A/N: Many thanks to BirdieMing for her beta work! Again, thank you to each of you dear readers who has reviewed this work! The response has been overwhelming and lovely. Thank you!
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~0o0~
He found the colors to paint her
where the world had left her grey.
-Atticus
~0o0~
July 2022
~0o0~
Hermione brewed a triple batch of the Dream-Walking Inducement. She wasn't going to let Sirius face that alone every night anymore. Thus far, she had only done it once and appeared next to Sirius. It made her wonder whether she would appear next to Sirius every time. Would it be possible to do this on the sly? She doubted it, but the idea intrigued her.
Even given the new turn in their relationship, Hermione still felt uncomfortable sharing more of herself with Sirius. She felt like she needed to protect him while she still had that ability. She recognized that this feeling wasn't healthy, but it felt necessary. It felt like an inevitability.
Hermione sighed as she downed the potion in the bathroom. Sirius had taken to sleeping in bed with her since that night a few weeks ago when they'd finally had sex. Hermione loved curling up in his arms; she felt so safe and secure there, although she knew tonight she was in for a night of very little sleep.
"Ready for bed, love?" Sirius asked. He was lounging on his side of the bed in a pair of ridiculous red silk trousers.
"What are you wearing?" Hermione laughed upon seeing him.
"Like them? Thought they'd spice things up." Sirius wiggled his eyebrows at her, and Hermione dissolved into giggles as she crawled onto the bed with him.
"Not sure we need them to 'spice things up' as you say. Things seem pretty spicy to me already," Hermione said huskily as she ran a hand down his firm chest, tweaking one of his flat nipples as she went.
"Hermione," Sirius groaned, arching his back once her hand reached the waistband of his ridiculous trousers to find his cock was already hard beneath them.
"My, my." Hermione smirked. "Someone has been a naughty boy."
"Gonna punish me?" Sirius panted when she began stroking her hand up and down his cock.
"Mmm, maybe," Hermione hummed. She placed a kiss on the center of his chest and slowly kissed her way down his abdomen until she was kneeling between his legs. He lifted his hips as she drew the trousers down his legs. She placed a closed mouth kiss to the tip of his cock, and it twitched in her hand. Sirius threaded his fingers into her hair, holding it off her face as she slowly licked down his shaft.
"Love," Sirius panted.
"Hmmm," Hermione hummed, her lips slowly encasing one ball and then the other. Sirius grunted, and his hand tightened in her hair. She stopped torturing him and engulfed his cock in her mouth, sinking down as far as she could go and using her hand on the rest.
"Fuck," Sirius gasped. That wasn't going to be in the cards tonight, Hermione thought to herself. She needed Sirius to get off quickly so that the Dream-Walking Inducement wouldn't wear off before Hermione could get to sleep.
She hollowed her cheeks as she slid her mouth up and down his cock. Sirius was making incoherent noises and practically thrashing on the bed beneath her. She hummed around him and slid her mouth down as far as she could, swallowing around the tip of his cock.
"Godric, Hermione!" Sirius shouted as he came down her throat. Hermione swallowed it all, working his cock as it twitched in her mouth. She finally pulled away with a last kiss to the tip.
"That was..." Sirius trailed off as if he had no words.
"Spicy enough for you?" Hermione teased.
"Come here, witch," Sirius growled, pulling her up to him. He pressed his lips to hers in a fierce kiss, and Hermione smiled into it. Merlin, she loved him, she groaned mentally as the thought registered, and she shut her eyes tightly trying to push that very dangerous thought aside.
She snuggled into his arms, and it didn't take long for her to be asleep.
When she woke up, she was standing next to Sirius in the Grey. The mist swirled around their feet, and Hermione could just make out a few figures in the distance.
"Are you fucking kidding me, Hermione?" Sirius snapped when he saw her. He gripped her arm above her elbow tightly, turning her so that she faced him. "Is that what tonight was about?"
