Disclaimer: I do not own any Harry Potter characters or locations.
Playing God
Chapter Twelve
"Well this car is automatic, it's systematic, it's hydromatic! Why it's greased lightnin'!"
"Man, I love this film." Natalia said from beside Hermione, throwing a piece of popcorn into the air, tilting her head back and expertly catching the small treat in her mouth. "Kenickie, get in my bed."
"Kenickie? Really?" Hermione asked in disbelief, her eyebrows quirked in surprise.
"Damn right, Kenickie! Don't tell me that you're a Danny girl."
It had been a week since the attack down Diagon Alley and Hermione was still shaken up about it – so much so that she threw herself into her work to distract herself from the low, burning feeling in the pit of her stomach that threatened to consume her. She avoided the people that she could on a regular basis, hardly saying two words to Remus and Ali during her work hours and not stopping in to see Natalia at all. Unfortunately, Hermione didn't know how much it would frustrate her neighbour and, at 7:00pm today, Natalia had quite literally barged her way into Hermione's apartment, demanding that she turn on the TV as she threw a bag of popcorn in her face, because Grease was playing and it was her favourite movie.
At first, Hermione was annoyed by Natalia's entrance, but more than halfway through the movie and she had to admit that she was grateful for the small distraction that this offered and she briefly wondered if she'd go to bed nightmare free tonight.
Hermione shrugged nonchalantly and chewed thoughtfully on her popcorn before she answered Natalia's remark. "Well, he is the main character. And he cares."
"Oh please, he's a tool! He completely changes himself for some whiny blonde that he's known for what, five minutes? It just isn't realistic. Now Kenickie, that's a guy who's comfortable with who he is and he isn't ashamed of it." Natalia nodded as she finished her explanation, "of course, he is completely hot. That is definitely not lost on me."
"I'm still surprised you know what a film is." Hermione chuckled, tucking her feet underneath her as she turned to look at her friend.
"I'm just full of surprises me. You don't know what I got till I show ya!" Natalia grinned and then winked, throwing a few more pieces of popcorn in her mouth and crunching loudly, examining her fingernails closely, the iridescent pink reflecting in Hermione's electrical lighting.
Hermione nodded and shimmed down the back of the couch lightly, so that she was eye level with Natalia, who was slouching back, her bare feet propped up on the coffee table in front of her. "Yeah…Kinda like a Hufflepuff."
"I hate you."
Hermione couldn't help but laugh at Natalia's dead pan response and she was happy to realise that it had been the first time that she'd out-right laughed since the attack. "Come on, Nat, you must have known that I'd find out. I don't get why you kept it a secret in the first place – there's nothing wrong with being a Hufflepuff."
"No, you're right. There isn't. Hufflepuff is a house of loyalty and union, a house that accepts anyone and everyone without caring if they're brave, or smart or a pure-blood. Helga Hufflepuff just wanted everyone to learn magic and she didn't care where you came from or who you came from."
"Exactly. So why don't you tell people that instead of making everyone think that you're a Slytherin?"
"Because it's irrelevant."
Hermione blinked in confusion at Natalia's words and furrowed her brows. It was times like this that confused the hell out of Hermione, and she didn't like being confused. "How -?"
"Slytherin, Hufflepuff, who cares? I'm the exact same person that I am without stamping a house label on me." At seeing Hermione's face still screwed up in confusion, Natalia sighed and shook her head, her long black curls sliding over her shoulder. "I don't tell people that I'm a Slytherin," Natalia started to explain, "they just assume it because I'm a grade A-Bitch. Fact." Natalia held her hand up to Hermione when she sensed that Hermione would butt in. It was true that Natalia was a bitch, but she was also kind and caring and a great friend. "But I don't tell people I'm a Hufflepuff either. Think about it, it's the last house you'd expect of me, right?"
