The Beginning of the End

Lily stretched her arms, "We'll start making plans in the morning. Professor Dumbledore told us to take the evening off." Harry began to cry and she swept him up. "Looks like someone is hungry." She summoned his bottle and he immediately stopped to drink his milk.

"Speaking of being hungry, so am I. We didn't have lunch," Sirius placed a hand on his stomach.

"Okay, okay I can take a hint," Lily rolled her eyes. "I'll get dinner going."

"More Snap?" James proposed.

"I've got the photos if you've got the cards," Hermione shrugged.

"Deal," James grinned.

"Sounds like a plan," Remus agreed.

"The first of many," Hermione joked. Sirius stayed silent during the entire conversation, staring at Hermione. His mind was vacillating from one decision to the next. Should he or shouldn't he? For some reason his eyes landed on Harry and fancied that the infant was glaring at him. Yes that's right - less than a year old, in a striped onesie and sucking on baby bottle decorated with dancing bears - he was GLARING at Sirius. If Sirius dared to translate the telepathic messages it would probably sound like 'You bloody idiot, I told you to man up not stare at her like a bleeding thirteen year-old girl. What the bloody hell are you doing?' Barring the idea that his baby godson could curse a mental blue streak, Sirius felt a bit ashamed under his scrutiny. He was supposed to be the brazen one, the bold one, the reckless one and yet he was stymied by this girl. True she was a time traveller, technically Harry's best friend, and was set to disappear into the time stream in a few days but why quibble over some technicalities? With fresh determination he got up, intent on taking Hermione aside when she announced, "I'm going to take a shower before dinner." Mya left and Sirius made some weird strangled sound that no one noticed. He glanced at Harry and the child put his head into his mother's shoulder, moving it a little like no-handed face-palm. Chagrined, Sirius went out to the backyard for some fresh air while everyone went to the kitchen.

In the kitchen, Remus took over feeding Harry while Lily and James worked on the food. He wondered what it would be like to hold his own child. He always thought that life would never be his and yet it happened or will happen. Of course he considered that if they changed things then the circumstances wouldn't be same and he and Tonk may never have a chance. Still it was heartening to know that it was possible. He was certainly more open to the idea of finding a woman, maybe there was a family waiting for him too. Lily and James were about as proud as you'd expect the parents of the Chosen One to be. Their son found the courage and strength to fight one of the most powerful wizards of all time and won. Now it was their turn to be heroes and they would not fail.

Upstairs Hermione emerged from the shower refreshed and more importantly relaxed. There was something oddly therapeutic about telling the story and knowing that she'd be changing it for the better. Also with the years behind her, she could return her focus to the matter of Sirius and what to do. She hadn't meant to develop anything for the man but they just sort of fell in together. Did Sirius even like her that way? He flirted with her once and it spiralled out from there. What if it was joke gone wrong? He had been pretty insistent that being with her was impossible. Musing, she dressed and brought the pictures downstairs. Sirius was obviously absent from the kitchen but Remus knowingly jerked his head towards the back door so she left to see him. The animagus was leaning against the house, watching the sky darken as the sun set. "Hey," she greeted softly but he jumped.

"Oh Mya, hi," Sirius settled back down.

"What are you doing out here?" She leant beside him.

"Just thinking," Sirius said ambiguously.

"About…" Hermione ventured.

"Life, people," Sirius sighed. "How fair is it that you can just lose someone without being able to do anything about it?"

Oh, he must be thinking about Regulus, Hermione thought. "That's how it's meant to be," Hermione looked at the ground so she didn't notice the painful grimace cross Sirius's face.

"Yeah you're right."

"But it's like you said," Hermione continued. "He died a good man."

Huh? She thought he was talking about his brother? Why did that make her all the more attractive? Sirius watched her out of the corner of his eye. Her eyes lowered, her fair skin softly illuminated, her hair catching the fading golden light. The portrait of an angel, their angel, she'd been sent to save them and he was the stupid mortal that fell for her. "He did, he didn't waste his chance." And neither will I, Sirius vowed.

"Hey you two," James poked his head out the door. "Dinner is ready."

"Fantastic I'm starving," Sirius crowed. Hermione giggled and shook her head before following. Lily laid out a feast for them that evening. She made steak and potatoes, buttered vegetables, salad, fresh rolls, and for dessert rich chocolate cake.

"I love magic," James said contentedly sitting down.

"It does make multitasking easier," Lily put Harry in high chair.

"Harry is a good cook too," Hermione gestured for to Sirius to pour her a glass of water after he did his, "which works out because Ginny isn't exactly stellar. She knows her way around a kitchen but she'd rather be on the Quidditch Pitch. But then again, so would Harry."

"What did Ginny do after school?" Remus asked.

"Well she's a year younger than us so she'd only just gotten out of school when I left. But it looks like Quidditch is in her future. Thanks to Slughorn, she met Gwenog Jones and Gwenog was seriously considering her for the Holyhead Harpies. I know for a fact she came to see Ginny play during her last year."

"My son would be dating a member of the Harpies," James looked like he glimpsed heaven.

"Damn Har, you're one lucky bloke," Sirius ruffled the baby's hair.

"Mya…" Remus stared at his plate. "When do you have to go?" A hush fell over them and Sirius went rigid.

