The Grey

Chapter 5: Fae

Hermione pursed her lips. "He did, but he put most of it in storage. I'll have to ask him."

"We can ask at dinner tomorrow, no?" Sirius asked. He'd been attending the bi-monthly dinners with the Potters, never wanting to forgo time spent with Harry, even if he wasn't corporeal for it.

Hermione nodded tightly, steeling herself. She would ask tomorrow, but it would mean coming up with an explanation for Harry. Hopefully, she could fob it off as work-related and not delve deeper into it than that. Hopefully.

~0o0~

"Hermione!" Harry greeted her as he threw open the door to Grimmauld Place. Hermione grinned and happily hugged her friend.

"Merlin, he looks like James," Sirius said behind her. He said it almost every time he saw Harry, and Hermione felt like she was getting better about not reacting when he spoke with others around.

"Hi, Harry." She grinned at him, stepping back. She handed him the bottle of wine she brought to share.

"Come on back, Ginny's just finishing up."

She and Harry chatted on the way to the kitchen. Harry had turned the dining room of Grimmauld Place into a home office and the family now took all of their meals at the table in the kitchen. It was Hermione's second favorite room in the house, the first being the library, small as it was.

Dinner was as lively as ever, and Hermione felt she was doing an excellent job keeping Sirius from stealing too much food from her plate. Ginny had made fish and chips, one of Hermione's favorites. So when Sirius stole the last chip, she slapped his hand.

"Oh, Sirius, really? It's the last one!" Hermione scolded.

Sirius stared at her in shock and after a moment, Hermione seemed to realize where she was. She'd just interacted with Sirius in front of Harry and Ginny. Shit, fuck, shit. This was not good. Judging by the looks Harry and Ginny were giving her, it was definitely not good.

"What the hell, Hermione?" Harry asked her, looking as if she'd grown a second head. "Are you hearing voices?"

Hermione almost laughed at the absurdity of Harry asking her if she was hearing voices. It was Harry, after all, who was the parselmouth and the one most likely to be hearing voices others couldn't. She didn't say anything. What could she say? Should she lie or?

Sirius took the decision away from her by becoming corporeal in front of Harry and Ginny.

"What the fuck?!" Harry shouted and fell off the bench backward onto his rear end. Ginny sat shocked with her mouth hanging open.

"I'm back," Sirius said calmly and proceeded to eat the last chip from Hermione's plate.

Hermione buried her head into her hands. Another thing that was her fault. She'd been trying to keep Harry from finding out about Sirius. She had wanted this to be a blip on the radar where Harry never knew that Sirius had been back for a few months.

"What the fuck do you mean, you're back? Back from where? You're dead!" Harry shouted, getting to his feet.

"Harry," Ginny placated, placing her hand on his arm.

"No! He doesn't get to be dead for a quarter of a fucking century and just appear in my fucking kitchen! How did you make yourself invisible, anyway? I would have recognized the shimmer of a Disillusionment charm."

"Harry, calm down," Hermione began.

"Don't fucking tell me what to do, Hermione," Harry spat.

"Woah, mate, don't talk to her like that," Sirius began, also standing from the table.