Brighter Futures Ahead
Harry’s POV
Morning brought a fresh outlook on life for Harry. Living with Sirius has been amazing even if it was only a matter of days. After last night things between Hermione and himself seem to be going in more than a friends only direction. He wants to sit down and talk to her about all the things that are going on right now. He knows she is worried about her parents, and he is hoping maybe there is something he can do to help protect them. After she kissed him last night, he knows that he wants to do everything he can to make her happy. To protect her. His thoughts get away from him as he stretches out on his bed. Does Hermione want to have a relationship with him? What about Ron? Oh no. He can’t let Ron find out about this. Ron will kill him. He’s going to have to talk to Hermione about how to handle Ron. Hearing someone on the stairs outside his room he decides it is time to get up. As he exits his room he runs right into Hermione, nearly knocking her over.
“I’m so sorry Hermione, I wasn’t looking.” He says quickly as he reaches out to catch her before she falls.
“It’s ok Harry you caught me, that is all that matters,” Hermione says, smiling up at him.
“Do you want to come in and talk?” Harry asks while gesturing to his room.
“Yea, I think we should. Before Remus and Sirius are up and about.” Hermione says softly.
Harry holds the door open for Hermione and closes it softly once she is in the room. He watches as she sits on the edge of his bed, a blush rising on her cheek. He walks over to the bed and sits beside her, he reaches out for her hand, right as she reaches out for his. They intertwine their fingers as they sit there silently for several minutes. Hermione is the first to speak, breaking the silence that fills Harry’s room.
“I’m – I’m sorry about last night – if it was too forward.” Hermione’s voice is soft as she looks at Harry, her eyes full of worry.
“I wasn’t expecting it, but it was a pleasant surprise.” Harry smiles, hoping it will help Hermione relax.
“Are you sure? Do you want to see where this goes? Or would you like to just stay friends?” Hermione stammers over her words.
“I –” Harry pauses and looks at Hermione. He wants to explore this newfound relationship, but only if she wants to as well. “I would like to see where this goes, as long as you want this as well.”
“I do, You are important to me, and I would like to explore more of our connection.” Hermione leans over and kisses Harry on the cheek. “I’m just so worried what others will think, and how they will react.”
“Let’s not worry about other people right now. At least for the summer. The only people we will have to see all the time are Sirius and Remus. The other Order members will be around, but they don’t need to know until we are ready for them too.” Harry’s only concerned about Ron. “We should probably talk to Ron, at least before the school year starts, but we don’t need to worry about it right now either.”
“Do you think we should talk to Sirius and Remus?” Hermione asks, a smile on his face.
“We can, but let's wait till after the hearing. Let's just keep it to ourselves until then.” Harry says. Honestly, he wants to keep their new connection secret for a while. The very last thing he wants is their secret to get out to any one of the Weasleys. Every single one of them thinks Harry and Ginny belong together, and Ron and Hermione as well. Harry honestly couldn’t stand Ginny, she was always following him around, or she was attempting to make him jealous. Ron was almost as bad, sure they were friends, but Ron was only in it for the fame. Even Hermione agreed with him on that. He squeezes Hermione’s fingers in his. “Is there anything else you’d like to talk about before we head down for breakfast?”
“I –” Hermione pauses,
“Do you want to talk about your parents?” Harry asks softly, hoping she will open up to him.
“I don’t know how to talk about them, I miss them so much, Harry. I want to be sure they are safe, but I hate that they are so far away, that I can’t check on them or even talk to them.” Hermione starts crying.
“Why don’t we talk to Sirius and Remus and see if they can suggest something else? Even in Australia, they aren’t completely safe. We both know that. We can maybe discuss it this morning even.” Harry just wants to make Hermione feel safe and heard.
“Yea, we should talk to them. I feel safe trusting them. But only them.” Hermione sighs as she leans into Harry.
Harry unlinks his fingers from Hermione’s and wraps his arms around her, holding her tight. Leaning his chin on the top of her head he sighs deeply. “This secret is safe with just us Hermione. Sirius and Remus will do anything they can to protect you and your family.”
Voices just outside the doorway startle the both of them.
“We should go down and talk to them. We also need to go over some of the research I found for your hearing.” Hermione says softly.
“Did you find lots of information? Do you think I stand a chance?” Harry is suddenly nervous.
“I think you will be ok, I’ll tell you more when we get downstairs with Sirius and Remus.” Hermione’s reply comes quickly. “Don’t be nervous, no matter what happens we will figure it out.”
Hermione sits up and interlocks her fingers with Harry’s, turning towards him she leans over and pecks him on the cheek.
