Work Text:
“I will kill you if someone catches us,” Hermione whispered, looking around the corridor lightened only by the weak shine of a waning moon.
Of course Sirius, being currently in his animagus form, was able to answer her properly, but he still turned his head towards her and glared as much as Padfoot was able, probably trying to tell her that she was being stupid. And okay, maybe he had a point, considering that he even borrowed the invisibility cloak from James for today’s escapade. It was also why he was in his dog form, as it was easier to hide both of them under it, when one was much much smaller. Still it painfully reminded her about all those times they sneaked around with Harry and Ron, which wasn’t something she wanted to think about.
Sometimes Hermione wondered how her rules loving ass, who was always scared of being kicked out of Hogwart and losing the only chance of being a part of the magical world, ended up so frequently sneaking out after the curfew. At least with Harry and Ron, she always had a good reason to do so, but now she was doing it for fun… Sirius was truly a bad influence on her, but somehow she wasn’t upset about it. With him she felt young again, which sounded stupid considering that she was only seventeen, but with war and Harry’s very close involvement in it, she didn’t feel like a teenager for a long time. Here, despite all the odds she was somehow happier. The war was still coming, and she with her knowledge was very close to the middle of it, oh and the people that became her friends mostly didn’t survive in a good shape or at all, but she still felt less burdened by it.
Like a normal teenage witch she was sneaking with her boyfriend because he wanted to go for a midnight walk. Hopefully he would also snog her thoroughly as a reward for her sacrifice. Unfortunately it didn’t look like she had any chance for it any time soon, considering that he insisted on walking beside her as a Padfoot. ‘ Dog running around would be a good distraction in case of meeting someone.’ Fact that he was right didn’t mean that she was pouting any less. The last hope in their walk having some destination different that return to the Griffindor common room. It seemed that her wish was granted only moments later when they stopped.
“An astronomy tower?” she asked when he used his nose to push the door open. Maybe her hopes would be fulfilled after all.
As soon as the door behind her closed he shifted back and smiled at her mischievously, but also with something akin to excitement. “Yup, there is a beautiful view from there.”
Alright, Hermione didn’t know Sirius all that long, even counting the time in the seventies, but in those months she definitely learned that he wasn’t a person to just enjoy the view for the sake of watching it. So his words made her more than a little suspicious, there had to be something at the end of those way too long stairs.
Still, she didn’t expect it to be this, or that much of this .
The entire top of the tower was covered in burning candles with a picnic set up in the middle, with a blanket and basket, even with some pillows. Oh, there were even white flowers strategically placed around them. It also seemed that the warming spell was placed on it as it was pleasantly cosy, something she didn’t expect after a place that was always haunted by cold winds.
“Do you like it?” Sirius’ hesitant voice reached her from behind. “I know that Valentine's Day was a few days ago, but we had those exams and homeworks. I didn’t want to take you away from your studies… and I wanted us to enjoy the time without guilt and rush. What do you think? I even got us our favourite food!” he added hastily, for some reason sounding more and more frantic with every passing second. “I wanted to do something truly romantic for you. Marlene always kept saying that I’m not capable of being romantic. I wanted to show you that I can. Prongs and Moony laughed at my attempts in doing it. But I think that this is romantic. Right? The candles and stars. What do you think? Do you like it? If not, I can change something, more to your liking. Just tell me…”
“If I kiss you, will you shut up?” Hermione turned towards him and finally interrupted his rambling with a raised brow and then followed with actions, not waiting for his replay.
It seemed that all of Sirius worries, or at least most of them disappeared when their lips met. He let out a low moan and put his arms around her waist to bring her closer to him.
“So you like it,” he still asked, when they separated after a short moment, there would be time later for more of this.
“I love it, you goofball,” she rolled her eyes and pecked his lips one more time. “It’s absolutely perfect. Thank you for doing it for me.”
“Everything to see you smile,” Sirius declared with such devotion, that her heart melted a little.
“Who said that you’re not romantic, is a damn moron.” Hermione sealed her words with another, much more thorough snog, that left them both panting for air.
“I would happily do this all but we have other nice things too.” He once again took her hand and then tugged her towards the blanked.
“I will overlook that you used those poor elves to get the food,” she said when he took out two bottles of butterbeer and some snacks.
“They were more than happy to provide,” Sirius defended himself, not looking up from the basket, “you just need to be really nice to them. However, it doesn’t work on all of them. You should meet Kreacher, he belongs to my mother and match her with his vile character.”
