Sirius was sitting, as he had done countless times before, in a hell of his own creation.
His ass may have been comfortably resting on the cushioned seat of his spinning office chair, but he may as well have been tied to a cold metal chair in a damp, humid warehouse somewhere, forced to watch a projection of his life falling to utter shit.
Across from him sat Hermione, keenly focused on Viktor (her legs were crossed at the knee and she was leaning forward toward him, listening like as if he were singing her a bloody serenade, her chin in her hand and her elbow on her knee), and it took all Sirius had in him not to run the other man out of his office.
He hadn't thought it was possible to feel his blood actually boil, but the old idiom was slowly turning to reality as the other man stumbled over a phrase which made Hermione smile brightly and laugh with him. In fact, Sirius's blood was so hot he thought he might be ill.
"But why did you quit Quidditch, I thought it was your dream to play," Hermione asked Viktor. The stocky man simply shrugged, and smiled demurely.
"More important than flying a broomstick, no?"
Sirius rolled his eyes, but neither Viktor or Hermione saw it. In fact, Viktor turned to Sirius in good nature and asked, "One World Cup is good enough, do not you think Auror Black?" Sirius gave the man a dead stare.
"Wouldn't know," he answered, crossing his boots over the corner of his desk. "Missed your whole career, I'm afraid. Don't know if anyone told you, but I was comatose."
Hermione winced, but Krum kept his cheery demeanor as he moved to look over their corkboard. Hermione adjusted her own posture, sitting straight and focusing on Viktor.
"That is right, Auror Black. Forgive me, but I believe you requested to hear about Corabia?"
"In fact, I did," Sirius replied, "and how long have you been stationed in the grand old city?"
Viktor chuckled, turning to look at Sirius. "Not long after you woke up, I am told. Nearly five years"
"You're a retired athlete of only six years, Auror Krum. I find it hard to believe you quit the Bulgarian National Team just to enlist and automatically be stationed at one of our Ministry's greatest hot spots."
Viktor merely shrugged, both men oblivious to Hermione as she quickly looked from one man to the other, worrying the corner of her lip throughout their exchange.
"In Durmstrang, students are expected to begin training for their fields in their sixth year," Krum stated. "To be an Auror, we begin what you call 'academy' as students, and then train for field on active field."
"He's right, Sirius. I read about it long ago, actually, when he and I first met. It's fascinating, like trade-school almost," Hermione said, looking earnestly over at her partner. "Quidditch, for him, was like an extended gap year, if he so chose. He already had a position with the DMLE if he wanted it."
As much as Sirius wanted to sneer at her for her excitement over this man, he couldn't quite bring himself to, softening at the earnest look in her eyes. Instead he grimaced and swallowed.
Behave Padfoot, he told himself. Don't fuck it up.
He cleared his throat and returned his attention to their visitor.
"So what's the news from Corabia?"
Krum succinctly gave the duo an overview of the situation in the Romanian city where the Death Eaters based their operations. According to Viktor, there were about eight to ten Death Eaters at the base at all times, however, with so many pending cases in England, Scotland, Italy and Norway, the Central European DMLE had put a swift halt on overtaking or seizing the base.
"It's too dangerous," Krum stated, "if we do not know location for missing muggleborns in Scotland or missing muggles in Italy. There is current hostage situation in Norway, and overtaking Corabia base could make messy situation and risk life of held muggles and magical families."
"The situation is much more complicated than we thought," Sirius contemplated, and shared a knowing look with Hermione.
"Viktor, is it at all possible that our missing muggleborns are being held in Corabia?" Viktor shook his head.
"It's impossible. We have extensive surveillance on the base and perimeter, including floo and apparition points. New undetectable tracking spell would alert Aurors of new blood in the buildings or surrounding areas. We have Auror guards stationed at five major meeting spots throughout the city. Hostages would likely be kept in the City Center, but there is no evidence."
Hermione chewed the inside of her cheek as she ruminated over this information. Although she had mostly come to peace with the fact that Sirius was likely right about her muggleborns, she couldn't help but feel marginally disappointed, especially after her stubborn display over the last week and a half.
"Oh, but Viktor," Hermione said, brightening with a slim possibility. "Do your tracers pick up human transfigurations?"
In spite of his earlier display of kind manners, this question caused Krum to look at Hermione as though she'd grown a whole new head. While the sight would have normally made Sirius snicker, this time it only caused the man further irritation.
