She Remembers
A/N: Here it is... The next chapter! There's not much left to say. We take off the moment Hermione realizes she is in love with our Sirius.
Disclaimer: Not yet. D
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Oh goodness. This was wrong, plain wrong. It had been only a crush, dammit! When did it become something more?
"Close your mouth, love, or I might have to stick something in it," Sirius suddenly said softly, smiling. Hermione gasped and immediately closed her mouth; trying to stop certain mental images to overrule the rational part of her seemingly addled brain.
"Sirius Black!" Hermione exclaimed in outraged tones, blushing profusely. What had that been all about?! Had that comment meant something? No, no. It couldn't have- maybe it was in his nature to be so crude. But then again, why should it have a... erm... suggestive second meaning? Her mind was in the gutter; that was where the problem was. Sirius could have meant a finger, a snowball, a scarf; not necessarily a- a tongue or- or... well, what she meant was that it could have been a wand, or even a carrot-
MIND OUT OF THE GUTTER!
Her racing mind's blabbering stopped when Hermione felt Sirius's hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright? You look worried," he said. Hermione swallowed and cleared her throat, aware that his hand hadn't moved from her shoulder.
"R- Ron's dad. Harry," she managed to answer. What was wrong with her?? Since when did she act like a fumbling, stuttering... girl?! Sirius grinned.
"They'll be happy to see you. Harry may need a swift kick in the butt, though," he replied. Hermione raised her eyebrows; seeing Sirius Black saying something like that about his godson wasn't something you heard everyday.
"How come?"
"Well, lately he's been locking himself up with Buckbeak for hours; he's been doing that for a couple of days now... Probably pitying himself," Sirius explained with a lopsided grin. Trying not to pay attention to the flip flop her stomach did, Hermione frowned slightly and put her hands over her hips.
"Like you're the one to talk!" She stated. Sirius's eyebrows shot up again and looked at her strangely, brushing off a strand of black hair from his face, as if he didn't know what she was talking about. Hermione's frown intensified. "End of summer?" She suggested, trying not to smile. Sirius stared at her for a couple of seconds and finally let out his laughter like a bark.
"I know, I know. It's just that you reminded me of Molly," Sirius said. "That's why I'm telling you, actually. You're probably the only one who can snap him out of it," he added. Hermione beamed at him.
"Thanks," she didn't exactly know if it was a compliment or not; she just felt that she had to thank him. Sirius smiled at her again and nonchalantly leaned against the doorframe, crossing his arms.
"So, what are you going to do about my godson?" He asked. Hermione shrugged.
"I don't know yet. The usual things, I think. And if they work, maybe I'll use them on you too, when the time comes," she answered. Sirius feigned surprise.
"And what would those 'things' you speak of be, if you mind?"
"Why don't you tell me?" Hermione questioned with a half smile. Was she mental? What was she doing?! This time, Sirius was shocked. Even his mouth had fallen slightly open. "Tut-tut, Mr. Black! Close you mouth or I might stick something in it," she added before she could stop herself. Sirius stared at her without saying anything, and Hermione did the same. Oh, how lovely he looked as the snowflakes landed on his hair; how sexy he appeared just leaning against the doorframe-
"Sirius!" Molly's voice suddenly broke the silence that had fallen between them, making them both jump as if struck by lightening. Molly appeared next to Sirius, shivering with the cold that snuck inside the house. "Why are you keeping Hermione out there? She must be freezing to death!" But Sirius still looked kind of dazed as he gazed over to Molly. Hermione wasn't cold- all the contrary. For some reason, she felt... how you can say it... powerful.
"Don't worry, Molly, I'm perfectly fine," she said with a smile, stepping inside the house without looking at Sirius, who slowly closed the door after her. "Where's Harry?" She asked, turning over to look at Sirius, whose face suddenly sported a scowl.
"In my mother's room." He simply answered, signalling to the stairs. Hermione smiled at him and quickly ran up the stairs; embarrassment quickly catching up with her. Had she just flirted with Sirius? No, right? She didn't even know how to flirt! And- and when they had stared at each other- why hadn't he said anything? Why not discourage her? And what about the scowl when she asked about Harry?