Hermione was ashamed to say that she had been extremely shocked when that was the house name that had tumbled from Remus' lips that day in Florish and Blotts when they were having this particular conversation…It was hard for Hermione to believe that that had been over a week ago. N
Seeing the faint blush cross Hermione's cheekbones and her sheepish glance, Natalia felt a smirk settle across her lips. "See? I don't act like a Hufflepuff, so why tell people that I'm a Hufflepuff and bring the reputation of that whole house down?"
Hermione, who had been sipping some green tea at this point, very nearly spat it out over her friend at this response. "What?" She gasped in surprise, blinking rapidly. "You think that you'd bring Hufflepuff down? How…Why would –"
Natalia shook her head slowly. "Hufflepuff's equal nice people and Natalia equals bitch. Look, I don't mind because my allegiance will always be to Hufflepuff, but what difference does it make to who I am whether I was in Hufflepuff or Slytherin? Absolutely none. Now that's about as chick-flicky as I can get…Besides, we're missing my favourite movie of all time."
The emphasis on those final words weren't lost on Hermione and she decided to let it go, accepting Natalia's answer, even though she didn't like it. Natalia was a Hufflepuff through and through, bitch or not and it saddened Hermione that Natalia didn't believe herself to be worthy of that house…But Hermione supposed that's what made Natalia who she was. And Hermione was proud to have her as a friend.
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There was no mistaking the long silvery hair, the sneer fixed permanently in place, the snake headed cane that was practically glued to his right hand at all hours of the day and the majestic way that he carried himself; as if the whole world was his oyster and he could do whatever the Hell he wanted to do.
He was walking down the streets of Hogsmeade towards Hermione and she very nearly exclaimed in surprise at seeing him. The last time that she had laid eyes on Lucius Malfoy was during the Battle of Hogsmeade, a few streets away from here closer to HoneyDukes (of course by 1999 it had been abandoned and was used as a safe house to people who had rejected from the Death Eaters, but their true intentions were not made clear to the Order) in which he had aimed the killing curse directly at his sons chest.
Hermione felt the swell of anger and pure agony swell up in her chest as she remembered the way that Lucius, snivelling in the pouring rain, had raised his wand to his only child after it had been revealed to the Death Eaters that Draco had rejected. After his disappearance from the Death Eaters in July in 1998, many of them had assumed that he had been killed during a mission to raid a Muggle orphanage which Draco was supposed to be leading – nobody had assumed that he'd rejected to the Order, intent on changing the evil things that he'd done and hoping for forgiveness and for redemption, something that Hermione had given him in leaps and bounds.
She and Draco had gotten close towards the end of November in 1998 – Harry had been putting Hermione on as many missions as possible in an effort to rid her mind from the state that her lover was residing in as he lay unconscious in a bed, secluded in Shell Cottage. He had decided to send Draco with her after he had passed every test thrown at him, and his intentions were true as far as the Order was concerned and Dumbledore's testimony that he didn't believe Draco would have truly killed him in the astronomy tower that day in 1997 was unwavering for some people, particularly Harry.
Hermione on the other hand, she still had some doubts about him and Harry thought it would be perfect. They were supposed to scope out a factory down in Doncaster which was supposed to be being used by the Death Eaters as a base of operations. Their mission was simple; find the place, find out who was in there (if anybody) and then get the Hell out.
Of course, plans didn't always go exactly the way that they're supposed to do and Hermione and Draco had fallen into a trap – Hermione was literally three seconds away from another Crucio before Draco, surprisingly, saved her and earned himself a spot as her right hand man, something that he took in his stride. Every mission that she went on, whether it was as small as interrogating a caught fugitive or as big as trying to find out the sixth Horcrux, Draco was there beside her – a constant, something that she had lost when Ron lost his mind and Harry had been practically locked in his room to keep him safe.
The Battle of Hogsmeade was no different.
"Okay, so you all know your positions. They're going to come down hard and they're going to come down fast."
