days.

I really appreciate every review and every favourite, and again, I am sorry that it took me so long to start this story again, but I will finish it – I can promise you that this story will one day, be filed under complete.

Kelly

xxx