A/N: This is for the Hermione/Sirius 5 drabbles challenge prompt 'cradle'.
Hermione had finally persuaded Sirius to go through the attic of Grimmauld Place.
"It's so dusty up here," she said, coughing.
"I don't think anyone's been up here for decades. Except maybe Kreacher when my mother wanted something," Sirius told her.
"That makes sense. I would have thought he would have kept it clean though; especially with all the family things here."
Sirius shook his head.
"He never cleaned the rest of the house so why would he be bothered to do up here."
Her husband was right.
The old elf had done nothing to maintain the place after his old mistress had died, but still, Kreacher loved the Black family.
"Terego," she cast.
The dust and cobwebs disappeared, and she found herself breathing easier.
She could also see better.
There were piles of books, portraits, and even old Hogwarts trunks.
"Can you see anything interesting?" Hermione asked.
"Not really. Reggie's trunk is up here," Sirius replied, moving inside the room more.
"Did you want to go through it?" Hermione asked.
Regulus was still a bit of a sore subject for him.
Finding out his brother had died trying to bring down Voldemort had shaken Sirius and made him realise that he hadn't known Regulus as well as he thought he had.
"Not yet…I might take it down though. It will be there when I'm ready," he said.
Hermione moved forwards and took his hand in hers, offering what little comfort she could.
In the corner of her eye she spotted something behind some more trunks.
Stepping past her husband, she went to investigate.
What she found was an old fashioned wooden cradle.
It was a deep mahogany, carved and painted with the canister major constellation.
It must have been Sirius', she thought.
"Come and look at this. I think it belonged to you," she said softly.
There was another cradle next to it which was almost identical. The only difference was that the constellation carved on it was Leo.
"That's my cradle. My parents had it made just before I was born. I never knew they kept it," he said, amazed.
"I guess the other one was for Regulus?" she asked.
"Yeah," he said, his voice thick with emotion.
Hermione took his hand again and squeezed it lightly.
She knew that finding something from his childhood, from when his parents actually loved him, was overwhelming.
"Maybe they wanted to keep it for a reason."
"Probably to remind them what a disappointment I was," Sirius said bitterly.
"Or how much they loved you. I know they weren't perfect. Okay they were downright horrible," she said at the look on his face. "But a part of them must have loved you enough to save this."
"Or they just forgot about it and that's why it's still here."
Hermione frowned.
She knew that his mother was a spiteful, hateful woman who ended up bullying him because he was different, but she could tell that Walburga Black had loved Sirius at one point.
There was no other reason for her to keep his cradle.
"I have an idea. You can say no, and I won't be upset. Why…why don't we use this for our baby in the future? I mean we can make plenty of happy memories with them, and it would be special because it was yours," she suggested.
Sirius was quiet for a moment, and she could tell when he made his mind up.
"That sounds good. Perhaps if we ever have twins we could use Reggie's?" he asked.
"Of course. I think that we've explored enough for today. Why don't we go back down and have a drink?"
"That's a great idea," Sirius said.
He led the way out of the attic and back to the kitchen.
There was a contemplative silence between them and Hermione knew that Sirius would talk to her when he was ready.
Finding Regulus' trunk and then their cradles had obviously been emotional for him and she knew it would take a little while for him to process it before he talked.
Hermione would be there to listen and offer words of love and support whenever that happened.
It was what made them such a great couple. They understood that they would talk when they wanted to, and that the other would listen.