"Geez, could you have made that any more sexual?" Seamus Finnigan sniggered from where he was crouched behind the joke shop that Hermione just couldn't quite remember the name of. A small wave of quiet laughs swelled up from the numbers that had been called foreword to fight this fight. Blaise Zabini, another rejecter, had gained some leads that the Death Eaters were going to attack Hogwarts, and Harry had planned for them to counter attack in Hogsmeade, protecting the kids that still attended Hogwarts, which weren't that many. "We're fighting so that they don't have to, Hermione. We have to keep them safe. Cut them off at the knees every chance that you get and, for Merlin's sake, please be safe." Harry had uttered those words a few hours before she and Draco had apparated to this meeting point and Hermione herself couldn't help but smile as Severus scowled at the Irish boy. If they could still laugh and smile, then they were going to be okay.
Oh, how wrong she was.
"You ready for this Granger?" Draco has asked behind her from where he was sat on the floor, uncaring that his jeans were getting stained in mud as the rain came down hard, plastering his white blonde hair to his forehead. He shoved it off in impatience, his grey eyes narrowing into slits as he scanned the area around them. There was no-one.
Hogsmeade had been abandoned long ago. At first, the Death Eaters were intent upon patrolling this area, but had given up and relocated when they released that it wasn't any use to anybody if nobody was here.
She grinned at Draco and bumped her fist with his as she extracted her wand from her thigh holster. "Bring it." She said teasingly, knowing that they would win. Given the amount of Battles and wars that Hermione had taken part in, she was surprised that she wasn't more scared at this prospect of staring down Death Eaters hell bent on destroying Hogwarts, but she wasn't worried. If she was going to die, then she was going to die.
She knew that she would go down fighting and so did Draco.
"Okay, but don't be stupid Granger." He warned, lowering his head so that his eyes were level with hers, catching her in some sort of tractor beam, "if you're in danger, you'd better get the hell of out dodge."
Hermione couldn't help but roll her eyes, used to this lecture from Draco by now, but his hands latched onto the sides of her face firmly. "I'm serious. Things get rough, apparate out. I mean it, Granger."
"Draco, this is no different from the thousands of other –" Her next words were cut off as an explosion rocked the ground and the building they were sat behind began to tilt on its axis heading straight for the first wave of fighters.
"Move!" Draco grabbed her hand and pulled her up and out of the way without a second thought as the building crashed to the ground hard, debris flying every which way.
It was on.
They had been battling for half an hour before the second wave of fighters were brought onto the Battlefield, being led by Remus Lupin, who slashed a Death Eater before him in half without a second thought. Hermione barely blinked as her face was sprayed with his blood as she was still intently focused on the battle that she was currently engaging in with Yaxley. He'd had a personal vendetta against her since she, Ron and Harry broke into the Ministry a few years back and she was getting really tired of him getting on her case.
Just as Neville helped her out with a well-placed Stupefy she had seen Lucius and Draco come face to face. Draco was breathing hard, his hand clutching tightly onto his wand and a nasty cut across his right eye that Hermione made a mental note to look at when this was over, while Lucius looked as if he was just joining in this fight, his eyes twitching as he caught sight of his son who he'd thought had been dead for a long time.
"Draco. Well, isn't this a surprise?"
Hermione didn't hear anymore after that ; the rain was pounding in her ears and just that moment, Dolohov had caught sight of her – someone else who had it out for her since she had shrunk his head in her fifth year. That had to have been painful for his pride, being beaten by a sixteen year old girl.
The battle seemed to be heating up instead of winding down and the Death Eaters didn't seem to be giving up – all around her, her friends and comrades were falling; Angelina Johnson was thrown down by Goyle Senior, Cho Chang was being choked by Walden Macnair, Aberforth Dumbledore being stunned by Thicknesse and Alicia Spinnet having her throat being ripped out by Fenrir Greyback … But her eyes were glued on one person and one person only.
Draco Malfoy.
She knew what was going to happen a moment before it did – Lucius knocked Draco's wand away from him and it rolled across the cobbled street away from him. His body followed its descent to the floor as Lucius used a severing charm, causing a wide gash to cut across his chest.
