A/N: Beta love to the wonderful Roman's sundial! Many many thanks to her for her editing skills and commitment to this story!

I would like to thank the kind souls that have followed, favourited and reviewed this story. As it was my first time publishing a multi-chaptered story in english, I was really anxious and all your reviews were wonderfully encouraging and kind. I tried to answer each one of them but in case I missed some : Many many many thanks for your kind reviews.

Chapter 15: Prompt #6 - Here and Now

Unsurprised not to find Hermione anywhere at the wedding venue, Sirius immediately Apparated to Grimmauld Place, where he knew he was certain to find her.

When he arrived, he went straight to the kitchen, somehow knowing she would be there. He pushed the door open but remained on the threshold for a moment, watching her. Seated at the table, visibly lost in thoughts, she seemed to wait for the kettle to whistle.

Sirius was perplexed. What could have happened for her to withdraw like this while her best friend's wedding was in full swing?

Everyone knew Aunt Muriel as vindictive, but Hermione wasn't normally the kind of person who was destabilized by a few sarcastic remarks. What could the old hag have said to hurt her so?

Listening to his pounding heart rather than his head—which was telling him that the timing might not be right for what he had planned—Sirius joined her and sat down beside her.

Hearing him approaching, she ran her hands over her cheeks before putting them on the table, wringing her fingers, but when she looked up to him, her eyes red-rimmed, Sirius' fears were confirmed: she had cried, she had been wounded.

"What happened?" he asked, reaching out to cover Hermione's hands with one of his.

But immediately she got up, heading for the stove as if to pick up the kettle even though it had not yet started whistling.

Sirius sighed. He deserved it, he knew it. Ever since that day at the restaurant, he had moved away from Hermione, had stopped having affectionate or even friendly gestures for her like he had had before… He couldn't decently reproach her now for moving away from him after he had been so cold.

Determined to be forgiven for his failings, he got up and followed her, planting himself beside her. She was tense, and more than that, she seemed almost fearful, her hands shaking as she grabbed a tin of tea, as if Sirius' very presence made her nervous.

"What's wrong, Hermione?" he asked, growing concerned by her attitude. Aunt Muriel's jaunts couldn't explain Hermione's visible discomfort. Or rather, it couldn't be all due to Aunt Muriel's bitterness, Sirius thought, remembering the old woman's sorry look when Hermione left her.

"Nothing." Hermione shrugged, her eyes still on the kettle. "I just drank a little too much champagne."

"Don't lie to me!" Sirius hissed between his teeth. He knew her too well. The alcohol, he was sure of it, was the last of the reasons for her behavior.

He spoke without thinking, reacting instinctively to Hermione's lie, and he immediately regretted his impulsiveness when he realized that, instead of pushing the young woman to tell the truth, his injunction only irritated her further and she exploded.

"Don't try to boss me around!" she snapped, removing the kettle from the fire before turning to Sirius, glaring at him. "Who do you think you are? Do you think you can come here and start questioning me like that?"

"Because I'm your—"

"And do not tell me it's because we're friends, Sirius. Not now," she interrupted him immediately. Wrestling visibly to control the tears that threatened to overwhelm her once again, she added, "Go away, please. Go away," before turning back to the countertop where she began to prepare her tea.

Sirius didn't know what to think anymore. Hermione seemed both angry at him and so sad. Now he realized how his attitude since what had happened in the restaurant must have hurt her. To protect himself from a rejection he was sure was coming, he had hurt her by taking away any evidence of his friendship.

Deeply inspired, he reached within himself to gather all his determination. He wasn't going to let her escape. It was too bad if he was being ridiculous, if she laughed to his face—or even worse, if she felt pity for him, but he was going to tell her what was in his heart.

"No," he answered firmly as he approached her, so close that he could feel the scent of the orchid still sitting behind her ear. She ignored him, continuing her task, head down, as if he did not exist. "I will not repeat the same mistake twice. I was wrong, Hermione. I… I thought I could protect myself by going away, but I was torturing myself and I hurt you too, and I regret it."

She stopped suddenly, but didn't look up. "The truth is, I'm in love with you, Hermione," he confessed, swallowing to try to relax the knot in his throat.

An eternity seemed to pass. Hermione didn't move. Sirius didn't know if it was the stupor or the horror that had turned the young woman into a statue. Slowly, he heard her take a long, jerky breath and then exhale deeply.

"Why must you be so stubborn?" she asked, as if thinking aloud. She turned to him slowly and Sirius took a step back, giving her a little space so that she wouldn't feel overwhelmed by his presence, but not turning away at any moment. "I don't know what to do, Sirius," she said. "I feel lost, confused. I never believed in destiny, in divination… And I don't know what to do."