Merlin's beard, why was she even CONSIDERING this?!
However interesting and frightening those questions were, they instantly left her mind when she found herself in front of Sirius's mother's bedroom door and began knocking, screaming at Harry to open up.
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She felt so guilty when she talked to Harry. It just seemed wrong to be in love with his godfather and still talk to Harry. It wasn't right. Heck, a small voice inside her head said, why not? Hermione sighed deeply at this, biting her lower lip. The man was nearly forty years old. He was, well, her best friend's godfather! Not an irrelevant detail she could forget about! As long as Harry doesn't find out, it can't hurt him, right?
Well... There was no need to let anyone know about how she felt, that was true. She would hide it and everything was going to be okay. But how would she manage to spend so much time near Sirius and stop anything from coming out? Hermione looked up at Sirius laughing over something Lupin had said and her brow furrowed, wishing she could make him laugh like that- wishing she could make him happy-, wishing she could be with him...
"Hermione," someone shook her shoulder and she blinked a couple of times; Ginny was looking at her weirdly.
"What?" Hermione asked her, trying not to glance at Sirius.
"Is everything okay? You seem so out of it," Ginny retorted. Hermione bit her lower lip again, wondering if she should tell her friend all about it; but decided against it. She wouldn't understand.
"Yeah, yeah, I was just- Thinking," at least that was true. Ginny raised an eyebrow.
"You were staring at Sirius," she told her in a low voice. Hermione felt the heat creeping up on her cheeks.
"W- Was I? I didn't- I hadn't noticed," she lied, trying to keep her voice even. Ginny raised her chin suspiciously.
"Is there something you're not telling me, Hermione?"
Definitely. "No," Hermione replied. Ginny narrowed her eyes at her and didn't say anything for a couple of seconds. Hermione hoped that her friend wouldn't continue to press her; Hermione always ended up telling her everything. And this was something no one could know about.
"Okay, if you say so..." Ginny trailed off. Hermione let out a breath of relief and nibbled on her mashed potatoes, sighing again when she saw Harry talking animatedly to Sirius. When Sirius laughed, once again, something erupted inside Hermione's chest; she suddenly had the strangest (but most powerful) urge to tell Harry to sod off and lock himself up again-
Wait a second. Was she jealous of Harry? Harry, of all people?
What the bloody hell?
Sirius punched Harry on the arm and Hermione felt herself blushing again, but it wasn't a product of embarrassment; Harry punched Sirius back and his godfather ruffled the godson's hair-
BANG!
Everyone in the table turned to look at Hermione with shocked faces: Ginny's face was dripping pumpkin juice; Hermione's glass had exploded mysteriously- And she had also impaled a potato with her fork. Before anyone could say anything, Hermione stood up from the silent table. "Excuse me," she grunted before leaving the kitchen; leaving everyone to glance at each other in surprise.
Hermione leaned against the wall of the dark hallway and covered her face, wanting to scream. What was the matter with her?! She had just performed accidental magic... Because she was jealous! It was ludicrous! Pathetic! Unheard of! Since when calm, collected Hermione performed accidental magic? But the worst was, by far, the actual situation: Jealous of Harry? ARGH! It was so- so- not right!
"Hermione!" She winced at the voice- Just what she needed right now: Harry. She felt so sickened with herself. "What's wrong?" He asked, hugging her. Hermione hugged him back, silently apologizing.
"I- I don't know what came over me," she tried to explain, breaking the hug. "Will the Ministry-,"
"They never did anything to me," Harry cut her off with a smile. "And if I recall correctly, I blew up my aunt." Hermione smiled weakly at him.
"I guess I'm just... worried over the Order and that. Or maybe the O.W.L.s.," She invented, hating the fact that she had to lie to her best friend. Harry smiled at her.
"Well then, once the time of the O.W.L.s. does come, I'll be sure not to leave anything made of glass near you. C'mon, let's go back, Molly's serving dessert." Harry said, putting his arm around her as they walked back to the kitchen. As they entered, and Sirius saw Harry's arm around her shoulders, he scowled again.