“He is a sad, mistreated creature,” she said in the elf defence, before she could stop herself.
Unfortunately, her slip didn’t go unnoticed and his head immediately snapped to her with confusion written all over his face, which quickly got replaced by understanding, which was even worse.
“You met Kreacher before,” it wasn’t even a question, “but how?”
Hermione shifted uncomfortably, really not wanting to answer that as there was no easy way out of it, simple ‘he belonged to you at the time’ would create only more questions and she couldn’t share that much with him, with anybody beside Dumbledore.
Probably noticing how she fidgeted, Sirius didn’t press, at least not for this particular answer, seemingly preferring to come to his own conclusions.
“You met me before… in your original timeline… older me?” She couldn’t decipher the look on his face or the way he bit his lip. Like he was nervous, but why?
She sighed, defeated but didn’t see a point in lying, it was harmless information as long as she didn’t share any details. So she nodded, not looking at him.
“I hope that I’m not overstepping but… I wasn’t a father of one of your friends or…” he looked at her with a strange mix of hope and dread.
Oh! This was why he seemed nervous. Yes, she had to admit that it would be weird considering their relationship.
“No, don’t worry. You weren’t.” You were only a godfather, but this doesn’t count… right? “I would never date you if it could lead to my friend not being born.”
“So… enemy?” He raised his brow teasingly, but seemed to relax significantly.
“You didn’t have kids back then,” she confessed, not sure how he would react.
But to her surprise he shrugged and then nodded like this news pleased him. “Makes sense, I didn’t have you in that timeline. It had to be awful.”
Shiver ran through her body at this offhand comment, but she still smiled at the implication of his first statement. “And you dare to think that you’re not romantic.”
It earned her a blinding smile and one of the chocolate pralines from Honeydukes, immediately followed by his lips. She couldn’t help but giggle into this chocolate flavoured kiss, and when they parted she leaned her head on his chest, snuggling closer to him.
“Do you even want kids?” Hermione knew that they were still young, adults by wizards standards, but still definitely young. However, Harry should be born in mere three years so she didn’t feel that it was too early to ask.
“Only if they will be as smart as you,” he replied, kissing her hair.
“Charmer,” she chuckled, shaking her head, but deeply pleased with his answer. It was a surprise even to her, but she actually could picture it.
“But you met kids of some of us…” Sirius asked quite suddenly.
She nodded slowly, hoping that she would not regret it.
“James’?”
She looked up at him in shock.
“Easy to guess, I didn’t have children, Remus probably also not, not with his self hatred and definitely not that early.”
“Promise me that you will never tell anybody,” Hermione pleaded, feeling a need to talk about her friend.
“I promise, I know how dangerous this knowledge is,” he said with unusual seriousness.
“James’ son was my best friend,” she confessed with a deep sigh. “He looked so much like James, everyone kept telling him that, but truly… It's unreal how alike they look. You were his godfather.”
“So this is how you met me?”
“Kind of…” she trailed off not wanting to give away more, thankfully he didn’t press further.
“Will you ever tell me what that other timeline looked like? You know when it will be safe,” Sirius asked after a moment of silence, still idly playing with her hair.
“I’m not sure if you truly want that…”
“That bad?”
“Yeah, you could say that,” she sighed, longing to be able to talk to someone about her previous life, but knowing that it wasn’t possible.
“Good that it has already changed.”
“You don’t know that,” Hermione protested, sitting up abruptly. “My knowledge is fairly big, but it still can not be enough.”
“One pebble can start an avalanche.” He tugged her back into his arms.
Maybe he was right. She noticed that her barely contained hatred towards Pettigrew resulted with the rest of the Marauders limiting their contact with him. All pretend to have good excuses for that, Sirius was spending time with her, James was trying to woo Lily, and Remus was devoted to his studies. Somehow they managed to reduce him from a friend to a colleague and she would make sure that he would never become a secret keeper. But it didn’t help the fear that she was constantly feeling in the back of her head, she made so many friends and thinking what fate awaited for them made her shudder.
“It seems that my questions brought dark thoughts upon you. Should I chase them away?”
His fingers toyed with the hem of her jumper, slipping slightly under it and teasing her skin, which made her shiver in return.
“My brave knight,” she replied, reaching to him and bringing his lips to hers.
Yes, this was the proper way to spend the evening.