⚡︎
┄┄ .•* 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟐 *•. ┄┄

𝒊𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒈𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍

────── *•. ⚡︎ .•*──────

Hermione's head hurt like a bitch.

She felt as if she had been thrown under a bus again and brought back to life. Which wasn't far from the truth—well, except the bus part. In fact, she had been under horrific circumstances, in an unnecessary battle, passing through tumultuous mood swings, that made her contemplate the option of turning her humanity switch off. But then she remembered that was the wrong universe—who could blame her for wanting, anyway?

Now she was here, very much alive, as her stupid headache had proven, her eyes closed as she started to sense her surroundings. The smell of the hospital wing filled her nostrils along with the soft fabric of the bedsheets against her body. However, Hermione felt a weight on her legs and that was what it took for her to actually open her eyes.

Outside, she noted, as she looked through the window ahead, the sun was starting to rise, its rays and light lighting up the forest around Hogwarts. Hermione looked down and exhaled a laugh as she saw Padfoot curled up at the end of her bed.

The thing was, laughing wasn't the best idea, as her head throbbed at the sound. Hermione groaned and let her head fall back on the pillow as she felt movement at the end of the bed. In seconds Sirius had awakened and leaped out of the bed, promptly transforming into a human again, and sat down next to her on a wooden chair.

"Hey, easy there, Mia, " Sirius whispered he put a hand on her shoulder comfortingly, "How are you feeling?"

"Couldn't be better. . . ." Hermione said with a faint grin then frowned slightly. "Ice cream would be good though. And chocolate cake. . . ."

Sirius breathed out a relieved laugh at her comment as he brought her into a hug. Patting her head as Hermione hugged him back.

"I'm here, dad," Hermione whispered with a smile. Sirius nodded and pulled away from her his grin not faltering.

"How long have I been out?" Hermione asked him as she rubbed her eyes to get read of her sleepiness.

"A couple of days. . . . It's Sunday morning now," Sirius explained. "When we passed through the veil again we both passed out from exhaustion—I woke up yesterday. Apparently being brought back from the dead isn't as easy as it sounds."

"I never expected it to be a walk in a park. . . . . Wait!" Hermione said, her eyes bulging as she looked around the hospital wing and then back at her dad. "How come you're here?"

"Ouch, " Sirius gasped clutching his heart dramatically. "I'm your father, Mia, that's why!"

"That's not what I meant!" Hermione told him rolling her eyes. "You're gonna get caught!"

"Actually, " Sirius grinned as he puffed out his chest, "The Minister pardoned me a day or so ago. I had to register as an Animagus though. . . . But everything solved itself out and I am now a free man!"

"Really?" Hermione asked stunned and Sirius grinned nodding.

"Really," Sirius said, "It must be announced today actually, in the Sunday Prophet. Along with the fact that you're my daughter."

"What?" Hermione asked her eyes widening. "Wasn't that supposed to be a secret?"

"It was," said Sirius nodding with a frown, "but then again we were hiding you from Voldemort. Now that he knows, there's really no point in hiding. . . . And Malfoy blabbed when he was being arrested."

"Fuck's sake. . . ." Hermione grimaced as she let herself fall on her pillow.

"Are you really that ashamed of being a Black?" she heard a sarcastic voice asked and turned to the other side to see Regulus smirking at her.

"Can't blame her, " Sirius answered with a shrug. Hermione snorted and was about to answer when—

"WHAT?!" she screamed and both brothers started laughing at her. Hermione rounded on Sirius, her mouth agape. "You can see him?"

"Why of course, " he grinned cheekily. "Passing through that veil had its perks."

"Miss Gr—Black! You're awake!"

Their conversation was cut short by the matron of Hogwarts coming bustling in with a potion in hand toward them.

"I am, " Hermione smiled after looking back at Regulus who had now disappeared—something she didn't get because it wasn't like he would be seen. Poppy smiled back as she handed her a vial with a blood-red potion inside.

"Take this, " she ordered, "it will have your vitals balanced in no time so you can get out of here."

