Sirius slowly stirred awake from his sleep to the sound of the soft, barely there snoring coming from the body beside him. He lazily blinked his eyes a few times, realizing he wasn’t in his bedroom — he wasn’t even in his own house. As he was becoming more aware of his surroundings, the softness of fur and the gentle vibrations of purring against his ankles had Sirius finally registering where he was.
He quietly stretched out, gently turning on his side and tucking a hand between the pillow and the side of his face in the process, making sure not to wake the peaceful sleeping witch next to him and her familiar that was very comfortably sleeping on his legs.
Thanking Merlin that Hermione was a heavy sleeper, Sirius stretched out his hand, caressing the soft skin of Hermione’s arm, up along to her face. He could feel the gentle huffs of her warm breath as it left her partly open lips while he let his thumb trace over the freckles that sat on her cheeks as if he were playing connect the dots.
He liked doing this often, watch as she slept peacefully beside him, because even though he had the pleasure of spending every moment he could with her, he still couldn’t believe that she chose him to spend her time with.
Sirius and Hermione had been dancing around each other for two years, finally accepting they wanted to be together four months ago. Although they hadn’t told anyone, he was a hundred percent certain — and if he was certain, he was sure that the very clever witch beside him was too — that everyone already knew but didn’t want to talk about it. Not yet.
Hermione’s rise to fame after the war was still very widespread even now that years had passed since. She’d expressed that she didn’t want the papers influencing outsiders’ perspectives on their relationship — when they found out about their relationship, she wanted it to be on their terms. She reassured him that she wasn’t ashamed of him or what they were doing or what anyone else in their inner circle thought, she just wanted to protect him, too. Sirius knew that any word against him that fell upon her ears would anger her.
That was new to him. Sirius never had anyone care enough about him to protect him, to keep him away from danger and harm, to make him feel safe. Every time he’d look into Hermione’s eyes, she’d look at him like he was something precious to her. Something she couldn’t live without, something she’d fight for if anyone ever tried to take it away from her. He could feel her love for him as deeply as thunder rattling his bones.
Most people looked at him with pity in their eyes, like he was helpless. It was incredibly tiring to know that people walked on eggshells around him, completely disregarding the strength Sirius mustered almost daily to get out of bed and not completely give up.
Hermione never made him feel that way. Where he thought he’d find pity in her eyes, he instead found compassion and understanding. She was patient and calm with him when he’d get too in-his-head about something. Sirius rarely ever trusted himself or his decisions because, at one point, his decisions got his best friends killed. Hermione, though, was as sure about Sirius as she was about her magic. She trusted him with her life and at first that scared him, but she taught him to have faith and hope again. Not only in life but in himself.
He was often awestruck by her existence; oftentimes the feeling became too overwhelming, leaving him breathless.
His thoughts were interrupted as Hermione leaned into his hand and kissed his palm before taking the duvet over her head to hide away from the sun that was beginning to peek in through her bedroom window. Sirius chuckled to himself. He reached his hand over to peel back the duvet enough to reveal her face. He placed a kiss on her forehead, then her nose, then on her bare shoulder before getting out of bed and walking over to shut the curtains.
He turned around to look for Crookshanks and found that he was now laying down on the spot Sirius was just occupying. “C’mon, let’s get you fed, and make your mum her tea,” Sirius whispered to Crookshanks as he slipped himself into his pants.
Hermione’s fluffy orange familiar jumped off the bed and sauntered over to Sirius, interweaving himself between his legs before stretching out his paws and responded with a lazy meow.
“I can hear you, you know?” Hermione’s muffled voice came through from underneath the duvet.
“No, you can’t,” Sirius casually replied. “Go back to sleep.”
Hermione removed the duvet from over her head and leaned over the bed just as Sirius opened the door with Crookshanks treading behind him. She narrowed her eyes at her fluffy companion and muttered a faint, “Traitor.”
Crookshanks let out a trill as he pranced ahead of Sirius. He chuckled and turned to look at her, winking before walking out of the room.
Sirius let Crookshanks scamper ahead of him, watching his fluffy orange tail disappear around the corner from the stairs. He stopped by the dainty decorative table Hermione had downstairs, across from the banister, to grab a cigarette. Sirius lit it wandlessly before finally entering the kitchen, a patient Crookshanks sitting in front of his bowl.
Securing his cigarette between his lips, Sirius reached down to grab the familiar’s bowl, set it on the table and poured a scoop of food into it. Crookshanks trilled, leaping onto the table, and rubbed his little head on Sirius' arms as if in thanks, before happily eating his food.
