In Perpetuum

Chapter 31

Chapter 31: Postremo

 

Hermione had had her eyes on Sirius almost the entire evening, well, at least since they had gotten back from dinner. It was absolutely doing her head in, on top of everything else.

Gathering up her Gryffindor courage, she stood up from her own pile of incomplete homework, to join Sirius with his considerably larger pile of incomplete homework.

“Sirius?” she said rather timidly.

Sirius looked up in surprise.

“Sirius, can I talk to you for a second?”

Sirius had no clue about what this conversation could possibly be about. A horde of potentially terrible things skidded through his mind ranging from help with homework, to breaking up. However, he thought the homework one very unlikely. It was usually the other way around with them.

“Sure,” he said, getting up to move to a more private spot.  Whatever she wanted to talk about, he didn’t want the rest of the school to know during breakfast the next day.

Hermione suggested that they move outside the common room to speak, perhaps they could go for a walk.

“But it is past curfew,” said Sirius, “I don’t fancy a detention for breaking rules unless we break them properly.”

He rubbed his hands together gleefully at all the possibilities this presented, however, he immediately stopped when he saw the withering look that Hermione was giving him.

“We won’t go far.”

Her demeanour changed very quickly from a look of annoyance, to a look of nervousness, as though she was unsure of how to proceed.

They stepped out the portrait hole and into a small, moonlit alcove nearby.

Hermione took in the warm air with one shaky breath.

“Sirius... I want to apologise for how I treated you the other day.”

Sirius had the expression of a stunned mullet. He had not been expecting an apology! However, Hermione continued despite his expression. He did not know if this was because she was too nervous to notice, or not.

“I was distracted and angry, and a whole lot of other things, but that was no excuse for the way I fobbed you off as if you were nothing. I’m sorry.”

Sirius had listened patiently until he was sure that she was finished, before he pulled her into a fierce hug.

“You don’t have to be sorry for anything-“

Hermione opened her mouth to protest, but Sirius cut her off quickly.

“But if it will make you feel better, I will accept your apology. I love you Hermione, I just want to know what was going on inside that intelligent brain of yours.”

Sirius had not meant to reveal that much information about his feelings, especially like this. He wanted it to be more romantic, with flowers and beautiful music playing, and food they both enjoyed. Not at the tail end of an argument.

Judging by the stunned expression on Hermione’s face, she had not expected it either, but she recovered reasonably quickly.

“Really, Sirius? Do you mean what you say when you say that you love me?”

Sirius quickly masked his horror at himself, and plastered a genuine smile across his face.

“Yes, Hermione. I do love you, more than you could possible know.”