"Thank you, Poppy, " Hermione and Sirius said at the same time with similar cheeky grins, and Madam Pomfrey could only shake her head with a smile as she went to check on Professor Umbridge who apparently was also there and in a state of shock.

"How come I'm in the hospital wing?" Hermione asked her dad after downing the god-awful potion, immediately feeling her headache clearing out.

"Dumbledore didn't want us to be in St. Mungos, " Sirius explained. "Said it's safer."

"Right, " Hermione nodded, "Where's everyone?"

"They've been visiting a lot but they can't sleep here," Sirius said. "They must be arriving in half an hour or so."

And indeed in no less than half an hour Harry, Ron, Ginny, Neville, Luna, Dean, Seamus, and even Blaise and Theo were bursting through the doors of the Hospital wing their faces lighting up as they saw Hermione awake, smiling at them.

"MIMI!"

Hermione was immediately tackled backward by the body of one Ginny Weasley—her dad moving out of the way of the incoming red bomb. She heard laughter from behind the locks of the redhead and when the younger girl decided to pull away, Hermione was immediately tackled in another hug by Ron.

After many rounds of hugs and Sirius excusing himself to let the "kids" talk, Hermione was grinning wildly. That is until she noticed one person she had not heard a peep from yet.

"Prongslet?" she called out to the specky boy on the chair next to her bed. He was looking at his hands in his lap and had been quiet since he came in.

Everyone around them shut up—being that they were actually all having civil conversations with each other (mainly about Quidditch). Harry's emerald eyes flew up to hers and she noticed how hesitant he seemed.

"I'm sorry," he finally let out quietly and Hermione frowned.

"Why?"

"This is all my fault," Harry muttered only to be met with protests from the Gryffindors.

"It is true. . . ." Theo muttered and the Gryffindors glared at him making him throw his hands in the air in surrender.

"Is that why you've been quiet?" Hermione asked bewildered.

"Well, yes. . . ." Harry shrugged ruffling his hair. "You told me not to go and you and Sirius almost ended up dead."

"But we're not," Hermione smiled, "Honestly, it could have been worse. I'm not actually hurt and dad isn't . . . . dead."

"Oh, that's right!" Blaise grinned at her. "You're a Black, now. . . ."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ginny shot him a look and Blaise's eyebrows went to his hairline.

"Nothing, Red," he shrugged with an amused smirk, "I was merely stating a fact."

"How does it work?" Theo asked, "Are you a pureblood now or still a muggleborn?"

"Seriousily?" Seamus said looking at the Slytherin baffled.

"What?" Theo shrugged, "It's a relevant question."

"I'm either or neither. . . ." Hermione said shrugging, "I really couldn't care less."

"Either way, you, Harry, and Black are the top news of the Prophet," Dean announced and Hermione groaned along with Harry.

"Oh yes," Seamus nodded, "They really like Harry, now."

"'A lone voice of truth . . . perceived as unbalanced, yet never wavered in his story . . . forced to bear ridicule and slander . . .'," Ginny quoted dramatically making everyone chuckle, and even Harry cracked a grin.

"The thing is they don't mention anything about the fact that it was them coming up with all that bullshit," Harry scoffed and they all nodded in agreement.

"They seem to have used the Quibbler interview, too," Neville pointed out.

"Daddy sold it to them," said Luna vaguely, turning a page of The Quibbler. "He got a very good price for it too, so we're going to go on an expedition to Sweden this summer and see if we can catch a Crumple-Horned Snorkack."

"That sounds awesome!" Hermione grinned and Luna beamed up at her. "But anyway, what's going on?"

"Well, Flitwick's got rid of Fred and George's swamp," said Ginny. "He did it in about three seconds. But he left a tiny patch under the window and he's roped it off—"

"I think he left it as a monument to Fred and George," said Ron, looking wearily at Hermione at the mention of Fred. Hermione only let her smile falter slightly before it was back on. Now it was no time to be thinking about Fred. She could figure it all out soon.