He grabbed the recipe off of Hermione's desk and shoved it in the Bulgarian's hands, speaking briskly to catch the man up on his and Hermione's latest discoveries.
Krum studied the recipe intently.
"Has potion master looked over this," he asked after a moment.
"Not yet," Sirius sighed, grabbing a piece of purple stationary and quilling a quick memo which flew out of the room with a flick of his wand. "I've just requested Belby. Hadn't had much time, before."
"This looks like powerful transfiguration," Krum noted, reading into every step of the potion's preparation. "If shopkeeper hands out this potion, I am surprised we don't have more missing muggleborns."
Hermione made a small sound of agreement, chewing on a fingernail as she stared at the notes on their whiteboard
"Sirius," she asked. "Dennis would have known the potion was off had Carla given him the recipe. But if he was dealing with an urgently ill pregnant wife, it's possible he would have just bought her a potion."
"Yeah," Sirius agreed, gesturing for her to continue her thought.
"'So he'd have gone to Pippins, and what, got an anti-nausea potion for her?"
Sirius saw where she was heading and nodded, "Since Mary Creevy hasn't gone missing, but Dennis has. Meaning someone at Pippins may have found a way to get a prepared potion down his throat.
"That make sense," exclaimed Krum, looking up from Dennis Creevy's case file, which Sirius never saw him pick up. "Creevy was first disappearance."
"What about Santiago," Hermione asked. "He and his husband were looking into muggle or magical adoption. No one would have been nauseated."
"I think we focus too much on nausea," Krum said, looking at both Sirius and Hermione. "Pregnant witches are only one excuse to dose with wrong potion."
Viktor was right. What they needed to find out wasn't how each person was given the potion, but what became of them after consuming it.
As far as Hermione was concerned, there were two ways to determine this; either wait for Damocles Belby to create and analyze it - which could take up to a week, or saunter on over to Pippins and take a little taste for herself.
She didn't share this second plan, knowing full well the wizards in the room would both shoot her down before she could even try to reason with them.
Belby came to retrieve the recipe and after a cursory glance informed them it could take him up to a week to run full diagnostics on the brew, including a possible antidote for the transfigured individuals. With nothing else left to do at this point, Sirius suggested they take the afternoon to scope out the tunnel near the Neep.
Viktor had been called away soon after Belby left them, leaving Sirius and Hermione back to their own devices as they prepared to head back up to the highlands.
Hermione could almost feel the difference in Sirius's countenance. This morning everything was light and airy and smiley and infectious. Now, as they landed on the dirt path leading up to the village, he was closed off, cold and moody.
"We should go this way," she said, indicating toward a small thicket of trees. Sirius nodded and followed without a word.
The course they took was off the beaten path, and as they wove through trees along the hillside, Hermione couldn't help looking behind her at the eerily quiet marauder.
He was bobbing and ducking branches as he followed her, watching his feet. His hair was untied and unruly, and Hermione supposed his hair ribbon had snagged on a branch in their short journey. His hands were working between a tight clench and opening up with a flex so tight it turned his palms white. He hadn't looked at her face once since they left the office.
So much for turning a new page, she thought morosely. She had hoped they could continue their flirtation and maybe she could come up with a sly way to bring up the kiss.
He hadn't admitted to kissing her when she'd asked how he'd stopped the hypnotism on Friday. But she also hadn't indicated to him that she even remembered. Either he didn't want to talk about it, or he didn't want to bring it up in case she didn't remember it.
She wanted nothing more than to talk about it, and that thought had haunted her all of Saturday. Well, that, and the song he'd played for her Friday night. And the whole ride home. And his gentle kisses on his bike and at the Potters'.
There were many different topics she wanted to verbally broach with him. His current attitude, however, she knew would make it impossible.
"Hermione, watch out," Sirius yelped, out of the blue, and as Hermione turned to ask him about it, she felt herself lose her balance and begin a long sliding descent in the mud, toward the bottom of the hill.
Her ankle was throbbing, and her hands were bloody from trying to grasp onto the weeds and rotting foliage as she slid. She tried to stand, but Sirius was suddenly there, pushing her back down to a sitting position.
"Are you okay," he asked, breathlessly, as though he had ran to catch up to her. His hands were on her leg, feeling his way down from her knee to her calf, ankle and foot, looking for any damage.