"I'm not letting you do this by yourself," Hermione said. "And I can't know what Dumbledore and Grindelwald are up to if I'm not here figuring things out."
"The Grey is getting fucking dangerous," Sirius hissed. "You don't even know how dangerous it is. You can't be here."
"Too late," Hermione said. "And if it's dangerous, then all the more reason for me to be here. I need to figure out how to get everyone out of here and Beyond the Veil before they all wind up in the Void," Hermione hissed. Including you, she thought.
"Damn it, Hermione," Sirius complained.
"Sirius, I'm staying. There's nothing you can do to stop me."
"Except throw out your Dream-Walking Inducement," Sirius muttered under his breath. "Or shag you so long every evening it doesn't work," he added louder with a small smirk.
Hermione slapped his shoulder playfully. "Get your mind out of the gutter. We have work to do, or I do anyway."
"Work? What are you planning?" Sirius asked with a frown.
"I want to see if I can investigate the 'edges' of the Grey. I want to see if it ends, or if it goes on forever."
"Why?"
"I have to think that it's not an infinite space. The only people here are the ones who've been brought back by the Resurrection Stone, so it can't be that big. So how did it come into being? Just the magic of the Resurrection Stone? Something else? Additionally, what does the Unse—" Hermione cut herself off. "Er, you know, have to do with this?"
"We'll talk about him earthside," Sirius said and rubbed the stubble on his jaw. "I have some ideas about him."
"Alright. Well, the point about the boundary of the Grey stands," Hermione said.
"I'm coming with you," Sirius responded. Hermione raised an eyebrow at that.
"Are you sure? You could spend time with James and Remus. I wouldn't mind."
"No," Sirius said, shaking his head. "My responsibility is to you. I'm your Magical Guardian, remember?"
Hermione nodded. "Alright then, let's go."
Hermione turned and walked away from where the people seemed to be congregating. It would make sense for them to gather near the middle of the Grey, so she wanted to see the edges. Sirius caught up with her and slipped his fingers into hers, and Hermione smiled when he gave her hand a squeeze. She squeezed back.
"You don't think it'll just... end, do you?" Sirius asked. Hermione stopped short. She hadn't actually thought about it, but the idea of stepping off into the Void horrified her.
"Alright, new plan," she said and conjured a long stick. "We tap the ground in front of us to be sure that we aren't about to step off the edge."
"Okay," Sirius breathed slowly, and Hermione knew he was nervous. She was too and she squeezed his hand again, trying to be reassuring.
They walked for about twenty minutes until the never-changing landscape seemed to be changing ahead of them. The grey mist rose higher, at a ninety-degree angle.
"That looks like a wall," Sirius said.
"It does." Hermione nodded, but then the wall in front of them twisted. Hermione had no other words for it. The wall twisted away from them and down. The ground they were standing on seemed to begin sloping as well.
There was a figure who seemed to appear out of nowhere in front of them. She was on the floor, which was sliding quickly toward the twisting wall.
"Ma'am!" Sirius called out. She looked over her shoulder in terror. She was dressed in Victorian-era garb, and Hermione watched in horror as she seemed to slide up the wall, screaming as she clung to the wall. The Void was twisting the wall harder, and the woman began crawling back down to the ground. The Void was getting closer, although she and Sirius hadn't moved. Suddenly, the blackness disappeared entirely and the most gorgeous, lush, green garden appeared. It was so beautiful and bright after the dimness of the Grey and the absolute blackness of the Void that it was hard for Hermione to look at.
"Beyond the Veil," Sirius breathed upon seeing it. It was as if he instinctively knew what it was and began moving toward it. Hermione gripped his hand tighter, pulling him to a stop.
"I don't think you should go that way," Hermione whispered. Suddenly the lush landscape disappeared and the inky blackness of the Void was back.
The woman standing perpendicular to Hermione and Sirius had been attempting to get to the garden, to Beyond the Veil, but it disappeared just as she slid off, and she screamed as the Void sucked her in.