"No!" Hermione screamed out as Draco's knees hit the floor, his head hanging down as the strength left his body. Hermione pushed people out of her way, ducking under different, brightly coloured curses and circling around people, her arm outstretched as she reached for him desperately, Lucius's arm wand thrown back, ready to arch through the air as he practically screamed out the words to the killing curse.
Her body collided with Draco's moments before the spell hit his chest and they hit the ground hard – the curse sailed over out bodied and slammed into the wall of a building, the windows shaking in their panes before exploding into a million pieces, showering the two of them with sharp edges of glass.
"Well, what do we have here? The Mudblood, Draco, really?" Lucius sneered, his body showing that he was in command, in control, but his nervous twitches and shifty eyes told Hermione that he was afraid.
He was a coward.
"Her…M'ne…" Draco gasped, blood bubbling up in the gash in his chest and she shushed him gently, clambering to my feet, not paying any attention as the glass crunched beneath my weight.
"What is the matter with you? He's your son." Hermione said, her chest heaving as she struggled to take in air, her collision with the floor having knocked the wind out of her. "You don't have to do this, Malfoy, you don't."
"No…Mine…" Draco struggled to sit up on the floor and Lucius' eyes snapped to him and I felt fear clench my around my heart like an iron fist. You can't take him, she thought, not another one of my friends…
Just as she was about to attempt to delve into the fathering side of him, she heard a snarl and a roar as well as a shrill cry of her name – she spun on her heel just in time to put up a shield charm that Fenrir Greyback's body slammed into painfully and she heard the distinct crunch of bones as his body slumped to the floor, quivering in pain.
Before Hermione could sigh in relief, the noises around her vanished, dissolving into the background as lights illuminated the dark, Gray night before her and her senses became attuned to one thing and one thing only – "Sectumsempra!"
Hermione felt warmth drench her side and her hand jerkily pressed into it, surprised to find that it was painful. She jerkily yanked on the material of her red sweater and lifted it to see a wide gash in her side that made her loose her bearings and she collapsed to her knees. Before she could hit the floor though, a body was besides her propping her up, keeping her from meeting the floor face first.
"Hermione? No, no, no, no…You bastard! She has nothing to do with this!" A hand cradled the side of her face and she found that she was listening to a frantic paced heartbeat. She felt as if someone had pressed the slow motion button on a remote control and had muted her life as her eyes gazed at the hectic action around her.
"Oh dear boy…She has everything to do with this. Rejecting us is one thing…But rejecting us for that…That is another thing entirely." The last thing that Hermione remembered before her vision went black were arms tightening almost painfully around her and a repeated curse that met the end of Draco Malfoy.
She woke up a week later with a cry on her lips and an ache in her heart in the bed beside Ron, who was slumbering peacefully, like he had been for four months prior.
After that battle, it had taken her awhile before she could go back to missions, preferring instead to hole up in the library, researching the Horcruxes, or pouring over tombs and old children's story, hoping for a hint that would tell her who the owner of the Elder Wand was. She had stamped down the pain that she felt at Draco's death and had eventually managed to not think about it at all and the presence of Lucius before caused it all to slam back into her painfully and she automatically held a hand to her chest, as if it would somehow mend the broken pieces of her heart that had splintered off with each death she witnessed, and each one that she caused.
As Lucius passed her, the corner of his lips pulled up into a sneer and she had to fight the impulse to just tear him down that was so strong, her hand was shaking as it reached for her wand. She was mentally planning what spell she was going to use as a red mist descended over her vision and the need to cause him pain like he had her and Draco was consuming, burning in her, swirling around and around begging to be heard when –
"Earth to Hermione! Are you even listening to me?" Hermione's world suddenly expanded and she felt like she could breathe again. She turned her head slowly to the side to see Natalia looking at her, her eyebrows raised in question as she crossed her arms and leaned back against a store window. "What was that?"
"What was what?" Hermione automatically went on the defence as she looked over her shoulder in time to see Malfoy Seniors long, navy blue robes whip around a corner and out of sight.
