"What do you mean the aurors have no leads?!" Harry yelled.
Sitting around the table was the entire family including Kingsley who showed up to give them an update since Harry and Ron had been pulled off the case and told to go home.
"I mean Mr. Potter, that they haven't been able to find anything. No residual magic to follow, nothing."
"Kingsley we need to find her. How did he get her in the first place?"
"A portkey. Someone planted book in Florish and Blotts, we believe they activated it when she touched it."
"That's it? That's all you have after 3 days?" Ginny cried, everyone else at the tabletable anxiously waiting for his response.
"Unfortunately, yes."
Silence washed over the table.
Molly was the one who broke the silence, "Thank you Kingsley. We appreciate the update."
"Of course Molly. I will take my leave now, I really need to get back to the office." With a nod to Harry he took his leave.
Silence over took the kitchen again as no one knew what to say. Ginny shared a desperate look with Harry. Sirius sitting like a stone with Remus pacing behind him eyes gold. Ron suddenly grabbed the plate from the table and threw it with a scream as everyone watched him. The moment the plate hit the wall a large unrecognizable silver patronus dove into the kitchen making a beeline to Harry. A few people stood when they saw the silver creature but knowing what it was they waited for it to deliver its message and reveal who this mystery patronus was from. Shock and realization settled over the kitchen as heads turned to Sirius when Hermione's voice came from the beast they all now recognized.
"Carrow Manor. I've locked myself the master bedroom. Please hurry."
Upon relaying its message the great beast approached Sirius and bowed his head before disappearing into the air. Leaving Sirius's hand outstretched where its face had once been.
Harry was the first to snap into action sending his own stag patronus to Kingsley and the Auror office with the message while everyone else at the table was still in shock at what they had just witness before them. Hermione's seemingly new patronus was the Grim, Padfoot, Sirius' animagus form. Everyone in the room knew they were together but they also knew what this meant and that was enough to kept the silence as they waited for a response from Kingsley. Ron was blistering mad, face turning a shade of purple as he glared daggers at the man whose outstretched hand was only just starting to fall.
"Why did her patronus change?" Ron bellowed at him
"Don't be stupid Ron!" Ginny chastised willing him to stop there.
Seeing her son start to form a reply Molly quickly shut him down with a glare. Instead he grabbed another dish and threw it before making his way into the living room, not wanting to be in the same room with the man who had stolen Hermione so completely.
As Sirius looked up and met the gaze of his stricken godson, Kingsley's lynx shot into the room.
"We're working on the wards."
With that, Ginny yelled "Go!" to her husband. Sirius was already up and wand at the ready, he looked at his godson with a nod as he followed him out the door running to the apparition point. The wards on the Carrow Manor broke the moment after Harry and Sirius arrived at the gates with the remaining Auror's. As they storm into the manor they split into teams, Sirius and Harry heading upstairs knowing that typically the master bedroom in a pureblood manor was on the third floor. Slamming open door after door until someone called out, "She's here!"
Running towards the commotion, they burst through a group of Auror's and came to a stop staring at the scene. First they saw Dolohov bound and gaged with rope, body ridged settled on the four poster bed in the middle of the room. To the right of the bed was Hermione, sitting with her head on her knees with a wand dangling from her hand. Her sweater was ripped and bloodied and bare legs were sporting dark bruises. Seeing the bruising Sirius' heart stopped. Willing himself to move forward towards his witch he found himself immobile.
Auror's begin taking Antonin Dolohov from the room when a young Auror approached Hermione. Watching the brave young auror Harry noticed a slight shimmer under the boys hand, hovering just above Hermione's shoulder. He stepped forward and called out to stop him but was too late, the auror was already being shot back into the bed behind him.
"Everybody stop! Put your wands down!" Harry ordered approaching his cowering best friend. "She's warded herself."
"Alright, lets work to pull the wards down but be careful. You will not hit Hermione Granger after all she has been through!" commanded lead Auror. Over the next few minutes each auror tried to take the wards surrounding her down without making any progress. During that time Sirius had made his way to her side, getting as close as he could without touching the wards around her. After the final attempt the aurors started to brainstorm some kind of way to get past her wards. Sirius toned them out and focused on his witch.
"Sirius stop-"
Harry's words died at his lips as he watched as Sirius slowly lay his palm against the wards surrounding Hermione. As they recognized his magic it allowed him to put his hand on hers dangling from its position on her knees.
"Kitten."
