Voyeur
Hermione stumbled along the path back to Hogwarts, awkward under the Invisibility Cloak. She'd left Hogsmeade with the last vestiges of a glorious pink and gold autumn sunset brightening the sky, but there was no twilight this time of year, and night had fallen fast.
She was breathless, and not just from hurrying back to school. Sneaking out to meet Viktor had been exhilarating. She wondered briefly if she was more thrilled by the challenge of borrowing Harry's cloak without his knowledge and slipping away from school than she was by actually seeing Viktor, but she pushed that thought away for the moment. She would examine later, when she was safely back in her room.
After a summer of owling back and forth, he'd asked her to meet him at the Three Broomsticks, and she'd gone willingly, glad to leave the oppressive atmosphere of Hogwarts, where the shadow of Cedric Diggory's death and Voldemort's rise still hovered over everything, but especially over Harry. He was withdrawn, and it took all of her and Ron's combined teasing to pull him out of the doldrums.
The afternoon with Viktor had been a welcome respite from her worries, and she shook her head now to try and rid herself of them again.
And saw a cloaked figure moving purposefully through the darkness.
Curious as always, she tightened her grip on her wand and followed at a discreet distance. The figure pushed open the door to the Shrieking Shack, and she was close enough to hear a hoarse, "Lumos."
In the soft light, she recognized Remus Lupin. His hair was shaggier than it had been during his time as a Professor at Hogwarts, and his face was gaunt, but his eyes were bright.
Smiling, for she'd missed him as much as Harry and Ron had, Hermione prepared to unveil herself and apologize for following him, when the stairs creaked.
A big black dog glided down the stairs. At the bottom step, Sirius Black stood. He was clean, she noted, and his face showed only a day or two's worth of stubble. She wondered where he'd been and why both men were back at Hogwarts. Sirius had said nothing of this in his last letter to Harry.
"Moony," he said, and his voice was a harsh rasp.
The two men embraced, and when they didn't pull apart quickly, she realized she might just be intruding on a private moment.
"Sirius--" Remus began, but Sirius interrupted him with a kiss.
'Oh, my God.' Hermione leaned back against the wall, stunned. Private moment, indeed. She remembered just in time that they didn't know she was there, and probably wouldn't welcome her intrusion; she closed her mouth on the sharp gasp that threatened to escape.
The two men remained oblivious, hands and lips and tongues hungrily moving over each other. She could hear soft murmurs but couldn't make out the words, except for an occasional, "Mmm, Remus" or a gasped, "Sirius."
Lupin's hands threaded through Sirius's hair, tugging lightly. Sirius bared his throat and Remus growled low. He nibbled his way along the vulnerable skin, paying particular attention to the base of Sirius's neck and Sirius purred.
The sounds sent a jolt of electricity through Hermione, and she swallowed hard. She was suddenly aware of the way her nipples pressed against the lacy fabric of her bra and the moist heat between her legs. Her heart raced and she fought to keep her breathing even.
Slowly, feeling her way, she found the door.
Lupin pushed Sirius's robe off his shoulders, exposing a painfully thin, bare chest covered in a mat of dark hair, and a pair of tight black pants. Very tight black pants. Pants that left no doubt about what Sirius was feeling, at least.
Lupin shucked his cloak and Sirius worked the buttons of his shirt with fumbling fingers. She closed her eyes and tried not to make noise, but the sound of blood pounding in her ears had to be audible to them. She hoped neither kept the heightened senses of their animal forms while human. She couldn't hear anything else but their soft words and the glide of skin against skin and the pulsing beat of her own heart.
Words resolved through the rush in her ears.
"Upstairs, Padfoot?"
"As you wish, Moony."
They stumbled up the stairs, stopping once or twice to resume kissing and groping. When they were out of sight, she listened for a moment more, but decided they were far too involved with each other to hear the door opening and closing.
Hermione crept outside, the night air cool against her heated cheeks. She breathed deeply, trying to calm the rush of her heart.
She hurried back to the castle. Once inside, she slipped off the cloak and made her way directly to her room, thankful no one had stopped her to chat.
She wondered if Harry knew about his godfather and his friend. She wondered if she'd ever be able to look anybody in the eye again.
When she went to bed that night, she couldn't get the images of Sirius and Remus out of her head.
As she slipped a hand beneath the waistband of her panties, she wondered if she wanted to.