"So everything's alright? What with Dumbledore back?"

"Yes," said Neville, "everything's settled right back down again."

"I s'pose Filch is happy, huh?" asked Hermione with a grin.

"Not at all," said Ginny. "He's really, really miserable, actually. . . ." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "He keeps saying Umbridge was the best thing that ever happened to Hogwarts. . . ."

All ten of them looked around. Professor Umbridge was lying in a bed opposite them, gazing up at the ceiling.

"I think she's in shock," whispered Hermione.

"Sulking, more like," said Ginny.

"Yeah, she shows signs of life if you do this," said Ron, and with his tongue, he made soft clip-clopping noises. Umbridge sat bolt upright, looking wildly around.

"Anything wrong, Professor?" called Madam Pomfrey, poking her head around her office door.

"No . . . no . . ." said Umbridge, sinking back into her pillows, "no, I must have been dreaming. . . ."

This caused everyone to have to muffle their laughter.

The Slytherins soon left them, followed by Neville, Dean and Seamus, Ginny and Luna, and leaving Hermione with Ron and Harry.

In the middle of the afternoon, Sirius came back with a huge grin on his face, as if he just had had the biggest chocolate cake piece Hermione could ever imagine.

"What?" Harry asked confused.

"Guess," Sirius said the grin not leaving his face as he approached them.

"Uh—Snape was eaten by the Giant Squid?" Ron asked and Hermione snorted.

"No. . . . But that would be good. . . ." Sirius said in afterthought.

"Just tell us, already. . . ." Harry groaned as Hermione watched in amusement.

"You, my dear Prongslet," Sirius said formally, "Are never ever returning to the pigs."

"What?" the three said looking at Sirius as if he had grown another head.

"You're going to live with me and Mia!" Sirius exclaimed and the trio's eyes went wide, a huge grin forming on each of their faces.

In seconds Harry had leaped out of his seat and had brought Sirius into a hug.

"Are you serious?" Harry asked as he pulled away from Sirius, a giddy grin on his face.

"How'd you guess?" Sirius smirked and the three rolled their eyes. "Yes! I spent all afternoon arguing with old Dumbles—"

"Let me guess," Hermione started, "He didn't want Harry to come because of the blood magic?"

"Yeah," Sirius nodded and the other two boys frowned.

"What?"

"When your mum sacrificed herself for you, Prongsie," Hermione started, "she created a link or whatever. The point is you're safe in your good-for-nothing relatives' house because of it. Until you turn seventeen or don't call it home anymore, anyway."

"Right," Sirius nodded, "And Dumbledore said exactly that—with more words and less whatever, but that was the gist."

"Then how'd you convince him?" said Ron.

"Said that Grimmauld Place is under the Fidelious charm so there is no way he's found anyway," Sirius started, "And I'm your godfather, which means, I'm legally your guardian."

"You're actually smart?" Hermione teased and Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Well, Remus was there too," Sirius muttered and they all laughed.

"Anyway, I'm going home today and prepare your rooms," said Sirius to Harry and Hermione, "Mia, I took care of everything with the Grangers and you'll spend the first two weeks with them."

"I miss them," Hermione nodded a pang of guilt pulling at her heart knowing that sometime next year she would be wiping their memories away and sending them off to Australia. . . .

After saying goodbye to Sirius, the three of them left the hospital wing—Poppy had let Hermione go—and were walking down the corridors, smiles still on their faces. It seemed as if everything was right—

They had just descended the last marble step into the entrance hall when Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle emerged from a door on the right that Hermione knew led down to the Slytherin common room. They stopped dead; so did Malfoy and the others. For a few moments, the only sounds were the shouts, laughter, and splashes drifting into the hall from the grounds through the open front doors. Malfoy glanced around. Hermione knew he was checking for signs of teachers. Then he looked back at Harry, Hermione, and Ron—Harry especially—and said in a low voice, "You're dead, Potter."

Hermione saw as Harry raised his eyebrows, not letting the ferret ruin his good mood. "Funny," he said, "you'd think I'd have stopped walking around. . . ."