Merlin, she could kill him. She could. Draco was born in June 1980, which meant that Narcissa was already pregnant with him – there was no need to keep Lucius alive, no need at all and if she could just –
"Hermione, seriously, I'm starting to feel like I'm talking to myself here. What's up?"
"Natalia, now isn't a good –"
"Hey, you're the one who suggested this little shopping trip last night, remember? We were on the couch, cuddled up under the fluffy red blanket as the firelight flickered romantically in the background with the music swelling on the screen as – Wait, where are you going?"
Hermione had tuned Natalia out halfway through and she was now pushing her way past the steady stream of shoppers heading in her direction, moving away from her friend and intently towards Lucius, all of the anger and hate that she could feel for him driving her foreword, keeping her head straight as she slammed her body around the corner…to find that he wasn't there.
She didn't know whether to be relieved that he wasn't there, or terrified that she was disappointed by it.
00000
"I'm worried about Hermione," Sirius glanced up as Remus lifted up the edge of his dark purple curtains, staring out into the courtyard, "she's barely said two words to me since the attack."
Sirius pushed his chair away from the table and stood up, making his way to stand beside Remus. Out of the window, he saw Hermione and Natalia enter through the main gates into the courtyard. "She looks rough," he commented, crossing his arms over his chest, hoping that his concern didn't leak out into his tone. Judging by Remus's amused smirk, he could hear it.
"Sirius, as your best friend, I'm –"
"James is my best friend." Sirius fired back, but his tone was light and teasing.
"I know, man, you don't want to hurt his feelings," Remus gave Sirius an exaggerated wink as outside, the two girls stopped in front of Hermione's door, "but as your best friend –"
"Dude, James is my best friend." Sirius repeated, watching like a hawk as Hermione and Natalia chatted, Natalia's hand clasped around Hermione's shoulders.
Hermione had been avoiding him to, and he hadn't spoken to her since the attack either – it seemed that Natalia was the only one who Hermione would talk to and he tried to stomp down the swell of jealousy that bubbled up like a cauldron in his stomach. Hadn't he proved to her that he was in this with her? When he took her home that night and said goodbye to he, he promised her that she was safe, that she was good. Those words that she'd said to him as they sat on the pavement still haunted him, echoing around his mind.
How could she think that she was a monster, when all who she is was undeniably good.
"No, according to a very nice, rugged old man who I was serving yesterday while you and James were browsing the crime books, giggling like children over the word fornicate, James is your boyfriend." Remus sniggered from beside him, letting the curtain drop back into place once Natalia had hugged Hermione and had moved away heading to her own apartment. "Still, I think I should warn you to not tell Hermione that she looks rough to her face."
"No, I can't see that going over well." Sirius laughed lightly as he imagined Hermione, in all her fury, turning him into a ferret or something equally rodent like.
Sirius moved past Remus and went back to the dining room table to finish his Butter beer when the front door to Remus' apartment practically slammed open and Natalia breezed in.
"Natalia! To what do I owe the pleasure?" Sirius asked, once again rising from his seat as he spread his arms out in welcome, his right hand still wrapped around the bottle, "welcome to my friend's humble home." He announced this as if Natalia had never been in this flat before and she just rolled ehr dark brown eyes at him, deciding to completly ignore his presence.
"I'm worried about Hermione."
"Well, that's a sentiment that's been going around a lot today." Sirius said as he collapsed back into his seat on the couch, not even sparing Natalia another glance as he drank down about a quarter of his drink, hoping for something with a little more kick, but he had work in the morning and the last time he'd shown up to work with hung-over, Kingsley had reamed him out for hours and then James, thinking it would be funny, hid one of those monkeys that banged the cymbals together somewhere in the office.
Still, Hermione wouldn't leave his mind and he was feeling the sting of her absence, almost like rejection, pressing hard up into his ribs. It made him uncomfortable and he really didn't appreciate it.
There must be something that he could do?
