The Pen of Destiny (COMPLETE!!)

Hello! Here's a bonus chapter heading your way!

I totally forgot to thank all those who gave me the tips and encouragement in regards to writing a male masturbation scene. Thanks!

PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!!!

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Chapter Thirteen


If anyone were to ask Hermione how she felt in that moment, her answer would have been numb. She lay curled up in the dark, rethinking all those little moments that had seemed off with Bill. Where she had simply accepted whatever lame explanation he gave her as if it were fact. How was she to know any of what was going on? She had more than given him the benefit of the doubt only to be rewarded with lies.


But did it matter? Did she invest anything beyond the weekly shag? It had been he that had mentioned that they had something more meaningful than that, not she. And those few times that he did, it had never felt right to her. But it still left her with a bitter taste in her mouth and a resentment that went bone deep that Bill couldn’t be honest—even with himself.


What was worse, she didn’t know who she was angry with the most—Remus, Bill, Tonks, or herself. Hermione sat up, pulling the throw blanket Sirius had put over her before he had left her alone to sleep tighter around her shoulders. Absently she inhaled the scent of Sirius that lingered as a part of the blanket. Tobacco smoke, leather, and a musk that was pure Sirius, she thought absently as she moved out of the dark shadows of the room.


She finally found Sirius leaning against the mantel place in the informal sitting room.


“You look how I feel,” she said, her voice harsh and slightly hoarse.


He turned around to face her, his eyes searching for any sign of the heartache that seemed to pour out of her earlier. Her amber eyes were dull and face swollen from crying. Hermione’s hair was only slightly better than a tangled mess. But even as badly as she looked, the witch still managed to be the most beautiful woman he knew.


Sirius went over to her. It was with a delicate touch that he combed the tousled veil of her hair out of her face. His forefinger caressed her temple, sliding down to her cheek and lower to her jaw.


“See? I told you,” she told him hollowly. “I can’t read men.”


“No, you can’t read selfish gits,” Sirius said, his voice slightly hard. “There’s a difference, love.”


Hermione sighed heavily, whispering, “Seeing them all like that was quite…unreal.” She frowned. “Tonks looked like me while they were…” she cleared her throat. “I don’t know to feel offended or scared.”


“Of what?” he asked, ready it would seem for a fight.


Worrying her lower lip, she said, “I sincerely hope I don’t looked like your cousin did in the midst of sex.” Hermione’s nose wrinkled in distaste. “She looked constipated rather than like a woman enjoying herself in the throws of passion.”


Sirius was silent a moment before letting out a guffaw of laughter and pulling her into a hug. Kissing her temple, he whispered, “That’s my witch. You show everyone what tough magic you’re made of.”


“I’ve lived through worse,” she whispered. “ ‘This too shall pass’.” Hermione rested her head on his shoulder, rubbing her face against the soft material of his leather jacket.


“That it will,” he assured her. “Are you hungry? You haven’t eaten anything all day.”


“Sounds good, but what are we going to do for food?”


“That, my sweet, has been taken care of,” Sirius said as he walked her over to the dining room.


Hermione gasped at the sight of the formally laid out table. “How…”


“I fetched a house elf from one of the other family estates,” he told her casually, as he walked her over to the chair next to the head of the table. It drifted back as they stood there, making Hermione giggle to herself as she sat down. “I know you typically don’t care to have one in the house, which is why I’ve not gotten one since Kretcher died last year. But I thought we needed a break today, don’t you?”


The chair lifted and sat nearer to the table, making her jump with a start and the small throw to drop to the chair seat behind her rear. Hermione laughed at her own silliness, as she relaxed and took up her own napkin and draped it in her lap. Sirius went to his chair, sitting and settling himself in.


“Do you know what happened after we left?” she asked quietly.


“Harry came over to check on you,” he told her, taking her hand into his larger one. “He told me about how the others there all but beat Remus, Bill, and Tonks. It ended up that both Remus and Tonks were told to leave. The others took Bill over to his place. What happened there, I don’t know, but seeing as he had a hand in both hurting you and ruining Albus’s birthday, I doubt he got out of it unscathed.”


“Uh, I doubt any of them did,” she murmured. “I hexed them all before leaving the house.”


“You did?” he asked, shocked. “What with?”


“It was a combination of hexes,” she told him. “They’ll have large purple boils developing within hours of the time I hexed them that will be belching out the British National Anthem. They’re ugly, loud, and will smell just slightly better than a corpse flower.” Hermione looked to him. “It’s not the best hex work I’ve ever done, but it was under duress…”


“That is brilliant!” he crowed.


“It was?” she asked.


“Yes! And what’s more they all had it coming,” he assured her. “And more.” His thumb rubbed the back of her hand, as he stretched out his fingers along her smaller ones in a slow back and forth caress. “So what sounds good to eat?”


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Sleep had not been as forthcoming as Sirius had hoped it would be. He had seen to it that Hermione ate and even went so far as to give her a dreamless sleep draft. Envy tickled at the back of his mind at the thought of the potion that no longer worked for him, but pushed it aside along with the sheet covering his body.


He grabbed up his tattered robe and went on his way over to the informal sitting room. It was a light in the library that caught his attention and had him wandering over to see what was going on. Sirius stopped in the doorway, watching Hermione reading and taking notes.


“You’re up late,” he said as he joined her.


“I could say the very same about you,” she replied, as she looked up from the book.


Sirius went over behind her, leaning down to look at what she was studying. “How is it that you weren’t able to sleep? I gave you dreamless sleep.”


“You did?” She turned her head slightly. “And if you had bothered to ask if it would work for me, I could have told you it stopped working for me more than a few years ago.” Hermione reached out, combing his hair out of his face with her index finger. “You aren’t the only one to have nightmares.”


He caught her hand, taking it to his lips. Sirius kissed the tip of her finger without taking his eyes away from hers. “Why would you have nightmares?”


“Bellatrix tortured me for several hours.” His eyes widened at her words. They widened even more when she pulled her robe’s collar slightly to the side revealing a scar that went across her shoulder and down under the silk robe. “She’s dead. I know it. I saw it happen. But it doesn’t stop the mind from thinking up the worse will happen all over again.”


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Well, there's your bonus chapter! Please remember to let me know what you think of the story so far. Hope you all have a great day.