Chapter 13: Sirius Returns
The
telephone rang the following day. It had rung many times in the beginning of the
week and almost nonstop before the funeral. Hermione had never once answered it.
She did today though. But then, she knew who was calling.
Draco was only mildly interested
as she scooped the phone off the base and turned away from him. He had settled
cheerfully into Sirius' place on the sofa and was highly enjoying a sampling of
Saturday afternoon television. He had never stopped being intrigued by muggle
technology and Hermione was sure that if circumstances were different he would
get along famously with Arthur Weasley.
She took a deep breath, rested
the receiver against her ear, "Hello." She said simply.
"Hermione," Harry's
voice was crisp, clear, and the probably the most wonderful thing that Hermione
had ever heard.
"Hi Mum," Hermione
replied after only a second's pause.
"You're not alone? Who's
there?" Harry's voice was worried.
"Draco is here, as was
Sirius but he left yesterday." Hermione walked into the kitchen under the
pretense of getting something to drink.
"Tell your Mum that I said
hi." Draco called after her.
"Sirius? Why was Sirius
there? And Malfoy, can't you get rid of him?" Harry's voice was worried;
they had never planned on unexpected guests.
"No, I haven't been able
to, but Draco is helping me with a spell that I'm working on." Hermione's
voice remained calm as she spoke but internally her mind was spinning, it was
wonderful to hear Harry's voice.
"Will the spell be done?
Will you be ready? He's getting braver every day, I know that he's going to come
out of hiding and attack the Ministry face to face. Ron still thinks that he'll
go for Hogwarts first but I'd bet all the money in Gringotts that he's still
afraid of Dumbledore." Harry's voice had risen. It often did when he spoke
of Voldemort. Harry's hatred for the Dark Lord had surpassed every other emotion
that the young man felt. It frightened Hermione sometimes.
"I'll try Mum, you know
that I will." Hermione leaned against the counter and closed her eyes.
"We've followed the trail
into Budapest but Ron and I both think that he's going to swing back towards
England soon. That's where it's going to happen Hermione. It started in England,
it will end in England." Harry's voice became soothing, "are you all
right? How are things with everyone?"
Hermione sighed and brushed a
wayward curl back behind her ear, "I don't know how you're going to explain
it. I don't know if they'll understand."
There was a long pause from the
other end before Harry spoke again, "they'll have to understand, it was the
only way. I have to end it."
"We have to end it,"
Hermione's voice was barely above a whisper.
Harry didn't reply, he didn't
need to; he understood perfectly what she meant. They had promised long ago to
do it together. Hermione and Ron had gladly taken up the burden that Harry had
shouldered.
"I have to go
Hermione."
"I know."
Harry paused on the other end,
Hermione knew that he was trying to form the words that needed to be said to
reassure her. But what the original plan seemed much different from this side
and it was hard to be comforting. "Be ready, Hermione, be ready."
"Be careful." Hermione
said softly in reply.
There was sharp click and the
line went blank, leaving Hermione alone once again.
~*~*~*~
Hermione turned the water off
and slid open the opaque glass door. She toweled off quickly, shook as much
water from her hair as was possible, and pulled a flannel nightgown over her
head. Her mother had given it to her the year before. It was off white with tiny
pink roses. The sleeves and hem ended in a pretentious flounce of ruffle while
miniscule pearly buttons went all the way up to the hollow of her throat.
Hermione hated it. She hardly ever wore it. Ron always teased her about it. He
claimed that it made her look like some heroine from a Victorian gothic mystery.
Not that Ron would know what a heroine from a Victorian gothic mystery would
look like even if the heroine in question came up and beat his head in with a
candelabra. But Ron wasn't there to tease her and it was awfully cold outside.
Hermione tucked her wet hair
back behind her ears and opened the door to her bedroom. She stopped. She had
only been in the shower for a few minutes and yet somehow Draco had managed to
take complete possession of her bed. He lay diagonally across it on his stomach.
The blanket was trapped underneath him. Two pillows cushioned his down turned
face while another was ensnared beneath his right arm. Hermione didn't even want
to wonder where the other pillow was.
She sighed deeply before
deciding that she wasn't that tired anyway. Hermione pulled another blanket from
her wardrobe and carefully laid it over Draco. He murmured lightly in his sleep
but didn't wake up.
The flat was dark but Hermione
didn't need any light to find her way. In the kitchen she lit a candle with the
tip of her wand. She pulled the bag of coffee grinds from the icebox and
carefully measured in the proper amount. Hermione poured the water in and pushed
the button. Nothing happened. Frowning Hermione pushed it again with the same
result. She reached behind the accursed appliance and jiggled the cord.
"Come on," Hermione
moaned pushing the buttons again.