Hermione was trying to wrap her mind around where the Grey was in relation to both the Void and Beyond the Veil, but it didn't seem to make sense to her.
"Run," Sirius stated, not moving himself. Hermione looked up to see the Void eating at the Grey. It was creeping toward them, and the weird twisting wall was almost entirely gone. "Run!" Sirius screamed, then he turned, pulling Hermione with him. They ran as fast as they could, but every time Hermione looked over her shoulder it seemed as if the Void never got any further away. In fact, it seemed to get closer.
She and Sirius didn't run into anyone else either. Had they somehow gotten into a portion of the Grey that didn't work? Where was everyone? Suddenly, Hermione was terrified that they were going to be trapped there, that everyone else in the Grey had moved forward while she and Sirius were doomed to be here forever, always running from the Void that was inching closer and closer.
"Are we even moving?" she asked at one point, panting as her side began to pain her.
"Don't think," Sirius grunted. "Just run. We'll wake up soon."
Hermione wondered how he could be so sure, but she didn't stop running. She wasn't going to risk anythi—
Hermione sat up in bed so fast her head swam with dizziness. She was sweating and panting. Sirius groaned next to her, and then he too sat up quickly.
"What the fuck was that?" Sirius asked. The horror in his voice made Hermione shiver violently.
"Do you think..." She couldn't finish the question. Was anyone even still in the Grey after that?
"I don't know," Sirius whispered. "I...we'll have to find out tonight."
Hermione nodded. "I think this was Dumbledore and Grindelwald's doing."
"How can you be sure?" Sirius asked.
"Their conversation I overheard," Hermione said. "They were clearly attempting to break out of the Grey by whatever means necessary. I can only imagine the things they have tried to get it to come down."
"Well, if it is them, we're no match," Sirius replied.
"Then we have to figure out a different way to move people from the Grey to Beyond the Veil," Hermione said.
"How?" Sirius asked.
Hermione shook her head. She had no idea, but she knew she could at least begin researching it. Maybe she'd find something. If not, then the Unseelie King would need to be summoned. However much the idea of it terrified her, the idea of losing Sirius to the Void was worse. She'd agree to any deal the Unseelie King wanted if only to make Sirius safe.
~0o0~
July 2022
~0o0~
"Are you sure, 'Mione?" Ron's green floating head asked from her fireplace.
"I am. I'm so sorry, Ron. Tell the kids. I hate to do this, but I think the project will end in a few weeks. I might be able to squeeze some time at the end of August."
"They'll be awfully disappointed," Ron said, frowning slightly.
Hermione grimaced. "I know. I wish I could, Ron, really. But it's at such a delicate stage right now."
"Alright. Make sure you're eating though," Ron said.
Hermione laughed lightly. "I will. Give the kids my love."
"Will do," Ron said before his head disappeared from the flames.
"You didn't have to do that," Sirius said. "We could have taken a break for a week so you can see your kids."
Hermione shook her head. "No. This is more important. The kids will understand. Lives are at stake here, Sirius." Including yours, she added mentally.
"Right, so where do we start?"
"I need to speak with Ethan Bole again," she said.
"The Death Chamber guy?" Sirius asked.
Hermione nodded. "He might have some leads on how to move people from the Grey and to Beyond the Veil."
Sirius snapped his fingers. "Actually, the grimoire might help with that too."
"Really?" Hermione asked. Sirius had translated the Grimoire, but Hermione hadn't had much of a chance to read it through.
"Yes." Sirius nodded. "There's a whole section on it."
"Well, it's late enough, we should go through it first thing in the morning." Hermione decided that all of her other projects needed to be put on hold until this thing with Sirius was taken care of. She'd have to tell Aggie in the morning. Aggie was already becoming quite irate that Sirius was still around, all these months later. He'd be happy to see her focusing on sending him back. Hermione shook her head. She couldn't think about sending Sirius back anymore.