Leaving Crooks to enjoy his breakfast, Sirius ashed his cigarette on a tray by the kitchen window and wandlessly summoned the coffee maker to brew as he worked on boiling the water for Hermione’s tea.
He walked back across the kitchen to open the window and let in the fresh morning air. Sirius leaned over it with his arms crossed over his chest and let the air kiss his face. He removed the cigarette from his lips and breathed in the outside. It smelled like rain was in today’s forecast. He wasn’t complaining. He and Hermione only had one thing planned today and that was to stay in bed and enjoy one another. Rain only added to the experience.
His thoughts were interrupted by the whistling of the kettle. He put out his cigarette, this time using his wand to remove the smoke and smell from the kitchen before it settled.
He graced Crookshanks’ hair with his fingers as he made his way back to the counter and fixed up their beverages to their liking. He turned back around to retrieve Crooks’ water bowl and refilled it. “Make sure to drink your water, too, Crooks.”
Sirius waited for Crookshanks to finish drinking his water before grabbing both the tea and coffee in each hand and leading the familiar back upstairs. Just as Sirius was walking along the banister, he heard the flare of the floo come to life, making Sirius freeze on the spot. He very slowly turned his head to look over into the sitting room through the archway that had a perfect view of the fireplace.
There, hunched over and patting soot off of his clothes, was Remus. He quickly looked up and back down, not registering that Sirius and Crookshanks were both there staring at him. Once it clicked, Remus’ hands froze as if they were stuck to his sweater, and looked back up, making eye contact with Sirius.
Remus looked around him incredibly confused, wondering if he’d somehow said the wrong address into the floo. “Sirius?”
Sirius stood there looking back at his friend, not knowing what to do or say, and set the tea and coffee on the step of the stairs. He then did the only thing he could think of and transformed into Padfoot.
Crookshanks looked over at him and meowed at Padfoot as if asking ‘really?’ Sirius huffed a bark at Crooks.
“Unbelievable, really? Very mature, Pads.” Remus rolled his eyes at Padfoot. “Are you really doing this?”
Pads huffed another bark, this time at Remus.
“For fucks sake, will you just transform back? I know why you’re here. You’re both not as discreet as you think you are.” Remus sighed in annoyance at the canine.
This time, Padfoot didn’t bark back, merely readjusting his paws on the floor and blinked back at Remus.
Remus reached over for the floo powder. “I don’t have time for this. You don’t want to talk about it? Fine. I can’t be arsed to give a shite anyway. Let Hermione know I’ll come back later.”
Padfoot barked in response.
“Alright,” Remus huffed. “Tomorrow. Tell her I’ll come back tomorrow. Good? Great. Goodbye.”
Sirius transformed back, staring dumbfounded at the fireplace. A smile formed on his face as he grabbed the mugs and made his way back upstairs. “That was a close one, right, Crooks?”
The familiar mewled back at him, which Sirius translated as ‘you really are an idiot.’
Sirius walked back into the room just as Hermione was readjusting herself on the bed, sitting upright with a pillow between her back and the headboard. The sheet was up to her chest, still nude from the night before.
She reached over for the mug Sirius was now offering her, her eyes following his movements across the room as she blew into her hot tea. “Did I hear a dog bark?” She questioned.
“Uh, no? No, I don’t think so?” Sirius didn’t even know why he bothered lying when it was clear the witch knew him better than he knew himself. He looked over to her from his spot on the bed to find her raising a lone brow in question. Sirius leaned his head on the headboard in resignation. “Alright, yes. I very briefly had to transform into Padfoot.”
“Had to?” She tilted her head. “Why’s that?”
“Ah…well, Remus dropped by,” He began, shyly.
“And your first thought was to turn into Padfoot?” She now had an amused smile painting her face.
“I panicked! I didn’t know what to do, and it’s way too early to have a serious conversation before I’ve had my coffee.” He sniffed, his nose in the air.
“But darling,” she mused. “you are Sirius.” She burst into laughter, way too amused at her own joke. It was so unexpected, Sirius spit out a bit of his drink only causing Hermione to laugh harder.
This was why he loved her. She always managed to dissolve any and all worry that crept up on him, never letting it settle further into his mind. She was funny and silly and she wasn’t afraid to make a bit of a fool of herself if it meant making him laugh.
With her, things were easy and peaceful.
She was his calming draught.