Though Hermione and Ron snorted, Malfoy looked angrier than they had ever seen him.

"You're going to pay," said Malfoy in a voice barely louder than a whisper. "I'm going to make you pay for what you've done to my father. . . ."

"Well, I'm terrified now," said Harry sarcastically. "I s'pose Lord Voldemort's just a warm-up act compared to you three — what's the matter?" he said, for Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle had all looked stricken at the sound of the name. "He's your dad's mate, isn't he? Not scared of him, are you?"

"You think you're such a big man, Potter," said Malfoy, advancing now, Crabbe and Goyle flanking him. "All of you! You wait. I'll have you. You can't land my father in prison—"

"I thought I just had," said Harry. 

"The dementors have left Azkaban," said Malfoy quietly. "Dad and the others'll be out in no time. . . ."

"Yeah, I expect they will," said Harry. "Still, at least everyone knows what scumbags they are now—"

Malfoy's hand flew toward his wand, but Harry was too quick for him. He had drawn his own wand before Malfoy's fingers had even entered the pocket of his robes.

"Potter!"

The voice rang across the entrance hall; Snape had emerged from the staircase leading down to his office. Hermione groaned.

"What are you doing, Potter?" said Snape coldly as ever, as he strode over to the six of them.

"I'm trying to decide what curse to use on Malfoy, sir," said Harry fiercely.

Snape stared at him, ignoring Ron and Hermione beside him.

"Put that wand away at once," he said curtly. "Ten points from Gryff—"

Snape looked toward the giant hourglasses on the walls and gave a sneering smile.

"Ah. I see there are no longer any points left in the Gryffindor hourglass to take away. In that case, Potter, we will simply have to—"

"Add some more?"

Professor McGonagall had just stumped up the stone steps into the castle. She was carrying a tartan carpetbag in one hand and leaning heavily on a walking stick with her other, but otherwise looked quite well.

"Minnie!" Both Hermione and Ron cheered in a whisper.

"Professor McGonagall!" said Snape, striding forward. "Out of St. Mungo's, I see!"

"Yes, Professor Snape," said Professor McGonagall, shrugging off her traveling cloak, "I'm quite as good as new. You two—Crabbe—Goyle—"

She beckoned them forward imperiously and they came, shuffling their large feet and looking awkward.

"Here," said Professor McGonagall, thrusting her carpetbag into Crabbe's chest and her cloak into Goyle's, "take these up to my office for me."

They turned and stumped away up the marble staircase.

"Right then," said Professor McGonagall, looking up at the hourglasses on the wall, "well, I think Potter and his friends ought to have fifty points apiece for alerting the world to the return of You-Know-Who! What say you, Professor Snape?"

"What?" snapped Snape, though Harry knew he had heard perfectly well. "Oh—well—I suppose . . ."

"So that's fifty each for Potter, the two Weasleys, Longbottom, and Miss Black," said Professor McGonagall, and a shower of rubies fell down into the bottom bulb of Gryffindor's hourglass as she spoke. "Oh—and fifty for Miss Lovegood, I suppose," she added, and a number of sapphires fell into Ravenclaw's glass. "Now, you wanted to take ten from Mr. Potter, I think, Professor Snape—so there we are. . . ."

A few rubies retreated into the upper bulb, leaving a respectable amount below nevertheless.

"Well, Potter, Black, Weasley, Malfoy, I think you ought to be outside on a glorious day like this," Professor McGonagall continued briskly.

As Harry and Ron thrust their wands back in their pocket and began to walk outside, stopped as they noticed Hermione wasn't following them.

Instead, the curly-haired witch had stayed behind, wanting to talk to her cousin. She ushered them out, and, when they were gone, she approached Malfoy who was walking back to his common room.

"Draco?" she called out and he ignored her. "Oi! Bleached Bimbo?"

"What?" he snarled at her stopping in his steps as Hermione came to a stop in front of him.

"I just wanted to talk, chill," she said throwing her hands up in surrender.