"Just my ankle – ow," she hissed as his thumb ran over the tender muscle at the top of her foot.
"It's a sprain. Hermione, do you mind if I heal it for you, or would you rather go back to the office?"
"No, no," she scrambled, "heal it. We have a job to do."
A couple waves of his wand and Sirius was holding her by the elbows, helping her test the weight on her foot. She gingerly stepped forward to check his work and smiled up at him. His hands were still on her elbows, so she took another step forward into what she determined would be his personal space.
She looked up into his worried face and smiled brightly.
"All fixed up, yeah?" When he nodded, he looked around and smirked.
"Found our entrance, pet."
Hermione, feeling oddly disappointed, looked down toward the foliage and noticed a cave entrance almost completely covered by dried brown twigs and twisting vines. If someone weren't looking for it, she thought, they'd never see it hidden there within the hillside thicket.
Before she could even respond, Sirius had released his hold on her arm and ducked into the small entrance. Sighing heavily, and schooling herself, Hermione followed after him.
The tunnel was much like the others they had explored the previous week. Dingy, dark and desolate. Hermione cast a wordless Lumos and illuminated the cave before them. She studied the stone walls and the stone ground intently as they slowly made their way down further into the dark.
"And if this tunnel just brings us up out the other end of Hogsmeade," Hermione asked. Sirius laughed derisively.
"Then we find another tunnel and start again."
"I knew that," she muttered in frustration. "What if the tunnels are just a bust; teach me, wizened wizard."
"Well we could always just go back to the Ministry and ask Viktor."
Hermione halted in her tracks, but Sirius kept walking until he realized he was swiftly losing light. He spun back around toward Hermione to see what had kept her.
The witch was planted, hands on her hips with an exasperated and disbelieving glare directed right at him.
"What is your problem with Viktor," she asked. He rolled his eyes turned back around.
"Nothing," she heard him snap.
"No. It's not nothing," she protested, marching closer to him. "You were a right prat to him all morning! You were the one who requested his report!"
He spun back to face her, finding her much closer than he had expected, but refused to back up as he towered over her.
"I requested a report. Not Viktor Bloody Krum," he snarled.
"And what exactly have you got against Viktor Bloody Krum, Sirius?"
They were practically chest to chest now, Hermione standing straight and eyes lifted up, staring directly into his own frustrated face. He looked from her eyes to her lips and swallowed as a barrage of memories flooded his senses - he could feel her against him, warm and soft. He blinked to expel the memories. This wasn't the time.
"I don't have a problem with Krum."
"Sweet Circe," Hermione laughed angrily after a moment. "I am not doing this again." She backed down and shook her head, storming further into the cave. Sirius raced after her.
"Doing what again, Hermione," he demanded.
"This," she shouted, using her wand to gesture at the wizard's general form. "I will not do this again."
"Explain to me exactly what it is you're not doing, Hermione. I'd really like to know," he exclaimed. "You're done with this case? Being my partner? Being my friend?"
"No," she raged. "I'm done with this stupid bravado, Sirius! Viktor has done nothing to earn your ire, and you are acting just like Ronald!"
Sirius looked for a moment as though he'd been slapped. But Hermione kept going.
"Ronald at least had the excuse of being a bloody teenager! What the hell is your excuse?"
Before Sirius could attempt a response, a loud panicked squealing emanated from the dark distance further down the tunnel. Both Aurors turned their attention toward the sound, Sirius igniting the tip of his own wand.
The squealing continued, and soon they could also hear the clipping and clopping of hooves racing down the passage. A small grey piglet came blundering out toward them, weaving straight between Sirius's legs and running wildly out toward the cave entrance they'd left far behind them.
When they could no longer hear the creature's pathetic screams, Sirius let out the breath he'd been holding.
"Bloody pigs," he exclaimed, "they're running the whole bloody village now!"
Hermione remained silent, staring behind them into the darkness the creature had escaped to. Swallowing hard, she looked back at Sirius, face resolute.
"I'm done with it, Sirius," she said plainly, defeated, and continued down the tunnel.
Sirius never knew exactly what had happened between Hermione and Weasley. Quite frankly, he hadn't cared – he was just relieved when it ended.
But as the witch stalked down the dark passage, he realized it might behoove him to learn a little more about her past, a subject he typically tried to veer clear of. Talking about her past, he thought, would only serve to remind him how young she was, which remind him how old he was.
