Padfoot's Weakness - HP / Marauders time travel

27: Reunions and Revelations

//

Harry, Hermione, and Ron watched from the sidelines as Henrietta and Sirius embraced one another. At first it was suspicious, but they assumed maybe they were friends in 1976.

And then they kissed.

Harry made a choking noise, his breath catching in his throat. Ron recoiled in surprise, placing a hand on Hermione's shoulder to keep himself steady. Hermione was actually excited, mainly because she pitied Henrietta when she never had a guy to be there for her. Sirius better be good to her, though.

Dumbledore smiled nostalgically, Remus and Tonks were grinning broadly, and everyone else... well, they had quite different reactions.

The Weasley twins didn't really care, too busy snickering at everyone's reactions. Snape appeared disgruntled, but had someone been looking closer, there would be a flash of jealousy in his eyes. He always wanted what Sirius and Henrietta had with Lily.

Mad-Eye Moody didn't really react, excluding an inaudible chuckle. Bill and Charlie Weasley blinked slowly, too stunned to do anything else.  Arthur, the father of the Weasley family, glanced over to his wife worriedly.

Molly had the best reaction, though. She had her hands on her hips, eyes narrowed, and nostrils flared. She looked infuriated and disgusted simultaneously, adding to her intimidating appearance. She was preparing to step forward, but was held back by her husband.

Claws was practically bouncing from where she stood, having trouble restraining herself. Eventually, though, she gave in and went flying towards Henrietta.

The dragon glided quickly over to the lavender-haired girl, accidentally yanking her away from Sirius and knocking her to the ground.

Henrietta laughed once she realized it was Claws. She wrinkled her nose as the Devil Spawn swiped her tongue across her face, drowning her in saliva.

"Ew!" Henrietta groaned. She vaguely heard Sirius snickering

Finally, when Claws let the teenager stand, Harry came barreling towards them. Claws wrapped her tail around Henrietta, but nonetheless let Harry tug his sister into a hug. He was followed by Hermione and Ron, who embraced Henrietta as well but cast suspicious glances towards Sirius.

"You're all suffocating me!" Henrietta huffed. They reluctantly released the girl, just as Remus came strolling up to her. "Good to see you again, Moony."

Remus chuckled. "You too, Paws." He wrapped his arms around her while grinning smugly at Sirius, silently saying "I told you so."

Molly and Arthur hurried over to Henrietta. The redheaded woman pulled her into a bruising hug, but Arthur simply patted her shoulder. "I'm so happy you're okay, Henrietta," Molly breathed out in relief, her motherly nature kicking in.

"Me too," Henrietta murmured.

After letting go of the girl, Molly whirled around to face Sirius, who was smiling at the scene. "You!" Molly growled.

Sirius blinked, turning his attention towards her.

"You disgusting piece of--you pedophile, corrupting this poor child--"

"Woah, woah!" Henrietta intervened, slipping away from more hugs and Claws' tail to step in front of Sirius. "Mrs. Weasley, calm down."

The woman spluttered, "Calm down?! He's twenty years your senior!"

"Yeah but not in 1977!" Henrietta retorted. "In case you didn't notice, I'm the one that kissed him when I got here. Sirius is not 'corrupting' me! I love him in 1977 and I love him here."

Molly narrowed her eyes while Sirius smiled. He wrapped an arm around Henrietta's shoulders, then pecked her forehead gratefully. "Good to know."

"Henrietta, you loved Sirius when he was young, though, sweetie," Molly tried protesting. "You fell in love with him when he was your age!"

"That's where you're wrong," the lavender-haired girl growled. Glancing over to everyone else, she exclaimed, "I've loved Sirius since the summer before fifth year, before I went back in time." She turned to Sirius, who looked just as shocked as everyone else. "Sorry, kind of forgot to tell you," she teased.

Sirius had another tear roll unashamedly down his cheek. He drew Henrietta into another loving hug, leaning down to whisper, "I would kiss you right now but that didn't go so well a few minutes ago."

The girl just laughed, sneaking in a kiss on his neck where no one could see it.

After pulling away, she returned her attention to everyone. "I don't really give a shit what you all think."

"But he could go back to Azkaban!" Percy spoke up.

"Actually," Dumbledore interrupted, his voice strong enough so everyone would pay attention. "I've done my research. At age seventeen it would be perfectly legal for Henrietta and Sirius to be together."

Harry blinked. "But she's not even sixteen!"

"That's where you're wrong, my boy," Dumbledore chuckled. "Henrietta didn't just age a few months by going back in time. She aged two and a half years because of the peculiar traveling."

Everyone went silent, their eyes darting between Henrietta and Dumbledore.

"Henrietta has obviously aged, as you can see." He gestured to the girl, who did in fact look more mature than when she first left 1997.

"Wait, so you mean..." Sirius trailed off hopefully.

"Thank Merlin," Tonks groaned. "I didn't want to see them unclothing each other with their eyes while they both mope about not being together."

Everyone spluttered except Remus, Tonks, and Dumbledore, who ended up chuckling instead. Sirius and Henrietta went dark red, but nonetheless grinned in amusement.

"So it's perfectly legal?" Sirius asked just to confirm.

"Yes."

"So I could totally kiss her right now and no one would arrest me?"

"Yes."

"And she could move in with me during the summer?"

"Yes--"

"Wait what?!" Henrietta gasped. She stared at Sirius with wide eyes. "You want me to move in with you?!"

"Well duh!" the man laughed. "I'm not letting you run off again."

A pang of guilt went through Henrietta at his double-sided words, but she knew he meant it to be amusing. She grinned happily at him, leaning in to kiss him when--

"Oh MERLIN!" Ron huffed. "Do it when I'm not here! It's bad enough seeing Harry and Ginny kiss."

The other Weasley's turned to face Harry, who was now crimson and looked like a deer in headlights.

"Wait, Harry and Ginny are together?" Fred asked.

"Looks like we've gotta prepare some arrangements in case Harry breaks her heart and we need to dispose of his body," George stage whispered.

"Welcome to the family, Harry!" Molly squealed, temporarily distracted from Henrietta and Sirius.

Harry just glared at Ron. "Thanks, Ron."

"No problem."

Hermione frowned, another thought coming to mind. "Henrietta can still attend Hogwarts, though, right? Even though she's technically over seventeen?"

"Only if she would like," Dumbledore replied. "She'd have to do a few assessments, however, to see if she should move to the next year after spending time learning in 1976 and 1977."

"You better have a stable for Claws ready, 'cause I am NOT leaving!" Henrietta declared. Claws rumbled in agreement.

Dumbledore smiled. "I'm sure we can get that arranged."

//