A Sirius Matter [Harmione]

21. Last Weekend Before School

Harry and Hermione looked around the small comfortable cottage they were inside as Sirius gave them a tour. It had a kitchen, bathroom, living room, "...and here are the two bedrooms."

Obviously Harry and Sirius would be sharing a bedroom, but Harry decided to purposely misunderstand. He smiled deviously. "Alright! You get one and me and Hermione get the other one. You are the best godfather ever!"

Hermione blushed and put her head down while the color drained from Sirius' face. "Er, Harry you misunderstood. You see..."

"No I didn't. Hermione and I are sharing one of the rooms." By now Hermione knew that Harry was joking and suppressed her laughter at Padfoot's dilemma.

"Actually cub, sorry to disappoint you but we're sharing a room."

Harry decided to go a step further. He faked anger and yelled, "You are NOT sharing a room with Hermione!" At this point Sirius' face went red until Hermione burst out laughing. Harry couldn't hold back his laughter anymore.

"You're pulling my leg!" said Black as he joined in the laughter.

"Of course I am!" said Harry in between laughs. "How thick do you think I am? I know I'll have to sneak to her room..."

"Harry!" yelled Hermione indignantly.

"Just kidding, luv. I know you'd hex me if I tried."

"Just remember that," she said with a mock scowl.

"If you don't mind Hermione," said Sirius, "Since Harry and I are sharing, you get the smaller bedroom."

"Oh that's fine, Sirius," she answered. "It's about the size of Harry's bedroom at the Dursleys. If he can live there for months, I can spend two nights there."

Padfoot grinned. "Now that we've got that settled, what do you say we get changed and head to the beach before the sun goes down?"

❾¾ ❾¾❾¾❾¾ ❾¾❾¾❾¾

They spent a few uneventful hours (unless you count Sirius teasing Harry for looking at Hermione's swimsuit) at the beach enjoying themselves. Since it was a secluded spot (the whole reason Sirius was hiding there) there was nobody at that beach. When Harry commented on it, Sirius explained, "This is a private island that the Black family owns, and it's warded so that no one comes here. If anyone gets close to the border they have to turn around."

Hermione's face brightened. "Oh! You mean like the ministry did for the world cup! Does this ward work with magical people or just muggles?"

Sirius was glad to see someone interested in his family's security obsession. "Everybody. This place is much more secure than that. Remember, my family was mostly dark wizards, so they were obsessed with security. They didn't hide the manor, but they warded it very well so that no intruder can get in there by conventional means - that is the door, floo, or apparition.

"This place is far more secure than that. There are runes at strategic points in the property that keep out anybody that's not in my family or invited by me just like the house, but even more. It's unplotable. The floo system will not work here. There's something in the runes that stops floo powder from working. The only way a portkey can get through the runes is if there's blood from a Black family member on it. If someone were to actually get past the border, they'd be blown backwards by incredible winds that would keep blowing them back until they're half a mile away."

"You've got to show us some of those runes!" said Hermione excitedly.

"Maybe tomorrow," said Sirius, as he magically created a campfire at the beach. "Oh, magic isn't detected here, either. So, Hermione, why don't you conjure up a few chairs and a table while Harry and I get some food to roast out here?"