She was right, he conceded with frustration. He had been a prat to Krum. He knew it was jealousy. And it was unfair to Hermione.
He took a couple long strides and caught up to her, glancing at her from the side and seeing her determined face struggle not to peer up at him. He sighed, scrubbing a hand across the stubble on his jawline.
"Look, I'm sorry," he said earnestly. "He just came in and you two were all," he gestured vaguely. Hermione shot him a sidelong glance and nodded
"Why was that a problem, may I ask?"
"I – I just thought –, maybe we were…" he finished, resorting once again to vague gestures. She only nodded.
"Figure it out."
This had not been how she had imagined a conversation with him regarding their situation. In fact, the entire episode left her feeling rather put-out. She sighed in resignation, deciding she'd clear the air about Viktor.
"We met my fourth year, during the Tri-Wizard Tournament," she said. Sirius remained quiet. "Hogwarts hosted it, and the kids from the other schools joined us in the castle. Viktor spent a lot of time in the Library, as did I, so naturally, we got to know each other and became friends. He took me to the Yule Ball, and Ron was furious about it.
"As fourth years, we weren't old enough to attend, just sixth and seventh years got to. But all the girls giggling after Viktor scared him. He may have been an international Quidditch star, but he really was just a scared seventh year boy; he was shy and frightened of the attention. So he asked me. Ron was jealous, for loads of reasons," she chuckled.
"He was jealous that he and Harry couldn't go to the ball. He was jealous that I got to spend time with his celebrity crush. He also told me later that he was jealous that my first date had been with Viktor and not him. And he was an arse about it, just completely unbelievable.
"Viktor and I write to each other occasionally. We're friends, and we care about each other, and I'm so tired of people making a big deal about it. If anyone knew how the majority of our letters were him gushing about his girlfriend, maybe all this silly jealousy around him would just… stop," she ranted.
Sirius remained quiet as she told him about Viktor. More and more he felt shame overcome him over his childish reaction to the man. He berated himself as his mind tried to come up with excuses for his behavior. She hugged him! How many times had he seen her fling herself into Harry's arms, even Ron's- after their breakup.
Sirius, who always worried over being so much older than her, unfairly experienced, had behaved just like any random idiot her own age. The irony was not lost on him.
"I didn't mean to make Susan cry," he nearly whispered after a moment of silence passed between them.
"What?"
"Susan Henry. The secretary who confessed her 'undying love' for me a while back," he clarified, using finger quotations. "You were right; I wasn't particularly gentle with her. I was blunt."
"What did you say to her?"
He winced, glancing at her curious face and decided to bite the bullet. "I told her if I wasn't interested in her when she threw herself at me on the lift, then I sure as hell wasn't interested in her after months of her groping me in the corridors."
Hermione was caught between horror and amusement, and stopped to stare at the man beside her.
"You didn't," she exclaimed. "Sirius, that's awful!"
"Did you not hear what I said," he stated defensively, and continued walking.
"No, I heard. If she really did those things, then she's a right awful bitch and deserves worse, but you," she chuckled. "You really didn't hold back, did you?"
Sirius couldn't help the self-satisfied grin from sneaking onto his face. No. He hadn't held back.
"I'm sorry I got after you about it," she said, changing a glance at him as she moved to continue down the tunnel.
"If I recall, we've already had this conversation," Sirius muttered.
"Only we haven't. Not really."
"Well, regardless, it's all water under the bridge, Kitten."
"I really feel like I should apologize, though. I mean, if you were accosted by Susan while in the Ministry, then how many of those other women did I wrongfully defend?"
Sirius sighed as Hermione continued to talk herself into a frenzy. "Penelope Davis? Oh God. Stephanie? Sophie? Marlene?"
Finally, Sirius grabbed the witch by the shoulder and pulled her to a stop. "Yes," he said, swinging her around to look into her eyes. "All of those women had a very particular talent for making me feel incredibly uncomfortable, except Marlene. Who was completely innocent."
Hermione looked confused at this statement, having heard a very dramatic telling of this story by some of the older gossips in the bullpen. However, if Marlene was innocent compared to Susan, then Sirius must have really been awful to the poor girl. The thought made her nervous.
