Truth or Dare ✔️

16

"How was your dinner Mum," Hermione asked.

"It was quite lovely. I don't get to see my friends very often, so it's a real treat when I finally do get to. I tried to ring you up last night, but you didn't answer. Did you two dance the night away?"

"No, not exactly," Hermione said.

"Ah. It's none of my business. I understand," her mother said as she sipped on her cafe au lait as her eyes poured over the Times.

Hermione blushed. "No, it's not like that. We were invited to stay at his family's estate in the Provinces. They live in a bleedin' castle!"

"Hermione Jean!"

Hermione giggled. "Sirius is the head of a vast family whose very presence spans the globe Mum!"

"Is that right? I never would have guessed. I suppose he is royalty then?"

Hermione instantly appeared troubled; she shook her head. "You know, I've no idea?"

"I should have...he does have that air about him."

"Does he? I never really noticed. He's so down to earth."

"Perhaps he is with you, but I suspect that he isn't with others. He seems to me...privileged."

Hermione shook her head as she sipped her coffee and munched on her croissant. "He seems to want no part of it," Hermione said. "He's accepted a smaller house on the grounds tucked away from it all."

"How romantic," her mother replied.

She told her mother about all of the art on the lower floor of the castle and that he had promised to return with her after breakfast to tour the castle while he chatted with his Aunt Sissy. Her mother promised to let the front desk know that Hermione didn't actually stay at the hotel and to stop charging her credit card. Her mother slid an envelope across the table.

"What's this?"

"I am returning your allowance to you. I am pleased that you decided to travel with the money, but since you didn't actually stay at the hotel, there is no reason that you shouldn't have it back."

Hermione opened the envelope and tried in vain to return the cost of the room to her mother.

"I'll be running late for the first presentation of the morning and it's terribly uncouth to be strolling in late...Ta, Darling!" Doctor Granger said as she savagely finished the remainder of her breakfast. She kissed her daughter on the cheek and made her promise to return to say good bye before she left Paris for London, leaving her seated on her own in the small cafe.

Some three or four minutes later, Sirius ambled over to her table to find her seated alone and quite despondent. He had spent the previous ten minutes observing her from the banks of the Seine. "Do you want to finish your coffee Love," he asked quietly, having correctly guessed what her response would be and watched her eyes avert downward to her lap. He held out his hand. "Come on then," he said gently. Hermione gathered up her handbag and the envelope and took his hand and stood before him. "I'm quite famished myself," he said jovially.

"So am I actually."

"So then a change in venue is required?"

She looked up gratefully into his eyes. "Yes please?"

"You got it," he said. He checked his pocket watch and tucked it back into the front pocket of his waistcoat. "We haven't missed breakfast back at the house," he told her.

"That will be fine," she replied as she wound her arms around his waist.

"Hermione, not here."

The hurt on her face was immeasurable and seeing it, he realized instantly that he had picked a poor choice or words to convey the fact that they wouldn't be able to disapparate in public. She closed her eyes and sighed, then nodded her head.

"You're right of course."

He smiled and took her hand in his, kissed it and pulled her along toward a small alleyway that he had scoped out prior; he knew it to be a quiet area. They walked in silence for about a half kilometer and from there, they disapparated for the Dog House.