Another week had passed and Hermione and Sirius were still on bed rest. Though Sirius was now currently laying with Hermione in her bed, they wanted to spend some time together, just the two of them, and everyone else was busy. So this was their chance.
They were lying on their sides, facing each other, fingers intertwined, smiling as they looked into the other's eyes.
"We are going to get out of this one day, aren't we?" Sirius asked quietly.
"Yes," Hermione said determinedly, "I didn't come back just for it to continue as it did, or worse. We will be fine. We know what we are doing. We know how to destroy him,"
Sirius kissed her gently, stopping her from saying anything else, "Thank you,"
"What for?" Hermione asked, confused.
"For being you. For supporting me. For loving me. For telling me what I need to hear. For reassuring me. For coming back in time. For helping us create a larger family than any of us could ever imagine having before. For everything,"
"There's no need to thank me, Sirius. I would happily do any of this and more if it means that the war will end and Harry, and everyone else who is born, can grow up happy, and safe. And for all of you. I… I left my family to come here, my parents, but to be truthfully honest, I left them when I stepped on the Hogwarts Express for the first time. I was too different. They didn't understand me. I love them, and they loved me. But they didn't know how to deal with me. So they just kind of left me to it. And now I have a family, a proper family, who understands me, and who loves all of me. And I wouldn't change it for the world,"
Sirius smiled sweetly at her, squeezing her hands in understanding.
"We have a family, and we will have more," Sirius whispered.
"More?" she whispered in return, smiling at him.
"Mhm," Sirius nodded, grinning like a loon, "I can imagine us having a few kids down the line. All with dark, curly hair, of course. Then there's all the kids everyone else is going to have also. Then the kids that all of our kids will have. So yeah, a lot more,"
"Sounds good to me," she smiled.
"Sounds good to me, too," Sirius said.
"I can't believe mum is already half way through her pregnancy," Hermione beamed, she was so excited to have a little brother.
"I know, right," Sirius practically squealed, "Ooh, when we're healed, we should go shopping and buy loads of stuff for him. Our little brother needs to know how much we love and appreciate him,"
"Our little brother?" She grinned.
"Well, yeah, I'm not going to leave you, ever. So like, he is my little brother, too," Sirius said, seriously, nodding as he did so.
She smiled at him, and couldn't help but pull him in for another gentle kiss. Her heart and belly were fluttering in unison at the words he spoke. She had never felt that way for anyone before. It was weird, feeling like she was someone's person. Feeling as loved as she felt. But she loved it nonetheless. She cherished it. And she couldn't imagine being without Sirius. Just the thought of it tore something in her to shreds.
Seeing him now, when she knew the older him after everything he had been through, was so completely mesmerising. He was so different now, but she supposed that losing everything, and going to Azkaban would change anyone. Now though, even despite the war, he was young, and mostly carefree, and he was amazing.
She was completely in awe of him.
She was completely in love with him.
"I love you, Sirius," she whispered as they pulled apart.
He stared at her in shock and awe for a few seconds, then kissed her again, still as gentle as ever, "I love you, too, Hermione,"
She beamed, butterflies filling her with joy, and happiness, and love.
A tiny part of her mind thought that maybe they were moving quite fast in their relations, although not really since it was March and they got together on Halloween. But still, it was fast, only a matter of months, and she was completely in love with this beautiful man in front of her.
But it didn't scare her. The thoughts, hopes really, of marrying him, and birthing his children didn't scare her either. She used to think that her career would be the most important thing to her. That it should be. She had debated for a long time whether or not she wanted to consider children, with Ron as he was the one she was somewhat crushing on at the time. But her career, she felt, would always be the most important thing. Back then, anyway.
Now though, with Sirius, everything was clear. Everything was easy. Everything felt amazing. She wanted a career, yes. But she wanted family, and love, and him more. She couldn't wait for the day they would get married. She couldn't wait for the day they would have children. She was excited for wherever their path led them.
Sirius felt right.
Their family, both present and future, felt right.
Everything felt right.
She hadn't felt that way before.
She hadn't felt she belonged, not truly. Harry had tried, even Ron had to some extent. But here, in the past, with these people, with Sirius especially… she felt unstoppable. She felt powerful. She felt loved like she never had before. She felt like she was finally home.
Home.
Sirius was her home.
Along with all of these amazing people she now had the opportunity to know, and love, and cherish. And the people who would come with them, eventually. The children they would bring into the world, or are bringing into the world in the cases of Minerva, and Molly.
Now that she was seeing a pregnancy, she couldn't think of anything more powerful, amazing, magical, and special than the act of bringing a child into the world.
And a huge part of her, now, couldn't wait until the day she got to experience it, with Sirius at her side.
"You are so beautiful, Hermione," Sirius breathed out, gently moving a strand of her hair behind her ear, "I don't know what I did to deserve you. In fact, I rather think I did nothing, since I used to be such a dick,"
"Hm, you're not a dick anymore, though. You've matured. And you are a good man when you let yourself be, Sirius. You are beautiful, too," she was blushing, but she couldn't help it, no one had called her beautiful before.
"Mhm, our babies will be smart and beautiful," Sirius grinned, "Who do you think will be the first of us lot to have a baby? My money is on James and Lily,"
"Of course your money is on them two" Hermione chuckled, "Although Neville was born the day before Harry, so in that case it would be Alice and Frank. But I would say Remus and Sev,"
"Really?" Sirius said, his eyebrow shooting up.
"Yep," she nodded.
"Why? They weren't even together in your time,"
"Yes, although that is just as far as I am aware. Severus was a very private man, so they could have been dating for all I knew. Just secretly. But, I don't know, I just see them having a baby first, I guess. Remus is a werewolf, and Severus is a bearer. Both of those things are rather more family oriented than the regular witch or wizard, and, I mean, have you seen them together?"
"Hm, you have a point, I suppose," Sirius nodded in agreement, "I still say Lily and James, though,"
"Of course you do," she chuckled.
"When we are healed we need to do something proper for Remus' birthday. I know he said that he was just happy to spend some time with all of us and have some cake and presents, but we should party," Sirius said determinedly.
"Okay, we can do something. Though, maybe it should be a joint birthday party for all of us? I mean, we haven't really done anything but those things for all of us,"
"Ooh, yeah, good idea,"
"I am full of good ideas," she said cheekily.
"Don't I know it," he chuckled.
"I certainly hope you do,"
"Mhm," he nodded, his grin soon turning into a yawn.
"Go to sleep, Sirius," she said gently.
"But I'm always sleeping, I just want to talk to you," he moaned.
"Sirius, you are still recovering. You lost a lot of blood, you are still in pain, you need to sleep. We both need to sleep. We will get better, and we can talk more as we do so. Just please, for me, rest. It is okay to sleep. We have the rest of our lives to talk,"
"Promise?" he whispered, eyes drooping.
"I promise," she smiled at him.
"Okay," he nodded, and soon he was fast asleep.
It wasn't long before she was asleep alongside him. Their fingers were still intertwined.