"Do you want me to do
it?"
Hermione turned so quickly that
she knocked the bag of grinds over, spilling them across the counter. Sirius
raised one eyebrow but said nothing.
"Sirius!" Hermione's
voice was high and panicked, "don't sneak up on me!"
He raised his hands in front of
him apologetically, "I hadn't meant to scare you. But might I suggest
putting some wards on your front door?"
"Harry and Ron usually take
care of that." Hermione told him as she fought down the endorphins that had
arisen over her shock.
Sirius approached her and
started adjusting the settings on the coffee maker. Hermione stood silently next
to him watching his strong hands as he began to sweep the grinds back into the
bag. The coffee pot was forgotten as a stream of dark coffee began to pour from
the bottom.
"It's late," Sirius
said gently without looking at her, "you should be sleeping."
Hermione fingered the ruffle of
one sleeve; she really did hate this nightgown. "Draco stole my bed and I'm
not particularly tired anyway."
"Stole?" Sirius
questioned lightly although Hermione saw his shoulders stiffen as he turned his
back to her to put the bag back in the freezer, "aren't you sharing
it?"
Hermione knew perfectly well
what he meant by that question and unlike Draco she saw no need to let Sirius
think that there was something more between them than there was. "Sirius,
I'm not sleeping with Draco."
He turned to look at her now,
obvious disbelief in his dark eyes.
"You think that I'm
lying?" Hermione questioned, not particularly offended.
Sirius had the good sense to
look embarrassed, "No, no of course I don't think that you're lying. It's
just that he seems very affectionate." Sirius' voice dropped to a low growl
over his last few words.
Hermione sighed and pulled
herself up easily onto the counter the soft flickering candle casting moving
shadows across the kitchen. She was glad that the low light didn't allow for the
flowers on her nightgown to be seen. Sirius stood watching her a few feet away.
Hermione was surprised to realize that she was glad that he was back.
"He's only being doing that
to annoy you." Hermione smiled at him slightly. "He seems to think
that you're jealous."
Sirius looked away from her and turned to the cabinet behind him and extracted
two mugs. Hermione studied his back. Draco wasn't right, was he? She couldn't
even imagine why he would be jealous.
"Why did you come
back?" Hermione asked the question before she even realized that she wanted
to know.
Sirius turned back to her,
"to protect you. I can't very well do that if I'm off sulking somewhere can
I?"
Hermione sighed dully and leaned
back against the cabinets, "I don't need you to protect me Sirius."
Sirius smiled grimly, "I
know that you don't. But I'll protect you anyway if I can."
Hermione closed her eyes. It was
pointless arguing about it with him. Didn't he understand that she didn't
appreciate the gesture? That she never had? She didn't need looking after like
some pet goldfish that Harry had left unattended.
"I've never hated
you." His was soft, deep, and very close to her.
Hermione opened her eyes. Sirius
was only a few inches away from her. All he had to do to touch her was lean
forward ever so slightly. Hermione marveled at how silent he was all the while a
tiny thrill began to thrum gently along her spine.
"I know that,"
Hermione whispered not knowing why, "I was upset and I over reacted a bit.
I know that hate is a bit strong."
Sirius frowned as if puzzled
about something. "Don't you understand?" He asked moving imperceptibly
closer.
Hermione's internal alarm
sounded and subconsciously she began to slide a little farther away from him but
Sirius grasped her arm stopping her retreat.
"Do you remember the first
time you spoke to me?" His eyes were so dark.
Hermione found that her mouth
had gone painfully dry so she simply shook her head.
Sirius chuckled ruefully,
"No, I don't suppose that you would, but then that's the type of person
that you are. You called me Mr. Black."
Hermione struggled to remember,
but she had been so frightened that night it was hard to recall such an
insignificant detail. "So?" She finally managed to speak.
"You were the first
individual to talk me like I was a person. The first in twelve years that didn't
make me feel like a murderer. You were amazing." His voice was so low that
it could hardly be heard.
Hermione's eyes went wide at the
sudden compliment. He hadn't said anything like that to her in years. Not since
her sixth year. "I...I'd never really thought about it like that."
Hermione whispered. And then something clicked in her brain, something that she
had never even considered before, something that her modesty wouldn't ever have
allowed as a possibility.
Sirius was so close to her now that
she almost felt his warm breath against her face. His grip on her arm hadn't
lessened at all. But he wasn't hurting her.
"Sirius," Hermione
breathed, "what were you protecting me from?"
Sirius' hand tightened. His eyes
looked pained and uncertain. When he answered her question, his voice was one
that she hadn't heard from him in a long time.
"I was protecting you from
myself."
And then he closed the pitiful
distance that separated them and kissed her.