Intertwined I SIRIMIONE

Maybe Some Things Stays, But Some Don't

Hermione held her breath as her eyes batted from her hands to the boy in front of her who used to be a man. The silence was deafening and she was truly bothered by it. She had millions of questions in her mind that needed to be answered. But she didn't know where to start. Everything that was happening had been extremely confusing for her and this was the cherry on top of it all.

She had expected Sirius to start blabbering, but she noticed that he had kept his mouth shut as he stared at her and that was a rare occurrence, she noted. Suddenly, their eyes met and she found herself blushing under his piercing gaze.

Someone like her was, honestly, not very well suited for human interactions and topping that off with being deprived off of civilization during her months of hunting down the horcruxes, it all had seemed to deter her social abilities; which she had just improved after many setbacks over the years. 

Hermione cleared her throat as she unravelled some of her confidence and in the name of being a Gryffindor, she looked him straight in the eyes with determination. "You look rather-" 

"Dashing? Attractive? Stunning? Hot? Drop-dead gorgeous? Fine as fuck?" Sirius implored as he listed out, with confidence, the attributes and characteristics he knew he had, and she had to admit, that he annoyingly did fit his self-reflection.

She rolled her eyes and it started to brim with tears, "Young! You self-righteous aristocrat, why didn't you cast a quick shielding spell on that damn veil? Harry misses you. We all do. You can't imagine how broken he was after your 'death'. He, he-" She couldn't continue her rant as she had broken down into tears in front of the presumed dead man, who looked more than perfectly alive.

Even if she had met him a handful of times, the loss of him had made her realise the meaning of losing someone you loved. She had a first hand experience of witnessing the effects of losing a loved one. Harry's plight with Voldemort had been terrifying. He had won, a small victory that spoke volumes, but she could see what he had never spoken outwardly, to anyone ever.

She saw how empty his eyes were as they stared at the fire longingly, for long periods of time. She saw how he flinched each time Sirius's name was mentioned during the first few months after they had lost him. She saw his heart break into pieces as he looked through the pictures of Sirius's he found in 12 Grimmauld Place. She saw a tear escape his eye as he sat alone in the house his Godfather had left him. She had heard the gut wrenching screams of sorrow that echoed throughout the rooms of the Ministry. 

A boy who had lost the only people that had cherished him at a young age, was finally given someone who he could call his own. Only to have that someone die in front of him, after he had started to feel the promise of love he should have received after all the years of being deprived from it. 

She knew all too well he was hurting under the guise he wore so well as he fought to balance everything that was forcefully placed upon his shoulders, shoulders that were too narrow for the burden he had to carry. And though they were narrow, his shoulders were far from frail, and never did he falter under the pressure he endured. 

It bled. Her heart bled. Every single time she looked at him.

Harry was far too young to be burdened by the fate of the world, that phrase thundered in her. Every time he had stormed off to God's-knows-where, she would instantly think about it and it would always be at the back of her mind, a chant that echoed in her heart. 

She couldn't sleep properly for weeks as her mind rewinded the memories she had of the man. Thus, she realised how easy it was to lose someone dear to you in a blink of an eye, a thought from one's mind, a word from the mouth and as easily as a flick of a wand.