the_debt_of_time

bringing an uncomfortable warmth to her face. She felt like she had been caught doing
something wrong. Walking to the tent door, she peered outside to find Harry leaning up
against the trunk of a tree, staring intently down at his wand as though it would tell him
what they should do next.
"You ever think maybe he's right?" Sirius asked.
"Don't."
Hermione shook her head as she made her way back toward the bed. The same bed
that she had been unthinkingly sharing with Sirius since she had been splinched, though
never in his human form. Somehow, she had overlooked the fact that the dog was still, in
fact, a fully-grown wizard. She would snuggle beneath the covers, and he would crawl
beside her, turning once in a circle before tucking his snout against his front paws. Absent-
mindedly, Hermione would reach over and stroke his fur as though he were some old,
beloved family pet and not Harry's godfather—a man who she had used Blood Magic to
bring back to life, thus tying herself to him forever through ancient magic. But here, now—
with him standing in front of her, his grey eyes trained on her face—Hermione shivered
under the intensity of his gaze.
"Maybe I should have stayed―"
"Don't!" Hermione snapped at him. "The locket made him say those things. If you
weren't here, he'd have found something else to yell about. Don't you dare say that you
should have stayed dead."
"He's not entirely wrong," Sirius reasoned calmly as he approached her.
"You're not just here for Harry." He closed the distance between them until he was inches
away from her, the heat from their bodies colliding. "Neither am I," he admitted, his voice
husky as he spoke.
That voice did things to her that she was not ready to acknowledge, at least not
aloud.
"Don't do this, Sirius," she pleaded, glancing up at him and then instantly back
down, unable to hold her own against his stare. Sirius, however, forced the issue by placing
a finger beneath her chin and lifted her face to meet his. Hermione closed her eyes to avoid
looking up at him, tears trickling out of the corners.