As if from sleep Hermione lifted her head and whiskey eyes meeting molten grey. "Sirius?" Her voice breaking as his name passed her lips, sobbing as she dropped the wand letting the wards around her fall as she scrambled into his chest.
"Kitten" he mumbled into her hair again, wrapping his arm around her, leaning back from his crouch so she is completely in his lap. "Harry!" Glancing over as his godson approaches them and looks her over checking for any visible damage, stopping to cringe at the sight of the bruises across her hips and legs.
Growling Sirius picked her up, "We need to get her St. Mungo's."
When they reached Mungo's Sirius was reluctant to release Hermione, only doing so when Healer Clearwater showed up. Even then he tried to follow. "Please Lord Black I need you stay here while I do her examination. I will send for you the moment I'm finished." Sirius let Harry pull him into a seat before going off sending a message to the Burrow saying they had her. Penelope entered the room moments later.
Sirius shot up, "Is she okay?"
"She was subjected to the cruciatus a for several days so she will have some tremors over the next few days. We were able to heal the majority of her cuts without much scaring. We applied a salve to her existing bruises and she will need to continue applications until they go away."
"Was she..." Sirius couldn't bring himself to finish the question. He left nauseous.
"No, she wasn't raped." Penelope smiled at him.
"Can I see her?"
Penelope gave him a sad smile, "I'm afraid she only wants to see Harry right now." Her words cut him like a knife and he had to work hard to keep his composure. Harry looked to him in slight bewilderment. "Go on pup," Sirius dismissed him as he sat down.
Harry stepped into Hermione's room and let the door close gently behind him, fighting the tears that entered his vision he looked at his best friend. She was curled on her bed in a tight ball and knees pressed against her chest, arms wrapped around them. She was staring hard at the wall, tears falling without her seeming to notice. As he got closer he could see she was trembling.
"Mione?" he spoke quietly so he wouldn't startle her and crouched before her. When she didn't look at him he reached out a hand but the moment he touched her she flinched away and shot him a look of pure fear before seeing who was touching her.
Her voice cracked, "Harry?"
"It's me. Sirius is in the waiting room too." He noticed how she flinched at the mention of his godfather and the shame that flashed behind her eyes. "Mione, why don't you want to see him?" Her lips started to quiver and she shook her head fiercely, her eyes welling up in fresh tears. He couldn't stand to see her looking so weak so he climbed into her bed and held her to him. When her shakes and cried subsided she spoke in a voice that was so quite that he almost missed what she said.
"You need my memories right?"
"Yes."
"Take them now please. I want to sleep but you need them while they're fresh." At her words he sat up and silently touched his wand to her temple and withdrew a long silver memory from her temple bottling it in a small vial from his coat. When he was done Hermione's breathing immediately smoothed out as she fell asleep. Unable to stifle his curiosity he conjured a pensive, poured in her memory and dipped his head in.
First there was darkness and then he saw her, curled up in a tight ball in what looked like a dungeon. He watched as Dolohov touched her and told her that it would be easier if she would just submit to him. He watched as she denied him. He watched Dolohov hit her and torture her for days, cutting her, subjecting her to the cruciatus, each time watching him tell her to submit before he started. Before finally he saw her break and concede to Dolohov's demand. He watched Dolohov take her into the bedroom and move on her. He watched as Hermione responded in kind but he could see her cringe and her bite her lip to keep from sneering. He watched Dolohov move down her body and felt like he was going to be sick when Hermione suddenly bucked him off and brought a candelabra on his head and scramble to find his wand. When he was bound he watched her fall into the wall and conjure her patronus, a pained smile on her face before she sent it to him.
Pulling his head from the bowl Harry looked at his best friend in amazement. She is stronger then she knows. And suddenly he understood her reaction to him bringing up Sirius. She felt like she betrayed Sirius. That's why she wouldn't see him and why when he brought up his name she flinched like he'd hit her. Oh Mione.
He sent his patronus to the Burrow letting them know Hermione was safe before leaving the room to meet Sirius. Seeing his godson come into the waiting room Sirius sat up. "Is she okay?"
Harry gave him a sad look and nodded, "She's okay but she's in shock still." Sirius took in his words and leaned back in his chair. "Sirius...she..I have her memories.." Sirius fixed him in an intense stare and waited. "She..." Harry sat down next to his godfather, "I think she feels like she betrayed you."
"That's absurd!"
"Sirius listen. Dolohov took her for the sole purpose of making her his. He tortured her for days because she kept denying him. But she broke and finally agreed. She...she let him touch her until she could buck him off and smash a candle on his head. I think she feels like by playing into his game she-"
Sirius sat there frozen to his chair before shaking his head, "No, she was surviving. I would never hold that against her!"