"No, she went a bit weird today when we were shopping in Hogsmeade," Natalia informed them, dropping onto the couch beside Sirius without being invited by Remus and she leaned her head over the back of the couch, her long thick hair hanging over like a black veil. "She flipped when she caught sight of Lucius Malfoy."
"Do you think…I don't know, that Hermione's maybe lying to us?"
"Of course she's lying to us, Remus, and it's driving me crazy!" Natalia said angrily, her hand curling into a fist as she breathed harshly through her nose, "How are we supposed to be her friends when she isn't being honest with us?"
Sirius was honestly taken aback by Natalia's outrage and he wondered why she cared so much about a woman who she'd known for about a fortnight. It just didn't make sense to him, "woah, Natalia, getting a little crush are we?" he teased as he lifted his feet up and put them on the table before him, his heels banging against the wood.
Natalia's sharp inhale was all he needed to know. "Shut up, Black."
"Wait…Seriously?"
"Whatever. Not like it matters, right?" Natalia smiled sadly and shook her head, her hair swaying with the motion. "Besides, you'd throw me under a bus to get into her pants. This is screwed up and insane, but it isn't like I love her or anything, it's just a little crush."
Sirius felt an awkwardness press against him as his mind instantly reverted back to the night that he and Natalia had spent together over a year ago and wondering if she'd been vying for girls then and playing a show, or if she'd only just recently discovered it about herself.
"I'm about 70 – 30, Black." She answered his unasked question and Sirius wondered if she could read his mind, "Just go talk to her, yeah? She really needs it right now."
Sirius stood at once, not even questioning Natalia's order and putting his drink down on the table with a clunk before turning towards her, "are you sure? I mean, she spends time with you and we don't know –"
"She'd choose you." Natalia said with a sad expression on her beautiful face.
"Yeah?"
"Every time. You and your stupid penis."
00000
Hermione looked at her reflection in the mirror, her hands gripping the side of the porcelain sink in front of her as her coffee coloured eyes scoured every inch of her face, trying desperately to see the monster inside her.
No trace. There was no devious glint in her eye, no smirk on her lips, no quirked eyebrow – she was just Hermione and she looked absolutely no different.
Merlin, this was messed up. Her eyelids slid closed as more tears escaped her eyes, tracing the path down her face and dripped down her neck, landing on the sink and seemingly exploding when they hit the cold, hard surface. She was so tired and she felt so lost that a part of her was just desperate to get home, to curl up in Harry's arms and cry herself to sleep. She missed the feeling of solid friendship, of someone who she could tell anyone to. Harry, Ron, Draco…
And now she'd lost them all.
It seemed that she'd be crying herself to sleep alone tonight, she thought as she left the bathroom, flicking the light off and holding onto the sides of her Gryffindor red dressing gown, pulling it closer to her, wrapping it more securely around her body.
She collapsed onto her bed, knowing that her tears were staining her pillows with little puddles, but she felt so defeated that she didn't even move away, instead burrowing even further into the warmth and comfort of her bed.
When someone knocked on the door, she nearly let out a sob. She wasn't in the mood to see anyone or talk to anyone or even look at anyone, she was so shaken up from seeing Lucius and having the memory of Draco's death slam into her painfully, something that she'd buried inside her for a long time.
However, the person on the other side didn't share her thought process and they just kept knocking and knocking, never ending, the noise a constant, driving her insane until she sat up in frustration and reaching for her wand.
Merlin, what was happening to her?
"Hermione? Hermione, are you there?" It was Sirius and she didn't know whether to be relieved or annoyed. "I know you're in there, babe, so let me in."
Babe…Hermione rolled her eyes at the pet name that he'd probably used on countless woman and used her hands to brush the fresh tears off of her cheeks which hadn't stopped falling since she'd left Natalia in the courtyard.
She stood on shaky legs, not caring if she looked like crap and stumbled to the door in the dark.
"What do you want?" Hermione asked as she opened the door, not at all surprised to see Sirius looking as handsome as ever in a black, button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up revealing his forearms and dark blue jeans which hugged his thighs. On his left wrist he wore a beaded bracelet and on his right there was a silver watch.