"Not sure," Hermione pulled out for the first time her time turner. Normally she kept it under her shirt. "It's supposed to glow blue when it's time but -" she dropped it back under the fabric, "that won't be for a while so don't dwell on it."

"Mya's right," Lily bravely plowed past the topic. "Let's eat!" Dinner was fantastic. They ate, they laughed, and no one was worried about anything, at least for the time being. Hermione felt so happy in this wonderful setting with the people that had become her good friends. It was only the knowledge that they would meet again that stopped her from feeling the loss of their company. After dinner, James left to get Harry settled down for the night and the Snap while the rest cleared up. They got comfortable on the floor again with butterbeer and Hermione passed the pictures.

"Remus should see this one first," Hermione said handing it to him. It was a photo of Tonks and Teddy a few months after the baby was born.

"My son has blue hair," Remus chuckled.

"That'll be the Dora in him," Sirius peered over the wolf's shoulder. "My god, she looks so much older."

"She ought to be," Lily sipped her drink. "That is Remus's wife you're talking about."

"Too bad he and Harry weren't born closer together, they could've been the mini-marauders," James took the photo from Remus. "He's adorable Moony, blue hair and all."

"Thanks mate," Remus smiled.

"And here is Ginny and Harry after the war," Hermione gave that to Lily.

Lily's expression softened, "Aw my boy is so grown up and Ginny is lovely. I can't wait for the day he brings her home."

"If it was anything like the day I brought you then it should be interesting," James nudged her.

"What happened?" Hermione asked.

James fondly recalled, "I got nervous and tried to clean and do all these things to make sure the house was ready for her only to remember that we were all going out to dinner together anyway. Mum knew but didn't stop me since I was doing all the housework for her."

Sirius barked a laugh, "Oh yes I remember that, 'Well dear you were doing such a good job on the floors it would've been a shame to stop you.' You did the basement, the pantry, the attic, hell you even cleaned my room in case Lily happened to accidentally walk in there for some reason."

"I didn't hear anything from you either," James shot at the dog.

"Well dear you were doing such a good job." James flung a couch cushion at him.

"I wonder what your parents would've said Padfoot, if you brought Mya home," Remus inserted slyly.

Sirius glowered at him before huffing, "I would've never brought Mya to that hell hole, no matter how entertaining Mother's fit would be."

"I think my parents would be okay with Sirius, as long as they never found out about the motorbike," Hermione snickered.

Sirius couldn't stop himself from prodding, "Even with the age difference?"

"When it comes to things like that my family is more along the lines of; it's your life and you'll have to deal with it. As long as I'm of age and prepared to handle the consequences – good or bad, they'd be fine." Sirius said nothing to this and they continued to play contentedly, making jokes and just enjoying the down time. Finally around eleven, they decided to call it a night and turned in. James had left first to use the bathroom so Remus, Lily, Hermione, and Sirius were tidying up.

Remus watched Sirius and Hermione work together quietly and said, "You what I like best about these Snap games Lily?"

"What Remus?" Lily paused, wondering what he was up to. Sirius and Hermione stopped to.

"That we aren't just letting the time slip by us. Even though we know that there is broader mission and we're on the clock, we still find the moment to simply to do what we want and enjoy our company."

Sirius made a face, "I thought you said you were going to stop that."

"Couldn't resist," Remus employed Sirius's trademark wink.

"How do you even know Sirius likes me?" Hermione asked while collecting the bottles. "Or that I like Sirius?"

"Oh come on," Lily snorted. "You've all but said it."

"Exactly we didn't say it." Hermione Vanished the empty butterbeer bottles, "Sirius," she turned to the dog, "do you have feelings for me?"

"What?" Sirius's jaw dropped. "Why am I going first?"

"Because you're the one who started this with the whole kissing thing," Hermione poked his chest. "You put me on spot so now I'm returning the favour. Just tell your friends that you were kidding and we can put this whole matter behind us."

Sirius gaped like a fish out of water, "Ladies first I insist," he stammered out.

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Of course I care about you Sirius and I think you'd be a wonderful boyfriend. But I don't think it would be right for you to have to go through losing whatever we have so soon and then having me not remember any of it. Just tell them it was a joke and have done with it." So it was up to him, Sirius realised. All he had to say was that he wanted to be with Mya, that he was prepared to take on the consequences of their extremely brief relationship and she could be his, even for just a little while. "Sirius?" Hermione pushed.

"Sirius?" Remus came forward to, raising an eyebrow. Lily held her breath, this could be it.

Sirius swallowed, his jaw losing all ability to function properly, "Mya I – Hermione – the thing is – I – I -" Her eyes fixed upon him, he was having a hard time breathing let alone thinking. "I'm really tired, we'll talk in the morning." The animagus dashed up the stairs leaving the other three in a bewildered state.

Hermione didn't know what to say. The joy and sadness were warring in her chest. Her mouth moved automatically, "Remus?"

"Yeah Mya?"

She toyed with her shirt collar, acutely aware of the time turner's chain just beneath, "That wasn't a 'no'."

A/N: Hey guys, I wish I could say I hate toying with you but it's really a lot of fun – call me a bitch, I'll take it as a compliment. No seriously, the real point was that I wanted Sirius to be fully prepared for what he had to go through and that takes a bit more time but not too much rest assured. Also get ready for some action in the coming chapters. You didn't think this whole thing would blow over without a fight did you? ENJOY! R&R PLZ!