Drop in the Ocean [Harmione]

11. Your Cheatin' Heart

Your cheatin' heart,
Will make you weep,
You'll cry and cry,
And try to sleep,
But sleep wont come,
The whole night through,
Your cheatin' heart, will tell on you...

(Hank Williams, Your Cheatin' Heart)

To say Harry was angry would have been a gross understatement. Looking across the sitting room at his godfather, he didn't even know where to begin.

For his part, Sirius just wished Harry would say something. Anything would be better than this silent treatment. Although he had no idea what actually went on this evening between Harry and Hermione, he had a good idea that the cat had somehow found its way out of the bag. He also had a good idea that neither Harry nor Hermione was all too happy about the fact that everything was now out in the open. Truth be told, Sirius wished he could get his hands on a time-turner and reverse this entire scheme. He should have listened to Eva. He stifled a chuckle as he could already picture her telling him how she'd told him over and over again that his meddling would not do anyone any good.

When the silence became unbearable, Sirius leaned forward and opened his mouth to speak, but Harry just shook his head and held up his hand.

"Don't!" Harry said loudly. "Don't even say it."

Reluctantly, Sirius relaxed back onto the sofa.

"You don't have to say it, Sirius," Harry said. "I know exactly what you're going to say. But, you can feel free to tell me that I'm wrong. I imagine you'd start out by telling me, 'I was only looking out for you, Harry'. And then you'd probably follow it up with 'I only had your best interests at heart.' How does that sound, Sirius? Does that sound about right?"

Sirius nodded sheepishly. That was exactly what he'd been about to say when Harry had stopped him.

Harry let out a hollow laugh. "That's just great. But what you seemed to have forgotten in your little scheme is that I'm not the only one involved here, Sirius. This isn't just about me. This is about Ron. This is about Hermione. She's his girlfriend, Sirius. Not mine---Ron's."

Sirius wanted to explain, but he kept quiet...for now. He had feeling that anything he said now would only serve to antagonize Harry further and that was the last thing Sirius wanted to do.

"What kills me about this whole thing is that you knew all along! You knew who she was and you conveniently kept that from me! You were the one person I always thought would shoot straight with me, Sirius! You were the one person I thought wouldn't be afraid to tell me the truth no matter how much I didn't want to hear it. You were the one person I thought wouldn't hide things from me because you didn't think I could handle it or you thought it was for my best interest. I expect that from a lot of people, Sirius. But, never in a million years would I have expected that from you."

Sirius nodded morosely.

"I'm not a child anymore," Harry continued. "I don't need you, or anyone else for that matter, to figure things out for me or tell me how to feel!"

Harry sank down onto an armchair and put his head in his hands. Taking advantage of Harry's silence, Sirius decided to finally get his say.

"What happened between you and Hermione tonight?" Sirius asked.

Harry looked up at him in disbelief. "Did you hear any of what I just said? It doesn't matter---"

"Yes, it does," Sirius interjected. "How you feel does matter. What happened?"

Harry sighed and leaned back in the chair. "I kissed her. Are you happy now? I kissed her. She pulled away from me and reminded me about how she had a boyfriend and so we came back here and went our separate ways. I come back to the house and read Ron's letter. Ron tells me that he feels like a shit because he's shagging anything with a pulse behind his girlfriend's back, behind Hermione's back! Seeing as that isn't your everyday, garden-variety name, I put two and two together and went over to ask Hermione what the hell was going on. I didn't handle it too well, because apparently I insinuated that she was some sort of tart who set out to shag and bag Harry Potter."