~0o0~
July 2022
~0o0~
The following morning, Hermione dragged Sirius to the Ministry at six. She wanted to get an early start on the grimoire. Sirius grumbled all the while, but the added benefit of the early start-time meant Hermione didn't have to sneak around the Department of Mysteries trying to make sure that nobody saw him.
"Come on." She hurried through the bland corridor to her office as Sirius pouted behind her.
"I could have used another hour or two." He yawned and Hermione rolled her eyes, opening the door to her office and ushering him inside. She filled her teapot with boiling water and set it to steep.
"Alright, let's see what that grimoire says," she said. Sirius moved to her containment box and pulled out both the grimoire and his translations. He flipped through the translations, coming to a stop about halfway through.
"Here." He pushed the translation toward Hermione and as she settled in to read, he moved to the teapot and poured for them both.
"Thanks," Hermione muttered as he placed a cup of tea before her. She read through the passage three times. It seemed simple enough, but it was only to move one person from the Grey to Beyond the Veil. "Do you think it could be adapted for more people?"
Sirius shrugged. "Doesn't seem likely. Not when it needs something from the person you're moving over."
"Which we won't have." Hermione bit her lip. "I'll go see Bole when he comes in. What else is in here?"
"Loads," Sirius said, indicating that she should continue reading.
Hermione turned the book back to the beginning and began reading.
It was hours later when Sirius tapped her shoulder.
"Hey, you should probably try to catch Bole." He nodded to her clock, and Hermione realized that it was nearly the end of the day already.
"Oh, yeah. Stay here." She stood from her desk, her back creaking and her knees sore. She hobbled a few steps before everything began working again, and she slipped out of her office door. The Unseelie King's grimoire was fascinating. Hermione couldn't believe how much time had gone by while she'd read it. She was a little over halfway through it and wondered how late Sirius would let her stay.
She knocked on Ethan's door just as he was about to leave for the day.
"Hermione! What brings you by?" Ethan asked as he stepped back, allowing her to enter his office.
"I was actually hoping you could help with some reference materials, but if you're leaving..."
"Nonsense, I'd be happy to help."
"I'm looking for something on moving souls to Beyond the Veil," Hermione said.
"Does this have anything to do with what you asked about last fall?" Ethan asked with a frown.
"I still can't talk about it," she said, biting her lip.
"I understand." Ethan nodded solemnly. He flicked his wand and several books from the bookshelf behind his desk floated forward and stacked themselves before Hermione. "These should get you started. Let me know if you need more."
"Thanks, Ethan," Hermione said as she gathered the books in her arms and left his office.
She spent the next two weeks going through everything Ethan had given her. It all lined up with what was in the grimoire, but without the mention of the Grey. Every ritual she found to move an individual's soul to Beyond the Veil all needed something from the person in order to do it. There was no way she was going to be able to save everyone. The thought plagued her night and day. When she wasn't sleeping, she was dream-walking with Sirius. There was no way she was going to let him go back to the Grey on his own after they'd watched the Void begin to eat it. The Grey was getting worse. The fluctuations between the Void and Beyond the Veil at the outer rims were almost constant. A blinding, flashing light as they flipped back and forth, back and forth between the two.
The people stuck in the Grey were beginning to panic, although Hermione hadn't run into Dumbledore or Grindelwald again. The fluctuations on the outer rims were all anyone was talking about, even if you couldn't quite see them from the middle portion where people tended to congregate.
Hermione hated the fact that she wasn't going to be able to save everyone. She'd forbidden Sirius from discussing it with James and Remus beyond telling them that they were working on it.
After two weeks of this, Sirius made her take a break. He pulled her from her office and guided her home.