"I think she knows that but she can't bring herself to face you yet. I said your name and she flinched and immediately started to cry and shake. She is the most loyal person I know and I honestly think she believes she has betrayed you." Sirius couldn't say anything, he didn't know what else to say besides that he didn't feel that way so he sat their frozen. "I'm going to stay with her tonight and I'll bring her home when she's released. You should go home."
"No. I'll stay. I'm not leaving her, especially when she thinks I hate her."
Nodding to his godfather he got back up and made his way back into Hermione's room but not before casting one last look at the broken man behind him, head in his hands trembling slightly.
"Harry," she whispered shaking his arm gently.
"Mione, what are you doing up?" his voice groggy.
"I've been released and I want to leave. C-can I stay at your house for a few days?"
"Of course but Mione I think you should go home with Sirius." She flinched, "He's still in the waiting room, he refused to leave."
Her bowed her head and shook it lightly, "I can't Harry, you saw what I did. Sirius will never forgive me when he finds out."
"He doesn't see it that way."
Once again Hermione looked like he'd hit her. "You showed him?" she breathed. "How could you?"
"No! No, I didn't but I told him."
Shaking her head she refused to meet his gaze, "Can we leave?" Nodding Harry guided her from the room, careful not to touch her. Arriving at the house Hermione immediately made her way into their guest room and shut the door. She waited for Harry to leave for work before silently emerging and going back to the floo. At grimmuald she cast a silent "Homenum Revelio" only moving up the stairs when it told her she was alone. In their room she fought back tears and cast a charm sending that had all her possessions shrinking and fitting themselves into her bags. While her belongings made their way into her bags she walked to the bed and laid down letting Sirius's aftershave surround her as tears started to pick her eyes. I'm so sorry Sirius. Her bag closed and she got up, stumbling into the living room of the Potter house she fell right into Ginny.
Ginny looked bewildered seeing the bags in her hands, "Mione? What are you doing?"
"I-I can't stay there. He won't want me after.."
"Hermione, he doesn't blame you," she breathed pulling her into a hug.
"Gin, please," she begged, struggling from her grip she ran into the guest room and locked herself in.
The weekend passed and Hermione didn't emerge from her room except to use the bathroom. Ginny left food outside her door but it was never touched. After three days Harry had had enough.
"HERMIONE!" he yelled, banging his fist on the door. "OPEN THIS DOOR!"
"Go away Harry," came a weak voice from behind the door.
"DAMMIT HERMIONE," taking a deep breath he rested his head on the door, "Mione, I will call him. He's devastated that you left him and won't talk to him." When she didn't answer he slammed a fist on the door before storming down the hall to the floo.
Sirius felt as though his entire body was numb. It started the moment the healer told him Hermione didn't want him in her room and it only deepened when Harry told him why. He stayed all night in the waiting room at St. Mungo's until Harry came in and told him that he'd taken Hermione home and that she was safe. He ran to the floo network and barely made it into Grimmuald before running up the stairs. His heart shattered the moment he reached their room. Something was wrong. Her books were missing from her side table and her favorite sweater was no longer on the couch before the fire. He knew what he'd find but he couldn't stop himself from looking in their shared closet. His knees stopped working in that moment. She's gone. That is were Remus found him later that day. Still kneeling before the closet, face pale and emotionless. He was numb, he couldn't feel anything but his heart pounding in his ears. For three days he stayed in the library, unable to move and barely noticing when Harry or Remus would check in on him.
And then Harry's voice rang through the house, "SIRIUS!" and panic in his voice brought him to his feet and down the stairs in an instant. He came to a stop only when he saw Harry, face red full of rage. "Lets go. NOW!" Watching his godson step back into the floo and call out for his home, Sirius followed without hesitation.
"Thank Merlin!" he heard Ginny breathe as he was immediately enveloped into a hug when he stepped from the green flames. "She won't come out."
"Sirius you need to talk to her."
He tried to reply but his throat was too dry. Swallowing he tried again, "She left. She doesn't want me." He heard the crack before he registered that Ginny had slapped him.
"Sirius Orion Black that woman loves you. She feels like she hurt you just as Ron hurt her, except she feels like she is worse than Ron because in her mind she was disloyal to you and she loves more than she has ever loved anyone else. For Merlins sake Sirius she loves you so damn much her fucking patronus changed! She is in there because she thinks you hate her, that she betrayed you and you won't be able to stand to be near her. Not because she doesn't want you. So don't you bring your pity party here! You need to go in that room and tell her you don't hate her, that you love her and you aren't letting her leave. Because that's what she needs! Its what you both need!"