"Just because you aren't a mudblood anymore doesn't mean you're any less of a traitor," he spat and Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Yes, but it also means I can finally treat you like family," she said smiling and he frowned.

"Family?" he asked skeptically.

"Yes!" Hermione beamed.

"I'm not your family, Black," he snarled making a move to pass past her only to be shoved backward.

"Well, I'm here whether you want it or not," Hermione snapped at him, "You may be a little shit but we both know how fucked up this world is. And now with your father in jail—" he sneered at her "—well, things are going to get worse for you."

"Your point?" He said impatiently clicking his tongue.

"My point is," Hermione said rolling her eyes, "I'm here if you need help. I know we don't like each other and whatever—but! You're family and I don't want to see you hurt."

"Right," he scoffed, "what's next? We're hanging out together by the lake? Study sessions and holidays together?"

"No," Hermione said rolling her eyes. "Stop being such a moron and just think about it, okay? Because with Voldy back things are going to get really real, really fast for you."

"Did you just—Did you just call the Dark Lord, Voldy?" Draco sputtered out looking baffled which made Hermione laugh.

"Not so scary anymore, is he?" she laughed but then shut up immediately, "If you need anything, help, or whatever, you and your mum can always come to me and my dad—though, he may fight me a little on it."

"I don't need help, you pathetic blood traitor," Draco snarled and was finally able to go past her in the direction of his common room.

"Fine!" Hermione called out after him, "Just know the offer is still on the table!"

The journey home on the Hogwarts Express the next day was eventful in several ways. Firstly, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, who had clearly been waiting all week for the opportunity to strike without teacher witnesses, attempted to ambush Harry halfway down the train as he made his way back from the toilet. The attack might have succeeded had it not been for the fact that they unwittingly chose to stage the attack right outside a compartment full of D.A. members, who saw what was happening through the glass and rose as one to rush to Harry's aid. By the time Ernie Macmillan, Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Anthony Goldstein, and Terry Boot had finished using a wide variety of the hexes and jinxes Harry had taught them, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle resembled nothing so much as three gigantic slugs squeezed into Hogwarts uniforms as Harry, Ernie, and Justin hoisted them into the luggage rack and left them there to ooze.

"I must say, I'm looking forward to seeing Malfoy's mother's face when he gets off the train," said Ernie with some satisfaction, as he watched Malfoy squirm above him. Ernie had never quite got over the indignity of Malfoy docking points from Hufflepuff during his brief spell as a member of the Inquisitorial Squad.

"Goyle's mum'll be really pleased, though," said Ron, who had come to investigate the source of the commotion along with Hermione who started laughing at the scene (though she grimaced at the sight of Draco all mulled). "He's loads better looking now. . . . Anyway, Harry, the food trolley's just stopped if you want anything. . . ."

Harry thanked the others and accompanied Hermione and Ron back to their compartment, where he bought a large pile of Cauldron Cakes and Pumpkin Pasties. Hermione stole one of his Cauldron Cakes, and plopped herself down on a seat next to Ginny. The latter was filling out a quiz in The Quibbler. Neville was stroking his Mimbulus mimbletonia, which had grown a great deal over the year and now made odd crooning noises when touched.

Harry and Ron whiled away most of the journey playing wizard chess. Hermione was extremely bored. Ginny had fallen asleep, and Neville was looking at his modulus mumbo jumbo. Hence why she decided to excuse herself from the compartment and went looking for her other friends.

As she passed through different compartments she found something that woke up her inner fangirl and simultaneously made her scrunch up her nose. It was never good to see two of your best friends snogging, but then again it was Seamus and Dean and that made Hermione grin for her ship. She decided to walk away not wanting to disrupt the heated make-out session and went looking for Blaise and Theo (and if she was with them, Daphne).

The Slytherins were in one of the last carriages of the train, the three of them talking seriously, by the looks of it. However, as soon as Hermione came in she was met with silence. She didn't take much notice though—either because she didn't want to think about it or because she really didn't notice—, the three of them immediately grinned at her and invited her in.