Sirius frowned. What was she talking about? He told her that he was in love with her, and all she said was that she didn't believe in divination?

"What are you talking about Hermione? What are you not telling me?" he asked, whispering almost, afraid to scare her.

"I'm talking about Scabior, about you and me," she answered immediately. Sighing deeply, she went to sit by the table and, with a gesture, invited Sirius to do the same. Once he was seated, as close to her as he could, she spoke. "I don't know what took over me… Well… I went to greet Aunt Muriel. I know it's silly of me since she started talking to me about how thin my ankles are, my hair too curly… You know her…" She trailed off, an amused smile at the memory gracing her lips. It faded soon as she continued, "Arthur once confided in me that he suspected that Aunt Muriel's exceptional longevity was linked to the experiments that she had carried out when she was an Unspeakable at the Ministry."

Sirius's eyes widened. He had never suspected that the old shrew could have even worked, much less as an Unspeakable, but he said nothing, silently asking Hermione to continue her story, even though he had not no idea of where she was heading. "Well… I thought that Muriel could help me in my research on the spell Scabior said he had cast on me."

Sirius stiffened immediately. This was it! He understood now: Hermione was crying when he arrived because she must have discovered that she really was linked somehow to Scabior because of this evil spell. He closed his eyes for a moment, painfully swallowing the bitterness to see the one he loved escape him.

"Muriel knew that spell," Hermione confessed, her voice trembling with emotion. "Scabior thought this spell would tie his soul to mine, but he didn't fully understand it. He… He managed to create some kind of link, like a bridge between his soul and mine, that's how he always knew where to find me… But the spell is much older and so much powerful than just that and…" She paused, as if she didn't know how to explain.

Sirius felt like his heart was going to explode. Scabior hadn't managed to tie his soul to Hermione's… So maybe there was some hope… But immediately, Hermione's still palpable distress made him come back to reality. "And what, Hermione?" he asked, trying as much as he could to control his impatience.

"It's an old spell intended to reunite soulmates," she whispered, as if she was ashamed to use such overused words.

Sirius suddenly realised the implication of what she had just confessed. He was wrong to believe Ron and allow himself into thinking that Hermione could return his feelings, because Scabior had cast this spell years ago and she had a soulmate, and… Suddenly, Sirius's thoughts came to an abrupt halt. How was Hermione not already reunited with her soulmate when the spell had been cast over ten years ago? Was her soulmate dead?

As he was about to speak, when Hermione resumed her story. "Now, I have to admit to you that I hid something from you." She felt him tense, but he said nothing. "The day when… when Scabior and Lestrange came to Grimmauld, when you told me about what you remembered about the Veil… The smell you described, I recognised it… Because it's my favourite tea."

Sirius opened his mouth, but she interrupted him with a small gesture. She mustn't stop now, it said, otherwise she wouldn't have the courage to tell him the truth. "At the moment, I didn't care, I didn't even think about it until tonight. But Aunt Muriel's explanations allowed me to put all the pieces of the jigsaw into place and I understood. That smell behind the Veil, that latent feeling that told me something was missing, that I missed someone, the nights when I always woke up at 2:30 in the morning as if in response to a call… That peace that I have found since you were here, what I feel for you…"

Finally raising her face to Sirius' who seemed to have understood what her story implied, and was as stunned as she was, Hermione finally added, "Scabior has drawn my soulmate to me, but… but it took him ten years to join me because he had fallen behind the Veil."

His gaze still locked in Hermione's, Sirius swallowed hard. He was just stunned. So many thoughts jostled in his mind. He and Hermione were soulmates. She said she had feelings for him. Scabior's spell had pulled him out of the Veil. It all seemed so… Huge.

But as she looked at him, obviously shocked at what she had just said, Sirius thought that Hermione's first words were those of reason. He had never believed in fate and all that. It wasn't some spell and some coincidences that would change that. Sweeping all the evidence that pointed that Hermione and he were meant for each other, Sirius took her face in his hands.

"I don't care about spells, or Scabior, or what Aunt Muriel says. I don't even care how I escaped that damn drapery. What I know, and what matters to me, is that I love you, and that here, now, I want to be with you. What do you think about that?"

With teeth tucked into her lower lip as always when she was stressed, Hermione stared at him, obviously looking into Sirius' gray eyes for proof of his sincerity.

Whatever she read in his eyes must be response enough for her because soon a huge smile was on her lips and she nodded before whispering, "Me too. I'm in love with you, Sirius, I—"

But she didn't finish as Sirius's lips crashed on hers in a kiss that sealed their promise.