"My, my, my, aren't we chipper?" Sirius brushed past her and Hermione pushed back the urge to yell and stomp her feet like a toddler instead; she chose to close the door with a resounding slam. "Hermione, what's gotten into you?" Sirius asked, and while a part of Hermione was annoyed by the question, the other half was surprised by it.
She hadn't spoken to Sirius in over a week, ashamed that he'd seen her when the monster inside of her chose to show itself and even more embarrassed that she'd told him.
She hadn't meant to, she thought as she leant against the wall, watching Sirius as he sat down on her sofa without her say-so, extending his arm over the back of it, placing his feet on her coffee table, making himself feel at home, putting her instantly at ease. That's what Sirius did, Hermione realised, and he had this amazing ability to comfort and sooth without actually saying a word, without lifting a finger. Just his presence was enough for her, and she really, really needed the comfort right now.
Her body acted on auto-pilot as she moved to kneel beside him on the couch, so close that her knees brushed against his thighs. He raised his eyebrows at her in question as she brought her hands up to cup the side of his face, the tips of her fingers sliding into his smooth black hair.
"Hermione, what -?" He reached up to cover her hand, but she shushed him.
Before she could think about it, she pressed her lips to his almost violently, needing to relieve some of this tension that was permanently inside her – she almost felt like a windup toy, and the monster inside of her just kept spinning and spinning the key until she was about to explode and she hoped, prayed, that this with Sirius would stop it from happening…or cause it to explode in a good kind of way.
He responded instantly, returning the pressure that she was using and winding his arms around her waist, pulling her up and onto his lap, her knees straddling his thighs. She moaned in the back of her throat and let her hands skim over his chest, the feel of the black silk of his shirt cool to her touch and she felt a fire ignite in her that craved more, something that she hadn't felt since she'd been with Ron well over a year ago.
The thought of Ron caused more tears to spill down her cheeks and drip onto Sirius' face, whose eyes blinked open at the wet splashes he felt against his cheeks and he was brought back down to Earth. "Hermione…" He said as he moved his head back, his hands sliding up her body to cup her jaw, stopping her own movements to follow his, "Hermione, what are we doing?"
"Well, if you don't know then you're not as good at this as I thought…" Hermione said, but her tears and devastated expression stopped him from responding with a snarky comment.
"Hermione, I won't be that guy," he said gently, moving Hermione to sit beside him again and Hermione felt a painful sting of rejection that she was used to after seeing Ron and Lavender all over each other in sixth year. "Not the guy that you sleep with and never want to see again because you're suffering."
"I bet that you've been that guy before…" She said, using the sleeve of her dressing gown to wipe away some more tears and Sirius felt his own heart ache at the sight of her.
He moved closer to her, so that their legs were pressed tight to each other and he slid his arm around her thigh, urging her body to lean into his, resting her head gently over his fast-paced heart. "I have, but I won't be that guy for you. You're hurting and you're vulnerable and I refuse to take advantage of you."
She huddled closer at his words and he knew that he had somehow managed to soothe her and he breathed out sharply through his nose, pulling her just that bit closer, his other hand cupping the back of her head, entangling in her crazy curls.
A few minutes later, when it seemed that she was about to go to sleep, he leaned his lips closer to her ear and said, "so, you've been thinking about how good I would be in bed? Well, honey, let me tell you – I would rock your World."
The small, tired laugh that he got in reply made his entire day.
A/N: First of all, I have no idea if they played Grease on Television in 1980 – I don't see why they wouldn't, but if, for some strange reason they didn't, then they managed to watch it through the use of magic :D
Okay, now the whole Draco story-line…I'm soory, but I adore Dramione - There's just something about them that I love and I was going to have them be in a relationship, but I didn't think that it was the right tone for this story so I made them BFF's - although Draco totally has a crush on her ;)
I hope you all liked this chapter!
Kelly
xxx