Ultimatums

Chapter 26

Sirius was bald

Well, not bald, but his ebony locks were gone, littering the floor instead of hanging sexily in front of his eyes. He hadn't left his room for days, and he'd been ignoring James's mirror calls, so he knew his mates would be worried. But he couldn't face them.

So instead, he wrote to Remus. He told him everything that happened, told him it wasn't his fault, told him how much he loved him. And then he stashed the letters he got in return in a shoe box at the back of his wardrobe so his mother wouldn't find them. In the wizarding world, being gay, or pansexual like Sirius was, no one really cared. Or at least not in the way Muggles did. But Walburga cared, because it meant Black children had to be surrogated or adopted, and she wanted to make sure they looked like a Black. Adding the fact that Remus Lupin wasn't a pureblood, meant that their relationship was doomed to be a secret. Or as secretive as Sirius could be.

The first time Sirius left his room was when Walburga demanded he get the door. It was the middle of the night, and everyone assumed it was some Ministry official come to hassle Orion about whatever work he hadn't turned in (a trait Sirius had adopted), and Sirius was the best at turning people away. He dragged his feet, and when he finally opened the door already with a bored expression, he took a double take.

Hermione Potter was standing on the door step, soaked to the core, sobbing uncontrollably.

She ran into Sirius's arms, talking in incoherent words. She dragged the trunk inside as Sirius shut the door and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, steering her into the parlour and putting the kettle on. "Kreacher!"

The little elf appeared, already muttering obscenities about 'the incorrigible Master Sirius', but he stopped immediately when he saw Hermione. She wasn't sobbing anymore, just staring into space. Her purple brown eyes were dull, and she was dripping water everywhere. She didn't even notice when Sirius placed a mug of tea in front of her.

"Kreacher, go get Regulus. Don't tell Mother or Father yet."

He popped away, and Sirius sat next to her, rubbing circles around her back, and tempting her to pick up the tea. She was shivering.

"Sirius if this is something stupid like last time, I don't want to be involved in your... Nita?"

Hermione looked up, and Regulus had never seen her look this bad. Not when Potter bullied her, or when she first learnt about the Dark Lord, and this scared him. Awfully so. He made his way over to the table and sat opposite them. "Sirius, why haven't you done anything? Merlin she'll catch a cold or something"

He dried her clothes and hair and cast a heating charm over her before cleaning up her running make up and bloodshot eyes. He couldn't, however, fix the defeated look on her face"What're you doing here Ninita?"

Hermione sipped the tea, before looking at the both of them. "I just wanted to ask if I could stay for one night. I'll leave in the morning, if you let me, I won't even take breakfast, I just needed to get out of the rain..."

"Don't be stupid. You can stay until the end of the break. But why aren't you at home?" Sirius asked while he made Regulus and himself their own teas.

"Pettigrew, James... Dad....Your boyfriends in the clear though, Sirius, don't worry."

"What did they do, love?" Regulus whispered, and Hermione tilted her head on Sirius's shoulder as tears started to fall silently.

"I'll tell you"

A few hours ago:

The Potters and their guests were sitting at dinner, with the pie and chips Euphemia had homemade. Hermione was discussing a novel both her and Remus had read about magical theory, when the discussion of the Order of the Phoenix came up.