"Sirius, I can figure this out. If I can figure out how to just move two or three people at once—"
"Shut up," Sirius said with a small smile. He pressed a kiss to her lips and Hermione stiffened, suddenly uncomfortable with the easy intimacy Sirius was offering. His lips were insistent though and soon she found herself loosening up, just a little. He slipped his tongue into her mouth and she groaned. Suddenly, she couldn't get enough. All she wanted was Sirius. His taste. The feel of his hands on her waist. The feel of his hair beneath her fingertips. The way his breath hitched as she bit his bottom lip. She wanted it all.
"Take me to bed," Hermione whispered when Sirius began kissing her jaw. He nipped her earlobe.
"With pleasure," he hissed, and Hermione's knees melted at the feeling of his hot breath as it swept across her sensitive ear.
Sirius growled and picked her up, cradling her bridal style. Hermione clung to his neck, pressing kisses to his bearded cheek and neck. She twirled her fingers in the hair at the nape of his neck, and when he set her on her feet in her bedroom, she pushed his leather jacket from his shoulders. His t-shirt went next, and then she knelt to begin unbuttoning the placket of his trousers. She pushed them and his pants down his hips, and Sirius yanked her up by her upper arms.
He undressed her swiftly and pushed her onto the bed. Hermione bounced a little before Sirius covered her body with his. He was so warm. Hermione shivered as the scent of him swept around her. Sirius groaned as he kneeled between her legs, his cock resting on her lower belly.
"Sirius," Hermione whispered. "I need you."
"Oh, love," Sirius murmured, burying his face into her neck as he guided himself inside. Hermione cried out as he slid through her hot flesh. He felt so good, so right, inside her that she couldn't believe that she'd waited so long to do this with him. She'd made him wait so long too. It wasn't fair. None of this was fair and it made her want to throw a tantrum. Instead, she rolled them, so Sirius was on his back and she was sprawled along his chest. She knelt, pressing her hands to his firm chest, tracing the tattoos there as she rocked her hips.
"Feel so fucking good, Hermione," Sirius groaned. "The way your cunt grips my cock should be a sin."
"It's perfect," Hermione replied. "The way your cock fills me up is fucking perfect. And I never want it to end."
Sirius slipped a hand down from her waist to thumb her clit, and Hermione keened as she fell over the edge of her orgasm. Sirius grunted but didn't come. Hermione rocked her hips, riding her orgasm out, before collapsing onto his chest.
"Sorry," she murmured. "Not as young as I used to be."
Sirius laughed. It was low and made Hermione's blood sing. "Not to worry love, although I'm not done yet." He pushed her off of him. She whined when he slid out of her but allowed him to turn her to her side, pulling her back to his chest. He lifted her leg over his hip and slid back inside.
"Oh, Merlin," Hermione groaned. This angle had him hitting the front of her cunt, right at the place inside that was impossible for her to reach on her own and made her see stars every time he pushed inside.
"Like that, eh?" Sirius murmured. He kissed her neck, and Hermione reached an arm around to grasp his arse in her hand, urging him on.
"Feels so good," Hermione said. "Can't even describe how good this is."
"Heaven," Sirius said. "Feels like nirvana."
Hermione nodded and Sirius slid his hand over her hip, reaching for the sensitive spot between her legs. His fingers slid around her clit, pulling at it slightly, and Hermione's back arched as she came again. Sirius followed with a low groan into her shoulder and Hermione bit her lip. That sound was enough to make her aroused all over again.
They both laid there for several moments, enjoying their post-coital bliss. Hermione felt languid, and she stretched in Sirius' arms, turning over to face him once more.
"Thank you," she murmured into his chest, kissing along the muscle she found there. She slid her hand across one of his nipples and was pleased when he hissed.
"I'm an old man, Hermione," Sirius grunted when she flicked his nipple again.
"I know," Hermione said. "I can be patient."
Sirius growled when Hermione's hand slid below the sheet at his waist and found him half-hard.
"Not so old then," Hermione teased.
"Not so old, cougar," Sirius teased back, rolling Hermione to her back as she giggled up at him. When she finally figured out how to send Sirius back, Hermione knew her heart would be irreparably broken. But she would enjoy what she had first.