Her words snapped him out of his self deprecating mood, shaking himself he hugged the fiery red head in front of him. "Where is she?"
Harry took him down the hall to a door that still had a tray of untouched food in front of it. "We can't go in, she warded it. But with what happened at Carrow's manor...I thought maybe.."
Understanding his godsons words Sirius nodded and reached for the doorknob. When he touched the wards he felt them resist him but after a moment they let him through and he threw the door open. His heart broke. Hermione was sitting in a chair by the window, with a look on her face that he knew meant she was locked in her own mind. He walked over to her and knelt before her. "Kitten."
Her eyes widened and she looked down at him as if not believing he was there. When he reached for her hand she flinched and looked away. "No, you don't get to do that Kitten."
"Why are you here?" her voice was rough from days of not speaking.
"For you. Why else?"
She shook her head and silent tears fell down her cheeks. "Go home Sirius."
"Only with you."
"Dammit Sirius! Why are you here?" she yelled as she left her chair. "You need to leave.." her voice died as she the words left her mouth.
Stalking over to her he spun her and pinned her to the wall, "No!" he growled, "I am not leaving and neither are you. You are mine Hermione. I love you! What happened doesn't change that!"
Unable to meet his intense grey stare she let her eyes fall to the floor, "How can you say that? You know what I did. You know that I-I..I betrayed you Sirius. You don't deserve that." She let out a shuttered breath and her voice cracked, "I don't deserve you."
Grabbing her chin he forced her to look at him, "You did not betray me Hermione. You survived. I will never hold that against you. You brave stupid woman. How do you not see that? You are coming home, 6 days without you is long enough." He scooped her up and left the room, past an amused Ginny and a relieved Harry. "Can you send her bags through?" Accepting Harry's nod he stepped into the floo and with help from Ginny they arrived in the sitting room at Grimmuald. Hermione remained stiff in his arms but as soon as they stepped through the floo and into the sitting room he felt her relax against him and he couldn't help but smile. On his way up the stairs he heard the floo activate again. In their bedroom he took her straight into the bathroom and set her on the counter. She still refused to look at him but he would deal with that soon enough. Using his wand he started the bath and summoned her bags from the sitting room, when they appeared in their room he cast another charm sending her belongings into their rightful places throughout their room and house. Returning to the bathroom he added her bath soaps to the water and turned to his witch. She hadn't moved from her spot. Sending her a small smirk her undressed them with a swift flick of his wrist, picked her back up, and eased them into the water as he held her to him.
Burrowing his face in her neck he breathed her in. "Kitten."
"I'm so sorry Sirius."
He swallowed a growl, "Do not apologize for what happened to you."
"I'm sorry for running from you."
He grinned into her hair, "I'm sorry for taking so long to come bring you home." Smiling into his chest she inhaled deeply bringing her hands around his neck pulling herself closer to him.
"I knew if I gave in he would let his guard down," she paused feeling his chest rumble on her face, "Every second he touched me. All I could think of was getting back to you but I felt like he was taking you from me with every disgusting kiss he put on my body." She shivered but continued, "He took my necklace, so I couldn't send you a message. He said he wouldn't have me wearing anything from you. When I finally saw my chance I took it without hesitation, I knew I wouldn't last if he curse me again, and when it was all over I wanted nothing more then to have you around me but when I saw you I couldn't meet your eyes, you would know.."
"Kitten, I don't blame you for doing what you had to. I hate that he took you and I could do nothing to help you. I couldn't get to you." His chest vibrating with his anger.
Hermione leaned deeper into him, "You were all I could think about. You are the only reason I made it as long as I did."
"I saw your patronus," he said into her hair.
"Surprised me too," she laughed.
Pulling her face up to his, he kissed her deeply and passionately and she melted into him with a moan. He held her to him and relished in her taste and the feel of her body on his. "Marry me," he whispered against her mouth.
She pulled back with a look of pure shock on her beautiful face. "What?"
"Hermione," he smirked putting his hand on her cheek, "You are the love of my life. I want the world to now you are mine and I am yours, always. I want to bind myself to you in every possible way. You brave, beautiful witch, will you marry me?"
Her breathe caught in her throat and she could feel his heart pounding against her own. Smiling she leaned into his hand she answered, "Yes."