During her time with her snake friends, Hermione learned that apparently, Blaise had this new crush, that this time seemed to actually be going somewhere (seeing as he actually talked to them). But for the first time ever he didn't say who it was, and that really pissed off his friends, who spent the entire ride nagging him about it while he just sat there, arms crossed and a cheeky smirk on his face.

By the time they were almost getting to the station, Hermione said goodbye to the Slytherins and walked the carriages back to her compartment—stopping in the middle to hug goodbye Seamus and Dean (who were no longer going at it) and also tease them about what she saw (something that was not appreciated). When she entered the compartment she burst out laughing at the sight of a shocked Ron. Apparently Ginny was seeing someone again, and he didn't quite agree with his little sister dating. Something that left Ginny fuming and Hermione nodding by her side.

As the train slowed down in the approach to King's Cross, Hermione felt as if the smile she had on her face would be impossible to wipe. Because, even in the midst of chaos, what with Voldemort rising again and the war coming, things were actually turning out better than last time.

For starters, Sirius was alive and free. Something that didn't happen before. And Hermione also noticed he was happier. His smiles were more genuine—at least from the day she was with him in Hogwarts. And it might all have been for the fact, that he could now talk to the ghosts of his past and laugh, hug and kiss them. Though the latter was only reserved for one person. James Potter. . . . and maybe Annora Hale.

And with Sirius being alive and free, came the fact that Harry was finally going to get out of the Dursleys. Sirius and he would be going to Privet Drive, first thing after King's Cross, to get everything he needed.

Hermione would be going to the Grangers for the first two weeks of summer and honestly, she couldn't be happier. She had sent them a letter with Vader explaining why she hadn't written in so long (bullshitting a bit, of course) and they had gladly replied telling her that they would be traveling to Brazil during those two weeks.

The Grangers we're now aware that Hermione knew she was adopted (something she wrote to them about—which in retrospect would be much better left said in person). She told them that she had found her dad, but that they were always going to be her family. When they wrote back she could see dried tears on the paper, but they only told her how happy they were for her and that they would talk when they met again. Hermione wasn't worried about it. She knew where she stood. The Grangers were and always would be her family, along with Sirius and Annora. Like she had said before they were more like an aunt and uncle to her—quite like spiderman's— and she loved them.

But anyway, back on track, with Harry living in Grimmauld Place, the battle of the Seven Potters or whatever it was called, was pretty much unnecessary. That meant that George wouldn't lose his ear and Mad-Eye would still live.

In all honesty, Hermione wasn't even sure anymore of what would happen in the future. So much had changed already that it had started to become quite unpredictable. But one thing she knew was how to bring down Voldy. So even if everything started to go off-track and she suddenly had no idea of what was happening around her and was as clueless as everybody else, she knew they would win. Or at least she hoped so.

When the train finally puffed to a standstill, Hermione lifted Crookshanks's and Vader's cage and prepared to drag her trunk from the train as usual.

When the ticket inspector signaled to her, Ron, and Harry that it was safe to walk through the magical barrier between platforms nine and ten, she found herself smiling more at the group of people awaiting them on the other side.

There was Sirius, looking quite as joyful as he had been when he left Hogwarts; leather jacket on (totally different from hers, though), his jet-black hair elegantly groomed and Hermione was surprised to see many women passing through him and checking him out (in her mind, though good-looking—because which Black isn't?—her dad was an old man).

Mad-Eye Moody, looking quite as sinister with his bowler hat pulled low over his magical eye as he would have done without it, his gnarled hands clutching a long staff, his body wrapped in a voluminous traveling cloak.

Remus, his face pale but with a tinge of color, a warm smile on his face a long and threadbare overcoat covering a shabby jumper and trousers.

Tonks stood just beside him, her bright bubble-gum-pink hair gleaming in the sunlight filtering through the dirty glass station ceiling, wearing heavily patched jeans (which Hermione had to borrow) and a bright purple T-shirt bearing the legend the weird sisters. 

