Okay! Here's a new chapter! Yay!! lol :D I had a fun time writing this little bit. It made me giggle. . Enjoy!
Sirius was about to lead Hermione, Ron, and Harry to the sitting room when they heard the distinct sound of the floo. They turned around and saw Dumbledore standing in front of the fireplace, looking intently at Sirius.
Dumbledore had his trademark twinkle in his eye as he looked at Sirius. Sirius quickly wiped the guilty look off of his face and raised a questioning eyebrow at Dumbledore. He had thought this to be a private reunion, not that he minded if Dumbledore was there.
"Don't let me interrupt! Please, go on with what you were about to do. I just thought that you might want my help telling the story," said Dumbledore, with an amused tone that made the three students wonder what exactly was going on.
"Right," Sirius muttered as he turned and led the way to the sitting room. Once everyone was situated, Sirius asked Dumbledore if he would tell the story.
"I'd be happy to!" exclaimed Dumbledore as he got into a more comfortable position in his chair. "I was in the Department of Mysteries yesterday, and I was not really paying attention to where I was heading, which is not really the wisest move considering the very name of the department. Of course, very soon I became hopelessly lost. I saw a very promising looking door at the end of a hallway, so I opened it and was deposited into a room full of odd objects."
"What were you doing in the Department of Mysteries?" asked Hermione. Ron rolled his eyes; she was always curious.
"I was at the ministry and I desperately needed to use the lavatory. They have very nice facilities in the Department of Mysteries, so I decided to use them. But as I have said, I got lost."
"Oh," said Hermione.
"Anyway, I was now in a room filled with all sorts of objects, some of which I had never even seen before. There was one instrument that, after several minutes of close examination, told me exactly what my mother had for breakfast the day I was born. I was about to leave the room because I thought it was full of nothing but silly objects, when a strange looking mirror caught my attention. When I peered into the mirror, it was not showing my reflection at all. There was a milky sort of haze in it, but every once in a while I would get a glimpse of a man that very obviously needed help."
Dumbledore was interrupted once again, this time by Ron.
"Was it Sirius?" he asked, almost dripping with anticipation. Hermione snorted.
"Of course it was! Merlin, Ron! How simple can you get? Really! I'm just dying to know."
"I was just making sure!" he exclaimed, sounding offended.
"Well, considering that the whole story is about Sirius coming back, don't you think that you should have made the connection?" she asked.
"Sorry that we're not all the brightest witch of our age!"
Hermione laughed. "I didn't know you had dreams of becoming a witch. You more seemed like the wizard type to me, but okay, whatever you want. I hear there are some pretty effective surgeries out there."
"You can take your surgeries and shove them right up yo-"
"Okay! Stop!" said Harry before Ron could get any further. "Ron, you sit over there." He pointed to a chair all the way across the room. "And don't talk to Hermione. And you," he said, looking at Hermione. "Don't look, talk, or even think about Ron anymore today. We should be happy that our friend has been rescued, not fighting about wether or not Ron wishes to remain a man."
Ron stood up with as much dignity he could muster and walked cooly to the chair Harry had pointed out. Hermione was sitting in her chair silently seething and cursing Ron to the deepest level of hell.
Sirius watched the fight, surprised. He had no idea that Ron and Hermione fought like this. Sure, they did get into little arguments back when he was around, but nothing like this. Sirius was transfixed on Hermione. She was so amazing when she was mad, little comebacks coming at her one after the other. By the end her cheeks were flushed with anger. Sirius chose not to think about her anymore right then. He didn't want to admit to himself that Hermione was beautiful when she was upset. He had to keep reminding himself that he was probably the same age as her father.
Sirius looked up and was startled to see that Dumbledore was not staring at the three youngest in the room, but looking at him with a knowing smile. So the old man knew that he might actually fancy Hermione, even though it was probably just the shock of seeing a woman for the first time in a few years.
Dumbledore looked away from Sirius and cleared his throat.
"Are you finished?" he asked. Hermione and Ron nodded. "Then I shall continue. As I said, the man in the mirror needed help. I did all I could think of doing at that moment and simply touched my hand to the mirror."
Hermione's curiosity got the best of her once again. "Where were you, Sirius?"
"To put it simply, I was in hell. There was nothing worth living for. It was like being trapped on the inside of a dementor. Even the slightest glimpse of happiness was sucked away from me before I even had the chance to enjoy it." Sirius shuddered, remembering.
"Oh, Sirius, I'm so sorry," said Hermione as she pictured it in her mind. She nodded at Dumbledore to continue.
"So I touched the mirror, and to my utter surprise, Sirius here popped right out. I was shocked, to say the least. Here was a man that everyone presumed dead, right there on the carpet. I checked to see if his vitals were okay and then I proceeded to ask him questions, just to see if there was anything wrong with him psychologically. After I learned that there was hardly anything wrong with him at all, I brought him back here."
"And then you sent for us and we came here and saw him and you told us the story!" said Ron, all in one breath.
"Ah, no," replied Dumbledore with a raised eyebrow. Hermione tried to stifle a giggle at Ron's defeated face, but she failed.
"I was just trying to make connections like you told me to earlier!" blurted Ron.
"Well, perhaps next time you should make the right connection," retorted Hermione, still laughing.
"You know what, Hermione!" yelled Ron, standing up and knocking his chair over. "You have been so different lately! What what is wrong with you?!" He crossed the room to where she was sitting in three quick strides.
"What's wrong with me?!" gasped Hermione, standing up from her own chair. They were now no more than a few inches apart. Hermione continued to yell straight into his face. "What's wrong with you? You've been acting much more different than I have! I don't know what your problem is bu-"
Ron interrupted her rant by pushing his lips to hers.
Gasp! Dundundun! Sorry for the cliffie XD
I just can't seem to resist.
A jillion thanks to mish-vicious for making sure that I didn't kill the chapter!
Remember to review!!!