"Are you going to blow something else up, Hermione? Maybe I should bring the iron goblets for you to drink in?" He asked nastily. Hermione blushed and lowered her eyes; Harry glared at him and Lupin hit the back of Sirius's head sharply. "Ouch! What was that for?" He asked. Lupin raised an eyebrow at him. "Okay, okay... Sorry, Hermione," he grunted, not looking at her.
"It's alright," she retorted. Harry removed his arm from her shoulders and Sirius glared at him for a split second. In fact, it looked as if no one had noticed this except Hermione...
"Why did you say that, Padfoot?" Lupin asked his friend in a low voice; once Hermione started talking with Harry and Ron. Sirius frowned with a shrug.
"Beats me," he simply replied. Lupin slightly narrowed his eyes at his friend's aggressive tone of voice.
"But-,"
"No, Loony," Sirius cut him off. "I don't want to talk about it." Lupin shook his head and sighed, and Sirius returned to the dessert. Making sure that Lupin was well entertained he stole a glance at Hermione, who was now apologizing to Ginny, and, despite himself, couldn't help but to smile.
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The only sounds that could be heard throughout the silent house came, dimmed, from the kitchen. Hermione was there, washing the alarmingly high pile of dirty dishes; she scrubbed and washed madly, for the action of washing the dishes seemed to soothe her.
Weird.
Hermione wiped some sweat off her forehead with her wrist and drenched her face in water. She didn't bother in drying herself; the room had become quite warm all of a sudden. She moved to tackle the dessert bowls next, when someone put a hand over her shoulder and said "boo!" Hermione jumped out of her skin with a squeak and turned around quickly, pointing the tip of her wand exactly on-
Sirius's face.
"Bloody hell, Hermione," Sirius said softly. "I could've lost a nostril," he added with a grin. Hermione tried not to let her mouth twitch.
"Well, it would serve you right for sneaking up on me like that!" She stated. "Aren't you too old for that kind of joke, anyway?" She asked. Sirius ran his fingers through his hair and shrugged, making Hermione bite her lower lip.
"Probably, but I just choose to ignore it," he retorted. "What're you doing here? Everybody's sleeping," he said. Hermione smiled.
"You're not," she retorted smugly.
"Really? I hadn't noticed."
"You hardly notice anything these days." Though she had tried to keep a straight face, the mask failed: she had to turn around so he could not see how he always had that effect on her.
Fifteen minutes later...
"Don't you think I don't know what you're playing at," Sirius suddenly growled, breaking the heavy silence that had fallen between them. Those endlessly long minutes where a battle had taken place, a battle of two prides that refused to admit the truth to each other and recognize defeat. Hermione smiled widely and slowly turned about, leaning against the kitchen sink; her hands resting on the sink's edge.
"What am I playing at?" She felt older, she felt bolder than ever before in her life- this was fun, exciting, new, and terrifying at the same time. Sirius stood up and stepped closer to her.
"You know perfectly well what." He simply replied, coming nearer still. Hermione gulped: part of her wanted to run away and let earth swallow her, but the other part wanted to melt into his arms... She decided to stand her ground.
"Wouldn't you like to join me, then?" She asked with a secure, yet low voice, mustering up all of her Gryffindor courage and timidly touching his chest with her index finger. "What are you doing?!" Her mind shrieked, but Hermione paid no heed to it. Her heart was beating so fast that it almost hurt. Sirius took in a deep breath and put his hands over her wrists, leaving their faces inches apart.
"Hermione... You're playing with fire here," he said in a warning tone.
"And what if I want to get burnt?" Hermione asked in a whisper, looking up and locking her eyes with his; losing herself in the midst of those stormy grey eyes. Sirius's face loomed closer to hers, so close now; she could feel his warm breath on her chin, just a little bit closer-
"Hermione!" Harry's voice exclaimed.
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A/N: Ah! Harry! Longer chapter... I really hoped you liked this one! I also hope that I didn't make them OOC... Forgive me if I did! I have to study for a lot of exams (glares), so I probably won't be able to update until next Thursday or so. On other subject... This story continues to get hit and I get so few reviews! Please, let me know what you think of this! I mean: review. And I accept constructive criticism. That said, I'm off.