At the front of the group stood Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, dressed in their Muggle best, and Fred and George, who were both wearing brand-new jackets in some lurid green, scaly material.

Fred.

Hermione stopped dead in her track as she made eye contact with him. She felt her heart skip a beat as she saw that he was already looking at her. His blue eyes glistening with something she couldn't pinpoint. She saw as the corners of his lips twitched up and—

"Hermione!" called Mrs. Weasley who had just finished hugging Ron, Ginny, and Harry. Hermione was embraced in a bone-crushing hug causing her to break eye contact with Fred as she hugged Mrs. Weasley back. "How are you, dear?"

"I'm alright, Mrs. W," Hermione smiled as she let go of the older woman.

"Don't I get a hug?" Sirius teased grinning at her.

"Hey, dad!" Hermione beamed as she ran to hug him. She then hugged Remus and Tonks, saluted Mad-Eye, and hugged Mr. Weasley, and then finally reached the twins.

They were talking about their new clothes with Ron and Harry as she approached them. The four of them grew quiet as Hermione finally caught Fred's eyes again. She looked up at him with a small and hopeful smile. She didn't know why but Fred made her stomach flutter every time she looked at him, and she became nervous around him sometimes.

Fred looked at her, not talking for a moment, as George, Harry, Ron, and now Ginny—the adults were talking between themselves—looked anxiously between both of them. And then Fred smiled back—

Hermione laughed as she ran toward him, throwing herself at his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck, as his hands came to rest in her waist, he too chuckling slightly and staggering a step backward from the impact.

"I'm so sorry, Freddie," Hermione whispered against his ear. She pulled away slightly, still in his arms, and took a look at his ocean blue eyes. Her eyes trailed down to his lips and then back again to his eyes. She saw as he was, too, looking at her lips and then back at her eyes. Ignoring the onlookers surrounding them, Hermione closed the gap between them smashing her lips to his.

"I love you," Hermione whispered as she pulled away breathlessly and rested her temple on his. Fred was smiling giddily, one of his hands coming up to her hair resting at the nape of her neck.

"That's stupid," was all he said, and Hermione laughed throwing her head back, only to then kiss him again—

"AHEM!"

They jerked away, their faces flushing slightly as they looked around. Mostly every adult was gaping at them, in shock. Apart from Tonks who along with Ron, Ginny, George and Harry had knowing smirks on their faces, and Moody who just looked as displeased as ever.

"What?" Sirius asked eerily calm, his jaw clenched, and Hermione winced along with Fred, who took a slight step behind her.

"Oh don't be a prat," Hermione heard Annora, who had just appeared in the scene say, from her place in front of her. Hermione watched as Sirius narrowed his eyes and then cleared his throat.

"Explain."

"I thought it was quite obvious," said George in amusement only to clamp his lips shut when his mother looked over.

"Well, there isn't any better way to say this. . . ." Hermions started as she looked at Fred. He cleared his throat.

"Hermione and I are dating," he announced.

"Really?" Mrs. Weasley was the first to break the silence in the group with a big smile as she approached the two smothering them in a bone-crushing hug (meanwhile Annora had disappeared again).

"Yes!" Hermione gasped out.

"Now mum, don't go killing us before Sirius has a chance," Fred muttered and Mrs. Weasley let go of them still smiling.

"We'll talk later," Sirius said after eyeing them for a couple of more minutes, "Can you take her to the Grangers, Weasley?" he asked, his eyes narrowed at Fred. The latter nodded, and Hermione could've sworn she heard him sigh in relief. If he trusted him with taking his daughter home, then that was good, right?

They said goodbye to everyone and people started to apparate, the last behind being Fred and Hermione.

"I really am sorry, Fred," Hermione said biting her lip.

"Promise not to do that to me again?" Fred asked with an overdramatic pout, making Hermione laugh as she nodded.

"I love you," she smiled going on her tippy toes and planting a kiss on the side of his lips.

"You're a tease, Miss Black," Fred smirked down at her, "I love you too."

Crack!

⚡︎