"Marlene," he said, definitively, "was completely innocent. On a technicality." He let out a huff, which Hermione believed may have been mixed with groan and hung his head forward dramatically, before he spoke again. "Maybe you're right, pet. We do need to have this conversation. But maybe here is not the place?"
Hermione looked around, recalling the pitch dark of the cave lingering just outside the perimeter of their wandlight and agreed.
This particular cave was three times as long and four times as wide as all the others they had scoured.
They looked all over for any trace of life within its walls, and as they climbed down deeper into the earth, Hermione began to lose hope in finding anything.
Her disappointment was short-lived, however, as Sirius's hand soon shot down to tightly grasp her own and indicated for her to remain quiet by placing a single finger against his lips. He pulled her back against the cold stone wall and extinguished the light on his wand. Hermione followed suit and felt the cold tingling of a disillusionment spell Sirius must have cast over the two of them.
Still firmly grasping her hand, Sirius began to pull her with him along the stone wall, stepping carefully in the velvety dark. A rush of cool air let Hermione know they were coming up on a large cavern, and the soft murmuring of rough voices up ahead sent a chill down her spine.
Sirius was stepping carefully, gently leading Hermione closer toward the voices. They began to turn a corner when she could finally hear the words the voices were saying.
"I don't care what you have to do, if they're running amok, I need you to get them back to me," a rough feminine voice hissed. "Kill the boy, if you have to, but bring. Them. Back!"
"Yyyes, my l-l-love," whimpered a smaller, younger, masculine voice.
"If I don't deliver all four of them, we'll both be killed - slaughtered as if we were the animals," the woman spoke again.
Sirius tugged on Hermione's hand, signaling they should head back out of the tunnel. However, Hermione didn't see the wisdom in walking back the way they came. Now that they knew someone was holed up in there, lighting their wands seemed an unnecessary risk.
Instead of allowing Sirius to lead them back, she tugged his arm toward her and carefully wrapped both her own around his neck.
She pulled him down, guiding him through the feeling of her cheek against hers and brought his ear near her mouth. Breathing out as gently as she could she whispered, "clear your mind and trust me."
He wrapped his own arms around her small waist and dropped his head onto her shoulder replying "ok."
Before he knew it, they were crashing hard into the floor of their office. Their feet hit with a force so hard that Sirius lost his balance and toppled backwards, bringing Hermione, who he was still wrapped around, with him.
His head hit the tile with a 'clunk.'
Hermione's face contorted with panic, shooting her arms out on either side if his head to brace herself against the floor.
"Oh God, are you alright?"
Sirius winced and grimaced. "Name's Sirius, but I can see where the confusion is," he muttered.
"Really, though," she pressed.
"I'm fine, pet. Give me a minute." His eyes were screwed tightly shut as he worked himself through the pain of the blow to his head. In that time, however, Hermione became acutely aware of their current position.
She was splayed over his long body, every inch touching his up to her chest, which was raised from where her arms pushed up against the floor. Sirius, with his eyes closed and attempting to breathe normally, was still holding her tightly around the waist. She smirked and tried to roll off of him, but his arms only gripped her tighter.
"Sirius," she giggled as she tried to ignore the blush creeping onto her face.
"Give me a minute," he whined, "and stop squirming. You're making it harder," he stated. Hermione's face blossomed with reddening heat as she dropped herself fully onto his chest in a mess of snickers and giggles. Soon, she felt Sirius's chest rumble with laughter too. "Not what I meant," he chuckled.
"I have to get ready to go to the cafe," Hermione said softly, lifting her face slightly, only to see his scruffy chin. He nodded, still holding her. "You have to let go, Sirius." He rolled his eyes, which she couldn't see, and loosened his grip.
"Fine, go," he said morosely.
Carefully, Hermione pushed herself up and walked over to collect her cloak. When she turned back to where Sirius was, she saw he had pushed himself up as well, and was smoothing out his robes, pulling his hair back into a low bun.
"The woman was Bagely, wasn't she," Hermione asked. Sirius nodded.
"She didn't even try to disguise her voice."
"Who was the man, though?"
"No idea," Sirius said, sitting on the edge of his desk and crossing his legs at the ankle. "Guess we'll have to figure it out tomorrow. And then, I suggest we plan to take a midnight stroll back to that cavern sometime this week."
Hermione nodded, knowing it was needed. Her stomach was in knots now, knowing they'd found part of what they were looking for. Not all of it, though; the muggleborns were still missing.