Harry smiles and places his arm around Hermione, resting his hand on her lower back. He pulls her towards him softly and kisses her soundly. Her lips are soft against his. When he pulls back both of their faces are flushed. Hermione smiles softly at him, the blush rising higher on her cheeks. Harry gets to his feet and gently pulls Hermione into a hug. He brushes her hair away from her ear and whispers, “I’m glad we found each other. I will be here for you no matter where this goes. You are my best friend.”
“I’m glad we have each other through everything. I know I can count on you if things get tough.” Hermione sighs and relaxes into the hug.
“Let’s go downstairs before they come up looking for us,” Harry says as he hears voices coming up the stairway. Leading the way Harry walks out of his room Hermione is following closely behind him, as they descend the stairs they can hear Remus and Sirius arguing.
“Should we interrupt them? Or let them argue it out?” Hermione laughs as she shakes her head.
“Why don’t we just wait here for a bit.” Harry grins and sits on the second to last stair. “If it gets too heated we can interrupt.”
Sirius’ POV
A crashing sound from the hallway wakes Sirius up. Just as he is about to get up to see what is going on he hears Harry and Hermione talking softly enough that he can’t make out just what they are saying. The only thing he can make out is that they moved into Harry’s room. He wonders if the two of them are getting much closer. He has caught them sitting closely, and whispering to each other several times since Harry got here. They both deserve happiness, he is hoping that they can find it together.
He lays in bed for a while longer before a soft knock at the door catches his attention. He hops up and opens his door, Remus is standing there with a sly grin on his face. Sirius smirks, they both seem to be thinking the same thing. Without words, the two of them head downstairs and sit quietly at the dining room table. Kreacher comes out to them, gets their breakfast order, and heads back into the kitchen to prepare the food.
Remus is the first to speak, “What do you think of Harry and Hermione sneaking off to his room this morning?” A grin plastered on his face.
“I think it is adorable to be completely truthful. They both need someone they can count on, who better than each other. Way better than the Weasleys' youngest children.” Sirius snickers.
“Oh do not get me started, I can’t believe how pushy Molly has been towards her kids pairing with Hermione and Harry.” Remus nods in agreement.
Just as Sirius is about to say something Kreacher comes out with their breakfast. They both dig into their food leaving the discussion at a standstill. Once they have finished Sirius decides now is the best time to bring up Harry’s hearing.
“Do you think one of us should be there to support Harry at the hearing?” Sirius asks, somewhat seriously.
“Sirius you can’t go, you are still a fugitive, and well the Ministry has it out for me too so it would be rather unwise for one of us to show up.” Remus rolls his eyes.
“Ok well, do you know anyone that can go? Keep an eye on everything, inform us if something is going on that isn’t proper?” Sirius asks.
“I.. Honestly there are not many people I trust right now.” Remus sighs deeply. “We will just have to hope for the best in this case.”
“I will not leave the fate of Harry up to Dumbledore.” Sirius cries out. “WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING.”
“Sirius relax, remember nothing bad can happen, even if he is removed from Hogwarts, we can teach him here at home.” Remus tries to calm him down.
“Fine, Fine but if it goes badly..” Sirius starts.
“Shhh they are on the stairs,” Remus whispers.
“Oh for crying out loud just come in here you two,” Sirius shouts towards the staircase.
The door swings open and Harry and Hermione walk in grinning. “How –” Harry starts.
“Wolf hearing Harry,” Remus laughs.
Harry sighs, “I wish I had hearing like that, it’s got to be so nice to be able to hear people sneaking up on you.”
“It’s not that great, you sometimes overhear things you don’t want to hear.” Sirius smirks.
“Like two teenagers sneaking into one's room first thing in the morning.” Remus laughs as he says it.
“We – It – Nothing happened I swear.” Harry stutters over every word.
“Oh we know, we both have superior hearing, though we didn’t hear what you were discussing, we know nothing else happened.” Remus teases them.
“We were just discussing the future, and then we heard you were awake and figured we should come and discuss Harry’s hearing,” Hermione says matter of factly, a small blush creeping up her cheeks.
“Who’s future?” Sirius laughs.
“Ummm, well that is another topic. We want to talk about Hermione’s parents. They are currently in hiding, but we aren’t sure they are truly safe yet.” Harry states.
Hermione, Harry, Remus, and Sirius spent the rest of the day going over how to protect Hermione’s parents better, how to protect Harry during the trial, and how to go about proving to everyone that Dumbledore isn’t to be truly trusted. Sirius and Remus plan to go to Australia and bring Hermione’s parents back to 12 Grimmauld Place, with it being under the Fidelius charm, there was no way anyone would be able to find them. Hermione has decided she is going to reach out to Madam Amelia Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and see if there is anything she could do to help Harry walk away from his hearing a winner. They knew now wasn’t the right time to bring up Dumbledore, but they were all in agreement that they weren’t going to be trusting Dumbledore with anything anymore.